davidsf
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Post by davidsf on Jul 14, 2019 15:10:50 GMT -8
You boys will have to suffer me some here: I’m an Angels fan whose house is midway between the Cubs/White Sox and the Cardinals, my wife’s entire family are Cubs fans, and I get more than a morning-after box score only if the Angels play one of those three teams. So, to get my fix, which includes season tickets, we have been a Hist Family for our local baseball team, the Cornbelters. Up until this season, they were a professional baseball club in the Frontier League, none of which teams gave any affiliation with any MLB effort. We typically drafted two kinds of players: 22 year olds, just out of college looking for their big break... or Double A guys on their way back down, who are unwilling to let the dream die just yet.
THIS year, the club join d the Prospect League, a Summer Collegiate Wood Bat League, and all of our (unpaid) players are still in College. This means a couple of things: First, we have to take what we can get, meaning a lot of colleges don’t require their ball players to play Summer ball, some make it totally voluntary, and some require their position players to play, but not their pitchers.
the Cornbelters (we have a Right Fielder and a Short Stop, a Sophomore and a Senior, respectively, staying with us) have a problem that has them very near the bottom of our division with only three weeks left to play: Pitching.
we have no starters, so the manager uses the long relievers he has as his starters and they do an O.K. job for 2, maybe 3 innings. A typical game will go something like this: Cornbelters go ahead, usually 3-0, early in the game. The opposing team catches us by the 4th inning, goes ahead in the 6th or 7th inning, we start to come back, but in the 9th inning they increase their lead and win the game.
defense is O.K., other than the infielders refuse to leap for the ball to keep it from going into the outfield. Bats are strong but when you score 6 runs in a game, you should win, but we don’t. Starting pitchers start losing steam, walk in runs, hit batters, load the bases... all long about the third or 4th inning...
thats it. That’s all I wanted to gripe about. Thanks for listening.
OH, and I got to announce their game last weekend. 👍
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Bick
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Post by Bick on Jul 14, 2019 17:14:11 GMT -8
Always wanted to do a baseball game.
... and the 2-0 pitch from Baumgartner is swung on and driven DEEP into right field. Smith doesn't bother to move as Mincy's rocket will splash down in the bay somewhere between here and Oakland.
And the Dodgers draw first blood and lead 1-0...
Or something like that
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Credo
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Post by Credo on Jul 18, 2019 15:03:56 GMT -8
Yankee manager Aaron Boone's rant here is epic; that umpire looks no more 24 years old but I know that's not possible. (and shouldn't this thread be moved to the general Sports section?)
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Post by playthegame on Jul 22, 2019 11:34:56 GMT -8
@ davidsf Did you ever have Taylor Wagner as a coach or teacher? Clip board would hit the ground after a blown whistle and those choice words “dadgummit” would reverberate across the practice field followed by dramatic exhortation and encouragement, RIP Daddy Wags... |
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davidsf
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Posts: 5,252
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Post by davidsf on Jul 22, 2019 15:03:08 GMT -8
Always wanted to do a baseball game. ... and the 2-0 pitch from Baumgartner is swung on and driven DEEP into right field. Smith doesn't bother to move as Mincy's rocket will splash down in the bay somewhere between here and Oakland. And the Dodgers draw first blood and lead 1-0... Or something like that You could’a been a conten’dah, Bick. yer a natural. i was always taught, on radio, you have to be saying something every 3-5 seconds so listeners know you’re still there. But when I got my shot relief got the regular guy, I asked him about that. He said, “No, I don’t worry about that, and I definitely don’t follow it.” it was was the most fun I’ve had announcing since I was a DJ back in the 80’s. 👍 |
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davidsf
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Post by davidsf on Jul 22, 2019 15:08:40 GMT -8
@ davidsf Did you ever have Taylor Wagner as a coach or teacher? Clip board would hit the ground after a blown whistle and those choice words “dadgummit” would reverberate across the practice field followed by dramatic exhortation and encouragement, RIP Daddy Wags... I can’t say as I’ve had the pleasure. Closest I came to that level of encouragement was Jack Schlatter. He was the Speech and Drama teacher at Sycamore Jr. High School and his modus operandi sang a clip board, it was those long erasers from the chalkboard that would come flying across the room... followed by a string of anger and eventual instruction... |
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Post by ProfessorFate on Jul 29, 2019 11:43:33 GMT -8
Mater Dei's Ryan McMahon
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Credo
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Post by Credo on Jul 29, 2019 18:41:42 GMT -8
Cool spot.
