Lake Elsinore:reveling in some Manny Ramirez fail

I had a chance to go up to Lake Elsinore with Steve from the Friarhood to see the Storm play the Inland Empire 66ers (Dodgers High A) last Thursday night. While there we met up with Peter from the Padres Run Down. This game had two huge attractions:

1. Thirsty Thursday.......$1 beers until the 6th inning.
2. Heckle Fest........Manny Ramirez was doing a rehab assignment with the 66ers which could only lead to good fun.

Manny hit lead-off for the 66ers so as to maximize at-bats. He started by seeing four balls outside the zone from Storm pitcher and 2007 1st round draft pick, Nick Schmidt. Kind of weak. If I was going up against a "Manny type" on a rehab assignment, I'd have attacked him.....of course that's just me*.

Manny then made his way to second after another walk and then Schmidt quickly found himself looking death squarely in the eyes against the 66ers number three hitter**. Luckily for Schmidt the line-drive up the box deadened his non throwing fore-arm and not his face. A slight ricochet left Schmidt with time to gather the loose ball and spin to first to get the force......of course that wasn't the correct play. In Schmidt's stupor he failed to recognize that Manny Ramirez is horrible on the base paths and looked more like a flailing marionette hung up between second and third. Alas, Schmidt missed his opportunity to get the force at third......but as Schmidt wheeled to 1st, Manny made his mad dash to 3rd.
[Enter Allan Dykstra]
The Padres 2008 1st round pick announced his presence with authority......by air mailing the throw over Storm third baseman, Vince Belnome's, head. Ahhhh, to watch High-A ball up close. Those youngsters! Manny ultimately came around to score on the errant throw and I found myself chuckling about Ramirez' base running; that's just "Manny being Manny"(lol)***
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Manny later came to bat in the 4th inning, in what would be his final appearance of the night (I think it was the 4th.....c'mon, it was Thirsty Thursday!). There were a chorus of boos. He struck out. There were a chorus of cheers. It was great. Seeing a disappointed sea of royal blue trolley-Dodger fans was.....as Mudcat Grant would say......"some kind of nice!". I tipped my cap and said have a nice drive home.....PADRES ARE IN 1st PLACE!!!****

Quick Notes:

• Nick Schmidt was ok after being hit by the line-drive. It didn't sound good and he fell in a heap after being struck but he did bounce back. On the whole he didn't look that great. 
• The Storm were losing 7-3 in the 8th but decided to go bat-sh*t-crazy and hang an 8 spot during the bottom half of the inning. The final score: 11-7. Traveling for wins is a nice thing for this fan. 
• Allan Dykstra is an ogre. I commented that he looks like Jim Thome. The collective response: "He sure doesn't hit like Jim Thome." 
• Storm third baseman, Vince Belnome was 2-2 with 3 walks. That's a good night. He hit a HR in the last Storm game I went to. Belnome is the guy I'm watching. 
• I also have some cool pictures from the game. They actually aren't that cool. They just verify that it was actually Manny playing....or do they....the player's name is obscured by a glut of nappy dreadlocks. I'll load 'em tonight.

*I am a fan/blogger
** I can't tell you who it was. It was too difficult to deal with Thirsty Thursday and score the game so you'll have to live in suspense of which future Dodger star/flame-out it may have been.
*** Facetious...f*ck that Manny being Manny crap.
****I didn't say any of that. It was more of an inner-monologue. I was hesitant to get too obnoxious as the Thirsty Thursday promotion itself probably would have been reason enough for me to get ejected if I had exceeded a certain decibel level. Also worth noting; I didn't want to offend prospective members of the Friarhood as well as the gracious hosts who shuttled me up the I15 that night.