Northeast Baseball League

[progen]

Here's a snapshot of our team overall for April:

There is definitely room for improvement!!

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention how the boys on the farm were doing. One thing I made clear doing our inaugural draft, was that once we got by round 30, I wanted to concentrate some on the future by drafting younger players that we felt had a wealth of potential. Two that are having their way currently, are rightfielder Devin Forrest, and closer Xavier Chacon.
It won't be long before they'll be ready for "the show."







So with that, we move on to May. And as the weather gets nicer, let's hope our bats get hotter, our fielding is
superb, and our pitching is forever consistent!

[progen]

After our three straight wins at the end of April, there was an air of confidence with the team and coaches. The team was definitely a lot more realaxed on May 1st, then we were on April 1st and opening day!

5/1 - We started out however, on a bad note, as we were pounded by Allentown 8-2. The "old man" as he's now called, 29 year old Tim Butler, never found his rhythm, and his control was the worst I had seen. Five walks, five hits, six runs, and 101 pitches in five innings lead to the loss. We all chalked it up to one of those days that everyone is going to have.

5/2 - The issue was compounded, as the next night we had to face Allentown's ace, big Bill Sullivan. Sullivan at six foot four, and 230 pounds was an intimidating figure, and his record of 4-0, easily could have included two more wins, except for poor run support. But in this game, the Aces showed that they knew how to "manufacture" a run just with good, fundamental baseball, and then also could "power" runs across with a rare home run. Here's how the second and third innings went. Nice to see Gene Brown be able to move the runner, and then get our first run.



After that, the Aces never looked back, and easily won 9-2.

5/3 - Tonight was a game for the record books for the Aces.
Eisuke Heida started and only gave up one hit in two and a third, and then the rains came. After a 70 minute delay, our bullpen took over and were "lights out." Loren O'Connor, Randy McElroy, Jorge Machado, and Bryan Freake pitched nearly perfect baseball, only walking one batter! In the end, our five pitchers combined for a one hit shutout. It was truly an amazing performance that had coaches and players all smiling. Here's the boxscore for the pitchers.


5/9 - Word around the league is that several teams are interested in Greg Griffith, our speedy centerfielder and leadoff hitter. And why not, he's having an excellent season! So when Johnstown came calling with a thirty something starting pitcher, who may have helped us some, and a AA, average prospect, I just laughed it off, and told them no thanks! I'm sure though there will be more calls coming!

Our twelve game road trip went really well, and after an 8-4 win at Chambersburg, our road trip record was 8-4. We were now just four games under .500 at 16-20, but more importantly, we had momentum in our favor, and a belief from these players that they did "belong" in this league. That is huge!

5/16 - Even though our bullpen was coming into it's own, Ed and I both felt that if there was an opprotunity to get a reliable reliever via the waiver wire, we should jump on it. Well, on this morning, that came to fruition, as Pat McCarty, a right hander from the Catskill Cougars was on the waiver wire list. I immediately put a claim in for him, and the next day he was ours. Our biggest concern was that our relivers in AAA just weren't top level material. Xavier Chacon, our stud closer, may be ready in September, and there is really no one else there. We assigned McCarty to AAA Emmaus, and were happy to get him.

Also, on this day, the draft pool was revealed. Here is a list of the top ten players in no particular order, according to BNN.


5/24 - Oh no, the injury bug has hit us. Except for a few bumps and bruises, which would keep a player out for a couple of games, we have been able to dodge the injury bug, until today. Bryan Freake was pitching against Berwick, and was cruising along until the 8th inning when he took a wicked line drive off his head. He got some glove on the ball, but not enough and he went down like a sack of potatoes. He was carted off, and suffered a mild concussion which landed him on the 15 day DL. We called up Jesus Castenada who is a 25 year old right hander, who was 4-2 at AAA Emmaus, with a 3.54 ERA. One good thing of note on this day, we beat Berwick 8-5, and for the first time in our short history, we were at .500, 25-25!!!

5/26 - We had a rather bizarre day today. Not that we won our 5th game in a row, which was great, but that Eisuke Heida came down with a strange infection, more like a virus, which landed him on the DL. We immediately called up Pat McCarty, and put him in the bullpen. Mark Davis, who we temporarily moved to the bullpen, came back into the starting rotation. Although this caused us some stress, we all knew it could have been a lot worse.

5/30 - Because of the injury to Heida, we called up Jesus Castenada from AAA and put him into the rotation. Castenada is from Venezuela, and the big right hander(6'5"), has a 92-94mph fastball, and a nasty changeup! The only reason he's not at the top level is he had been struggling with his control. Well, in his top level debut, Castenada goes eight innings, only gives up five hits and three runs, while striking out four, and we beat our division rivals, Hanover, 8-6. Hanover rallied for three runs in the ninth off of Michael Ward, but with two outs, and the bases loaded, Broderick MacDonald came in to "shut the door", and garnered his 11th save of the year!

