Mondays With Bob

Tonight we welcome legendary Pacific Northwest sports announcer Bob Robertson back into the broadcast booth, and he will be joining me on the call of the Rainiers game against Salt Lake tonight.

Robertson is the longtime voice of Washington State football and is a member of the College Football Hall Of Fame. Robertson has broadcast Pacific Coast League baseball on both radio and television since the early 1960s.

This will be the third straight year that Robertson has joined the broadcast for Monday home games. We’ll chat during the game, and he will provide the play-by-play of inning 4-through-6.

Give him a listen, Bob is great!

—

Tacoma lost to Salt Lake on Sunday afternoon, 3-1. The Rainiers had pretty solid pitching yesterday, but the offense was limited to just four singles.

Tacoma has lost four straight games and is under .500 for the first time this season. The Rainiers are 5-6 and need a win tonight in order to avoid being swept.

Tonight’s game is at 6:05. Tacoma starts RHP Andrew Carraway (0-1, 5.91) against Salt Lake RHP Barry Enright (1-0, 3.97). The broadcast is on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming online right here.

Links:

• John McGrath wrote the Rainiers game story for The News Tribune.
• Danny Hultzen garnered a mention in this Baseball America prospect notebook.
• Double-A shortstop Brad Miller is John Sickels’ prospect of the day.
• Dave Cameron has a thoughtful post about Mike Zunino.
• The Mariners beat the Rangers, earning a split of the four-game series. Brandon Maurer picked up his first major league win, and his teammates showered him with… ketchup?
• Seattle is the last team in the major leagues to get a day off. Their first one is today.
• Larry Stone warns us that he is coming to Tacoma tonight in his minor league report. Better get some cup holders for the press box, Spradling.
• In the PCL, Sacramento knocked 21 hits in a 22-6 win at Reno. The Aces used shortstop Taylor Harbin on the mound for the final 2.1 innings.
• Las Vegas topped Colorado Springs in the 11th inning. You better catch Vegas ace Zack Wheeler while you can, says the Review-Journal.
• New Sky Sox manager Glenallen Hill brings some personality to the clubhouse.
• Tucson outfielder Cody Decker has converted to catcher, and this story details the process.
• Omaha catcher Brett Hayes had four hits, two homers, and seven RBI in a 11-2 win over Nashville.
• Round Rock edged New Orleans, 2-1.
• Oklahoma City got wiped out by Memphis yesterday, but the RedHawks have a heavy hitter in their lineup in Brandon Laird.
• In El Paso they tore down City Hall so they could build the new ballpark.

We send our thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families in Boston.

Opening Day Is Here

The Tacoma Rainiers open the 2013 season today here in Fresno. The game is at 7:15 PM, and we will carry it live with the broadcast on South Sound Sports 850 AM, and the broadcast will stream live on the internet via this link. Tacoma starts LHP Danny Hultzen against Fresno RHP Yusmeiro Petit.

The Fresno telecast will be streaming live if you subscribe to MiLB TV – a worthy investment for out-of-Tacoma fans and player’s families, because we’ll have every Rainiers home game on there. The quality of the MiLB TV broadcast varies from stadium-to-stadium, but our 72 home games should be pretty good. The subscription information is right here.

As for radio, we’ll have every single game live on 850 AM. The broadcast takes off 15 minutes early for the Alaska Airlines Pregame Show, which will feature an interview (almost) every day.

This year we’ll hear from manager Daren Brown prior the first game of each series, and also every Sunday. For the rest of the games I’ll interview Rainiers players and coaches, and other interesting people from around the PCL.

The Miller Lite Post-Game Show airs following the final out. We’ll have a recap of the game, some highlights, and scoreboards for the majors and PCL.

—

This will be my 15th Pacific Coast League opening day. In a related story, I am getting old.

I remember my first one in 1999 pretty clearly: it was in Albuquerque, at the old ballpark (the ridiculously-but-accurately named Sports Stadium). Ken Cloude was the Rainiers opening day starter, and he tossed six one-hit innings. The Rainiers went on to sweep the Dukes in a four-game series, and then came home to face Salt Lake. The Buzz beat the Rainiers in the home opener on a David Ortiz homer that landed on the Foss hill.

Last year, the Rainiers opened at home against the Salt Lake Bees. Mike Trout was the first batter of the season, and he singled up the middle to start what became a pretty interesting campaign for him.

What does the 2013 PCL season have in store for us? It all starts tonight.

Links:

• The News Tribune ran a Rainiers opening day preview today – check it out.
• Edgar Martinez has made the Hall of Fame. The Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.
• After being released by the Mets in spring training, long-time Rainiers outfielder Mike Wilson has signed with the independent Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League. Hit up a storm and get picked up quickly, Mike!
• Geoff Baker was kind enough to give us all of the Mariners minor league rosters in one easy-to-find place.
• The prolific Conor Glassey of Baseball America gives us a brief analysis of the Mariners minor league assignments.
• For a much longer look at the Mariners minor league teams, marc w at USS Mariner delivers the goods.
• The Mariners aren’t going 162-0 this year. Maybe next year?
• Brandon Maurer – the starting pitching prospect who skipped Triple-A like Gil Meche back in the day – makes his MLB debut in an afternoon game today.
• In the PCL, the St. Louis Cardinals are considering purchasing the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.
• Las Vegas has two of the top prospects in all of minor league baseball: pitcher Zack Wheeler and catcher Travis d’Arnaud.
• The Tommy Layne story is remarkable: the Tucson left-hander got roughed up all of the time as a starting pitcher, moved to the bullpen and became a very tough pitcher.
• The “salty” New Orleans Zephyrs have 16 players with major league experience.
• Round Rock features top prospects Jurickson Profar and Mike Olt. Of note in this preview story: hard-throwing reliever Josh Lindblom is down in Triple-A learning to be a starter.
• Oklahoma City is going with the eight-man tandem starting rotation, which is something the whole Astros organization is doing. Teams have tried this in the lower minors and they usually stop and go back to a five-man rotation after a year or two. It’s definitely unusual to see at Triple-A, and it could put them in a bind when they need to call up a starter.
• Slugger Manny Ramirez is now playing in Taiwan, and he hit his first home run yesterday. Watch the video because the play-by-play call of the homer is truly wonderful. This is the best thing on the internet today (including the live stream of the Rainiers game – I’ve got nothing on these guys). I love it when the announcer sneaks in a “see you later” in English on the replay.

