I won't lie. I'm growing weary of reporting that the Albany Blue Jays lost a close game at the Florida Fall Classic. But here we are again. Jays fall 8-6 to a team from Tennessee.
Wednesday's outing was in Rodger Dean Stadium, spring training home for the MLB Cardinals and Marlins. Playing in the stadium was a thrill, and some of the returning guys noted they had been looking forward to this opportunity all year. A cold front come through overnight, and weather would play a role in this game. We were fortunate that it did not rain on us, as it had intermittently, earlier in the day. But the wind blew 25-30mph all day. In the stadium, it blew a cross wind from left to right field. (with a wry smile, I'll also point out that this "cold" front brought the first daily high below 80 since May 6 down here. It was overcast and mid-70s, with a wind chill in the 60s). A 4:00pm game time meant that we got to play under the lights midway through the game.
There was scoring in just 3 half innings. The Mid South River Rats struck first for 3 in the bottom of the third. The Blue Jays responded with 6 and led in the middle innings. But those Rats rallied for 5 more, and neither team mustered much offense after that. The Blue Jays threw one of our non-Albany players, who handled the Rats lineup the first time through it. After another non-Albany player made a short relief appearance, Jim Tesorio entered the game and really clamped down. Jim threw really well in relief, giving the Blue Jays offense opportunities to mount a comeback, which didn't come.
Unfortunately, we played very strong defense in 7 of the 9 innings. Yes, you guessed it, in the other 2 innings, we made errors and mental mistakes that led to virtually all of the Rats' runs. Not that conditions were easy, even routine throws and balls in the air could be adventurous in the strong wind, but too many mistakes led to too many runs.
We posted our biggest number of the tourney in our 6-run inning. It started with a couple of guys on base and a couple of outs. The 2-out rally began with Artie knocking in our first run with a single. A bases loaded walk and another single tied the game. I then managed to get a good swing on a ball, hitting it into the wind in right field. The right fielder tried to track it while going back, then left, then right. I think he may have turned a full circle as the wind pushed it further from him. Meanwhile, the double cleared the bases for 3 more runs and our temporary lead.
That leaves us at 0-4, with 4 losses by a combined 9 runs (2-0, 12-11, 8-4, 8-6). There are several teams ahead of us in the standings that have suffered much larger losses...but these things function on wins and losses. Despite the record, there's been no embarrassment here. We've been competitive, and it's been a cohesive group of guys giving good effort. There will be no playoffs for us, but we have one more game Thursday, against the DC Mustangs, which features a couple CDMSBL players. We're looking forward to the matchup.
