We are currently in the middle of a 5 game series with the Everett AquaSox, the NW League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. If you have been following the Indians at all this year, you will know that we have been in a bit of a funk. We had 1 win in our first 8 games. The Vancouver series was tough because the 4 losses were each by 1 run. 2 of them were walk off wins for them. Coming back home for 5 we really needed to pick things up and get clicking. Game 1 we came out of the gate with 2 runs in the 1st, but then no more runs.
Finally yesterday we had a good thing going. We had a few good innings put together with a few runs. We had a HUGE defensive play by Jurickson Profar with 1 out and the bases loaded. They hit a ball up the middle and somehow Profar made a diving stop and turned a double play. It was probably one of the best plays I've seen and easily the best one this year. If you haven't heard of Profar, then you need to look him up because he is going to be in this game for a long time. Then to close it out, we had Ovispo De Los Santos come in throwing a blazing fastball. He was creeping in the upper 90s with a 96, 98, 99, 98, and then.....BOOM! 100 mph. The crowd went absolutely nuts. He ended up getting the save and we finally got to celebrate a win on our home field.
Game 3 of the series tonight. Now we need to win the series.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Vancouver Day 3
Today is our 3rd day in Vancouver. We finally got win number 1 out of the way last night. There was a bit of a lighter mood in the clubhouse after the game. After 3 losses to open up the season it was nice to get that win under our belts. We had a heck of a game with almost 20 hits and 2 guys had 4 hits apiece. Our hitting coach, Brian Dayett, told the hitter that anytime they have a 4 hit game, he will take them out for a steak dinner. His wallet will be a little lighter now. I am sure if we keep hitting like last night, he won't mind taking these guys out. He also said if we have a 15 run, 20 hit game he will take the whole team out (not steak though).
Here is something a little funny about our first road trip. We have a lot of guys that are brand new to pro ball that came from the draft. They just really don't know the ins and outs of the pro game yet. Here is one example. When we travel, we have to take extra uniforms, bats, boxes with everyone's hats, training room and strength equipment, throwing balls, etc. At this level, we don't have clubbies that transport everything for us, so we have to assign players to be in charge of them on trips. Half of the guys wanted to take everything down at the hotel when we pulled into town. They were told they could do that if they wanted, but they would just have to bring it right back in the morning. Also some of them thought that they needed to take everything out of the clubhouse every day and wanted to re-load the bus. Little things that like are pretty entertaining.
On a different note, my family is here in Vancouver for the 2nd straight year. Last year was nice to see some sights and get a feel for the city. This year is fun because we have an idea of what we want to do and it's not a brand new city any more. Yesterday we had some seafood down by the water. I went with the halibut n' chips...delicious. Today we went down to Granville Island. It is a neat little island in the middle of the city. Check out their website granvilleisland.com. We had some food down at the market and walked around. Mia got to have fun on the playground for awhile too.
Here is something a little funny about our first road trip. We have a lot of guys that are brand new to pro ball that came from the draft. They just really don't know the ins and outs of the pro game yet. Here is one example. When we travel, we have to take extra uniforms, bats, boxes with everyone's hats, training room and strength equipment, throwing balls, etc. At this level, we don't have clubbies that transport everything for us, so we have to assign players to be in charge of them on trips. Half of the guys wanted to take everything down at the hotel when we pulled into town. They were told they could do that if they wanted, but they would just have to bring it right back in the morning. Also some of them thought that they needed to take everything out of the clubhouse every day and wanted to re-load the bus. Little things that like are pretty entertaining.
On a different note, my family is here in Vancouver for the 2nd straight year. Last year was nice to see some sights and get a feel for the city. This year is fun because we have an idea of what we want to do and it's not a brand new city any more. Yesterday we had some seafood down by the water. I went with the halibut n' chips...delicious. Today we went down to Granville Island. It is a neat little island in the middle of the city. Check out their website granvilleisland.com. We had some food down at the market and walked around. Mia got to have fun on the playground for awhile too.
Monday, June 21, 2010
2010 Spokane Indians
A lot has changed in the last month since I last posted. Extended finished. I got to go home for about 4 days to relax and recharge. I drove about 1500 miles from Albuquerque, NM to Spokane, WA. We had a mini-camp in Spokane. We played our first home series. We had a rain out. Whew. That's a lot.
My last week has been very hectic. I want to start posting again on a regular basis, but I am just getting around to it now. I arrived in Spokane last Sunday and had the afternoon and all day Monday to unpack and set up the athletic training room. Easy enough.
Starting Tuesday, however, I started to get really busy. We had 13 new players from the draft that needed physicals. Tuesday night after our workout, we herded them all together and took them down to the doctor's offices where they could get everything done much easier than we could in the cramped clubhouse. That took almost 2 hours. The next morning, I had to get everybody up to get bloodwork done at 8:00. That took about an hour since they only had one guy drawing blood.
Wednesday's and Thursday's workouts ended up altered by rain. Pitcher's were able to get most everything done on the field, but the position players had to ride over to an indoor batting cage to get their work in. Mixed in all of this, I had to get contracts to players who had not signed them yet and try to get all of their other paperwork (insurance, W-4, I-9) straightened out.
Sound hectic? Did I mention that we are carrying 33 players right now?
