5/15 Gameday Thread: Aldo, AJ, and Chase on the Hill

In game 5, Politi was a tough luck loser in what was really a good pitchers duel between him and Rockies top pitching prospect Rolison. Rolison only sat 91-93 but with very good command of all his pitches. Politi was 94-97 for the first three innings (with one 99 flashing in the second), up to 96 in the fourth and 95 in the fifth. All five k's were swinging with 97 in the first, 88 in the third, and 82,83 and 83 striking out the side in the fourth. I had him for 8 more swings and misses besides those. Feltman was 91-93 with one 94 striking out Czinge.

The Sea Dog defense let AJ down in the second. With one out, Rivera's throwing error put Czinge on second. After a passed ball brought the infield in, another ground ball to short led to a run when Czinge slid under the catchers tag. Melendez followed with a line drive just over Meises head. It was a tough play and he froze and wasn't sure which was to turn. George followed with a fly to medium deep right. Meises throw was in time but just up the first base line enough for Mclaughlin to slide in safely. Hearn added another rbi with a single befor the inning ended. Politi responded really well in the following innings allowing only one runner on a HBP.

Casas hit four ground balls to the right side. The first bounced off the second baseman's glove in the shift for a single. The second time up, Pedro C was on second following an error. That kept Harford from shifting and the hard grounder found a wide opening between first and second. His last two at-bats were grounders to first.

Portland had two good chances to rally. In the third with 1st and 3rd no one out, Meises grounded sharply to first. Bouchard stepped on the bag and fired home to get Castellanos for a double play. In the sixth with two out and the bases loaded and one run already in, Rivera took a 2-2 letter high breaking ball but got rung up. After flipping the bat across home plate, he was ejected.

Rosario got a very unusual base hit leading off the sixth when his comebacker bounced into Rolison's shirt and he couldn't get it out. I was hoping someone would post that video.

When Bird relieved Rolison, he hit Hernandez with 94. Baldwin followed and when he ducked out of the way of another high fastball, he made the sign of the cross on his chest. Two pitches later he did get a HBP but it was something that just grazed his uniform or batting glove.

When Grant Williams lined a single to left in the third, I looked back at his previous two games. It was his 7th strait hit. He has a good glove and if he never makes it to the show, he is a very good organizational player. The shortstop robbed him of 8 in a row with a play behind the second base bag and throw that just got him. He also doubled in the right field corner his last time up.

Some incidentals:

Sitting just a few seats away from me, I saw my first Red Sox Ice Horse jersey.

Hartford honors someone each game with a Heroes Among Us ceremony between innings. Tonight's hero was Steve Schueler who was one of the last eleven Marines evacuated by helicopter from Saigon.

Paige Drury did a great job singing the national anthem. She is blind. She got a great round of applause and left with a smile.