Baseball in Fort Wayne

Archive for April, 2009

Here’s some good articles about former Fort Wayne Wizards:

Kevin Gray’s On Baseball: He still plays like a kid (UnionLeader.com)

A look at Todd Donovan, now a Blue Jays farmhand, and why he has not yet made a big league roster.

“I’ve tried not to talk about it as much as I can, but the conversation always seems to come up,” said Donovan, drafted in the ninth round by the Padres in 1999. “There’s a lot of built-up frustration. I’m not young anymore. I’m not a prospect anymore. I basically have to prove myself every single day.”

 Beckett sparks bench-clearing brawl (ESPN.com)

Angels center fielder Torii Hunter was ejected by West and had to be restrained by teammate Howie Kendrick.

Manuel: Phillies’ Condrey ‘a staff saver’ (SportingNews)

The 33-year-old Philadelphia Phillies pitcher gets the ball after Cole Hamels and before Brad Lidge. He’s a middle reliever that lacks the unhittable pitch or the highlight-reel flash of his more popular starter and closer teammates.

Sox love Pierzynski even if others don’t (MLB.com)

“Certain events that have occurred have led people to believe I’m a certain way, and I can’t control that. What I can control is how I prepare myself to play for this team, and that’s all I worry about.”

Joakim Soria:

Soria now one of Majors’ elite closers (MLB.com)
Hardly anyone in the Major Leagues was better at nailing down games last season than Soria, who converted 42 of 45 save chances, or 93.3 percent. The only closers topping that were the Phillies’ Brad Lidge (41-for-41, 100 percent) and the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera (39-for-40, 97.5 percent).

Soria dispels doubts with save (MLB.com)
“I remember when Trey first got here and saying to me, ‘That’s going to be our closer, huh?’ Just for the fact that he wasn’t sharp yet,” McClure said. “And he goes on to get 42 saves, but we had seen him pitch; I didn’t know he’d get 40, but you knew that he’d save a lot of games. So to me, he looks behind.”

Oliver Perez:

• Mets’ Oliver Perez is wild in appearance against Tigers – 3/25/09 (SportingNews)
• Mets’ Perez believes World Baseball Classic put him behind – 3/26/09 (SI.com)
• Johan talks to Perez after tough outing – 3/26/09 (MLB.com)
• Praise all around for Perez – 3/30/09 (MLB.com)
• Perez sharp in Mets’ 2-1 victory against Orioles – 3/30/09 (SportingNews)
• Perez shows rust in spring finale – 4/3/09 (MLB.com)

Taylor University’s Ryne Otis has been named the Mid-Central College Conference Baseball Player of the Weekfor the second consecutive week..

Otis’ was awarded the honor after extending his hitting streak to 14 games when he recorded hits in all six of Taylor’s games a week ago. The Ossian native recorded two hits in five out of six games to give him 15 multi-hit games on the season.

For the week, Otis hit .647 with a .941 slugging percentage. He had two doubles, a home run, scored seven runs and drove in ten as the Trojans completed a 4-2 week against Huntington University and Goshen College.

Taylor’s starting first baseman had no errors in 37 chances last week. In 242 total chances this season, Otis has committed just two errors for a .992 fielding percentage.

With 40 RBIs in 34 games this season, the freshman is currently ranked second in the MCC. He’s batting .429 to go with a .622 slugging percentage.

Pitchers hold Lansing to just two hits in 9-0 shutout

The Fort Wayne TinCaps took a 9-0 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts Saturday to finish a three-game series sweep. It was Fort Wayne’s second shutout of the series in a combined two-hitter while the offense pounded out seven extra-base hits.

Drew Cumberland continued to lead the offensive onslaught, going 3-for-4 with a walk and finishing a home run shy of the cycle. Daniel Robertson went 2-for-5 with a double, triple and three RBIs.

Starter, Simon Castro was a bit wild, but was still able to toss 4.1 scoreless innings and allow just one hit. Lefty, Colt Hynes (1-0) picked up the win in relief.

The TinCaps jumped onto the scoreboard in the top of the 3rd. With runners at first and second and one out, Robertson roped a two-run triple down the left-field line. Sawyer Carroll followed with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-0.