5/31 - We closed out May with two wins, and had a wonderful month, ending up 19-10. Our overall record is 30-27, and we are only three games back of first, and tied for the wild card spot with Carbondale, Shamokin and Greensburg. Quite a turnaround for this young team, and everyone from the coaches to the players are looking forward to June!!!

[progen]

The May standings as follows:


With four regulars hitting over .300, our offense has really picked up. Our speed continues to be a big factor as well.


Our pitching has definitely improved, and we can't wait to get Freake and Heida back in the starting rotation!


Here are the batting leaders for May:


And the pitching leaders for May:


That's it for now. I am going away this weekend, so will pick this up on Monday, and we'll be looking to improve our record in June!!

[progen]

So June 1st is here, and after coming off two wins to end May, things are starting to feel pretty good, particularly the first big win against Carbondale, who was tied with us for the wild card spot.

However, that feeling went south as the next three games of this four game series, we were only able to salvage one win, and we dropped out of a tie for the wild card.

Game 2: Our ace, Denny White loses his third game this season, as he gets absolutely no run support. Jesus Flores for Carbondale "dazzled" our hitters with a sneaky fastball, and a good changeup.



Game 3: One of the most exciting games of the year, that really gave the fans something to cheer about. With us down 2-1, and with Carbondale looking to win another one from us, we "pushed" across two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win it. Here's how things went down:



Game 4: Carbondale wins 13-1. We were never in this, as Mark Davis, the young 22 year old gave up five runs in the first inning, and only lasted three. There is a growing concern about Mark, and whether we need to send him down to the minors. At the beginning of the season, we were concerned about his maturity as a starter, and could he handle being at the top level. With Bryan Freake and Eisuke Heida coming off the DL soon, we have some tough decisions to make.

Sunday, June 4th - Very strange that we have a Sunday off in this league, but I took the time to travel to Emmaus to see our AAA team, the Roughriders take on the Providence Voyageurs. Emmaus currently sits in third place with a 29-22 record, and I was there to mainly see some of our top prospects, including Devin Forrest, Ben Brown, and Raul Ramirez. Emmaus easily won the game 10-2, and hears how the team stands so far:

[progen]

June 5th - The team had some extra batting and fielding practice yesterday, and Manager Ed Bane was hopng this will help out in the upcoming, four game series with Mahanoy City. Mahanoy City's baseball history started in 1887, when, for two years, the team played in the Central Pennsylvania League. Then, in 1946, the Mahanoy City Bluebirds played in the North Atlantic League, along with seven other teams. In 1948, they changed their name to the Brewers.
The league lasted just until 1950, with the Lebanon Chix winning the title.

In baseball, Mahnoy City's most famous son, is Joe Boley.


Joe Boley's best years were spent the International League for the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore won seven consecutive league championships between 1919-1925. Boley's batting average in Baltimore was above .300 for all but one season and his fielding percentage was exceptional. He should have made to the majors long before he did. The Orioles management made sure he stayed in Baltimore by placing a high price tag on their star shortstop. Finally in 1927 he was purchased by the Philadelphia Athletics ( managed by the legendary Connie Mack) for $60,000 dollars. Boley joined Jimmy Foxx, Max Bishop and Jimmy Dykes as part of the A's" million dollar" infield.

As a twenty-eight year old rookie Joe batted .311 and then helped the A's to three American league pennants and two World Series Championships from 1929-31.

Another player from Mahanoy City who played on that A's team was John Quinn, a right handed "spitballer", who won his last game at the age of 49.


Mahanoy City also is famous for Babe Ruth playing an exhibition game there in 1923:
Ruth put on a show in Mahanoy City, reportedly hitting a 460 ft. home run over the center field fence (into the wind), and also became the first, and presumably only person to hit a ball into Mahanoy Creek, a feat which he accomplished during batting practice. Yet another outrageous,folklore-ish tale to add to the Ruth saga.

So back to 1989, and this important four game series with the Brewers!

June 5th - West End Park was packed for the first game, 16,500 fans! Jesus Castaneda was on the mound for us, starting his second game, and he did not dissapoint! Castaneda went six strong innings, and although he gave up nine hits, he kept the Brewers from crossing the plate. So we took a 3-0 league into the seventh, and Manager Bane decided to go with Randy McElroy. McElroy proceeded to give up four hits and three runs to allow the Brewers to tie the game. They then scratched out another run off of Loren O'Connor, and won the game 4-3. Really a tough loss for the Aces.