Friday was the season opener. Finally, some real baseball under the lights. There were almost 7,000 people at the game so it was nice. Unfortunately we lost. Saturday was game 2...another loss. Sunday was our chance to avoid the sweep before hitting the road, but alas, we were rained out.
That brings us to this road trip. If I wasn't busy enough with everything I explained earlier, our first road trip is in Vancouver, BC. That means everybody needs passports to cross the border. It is pretty tough to get passports in a week as many of our new draftees found out. I try to get all my border crossing paperwork in order and hope we get a friendly agent who can get us through quick. We had 4 guys without passports, but they were all Americans so were able to show their IDs, answer a few questions, and get across with the team. Whew! Potential disaster avoided.
Now I am sitting here in my room, waiting for my family to arrive or the bus time, whichever comes first. I'm glad the headache of crossing the border is over and now I can relax on the road trip and check out some sights of Vancouver.
Until next time.........sometime you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.
My last week has been very hectic. I want to start posting again on a regular basis, but I am just getting around to it now. I arrived in Spokane last Sunday and had the afternoon and all day Monday to unpack and set up the athletic training room. Easy enough.
Starting Tuesday, however, I started to get really busy. We had 13 new players from the draft that needed physicals. Tuesday night after our workout, we herded them all together and took them down to the doctor's offices where they could get everything done much easier than we could in the cramped clubhouse. That took almost 2 hours. The next morning, I had to get everybody up to get bloodwork done at 8:00. That took about an hour since they only had one guy drawing blood.
Wednesday's and Thursday's workouts ended up altered by rain. Pitcher's were able to get most everything done on the field, but the position players had to ride over to an indoor batting cage to get their work in. Mixed in all of this, I had to get contracts to players who had not signed them yet and try to get all of their other paperwork (insurance, W-4, I-9) straightened out.
Sound hectic? Did I mention that we are carrying 33 players right now?
Friday was the season opener. Finally, some real baseball under the lights. There were almost 7,000 people at the game so it was nice. Unfortunately we lost. Saturday was game 2...another loss. Sunday was our chance to avoid the sweep before hitting the road, but alas, we were rained out.
That brings us to this road trip. If I wasn't busy enough with everything I explained earlier, our first road trip is in Vancouver, BC. That means everybody needs passports to cross the border. It is pretty tough to get passports in a week as many of our new draftees found out. I try to get all my border crossing paperwork in order and hope we get a friendly agent who can get us through quick. We had 4 guys without passports, but they were all Americans so were able to show their IDs, answer a few questions, and get across with the team. Whew! Potential disaster avoided.
Now I am sitting here in my room, waiting for my family to arrive or the bus time, whichever comes first. I'm glad the headache of crossing the border is over and now I can relax on the road trip and check out some sights of Vancouver.
Until next time.........sometime you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Nearing the End of Extended
This is starting to be a tough stretch of the year for the extended spring group of guys. Our last game in extended is in just over a week. The guys will have a few days off and then find out where their season will start, the AZL Rangers or the Spokane Indians. Everyone has been busting their tails since the full season squads started about 2 months ago trying to win a spot on one of those clubs. We have had a fair number of guys get promoted out of Arizona. A few have stuck and a few have returned only to know that they want to get back. Everyone is trying to impress the staff now trying to get on the Spokane team so they can leave the heat of Surprise, and the heat is coming. Triple digit temps are just about to be the norm.
I know I am looking forward to the end here because that means school is out and I get to spend a lot of time with my family. I will be able to head home for about 4 days after we finish and then I will make the long drive up to Spokane to start out our season. The good things about starting the regular season are numerous. The biggest one is that we get to play night games. That means no more 5 am wake up calls to be at the field. Another thing is that the games count. Don't get me wrong, the extended games count, but they aren't official. We can have rehab guys lead off every inning if they need at-bats. Pitchers can throw to extra hitters to get the pitch count up or just end an inning if it is too high. During the season we are playing for real. Winner at the end gets a ring. Weather is huge too. I am pretty sure we will not hit 100 on the thermometer in the pacific northwest. Warm afternoons are cool nights will be nice after, hot mornings and scorching afternoons. It is a nice change of scenery from the desert when we get to go along the coast from Eugene, OR up to Vancouver, Canada.
Let's hope this last week and change runs smoothly and get ready for the real thing.
I know I am looking forward to the end here because that means school is out and I get to spend a lot of time with my family. I will be able to head home for about 4 days after we finish and then I will make the long drive up to Spokane to start out our season. The good things about starting the regular season are numerous. The biggest one is that we get to play night games. That means no more 5 am wake up calls to be at the field. Another thing is that the games count. Don't get me wrong, the extended games count, but they aren't official. We can have rehab guys lead off every inning if they need at-bats. Pitchers can throw to extra hitters to get the pitch count up or just end an inning if it is too high. During the season we are playing for real. Winner at the end gets a ring. Weather is huge too. I am pretty sure we will not hit 100 on the thermometer in the pacific northwest. Warm afternoons are cool nights will be nice after, hot mornings and scorching afternoons. It is a nice change of scenery from the desert when we get to go along the coast from Eugene, OR up to Vancouver, Canada.
Let's hope this last week and change runs smoothly and get ready for the real thing.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
'Dad's Dugout
Check out my guest blog post about my time spent with the Hickory Crawdads. The blog belongs to Jeff Bodenhamer who is the ATC with the team there.
http://dadsdugout.mlblogs.com
http://dadsdugout.mlblogs.com
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