A fourth inning Cumberland two-out triple and an RBI from Blake Tekotte pushed the lead to 4-0. With two outs in the fifth, Matt Clark doubles off the wall in right field to drive in Allan Dykstra and make it 5-0. Robertson and Carroll hit back-to-back two-out RBI doubles the next inning to make it 7-0. Cumberland’s two-out, two-run double in the 7th made it 9-0.

Fort Wayne improved to 3-0 while Lansing dropped to 0-3. It was the first three-game road sweep for Fort Wayne since September 2007.

The TinCaps have Sunday off for the Easter holiday. Their next game is scheduled for Monday in Appleton, Wisconsin, against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Class-A Brewers). LHP Rob Musgrave locks horns with Wisconsin RHP Wily Peralta in a 7:35pm (Eastern time) start.

Way back in the day – before the era of television, the Internet, blogs, Twitter and our overly connected culture – kids collected baseball cards to find out about players. Baseball fans would read these obscure and smelly things we called newspapers or listen to fuzzy radio broadcasts to learn about baseball players and follow their careers. In some ways, it was easier back then. Players stayed with teams longer and  baseball – though it was a business – was not yet BIG business.

Boys and men alike would dream that they could do the things that their more talented counterparts could. They lived vicariously through their favorite players by taking a liking to those in which they saw parts of themselves. Together, the players and fans bonded to share mutual dreams as one lived it and the others lived it through those players.

Fast forward to our current culture where fans are constantly connected and sometimes know more about players than the players do. One of the great joys I get is in following the careers of players I “root” for and cheer onto success. I take a bit a pride in their accomplishments because I feel like I get to share in their achievements.

In most instances, the players I follow have Fort Wayne or Northeast Indiana ties. That’s a connection that is real – to me at least. It’s one of the reasons I have such a passion for chronicling the history of our local arena. While the players are living the dream (or have lived it), I’m living through them by recreating the events – the games, the plays, the stories – and hopefully I’m preserving it for others to live and learn from. Whether it’s true or not, I hope I am able to provide others with an opportunity to connect with those individuals when they might not have otherwise been able to do so.

This sort of connection also explains the magnificent appeal of fantasy baseball. It’s an opportunity for fans to prove they can be “better general managers” or owners.

But, when it comes to fantasy baseball, I probably lose because I don’t do it right most of the time. I always have some players that I like to follow for similar reasons I mention above. They don’t always have local ties. But they almost always have a great story and give me a reason to root for them.

Nick Adenhart was one of the lucky few who lived his dream first-hand. He was diligent in his work ethic to prove others wrong and fulfill a promise that several onlookers doubted was still in existence.

This year, I nabbed Adenhart in the 27^th round of my keeper fantasy league draft! Because it’s relevant, I have to tell you that the league is an American League only league. By the 27^th round, there are very few quality players available. As you can imagine, I was pretty sure I got the steal of the draft. With Nick Adenhart’s first start of the 2009 season, he had proven that he was more than on the cusp of reaching the potential that many observers had considered gone.

As he experienced the joy of his outstanding 2009 season debut, a part of me took pride. I had been following his career for a few years and had rooted for him because he was a character individual who was overcoming some great challenges. I guess I have always rooted for the person who doesn’t have an easy path – did the same thing with Josh Hamilton.

At the same time, I relished the thought of having him on my fantasy roster for a decade or more since I got him so late. I was going to get a lot of wins, a lot of strikeouts and plenty of fantasy points.

But my fantasy points don’t mean dittily squat!

As anyone now knows, in the wake of the greatest professional performance of his career, a man (Andrew Thomas Gallo) of much lesser character chose to get behind the wheel of a minivan despite being far too inebriated to drive and despite not even having the legal right to be in that position because his license had been suspended.

I think again to Josh Hamilton, where in his autobiography, he details how people told him that he was depriving people of watching him play because of his addictions. Unfortunately, in this case, Gallo has deprived all of us the privilege of watching Nick Adenhart achieve his fullest potential.