June 6th - - Our hard luck pitcher Juan Aguilar took the mound, pitched two run ball, and preceded to lose 2-1. Our bats have suddenly gone cold!

[progen]

June 7th - Game three of this series was an absolute "pitching gem" for both sides. It pitted our ace Denny White, against their ace, Lee Walker. White was superb, only giving up three hits and one run over eight innings. The problem is, Walker, while giving up seven hits, kept us from scoring, and the Brewers excellent closer, Xavier De La Cruz, came in and closed out the ninth, and we lost 1-0.

June 8th - - The "getaway game didn't go much better for us, as our bats stayed cold, and we loss 4-2. What looked like a month to really put some good wins together early, has turned into us losing six out of seven, and dropping six games behing Gettysburg, and three games out of the wild card. The All Star game couldn't have come soon enough, and Ed Bane and I, and the coaching staff were meeting on Friday, the 9th to make some decisions on player personnel for the second half of the season!



Standings


We had but one representative in the All Star Game, as with our bats going cold, guys like Dale Robertson, who was hitting .325, and speedy Greg Griffith, didn't make the cut. Our ace Denny White, did make it however, and deservedly so!

[progen]

6/8 - - To continue on this day, Brian Freake, our spot starter and middle reliever came off the DL. It was difficult to Ed and I to sit down with young Mark Davis, to tell him he was on a bus that afternoon to Emmaus, our AAA club. But he took it like a pro, and said "I'll be seeing you before the end of the season!".

The other change we made was also sending Bartolo Zamora down to AAA, and recalling Raul Ramirez. Ramirez was hitting .310 with 6 HR's for Emmaus, and with our starting first baseman, Javier Sanchez struggling offensively, we need better production at that position.

6/12 - 6/15 - Before I go into our four game series with the Shamokin Shammies, once again a bit of history on their favorite baseball "son."

Amos Aaron Strunk was born on January 22, 1889 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fifth child of Amos, a carpenter, and Amanda Strunk. Young Amos learned baseball playing at Fairmount and Huntington Parks in Philadelphia, where the players were called "Park Sparrows" since they spent so much time on the baseball field. There, it was noted that "the lanky kid was too fast for his protagonists. He ran rings around them, and they confessed it." After playing with an amateur team in Merchantville, N.J. in 1907, Strunk began playing professionally with Shamokin of the outlaw Atlantic League in 1908. From there, he was recommended by teammate Lave Cross to Athletics manager Connie Mack, who brought Strunk to the major league team and played him for the first time on September 24, 1908; Strunk collected a pinch hit single in his debut. Mack was intent on assembling a group of speedy players, and "he wanted men who could travel fast enough to burn their galoshes. Collins, Barry, Oldring, and the rest were in that class, and Amos fitted in like a drink on an August day." Strunk was sent out to Milwaukee of the American Association for some additional seasoning early in the 1909 season, but he was soon back with Philadelphia to resume a major league career that would last for 17 seasons.


The town of Shamokin's baseball history dates back to 1887, when the then "Maroons" played in the Central Pennsylvania League. The name changed to the "Coal Heavers" in 1897, and that was their last year in the CPL league. There was no more "professional" baseball until 1925, when they were known as the Shamokin Shammies, and then a year later, the Indians. They played in the NY-Penn League, until 1927, which, until this year, was the last time residents of Shamokin saw professional baseball in their town.

6/12-6/15 -The series didn't start out good, as Heida pitched well enough to win, but we were shoutout 4-0. However, the bats came alive the next day in a 7-6 win, with Jesus Castaneda just one out away from a complete game. He had only given up four runs. Bryan Freake, trying to finish up got hit around, and Broderick MacDonald came in to get his 13th save! The next two games were dominated by our pitchers, as Juan Aguilar pitched his way to a 3-1 victory, and then our ace and lone All Star, Denny White went seven strong innings of one run ball to get his ninth victory.




As we finished up the getaway game in Shamokin, next up was the first ever, Northeast Baseball League Amateur Draft!


Here is the draft order, and I felt like we were studying for mid-terms after all the work we put into this. More on our draft strategy shortly!

[progen]

The inaugural Amateur Draft was as intense, if not more intense, then our initial draft that lasted 100 rounds. This draft would last only ten, and to say it's critical to get that impact player in the first round, whether he helps you in a year, or two to three, is a huge understatement!

