July 22, 2010

Whitecap Brothers Have Same Name

ESPN just did a nice write up on the Sanz brothers who play for the West Michigan Whitecaps. What makes the story interesting, is that the article’s about Lius A. Sanz. And Luis A. Sanz. Yeah, two brothers…same name. Wow, if this doesn’t remind me of the classic film (ok, maybe not so much, but one of my favorites) Major League 3: Back To The Minors. They had a brother duo named Juan Lopez, who manager Gus Cantrall (played by Scott Bakula) dubbed Jaun 1 and Juan 2. Not sure if Whitecaps manager Joe DePastino has made a similar naming of the brothers, but he told ESPN, “I’ve been in this game for 18 years now and I’ve never seen it or heard of it.” Aparently no one els has either, so there is no record of brothers with the same name in Major Legue Baseball. In the movie, the Lopez’s played shortstop and second base, and were played by Tom and Tim DiFilippo, respectively. The real life
Sanz brothers play pitcher and catcher, and are separated by their middle names. Luis Angel (no. 44) is the pitcher of the two, while little brother Luis Alberto (no. 13) wears the tools of ignorance. They were both named after their father who was named, yeah, well, Luis Sanz. Luis Angel explains, “In the house, my mother called us by our middle names. i’d be Luis Angel or Luis Alberto, so it was no problem growing up because she new our name.” The two became teammates after Luis Alberto was demoted from High-A Lakeland Flying Tigers to help out the fledging Whitecaps. They’ve only been in one game toghether, though, on July 5 when the ‘Caps lost to Dayton 6-5. At the game this weekend, maybe I can get both to sign a program or something-same name, different signatures.

Sanz photo courtesy of ESPN

Buzz photo courtesy of Yahoo! Movies

July 9, 2010

Gratuitous Kid Pics

Yeah, just showing them off here a bit. The Little League Season is coming to an end here at the end of the month, but we’ll still keep busy. Got our tickets for the Battle Creek Bombers on the 23rd, and the Whitecaps(Star Wars Night) on the 24th. Until then…

Photos property of MIB

June 28, 2010

Whitecaps Update 6/10

First Half Report: The Whitecaps finished last in the Midewest League East Division with a record of 26-43, the worst in the team’s history. The club is on pace to score it’s fewest runs in a season (currantly 570 in 2003) and to have the highest ERA (4.04 in 1999). Offensively, the only standout is third baseman Wade Gaynor (pictured) who hit .269 with 20 extra-base hits. On the mound, Giovanni Soto led the way with a 5-4 record and 2.05 ERA. Pitching prospect Jacob Turner and first baseman Jordan Lennerton have been promoted to the Lakeland Flying Tigers of the Florida State League, and made room for some 2010 draft picks on the ‘Caps rosters. Coming to West Michigan are infielder Tony Plagman from Georgia Tech (where he hit 21 homers), catcher Robert Brantly from Univ. of Cal-Riverside (hit .373 with 20 doubles and 11 homers), and first baseman Clay Jones from Alabamba (hit .313 with 17 homers and 66 RBI’s for the Crimson Tide). Hopefully these guys an contribute and help to aviod the Whitecaps falling on their face again in the second half.

2010 Midwest League All-Star Game: Representing the Whitecaps in this seasons All-Star game were 19 year old pitchers Jacob Turner and Giovonni Soto. Turner pitched the third inning, giving up one double and retiring the other three hitters. “Whenever you make an all-strar team, it means you’re doing something right,” Turner told the Grand Rapids Press. “It felt all right. It was one inning. Nothing spectacular and it wasn’t terrible. I just went out there and did my thing. That’s what you have to try adn do.” The lefty Soto came in to pitch a shutout inning in the sixth. He gave up one infield single and struck out one. “I felt proud because I’ve never been on an all-star team”, stated Soto. “And I feel I pitched well.” Their efforts help lead the East Division to a 6-2 victory over the West for the second year in a row, and fifth time in the last six years.

