A shot of Coca-Cola Park Saturday night, the last home game of the inaugural season.The season should have ended Friday night, with the sparkling pitching performance by Carlos Carrasco and the elusive win by the 'Pigs. But it ended Monday in Pawtucket on a three-game losing streak. The 'Pigs started the season on a historic down note, going 5 and 35. After a team shake-up they played .500+ ball for much of the middle months. But in August they again swooned, going something like 7 and 25.
I knew before the season started that the team would not be good, but certainly did not expect them to be this bad. To their credit, they never stopped trying and along the way they provided some good baseball moments. Les Walrond's 17-strikeout performance, J.A. Happ, and the coming of Carlos Carrasco come to mind. It was great to have season tickets for this inaugural season. The park is quite nice, in the mold of other new triple-A parks I've seen, and the fan atmosphere was, by and large, just fabulous. For me there was much too much of the gimmicky between-innings junk but I get why they do it. And if the team were better maybe there would be more emphasis on the on-field aspects of the park. Many on this year's team will not be back. Thanks and farewell. Here's to next spring!
One who may or may not be back is catcher Jason Jaramillo, who had a Herculean task and got beat up all season long. I had a close-up view of the plate and learned a new appreciation for what catching is all about, while watching Jaramillo at work. It is a damn shame that he did not get a September call-up. Instead, double-A catching prospect Lou Marson got the call. Jaramillo may not have had an outstanding season but the guy deserves some love.
