Well, here is the final report from Ballpark Tours 2019 Kentucky Bourbon Tour. If you want to track the whole excursion, for Days One & Two, click here. Days Three & Four, click here. Days Five & Six, click here. Day Seven, click here. Day Eight, click here.
DAYS NINE AND TEN – AN OLD SCHOOL BALL GAME, FIREWORKS. A FATHERS’ DAY OOPS AND THE AMAZING TYLER.
Back home now, having completed our ten-day, whirlwind Ballpark Tours baseball excursion. Before looking at Days Nine and Ten, here are a few tidbits about the trip. Note: Once this post is published, Baseball Roundtable will go back to our regularly (and usually) scheduled programming.
- Approximately 1,600 bus miles.
- Eight games in five cities.
- The opportunity to enjoy Chicago’s 36th Annual Blues Fest (and more live music along the way).
- The opportunity to visit museums ranging from the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory to The Mary Todd Lincoln House to The Chicago Art Institute (and more – even a hotel with an art museum right inside of it).
- Touring and tasting at one of the nation’s oldest distilleries.
- Two nights of fireworks – and the appearance of The Amazing Tyler.
- Whiskey Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday and 25-cent Hot Dog Night.
- Bloody Mary, Moscow Mule and Long Bottom Stretch Bars on the bus.
- Tequila, not just for breakfast anymore (and, now, neither is bourbon).
- A winery, distillery, restaurant/bar, ice cream parlor and fruit/vegetable sales all on the same (Huber Family) farm.
- The Kane County Beer Cave; The Cubby Bear (Wrigleyville); The Slippery Noodle Inn (oldest bar in Indiana) and the Big Daddy Caddy Band; The (bustling) Mussel & Burger Bar (Louisville); and Mike’s amazing driving skills.
While We Were Away
Photo by thatlostdog–
While we were on the road, The Astros’ Charlie Blackmon played in nine games – collecting 22 hits (44 at bats – a .500 average), scoring 14 runs, driving in 16 and bashing in six home runs. Surprisingly, despite the hot bat, he drew only one walk while we traveled.
In short, as Ballpark Tours traveled across baseball country – everyone (including Charlie Blackmon) had a good time. Now back to the trip.
DAY NINE – A RAINY DAY AN OLD SCHOOL BALLGAME AND THE AMAZING TYLER
Day nine saw a rainy bus ride from Indianapolis to Charles, Illinois in anticipation of the final game of the journey, a Midwest League (Class A) match between the Kane County Cougars (Diamondbacks) and the Beloit Snappers (A’s). A fairly uneventful ride, fueled by speculation (and weather report updates) as to whether (no pun intended) we might have a rain out. We arrived in St. Charles early enough to take in lunch and the happy hour at the Spotted Fox Ale House – and to happily judge the weather playable. (In a Ballpark Tours “veteran move,” one of our happy travelers attempted to convince the waiter that, since our day started in a different time zone, Happy Hour should start an hour early for our group.)
The weather cooperated (the College of Cardinals may have an in) and the game proved to be one of the best on the trip – with Kane County earning a walk-off (run-off) win as the Cougars’ catcher and number-nine hitter doubled to open the bottom of the ninth (in a 3-3 tie) and slid across the plate, barely avoiding the tag, on a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
In this one, the pitching was dominant early, the Cougars starter – 22-year-old southpaw Michel Gelabert – was perfect after three innings, with four strikeouts. His counterpart, 23-year-old Snappers’ right-hander Aiden McIntyre gave up just a walk in the first two frames (fanning four) before being touched for an unearned run in the third (an error and a pair of two-out singles.) For the game, Gelabert went six innings, giving up just three hits, one run and one walk, while fanning five. McIntyre went four frames and fanned seven batters, while surrendering three hits, three walks and the unearned run.
