Last night I took a trip out to Trenton for Game 2 of the Eastern League Division Playoffs. It was an extra special trip because one Andy Pettitte was making a rehab start! As such, I took a lot of pictures. I’m going to pluck out the highlights, but here’s the full set (it’s an external link):
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| Trenton Thunder 09-09-10 |
It was a huge pain getting in the park, thanks to Mr. Andrew Eugene Pettitte. It was expected but the lots were almost totally full when we got there and apparently Trenton packed 8,000 people into the park. Because of this we were not able to take advantage of the Thirsty Thursday $2 beers. But we had very lovely seats to see Andy so that was okay:
Waterfront Park, Section 17, Row C
Could not really ask for a better view of my favorite baseball player pitching than what I got last night. Hooray for awesome friends.
Because of the mess getting in, my friend and I missed Andy’s first out and how a runner got on first base but saw him induce a weak groundball for a doubleplay to get out of the inning as we dashed over to our seats.
The best part about rehabbing Yankees players is that they have to adhere to the minor league dress codes they set for their affiliates. In short: They wear high socks.
Andy Pettitte in ~high socks~
High socks rule. Andy used to wear high socks in MLB but then stopped. I don’t know why, it made me sad.
Andy Pettitte and Austin Romine
There’s not really a whole lot to say about how Andy pitched. He doesn’t have the fastball a lot of the guys you see in AA feature in terms of velocity but he’s a lefty, he hasn’t yet turned into Jamie Moyer and he has very good breaking stuff. The kids he faced didn’t really stand a chance. Eric Thames whiffed so hard at one point that he blew me over.
After Andy hit his four inning max, he went into the bullpen to hit his pitch count max (he’d thrown 51 pitches in the game and was supposed to throw about 65 total) Adam Warren came out to pitch. I saw Warren quite a bit last year on Staten Island, and I like him a lot as a prospect though I’m not sure if he’ll wind up as a starter in MLB.
Adam Warren
One of the things I was taken aback by was how aggressive Warren was with his fastball which struck me as different from when I saw him 2009. I don’t have an exact count but he threw an overwhelming number of them, exactly where he wanted, and got a lot of whiffs. I didn’t see much of his secondary stuff at all, but with the command he was showing it probably wasn’t needed for this start. Going forward, that will probably have to change. Everyone loves their fastball but you have to use your other pitches as well, especially if they need some work (which Warren’s do, though they are not bad).
I took a couple of videos of his throwing motion for the audience at home:
Warren finished up the night with a line of 6IP, 3H, 3BB, 10K. Two of the strikeouts were hilarious 2 strike foul bunts.
Beyond the pitching staff, Romine has looked very tired all three times I’ve seen him in the last month. However it is his first year catching full time in a full season league so it’s understandable that he’s fading a bit. He had a little trouble handling some of Andy’s breaking stuff (two Wild Pitches were charged but one was definitely a Passed Ball). I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the Arizona Fall League with him but I assume much of it will be work on his catching and that he won’t necessarily put in a lot of time playing in games.
Trenton doesn’t have much of an offense right now with Romine looking tired, callups and Marcos Vechionacci reverting into pre-2010 form. New Hampshire’s pitcher Zack Stewart was very good, and a lineup like Trenton features at this time doesn’t stand a chance.
There were two throwing errors charged to fielders last night (one to Romine, one to Luis Nunez) but honestly they were both on Vechionacci. The throw from Nunez did bounce the the throw from Romine was right there and he just didn’t catch it. A competent first baseman would have made both plays without much effort.
In the end, Trenton pulled out a win with a walkoff homerun by Rene Rivera in the 12th inning. There weren’t many people left in the park at that point–school night and at least half the park left when Andy came out of the game–but those of us that stayed got coupons for free WaWa coffee and bragging rights.
don’t forget our real secret of the night, seeing where chase and derby (the bat dogs) do their “business”
I don’t want it to get out, people might start pressing us for info so they can hang out there!