More Correspondents (ence?)
Time to give our readers/writers some more love here. Sorry for the delay in getting these posts up, but I’ve been buried in draft stuff (good times).
First, from ATM unofficial historian Phil Lowry, who clearly enjoys spending time researching, well, time and how it pertains to Minor League ball:
One hundred twenty-six (126) of the 470 baseball games finishing after 1:00 AM have taken place in the minor leagues. So far this year, there haven’t been any yet. The last one was in the Mexican League: 1:19 AM early in the morning of Aug 28, 2006 at Estadio Kulkucan, in Merida, Mexico as the Monterrey Sultanes (Sultans) downed the hometown Yucatan Leones (Lions) 2-1 in 14 innings.
Leagues experiencing the most are: Texas 20; International 15; Eastern and
Florida State both 10; Mexican 8; Pacific Coast 7; California, South Atlantic, and Southern all 6. Everyone knows about the Granddaddy of all such
marathons: suspended after 32 innings at 4:07 AM at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, RI early on Easter Morning Apr 19, 1981 and later completed Jun 23 when the hometown Paw Sox beat the Rochester Red Wings 3-2 in 33 innings.
Few fans though have ever heard of four other great minor league games that ended after 3 AM: 3:53 AM in Monterey, Mexico Jun 22, 2006 when the Laguna Vaqueros (Cowboys) downed the hometown Sultanes (Sultans) 6-4 in 16 innings after a long rain delay at the start; 3:50 AM in Nashville, TN for a Sep 7, 1990 playoff game as the Omaha Royals downed the hometown Sounds 8-7 in 20 innings after a long rain delay in the bottom of the 11th; 3:27 AM in Burlington, NC Jun 24, 1988 when the Bluefield Orioles downed the hometown Indians 3-2 in
27 innings; and 3:01 AM in Danville, VA Aug 2, 2000 as the Princeton Devil Rays downed the hometown Braves 6-3 in 17 innings in the nightcap of a 24-inning rain-delayed DH.
None of these minor league games however comes close to the latest-finishing baseball game of them all: 9:05 AM Nov 4, 2000 in Tempe, AZ. It was an age-38-and-over amateur tournament championship game, won by the Kansas City Monarchs over the San Jose All-Stars 2-1. Rain delayed the start of the game until 6:30 AM.
If you ever hear of a game ending after 1 AM, or lasting five or more hours or
20 or more innings, Phil would like to hear from you at plowry1176@aol.com so he can update the
records.
And this, from FSL correspondent Chris Trunno:
?Walk?Walk?Walk?Walk?? I don?t think Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were contemplating this The beautiful thing about baseball is no matter what the stats or odds When last place Jupiter hosted first place Brevard County Both pitchers are high draft picks out of high school, as Inman entered When the game ended and the result was told, the Hammerheads literally Telling Brewers officials that their advanced-A affiliate?s league With the game tied at 2-2 in the eighth inning, Manatees manager John Hammerheads? closer Todd Doolittle escaped a lead-off pinch-hit double by Kris Harvey bunted pinch-runner Colin Roberson to second, Jon Fulton was Augustin Septimo (.183) worked the count full, fouling off several This wouldn?t be the first time this has happened in Roger Dean Stadium
scenario when they came up with the opening chorus of their song ?Walk Like a
Man?, but it happened, and it issued by some of the finer talent in the Florida
State League.
say, anything can happen on any given day.
on a muggy Tuesday night in South Florida, it was more than a top notch pitching
matchup between the Manatees? Will Inman and the Hammerheads Aaron
Thompson.
boasting the Florida State League lead in ERA (1.27) and strikeouts (49), and a
former third round pick in 2006. Thompson is a Marlins first round pick from
2006, but hadn?t fared as well sporting a record of 1-2 and a 4.12 ERA this
season.
walked off with a 3-2 win.
leading pitching staff just lost the game to the Hammerheads, who sport the
second lowest batting average in the league, would have most scratching their
heads. What would send them through the roof was that
the Hammerheads didn?t need to take the bat off their shoulder to do
it.
Tamargo went to the bullpen to bring in the league?s best stopper in Ben
Stanczyk. Stanczyk did his normal job
by retiring the Hammerheads third and fourth hitters.
Mat Gamel to preserve the tie into the bottom of the ninth. Stanczyk started the ninth and yielded a
lead-off walk to J.T. Restko. The walk
was only Stanczyk?s seventh in 19 innings. He had three more left in him.
walked and Carlos Piste popped out. Coming up was Lorenzo Scott, with a .183 average and
0-for-his-last-9. He walked to load the
bases. The 2-2 pitch Scott took inside
looked like a perfect breaking pitch by Stanczyk that just had to catch some
part of the plate, but home plate umpire Clint Fagan disagreed.
pitches. Tamargo had his outfield
shifted halfway into the visiting clubhouse in left field clubhouse with left
fielder Cole Gillespie on the line, centerfielder Lorenzo Cain in the
left-center gap and Charilie Fermaint in straight-away center. Maybe he wanted to give them a head
start? Septimo could have skied a ball
to right and won the game if he could pull it. He wouldn?t have to as Stanczyk issued his fourth walk of the inning and
Jupiter walked off with the win.
history. In fact, almost a year ago, on
May 22, 2006, Lakeland?s Kevin Whelan walked four batters in the
ninth against Palm Beach, followed by Jeremy Johnson walking in the winning run
as the Cardinals defeated the Tigers 4-3 with three runs in the ninth
inning.
Jonathan Mayo
