Today was another Yankee Legends Sunday, with Newark Bears players Ramiro Mendoza and Armando Benitez serving as the guests of honor. Both players signed autographs and threw out ceremonial first pitches before the game, though I think it is a bit of a stretch to call Benitez a Yankee legend.
Despite the late time change, the crowd wasn’t significantly worse than other Sunday games. We had a number of kids sitting around us in our section today. They reminded me of seagulls, because every time one of the players had a baseball we’d hear a chorus of “Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball!” I was happy when they left in the sixth or seventh inning.
Rob Mackowiak
The Bears made a couple of additions to their roster today. Rob Mackowiak returned to Newark after hitting .156 in 13 games and getting released by the Columbus Clippers. To make room on the roster, Charlton Jimerson went back on the DL. The Bears also signed pitcher Franklin Perez, who made the start today. By my count, he is the 61st player to appear in a game for the Newark Bears this season. Perez was released by the Long Island Ducks on Friday.
Franklin Perez
Despite possessing an ERA over 10 entering the game, Perez was able to scatter three hits, four walks and a hit batsman over the first five innings and limit the Barnstormers to just one run. The Bears trailed 1-0 going to the bottom of the first, but they were able to score a pair of runs off Lancaster pitcher Ben Fritz on RBI singles by Carl Everett and Sandy Madera.
Ben Fritz
Madera and Salomon Manriquez drove in two more runs in the third to give the Bears a 4-1 lead. The Bears had the chance to add to their lead in the fifth, but a bad call took them out of the inning.
Everett led off with a walk and went to second on Madera’s single to center. Manriquez hit a ground ball back up the middle and shortstop Lloyd Turner started a 6-4-3 double play. But second baseman David Housel’s throw deflected off of Madera’ arm and Everett appeared to score on the play. With Madera still writhing in pain, Barnstormers’ manager Von Hayes went out to the umpires to argue interference. Though Madera made a normal slide into second base, Bob Bainter ruled that he had put his arms up to hinder the throw. Hayes got the call, the run came off the board and the Bears had a runner on second with two out. Michael Hernandez flew out to end the inning.
Gerard Haran
Perez, who had been throwing a lot of pitches, ran out of gas in the sixth. He gave up solo home runs to Aaron Herr and Gerard Haran, With his lead cut to one run, Tim Raines made a call to the bullpen for Willie Banks. The 40-year-old pitcher did not have good control. He walked the first batter he faced and uncorked two pitches that got by Manriquez. The second one allowed the tying run to score. Banks rebounded to keep the game tied.
Victor Mercedes
In the bottom of the sixth, the Bears wasted a scoring opportunity. Victor Mercedes led off the inning with a double, and after Michael Sandoval struck out Tike Redman hit a single to put runners on first and third. Redman advanced to second on a ball in the dirt, but Felix Martinez struck out and Mackowiak flew out to end the inning.
Willie Banks came back out for the seventh and helped make a great play to save an error for his first baseman. L.J. Biernbaum hit a ground ball to first base, which was went off Brandon Buckman’s glove. Martinez caught the deflection and threw to Banks, who just managed to stretch to beat Biernbaum to the bag to get the out.
Then Banks walked the next two batters. He gave up RBI singles to Haran and Ryan Mulhern to put the Barnstormers up 6-4. Sendy Rleal came on and got a double play to end the inning, but it looked like all the damage had already been done.
Antonio Alfonseca
The Bears kept the Barnstormers from adding onto their lead, but they were unable to score themselves until the ninth inning. Lancaster brought on closer Antonio Alfonseca, who did not look sharp. Mackowiak singled to center to get things started. He went to second on a ball in the dirt. Alfonseca walked Everett, who left the game for a pinch runner. After getting Buckman to fly out, Alfonseca gave up a single to Manriquez to load the bases.
Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to center, which let Mackowiack score and cut the lead to just one run. Michael Woods airmailed the throw to third base, allowing both Andres Perez and Manriquez to move up. This turned out to be a very important play. Mercedes hit a fly ball to left that Ryan Mulhern couldn’t hang onto. I don’t think Manriquez could have scored from first on the play, but he he made it easily from second.
Despite blowing a 4-1 lead, the Bears got their first win of the second half. Tomorrow, they’ll look to salvage a split of the series with Ramiro Mendoza on the hill.
I've been a Mets fan for about 20 years. I'm hoping that my favorite team will be more fun to watch next year.