The accident has reverberated in my mind since I first heard the news. There are many reasons. The most obvious is the fact that life is fragile and could end at any moment – whether by our own doing or by someone else’s. Second is the fact that Gallo was driving a mini-van. I wonder if he has kids and how many times he had gotten behind that wheel in the same state of cognitive dysfunction with them in the van. What if they had been inside when he disregarded the red light? As a parent, this thought makes you shiver and perhaps even evokes some form of rage.

The third, and perhaps the hardest to explain reason, is a fact that I’ve touched upon. A player I have been following and rooting for a few years can be followed no more. I’ll follow other players, but will never forget Nick Adenhart even though his full history is pretty much already written. There’s little for us to research and study. His body of work is so brief that he leaves a life that was largely unfinished. Rather, that life was taken from him.

I can’t imagine what is like to be his parents, his family, his friends, his teammates. Nick Adenhart will always be in their hearts. They will never forget the way he touched their lives and I have to imagine there is a little piece of each of their souls that will never be able to move on either.

In light of this tragedy, I think of Steve Olin and Tim Crews. Both were members of the Cleveland Indians organization back in 1993 when the boat they were in crashed into a pier. Both lost their lives that day. It was the first death of an active Major League player in decades.

I also think of Gerik Baxter, a former Fort Wayne Wizard. Baxter put together a solid season in Fort Wayne in 2000. At one point, he had pitched 30 consecutive scoreless innings. In 2001, he was on his way to Lake Elsinore as the #5 top rated prospect in the Padres’ organization to continue his rise through their system. Unfortunately, he never got there. He died after a tire in the truck he had been driving blew out and then veered into a car in the slow lane before rolling several times.

I wonder how their friends, family and teammates responded or reacted when they heard about the Nick Adenhart tragedy. The fact that I remember Olin and Crews as well as Baxter reminds me that there were people who knew and love those men, just as there were those who knew and love did Nick Adenhart. I was just one of the lucky folks who got to watch them and live through them as their careers blossomed.

So I write this as a personal letter of gratitude to those four men I mention – those four who unfortunately will never get to read it. I also write it to the men and women who have played the game – those who can read it – and allowed people like me to chase a small part of our own dreams with you.

No matter what anyone says, you’re still heroes in the eyes of many.

Double-A San Antonio Missions (website)

• Luis Durango (OF)
• Anthony Contreras (INF)
• Brian Joynt (INF) – DL
• Kellen Kulbacki (OF) – DL
• Brandon Gomes (P)
• Derek McDaid (P)

Single-A Advanced Lake Elsinore (website)

• Luis Martinez (C)
• Ali Solis (C)
• Justin Baum (INF)
• Felix Carrasco (INF)
• Andy Parrino (2B)
• Yefri Carvajal (1B)
• Brad Chalk (OF)
• Danny Payne (OF)
• Robert Perry (OF)
• Allen Harrington (P)
• Jeremy Hefner (P)
• Jeremy McBride (P)
• Wynn Pelzer (P)
• Jackson Quezada (P) – DL
• Matt Teague (P)
• Dylan Axelrod (P)
• Robert Woodard (P)
• Aaron Breit (P)
• Bryan Oland (P)
• Corey Kluber (P)
• Corey Luebke (P)

Single A Fort Wayne (website)

• Drew Cumberland (SS)
• Angel Mercado (OF)
• Sawyer Carroll (OF)
• Adam Zornes (C)
• Kevin Hansen ()
• Colt Hynes (P)
• Alexis Lara (P)

Single A Short Season Eugene (website)

• Ryan Hill (OF)
• Geoff Vandel (P)
• Mat Latos (P)

Playing Elsewhere:

• Shane Buschini (INF) – Orange County Flyers of the Golden League
• Raymond Stokes (INF) – Heidenheim Heidekoepfe in Germany
• Tyler Davis (P) – Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier League

Free Agents/MIA
(if you happen to know where these guys are, please comment on this post to update us)

• Lance Zawadski
• Zachary Brown
• B.J. Dubarry
• Steve Delabar
• Omar Gutierrez

Tune in Saturday morning at 9:00 to Talkin’ Sports as we’ll be talking to Homestead Spartans head football coach Chad Zolman about the upcoming Northeast Indiana Football Skills Camp.

