There's a reason it's called the minor leagues

Last night I went to an Independent League baseball game in Bridgeport, CT. For those of you who don't know what that is, the independent league baseball is a grouping of various professional baseball teams and leagues through the US that do not have direct affiliation with MLB. Basically it's a league for washed up ball players, and never was's. So don't expect to be wowed by amazing defense, fantastic pitching, or a lot of dingers.

That being said, the game was still a hoot. The stadium itself say maybe 3,000 when completely full and instead of bleachers in the outfield there was the New Haven line of the NYC Metro North railroad. Seriously, trains would go by every 20 or so minutes and give the ballpark a honk of their horn. It was also Thirsty Thursday meaning 50% beer. Oh yeah, good byes were to be had by all.

To tell you about how the game went, well, there were 18 total walks; which is a whole lot. Also, there was an apperance by former MLB pitcher Antonio Alfonseca. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal were it not for the fact that Antonio has polydactyly, meaning he's got 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot. An advantage for a pitcher? Perhaps. Cool story regardless. But yeah, the overall quality of the game wasn't that great. I'd equate it to watching an ECHL hockey game, but boy do I love my Toledo Walleye.

This post fulfills Pension Plan Puppets mandatory monthly allowance for baseball talk. Please refrain from such talk until the 1st of September. Thank you.

Links after the jump.

A deeper look at hybrid icing and its history

Travis Hughes from BSH interviews the godfather of hybrid icing Scott Brand.

Ladies, has LD got a treat for you in her Friday Youtube Yoinkage

Here's a hint: ChippenLeafs

Former Leafs property Bill Sweatt joins his brother in Vancouver

I'm giving Burke credit on this one for uniting yet another set of brothers.

Name that Sabres blog

There's a new Sabres blog joining Kuklas Korner; help them find a "good" name.

The pieces to the Maple Leafs Puzzle

LeafsWire takes a look at how the players are going to fit together.

Will Komisarek have a bounce back season?