Don't ask me why I ended up doing something like this last Saturday night - I wasn't in a very good mood that morning, I guess. I felt like I needed to get out of town for a bit. Whatever the reason, I hopped in the car and headed in whatever direction appeared the most appealing at the moment. About eight hours (and a few side trips) later, I ended up driving through downtown Norfolk, Virginia... and it just so happened that the bright lights of Harbor Park intrigued me into stopping to see what was happening there. Sure enough, the AAA Norfolk Tides happened to be playing that night, so I bought a ticket. Then it occured to me: with all the baseball I've seen in my life - hundreds of major league games, plus a few at the college and high school levels - I had never been to a minor league ballgame... thus, I was intrigued as to what I might think of it. Little did I know that I'd end up seeing an exciting game involving a lot of familiar names - and a few names that the Cardinals will likely be getting familiar with soon. And, I thought, this could be the beginning of a fun little feature here on The Birdwatch called Minor League Road Trip; it's an idea I'd toyed with in the past, but never implemented. So I'll probably be reporting on a local minor-league game every few weeks throughout the season. Unfortunately, the Cards don't have many affiliates on the east coast - the Batavia Muckdogs (yes, that's their real name) of the short-season low-A New York-Penn League are probably the closest, and they don't start playing until June. Still, there's tons of minor league teams in a variety of leagues here in the Mid-Atlantic region going on right now, so there's always the option to scout the competition in the form of the other NL Central clubs' prospects - which, as luck would have it, I was able to do last Saturday night in Norfolk.

To read more about last Saturday's game, the highlight of which was the second AAA start by Cincinnati Reds überprospect Homer Bailey, click below.

Bailey was the Reds' first-round draft pick (7th overall) in 2004. After some mediocre seasons in the lowest levels of the minor leagues, he jumped quickly through the Reds' system in 2006 with 138 2/3 IP of 10+ K/9 ball, with a combined ERA of 2.46 in high-A and AA. Coming into the 2007 season, he sported a career strikeout rate of 10.27 K/9; unfortunately, he battled significant enough control problems in '04 to keep his career walk rate slightly above 4.0 BB/9. In his first start with the AAA Louisville Bats, he pitched 5 1/3 good innings against the Toledo Mud Hens after being spotted an early 13-0 lead; the only run was from the only hit, a solo home run by (former Cardinal!) Timo Perez. Still, he walked three batters in that first start and only struck out four, the control problems evident.

Against the Tides on Saturday, Bailey pitched about the same. On a cold, windy night Bailey was lifted after only 5 innings and 90 pitches. The batters were fooled, as he only allowed three hits, none of which were hit terribly hard - but he struggled again with control, posting the same 4/3 K/BB ratio, including putting himself into a sticky situation in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two outs, Bailey walked Tides leadoff hitter Eider Torres, who stole second. Apparently rattled, Bailey also walked Brandon Fahey, bringing up the hot-hitting J.R. House - who frankly, should be playing in Baltimore. House was fooled on a 1-2 curve in the dirt, and tried to check his swing. What followed was one of the stranger plays I've ever seen: Torres broke for third and Fahey broke for second upon seeing the catcher have trouble with the ball, causing distraction enough for a slight hesitation by catcher Dan Conway. After recovering, however, Conway elected to ask for an appeal to first base on the check swing instead of trying to throw . House had anticipated this, however, and was most of the way to first by the time the strikeout was called by the first base ump. Conway attempted to throw out House at first, but was a half-step too late. Still, Bailey got out of the jam by painting the inside corner for a called strike three on the eighth pitch of the at-bat against former Padres minor league masher Jon Knott.

Having never seen him pitch before, what struck me the most about him was the armsy, flailing nature of his delivery. I'm no expert on pitching mechanics so I can't comment on the injury risk, but he appeared to have lots of problems locating pretty much every pitch, as he just looked to be throwing as hard as he could. He hit 94 on the Tides' gun, but consistency of location was a problem. Until he can get the walk rate down a little bit, I don't anticipate him seeing a major-league roster. Still, what he's done is pretty spectacular for a kid who hasn't had his first legal drink (he turns 21 on May 3).

As for the rest of the game, I was amazed at how many names I knew on both rosters. The Bats featured Cardinal World Series nemesis Mark Bellhorn, former Yankee Bubba Crosby, Wayne Krivsky favorite Gary Majewski (who threw fifteen pitches in 1 1/3 innings without allowing a ball hit out of the infield; he looked positively nasty, perhaps his health problems are a thing of the past and he can get back to his 2005 form), as well as former cup-of-coffee-holder and sexual predator Brian Shackelford and Reds hitting prospects Norris Hopper and Joey Votto. The Tides were a little less well known, with the highlights being the aforementioned Fahey, who took over for Brian Roberts in Baltimore in 2006 and stuck as an outfielder, former Twin Terry Tiffee, and former United States Olympian and journeyman reliever Todd Williams. The Bats took an first-inning lead as Tides right fielder Luis Montanez misplayed a ball into a double which resulted in a run. Bellhorn doubled and scored in the fourth to give the Bats a 2-0 lead, but the Tides answered in the bottom half, putting runners on second and third with one out and a run in. Bailey recovered, though, by inducing a pop-up and soft fly ball to get out of the inning. The Tides tied the game off the Bats' bullpen in the seventh, getting an infield single to chase Majewski and then loading the bases with one out thanks to a couple of walks by Jason Kershner before a House sacrifice fly. The Bats took over in the top of the ninth, however; Votto broke the tie with a 2-run triple off losing pitcher Cory Doyne, opening the floodgates for a 6-spot, all with two outs. Kershner pitched a scoreless eighth for the win.

Harbor Park in Norfolk was a very nice ballpark, featuring a fan-friendly concoursewhich allowed views of the entire field and the harbor/river beyond, and not a bad seat in the house with the prices $11 and below, but on a cold night with a stiff breeze blowing straight in from center I couldn't help but spend most of the last three innings on my feet walking the park to get different views. The best parts were the hot pretzel vendors, who heated pretzels on hot coals in front of you and had tons of options for toppings, and the trains that blew their whistle as they periodically went by within view of the right field fence. That sound in twilight automatically makes me think of Roy Hobbs and the Whammer dueling as the trains whistled in the background.

And so begins the Minor League Road Trip series... we'll see where it takes us from here, but all else aside, it was a fun start.