Is it hard to be a minor league fan?

Not exactly. If you are blessed with being near a minor league franchise, you probably enjoy an intimate ballpark, cheap seat prices, free parking, and you get to see some pretty good baseball.

What's hard is that your team changes every year. Oh, of course major league teams have roster changes: guys get hurt, traded, or walk way as free agents. But most minor league teams change the majority of their roster every year. The stars, the guys who did well, the guys you love, move up to the next level. The ones that didn't do so well, those you may be stuck with.

In the low minors everyone is full of potential. The many flavors of A ball (short season, low A, high A) feature every type of young hopeful and it is easy to forgive them their errors as you get to see them grow and mature.

At Triple A, it is different. A team may have a few young stars on the verge of the majors, but those guys are the most likely to be called up during the season and leave a hole in the team's lineup or rotation. The roster tends to be filled out with marginal players, "quadruple A" players who lost their major league jobs and who are stashed at Triple A by the big club in case they need a fill-in. Minor league lifers, guys with a decade or more in the minors, may also find themselves hovering in Triple A, hoping for a miracle, a sudden blossoming of power or talent, or just hanging on as long as possible before having to get a "real job."

So it is right now for the Columbus Clippers, the Triple-A team of the New York Yankees. With Bernie Williams sidelined for knee surgery, Juan Rivera has been called up to the Bronx. Erick Almonte spent most of the season in New York also, then upon return to Columbus was immediately hurt. There is not much pop in the lineup and not much great fielding on the diamond.

And yet Yankees fans in Rhode Island came out on a freezing cold, drizzly night to swell a Pawtucket Red Sox crowd to over 6000 people, just to see these maybe-someday Yankees. People wearing Paul O'Neill t-shirts and Derek Jeter jerseys, families mostly, took up residence behind the Clippers dugout. At McCoy Stadium the dugouts are tucked under the stands, and kids lower baseballs and pens in cups hanging on strings. David Post, an eleven year minor league veteran accommodated people before the game and then played catch with Ryan McGuire, another well-traveled player.

On the other side of the field, the Pawsox' rising star, Freddie Sanchez, signed gloves hanging on ropes and basked in the glow of being the biggest fish in the small pond. All it will take for Sanchez to make the majors is for Nomar Garciaparra to tweak a groin muscle. Julio Zuleta leads the International League in homers and has two grand slams already. They are exciting for their fans to watch.

In Columbus, the excitement is mostly with the young pitchers. Cuban Adrian Hernandez, 'El Duquecito' has been a major league disappointment, but is fun to watch for his large assortment of pitches and arm angles. And two lefties, Alex Graman and Danny Borrell, are showing real promise.

On Saturday, May 24th, Borrell took the mound for the Clippers after a lackluster 8-4 loss. The Yankees looked even worse in the Bronx, losing to Toronto for the second straight night, and then folding again 5-3 on Saturday afternoon. Would the Clippers follow suit?

No. Borrell lived up to expectations, pitching five innings of three-hit ball. In the first Sanchez doubled off him and Andy Abad whacked a two run shot, but after that he allowed only one hit--Sanchez again--before he tired in the fifth. Borrell was too careful a few times, nibbling at the corners and falling behind, but he struck out Julio Zuleta twice, and got Abad swinging to end the fifth with two men on. With the cold and rain, manager Bucky Dent lifted him in line for the win, as the Clippers offense had come to life.

Pawsox starter Chris Elmore faced five batters in the second and retired none. Bob Smith singled, Ryan McGuire singled, Jose Nieves walked, Bo Robinson singled in a run, and Marcus Jensen walked one in. Jensen also homered in the fourth. In the fifth, Drew Henson singled and Bob Smith cashed him in with a two run homer to put the score at 6-2 Clippers.

The wind on this cold, rainy night, played havoc with every ball hit into the outfield, making the fielders zig zag back and forth for every ball. But 5370 fans made it to the park, which, I should add, has a sizable roof and many, many seats protected from the weather.

The same can't be said of the field, which had to be covered by the tarp at 8:28 pm, as it began to pour in the seventh inning. With Andy Shibilo on the mound, it looked as if the Clippers would go down on nine pitches, three strikeouts. But Drew Henson, who has struggled at the plate and who strikes out far too often, managed to just tip strike three foul. The catcher tried to claim he caught it, but the ump decided he had caught it off his foot, and ordered the Pawsox back into the field. Henson, given a new life, battled. It was good to see the kid, in the pouring rain, trying to hang in and not give away the at bat. He fouled off four, five pitches. Worked the count full. But then popped to short to end the inning.

If Henson would have more at bats like that, he could again be fun to watch. As I understand it, this is his last year to try to make it in baseball. If he doesn't, it will be back to football for him. He went through the NFL amateur draft. But wouldn't it be fine to see him excel, as a Yankee?

We'll see. The minor leagues are all about the future. And maybe that is part of the appeal. We come to see not just the players, the games, but what might be, some day.