Whitecaps Hall of Fame: Voting has now started for the 2011 class of the Whitecaps Hall of Fame. This years ballot features current Detroit Tigers Joel Zumaya and Ramon Santiago, as well as Detroit’s head groundskeeper Heather Nabozny. Heather is the first female head groundskeeper in Major League history, and used to run things at Fifth-Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids. You can cast your vote HERE.

Photo courtesy of the Grand Rapids Press

June 20, 2010

Happy Father’s Day from M.I.B.

Happy Father’s Day to all the grandpas, dads, father figures, and expecting dads. My grandpa loved baseball and passed that down to my dad, and then to me. Thanks to both of them for that, and for so much more. Thanks to my kids for giving me another generation to pass that love onto. They are the greatest kids in the world…

Photos property of MIB

June 17, 2010

Bumming Around TC

Traverse City Beach Bums vs. Windy City Thunderbolts: After a fun weekend at camp the kids and I decided to catch a Beach Bums game on our way back home. We were all pretty tired, but the game gave us a chance to relax and enjoy some baseball. We’ve hit at least one game every season since the team came here in 2006, and they’re all pretty fun. Not much of a crowd for a Monday night, but enough going on to keep us entertained. In the game, the Bums won 8-3 on the back of two hits by Matt Brown, who also had a stolen base. The team had four stolen bases in the game altogether including two by J.T. Hall. Ryan Platt got the win for TC on the hill. We’ll try to get to another game here this summer, but next on our slate are the Whitecaps next month on Star Wars night. Can’t wait for that one…

Photos property of MIB

June 7, 2010

Little League…or California Penal League?

Well, the Sault Little League finally provided us with our team jerseys last week. Our lucky four-year run with blue came to a eye-clashing end. This year we pulled…orange. Makes me feel like I’m coaching in the Calinornia Penal League, or that maybe one of the local prisons should have been our sponsor. Oh, well, we’ll still have a lot of fun, and even though they’re not profesionals, they still don’t tank plays for personal reasons…

Photos property of MIB

June 7, 2010

Laker Softball Coach Calls It Quits

After 21 long seasons, veteran coach Don Myers finally calls it quits. Myers coached 915 games for the Lake Superior State Lakers and was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1991. Coach Myers was also very intrumental in establishing the Bud Cooper Golf Classic, which help increase scholarships for LSSU women’s athletics, increasing fund-raising revenue for Laker softball and running a successfull winter skills clinic. He was only the third coach in the history of the softball program.

“If we were the first school to play softball in the Upper Penninsula, and I think we were, then I think we were on the front line of the sport in the U.P.” Myers stated to LSSU Sports Information. “That credit goes to Bud Cooper. He was a visionary and could see that softball was a good sport for women and growing fast. That was back in 1976, and I think they played 12 games back then.”

Now the Lakers play a tough 45-50 game schedule, mostly on the road, and spend their spring breaks touring Florida.

“The toughest challenge is recruiting. It’s difficult to sell and athlete to come as far north as they can to play a warm-weather sport. Our attempt has been to try to rectruit athletes and work them into positions. We havn’t had the luxury of recruiting by position like Grand Valley and Ashland does. We look for athletes, and our job is to mold them into position players where we need them the most.”

Myers has seen the GLIAC double in size in his two plus decades at the helm of the Lakers. He was a catcher at the University of Tulsa in his collegiate career. I want to thank him for all he’s done for Laker Athletics. He gets a lot of respect from the community, and it wasn’t an easy job.

Photo courtesy of Lake Superior State Athletics

June 3, 2010

Armando Perfecto!

