For four innings tonight, it looked like we having a pretty decent pitcher’s duel between Devin Collins of St. George and our own Steve Russell. Collins retired nine batters without a ball leaving the infield. He got in a little trouble but pitched out of it. Russell got in some minor trouble but didn’t give up more than a single run in each inning. Through four, St. George led 3-1. Collins pitched a scoreless top of the fifth with a couple of Ks. But Russell couldn’t match it. He walked the second batter he faced, allowed a single, and then two more walks resulted in a run. Then former major leaguer Wiki Gonzales delivered a 2-run single and suddenly the Sox were down 6-1. Jeff Leonard, again with a quick hook, brought in Jesse Hall. Hall got us out of the inning but not before another run scored that left us with a six run deficit.
Devin Collins had a great outing going 6 inning giving up 2 runs on five hits and ringing up 6 batters . I think it was unexpected from most who have followed him during his career. In 44 professional games, this was only his second start. And he entered the game with three relief appearances this year that gave him a 7.11 ERA. So congratulations on a fine outing.
I couldn’t get the live audio feed via network1sports to work and after 6 complete the live stats feature died. As you know, Reno does not broadcast away games so I was pretty much stuck as far as this game went. I did try to flip over to IBN to watch the Chico game that the league advertised via an e-mail but could never get on. I retried multiple way for multiple times but nothing. So as of about 8:30PM, I guess my GBL night is over. I’ll update with a final score tomorrow when the final write up for the game comes out.
-------------------------------
UPDATE:
The Sox ended up losing the game 9-3 which drops their record to 1-7 as they head into a three day break before hosting Long Beach (3-2) for two, Orange County (4-3) for three and then, following a two day break, Long Beach for three more before hitting the road for a short two game series in Orange County.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Sox pitchers that came in after I lost contact with the game also couldn't shut the door as Paul Wilson gave up a run in his inning pitched while Kevin Fredrick did the same in his inning of relief. This was Frederick's first appearance of the series and only his second on the season. Not to tell Jeff Leonard how to do his job, but I think Frederick needs more work even if he is the closer for the squad. He has not been effective in his two appearances (0-1, 12.00 ERA) and the former major leaguer may need some more time throwing. Plus with the depletion of the bullpen, having a guy of his caliber not pitching is not a good idea. Again, there may be more to it such as an injury so I won't be too vociferous on this issue, I'll leave it to the manager to make that call.
That's all for the next three days. Thanks for reading.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Game Report: Reno at St. George (May 30, 2008)
Unfortunately, the Sox one game winning streak came to a halt with another disastrous start from one of our pitchers as the St. George Roadrunners set new franchise records in most runs and hits in a game when they beat the Sox 18-5 while amassing 19 hits. Reno racked up 6 hits in the loss.
Our number two pitcher, Mike Reeves, got pummeled just like last time. Unlike last time where he gave up 7 runs in 4.1 innings, Reeves gave up 8 in just two innings. His first inning went well but things fell apart in the second when Reeves gave up 3 walks, hit one batter, and allowed a three run homerun . 11 batters would come to the plate resulting in 7 innings.
Reeves came back out in the 3rd but it was obvious that he was already done. St. George Roadrunner’s announcer John Potter noted that Reeves wasn’t fooling anyone with his pitchers. And that led to a walk and two singles and another run. Jeff Leonard had seen enough and hooked Reeves in favor of Mario Guilen. Unfortunately, Guilen couldn’t duplicate his 4 innings of scoreless relief from the other night and allowed two of the runners Reeves left on also came around to score. He was not especially effective going 3 innings giving up four runs on nine hits.
In an indication of how overworked the bullpen is, Jason Cline who started 3 games ago, came in for a relief appearance. As you’ll recall, he went 4.2 innings giving up 13 earned runs. But with three off days meaning it will be 5 days until he pitches again, it was a good strategic move by Jeff Leonard to put Cline out there and hopefully get him some more work to build his confidence. However, the Roadrunners had other ideas and continued the scoring as he went 3 innings but gave up 4 runs on five hits including a homerun. He also didn’t help his cause by throwing away what should have been a easy 1-3 putout in the 8th logging the team’s only error.
Reeves is quite the enigma. In 2005 he pitched with the Surprise Fighting Falcons. In 19 games he went 2-1 with an 8.86 ERA and 18 Ks. He was signed on June 6th and was released 47 days later.
Then Reeves came to the Arizona Winter League this year and, in 7 games with 6 starts, he went 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA, 35Ks and 12 BBs. Jeff Leonard had this to say about him:
“Reeves is a great all around pitcher. He is the type of guy you want starting a game and if a game goes into extra innings, he’s a guy you can call on in a pinch to close it”
However Reeves looks more like 2005 than this past summer as his current line after two starts is 0-1 with a 24.16 ERA and 2 Ks against 6 walks. I’m thinking he is on a pretty short leash now so hopefully he steps it up. None of us like to see thee guys do poorly but this is a business and if Reeves can’t get it done, he’ll be gone soon. With a short 88-game season, guys don’t have the luxury of working through a prolonged slump.
Marc Kaiser is doing as well as expected so he is anchoring the rotation. We just need the rest of our rotation to step up. Here is that rotation if you haven’t kept up with it.
1. Marc Kaiser (1-1, 4.85, 13K)
2. Mike Reeves (0-1, 25.08, 2 K)
3. Steve Russell (0-0, 10.80, 5 K)
4. Jason Cline (0-1, 25.07, 1 K)
5. Shawn Ravens craft (0-0, 14.54, 1 K)
Two off field notes for you…first, the Silver Sox sent out a game report for last night’s game so kudos to the team who didn’t send anything out for the first two games. I know it is harder to keep up with no one from the Sox front office there but I am glad they made the attempt. The Sox get very little exposure in Reno so anything they can do to keep the team on the minds of the fans is good. The RGJ gives them no coverage on the road but the Nevada Appeal does its best to grab those game reports to put in the paper. That is something the team should leverage…maybe the stars will align and one of the rumors of the Sox moving down to Carson City will come true and they’ll already have that solid relationship with the local paper. Now don’t run with that rumor because I don’t put a lot of stock in it especially if the rumor of being the only game in town is possible in Tucson. But it is still worth mentioning so I did.
The other note came from John Potter who reported that Carlos Madrid tweaked his hamstring a couple of games ago. It is similar to the injury that put Madrid out for most of the season last year. So he is going to be out of the lineup until the team gets back to Reno and an MRI is performed. Thanks for the update, John.
The final game of this series happens tomorrow as Steve Russell goes for the Sox. After that, the Sox will have a three day break until returning home to face the Long Beach Armada. They are probably the best team on paper with 4 former major leaguers and five guys with triple A experience. In fact, all but three of their players have played in affiliated ball. They look like the Yankees of our league; now we need to see if Steve Yeager can be the Joe Torre of the GBL and manage all that experience to a league title. In any event, they will play five games in Reno over the next two weeks. In fact it is only because of a five day break that they aren’t higher in the standings.
The schedule is a little wacky like that this year. Obviously, this isn’t the major leagues so costs are always a concern. As such, the schedule is designed to cut travel costs which is a smart move considering the ever increasing price of oil. That means in some cases teams play teams outside their division more than within their own. And it leads to odd series such as LB being off for 5 days, going to Chico for 3 games, taking two games off, coming into Reno for 2 games, going to Chico for 3, then coming back to Reno for 3 over the next two weeks. And we all remember how Chico had more home games than anyone in the league because they had already made commitments to sponsors even though they had to start the league later than they wanted. But I will never be someone to blame a schedule for what happens. Just pointing out that it is a little “un-baseball like”. At the end of the day, a few extra home games of 5 day breaks won’t be that big of a deal if your team isn’t that good.
Our number two pitcher, Mike Reeves, got pummeled just like last time. Unlike last time where he gave up 7 runs in 4.1 innings, Reeves gave up 8 in just two innings. His first inning went well but things fell apart in the second when Reeves gave up 3 walks, hit one batter, and allowed a three run homerun . 11 batters would come to the plate resulting in 7 innings.
Reeves came back out in the 3rd but it was obvious that he was already done. St. George Roadrunner’s announcer John Potter noted that Reeves wasn’t fooling anyone with his pitchers. And that led to a walk and two singles and another run. Jeff Leonard had seen enough and hooked Reeves in favor of Mario Guilen. Unfortunately, Guilen couldn’t duplicate his 4 innings of scoreless relief from the other night and allowed two of the runners Reeves left on also came around to score. He was not especially effective going 3 innings giving up four runs on nine hits.
In an indication of how overworked the bullpen is, Jason Cline who started 3 games ago, came in for a relief appearance. As you’ll recall, he went 4.2 innings giving up 13 earned runs. But with three off days meaning it will be 5 days until he pitches again, it was a good strategic move by Jeff Leonard to put Cline out there and hopefully get him some more work to build his confidence. However, the Roadrunners had other ideas and continued the scoring as he went 3 innings but gave up 4 runs on five hits including a homerun. He also didn’t help his cause by throwing away what should have been a easy 1-3 putout in the 8th logging the team’s only error.
Reeves is quite the enigma. In 2005 he pitched with the Surprise Fighting Falcons. In 19 games he went 2-1 with an 8.86 ERA and 18 Ks. He was signed on June 6th and was released 47 days later.
Then Reeves came to the Arizona Winter League this year and, in 7 games with 6 starts, he went 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA, 35Ks and 12 BBs. Jeff Leonard had this to say about him:
“Reeves is a great all around pitcher. He is the type of guy you want starting a game and if a game goes into extra innings, he’s a guy you can call on in a pinch to close it”
However Reeves looks more like 2005 than this past summer as his current line after two starts is 0-1 with a 24.16 ERA and 2 Ks against 6 walks. I’m thinking he is on a pretty short leash now so hopefully he steps it up. None of us like to see thee guys do poorly but this is a business and if Reeves can’t get it done, he’ll be gone soon. With a short 88-game season, guys don’t have the luxury of working through a prolonged slump.
Marc Kaiser is doing as well as expected so he is anchoring the rotation. We just need the rest of our rotation to step up. Here is that rotation if you haven’t kept up with it.
1. Marc Kaiser (1-1, 4.85, 13K)
2. Mike Reeves (0-1, 25.08, 2 K)
3. Steve Russell (0-0, 10.80, 5 K)
4. Jason Cline (0-1, 25.07, 1 K)
5. Shawn Ravens craft (0-0, 14.54, 1 K)
Two off field notes for you…first, the Silver Sox sent out a game report for last night’s game so kudos to the team who didn’t send anything out for the first two games. I know it is harder to keep up with no one from the Sox front office there but I am glad they made the attempt. The Sox get very little exposure in Reno so anything they can do to keep the team on the minds of the fans is good. The RGJ gives them no coverage on the road but the Nevada Appeal does its best to grab those game reports to put in the paper. That is something the team should leverage…maybe the stars will align and one of the rumors of the Sox moving down to Carson City will come true and they’ll already have that solid relationship with the local paper. Now don’t run with that rumor because I don’t put a lot of stock in it especially if the rumor of being the only game in town is possible in Tucson. But it is still worth mentioning so I did.
The other note came from John Potter who reported that Carlos Madrid tweaked his hamstring a couple of games ago. It is similar to the injury that put Madrid out for most of the season last year. So he is going to be out of the lineup until the team gets back to Reno and an MRI is performed. Thanks for the update, John.
The final game of this series happens tomorrow as Steve Russell goes for the Sox. After that, the Sox will have a three day break until returning home to face the Long Beach Armada. They are probably the best team on paper with 4 former major leaguers and five guys with triple A experience. In fact, all but three of their players have played in affiliated ball. They look like the Yankees of our league; now we need to see if Steve Yeager can be the Joe Torre of the GBL and manage all that experience to a league title. In any event, they will play five games in Reno over the next two weeks. In fact it is only because of a five day break that they aren’t higher in the standings.
