The Lehigh Valley Ironpigs carried a 3-20 record as they returned home to face the Rochester Red Wings on April 26th, 2008. It was a Saturday night and there was excitement in the air. Despite the terrible start to their inaugural season, a crowd of 9,537 showed up at Coca-Cola Park to see the Ironpigs that night. Well maybe it was more to see one particular member of the Ironpigs because on this night the man patrolling center field would be Phillies all-star gold glove outfielder, Shane Victorino who would be making a rehab start in Allentown. It also happened to be Jimmy Rollins bobblehead doll night for the lucky first 3,000 kids “under” 18 years of age. Patrolling the outfield alongside Victorino would be Javon Moran in left field and Mike Cervenak in right. Andy Tracy was at first, Casey Smith at second, Brennan King at third and Chris Woodward at shortstop. Behind the plate was Jason Jaramillo and the DH was Val Pascucci. The starting pitcher for the Ironpigs that night was J.D. Durbin.
Things didn’t go too well for the Ironpigs that night as the Red Wings put 5 runs on the board in the top of the first inning and pounded out a total of 20 hits on their way to an easy 10-0 victory. Sounds pretty bad, but who remembers the players on the field for Rochester that night? Leading off in center field was Denard Span, now a mainstay in the Minnesota Twins outfield. He was 2-5. Veteran minor league and part-time big league player Jason Pridie was in left field and he had 3 hits. In right field was Darnell McDonald, a veteran of several big league seasons. He chipped in with 2 hits. Batting fourth at DH was Garrett Jones, now a middle of the order big bat for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Veteran second baseman Howie Clark got the Red Wings off to a good start with a 3 run home run in the first inning. Following Clark were veteran big league players Randy Ruiz (1B) and Jose Morales (C), each of whom contributed 3 hits. An International League regular, Matt Macri was at shortstop and Chris Basak was at third.
But most important, the starting pitcher was a left handed former first round draft pick named Glen Perkins. Perkins was one of the top prospects in the Twins organization and he proved why on this night. The first hit he allowed was a 3rd inning single to left field by Shane Victorino. The next Ironpigs hit didn’t come until the 9th inning when Casey Smith hit a leadoff double. For the night, Perkins threw a 9 inning complete game, allowed 2 hits, walked just 1 (Andy Tracy) and struck out 7. Eleven days later Glen Perkins was promoted to the Minnesota Twins where he finished 2008 going 12-4 in the American League. The years that followed weren’t too kind to Perkins as he struggled just to stay in the big leagues. Then, in 2011 he turned things around as a lefty in the Twins bullpen. He pitched in 65 games for the Twins last year, going 4-4 with a 2.48 ERA. He struck out 65 batters in 61.2 innings and was named Twins Pitcher of the Year and Twins Comeback Player of the Year. The Twins rewarded him by signing him to a 3 year $10.3 million contract after the 2011 season.
But that’s not the reason I’m writing this. I looked up this game because it was the first time Rochester came to Coca-Cola Park and Jason Pridie was on the Red Wings that year. Pridie was signed to a minor league contract by the Oakland A’s back in November and he was in big league camp trying to earn a spot on the major league roster. It was announced today that Jason Pridie is facing a 50 game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy. Unconfirmed reports indicate the suspension was for a drug abuse issue rather than an issue with performance enhancing drugs. Pridie played in 101 games for the Mets last year and it will be interesting to see what happens with the Oakland outfield where Michael Taylor and Brandon Moss are also competing for a big league job. I always liked Pridie and I wish him the best. He’s still only 28 years old but he could have a difficult time finding a job when he and Manny Ramirez both return from 50 game suspensions around Memorial Day weekend. Time will tell.
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What I remember about Jason Pridie was when someone figured out his middle name is Orville. Hearing 200 children (in line for running the bases) chanting “We want popcorn Orville” was one of those great moments at Coca Cola Park. It was easily heard across the park and even Matt Provence referred to a catch of his as an “Orville Reddenbacher Special”
What a shame I too like Jason Pridie. I got to know him by me being me while I was sitting next to the visitors dugout. I remember before the National Anthem, he was standing in the On-Deck circle when I yelled over to him to “take it easy on us today” and of course he obliged by saying “no”. At that point I walked down and started chatting with him. It was one of those cold April days and he asked me “is it always this cold here this time of year?” and among other things. After that, a friendship started as did alot with the visiting players. I always welcomed him back to town when the Red Wings came to CCP and when he went to the Bisons I heard that he was Mike Cervenak’s roomate on the road, as Mike himself told me during one of his visits to Wegmans in the middle of the night when Mike played for the Bisons. I wish him the best as I hope he gets himself straightened out.
One other note, if I remember that following Sunday afternoon was another ugly day at CCP as were alot of those games in ’08 and a slow ground ball was hit to Val Pascucci down the 1st base line and he couldn’t even pick the ball up. The runner was safe at first and following the game he was released, and the the Rich Thompson, “Richie T.” era began.
Oink Oink