And for as many teams as we have, 24, we have about that many philosophies on how to have a successful draft. Meeting with Ed and Head Scout John Mizer, we felt there were needs at three main positions. Starting pitching, when is that never needed, first base, and catcher. We had targeted several players that we thougt would be around with the 12th pick. One was catcher Powell Shoemaker, although his stock had dropped some due to a recent shoulder injury, and yes it was his throwing arm. We had really only one first baseman on our draft board, and that was Chris Scott, who most people felt would be an impact player. The starting pitchers that we liked and felt we could get was Antonio Moran, or if all the stars aligned, Juan Mendoza.





And so the draft began:

With the first overall pick, the Lebanon Chix chose centerfielder Cornell "Superfly" Peel.

[progen]

So after all the photos, "call to mom", and some words from Peel, the draft continued! And as you can see, the two pitchers that we were hoping might drop, were no longer there(Moran and Mendoza). So Ed, John, and I huddled around the desk, and looked at what we had!


Chris Scott was sitting there, and so was the catcher, Powell Shoemaker. Our scout John Mizer also liked Colt Long, who was projected to be an "elite" player, but with three solid outfielders in Lacy, Roberson, and Griffith(all hitting over .300), and Devin Forrest ready to come up next year, we felt we could afford to pass on him. Finally, with the 12th pick, and our first ever amateur selection, we took first baseman Chris Scott.

The overall scouting book on Scott as follows:


So, with that pick, we watched as there were a few surprises, including Colt Long dropping to Carbondale at the 18th pick.

Finally, it was our pick in the second round, and to our amazement, Powell Shoemaker, the catcher we thought would go in the first round, was sitting there. Apparently that shoulder injury he has scared a lot of clubs away. We weren't concerned, and with the second pick we grabbed him!!

In the third round, we go with what our scout felt was a true "sleeper" in Juan Luna. A typical Ace player with no power, but incredible speed, having stolen 37 bases in college, while only being caught once.


The rest of our picks went like this:
4. Freddie West - 2B - A real steal for us in this round. Needs to work on his fielding, but should be a good hitter.
5. Angelo Reyes - C - Projects to be more of a backup, good defensively!
6. Arturo Ocampo - MR/SP - Looks to be a solid MR and or spot starter. It will be interesting to see which direction his career takes him!
7. Jose Luna - OF - This is Juan's cousin. We'll see how he develops.

The other three picks, all are "reaches", and we'll see how they develop!
8. Steffan Brown - RF
9. Carlos Ortiz - CL
10. David Carr - 1B

So, with the draft completed, it was time once again to break out the Chimay, as we felt really good with all our picks. It will be nailbiting at times, but also fun to see how these "kids" develop over time!

[Hendu Style]

Great stuff! Keep it going.

[progen]

So after the draft, the coaches and I immediately began preparing for Greensburg as we're playing a four game series with the Green Sox. Here's a bit of history on professional baseball in Greensburg back in the day!

The Greensburg Red Wings were a Class D Minor League Baseball team based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The team was a member of the Pennsylvania State Association, from 1934-1939 and played all of its home games at Offutt Field. The team's name often changed throughout their short existence. They began as the Greensburg Trojans, and affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. A year later in 1935, the team was renamed the Red Wings, however in 1937 when the Brooklyn Dodgers took over the team, they were renamed the Greensburg Green Sox. Finally the team was called the Greensburg Senators, after their final affiliate, the Washington Senators, in 1939.

To say the good folks in Greensburg are happy to have a team again, is an understatement. And the fact that the Green Sox are 38-31, tied for the wild card spot, and only two games out of first. I knew this will be a rough series, but I was hoping we could improve our play at home.

6/16 - 6/19 - First game didn't start out like we expected. Tim Butler pitched his heart out, going seven innings and only giving up two runs on two hits. But the Sox starter, Desmond Paul was just as good, only giving up two runs. The game when into the 10th inning, and uncharacteristically, Broderick MacDonald gave up a solo home run, and we got nothing in the bottom of the 10th, and lost 3-2.

The next night was better as we won 3-2, with Euseika Heida going seven and a third, but the game went 13 innings, and was another thriller! We won the game when Gene Brown doubled, and John Thomas drove him home with a double of his own. The crowd went wild, and for one night, we could celebrate a nicely earned home victory.



After game two of the series, I reached out to the agents for the players we had just drafted. Here is what I proposed to each, after some haggling with their agents:


I felt good about these offers, and was confident all picks would eventually sign.

The next two games we lost 7-4, and 6-4, as in the first game Jesus Castenada took his first loss. Just a bad outing, giving up seven runs in 5 and two thirds.

At this point we're 71 games in, and halfway through the season. Here's how things shaped up to this point:


And our overall team stats looked like this. And as you can see, pitching is keeping us close to that .500 record. Our batting average has imporved
some, but we're still 11th out of 12 teams in the National Conference.