The schedule is a little wacky like that this year. Obviously, this isn’t the major leagues so costs are always a concern. As such, the schedule is designed to cut travel costs which is a smart move considering the ever increasing price of oil. That means in some cases teams play teams outside their division more than within their own. And it leads to odd series such as LB being off for 5 days, going to Chico for 3 games, taking two games off, coming into Reno for 2 games, going to Chico for 3, then coming back to Reno for 3 over the next two weeks. And we all remember how Chico had more home games than anyone in the league because they had already made commitments to sponsors even though they had to start the league later than they wanted. But I will never be someone to blame a schedule for what happens. Just pointing out that it is a little “un-baseball like”. At the end of the day, a few extra home games of 5 day breaks won’t be that big of a deal if your team isn’t that good.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Game Report: Reno at St. George (May 29, 2008)
Finally!!!
Sox win their first game of the season and do it in convincing fashion beating the St. George Roadrunners 15-5. The best part of this was how well things came together for the Sox.
1. The Sox offense continued to roll and racked up an amazing 20 hits in this game. Everyone but Alvarado got a hit but even he chipped in drawing three walks and scoring all three times.
2. Juan Senreiso broke out of his slump in convincing fashion with a 5 for 6 performance including a 3-run jack. This night will raise his batting average by 169 points and it redeems the faith Jeff Leonard had in keeping him as the clean-up hitter through his 2-20 start.
3. Marc Kaiser pitched a great game going 7 innings giving up three runs and ringing up six on the night. Billy Shea wrapped up the game going two innings and ending the game by striking out former major leaguer Wiki Gonzales.
There was bit of bad news...Carlos Madrid was injured sliding into second on a double. He had to leave the game so hopefully there will be an update on his condition soon. Hopefully it is a minor thing and he is back in the line-up soon.
And, before I forget, for those who haven't seen it, St. George has a "live stat" option on their website that looks like a rudimentary version of the MLB Gamecast option they have on their website. I'd love it if all teams had that but so far St. George is the only one I see with that technology. It really makes it easier to follow the radio play by play and it allows you to get caught up if you come in late or have to step away. Kudos to the St. George folks for that as well as the game notes produced for each game; both give the team a professional feel and I for one appreciate the effort.
OK, let's hope we can sustain the momentum and that this last 5 game losing streak is the longest we have to endure this season. Great win, guys!
Sox win their first game of the season and do it in convincing fashion beating the St. George Roadrunners 15-5. The best part of this was how well things came together for the Sox.
1. The Sox offense continued to roll and racked up an amazing 20 hits in this game. Everyone but Alvarado got a hit but even he chipped in drawing three walks and scoring all three times.
2. Juan Senreiso broke out of his slump in convincing fashion with a 5 for 6 performance including a 3-run jack. This night will raise his batting average by 169 points and it redeems the faith Jeff Leonard had in keeping him as the clean-up hitter through his 2-20 start.
3. Marc Kaiser pitched a great game going 7 innings giving up three runs and ringing up six on the night. Billy Shea wrapped up the game going two innings and ending the game by striking out former major leaguer Wiki Gonzales.
There was bit of bad news...Carlos Madrid was injured sliding into second on a double. He had to leave the game so hopefully there will be an update on his condition soon. Hopefully it is a minor thing and he is back in the line-up soon.
And, before I forget, for those who haven't seen it, St. George has a "live stat" option on their website that looks like a rudimentary version of the MLB Gamecast option they have on their website. I'd love it if all teams had that but so far St. George is the only one I see with that technology. It really makes it easier to follow the radio play by play and it allows you to get caught up if you come in late or have to step away. Kudos to the St. George folks for that as well as the game notes produced for each game; both give the team a professional feel and I for one appreciate the effort.
OK, let's hope we can sustain the momentum and that this last 5 game losing streak is the longest we have to endure this season. Great win, guys!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Game Report: Reno at St. George (May 28, 2008)
Another night and another loss for the Reno Silver Sox. Boy, I am getting tired of writing that.
It looked like their fortunes were going to change when Reno got on the board first going up 3-0 and even turned a triple play during this game. But, in yet another frustrating pitching outing, Shawn Ravenscraft only made it 4-1/3 innings before getting pulled. He started out well going two innings without allowing a run. Then things went downhill quickly. In the third inning , after back to back walks followed by a throwing error by our pitcher, a series of hits led to him leaving the inning down 4-3.
The Sox would tie it at 4 in the bottom of the third but Ravenscraft was already done as he gave up a three run homerun. During the next inning, he got an out but then hit two consecutive batters. Jeff Leonard had seen enough and pulled his #5 starter in favor of Jesse Hall. Hall got out of the inning without further damage but 2-2/3 innings, 2 runs, and 4 hits later, he was lifted for Paul Wilson who was able to get Hall out of the inning. Of course, in similar fashion, Wilson gives up his obligatory runs (two in this case in 1-1/3 innings) , garnering his second loss on the season, and dropping the Sox to 0-5 where they now gain sole possession of last place in the GBL South Division.
Control was an issue all night as 5 Roadrunners were hit by pitches…3 by Ravenscraft, 1 by Hall, and 1 by Wilson. Errors, hit batsmen, passed balls and walks are killing our team. And that, along with the pitchers just not getting outs, cancels out anything the offense can do. The Sox have 38 runs in 5 games. With a team averaging almost 8 runs a game, it is pretty ridiculous that they cannot get a win. Let just hope that Marc Kaiser can right the ship tomorrow since the entire rotation is anchored by him. Kaiser (AAA) is by far the most experienced pitcher with Steve Russell as the only other guy with affiliated ball experience, albeit at the Class A level. Our other three pitchers have only pitched in independent ball.
Jeff Leonard is giving pitchers the hook a lot faster than he has during this short season. I am sure no one is as frustrated as he is. I think he showed that tonight when Wilson coughed up the lead for the last time and he got tossed for yelling at the umpire.
His guys just have not been able to get outs or go deep into the game. 6, 5, 4.1, 3 and 4.2 innings are not going to do it. With a smaller roster than the MLB (22 vs. 25), and a bullpen of just 5 guys with one of the best pitchers (Scott Schneider) on the inactive list, trotting those guys out every night and expecting them to pitch 2-3 innings a night is going to make for a long season.
And before you know it, the Sox will be out of first half contention. There are only 44 games in each half so if the Sox can’t fix things in the next two weeks or so, the first half will be lost. And that isn’t going to motivate anyone to play any harder.
On the offensive side of the ball, most of the players are doing pretty well but Carlos Madrid (.182, 0 HR, 5 RBI) and Juan Senreiso (.100, 0 HR, 2RBI) have yet to find their groove. Of course, we know what those guys can do and Jeff Leonard must see it too since he continues to let them hit in the second and fourth spots respectively. I'm hoping to see that confidence in them pay off real soon and that we see the Madrid and Senreiso of last year who destroyed GBL pitching. Meanwhile, new addition Andre Alvarado is red hot, batting .500 in 5 games with a .857 slugging percentage.
Finally, yesterday I mentioned that Ben Deach no longer broadcasts the road trips. What that also means is that there are no game updates either e-mailed to fans or put on the website. It is a little frustrating because we aren’t getting interviews with the players or Leonard while they are on the road. So where we would know why Jeff was tossed if Ben were there, now we have to guess. And the website basically goes dormant as, again, there are no game/team updates when the team goes on the road. Hopefully this is something that get changed as the season progresses.
Alright, don't forget to root on the team as they work to erase their slow start. You can listen to game on the St. George Roadrunner's site starting at 5:45PM (Reno time) with the pre-game.
It looked like their fortunes were going to change when Reno got on the board first going up 3-0 and even turned a triple play during this game. But, in yet another frustrating pitching outing, Shawn Ravenscraft only made it 4-1/3 innings before getting pulled. He started out well going two innings without allowing a run. Then things went downhill quickly. In the third inning , after back to back walks followed by a throwing error by our pitcher, a series of hits led to him leaving the inning down 4-3.
The Sox would tie it at 4 in the bottom of the third but Ravenscraft was already done as he gave up a three run homerun. During the next inning, he got an out but then hit two consecutive batters. Jeff Leonard had seen enough and pulled his #5 starter in favor of Jesse Hall. Hall got out of the inning without further damage but 2-2/3 innings, 2 runs, and 4 hits later, he was lifted for Paul Wilson who was able to get Hall out of the inning. Of course, in similar fashion, Wilson gives up his obligatory runs (two in this case in 1-1/3 innings) , garnering his second loss on the season, and dropping the Sox to 0-5 where they now gain sole possession of last place in the GBL South Division.
Control was an issue all night as 5 Roadrunners were hit by pitches…3 by Ravenscraft, 1 by Hall, and 1 by Wilson. Errors, hit batsmen, passed balls and walks are killing our team. And that, along with the pitchers just not getting outs, cancels out anything the offense can do. The Sox have 38 runs in 5 games. With a team averaging almost 8 runs a game, it is pretty ridiculous that they cannot get a win. Let just hope that Marc Kaiser can right the ship tomorrow since the entire rotation is anchored by him. Kaiser (AAA) is by far the most experienced pitcher with Steve Russell as the only other guy with affiliated ball experience, albeit at the Class A level. Our other three pitchers have only pitched in independent ball.
Jeff Leonard is giving pitchers the hook a lot faster than he has during this short season. I am sure no one is as frustrated as he is. I think he showed that tonight when Wilson coughed up the lead for the last time and he got tossed for yelling at the umpire.
His guys just have not been able to get outs or go deep into the game. 6, 5, 4.1, 3 and 4.2 innings are not going to do it. With a smaller roster than the MLB (22 vs. 25), and a bullpen of just 5 guys with one of the best pitchers (Scott Schneider) on the inactive list, trotting those guys out every night and expecting them to pitch 2-3 innings a night is going to make for a long season.
And before you know it, the Sox will be out of first half contention. There are only 44 games in each half so if the Sox can’t fix things in the next two weeks or so, the first half will be lost. And that isn’t going to motivate anyone to play any harder.
On the offensive side of the ball, most of the players are doing pretty well but Carlos Madrid (.182, 0 HR, 5 RBI) and Juan Senreiso (.100, 0 HR, 2RBI) have yet to find their groove. Of course, we know what those guys can do and Jeff Leonard must see it too since he continues to let them hit in the second and fourth spots respectively. I'm hoping to see that confidence in them pay off real soon and that we see the Madrid and Senreiso of last year who destroyed GBL pitching. Meanwhile, new addition Andre Alvarado is red hot, batting .500 in 5 games with a .857 slugging percentage.
Finally, yesterday I mentioned that Ben Deach no longer broadcasts the road trips. What that also means is that there are no game updates either e-mailed to fans or put on the website. It is a little frustrating because we aren’t getting interviews with the players or Leonard while they are on the road. So where we would know why Jeff was tossed if Ben were there, now we have to guess. And the website basically goes dormant as, again, there are no game/team updates when the team goes on the road. Hopefully this is something that get changed as the season progresses.
Alright, don't forget to root on the team as they work to erase their slow start. You can listen to game on the St. George Roadrunner's site starting at 5:45PM (Reno time) with the pre-game.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Game Report: Reno @ St. George (May 27, 2008)
Before I get to the game, I thought I would mention another change from last year: in addition to not having games broadcast on the local ESPN affiliate, Reno now doesn't send Ben Deach out for the road trips. I wrote to St. George announcer John Potter during the game and he said he found out about it today when he didn't see Ben and called to find out why. So for 44 games this year, Sox fans will have to listen to the opponent's play by play guy. That is not bad with guys like John, Rory Miller, and Jordan Moore but you do lose the personal touch for the team that Ben brought. Not sure if it was a cost cutting measure, if it is because Ben is now assistant GM, a result of Ben's new radio show on ESPN 630, or a combination thereof but it is still unfortunate all the same.
