Scranton/Wilkes-Barre vs. Indianapolis, June 2

I went up to Indianapolis tonight to take in the last game of the Indians' series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  The Indians' Victory Field is a beautiful ballpark, situated on the western edge of downtown, with a nice view of the skyline, some older industry and a railroad track nearby (and a monolithic hotel that now towers over the leftfield part of the skyline, but it's still generally a nice view).  The weather was perfect, and I had high hopes that I'd see Andrew Brackman finally find his groove.  He looked pretty wild warming up, though, and once the game started his control issues became immediately apparent.  My brother and I were sitting about 15 rows up almost directly behind home plate, and Indians fans started to yell "Duck!" after several of Brackman's pitches came whistling in close and head-high.  He managed to get out of the first inning, but in the second he walked the first two batters and then hit Eric Fryer on his helmet; the ball actually caromed all the way into the stands behind the Yankee dugout.  Brackman was pulled at that point, and Ryan Pope then surrendered a bases-clearing double that put Indy in the lead (one they'd keep and build throughout the night).

It was fun to see Kevin Russo and Ramiro Pena playing, and I was jazzed to see Montero, Vazquez and Laird as well.  Montero flew out to right, singled sharply on the ground between first and second, walked, was hit by a pitch, and lined out to first to end the game. The HPB was right on his butt and he was clearly p.o’d about it; he took only a couple of steps away from the plate, then stood there, glancing out towards the mound, before hurling his bat away in disgust and walking down to first base.  His catching still seemed a bit iffy--the Indians scored a run on a WP that I think could easily have been scored as a PB--but adequate overall.

Alex Presley had a monster night for the Indians, hitting two HRs and robbing Brandon Laird of a hit that was either going over the fence or off the top of it.  The Indians scored 13 runs and got 15 hits, so it was pretty much a shooting gallery all night after Brackman got pulled.  I wish I'd seen one of the two games Scranton won instead (esp. the one in which Montero homered and tripled), but it was still a blast to see the triple-A team play, especially in such a nice setting.  Attendance was about 9,000, which seems good for a weekday evening minor-league game.