We took a 100 mile ride to New Britain, Connecticut which is about 10 miles south of Hartford.
We saw an Eastern League Double A minor league baseball game between the New Hampshire Fisher Cats who are affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays and the New Britain Rock Cats are the Minnesota Twins farm club.
It should be noted that New Britain has been a stepping stone for many major leaguers who have played and still play for the Twins.
Most notably catcher Joe Mauer who just signed an 8 year extension worth $184 million dollars with the Twins.
Other players of note who also played there are former Twin and current Red Sox David Ortiz aka "Big Papi" and current Twin centerfielder Denard Span who recently inked a 5 year extension as well.
The Twins have been known over the last decade or two for having a tremendous farm system.
Over the years from going to New Britain, we've seen many rising stars perform.
As for the 2010 edition, last night was just the second game of the season since they were rained out Friday afternoon when the King who rented a car for the week drove himself there to see the tarp and game wasn't played.
After dropping the home opener Thursday night to the Fisher Cats, the Rock Cats as they are called were looking for their first win of the season.
As for the game, it didn't start well for the Rock Cats who fell behind early allowing three first inning runs.
Mike McCardell who was the starting pitcher for the Rock Cats dug an early grave for himself.
He walked the first two batters he faced. His shortstop made an error behind him which plated the first run of the game. Regardless the run would have scored but an out wasn't recorded that helped prolong the inning.
To add insult to injury, he proceeded to throw a wild pitch that was followed by a 2 run scoring double by left fielder Eric Thames.
Designated hitter Adam Calderone delivered a single to center but Eric Thames was thrown out at the plate for the second out.
He retired the next batter to end the inning.
In the second inning, leadoff hitter first baseman Chris Parmalee of the Rock Cats hit a long home run to right field to get them on the scoreboard, 3-1.
The Rock Cats added a run in the 6th inning to slice the deficit to one at 3-2.
The Fisher Cats answered right back in the top of the seventh when they got a few more walks and an error but a runner was once again thrown out trying to score.
However third baseman Brad Emaus came through with a 2 run home run to left center that provided the insurance that the Fisher Cats needed to win the game.
The Rock Cats received a bases loaded walk in their half of the seventh inning to add another run to make it 5-3 but that's the way it remained.
The Rock Cats are now O-2.
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