The getaway game was another extra inning one, going 12 innings, and Jorge Machado, our reliever with the best ERA of 1.33, got hit around, giving up two runs in the 6-4 loss. So with that our home record was a dismal 13-19, while our away record was 22-18. A lot of baseball played against Greensburg, but only one win really hurt! And our runs scored only rank 10th. I knew offense could be an issue, but didn't think it would be this bad! We've now dropped two games under .500 again!

So it's on the road again, to take on the Allentown Ambassadors in a huge four game series!

[progen]

Well with the trade deadline just a little over a month away, there were plenty of scouts at the different games, including ours!


And there are almost as many ways to "scout" players, as there are scouts in today's game!


Personally, I'd hire the one in the middle if I had the chance!


So anyway, you get the idea! And with some young talent on our team, I was getting calls nearly everyday for interest in Greg Griffth, Dale Robertson, Michael Lacy, and Juan Montoya, to name a few. Manager Ed Bane and I already had many conversations regarding trades, and we decided from the outset, that we were committed to these young players, and felt we had a "boat load" of talent for the future!

[progen]

So we arrived in Allentown, licking our wounds from yet another disappointing home stand! Our scout, John Mizer, as he always did, presented
us with an advanced scouting report on Allentown:



I liked the pitching matchups, and before I go over the results, here's a bit of history on baseball in Allentown, at least up to the early 30's.

Late 19th century
Professional baseball in Allentown dates to 1884, when the Allentown Dukes completed one season in the original Eastern League.
Four years later, the city fielded a Central League team, the Allentown Peanuts, which also folded after a season. The 1890s brought a series of ball clubs to the city.
The Allentown Colts played in the Pennsylvania State League from 1892-93. The next year, the team became Kelly’s Killers, named for its player-manager, future Hall of Fame member Mike "King" Kelly. Late in the season, Kelly moved the Eastern League’s Binghamton Bingoes here as the Allentown Buffalos. Kelly, the era’s most flamboyant figure, died of pneumonia that fall at age 35, and the Buffalos were dissolved. In 1895, the Allentown Goobers returned Pennsylvania State League play to the city for one season. In 1898, yet another team was formed, re-using the name the Allentown Peanuts. The Peanuts played for three seasons in the Atlantic League, which succeeded the Pennsylvania State League in 1896. The league and the team were dissolved in 1900.

Early 20th century
Over the next two decades, Allentown hosted only one professional team, a Tri-State League club which played from 1912-14. Then, in the 1920s, the name the Allentown Dukes was revived for a semi-professional team that played four seasons (1923–26) at Edgemont Field, a new field at Second and Susquehanna Streets. On September 7, 1923 the Allentown Dukes defeated the New York Yankees by a score of 8 to 7 at Edgemont Field. Babe Ruth struck out at bat in the ninth inning, with bases loaded. The semi-pro team led to the start of an Eastern League team under the same name in 1929. League champions the next year, the team was renamed the Allentown Buffaloes in 1931. At the end of the 1932 season, the league collapsed, and the Buffaloes folded.

6/20-6/23 - Well, we opened up our first game of this series, just like we did our last three, with a loss! Our ace, Denny White went seven and two thirds of four run ball, only to lose 4-2. And what's worse, we only mustered two hits, one a home run by Dale Roberson, his team leading eighth of the year!
One bit of good news, Powell Shoemaker, the catcher we took in the second round, signed on with us for $3,900 dollars. One down, four to go!

I did get word that Cornell Peel, the number one overall pick in the amateur draft, signed with Lebanon for $78,300 dollars. My owner would've had a heart attack, if that was us, but I mentioned it to him anyway. Also, two players that we had on our radar for the offseason, both signed extensions. Lee Walker, a stud starting pitcher, who was 9-3, with a 2.33 ERA, and third baseman Ken Martin, who has seven home runs and 30 rbi's. Oh well, I can take those two off my watch list!

Game two we battled and collected ten hits, and the "old man", 29 year old Tim Butler got his fourth win! And our team only "whiffed" twice in the game. And of course, we continue to be aggressive on the bases and won the game 6-4.

I will say one thing about this team, they all get along in the clubhouse, and on those long bus trips! At least I haven't heard of any major issues among the players on or off the field to this point! Unlike what I see in our "GM Newsletter", that I don't always share with our manager!



Or this "beaut" about a player getting injured:

[progen]

Game 3 - Coatesville at Allentown

Our third game with Allentown, we had Eisuke Heida scheduled to go, but he came down with a sore shoulder throwing the day before, and wasn't any better today. We had no other options but to start our middle reliever Pat McCarty, who hadn't started a game since high school. All Pat did was pitch a one hit shutout, going seven strong innings. "Lights out" Jorge Machado came in and took care of the last two innings. Someone had sneaked champagne into the locker room and everyone celebrated after the game. It was actually nice to see the team so loose and enjoying themselves again!