We’ll also talk with Lyndsey Holt, University of Toledo Volleyball player and member of the U of T Dean’s List on the rigors of balancing D-1 Athletics with academic excellence. Lyndsey is a Fort Wayne native and playing in a tournament at IPFW this weekend.

Fort Wayne TinCaps President Mike Nutter will join us for a preview of the TinCaps Thursday home opener at Parkview Field.

We’ll be giving away a pair of tickets to the USF Cougars “Blue-White” Spring football game on Sunday April 19th, a $20 value, courtesy of SportsCenter in the Village at Coventry and we’ll name our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week.

We’ll name our PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week in the 4th Quarter of the show.
Nominations for the PSI/One Eleven Design Athlete of the Week can be submitted to this e-mail address or: wkjg1380@yahoo.com.

Talkin’ Sports. Local Guests. Local Topics. Local Opinion

Tonight, the Fort Wayne TinCaps kicked off their first year as the TinCaps with a 4-0 shutout win in Lansing. Two players who return from last year, Drew Cumberland and Sawyer Carroll, each collected two runs batted in while Anthony Bass picked up the win in his first professional start. He struck out four while allowing just three runners over six innings.

The Fort Wayne Wizards/TinCaps are now 12-5 all-time in season openers.   

In just one week’s time, we’ll be enjoying the home opener at Parkview Field. Should be an exciting time and will be really cool if businesses do leave the lights on for the. Should be magnificent to see downtown all lit up and vibrant.

There is a lot  being written about the TinCaps right now and next week we will probably be drowning in media coverage as the opener approaches – if you watch, you may even catch me on TV a time or two! Very vew will research the players to the level I do, so I had planned to do an overview of each player next week. If I get time this weekend, I may still do so. However I wouldn’t count on it.

One good place I suggest you all look in preparation for the “homecoming” of the TinCaps to Parkview field, is Scout.com’s MadFriars.com. John Conniff has provided an outstanding 2009 TinCaps Preview that covers much of it. According to Conniff, both Decker and Latos should join the team shortly.

I tell you what, this is going to be a pretty good squad. If they stay healthy, and they stay with us all year, get ready Fort Wayne! Methinks I smell a championship!

Lost in the shuffle of the TinCaps and Parkview Field excitement is the fact that we have many local standouts who are playing on the college and professional level. I’m trying to keep up, but it ain’t easy. Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

Former Snider standout, Kyle Day has landed on the Dayton Dragons’ roster. That means there’s a good chance that the first game in Parkview Field history will feature a local product. I think they should let him hit leadoff – which would make him the first hitter in the park’s history. How cool would that be?

In Mid-May, there’s a good chance we’ll see another local product at Parkview Field. Justin Parker has been assigned to the South Bend Silverhawks. It’s likely that we’ll see him then.

Ball State junior, Ryan Chenoweth (Homestead) drove in five of the Cardinals’ runs in a 15-9 win over Buffalo. Junior catcher, Zach Dygert (Angola) also drove in a couple runs in that game.

Though Bob Parker is long since passed, his work continues to live on. Great to see a recent post about his unique baseball cards. I would love to do a book about Bob Parker and his work someday. Please contact me if you can help.

Josh Judy (Indiana Tech) is starting the year with the High-A Kinston Indians.

The Fort Wayne TinCaps will host the first opportunity for the public to meet the team this Wednesday, April 8th. Fans are encouraged to enter through the south gate (on the corner of Brackenridge and Ewing) starting at 6:00 pm. The north gate (on Jefferson) will not be available.

Parking will be available south of the ballpark, as well as in the newly opened Harrison Square parking garage located on the corner of Harrison and Douglas.

The team will take batting practice during the beginning of the event and there will be an opportunity to get autographs once the team’s practice is complete.

I’ll probalby be unable to make the event, so hopefully some of the many bloggers in the area will take pics.

Update (4/8/09 10:00PM):

• WaneTV: Fans meet the TinCaps
• Indiana’s New Center: Meet The TinCaps At Parkview Field
• WhatsGoingDown(Town): At Home