Another night and another poor pitching effort for the Silver Sox. Though the St. George Roadrunners did their best to give this game away, the 11 runs that starting pitcher Jason Cline surrendered on 13 hits in just three innings were insurmountable. Cline, only one of two left handed pitchers on the squad, was called in for relief work on Saturday where he pitched 1.2 innings and was equally shelled. He came into this game with a 10.80 ERA from that outing and then more than doubled his ERA to 25.07 with this loss.
As I said, St. George did do their best to give this game away as their pitching and defense were not much better than the Sox. The final tally for this game saw 21 runs, 31 hits, and 5 errors between the two teams. The 12 runs scored by the Roadrunners are the most they have scored in one game all season.
There were two pieces of good news for the Sox. First, Mario Guilen pitched four scoreless innings giving up just one hit in his first relief appearance. Second, the offense of the Silver Sox continues to be a bright spot with homeruns by Flowers, Hattig, and Henderson joining Guilen from Saturday to raise the team average to 1 homerun per game on the young season. And every Silver Sox player has at least one hit on the night. Unfortuantely, it is has not been enough to get around the very bad pitching as the Sox check in tied for last place with the 2007 GLB Champion Chico Outlaws with a league worst record of 0-4.
The Silver Sox will see the Roadrunners 18 times this season and one of the interesting story lines is the trade between these two teams that sent Brett Flowers and Steven Wright to Reno for Mike Done and Ryan Brown. Throw in Cody Nowlin who was traded to St. George by the Sox last season and you have the more former Silver Sox on the Roadrunners than any other team. Mike Done for his part hit a home run as did Brett Flowers so they are even there. Nowlin chipped in with a couple of hits and a run while Wright and Brown didn't play.
This was game one of a five game series. Game two sends the last starter in Reno's rotation, Shawn Ravenscroft, to the mound attempting to improve the team ERA tomorrow night at 7:05 PM local, 6:05 Reno time.
Another night and another poor pitching effort for the Silver Sox. Though the St. George Roadrunners did their best to give this game away, the 11 runs that starting pitcher Jason Cline surrendered on 13 hits in just three innings were insurmountable. Cline, only one of two left handed pitchers on the squad, was called in for relief work on Saturday where he pitched 1.2 innings and was equally shelled. He came into this game with a 10.80 ERA from that outing and then more than doubled his ERA to 25.07 with this loss.
As I said, St. George did do their best to give this game away as their pitching and defense were not much better than the Sox. The final tally for this game saw 21 runs, 31 hits, and 5 errors between the two teams. The 12 runs scored by the Roadrunners are the most they have scored in one game all season.
There were two pieces of good news for the Sox. First, Mario Guilen pitched four scoreless innings giving up just one hit in his first relief appearance. Second, the offense of the Silver Sox continues to be a bright spot with homeruns by Flowers, Hattig, and Henderson joining Guilen from Saturday to raise the team average to 1 homerun per game on the young season. And every Silver Sox player has at least one hit on the night. Unfortuantely, it is has not been enough to get around the very bad pitching as the Sox check in tied for last place with the 2007 GLB Champion Chico Outlaws with a league worst record of 0-4.
The Silver Sox will see the Roadrunners 18 times this season and one of the interesting story lines is the trade between these two teams that sent Brett Flowers and Steven Wright to Reno for Mike Done and Ryan Brown. Throw in Cody Nowlin who was traded to St. George by the Sox last season and you have the more former Silver Sox on the Roadrunners than any other team. Mike Done for his part hit a home run as did Brett Flowers so they are even there. Nowlin chipped in with a couple of hits and a run while Wright and Brown didn't play.
This was game one of a five game series. Game two sends the last starter in Reno's rotation, Shawn Ravenscroft, to the mound attempting to improve the team ERA tomorrow night at 7:05 PM local, 6:05 Reno time.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Game Report: Orange County @ Reno (May 24, 2008)
In a true case of the chicken and the egg, was Reno's pitching that horrible this weekend or was the Flyer's offense just that good? Either way you look at it, the Flyers swept the Silver Sox in the opening series amassing 27 runs on 34 hits in the three game set. Making matters worse is the fact that two of the games were 7-inning affairs (one went to an "extra" eighth inning) due to them being part of a double header. So from an ERA standpoint, the damage is even more severe. In fact, after 3 games the starters have an ERA of 10.13 and the bullpen has an ERA of 8.78. And, of course, that doesn't count unearned runs.
The day was a rainy one but it never was enough to cancel the game. I guess on the bright side, since Peccole has artificial turf, there was no mud. But I am sure it was slick all the same. Perhaps that accounts for all the errors in the two games (9 total).
I didn't attend tonight but listened to Ben Deach's online stream. I thought the game would be broadcast live in streaming video by IBN as their website stated; apparently it wasn't though it may be archived now as Ben said it would be. I haven't checked yet.
In any event, the Sox offense made each of the two games very competitive. Both saw the game go down to the wire only to be blown by the pitching efforts at the top of the next frame.
Game one saw the Sox come roaring back in the bottom of the 7th (think 9th) capitalizing on a series of errors by the the Flyers and some key hits to tie the game. Unfortunately, half an inning later, the Flyers would slam the door permenantly.
Game two saw the Reno actually have a lead going into the final stage of the game before Kevin Fredrick, one of two Sox players with MLB experience, gave up three runs before recording an out watching not only the lead evaporate but also any chance for the team to salvage a win on the homestand.
Errors and miscommunication didn't help either. Senreiso overran a ball and yet another ball dropped to the ground between two players when Guilen called off the third baseman and then couldn't get the ball himself.
However, the good news came from the team catchers, D.J. Dixon and Gilbert Guilen. In addition to outstanding production during the two games, Guilen produced the first Silver Sox Homerun of the season and Dixon provided what Ben Deach called the "hit of the year" when he capped the comeback to tie the first game of the twin bill with a clutch drive.
Due to the doubleheader, the Sox will have two games off before meeting an improved Roadrunners team in St. George for a five game series. Hopefully that will be enough for the Sox to right the ship and allow them to secure their first win on the young season.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Game Report: Orange County @ Reno (May 23, 2008)
Opening day was finally here and my family and I wouldn't miss it. That phrase takes on added meaning as it rained off and on all day leading up to the game. By the time we got to the ballpark, it had stopped though the seats were still totally soaked and the game time weather was just 50 degrees. But, it was still opening day and that is what mattered. At least to me. When the first pitch was thrown out, I counted less than 200 people in the stands. The reported attendance was 1211 so assuming that number is true, then there were 800+ season ticket holders and corporate ticket holders that were not there. Pretty sad for opening day but it is what it is. Hopefully as it warms up, more people will come out to the park.
One good thing about the lack of people was that you could hear everything coming from the field. Gary Carter, new coach of the Flyers, is very vocal and you could hear him giving instructions to the base runners and pumping up the troops any chance he got. It was nice to see a hall of fame player and, still being a fan of the game, I made sure I headed down to the OC dugout to get his autograph on my program. He was a nice guy and that autograph will end up in one of my baseball scrapbooks.
I showed up to the park hoping to listen to the game on the radio but it seems the Sox are no longer on our local ESPN affiliate. Must explain why I haven't heard a single commerical for the team. That is unfortunate because that means no one at the stadium can listen to the play by play unless they bring some internet capable device. I will say the RGJ coverage by Colby Balkenbush is better than last year but that was due to the paper having a writer who later was reassigned with no backfill. Darrell Moody of the Carson Appeal still provides the best coverage of the team with interviews and notes for every game. I check him out after each home game and I'd recommend you do the same.
Opening night started with the announcement that fireworks for Saturday would be postponed due to weather. But the season looked to be starting off great all the same as the first hitter for the Sox, Steven Wright, slammed a triple off the right field wall to start things. The Sox, sporting a new cap feauring their "R" superimposed on a baseball, looked to do their best to put the 33-42 season of a year ago behind them.
Here was the starting line-up:
CF Steven Wright
2B Carlos Madrid
RF Juan Senreiso
3B John Hattig
1B Steven Alexander
LF Brett Flowers
DH Will Henderson
C D.J. Dixon
SS Andre Alvarado
P Mark Kaiser
Unfortunately, it was all Flyers from there. Their starter, Andre Simpson, pitched 7 innings giving up just three hits and one run. While waiting for Gary to sign, I made sure to tell him as much. He seemed generally appreciative for the compliment...one of the good things about indy ball I would say.
OC was running on all cylinders as they not only got the great pitching from Simpson, they also had three homeruns from Sean Lorentz, Fernando Pacheco, and Pat Breen. And actually, the final score of 7-3 could have been worse. Twice the OC had Mark Okano at third with no outs and couldn't bring him home. Once he was picked off and once the OC hitters just got rung up without moving him over.
So it wasn't a good start to the season but baseball is here and there are still 87 games to go so that is what is most important. Hopefully they work out some of the kinks too as we saw a throwing error by Alvarado that led to a run, miscommunication between Madrid and Alexander that let a foul ball fall to the ground between them, and a balk by Jesse Hall. Little things like that killed the Sox last year so hopefully this was just an off night.
I will watch tonight's game on internet TV partly to evaluate it for this blog but also because I have a sick son who probably wouldn't benefit from being out in the weather I see out my window as I write this.
As with last year, I am going to be busy for the month of June but then should be at the park for about 95% of the rest of the season. But we are going on vacation and I have an Army school to attend in San Antonio so expect to see some baseball action from San Jose, Modesto, Stockton, San Antonio and Round Rock. I still expect to do reports on the Sox during that period so please keep checking in. I hope to go to one of the Armada games in June between trips so maybe I'll see you there.
One good thing about the lack of people was that you could hear everything coming from the field. Gary Carter, new coach of the Flyers, is very vocal and you could hear him giving instructions to the base runners and pumping up the troops any chance he got. It was nice to see a hall of fame player and, still being a fan of the game, I made sure I headed down to the OC dugout to get his autograph on my program. He was a nice guy and that autograph will end up in one of my baseball scrapbooks.
I showed up to the park hoping to listen to the game on the radio but it seems the Sox are no longer on our local ESPN affiliate. Must explain why I haven't heard a single commerical for the team. That is unfortunate because that means no one at the stadium can listen to the play by play unless they bring some internet capable device. I will say the RGJ coverage by Colby Balkenbush is better than last year but that was due to the paper having a writer who later was reassigned with no backfill. Darrell Moody of the Carson Appeal still provides the best coverage of the team with interviews and notes for every game. I check him out after each home game and I'd recommend you do the same.
Opening night started with the announcement that fireworks for Saturday would be postponed due to weather. But the season looked to be starting off great all the same as the first hitter for the Sox, Steven Wright, slammed a triple off the right field wall to start things. The Sox, sporting a new cap feauring their "R" superimposed on a baseball, looked to do their best to put the 33-42 season of a year ago behind them.
Here was the starting line-up:
CF Steven Wright
2B Carlos Madrid
RF Juan Senreiso
3B John Hattig
1B Steven Alexander
LF Brett Flowers
DH Will Henderson
C D.J. Dixon
SS Andre Alvarado
P Mark Kaiser
Unfortunately, it was all Flyers from there. Their starter, Andre Simpson, pitched 7 innings giving up just three hits and one run. While waiting for Gary to sign, I made sure to tell him as much. He seemed generally appreciative for the compliment...one of the good things about indy ball I would say.
OC was running on all cylinders as they not only got the great pitching from Simpson, they also had three homeruns from Sean Lorentz, Fernando Pacheco, and Pat Breen. And actually, the final score of 7-3 could have been worse. Twice the OC had Mark Okano at third with no outs and couldn't bring him home. Once he was picked off and once the OC hitters just got rung up without moving him over.
