Aroldis Chapman day

So today, Skate Kid and I went to Fifth Third Field to see the Toledo Mud Hens play the Louisville Bats. Pitching for the Bats was Reds super-prospect Aroldis Chapman straight from Cuba.

The crowd was probably 50% Reds fans and 50% Mud Hens/Tigers fans.* Chapman threw consistently 96 mph and above and topped out at 101 mph. He went 4 2/3 innings and gave up one run on five hits and struck out nine. The only run scored was on an infield hit when Chapman did not cover first base on easy grounder to the first baseman in the hole. Maybe they don't do that stuff in Cuba.

Many of the Mud Hens had difficulty getting around on Chapman's fastball. When Mud Hens left fielder, Jeff Frazier was walking out to his position one inning, one fan asked him how Chapman was throwing and he said "hard". All in all a good day for Chapman though you gotta cover those bases.

It really is amazing what you can learn from watching the large scoreboard at the park.

I did learn that Mud Hens outfielder, Casper Wells' favorite ballpark song is "Sponge Bob Square Pants"** and his favorite movie is "Gladiator". He sure has some eclectic tastes, I must say. I wonder if all Caspers are that way.

On the drive home, we were listening to rock radio and the dj announced that the Tigers had just beaten the Indians 8-9.

8-9!

I think you can be an expert on Metallica or an expert on baseball but not both. Banging heads and banging balls are just two mutually exclusive things, I guess

*This is quite comical during close plays when half the crowd is screaming "safe" and half the crowd is screaming "out".

**He is Skate Kid's favorite Mud Hen now. Sponge Bob rules in his world.