Adios Baysox

The Bowie Baysox, the AA O's affiliate located somewhat near my house, were unfortunately eliminated from the Eastern League playoff contention on Monday, the final day of their regular season.  They had battled for weeks with the Harrisburg Senators, the Nats AA affiliate, for the second (and last) spot in the Western Division standings, and could have forced a one game play-in game if they had one and the Senators had lost on Monday.  Neither of those things happened and the Senators clinched their playoff spot, so the Baysox season was over.  It's too bad because we only made it to one or two of their games over the past couple months and didn't one last night of fun in at Prince George's County Stadium. 

Well, as a proper send off to the team, here are some of the Baysox autographs I got over the season.  Caleb Joseph up top was my favorite player this season, so I took the time to separate his card. 

This is what their 2010 team set looks like; the Aberdeen Ironbirds set looks very similar.  I really like how many of the cards show the players in their orange uni's!  The Tucker card is an All-Star insert card from 2010 Topps Debut.  Waring led the E.L. with 179 K's, Henson was 2nd with 156.  None of these guys have very nice autographs... 

This is Tanaka & Johnson's first O's affiliate cards.  Car-los Ro-jas! McCrory pitched for the O's in 2008 & 09, but spent most of the season with the Baysox.  Chad's card isn't very flattering.  Cooney didn't like how his little pinkie is up on his '09 Shorebirds card.  Gamboa is a great guy, very friendly, another one of my favorites.  

Joel was one of the hardest autographs to get on the team.  I got all of these signed at one of the meet-the-team days, but did get his Baysox card signed at our last game of the season.  He led the Eastern League with 33 homers, 264 total bases, and was second with 98 RBI.  He's had stints with the Dodgers and Devil Rays in the Majors, but won't be coming to Baltimore this September.

Viola had awful numbers with the AAA Norfolk Tides at the start of the season but his numbers over 23 appearances with the Baysox were good enough for him to get a September call-up with the O's.  I think that Komminsk is probably sick of me getting his autograph, and since I don't have anything left for him to sign, I'll stop now.

But the Keys Lost 2/2

Here are the rest of the autographs I got at Friday's Keys game:



The cards on the left and right are very similar but Nate switched in up in the 06 Ironbirds card in the middle.



Here Ryan Rodriguez makes another appearance. These cards are proof of his brief time in Bowie but he is back in Frederick, where he probably belongs.


Kennie Steenstra is the Keys' pitching coach and has been for the past two seasons. Somehow I never got his autograph before and had been toting this card around for 1.5 seasons. He is normally in a rush to get to the field to work with his pitchers. Come on Kennie, what's more important, signing an auto for me or making your pitchers better?



Bobby Stevens is fielding in this picture. I don't know much about him and have no insight to share. Sorry for the poor effort here.



Jake Stevens was drafted by the Braves in the 3rd round of the 2003 draft. This is his first season in the O's organization and he did not pitch at all last season after being released by the Braves, so he is trying to make a comeback this year. I really like the card on the right for some reason; it's like he is mesmerized by the baseball.



Brandon Waring was traded to the Orioles this past offseason along with Ryan Freel and Justin Turner from the Reds in exchange for Ramon Hernandez. There haven't been many Orioles that I don't like but I would've been happy to trade Ramon for his weight in excrement. He played such uninspiring baseball that it brought down everyone around him. Freel was a bust but hopefully Brandon and Justin will help out the Birds for years to come. Brandon hit a HR in the game and he plays a position that will likely be open in Baltimore starting next year.



Robbie was named the O's minor league player of the month for June. This was my first time seeing him and he seemed a little cocky. It was a snap judgment so I hope I'm wrong but who knows. I will get back about this next time I see him play.



Rick started Friday's game and was a little shaky. He was drafted in the 6th round of the 2008 draft and has already jumped from Aberdeen to Frederick in just over a year so I would expect some growing pains. And check out that crazy leg kick!