Jesse Biddle Celebrates End of 16-Inning Game by Pitching

A little less than 2,000 people were missing from the stands of First Energy Park; otherwise they would have equaled the number of attendees to the Cleveland Indians home opener.  But, nothing drains people of enthusiasm like a minor league baseball game that won’t end, so even the about 7,700 fans in attendance got sick of waiting for their hero and stomped off into the night.

After 16 innings, they got one.  The problem was, he played for the other team and the BlueClaws lost.  Fortunately for the fans who’d fallen asleep during the glacially paced tragedy, Lakewood was scheduled to play a double-header!  So even though his warm-ups had begun more than an entire baseball game ago, Phillies first round draft pick Jesse Biddle was getting the ball, and all 11 people left watching were aching to see what he’d do with it.

Whatever it was, he could take his time.  Anybody willing to sit through 16 innings of minor league baseball clearly wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere.

They lost the second game, too.

Jesse hasn’t reached the upper echelons of the Phillies farm system just yet, so he’s another one of those young guys that’s dwelling closer to the bottom of the system than the top, but he’s one of the names we throw out there when people say our farm system is depleted.  If people even bother to say that anymore.  I’m pretty behind the lingo, for a guy with a Phillies blog.

So, even though his arm had gone back to sleep, Jesse was called upon to jump out there into the night and throw baseballs until they told him not to anymore.  And throw them he did, at anywhere between 87 and 91 mph, and for almost five innings, giving up two runs.  He walked three.

After 25 innings of baseball, the Kannapolis Intimidators had beaten Lakewood two times.  Jesse Biddle’s premiere had gone swimmingly, except for the 4-1 loss and the fact that his parents had left hours before he got to play.

And with that, those smarmy Kannapolis Intimidators got back on their bus and probably, I don’t know, talked about how awesome they think they are and how great it was to ruin a special night for a young kid whose got big dreams to play for his hometown MLB team.

SCREW YOU GUYS.  WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE THIS CRAP FROM A TOWN NAMED AFTER A BANKRUPT TEXTILE COMPANY.  WHAT DID YOU GUYS BIRTH, LIKE, HALF OF THE CURRENT NASCAR DRIVERS?!

Sorry.  Sorry.  I’m trying to cut down on my irrational responses to basic information.

YOU THINK YOU’RE SO GREAT BECAUSE SOMEBODY MADE A SILENT MOVIE ABOUT PEOPLE WALKING AROUND YOUR TOWN AND IT WAS DEEMED BORING ENOUGH TO GET INTO THE NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY THE SAME YEAR AS THE NUTTY PROFESSOR.

AND STUFF.