For the record: I made an executive decision and declared the second New Britain/Portland match-up as part 5 of this series on my blog. I hope you don’t mind.
It may not have been a home-and-home trip, but I changed ballparks one day this past weekend. After Friday’s trip up to Maine, I spent Saturday afternoon (and as it turned out, early Saturday evening) in Manchester, New Hampshire. I grabbed my free Ollie the Bat Dog Bobblehead Doll on my way into Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, the home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. It was supposed to be a 1:35 pm first pitch, but it ended up being more like 4:00.
I was lucky enough to spend the 2:28 rain delay (plus the whole game) up in the booth with Matt McCabe, the Binghamton Mets broadcaster. I’m surprised I didn’t drive him nuts.
Matt shared a taste of his experiences in the Eastern League with me, including a few stories about the best players he’s seen in his time in upstate New York. Ike Davis immediately came to mind for him on the B-Mets side, while he pointed out former Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Clay Buchholz as the most impressive opponent.
We discussed calling games, especially the stats-versus-stories issue, and even spoke about non-baseball aspirations of ours as well. Since I can’t go a day without mentioning social media as a communication tool, that topic managed to find its way into the foray of words as well.
The B-Mets put up season-highs in runs and hits against the Fisher Cats in an 8-1 victory. After a three hour-plus game and almost that much of a rain delay, I was happy to head home.
I’ll be making at least one more trip to another league’s ballpark in 2011, and I’m hoping for more. It’s been a great time so far.
*****
For more information, stories and not-so-random player name-dropping, read the other entries in, “From Minor League Baseball to Major Fun”:
Part 3.5 (henceforth to be called, “Part 5”)
Nick Gagalis 
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