Game 4 - Coatesville at Allentown

Game four was another delight to watch if you are an Aces fan. We won the game 7-4, scoring all seven runs in the second inning. The big blow was Dale Roberson hitting the Aces first ever grand slam! And Jesus Castaneda recorded his third win, going eight strong innings. Broderick MacDonald came on in the ninth to pick up his 14th save. This win got us back to .500 at 38-38.

A rare day off on Saturday gave me the opportunity to do some "house cleaning" at my office.
1. Scour the waiver wire!
2. Return calls to three GM's turning down their trade offers!
3. Talk to my minor league coaches
4. Meet with my office staff, all one of her, Kirsten
5. Lunch with the Manager, Owner, Hitting and Pitching Coaches.
6. Tweak my list of possible free agents in the offseason!

And then the big news! We decided to send our number one overall pick in the inaugural draft, Eisuke Heida down to AAA. He has been battling injuries, and has been real inconsistent lately, so it while it was a tough decision, calling up young Mark Davis, who had been sent down earlier, made perfect sense.

There are many things that make the game of baseball so great, so interesting, and sometimes, so comical. And that is just how superstitious many players are in really, any league!


In June, after losing our fifth straight game, and heading back to Coatesville for the All Star break, our pitching coach Alejandro Pacheco, told the driver to stop the bus while on the bridge above a small river. Pacheco, who had purchased a new pair of shoes only a few days earlier, believed the shoes were bringing the team bad luck. So he got off the bus and hurled the shoes into the river. After the All Star break, the Aces won three out of the next four games.

Our bench coach, Alex Rivera, is so superstitious, that during a winning streak he used the same worn-out stick of deodorant, though it was falling apart and rubbing his armpits raw. He wouldn't buy a new stick of deodorant until the streak was broken.

Well, we now had six straight home games to finish out June, and an excellent chance to make some headway in our division. I would keep my fingers crossed hoping that our luck at home would change. We had a big series with Chambersburg coming up first, who were tied with us in the division at 38-38

[progen]

6/25-6/28
Game 1 - Chambersburg Maroons at Coatesville Aces

Frustration, frustration, frustration!! For the fourth straight series, the Aces opened up with a loss. And it seems that extra inning games are getting more common too, as we lost in ten, 6-4. Juan Aguilar took the loss, although we banged our twelve hits, with centerfielder Javier Sanchez going 4 four 4.

Game 2 - Chambersburg Maroons at Coatesville Aces

Our stopper Denny White took the ball on a beautiful evening, with temps in the low 70's, and proceeded to pitch a gem. White only gave up four hits and two runs over seven innings to garner his 10th win! We had three stolen bases in the game, and Michale Lacy hit his 6th triple of the year, in winning the game 4-1.

Game 3 - Chambersburg Maroons at Coatesville Aces - Twenty nine year old Tim Butler looked 59, as he was rocked for six runs in four innings, and generally reliable Pat McCarty came in and gave up five more in a 11-8 loss. We out hit Chambersburg 14 to 12, but they got more timely hits, and we hit into two "inning killing" double plays!

The only bit of good news I got, is that we got all five of our draft choices that were looking for bonus money signed! A bit of light, in what was a "dark" day!

Because our home record is so abysmal, our office manager Kirsten, who apparently thinks she's also good at scheduling promotions, had an orangutan brought in that could do a "tight rope" act. The "rope" wasn't that high, and the kids got a kick out of "Barney", but all the stinkin thing did was take a big dump right near home plate as he hung on the rope. Hell, I could've had my worthless equipment manager do that much!


Or I could've hired this bug for a lot less money!


6/29-6/30 - The last two games of June we welcomed the Gettysburg Ponies in to town! The Ponies are a very good team, and currently lead our division! I wasn't too confident about the series, and my fears were right on as we were swept the first two games. We lost 5-4 in the first game, as our ninth inning rally where we scored three runs, came up short. The next day, we went up agains ten game winner Trey Thomas, who proceeded to shut us out 3-0! We were only able to muster four hits, and only one runner reached third.

So with losing five out of our last six in June, we fell to 39-43, eight full games out of first, and five out of the wildcard spot! With two more games left with the league leaders, and then four at home with last place Lebanon, we had to put some wins together as time is running out on us!

[progen]

As we move into July, here are the hitting and pitching leaders:


Pitchers



Team Assessment

Here's a look at our hitters and how they are doing!



Pitchers


With only two months to go, I decided to look at the team overall.