First of all, I’d like to congratulate Armando Galarraga on pitching a perfect game. Second of all, I’d like to state with regret that I didn’t watch the game. Nope, not a single inning. I was actually on my way home from coaching my kids Little League game when I turned the Tigers game on the radio. That one word buzzed my ears and caght my attention: perfect. The volume automatically went up, and the kids got sushed a bit. Thank goodness they were stuffing their faces with Dairy Queen at the time to keep them a little quieter than usual. I was just in time for the 9th inning. One out. Two outs. Yeah! Three outs! Didn’t happen. The announcers were going a bit nuts, and couldn’t believe Galarraga’s luck. When they saw the reply themselves, they couldn’t believe the horrible call. Indian Jason Donald was safe, and Jim Joyce had just cost Galarraga his official perfect game. Not being able to see the play myself, I grapped the cell and made the call to my dad downstate, who I know would be watching. “How bad was it?”, I asked. “It wasn’t even close!”, he stated. Wasn’t even close. When I made it home and finally saw the replay myself, it occured to me that the announceers were right, my dad was right, the Tigers were right, and the 18,000 fans at Comerica were right. Donald was out by ‘a mile’. Joyce was the only human on Earth who thought the guy was safe. Even Donald new he was out, looking at the umpire in disbelief himself. A very classy move, I might add, not celebrating what he wrecked. Galarraga retired the next batter for his one-hit victory, that somehow seemed like a loss. Joyce got an ear-full from the Tiger players and manager Jim Leyland. Leyland, however, took the high road after the game and everyone had settled down a bit. Leyland talked about the human elemet of baseball, but let it be known that it WAS a perfect game. Galarraga knew in his heart, that what he accomplished, too, stating: “I got a perfect game. Maybe it’s not in the book, but I’m going to show my son the CD.” After watching the replay, Joyce even conceded that he blew the call stated that, well: “I blew the damn call.” He even apologized to Armando.

I admit, after the game I as fuming a bit myself. I almost couldn’t wait to get on the blogosphere and rip Joyce. After all, he deserves it, right? How can he think the guy was actually safe, when it was so obvious. If it was a close call, then it would be a different story. You could maybe understand. I also don’t believe in ‘giving’ the pitcher a call on a close play. If he really would have been safe, then so be it. What it comes down to, though, is that everyone can make a mistake. It’s too bad that Joyces blunder cost what would have been the first perfect game in Detroit Tigers’ history. This will be Joyce’s legacy now. I don’t think it’s right that someone changed his Wikipedia page to dub him ‘the worst ump in Major League Baseball’, or that they put him dead on June 2. That’s going a bit too far. I think that part has been removed, though, but the conroversial call section was added. One of the worst things that could come of this, is that fans will be screaming for instant replay for just about everything now. It will surely make things interesting in the baseball world for the next few days, anyway. There-I’ve vented.

Photo courtesy of the AP

May 15, 2010

2010 Baseball Trip: Day 5-Burlington, IA

Burlington Bees vs. Kane County Cougars: Our trip concluded in Burlington, Iowa, with the Bees. Community Field is the smallest Class A stadium in the country, but it is very intimate and well maintained. They get pretty solid attendance here for such a small community. The team and field are both locally owned, so no plans on this team going anywhere. We had good seats next to the thrid base dugout, but there was the protective netting in front of all of the primary seats. Still very close to the action and players, though. No problem chatting with the guys taking their cuts in the on deck circle. My colon and liver were both glad this was the last beer and cheesey brat of the trip. Luck here, too, to have a foul ball hit right to me on my way to the rest room. The Baseball Gods were good to us on this trip again. Final: Cougars 6, Bees 1. Best: Season tickets for box seat are only $270. Wow, that’s cheap, folks. Worst: No mascot present. The attitude seemed to be that it was a night game during the week, so why go all out. I wanted to see a giant bee, dammit.

Photos property of MIB

May 13, 2010

2010 Baseball Trip: Day 5-Dyersville, IA

Field of Dreams Movie Site: Our next stop was in Dyersville, Iowa for the ‘Field of Dreams’ movie site. Not much to write about this, but is was just cool being on the field where the movie was filmed. We played catch, took some infield, and I pitched off of the mound a bit. They do a nice job of keeping it in good shape for the tourists like me. Oh, yeah, it’s May, so NO corn stalks in the background. It would have been cool to get a pic of me walking out of the corn, but we got some good ones anyway.

Photos property of MIB