The only thing of note that happened after the bat throwing incident at Ocean State was the introduction, or actually a reintroduction of a mascot during our next home game. Say hello to the original Westy. It looks like that unhatched chick character from the old Garfield and Friends show, only with a giant hat and arms.

Moving on from that, our next trip was to Newport, where we would play an unscheduled doubleheader against the Gulls. Originally, the game was a standalone, but through a series of scheduling shifts due to rain, the game ended up being a twin bill with a 7 inning limit.

Now I had mentioned in a previous post how I was doing blogging from a bar in Newport, rather than the press section of Cardines Field. To explain, I had gotten the idea from a couple people: First, Dylan had told me about the Mudville Pub, which is a bar that is actually located in right field foul territory.

Okay, technically, that’s the Mudville Pub patio, but you get the idea, the pub itself is right next door to Cardines, and, well, after talking with Dylan and Tim Scott, who is the Gulls’ social media intern, also bright kid going to Syracuse in the fall, I had it arranged that I could blog from the bar. Now originally, I was going to blog from the patio, so that I could watch the game, but WiFi outside wasn’t great, meaning I got to do my work from inside. Which actually was better.

You see, the pub actually shows Gulls games on TV, because the Gulls themselves are the only team in the NECBL that shows their games on TV. In addition, they show ESPN, which was airing coverage of the SEC football media, day. I ended up snap chatting Maggie some footage of Nick Saban, because she’s a student at Alabama.

Before I relocated to the inside of the pub, I did snap some pictures of Westerners BP.

Also, I was once again tasked with being a cell phone jockey, charging phones for Dylan, Andrew Schwaab and Jake Ring. You should have seen how they delivered their phones through the wire fence surrounding the pub patio, it was like something out of a jail cartoon.

I might point out that that day was the deadline for draft picks to sign. It was pretty obvious that Brandon Bonilla was not going to sign with the Orioles, he had committed to us for the summer, and based on his ceiling alone, he could probably improve his draft stock next year if he has a great senior year at Grand Canyon.

Josh Palacios, who had left us the day after we lost to Sanford on the road, also didn’t sign with the Reds.

Probably the biggest surprise non-signing of the day was not a guy on our team, but rather a high schooler. Brady Aiken, the number one pick in the draft, because he had been screwed over by the Astros, ended up committing to UCLA. When I heard this, I texted Dylan (obviously after giving his phone back) and telling him we needed this guy next year. I was half joking of course, the odds that Brady Aiken signs with an NECBL club are about as realistic as Derek Jeter announcing he’ll play for the Red Sox in 2015.

Anyway, the first game was a meh affair. Edgard Santiago got the start, the Gulls scored early, the Westerners salvaged a run, but obviously it was too late for anything to be done. Gulls win. I stopped paying attention by the end of the third inning, instead focusing my attention on blogging and trying Mudville’s signature food: a Stuffie and Chowder.

A Stuffie, if you are wondering, is a bunch of baked clams made into a giant ball and put on top of a seashell. It’s slightly spicy, but very good. As for the chowder, it’s creamy, with a lot of clams. and a packet of oyster crackers on the side. As someone who works for a rival team, I highly recommend if you have time to go to a Gulls game, be sure to swing by the pub and have it. It’s cheap and good.

After finishing my work and packing up, I decided to watch the second game from the press box. On the mound for that game was Sam Burum, who hadn’t started since getting shelled in our third game against the Mystic Schooners. Sam, who had transitioned well into a solid reliever, actually was brilliant that night, allowing no runs. The game was a low-scorer, only one run came across, and for the most part, the Gulls, including their star slugger Blaise Salter, was held in check. In fact, the game was so uneventful after the first run that Tim and I ended up having a conversation about the uniforms for each team in the NECBL and what major league team they resembled. For what it’s worth, here’s what I remember we agreed on:

The Westerners look like the White Sox

The Gulls look like the Mets

The Plymouth Pilgrims look like the St. Louis Cardinals

The Ocean State Waves look like the Tampa Bay Rays

The New Bedford Bay Sox (Obviously) look like the Boston Red Sox

And the Mystic Schooners don’t really look like anyone, but if anyone has a suggestion, please feel free to pipe up.

As for the Northern Division teams,

The North Adams Steeplecats look like the Pittsburgh Pirates

The Keene Swamp Bats look like the Colorado Rockies

The Valley Blue Sox, despite having a throwback White Sox home jersey, look more like the Cleveland Indians.

The Vermont Mountaineers kind of look like the Seattle Mariners.

The Laconia Muskrats look a little like the Kansas City Royals, if they kept wearing powder blue.

And finally, the Sanford Mainers look like the Oakland A’s.

Back to the game. Just like Sam Burum getting back to the starting rotation, another player made a very long-anticipated appearance. Levi Mintz, who had not pitched in 13 days, finally made it back to the mound. You could hear the cheering and the exaggerated Southern drawling of his name coming from both the dugout and the bullpen. Like Sam, Levi was hard to hit, save for a rocket that shot through the infield in the 7th inning, by, of course, Blaise Salter. Fortunately Levi took down the remaining Gulls hitters with surgical precision, and for the first time this season, the Westerners beat the Gulls.

We did lose a hitter in the time before the game, as Joey Swinarski broke his foot while hitting BP against Ocean State, as if a concussion wasn’t bad enough.