Catcher - John Thomas has played good enough to be in a backup role in the future. Not a great bat, but decent defensively. This will need to be adressed in the offseason!

First Base - Javier Sanchez who had been playing the outfield, is doing a decent job at first. Concern is his fielding as he has eight errors. My scout keeps telling me he has solid potential. Ed Bane likes his work ethic, so it will be his job to lose next season!

Second Base - Juan Montoya has done a nice job. He's got his average over three hundred, and has been stellar in the field. Juan's biggest problem is staying healthy. He hasn't been on the DL, but four different times he's been hurt, which has cost him 20 games.

Third Base - Gene Brown has been steady, but his .259 and lack of power is a concern. He also has absolutely no speed on the basepaths. My manager and scout have both suggested an upgrade here in the offseason.

Shortstop - Bob Donaldson, at 23, appears to have loads of potential. Will he live up to it is the question? Ed Bain likes him, as does my scout. Marcelino Trevino, another youngster at 22, has been a decent backup! We like the fact that he can play second, third, or short.

Outfield - This has been our strength so far! Dale Roberson, Greg Griffith, and Michael Lacy have been tremendous! Ryan Dixon is solid defensively, but struggles mightily at the plate. Both Devin Forrest and Ben Brown will be ready next season, and could be called up on August 1st, when rosters expand!

As far as the pitchers, I'm going to wait until the end of July. Besides it's midnight and I'm exhausted!

And finally, before turning out the lights, I looked at one more promotion that Kirsten wanted me to consider. Yea, right!

World's Largest Tighty-Whitey Race and World's Fastest Fat Man Contest

Hold a pair of races of “mammoth proportions.” In the tighty-whitey race, groups of people were banded together in a super-sized pair of briefs and run around the bases, and then have some overweight guys enter themselves in the second contest.

[Painmantle]

Lookin good Buddy! Nice work!

[progen]

So July 1st is upon us. Nice, long, holiday weekend, and rather travel to the overly crowded Jersey shore, spend it watching Independent Professional baseball with your Coatesville Aces. That's what I wanted to say on my most recent "radio spot", but the copy read differently!

Before game three with Gettysburg, Coatesville ad their holiday parade. With the 4th coming on a Tuesday, made sense to have the parade on Saturday.


And could this be me, my Manager Ed Bane, and our Scout John Mizer twenty years from now, still figuring out a way to win our Division?


And so on to game three with front running Gettysburg, and lo and behold, not only do we get a win, but the trio of Butler, Freake, and McCarty get a five hit shutout! Nice win for us on such a festive day!

And then back to reality, as Gettysburg hammers our ace, Denny White, on their way to a 9-3 win. The "Ponies" banged out 19 hits, and after the game, it was clear we had a wide gap between us and that team! One that would have to get closed some in the offseason for sure!

[progen]

Well, when a team is struggling, there is nothing better than to welcome a team to your home turf that is struggling even more than you are, and that would be the Lebanon Chix. At $821,500, Lebanon has a payroll $300 thousand dollars higher than ours, but through some tough injury luck, and some not so good player decisions, they are really struggling!

7/3-7/6 - But what a start, with Juan Aguilar on the mound, he proceeds to give up five runs in the first inning. My owner, Bill Huston, had to take a walk as it was tough just watching. That of course, made me feel real good! But our team kept scratching away, and we answered with one in the third, and three in the fourth, seventh, and eighth innings to win it 10-6. And while it was a good win, yet another concern was our sloppy play in the field, having three errors! Aguilar only went two innings, but reliable Pat McCarty pitched three and a third to get his third win.

Game two saw Juan Castenada pitch a gem, as did Benton Taylor from the Chix, which resulted in another exciting extra inning game that had us winning in the bottom of the 11th. Broderick MacDonald, our closer, picked up his first win of the season! The Chix tried to use the best strategy, but here's how it played out.


The third game saw us pound out ten hits, and give young Mark Davis, his first win since being recalled from AAA Emmaus. He was so excited, it was as if he hit the lottery!

The getaway game we weren't so fortunate, as Lebanon scored three runs off Macdonald in the 9th, to close out a 4-3 win. MacDonald was obviously tired from the day before, where he threw quite a few pitches in the ninth, and I think this was a lesson well learned by Manager Ed Bane on how he could use our closer.

With having a day off on Friday, July 7th, felt it was a good time to get to better know some of our "personnel" behind the scenes, and let you get to know these such important folks


Meet our Clubhouse Manager, Brian Sensor:


Now before you say, wow, what a great job he has, just read a "portion" of his job responsbilities, and then see if you want to apply!

