Three for Three

Went on the longest streak I've had in a long time where I managed to get autographs on back to back days with three yesterday.

Yup. Made a trip back to Brooklyn for another neutral game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Connecticut Tigers.

I know I talked shit about the last game I saw between these two teams, but I was bored and with the SI Yankees out of town and minor league baseball season dying down, I wanted to absorb as much of the baseball I could that was still left to be played.

Turns out yesterday would prove to me that Brooklyn isn't all bad.

Let's first start with the autographs and go from there.

My first autograph was courtesy of Briam Campusano, who was also the Cyclones' starting pitcher yesterday.
Campusano hails from the Dominican Republic and was signed as a non-drafted international free agent by the New York Mets back in 2015. Armed with a low-90's fastball, curveball and a changeup, Campusano was a bit on the older side when he first signed his pro contract (he was 19 years old), but he made up for it by dominating the competition quickly in the lower levels. So much so that he's already made it to short-season ball where his age (22) is about the league average. Campusano's year so far has been mixed. He's had dominant outings where he can shut out the opposing offenses for six innings, he's also had a few dud outings where he barely lasted five innings. He's also alternated between being a starter and a reliever, although all signs point to the Mets trying him out as a starter until he shows he can't do it anymore. As far as his performance last night goes, it wasn't the worst but he did allow four runs in four innings pitched, while also wracking up eight strikeouts.

Next up is an autograph of Adam Hill.
Adam Hill was drafted by the New York Mets in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Player Draft. Drafted out of USC, the right hander is armed with a low-90's fastball that is said to reach 95 mph, a slider and changeup. Although there is potential for him to give it a go as a starter in the future, for this season he appears to be spending his time in the bullpen where his fastball and breaking pitches can be even more effective.

Finally (but definitely not least) was this autograph courtesy of Ezequiel Zabaleta.
Zabaleta was signed by the New York Mets as a non-drafted international free agent back in 2015 out of Colombia. Zabaleta's climb up the Mets org ladder has been very slow but also steady. After coming stateside in 2016 he was given an opportunity to be a starter, but unfortunately the results were pretty meh. He has gotten a chance to face some good competition over the years though, even last year he was in the World Baseball Classic as a member of the Colombia baseball team. Eventually he was converted into a reliever where his easy velo projects to do much more. At 23 he's right around the appropriate age for the NYPL and he's been a dominant force for the Cyclones out of the pen this year. Wish nothing but the best for this guy. Why?

Well you see, Zabaleta is especially cool because he literally pulled up a chair and sat next to me.

You see, I was sitting in the first row and at the very end of the first baseline seats. Meaning I was sitting basically next to the bullpen area. Zabaleta, being the baseball fan he is, pulled up a chair and wanted to see the game a bit closer.

I tried to speak Spanish with him using my very very weak command of the language (I know I used the wrong words and phrases a lot like an idiot, I just know it). He also tried speaking in English. It was awkward, but we managed to make a few conversations happen.

For instance, I asked him who his favorite player was and he said Julio Teheran (who is also from Colombia). Even he uses a Julio Teheran model glove (the one you see there). I found it super cool. I asked him if it wasn't Jose Quintana (another Colombian) and he said no lol.
Naturally I pulled out my Luis Torrens wallet card and told him that he was my favorite player. Even though I'm 99.9% sure that Zabaleta has never even heard of Torrens before (different country, different farmsystems, etc...).
In retrospect I regret not asking him what his pitching arsenal was.

Still, I appreciate Zabaleta for being cool and even giving me an autograph after the game (I actually stayed for the whole game this time). In return I wrote his name in Japanese for him. Something I usually only do for TTM requests or Yankees prospects.

Eventually I moved away from the seat because a swarm of kids came up to Zabaleta and started asking him for a ball. Kids will be kids, but I ain't sticking around to hear that shit lmao. Neither did Zabaleta as he only had one ball to give away and after that he had to start warming up and get ready to go into the game. Zabaleta pitched one scoreless inning last night and did the best out of all of the Cyclones pitchers by default.

Speaking of which, there was a game right?
Yes, this time the Tigers won and the Cyclones lost 7-2. The Cyclones put themselves in a hole really early on and were never able to get out of it. There were a fair number of misplays and gaffs on Brooklyn's part. Combined with pitchers trying to really nibble. I'm still surprised the game was a mere three hours and two minutes since that's usually a recipe for a long boring game that lasts well into four hours.

Also for some reason the benches cleared after the very last out of the game was made. No big brawl or anything erupted, but this did mark the first bench clearing I had seen. I can finally add that to the list along with a walk off walk, and a walk off balk.

Anything else?

Well the team gave away these pink mesh hats for free (courtesy of Maimonides Medical Center, one of Brooklyn's premier medical centers) as a special promo. That alone probably justified the $15 I spent on the ticket (as if sitting next to a pro for over half of the game wasn't enough lol).

Also, at the risk of talking smack about kids who I know don't know any better, last night gave me important insight into when I'd bring my offspring to their first baseball game.

I won't.

Kids will be kids, they are little fireballs bursting with an infinite amount of energy and the parents can only pray that they can keep up before their offspring potentially hurt themselves. Looking at the parents trying to make sure their little tikes don't stray too far and running after them made me think about how I'd fare in the situation.

As such my foolproof plan is to not take my own demon spawn to a baseball game until they're angsty teens who couldn't give two shits about sports and spend the entire game uninterested and on their phones.

You may think I'm robbing them of a childhood rich with professional baseball related fun, but I'll have you know that they'll be inheriting my copy of 1997 Backyard Baseball the minute they're old enough to get their very own 1999 Windows desktop computer. That should be more than plenty.

Also note that my plan only applies to:
A). professional baseball games
B). situations where I'm the one who'd have to be the responsible adult

If it's a little league game my demon spawn is playing in, yeah I think I need to go and take them. Conversely, if it's the coach of the said little league team or someone else of that nature that's taking my demon spawn to a game and chaperoning, they can. Just as long as I don't have to tag along or claim any responsibilities/duties or just act my age in general.

Oh yes, I'd be a great father.

Anyway, I think I'll wrap this post up on that note. I had a pretty great time yesterday. Making "friends" with a baseball player is always great (Ezequiel and I follow eachother on Instagram now BTW), even if they don't quite play for your favorite organization. It also gives the game you're watching an extra edge as this game was elevated from a boring game where I was a neutral observer, to one where I was basically wondering if my boy "Zeke" could get some work in and dominate. Which he did. He didn't wrack up k's but that half inning was quick, which is the best possible thing you could say about a reliever's performance.

So yeah, Brooklyn scored some major points with me yesterday. Will it convert me? Absolutely not. But I'm not going to avoid it like the plague like I did for all of 2017 anymore. It has it's moments too.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 64