So it wasn't a good start to the season but baseball is here and there are still 87 games to go so that is what is most important. Hopefully they work out some of the kinks too as we saw a throwing error by Alvarado that led to a run, miscommunication between Madrid and Alexander that let a foul ball fall to the ground between them, and a balk by Jesse Hall. Little things like that killed the Sox last year so hopefully this was just an off night.
I will watch tonight's game on internet TV partly to evaluate it for this blog but also because I have a sick son who probably wouldn't benefit from being out in the weather I see out my window as I write this.
As with last year, I am going to be busy for the month of June but then should be at the park for about 95% of the rest of the season. But we are going on vacation and I have an Army school to attend in San Antonio so expect to see some baseball action from San Jose, Modesto, Stockton, San Antonio and Round Rock. I still expect to do reports on the Sox during that period so please keep checking in. I hope to go to one of the Armada games in June between trips so maybe I'll see you there.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The season is finally here
Well, sorry for the lack of posts during the spring training period for the Silver Sox. Unfortunately, with the season starting earlier at Peccole than last year, I was pretty busy through spring training.
But the season is here and I'll have a full report from opening night as the Sox start the first of 44 home games this season.
Now looking at that schedule, there are quite a few double headers...6 that are scheduled so far. It looks like the team had a problem getting games on Sundays as there is only one the entire season. That probably accounts for all the double headers since there were five Sunday games in the original schedule the team had. They had a magnet schedule night to open the season but it isn't listed anymore so I assume all those things are related.
As for doubleheaders, I don't like having so many for the GBL. The reason is that the rules of the GBL indicate that the first game will be only seven innings unless it is a day night double header. Since the games start at 5 and 7, I assume these aren't day and night doubleheaders. From a statistical standpoint it is 24 lost innings or almost three games gone. But it also feels funny going to a game decided in 7 innings. For men's baseball, I really haven't seen that since little league. The GBL prices are pretty fair so I won't complain from that standpoint but you are paying full price for that 7-inning game so take that for what it is worth. And with full price being charged for each game, how many people who would normally attend two games on two nights now only attend one? They just don't seem like a good idea but since the GBL guys know this better than I, again, I have to assume they lost the use on the park on most of the Sundays during the season or they wouldn't be doing it.
The schedule also has six three day breaks in addition to the all-star break so if there is one benefit to all the double headers, the guys will get some extra rest. Maybe it will make a difference as the season wears on.
As far as the team goes, the squad looks pretty solid. We'll see how paper translates to the field starting tomorrow. But with four AAA guys (including two who also saw big league action) as well as a solid outfield of Senreiso, Flowers, and Wright, things look pretty good. We lost some speed with Victor Hall not coming back but I think the overall experience level of the team is a little better.
As for returnees, Carlos Madrid and Juan Senreiso are it. Maurice Coles, Chuck Sindlinger, Shawn Balteff, and James Johnson among others tried to come back for another season but were cut. But Jeff Leonard put his stamp on the team right away so it is clear that we are not the team of last year.
And finally, I want to applaud the Silver Sox for actually spending the money to go get two coaches. They tried player coaches last year and we saw how that went. I think this is the way to go. Let the players focus on playing and the coaches focus on coaching.
Anyway, that is all for now. See you at the yard.
But the season is here and I'll have a full report from opening night as the Sox start the first of 44 home games this season.
Now looking at that schedule, there are quite a few double headers...6 that are scheduled so far. It looks like the team had a problem getting games on Sundays as there is only one the entire season. That probably accounts for all the double headers since there were five Sunday games in the original schedule the team had. They had a magnet schedule night to open the season but it isn't listed anymore so I assume all those things are related.
As for doubleheaders, I don't like having so many for the GBL. The reason is that the rules of the GBL indicate that the first game will be only seven innings unless it is a day night double header. Since the games start at 5 and 7, I assume these aren't day and night doubleheaders. From a statistical standpoint it is 24 lost innings or almost three games gone. But it also feels funny going to a game decided in 7 innings. For men's baseball, I really haven't seen that since little league. The GBL prices are pretty fair so I won't complain from that standpoint but you are paying full price for that 7-inning game so take that for what it is worth. And with full price being charged for each game, how many people who would normally attend two games on two nights now only attend one? They just don't seem like a good idea but since the GBL guys know this better than I, again, I have to assume they lost the use on the park on most of the Sundays during the season or they wouldn't be doing it.
The schedule also has six three day breaks in addition to the all-star break so if there is one benefit to all the double headers, the guys will get some extra rest. Maybe it will make a difference as the season wears on.
As far as the team goes, the squad looks pretty solid. We'll see how paper translates to the field starting tomorrow. But with four AAA guys (including two who also saw big league action) as well as a solid outfield of Senreiso, Flowers, and Wright, things look pretty good. We lost some speed with Victor Hall not coming back but I think the overall experience level of the team is a little better.
As for returnees, Carlos Madrid and Juan Senreiso are it. Maurice Coles, Chuck Sindlinger, Shawn Balteff, and James Johnson among others tried to come back for another season but were cut. But Jeff Leonard put his stamp on the team right away so it is clear that we are not the team of last year.
And finally, I want to applaud the Silver Sox for actually spending the money to go get two coaches. They tried player coaches last year and we saw how that went. I think this is the way to go. Let the players focus on playing and the coaches focus on coaching.
Anyway, that is all for now. See you at the yard.
Friday, March 28, 2008
The first Silver Sox roster has been posted and you can check it out here:
http://www.silversoxbaseball.com/roster.aspx?SecID=853
There is only one player with affiliated baseball experience, pitcher Nick Moran who went 5-3 with with a 4.95 ERA in 14 starts for the Silver Sox last year. He made it to A-level and played there for four years with his last stop being with the Visalia Oaks when they were part of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization.
Speaking of former Sox, this roster includes 9 players from last years team in addition to the two players acquired from St. George (Flowers and Wright). So there is at least some experience with the Golden League which could be of help.
Of course, this roster if far from final. There are open tryouts on the 8th and 9th of April where a player or two might pop up followed by the releases from the affiliated rosters as the final spring training cuts are made. So there will be some roster shuffling to get down to the 22 roster limit by the first game (Reno opens at Home against the OC on Masy 23rd).
So stay tuned as we fine tune this roster to make a run at the GBL title once again.
http://www.silversoxbaseball.com/roster.aspx?SecID=853
There is only one player with affiliated baseball experience, pitcher Nick Moran who went 5-3 with with a 4.95 ERA in 14 starts for the Silver Sox last year. He made it to A-level and played there for four years with his last stop being with the Visalia Oaks when they were part of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization.
Speaking of former Sox, this roster includes 9 players from last years team in addition to the two players acquired from St. George (Flowers and Wright). So there is at least some experience with the Golden League which could be of help.
Of course, this roster if far from final. There are open tryouts on the 8th and 9th of April where a player or two might pop up followed by the releases from the affiliated rosters as the final spring training cuts are made. So there will be some roster shuffling to get down to the 22 roster limit by the first game (Reno opens at Home against the OC on Masy 23rd).
So stay tuned as we fine tune this roster to make a run at the GBL title once again.
Monday, March 17, 2008
First Look at 2008 Reno Silver Sox
One of the constants of independent baseball is the turnover you get from year to year. Some players may be brought back but for the most part, the majority of the roster will be brand new. Here is your first look at the potential 2008 Reno Silver Sox:
Departures:
Manager Les Lancaster (free agent--Sioux City Explorers)
P/Pitching Coach Dusty Bergman (Contract Sold to Sioux City Explorers)
2B/Batting Coach Mike Done (traded to St. George Roadrunners)
1B Ryan Brown (traded to St. George Roadrunners)
SS Sam Walker (traded to Sioux City Explorers)
P Eric Thomas (traded to Sussex Skyhawks)
OF Kane Simmons (Contract Sold to Colorado Rockies)
1B Adam Amar (Contract sold to Toronto Blue Jays)
OF Juan Senreiso (traded to Laredo Broncos, sold to Washington Nationals)
ARRIVALS
Jeff Leonard signed as Manager
1B/DH Larry Bethea -- trade with Sussex Skyhawks (.272, 7HRs, 46RBIs, 0 SBs in 81 Games last year)
OF Brett Flowers--trade with St. George Roadrunners (.341, 3 HRs, 42RBIs, 1 SB in 62 games last year)
OF Steven Wright—trade with St. George Roadrunners (.294, 2 HRs, 28 RBIs, 13 SBs in 57 games)
DRAFTED PLAYERS (with AWL Stats)
RHP Shawn Ravenscraft (Played in NYSL; 3-0, 1.50, 30Ks)
LHP Jason Cline (Played in Frontier League; 4-0, 4.00, 30Ks)
INF Josh Richardson (Indiana University; .350, 0HR, 9RBI, 5SB)
RHP Billy Shea (Northwest Oklahoma State; 1-2, 8.25, 13 Ks)
INF Grant Berkovitz (University of Wisconsin, Milwuakee; .196, 0 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB)
INF Shaughn Neal (Wingate University; .340, 0HR, 8RBI, 3SB)
RHP Ryan Weber (Played in NYSL; 1-1, 4.57, 20Ks)
RHP Mike Reeves (Played in GBL and American Association; 3-1, 3.41, 35 Ks)
RHP Mario Guilin (College of the Desert;0-0, 5.40, 1 SV, 16Ks)
LHP Josh Likens (Concordia College, 1-0, 9.64, 1 SV, 16 Ks)
LHP Kenny Salyer (Played in South Coast League; 0-0, 12.38, 7Ks)
1B Steven Alexander (Drafted by Phillies; .390, 9HRs, 33RBIs, 1 SB)
C D.J. Dixon (Played in South Coast League and NYSL; .327, 0 HRs, 4 RBIs, 2 SBs)
LHP James Kuzniak (Played in Mexican League; 2-1, 4.50, 22Ks)
Departures:
Manager Les Lancaster (free agent--Sioux City Explorers)
P/Pitching Coach Dusty Bergman (Contract Sold to Sioux City Explorers)
2B/Batting Coach Mike Done (traded to St. George Roadrunners)
1B Ryan Brown (traded to St. George Roadrunners)
SS Sam Walker (traded to Sioux City Explorers)
P Eric Thomas (traded to Sussex Skyhawks)
OF Kane Simmons (Contract Sold to Colorado Rockies)
1B Adam Amar (Contract sold to Toronto Blue Jays)
OF Juan Senreiso (traded to Laredo Broncos, sold to Washington Nationals)
ARRIVALS
Jeff Leonard signed as Manager
1B/DH Larry Bethea -- trade with Sussex Skyhawks (.272, 7HRs, 46RBIs, 0 SBs in 81 Games last year)
OF Brett Flowers--trade with St. George Roadrunners (.341, 3 HRs, 42RBIs, 1 SB in 62 games last year)
OF Steven Wright—trade with St. George Roadrunners (.294, 2 HRs, 28 RBIs, 13 SBs in 57 games)
DRAFTED PLAYERS (with AWL Stats)
RHP Shawn Ravenscraft (Played in NYSL; 3-0, 1.50, 30Ks)
LHP Jason Cline (Played in Frontier League; 4-0, 4.00, 30Ks)
INF Josh Richardson (Indiana University; .350, 0HR, 9RBI, 5SB)
RHP Billy Shea (Northwest Oklahoma State; 1-2, 8.25, 13 Ks)
INF Grant Berkovitz (University of Wisconsin, Milwuakee; .196, 0 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB)
INF Shaughn Neal (Wingate University; .340, 0HR, 8RBI, 3SB)
RHP Ryan Weber (Played in NYSL; 1-1, 4.57, 20Ks)
RHP Mike Reeves (Played in GBL and American Association; 3-1, 3.41, 35 Ks)
RHP Mario Guilin (College of the Desert;0-0, 5.40, 1 SV, 16Ks)
LHP Josh Likens (Concordia College, 1-0, 9.64, 1 SV, 16 Ks)
LHP Kenny Salyer (Played in South Coast League; 0-0, 12.38, 7Ks)
1B Steven Alexander (Drafted by Phillies; .390, 9HRs, 33RBIs, 1 SB)
C D.J. Dixon (Played in South Coast League and NYSL; .327, 0 HRs, 4 RBIs, 2 SBs)
LHP James Kuzniak (Played in Mexican League; 2-1, 4.50, 22Ks)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Reno Silver Sox moving to Tucson?