1. Ryan's younger brother J.T. was a student of mine at Servite and nice QB for us as a senior in 2017. Went to Mississippi State to play football but didn't have a realistic path to play much; he's back in SoCal and will be playing for Cerritos College this year.
2. If Ryan (a former starting QB for the Monarchs) were at Mater Dei today he'd never have a chance to touch the field and would have transferred by his sophomore season.
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davidsf
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Post by davidsf on Jul 31, 2019 13:30:02 GMT -8
Winding down the Collegiate Wood Bat League baseball season with a week of away games and, then one last home game on Monday before we shut it down.
This year, I did not get to call a game for the radio station, but I did stand in for the Announcer which was pretty cool: “The next batter is #15, Right Fielder, Jeremy Drudge... and, folks, don’t forget to grab a y’all cool one and a hot dog from our concessions up on the main concourse...”
But I really want to get your opinion on something.
We played the third-place team Sunday PM. We have been hemorrhaging pitchers for a couple weeks, now, and we are the 5th place team because of it. We have no starters at all, so we use long relievers to start buy they run out of gas by the top of the 4th. Anyway, we were playing the 2nd place team who is pretty much a lock on going to the playoffs.
So, we completely fell apart in the 2nd and they scored 11 runs about half of which were walks. That would have been bad enough, but they went on to pile on another 9 runs which I felt was unnecessary and poor sportsmanship. You’re going to win the game, leave your opponent some dignity at least. Nothing to be gained, IMO, by piling on runs like that.
What do you think?
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MDDad
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Post by MDDad on Jul 31, 2019 15:00:58 GMT -8
I assume that some of the players on your team and in that league are still playing to impress professional scouts to varying degrees. Asking a kid to not do his best (I guess that would mean to intentionally strike out, or some other unsavory option) is even more unfair than piling on an overmatched opponent.
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Credo
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Post by Credo on Jul 31, 2019 20:28:29 GMT -8
I assume that some of the players on your team and in that league are still playing to impress professional scouts to varying degrees. Asking a kid to not do his best (I guess that would mean to intentionally strike out, or some other unsavory option) is even more unfair than piling on an overmatched opponent. I tend to agree. Baseball is not like other sports where you can just go to the four corners or run out the clock. Guys are going to want to hit. Where it crosses the line is when a team is still stealing bases with an insurmountable lead. That's bush league in my opinion. |
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davidsf
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Post by davidsf on Aug 2, 2019 6:43:31 GMT -8
I just read in a local paper, the Terre Haute team (our opponent I described above with the piling on runs) got their comeuppance from an unexpected source:
You guys do raise a good point. These are college players and are still being looked at by scouts, so one cannot expect them to not do their best...
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Credo
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Post by Credo on Aug 19, 2019 21:12:10 GMT -8
HOFer Goose Gossage says "get off my lawn;" doesn't like the current state of MLB.
I have to agree there are way too many pitching changes and I don't care for all the infield shifts.
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Credo
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Post by Credo on Sept 6, 2019 16:23:33 GMT -8
Pretty amazing.
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davidsf
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Post by davidsf on Apr 15, 2021 6:50:57 GMT -8
SO, you remember that 2 years ago, our local team, the Cornbelters moved from the Frontier League professional baseball, to the Prospect League Summer Collegiate league... and had a miserable showing that first year. Also recall, the Prospect League decided to cancel their 2020 season because of COVID, so the local Ops Manager (who is also an owner of the Prospect League) launched the Kernels Collegiate League with four teams all populated by local players who played a double header (two 7-inning games) 6 nights a week to avoid any team travel. The "KCL" was so popular, the decision was made last year to bring the league back this year, b ut with the Cornbelters returning to the Prospect League, four new teams had to be created. The plan is, the Cornbelters will play their home Prospect League games in their home Corn Crib ballpark and, when they travel to away games, the KCL teams will play their double headers in the same park... WHICH means, we will have baseball 6 or 7 nights a week at the 'Crib. 👍🏻 |
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