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Enjoy 14 innings for the price of nine

You'll start seeing a lot of Greensboro Grasshoppers material in this blog from now on, so we'll open things up with the unique opportunity on the table tonight at NewBridge Bank Park - a doubleheader starting at 5:05 p.m., with each game going seven innings.

The Hoppers have been lucky enough this year to incur the wrath of Mother Nature a fair bit (they even played a a triple header of sorts during a recent road trip). But back to tonight, your ticket will get you into BOTH games. Which means you're getting around 50% more baseball for the price of your ticket. You should also get some sort of badge of honor for watching 14 innings, in my opinion. Probably for playing 14, too.

A couple quick random tidbits heading into tonight's game vs. Kannapolis.

• The Hoppers are 5-4 in their past nine games and trail Lakewood by six games in the SAL's Northern Division.
• Catcher Kyle Skipworth, the No. 6 overall pick last season who has struggled throughout the year, is hitting.308 in his last ten games to raise his average to .203 - above the dreaded Mendoza line. He's looked better at the plate, too, even on some of his outs during recent home games. You'd assume he'll only be catching one of tonight's games and maybe DH'ing the other, since 14 frames behind the plate will really do some special things for your knees.
• Kevin Mattison is having a nice season on the basepaths with 18 swipes -- tied for fifth in the league. But he doesn't even have half as many as Lakewood's Anthony Gose, who already has 39 (and five triples). Talking with Hoppers manager Darin Everson after a Lakewood game a couple weeks ago, we were marveling at Gose's speed. The kid can absolutely fly -- both around the bases and in center field. He's worth watching when the BlueClaws come back to town in......let me check.....never mind they don't. You lost your chance.