As you all know, the Tucson Sidewinders, AAA Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, are moving to Reno to begin play in 2009. I'd be lying if I didn't say I am excited about it. The D-Backs are my favorite team and getting to see their Triple A players as well as MLB players on rehab assignments is going to be great. And with the restaurants and shops that will be going in around the stadium, it will make a day at the park a very fun, all day experience.
Unfortunately, it looks like (according to a Chico Newspaper report found at http://www.chicoer.com/ci_8403246?source=rss) that the Sox are looking to move to Tucson. Here is an excerpt from the article:
The Silver Sox ranked fourth in the GBL's 2007 attendance figures with 1,291average, directly behind the Outlaws in third at 1,541. The club is expecting to relocate from Reno to Tucson after the 2008 season, when the Tucson Sidewinders, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Triple-A affiliate, are planning to complete a long anticipated move to Reno
Obviously, anything can change in the world of independent baseball but for now, it looks like the Sox are moving on. It is unfortunate because the GBL is doing well (well for a young indy league, anyway). I was hoping we would see the day where the league looks more like the American Association or Northern League where teams play in a non-college stadium and draw 3-4K on many nights and up to 6-7K on really good nights.
I will post sometime soon about why I like Indy ball better than afflilated minors but for now, just know that it is unfortunate that we are losing our Indy ballclub.
This blog will continue through the (potential) final season of the Silver Sox. I will be out of town for a couple of weeks in June so I will miss some games but expect game and/or series reports for the rest of the year. So I hope you'll help the team go out with a bang and come to as many games as you can!
Unfortunately, it looks like (according to a Chico Newspaper report found at http://www.chicoer.com/ci_8403246?source=rss) that the Sox are looking to move to Tucson. Here is an excerpt from the article:
The Silver Sox ranked fourth in the GBL's 2007 attendance figures with 1,291average, directly behind the Outlaws in third at 1,541. The club is expecting to relocate from Reno to Tucson after the 2008 season, when the Tucson Sidewinders, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Triple-A affiliate, are planning to complete a long anticipated move to Reno
Obviously, anything can change in the world of independent baseball but for now, it looks like the Sox are moving on. It is unfortunate because the GBL is doing well (well for a young indy league, anyway). I was hoping we would see the day where the league looks more like the American Association or Northern League where teams play in a non-college stadium and draw 3-4K on many nights and up to 6-7K on really good nights.
I will post sometime soon about why I like Indy ball better than afflilated minors but for now, just know that it is unfortunate that we are losing our Indy ballclub.
This blog will continue through the (potential) final season of the Silver Sox. I will be out of town for a couple of weeks in June so I will miss some games but expect game and/or series reports for the rest of the year. So I hope you'll help the team go out with a bang and come to as many games as you can!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Off Season Happenings
As we all know, professional baseball has become a year round enterprise. No where else it that more true than with the Reno Silver Sox. Here are just a few of the changes as we head into winter league play.
-- Reno Silver Sox Manager Les Lancaster has decided to move on in professional baseball. He will now be the manager of the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association. Les will be missed but, being a Chicago Cub for life, I am sure he will like being close to not only the AAA affiliate of his Cubs but to Chicago itself. As many of you know, Les still goes back to reunions of former Cubs and he is a huge draw there.
-- Pitching Coach Dusty Bergman has also moved on and will join Les in Sioux City.
-- Reno moved quickly and signed former San Francisco Giant, 14-year MLB veteran, and two time all star Jeffrey Leonard as their new coach. He has a solid resume of minor league managing and coaching experience and will be a welcome addition to the team.
-- GBL Rookie of the Year Kane Simmons was signed by the Colorado Rockies and will report to Spring Training with a spot waiting for him with one of their minor league affiliates after that. Great job, Kane.
Alright, I think everyone is caught up on the team. I'll post again after the Arizona Winter League begins.
-- Reno Silver Sox Manager Les Lancaster has decided to move on in professional baseball. He will now be the manager of the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association. Les will be missed but, being a Chicago Cub for life, I am sure he will like being close to not only the AAA affiliate of his Cubs but to Chicago itself. As many of you know, Les still goes back to reunions of former Cubs and he is a huge draw there.
-- Pitching Coach Dusty Bergman has also moved on and will join Les in Sioux City.
-- Reno moved quickly and signed former San Francisco Giant, 14-year MLB veteran, and two time all star Jeffrey Leonard as their new coach. He has a solid resume of minor league managing and coaching experience and will be a welcome addition to the team.
-- GBL Rookie of the Year Kane Simmons was signed by the Colorado Rockies and will report to Spring Training with a spot waiting for him with one of their minor league affiliates after that. Great job, Kane.
Alright, I think everyone is caught up on the team. I'll post again after the Arizona Winter League begins.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Season Wrap Up (Part 1 of 2)
The year is over and it is a great time to reflect on where the team has been.
Early in 2007, two off the field stories took center stage as Mike Muranthony (AKA Mike Murray) became the first PA announcer in GBL history and the first I can remember ever to be ejected by an umpire when he played a soundbite from Major League. On a close play at the plate, the soundbite, “I think we got hosed on that play” rang through the park and umpire Tyler Ramsey sent Mike out of the stadium. This action garnered national coverage…ESPN, SI, CNN, etc.
Also, the GM of the Sox, Dwight Dortch, stepped down and Asst GM Curt Jacey moved into that position. Curt’s first priority, according the press release, was to bring more of a minor league feel to the park and I think he did just that. More promotions and some cosmetic changes to Peccole really made for a better game day experience.
On the field, three issues dominated. The first was injuries. You always have turnover on independent teams but it is not usually the result of the high number of injuries the team had to endure. Here is a comparison of the opening day line-up and the final game line-up.
OPENING DAY
Hall, Victor CF
Tully, Travis DH
Sherrill, J.J. RF
Johnson, J.J. LF
Hahn, Dustin 3B
Chikazawa, Masashi CAT
Nowlin, Cody 1B
Done, Mike 2B
Devoir, Jordan SS 1
Bergman, Dusty PIT
FINAL DAY
Hall, Victor CF
Done, Mike 2B
Cole, Maurice SS
Senreiso, Juan DH
Simmons, Kane LF
Amar, Adam 1B
Kowalski, Ryan RF
Sindlinger, Chuck 3B
Mcleod, Josh CAT
Moran, Nick PIT
That made for a rough year and I am not sure the team ever got back on track after such a high rate of turnover.
The next issue was defense. The Sox committed a lot of errors this season. They finished at 124. That is second in the GBL (behind expansion St. George), though they led the league in that category for almost the entire first half. Some were typical baseball errors though many were not the kind of mental mistakes baseball players should make such as the three most common for the Sox—dropping pop-ups in the infield, catchers throwing errant pickoff throws to third that allowed runs to score, and left side of the infield players who have no chance to get the runner headed to first but make a throw anyway that ends up sailing past the first basemen. These plays led to more than a few losses for the team.
Finally, there was the horrendous play of the bullpen. I can’t even think of another word to use. If you are one of those people who sees a 5-6 run lead as enough of a safety net that you can leave the park early, then you went home and saw much different box scores than the game you left this year. Statistically, I think it really hurt starters who got no decisions after they left with a lead. James Johnson (1-5) had nine no decisions; Nick Moran (5-3) had six. Les did his best to get new pitchers in but the former Chicago Cub pitcher ended up with a staff that produced a 5.81ERA over 655 innings while the released pitchers had a 8.41 ERA over about 132 innings. Consistently putting the offense in the hole and then having the shaky defense early on led to a lot of losses.
There were some good news stories this year, especially with the rookies brought in. Kane Simmons (.326, 18 HR, 54 RBI) and Adam Amar (.354, 5 HR, 19 RBI) provided the offensive spark, Maurice Cole (.277, 6HR, 20 RBI) and Sam Walker (.259, 1 HR, 25 RBI) shored up the defense late, and Josh Evans (4-0, 5.68) performed satisfactorily out of the bullpen, staying with the team all year and leading the team in appearances with 28. In all, the final lineup had seven rookies take the field so a lot of guys got some valuable experience.
Of the veterans, Juan Senreiso (.328, 7HR, 54 RBI, 20 SB), Victor Hall (.306, 9HR, 37 RBI, 46 SB), and, despite a poor first half, Mike Done (.282, 8HR, 42 RBI, 11 SB) were a core of solid offensive players. Offense was never an issue with this team.
Starting pitching was also pretty good and that is something that gets over looked when the bullpen is consistently bad.
The Sox will finish at 33-42 and Les Lancaster will miss the playoffs as a manager for just the second time in seven years. It was a tough year but still a fun experience for everyone who made it out to the park.
Early in 2007, two off the field stories took center stage as Mike Muranthony (AKA Mike Murray) became the first PA announcer in GBL history and the first I can remember ever to be ejected by an umpire when he played a soundbite from Major League. On a close play at the plate, the soundbite, “I think we got hosed on that play” rang through the park and umpire Tyler Ramsey sent Mike out of the stadium. This action garnered national coverage…ESPN, SI, CNN, etc.
Also, the GM of the Sox, Dwight Dortch, stepped down and Asst GM Curt Jacey moved into that position. Curt’s first priority, according the press release, was to bring more of a minor league feel to the park and I think he did just that. More promotions and some cosmetic changes to Peccole really made for a better game day experience.
On the field, three issues dominated. The first was injuries. You always have turnover on independent teams but it is not usually the result of the high number of injuries the team had to endure. Here is a comparison of the opening day line-up and the final game line-up.
OPENING DAY
Hall, Victor CF
Tully, Travis DH
Sherrill, J.J. RF
Johnson, J.J. LF
Hahn, Dustin 3B
Chikazawa, Masashi CAT
Nowlin, Cody 1B
Done, Mike 2B
Devoir, Jordan SS 1
Bergman, Dusty PIT
FINAL DAY
Hall, Victor CF
Done, Mike 2B
Cole, Maurice SS
Senreiso, Juan DH
Simmons, Kane LF
Amar, Adam 1B
Kowalski, Ryan RF
Sindlinger, Chuck 3B
Mcleod, Josh CAT
Moran, Nick PIT
That made for a rough year and I am not sure the team ever got back on track after such a high rate of turnover.
The next issue was defense. The Sox committed a lot of errors this season. They finished at 124. That is second in the GBL (behind expansion St. George), though they led the league in that category for almost the entire first half. Some were typical baseball errors though many were not the kind of mental mistakes baseball players should make such as the three most common for the Sox—dropping pop-ups in the infield, catchers throwing errant pickoff throws to third that allowed runs to score, and left side of the infield players who have no chance to get the runner headed to first but make a throw anyway that ends up sailing past the first basemen. These plays led to more than a few losses for the team.
Finally, there was the horrendous play of the bullpen. I can’t even think of another word to use. If you are one of those people who sees a 5-6 run lead as enough of a safety net that you can leave the park early, then you went home and saw much different box scores than the game you left this year. Statistically, I think it really hurt starters who got no decisions after they left with a lead. James Johnson (1-5) had nine no decisions; Nick Moran (5-3) had six. Les did his best to get new pitchers in but the former Chicago Cub pitcher ended up with a staff that produced a 5.81ERA over 655 innings while the released pitchers had a 8.41 ERA over about 132 innings. Consistently putting the offense in the hole and then having the shaky defense early on led to a lot of losses.
