Well, that was fun yesterday. Mostly. Even if the California League played like a group of Pony League All-Stars.
The Carolina League came into town and absolutely beat up on Cali’s best, 12-2. The California League committed four errors, and a few mental ones on top of it. San Jose’s Edwin Escobar gave up five runs (all earned, somehow) in an inning of work, the first of two-straight five run innings for the Carolinas.
But the night was fun. The afternoon was fun. There was a pretty good Home Run Derby. Angel Villalona showed off some real light tower-topping power, advancing to the finals of the derby. He ended up losing to Robby Hefflinger, who was in town representing the Lynchberg Hillcats and his parent organization, the Atlanta Braves.
Keep an eye on that Hefflinger kid. He got the game MVP award as well, and while I wasn’t there in scout mode, he looked like a natural ballplayer. And he’s in the Braves organization, which is only slightly less annoying than the Cardinals organization.
Mostly, though, it was a fun night out at the minor league yard. Bay Area baseball fans should feel lucky they have this as a choice when it comes to their entertainment, even outside of just talking about sports. The minors are a unique environment, with a different feel and a different kind of fun.
And don’t think the timing of the city of San Jose’s lawsuit was coincidental. It was fortuitous for them that the O.lol Stadium turned into a ****hole this weekend, but no lawsuit like theirs gets written and submitted in just 48 hours. Maybe they’d been holding onto it, but I have to think there was some timing to do it on a day where most cities celebrate their minor league team rather than overshadow them by saying that being a minor league city isn’t good enough.
But that is a discussion for another day. Probably Friday.
For today, it was a great day for the San Jose Giants and a good job hosting a big event, and a great celebration of minor league baseball. After all, guys like Juan Carlos Perez have to come from somewhere.
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