After the Cougars scored in the bottom of the third, Beloit came back with a run in the top of the inning – on a couple of singles and a sacrifice fly. The Cougars took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth – walk, hit-by-pitch, strikeout, fielder’s choice (6-4), single, single. Beloit came right back with two runs of their own in the top of the seventh – walk, fielder’s choice (1-6), single, sacrifice fly and a run-scoring passed ball. As you can read, lots of small ball – as the game saw a total of 11 hits (nine singles and two doubles), two sacrifice flies, three stolen bases and a sacrifice bunt.
Here, by the way, is how the decisive bottom of the ninth went. Cougar’s number-nine hitter Zachery Almond doubled to left off of Snappers’ reliever Michael Danielak (who had come on in the sixth). LF Keshawn Lynch then laid down a nice sacrifice bunt (thrown out pitcher to first) with Almond going to third. After an intentional walk to CF Alex Thomas, RF Eduardo Diaz hit a (sacrifice) fly to medium center. Beloit CF Lester Madden made a strong throw (that appeared to beat the runner), but Almond slid home avoiding the tag. It was an exciting finish to a well-played, old school ball game.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Zachery Almond … catcher and number-nine in the Cougars’ line up. Almond, who scored the winning run had the game’s only extra base hits (a pair of doubles). He also had a single in his four trips – scoring twice and driving in one. As I write this, the 23-year-old, 6’3”210 pound backstop is hitting .237 on the season, with two homers and 24 RBI. Almond was a 35th round draft pick (out of Catawba College) in 2017. He’s hit .294 over three minor league seasons.
Will the real Zachery Almond please stand up! In this page from the Cougars’ program, the real Z. Almond is on the left. On the right is #10 … catcher Jose Herrera. Or are these the Almond Brothers?
Eduardo Diaz. … RF and number-three in the Cougars’ batting order. The 21-year-old Diaz went one-for-four and drove in two of the Cougars’ four runs on a single and the game-winning sacrifice fly. On the season, he is hitting .281-3-23 and he’s a .287 hitter over four minor league campaigns. He signed with the Diamondback as an international free-agent in September of 2015.
Michel Gelabert … LHP and Cougars’ starter. Gelabert, as noted earlier, went six innings and gave up just three hits and one run, while walking one and fanning five. On the season, the 22-year-old, 6’3”, 200-pounder is 2-1, 2.70. In two minor-league seasons, he is 6-2, 2.09. The Cuban was signed as an international free agent in May of 2018.
The food at Kane County was solid, with the customer-grilled (outside. behind first base) rib-eyes and pork chop sandwiches drawing rave reviews – as did our seats, just five rows above the third base dugout. The (craft) Beer Cave – a chilly, walk-in (yes, the fans walk in and select their beer) was also popular. It is stocked pregame with about 1,200 bottles and cans (60-70 different beers). Jimmy Buffet would probably eat a cheeseburger in there. One bit of sad news – no Bloody Marys in the ball park.
It was carnival night at the ball park and the Amazing Tyler entertained the crowd through the game by balancing pretty much anything on his face (nose and chin, primarily). You know, full beers, foam fingers, baseball bats, umbrellas, etc. – culminating with a six-foot folding ladder. Great stuff, except that, at one point, with the game tied 1-1 and the Cougars with two on and two out, he stood right in front of me, asking fans to provide him with personal items that he could balance. Still, a pretty impressive showing.
After the game, it was another round of fireworks.
DAY TEN – NO GAME, JUST A BUS RIDE
Pretty quiet group on the way home – but all happy and looking forward to next year. One slight glitch, we were headed for the Vintage (craft) Brewery Sauk City, WI for our lunch stop. Someone – nameless except for Larry (inside joke) – forgot to factor in that it was Fathers’ Day. An hour wait for a table, we were told. Most of the group scattered to other local establishment About six of us headed to the Gym Bar & Grill – where we found lots of locals, great food and service (I had the French Dip) craft beers and even $1 Jell-O shots. Ah, another Ballpark Tours “find.”
The Gym Bar and Grill. Great spot in Sauk City. Sorry, Marty! Bad photographer.
And that’s pretty much it for this year’s tour. Like I said, Baseball Roundtable now returns to its regularly scheduled programming.
Photo by Nina Manzi. Notice the jacket, Jeanne.
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