There were some good news stories this year, especially with the rookies brought in. Kane Simmons (.326, 18 HR, 54 RBI) and Adam Amar (.354, 5 HR, 19 RBI) provided the offensive spark, Maurice Cole (.277, 6HR, 20 RBI) and Sam Walker (.259, 1 HR, 25 RBI) shored up the defense late, and Josh Evans (4-0, 5.68) performed satisfactorily out of the bullpen, staying with the team all year and leading the team in appearances with 28. In all, the final lineup had seven rookies take the field so a lot of guys got some valuable experience.
Of the veterans, Juan Senreiso (.328, 7HR, 54 RBI, 20 SB), Victor Hall (.306, 9HR, 37 RBI, 46 SB), and, despite a poor first half, Mike Done (.282, 8HR, 42 RBI, 11 SB) were a core of solid offensive players. Offense was never an issue with this team.
Starting pitching was also pretty good and that is something that gets over looked when the bullpen is consistently bad.
The Sox will finish at 33-42 and Les Lancaster will miss the playoffs as a manager for just the second time in seven years. It was a tough year but still a fun experience for everyone who made it out to the park.
Season Wrap-up (Part 2 of 2)
I have never claimed to be a baseball expert but like all sports fans, I have an opinion on what my team could do to become better next year. Most of these will focus on the league itself as the Sox are owned by the league. And they will be resource neutral meaning it is what I would do if the money were there to make it happen.
1. Longer Spring Training. This is by far the most important thing the league could do to improve the quality of play. This year it was right around 7-10 days which is way too short to get a team to gel. Learning the tendencies or your teammates is the most effective way to reduce errors. And too many errors just frustrate fans as it really make the players seem less skilled than they really are—especially those “easy” errors I mentioned in the previous post. Also, not everyone was playing competitive baseball over the months preceding the season. Then there are the college kids whose programs play, on average, about 60 games played mostly on weekends. Now these kids have to play every night, sometimes in stretches of 10 games or more, in a 76 game season. There were a lot of nagging injuries that guys are probably still dealing with and many (like some hamstring injuries) can be related to overwork and not enough conditioning to handle the grind of a season. And finally, a pitcher’s arm needs to get ready for the wear and tear of professional baseball. There are no pitch counts here and sometimes relievers even have to play back to back games due to the smaller rosters. Dusty Bergman has been doing this for a while. He knows how to stay in shape to pitch the 100 innings he did. But for a rookie, even a reliever, the workload can be very trying. In my opinion, I think that has a lot to do with the large number of pitcher injuries not just here in Reno but across the league. So, whatever needs to be done to get these kids together for 3-4 weeks as a team needs to be done to make the game better for the fans and, more importantly, to maintain the health of the players.
2. Spend money on getting umpires. Umpires have the ability to really ruin a game and we saw that on more than one occasion. One fan I know of in Reno cited the poor officiating as one of the reasons he wasn’t going to get season tickets in 2008. Anecdotally, I was told that some better umpires won’t do the GBL games due to low pay. They get paid but that doesn’t include travel, etc so it is not worth it to them. Because of the league having regional umpires as opposed to traveling league crews, sometimes you are stuck with what is available. In Reno, we loved seeing Ron Barnes come to town. But I can tell you the Reno fans knew the game was going to have issues when #45 (Tyler Ramsey) stepped onto the field. His experience is basically some college or below. He doesn’t conduct himself well, as with the Templeton ejection that I wrote about. Even if Templeton was being difficult, he was within the rules to do what he did. Tossing him just shows Tyler doesn’t understand the rules of the game. Tyler also seems to have a lot of reversed calls between him and his partner. This is not going to inspire confidence in his abilities. He and others have very inconsistent strike zones. I don’t think I have ever seen as many complaints over strikes and balls as I have seen this year. I know the league has a head umpire to watch these kinds of things so a) did he come to Reno and b) why did some of the umpires still have jobs at the end of the season?
3. No player coaches. No offense to Dusty and Mike since they are fine players, they obviously shared their knowledge, and were good leaders in the club house but the teams with player coaches did much worse this year. Reno (33-42) and other teams who used player coaches or some combination of player and non-player coaches ended out of the playoffs while Chico (44-32, first half winner) and Long Beach (48-28, second half winner) who had two non-playing coaches, will compete for the championship. The teams that used player coaches had varying levels of success but in the end they are all out. I think that if you had a guy with years of experience watching batters or pitchers he is more likely to be able to help fix small issues with mechanics than a mid to late 20s player who has spent more time doing than coaching. This too will improve the game on the field.
4. Player salaries should be re-looked. This year, the GBL had much less interest from the MLB teams if the number of players picked up is any indication. Our Sox who set an independent league record last year with the number of players sent to MLB teams sent a grand total of zero to the affiliated clubs this season. That trend existed across all clubs as there were less than half a dozen sent to the majors compared to last year when a guy was getting picked up from a GBL team every few days. The appeal of the GBL as a place to get looked at by scouts has tarnished a little. In the interim, I think player salaries should be bumped to help get some more guys out. If the GBL is seen as a step below the Atlantic League, Frontier League, the American Association, and Can-Am or even on-par with the UBL and SCL the league should pay a little more to players to see if we can’t get a solid guy to think twice before signing a contract with another league. The GBL can't match the Atlantic league but surely they can be the best paying of the lower teir leagues. Then as we get better players, the quality of my other issues improves, and the league expands to new markets, it will only help to improve the play on the field and maybe attract scouts more often.
5. Fans. The GBL needs to do whatever it can to have all teams mirror those teams that have good attendance. Now I know there are different variables in each market. But are there some consistent best practices that can be applied universally? Are there certain promotions, sponsors, or community partnerships, that will appeal to baseball fans in general? And are there some out of the box ways to get more people out? Bottom line, fans (and corporate sponsors) are the lifeblood that will allow money to do more of the things I would like to see changed. Players and fans also love being in an electric environment with a packed house. And then it multiplies as every one tells their friends what a great time the GBL games are. When you come and the stadium is dead it really detracts from experience even if the on-field product is top notch. When both are lacking, it will lead to folks not coming back. A poll on the Silver Sox site asked how many games people came to. The majority attended 1-5 games. And, the Sox ended the year with an average attendance of 1291 per game this year. Now it makes no sense as the Sox won the championship last year and increased their advertising budget and still went down from the 1573 they drew last year at each game. So the bottom line is all teams, not just the Sox, need to find a way to get those people in the 1-5 category to come to more games. What do they want? What didn't they like? Is there something low-cost that could be improved to get them to come to more games? These questions should be the focus of the off-season efforts of GBL management. Group Sales are also a good avenue since you get the ticket revenue but I think the team will benefit more from actual bodies in the stands even if more of the ticket revenue comes on a walk-up basis.
Again, I am no baseball expert. And when resources are limited, some things don't get the attention they deserve. But the GBL has a good thing going. I hope they can sustain the the gains they have made and continue to grow--if for nothing else than to ensure those of us in the isolated towns of the west (excluding OC and LB of course) have a chance to take our kids to the ballpark and teach them why baseball was the greatest game ever invented.
Well, thus ends my blog for this season. I appreciate all who read it and a special thanks goes out to those who posted on my blog or e-mailed me. There is no hit counter so that is the only way I know that people are enjoying what I am writing. Please feel free to write to me anytime even if just to talk MLB ball or whatever. Hope you have a great “off season” and I will see you again in 2008!
1. Longer Spring Training. This is by far the most important thing the league could do to improve the quality of play. This year it was right around 7-10 days which is way too short to get a team to gel. Learning the tendencies or your teammates is the most effective way to reduce errors. And too many errors just frustrate fans as it really make the players seem less skilled than they really are—especially those “easy” errors I mentioned in the previous post. Also, not everyone was playing competitive baseball over the months preceding the season. Then there are the college kids whose programs play, on average, about 60 games played mostly on weekends. Now these kids have to play every night, sometimes in stretches of 10 games or more, in a 76 game season. There were a lot of nagging injuries that guys are probably still dealing with and many (like some hamstring injuries) can be related to overwork and not enough conditioning to handle the grind of a season. And finally, a pitcher’s arm needs to get ready for the wear and tear of professional baseball. There are no pitch counts here and sometimes relievers even have to play back to back games due to the smaller rosters. Dusty Bergman has been doing this for a while. He knows how to stay in shape to pitch the 100 innings he did. But for a rookie, even a reliever, the workload can be very trying. In my opinion, I think that has a lot to do with the large number of pitcher injuries not just here in Reno but across the league. So, whatever needs to be done to get these kids together for 3-4 weeks as a team needs to be done to make the game better for the fans and, more importantly, to maintain the health of the players.
2. Spend money on getting umpires. Umpires have the ability to really ruin a game and we saw that on more than one occasion. One fan I know of in Reno cited the poor officiating as one of the reasons he wasn’t going to get season tickets in 2008. Anecdotally, I was told that some better umpires won’t do the GBL games due to low pay. They get paid but that doesn’t include travel, etc so it is not worth it to them. Because of the league having regional umpires as opposed to traveling league crews, sometimes you are stuck with what is available. In Reno, we loved seeing Ron Barnes come to town. But I can tell you the Reno fans knew the game was going to have issues when #45 (Tyler Ramsey) stepped onto the field. His experience is basically some college or below. He doesn’t conduct himself well, as with the Templeton ejection that I wrote about. Even if Templeton was being difficult, he was within the rules to do what he did. Tossing him just shows Tyler doesn’t understand the rules of the game. Tyler also seems to have a lot of reversed calls between him and his partner. This is not going to inspire confidence in his abilities. He and others have very inconsistent strike zones. I don’t think I have ever seen as many complaints over strikes and balls as I have seen this year. I know the league has a head umpire to watch these kinds of things so a) did he come to Reno and b) why did some of the umpires still have jobs at the end of the season?
3. No player coaches. No offense to Dusty and Mike since they are fine players, they obviously shared their knowledge, and were good leaders in the club house but the teams with player coaches did much worse this year. Reno (33-42) and other teams who used player coaches or some combination of player and non-player coaches ended out of the playoffs while Chico (44-32, first half winner) and Long Beach (48-28, second half winner) who had two non-playing coaches, will compete for the championship. The teams that used player coaches had varying levels of success but in the end they are all out. I think that if you had a guy with years of experience watching batters or pitchers he is more likely to be able to help fix small issues with mechanics than a mid to late 20s player who has spent more time doing than coaching. This too will improve the game on the field.
4. Player salaries should be re-looked. This year, the GBL had much less interest from the MLB teams if the number of players picked up is any indication. Our Sox who set an independent league record last year with the number of players sent to MLB teams sent a grand total of zero to the affiliated clubs this season. That trend existed across all clubs as there were less than half a dozen sent to the majors compared to last year when a guy was getting picked up from a GBL team every few days. The appeal of the GBL as a place to get looked at by scouts has tarnished a little. In the interim, I think player salaries should be bumped to help get some more guys out. If the GBL is seen as a step below the Atlantic League, Frontier League, the American Association, and Can-Am or even on-par with the UBL and SCL the league should pay a little more to players to see if we can’t get a solid guy to think twice before signing a contract with another league. The GBL can't match the Atlantic league but surely they can be the best paying of the lower teir leagues. Then as we get better players, the quality of my other issues improves, and the league expands to new markets, it will only help to improve the play on the field and maybe attract scouts more often.
