Friday Notes: Indianapolis recap

Last night I attended the double header between the Indianapolis Indians and the Louisville Bats (Reds' AAA). They had $1 beers during the game, so I'm not going to lie, I probably didn't pay quite as much attention to the game as I normally would. But this is what I saw.

Eric Hacker started the first game for the Indians. Hacker, 27, was acquired from the Yankees for Romulo Sanchez. He didn't really give up all that many runs (2), but he got hit around pretty good and ended up allowing 8 baserunners in 4.1 innings. Lucky for him, Donnie Veal came in and got out of a jam in the 5th inning and then pitched a scoreless 6th. I wasn't able to see the pitch speed since it was directly underneath me the entire game, so I had no way of knowing how fast the two were getting it up to.

The way Louisville's stadium is set up is that there is a huge picnic area in right center field. That's where I was during both games. Luis Cruz started center field for the Indians and I'm pretty sure he is a replica of Nyjer Morgan in the outfield (personality-wise, that is). We asked him if he would give us a ball if he caught the 3rd out of an inning and he said he would. He did this only once and afterwards turned around to throw it to us, but realized he was a good 150 feet away from us and decided against it. He also motioned to us that he wanted a beer. Basically, Luis is the man. Plus, he had a great game going 3 for 3 with a double.

I was hoping I would get to see Tom Gorzelanny in game 2, but instead it was Jeremy Powell on the hill. Nothing against Powell, but he was probably the last Indianapolis pitcher I would like to watch. Powell also got hit pretty hard and left the game in the 5th. The 2nd game definitely wasn't as good a game as the first one, because Cruz wasn't in center field, but Larry Broadway did homer once in each game.

The Indians got swept in the double header, but I ended up buying a sweet Andrew McCutchen baseball card and a display case for a ball and a card and put my ball signed by 'Cutch from spring training and put the card in it, too. It looks awesome.

News and Notes:

- The Bucs blew a 5-0 lead to the Mets and ended up losing 9-8 in the 10th inning. Adam LaRoche tied it up in the 9th with a 2-run homer, but Matt Capps gave up a run the next inning to pick up the loss. Garrett Jones went 3 for 5 and was a single shy of hitting for the cycle.

- C Erik Kratz and closer Chris Bootcheck were named to the International League All-Star team.

- Jose Tabata and Gorkys Hernandez both went deep for the Altoona Curve yesterday.

- Jake, who frequents our live blog, just started his own blog that will cover the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins.

- The Washington Post has an interesting article on how agent Scott Boras might use Japan as a tool to get #1 pick Stephen Strasburg the money he wants.

- Also, if you speak Taiwanese (or Chinese, not really sure what language they speak in Taiwan), you will be able to understand this news report of the Pirates signing 3 players from that country.