4/1/59: OPENING DAY!!!! This is it guys! And I get to be at beautiful Family Dollar Field for the start of this amazing journey. Game 1: Lucio Juarez for the Blazers and Jim Fleming for the Flyers. What a matchup! Ok. Here’s what I saw.
Both pitchers were very good. It was 1-1 when they came out of the game. Fleming struck out Eduardo Gonzalez two different times to end an inning with a man on third. Juarez gave up a run early and then shut the Flyers down.
The bullpens were good too. I was especially impressed with Qing-lai Ou-yang. He came in after Fleming gave up the game tying homer to Leonardo Rodriguez and shut down the first 6 guys he saw. He only gave up 2 hits in 4 innings. HUGE! Then Chavez and Thompson did their thing to keep it tied into extra innings.
[urlhttps://statsplus.net/brewster/reports/news/html/players/player_42756.html]Calvin Johnson[/url] was ridiculous! He threw out ALL FIVE of our guys that tried to steal a base! Unbelievable!
Bottom of the 12th, 2 on, 1 out, and Firecracker came through with the walk-off RBI single to bring Frazier home and provide that sweet, sweet opening day victory!
4/2/59: Little Johnny was phenomenal! A complete game. 2 hits. 8 strikeouts. What a performance. Then there was Tadataka Yoshikawa!. He hit two monster bombs! Both of them were over 420 ft! Wow!
4/3/59: GET OUT THE BROOMS! Flyers get the sweep! Mauro Mendoza was great on the hill today! No runs, 5 hits, 7 k’s in 7.1 innings. He got into trouble in the 8th but Chavez came in, got out of a bases loaded jam, and pitched a clean 9th for the save!
Victor Frazier was outstanding in center in this one. He saved at least a couple of hits by getting to tough balls and turning them into outs. He is SO GOOD out there!
ROAD TRIP! The next three games were in New Orleans. I had never been so I took it in on the travel day and every morning before the game. Man, what a city! My favorite things from this trip to the Big Easy.
1. The Jazz! From the street performers to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, I listened to all the jazz I could! Dixieland, Jazz standards like Autumn Leaves, and some cool modern stuff. Man, it was awesome!
2. The crawfish étouffée and the jambalaya! Those were my two favorite meals I had while I was in town. Absolutely delicious!
3. The trolley cars. Who doesn’t love trolley cars?
4. The retractable roof at The Commanders Palace! I had never been to a stadium with a retractable roof before and I thought it was pretty cool.
4/5/59: Lawrence Stewart can hit. I didn’t mention him earlier but he had 3 hits in this game after having 3 hits in the last game against Montreal. Did I mention he had 2 hits the game before that? I think I like this kid. Unfortunately, nobody else from Charlotte hit in this game.
The Crawdads did though. Tom Guenette and Jamie Angwin both homered off of Mainaky
4/6/59: Ugh! Eduardo Correa crushed two dingers and drove in 4. Our pitchers threw batting practice all day. On the other hand, New Orleans got a complete game shutout from Leif Leclair. Ugly game for the boys from Charlotte. I’m to the next one.
4/7/59: Jim Fleming was very good again but Rule 5 pick Rick Clarijs got rocked for 4 runs in his debut. And when Steven Flannery pitches a complete game and only gives up 1 run, you can’t afford a bad bullpen day.
Next week I’m back home in Charlotte for games against Rockville and Charm City.