5. Fans. The GBL needs to do whatever it can to have all teams mirror those teams that have good attendance. Now I know there are different variables in each market. But are there some consistent best practices that can be applied universally? Are there certain promotions, sponsors, or community partnerships, that will appeal to baseball fans in general? And are there some out of the box ways to get more people out? Bottom line, fans (and corporate sponsors) are the lifeblood that will allow money to do more of the things I would like to see changed. Players and fans also love being in an electric environment with a packed house. And then it multiplies as every one tells their friends what a great time the GBL games are. When you come and the stadium is dead it really detracts from experience even if the on-field product is top notch. When both are lacking, it will lead to folks not coming back. A poll on the Silver Sox site asked how many games people came to. The majority attended 1-5 games. And, the Sox ended the year with an average attendance of 1291 per game this year. Now it makes no sense as the Sox won the championship last year and increased their advertising budget and still went down from the 1573 they drew last year at each game. So the bottom line is all teams, not just the Sox, need to find a way to get those people in the 1-5 category to come to more games. What do they want? What didn't they like? Is there something low-cost that could be improved to get them to come to more games? These questions should be the focus of the off-season efforts of GBL management. Group Sales are also a good avenue since you get the ticket revenue but I think the team will benefit more from actual bodies in the stands even if more of the ticket revenue comes on a walk-up basis.
Again, I am no baseball expert. And when resources are limited, some things don't get the attention they deserve. But the GBL has a good thing going. I hope they can sustain the the gains they have made and continue to grow--if for nothing else than to ensure those of us in the isolated towns of the west (excluding OC and LB of course) have a chance to take our kids to the ballpark and teach them why baseball was the greatest game ever invented.
Well, thus ends my blog for this season. I appreciate all who read it and a special thanks goes out to those who posted on my blog or e-mailed me. There is no hit counter so that is the only way I know that people are enjoying what I am writing. Please feel free to write to me anytime even if just to talk MLB ball or whatever. Hope you have a great “off season” and I will see you again in 2008!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Game Report: Orange County @ Reno (8/25/2007)
And with a split of a double header, the Reno Silver Sox season officially came to an end. It was a good season despite the record and I will post one final entry tomorrow with a season recap and some of my thoughts on how to improve for 2008.
But for today, let me discuss the game we had last night. The first game ended with Reno on the short end of the stick after a solid performance by OC's starting pitcher, Ben Fox. He'll end the season with a 5-3 record and a 2.99 ERA but he was red hot for the first part of the season with a sub-one ERA. He is a solid pitcher and he showed that last night sending the Sox to the showers in 1 hour, 35 minutes in a 7-inning game. Notice I didn't list the score? That was by design as the Sox were held scoreless by Fox en route to a 4-0 loss. It is always tough getting shut out though not as tough as watching my Orioles give up 30 runs in their loss. But I digress.
But for today, let me discuss the game we had last night. The first game ended with Reno on the short end of the stick after a solid performance by OC's starting pitcher, Ben Fox. He'll end the season with a 5-3 record and a 2.99 ERA but he was red hot for the first part of the season with a sub-one ERA. He is a solid pitcher and he showed that last night sending the Sox to the showers in 1 hour, 35 minutes in a 7-inning game. Notice I didn't list the score? That was by design as the Sox were held scoreless by Fox en route to a 4-0 loss. It is always tough getting shut out though not as tough as watching my Orioles give up 30 runs in their loss. But I digress.
The fans did get to end the season on a high note as they won the night cap with a 13-3 offensive explosion that included the usual suspects, Kane Simmons (2007 GBL Homerun Champion with 18) and Adam Amar (.625 slugging percentage, second only to Simmons). However, the big slugger for the night was Maurice Cole (yes, the 5-9, 165 lbs rookie from Meridian, MS). He actually has 6 dingers on the year which is fifth on the team so it is not like Jason Tyner in the MLB but it is definitely not what you would expect. The bullpen was also solid as Shawn Balteff and Eric Thomas pitched an inning each of scoreless relief. Oh, if we just had another month...
Between innings, the team awards were handed out with GM Curt Jacey and Field Manager Les Lancaster giving Juan Senreiso team MVP, Kane Simmons rookie of the year, and Dusty Bergman pitcher of the year. I agree with all of those though I do have a comment on Senreiso. I think the guy is an outstanding player and just looking at him you can tell he is a remarkable athlete. But there were some times, especially late where he just didn't seem to hustle. I think the team MVP is more than stats; leadership plays a big role in that. Now I know Senreiso doesn't speak perfect English but heart is the same in any language. Of course, I would take him back next year in a heartbeat but with a very young team (the final roster has 10 rookies on a squad of 22) the veterans have to hustle every day to set the example. He was still an impact player for us, so maybe there were things he did off the field that I didn't see. Of course, if you look at hustle, a lot of guys dropped off at the end so I won't get on Senreiso too much. It must be tough to stay focused when your team is out of contention and no scouts are in the stands to watch you play.
The game ended with the players tipping their hats to the crowd and launching baseballs into the stands which, with t-shirts, $5 hats, and otter pops earlier, ensured as many souveniers as possible went home with the Reno faithful. There was an on-field chance for one fan to win a Hinda Ridgeline but he came up short. Before you criticize him, he had to throw a baseball through a hole about 8 inches in diameter from about 56 feet (front of the pitcher's mound). Even Roger Clemens would have a hard time doing that the required 2 out of three times. But, there was a prize to be won as a young fan was able to walk away with a flat screen TV after doing an impression of Tyler Ramsey's temper tantrum that sent our PA announcer home after he played a soundbite from the Movie Major League. Speaking of awards, Tyler solidified his position as worst umpire of the year to visit Peccole as he ruled a ball that was clearly over the bag and fair a foul ball. Sam Walker, having his double erased, glared at Ramsey for what seemed like an eternity. But it wouldn't be a Ramsey umpired game without some bad calls. I don't know the guy personally and have never talked to him so I am not trying to attack him as a person...I am sure he is a great guy. He is just not a good umpire at the professional level.
So with that, I'll close this post. Check back tomorrow for my last post of 2007; I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Between innings, the team awards were handed out with GM Curt Jacey and Field Manager Les Lancaster giving Juan Senreiso team MVP, Kane Simmons rookie of the year, and Dusty Bergman pitcher of the year. I agree with all of those though I do have a comment on Senreiso. I think the guy is an outstanding player and just looking at him you can tell he is a remarkable athlete. But there were some times, especially late where he just didn't seem to hustle. I think the team MVP is more than stats; leadership plays a big role in that. Now I know Senreiso doesn't speak perfect English but heart is the same in any language. Of course, I would take him back next year in a heartbeat but with a very young team (the final roster has 10 rookies on a squad of 22) the veterans have to hustle every day to set the example. He was still an impact player for us, so maybe there were things he did off the field that I didn't see. Of course, if you look at hustle, a lot of guys dropped off at the end so I won't get on Senreiso too much. It must be tough to stay focused when your team is out of contention and no scouts are in the stands to watch you play.
The game ended with the players tipping their hats to the crowd and launching baseballs into the stands which, with t-shirts, $5 hats, and otter pops earlier, ensured as many souveniers as possible went home with the Reno faithful. There was an on-field chance for one fan to win a Hinda Ridgeline but he came up short. Before you criticize him, he had to throw a baseball through a hole about 8 inches in diameter from about 56 feet (front of the pitcher's mound). Even Roger Clemens would have a hard time doing that the required 2 out of three times. But, there was a prize to be won as a young fan was able to walk away with a flat screen TV after doing an impression of Tyler Ramsey's temper tantrum that sent our PA announcer home after he played a soundbite from the Movie Major League. Speaking of awards, Tyler solidified his position as worst umpire of the year to visit Peccole as he ruled a ball that was clearly over the bag and fair a foul ball. Sam Walker, having his double erased, glared at Ramsey for what seemed like an eternity. But it wouldn't be a Ramsey umpired game without some bad calls. I don't know the guy personally and have never talked to him so I am not trying to attack him as a person...I am sure he is a great guy. He is just not a good umpire at the professional level.
So with that, I'll close this post. Check back tomorrow for my last post of 2007; I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Game Report: Orange County @ Reno (8/24/2007)
Well, if you love offense, then this was your game.
But, before getting to that, I have to comment on something that happened well before the first pitch was ever thrown. During the line-up card exchange, it was obvious that OC Manager Garry Templeton and home plate umpire Tyler Ramsey were getting into a heated exchange. Next thing you know, Ramsey ejects Templeton. Templeton, as those of you who listened to the OC broadcast know, went to the booth to be a commentator. I didn't hear him but the word I got was that Ramsey ejected him for not puttinh jersey numbers on the line-up card. The rule, as I understand it, is that in a professional game, only the player's name and position need to be listed. All else is a courtesy. Anyway, pretty dumb reason to eject a guy but maybe I didn't get the whole story.
In any event, it was an offensive explosion for the Sox including a 3-home run night by Adam Amar. I believe that is the first time this year and perhaps longer for that kind of night. It was a lot of fun to watch. Amar has always been a slugger this year and it is good to see him, as well as Kane Simmons who smacked league leading home run number 17 last night finish the season strong. Speaking of Kane, he is still within striking distance of the all time GBL homerun record. If he could have a 3-HR night in one of the last two nights, he will share the record with a guy on the opposite side of the diamond tonight, Peanut Williams.
Speaking of finishing strong, it was good to see Dusty Bergman pick up the win. He will finish 6-4 with a 3.40 ERA and 64 strike outs over 100+ innings. But there was a long stretch of no-decisions thanks to the bullpen that probably kept him from 8 or 9 wins. He is a really good pitcher who, despite some shaky appearances, proved overall that he is indeady worthy of his position as as #1 starter and pitching coach.
As far as an odd thing, did you notice all the OC players using the same bat? And every time a bat broke and a new one was used, they all used that as well. Not sure what that was...either a really strange baseball ritual or an attempt at saving money late in the season.
The game ended with a 13-2 victory in front of an announced crowd of 1498.
Hope to see you out at the yard for the last Silver Sox games of the year today!
But, before getting to that, I have to comment on something that happened well before the first pitch was ever thrown. During the line-up card exchange, it was obvious that OC Manager Garry Templeton and home plate umpire Tyler Ramsey were getting into a heated exchange. Next thing you know, Ramsey ejects Templeton. Templeton, as those of you who listened to the OC broadcast know, went to the booth to be a commentator. I didn't hear him but the word I got was that Ramsey ejected him for not puttinh jersey numbers on the line-up card. The rule, as I understand it, is that in a professional game, only the player's name and position need to be listed. All else is a courtesy. Anyway, pretty dumb reason to eject a guy but maybe I didn't get the whole story.
In any event, it was an offensive explosion for the Sox including a 3-home run night by Adam Amar. I believe that is the first time this year and perhaps longer for that kind of night. It was a lot of fun to watch. Amar has always been a slugger this year and it is good to see him, as well as Kane Simmons who smacked league leading home run number 17 last night finish the season strong. Speaking of Kane, he is still within striking distance of the all time GBL homerun record. If he could have a 3-HR night in one of the last two nights, he will share the record with a guy on the opposite side of the diamond tonight, Peanut Williams.
Speaking of finishing strong, it was good to see Dusty Bergman pick up the win. He will finish 6-4 with a 3.40 ERA and 64 strike outs over 100+ innings. But there was a long stretch of no-decisions thanks to the bullpen that probably kept him from 8 or 9 wins. He is a really good pitcher who, despite some shaky appearances, proved overall that he is indeady worthy of his position as as #1 starter and pitching coach.
As far as an odd thing, did you notice all the OC players using the same bat? And every time a bat broke and a new one was used, they all used that as well. Not sure what that was...either a really strange baseball ritual or an attempt at saving money late in the season.
The game ended with a 13-2 victory in front of an announced crowd of 1498.
Hope to see you out at the yard for the last Silver Sox games of the year today!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Game Report: Orange County @ Reno (8/23/2007)
Another wild ride for the Silver Sox saw a 40 minute 1st inning, a very rare baseball call, two visiting players ejected, and the Sox take a 10-4 lead into the 9th and escape by the thinnest of margins, 10-9.