Clubhouse Manager Job Description

The majority of the time, the clubhouse provides the focal point and ‘heart’ of a baseball club. It often determines the way a player develops and the level of success he has both on and off the field. A well managed clubhouse offers a multi-functional facility, from providing a meeting room to acting as a second home to the players. Over years, the prospective outlook on the clubhouse manager position has changed. It is a vital role of the clubhouse manager to provide maximum customer service to players, coaches, personnel, umpires, league officials, and special entertainment acts.

The following is a list of responsibilities of the Clubhouse Manager.

Responsibilities are not limited to this list.
Pre-Season Clubhouse Responsibilities
-Uniform inventory (pants, jerseys, BP tops, belts, loops, socks)
-Equipment inventory (bats, pine tar, bat weights, catcher’s gear, balls, etc.)
-Cleaning (Both Clubhouses – coaches’ room/bathroom, players’ lobby, bathroom/shower, training area, entry/exit ways, dugouts, bat cave, lockers, shampoo carpets, clubby office, umpires room, get all washers/dryers in proper working condition)
-Meet with bat boys and develop a schedule.
These duties are essential to making our coaching staff, players and personnel pleased when they arrive from mini-camp. A clean and organized clubhouse leaves a good impression with the coaches and players.

Game Day Responsibilities-

Cleaning:
-Laundry: Home/Visiting team (personals, uniforms, staff shirts, towels, Boomer suit, etc…)
-Home Clubhouse Only- Bathrooms, urinals, toilets, shower, tables, garbage, training area, vacuum floors, sweep dugouts, pick-up trash
-Visiting Clubhouse- Pick up coaches room (trash, food etc…), pick up garbage, pick up training room, cleaning crew will vacuum and dump garbage cans.
-Equipment:
-Issue all necessary equipment to players and coaches.
-Get umpires 4 to 5 dozen game balls w/ bag.
-Help set-up and breakdown BP equipment.
-Fill water coolers for both sides
-Set out pine tar rag, mota sticks, bat weights, rosin bags.

And there's more, but I will spare you all the details!

Brian sometimes works 16 hours a day, a good chunk of them in a windowless room of unpainted cinder blocks deep inside Ash Park, surrounded by bats and balls and dirty underwear that he will make clean. His is the glorious life of a minor league clubhouse manager. Shop and stock and cook and feed and wash and dry and fold and prep and do it all again the next day. He has been at it for more than a decade. An admitted "trust fund baby", this is what he lives for each day!

“I have this so engrained into me, it’s like second nature,” he says. A tower of towels is folded in front of him and a dozen more are clean in a pile at his side. “It’s like first nature.”

Spend two or three hours at a Coatesville Aces game and you’ll never see Brian. You’ll see his work, of course — the baseballs rubbed with mud, the dugouts stocked with towels and coolers and gum, the clean uniforms on every player — but he will remain in his office, which, unlike most offices, includes a refrigerator, a freezer, a stove, several hundred bats and an industrial washer and dryer. He needs to be down there. In case players need more equipment or umpires need more balls or, heaven forbid, the teams need something not in his neatly organized stock of goods, he needs to answer questions and solve problems.

He’s always on call. He’s always ready.

Brian's home from March until September:



And of course, no off day would be complete without hearing about Bryan Freake's, "freak" accident.

[progen]

July 8th - 11th - So now we host a four game series with the Johnstown Johnnies, who are currently one game out of first, and tied for the wild card spot.

Game 1 - And of course, as usual, we start the series off with a loss. Our ace, Denny White pitched Ok, going seven innings and giving up four runs in a 5-4 loss. Once again our pen couldn't keep a team off the board, as this time it was Loren O'Connor giving up the winning run in the eighth. We really need to finish out this home stand strong!

Game 2 - Wow!! Did the "batting gods" look down on us today!! We scored a franchise record 15 runs on 13 hits, and Juan Aguilar pitched a gem in
a 15-2 win! The fans were going crazy as they have not seen offense like this ever from this team at home! Have to post this scorecard!



Game 3 - The bats stayed hot, as we pounded out 10 hits and won the game
6-4. Jesus Castaneda improved to 4-1, and Broderick MacDonald recorded his
16th save!

Game 4 - The excitement in the locker room was at an all time high, as players knew that a win today, and we'd be back to .500. And in a tight battle the entire game, we held on for a 4-3 victory. However, it came at a cost, as our young, 22 year old starter Mark Davis sustained a neck injury in the third inning throwing a slider, and had to leave the game. After the doctor checked him out, the muscle strain put him on the 15 day DL. We then had five other pitchers come in, with Loren O'Conner getting his third win, and Broderick MacDonald getting his 17th save, only two behing the league leader!