The game started with a ball that hit the umpire near second base. The umpire (Tyler Ramsey, who all Sox fans will remember as the guy who ejected PA Announcer Mike Murray earlier this season) called the batter out. Third Base coach Mike Done argued and Ramsey, after consulting with the homeplate umpire, reversed the call. OC Manager Garry Templeton then argued for what seemed like 5 minutes. After returning to the dugout, OC pitcher Michael Natale continued the tirade and was ejected. So what is the actual rule?
When a thrown ball hits an umpire, he is considered part of the play and the ball is live. However, when a batted ball hits an umpire before passing an infielder besides the pitcher, it is a dead ball and the runner is awarded first base. So, as with the Victor Hall call I discussed on this board a couple of weeks ago, the umpires were right in their final decision.
Of course, Ramsey is never content to let a game go by without a bad call and he definitely made one of those later in the game as Maurice Cole clearly beat out a play at first by at least a step if not two and Ramsey still rung him up.
Still in the first, another bizarre thing happened. OC Starter Ben Fox had to leave the game. It looked like dehydration since the trainer brought a huge bottle of water out to the mound and the pitcher took off his hat and bent over a couple of times. Andrew Soto came in and after a long warm-up, finally pitched.
All said, the inning took about 40 minutes.
The game was going along fine as the Sox, aided by three errors by the Flyers, were able to put 10 on the board. Of course, as we have seen all year long, no lead is big enough for the Sox that the fans can chalk up the "W" early. Tonight was no exception.
The starting pitching was servicable as Adam Harendza gave up 4 runs in his six innings of work. But then the thing we Sox fans fear the most occured--Les turned the game over to the bullpen. Walentin gave up 4 runs in 2 innings and Eric Thomas, probably the most reliable guy the Sox have came in. He got Bret Levier out on strikes, which resulted in Levier hitting the showers early when he continued to argue the point with the home plate umpire. He then further delayed the game when he refused to leave the visiting dugout. When it got restarted, Thomas gave up a run to bring the score to 9-10 before he finally closed it out.
Harendza got is first win which was nice to see and Thomas got his team leading 7th save. They two teams will meet again tonight at 7PM for the second of four games in this final series of the year.
Announced attendance was 1117.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Game Report: Long beach at Reno (8/22/2007)
Before I get to the game, I wanted to mention that there aren’t many people at Peccole who show up to watch batting practice but it is still interesting to watch. Some guys have some really nice swings that don’t necessarily translate to big numbers during the game. But it is fun to watch if you get a chance. Above is a pic I took of the Armada in the cage.
Silver Sox fans saw a team clinch the 2nd Half Championship last night—unfortunately it was the Long Beach Armada. The Silver Sox, last year’s league champions, are still in last place in the second half standings at 12-22 and are now 30-41 on the season.
The game was never really close after the Armada were spotted five runs. The Sox did their best but came up on the short end of this contest, 11-8.
I don’t really have a lot to say about this contest but I did want to mention that if you want newspaper coverage of this team, I hope you’re reading the Nevada Appeal out of Carson City (and on line). Darrell Moody does a great job with his column and I especially like the “notes” section he tacks on the end of each article. It is a professional touch and one you are used to seeing with MLB teams, not independent baseball. You’ve heard from me that I think the coverage in the Reno paper is lacking. I hope next year that can improve. On the radio last night, Ben mentioned that the RGJ sent Scott Oxarart on the last road trip with the team but is going to hold the story until Saturday. Personally, I think that is a mistake. Granted, it will be a “soft story” so it has a longer shelf life than a game report but doing so until the last day of the season means it has next to zero chance of getting new fans to the park. I know that is not the motive of the RGJ but in the end, the success of the Sox is good for both the GBL and the RGJ.
Most of you know about the short staffing at the RGJ (who in town doesn’t?) and that the paper is run from out of town by a corporate publisher. Those can’t help with the coverage the team gets but I hope next year they take a page out of the Appeal’s playbook and step it up a bit for the Sox fans in this town.
Silver Sox fans saw a team clinch the 2nd Half Championship last night—unfortunately it was the Long Beach Armada. The Silver Sox, last year’s league champions, are still in last place in the second half standings at 12-22 and are now 30-41 on the season.
The game was never really close after the Armada were spotted five runs. The Sox did their best but came up on the short end of this contest, 11-8.
I don’t really have a lot to say about this contest but I did want to mention that if you want newspaper coverage of this team, I hope you’re reading the Nevada Appeal out of Carson City (and on line). Darrell Moody does a great job with his column and I especially like the “notes” section he tacks on the end of each article. It is a professional touch and one you are used to seeing with MLB teams, not independent baseball. You’ve heard from me that I think the coverage in the Reno paper is lacking. I hope next year that can improve. On the radio last night, Ben mentioned that the RGJ sent Scott Oxarart on the last road trip with the team but is going to hold the story until Saturday. Personally, I think that is a mistake. Granted, it will be a “soft story” so it has a longer shelf life than a game report but doing so until the last day of the season means it has next to zero chance of getting new fans to the park. I know that is not the motive of the RGJ but in the end, the success of the Sox is good for both the GBL and the RGJ.
Most of you know about the short staffing at the RGJ (who in town doesn’t?) and that the paper is run from out of town by a corporate publisher. Those can’t help with the coverage the team gets but I hope next year they take a page out of the Appeal’s playbook and step it up a bit for the Sox fans in this town.
Announced Attendance was 1001.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Game Report: Long Beach @ Reno (8/21/2007)
All I can say is "wow". Last night was easily one of the best Sox games of the year. It had more drama that we see in most major league games and, for the faithful who stayed until the end, a great finish...well, that and the first ever dizzy bat race between Slugger and Nugget!
The game was going along fine. The score was tight (3-2 Reno) and the Sox looked great on the defensive end of the ball. Through 8-2/3 innings, the Sox had no errors and starter Nick Moran allowed those two runs on a half dozen hits while amassing 10 strike outs! Of course, though, in true baseball fashion, you can't keep a good team down and first place Long Beach proved that when Gabe Mayorga hit a game tying homerun with 2 outs in the top of the ninth.
Mayorga was the last person you'd expect that from as he was hitting .249 with just three jacks over 211 at bats. But miracles are so much a part of baseball that you really can't use that word anymore. So congrats to a young man who got to have one of those at bats we all dream of.
The Sox hung tough and finally won on some good small ball when Done singled, stole second and then scored on a Sam Walker single. And, in addition to this being the first walk off win of the season for the Sox (according to Ben Deach on last night's broadcast) it also came after the Armada intentionally walked Chuck Sindlinger to get to Walker. Tell me that is not sweet revenge.
So a great game with a great result. The only negative I saw happened with Juan Senreiso. On one play he was on second when the next batter grounded to the pitcher. Juan, already starting towards 3B, just dropped into a jog as he figured he was out. Then the pitcher threw the ball away and Juan scrambled to get to third and/or potentially score. Then, a couple of pitches later, he got picked off third. First a complete lack of hustle and then getting picked off third in a tight game with the #1 team in the league. I am sure Les had a nice chat with Senreiso so I doubt we'll see that again. It just bugged me to see that lack of hustle. And it bugs me at every level. My favorite MLB guys are Ichiro and Griffey Jr. Ichiro sets the standard for hustle and Grif usually does too. However this year, Kenny hit a ball he figure was gone so he just watched it as he walked to first...and then it bounced off the wall so all he could get was a single. I am not going to say I was a good as Grif or even Senreiso but I can tell you that one thing I learned was you always run the play out because that is just how the game is played. It is something I have instilled in my children and it only takes a Griffey or Senreiso incident as I described above to point out why. But even good players make mistakes and the season is long. That is why mental toughness is such a part of baseball that many people take for granted.
Anyway, enough of the soapbox.
Announced attendance was 989.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Game Report: Long Beach @ Reno (8/20/2007)
Before I begin, I’d like to extend a thank you to Sox Announcer, Ben Deach. I always wondered how the broadcast end of things worked for the team so I asked. Ben decided to put me on the air so I could get the full experience. So for the 4th inning of last night’s game, I got to talk about the team, the blog, and the league. It was an interesting experience; Ben has really come into his own as an announcer so it was a real pleasure to take the booth with him for our favorite team.
The game, unfortunately, didn’t go the way the Sox had hoped. The game drug on through 3-1/2 hours and ended with the Sox committing 3 errors and the team giving up 9 runs on 12 hits. The bull pen was serviceable…the good news is that Shawn Balteff and Matt Paris did their job giving up no hits and no runs. Unfortunately, starter James Johnson gave up six and reliever Josh Evans got pounded giving up 3 runs, 3 hits (including a homerun) and 3 walks in just an inning and a third. The offense was only able to score 4 runs on 9 hits.
Long Beach, or Los Angeles they like to be called on the road, is well on their way to a second half championship. Their magic number is two (they need a win and a Yuma loss to clinch) so we could see it happen tonight. Yuma was beaten by St. George last night…yes, the same St. George that has been in last place all year but now has given that “honor” to the Sox—Reno is now 13.0 games out of first place and a full game behind St. George.
The stadium was pretty empty and at one point I counted 5 people in general admission. The picnic area did have some folks but I am sure there were a lot of folks who bought tickets but didn’t show as paid attendance was 1000. It is sad that the turnout was lacking but with a weekday game and a team completely out of contention, it will be hard to get people to drive all the way to UNR to see them. Still, I would hope folks also would see that pro baseball is about to leave us on Saturday and we won’t see it again until next June. If you don’t see it now, you’re missing a great opportunity.
On a good note, I noticed that box scores have been in the RGJ more regularly this season as well as stories. That is good and hopefully it is a victory that can carry over to next season. Coverage was great this year with soft stories though the box scores and game write-ups were not as frequent.
And finally, the answer to the trivia question I threw out there yesterday was indeed Scott Schneider. So, congratulations to S. Sox for the answer. I don’t have a prize but if look me at the park, I’ll buy you the frosty beverage of your choice!
The game, unfortunately, didn’t go the way the Sox had hoped. The game drug on through 3-1/2 hours and ended with the Sox committing 3 errors and the team giving up 9 runs on 12 hits. The bull pen was serviceable…the good news is that Shawn Balteff and Matt Paris did their job giving up no hits and no runs. Unfortunately, starter James Johnson gave up six and reliever Josh Evans got pounded giving up 3 runs, 3 hits (including a homerun) and 3 walks in just an inning and a third. The offense was only able to score 4 runs on 9 hits.
Long Beach, or Los Angeles they like to be called on the road, is well on their way to a second half championship. Their magic number is two (they need a win and a Yuma loss to clinch) so we could see it happen tonight. Yuma was beaten by St. George last night…yes, the same St. George that has been in last place all year but now has given that “honor” to the Sox—Reno is now 13.0 games out of first place and a full game behind St. George.
The stadium was pretty empty and at one point I counted 5 people in general admission. The picnic area did have some folks but I am sure there were a lot of folks who bought tickets but didn’t show as paid attendance was 1000. It is sad that the turnout was lacking but with a weekday game and a team completely out of contention, it will be hard to get people to drive all the way to UNR to see them. Still, I would hope folks also would see that pro baseball is about to leave us on Saturday and we won’t see it again until next June. If you don’t see it now, you’re missing a great opportunity.
On a good note, I noticed that box scores have been in the RGJ more regularly this season as well as stories. That is good and hopefully it is a victory that can carry over to next season. Coverage was great this year with soft stories though the box scores and game write-ups were not as frequent.
And finally, the answer to the trivia question I threw out there yesterday was indeed Scott Schneider. So, congratulations to S. Sox for the answer. I don’t have a prize but if look me at the park, I’ll buy you the frosty beverage of your choice!
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