As I press “publish,” it is raining here in Fresno. Hopefully it will clear up and we won’t have any issues – and opening day rainout must be avoided at all costs!

Sweeney Coming Back?

Yesterday the rosters were announced for all of the World Baseball Classic teams, and local media reported the various Mariners who dot the rosters. Included in the reports was a note that Rainiers pitcher Brian Sweeney is on the roster for Italy, and that he is “likely to sign a minor league deal with the Mariners.”

It would be great to have Sweeney back on the team this year. The team needs a certified strike thrower, especially considering the youth – and wildness that can come with it – of Tacoma’s prospective starting rotation.

Sweeney would also provide some veteran leadership on a team that right now appears to be severely lacking in that area.

Left to ponder, however, is the question of how Sweeney ended up on Team Italy.

—

Here is a list of all of the former Tacoma players on the World Baseball Classic rosters. I think you guys will be interested in Team Australia’s players.

• AUSTRALIA: Ryan Rowland-Smith, Chris Snelling, Brad Thomas
• BRAZIL: (none)
• CANADA: Michael Saunders
• CHINA: (none)
• CHINESE-TAPEI: Yung-Chi Chen
• CUBA: (none of course)
• DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Miguel Olivo
• ITALY: Alex Liddi, Brian Sweeney
• JAPAN: (none)
• KOREA: (none)
• MEXICO: Oliver Perez
• NETHERLANDS: Wladimir Balentien
• PUERTO RICO: (none)
• SPAIN: (none)
• USA: Willie Bloomquist, R.A. Dickey, Adam Jones
• VENEZUELA: Asdrubal Cabrera, Felix Hernandez, Cesar Jimenez

—

On a personal note, I’d like to thank everyone who offered words of support in the comments and via Twitter and email regarding the Mariners radio position. Obviously, I wanted it, but that didn’t happen. I recently found out I didn’t get it, and that means you are stuck with me in Tacoma in 2013.

The Mariners had over 150 applicants, and they decided to go with a young gun in Aaron Goldsmith, who was in Triple-A Pawtucket for one season. Goldsmith rose to the top of a field in which dozens had substantially more experience than him, and that means one thing: the Mariners must believe he has a special talent for broadcasting. I don’t know him – shoot, I had to Google him when I heard he was a candidate – but I ask you to please give him a fair chance.

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest, Aaron. If you happen to be reading this while in the process of moving here, please be advised that they are not joking when they say that it rains all of the time here.

Links:

• From Baseball America, here are easy-to-view rosters for all of the World Baseball Classic teams, on one web page.
• Fun stuff on former Mariners pitcher and current Reno pitching coach Mike Parrott on this ESPN Sweet Spot post.
• Shannon Drayer has a Q&A with her new teammate on the broadcast crew.
• Free for today only (I’m guessing), Baseball Prospectus has a highly enjoyable article on a trip to scout teenagers in the Dominican by writer/scout/poet/romantic Jason Parks.

Have a great weekend!

Optioned To Triple-A

Hey guys, after two games with the Mariners I am back in my beloved T-town, and we have lots to cover, so let’s get to it.

First of all, the Rainiers ended their seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over Tucson on Wednesday afternoon. I wasn’t there to see it, so we will leave the details to the Rainiers game story, which is always the first link down below.

One thing we were talking about in Seattle was the promising rehabilitation start by Erasmo Ramirez. He was limited to 50 pitches, and he needed just 46 to get through three scoreless innings. Great news, and I’m sure he’ll have a longer leash in his next rehab start on Monday in Tucson.

I’m not ready to comment on Justin Smoak yet, having not seen him – but, I can tell you that Mariners manager Eric Wedge still has a lot of faith in Smoak, and still believes he can be a middle-of-the-lineup hitter in the major leagues. In his meeting with the media at Safeco on Wednesday morning, Wedge said that Smoak’s swing in batting practice looks far better than his in-game swing. We’ve seen this before in Tacoma with other players this year (e.g. Chih-Hsien Chiang).

Anyway, Smoak is the new No. 1 project for hitting coach Jeff Pentland. Pentland believes that he can shorten Smoak’s swing, but he requires a receptive and open-minded student. Nothing will happen overnight, this will be a process that takes some time.

—

We had roster moves the last two days, with more imminent.

On Tuesday, the Rainiers added Smoak and pitcher D.J. Mitchell (acquired in the Ichro trade). Outfielder Trayvon Robinson was called up to Seattle, and pitcher Jeff Marquez was released.

The Mariners needed another outfielder after trading Ichiro, and Robinson got the call. This is because he was on the 40-man roster, and the other candidate Darren Ford was not. Ford – who has quite obviously been Tacoma’s best player for the last month – was passed over because of the roster issue.

Timing hurt Ford this week. It’s trade deadline season, and the Mariners don’t want to be messing around with the 40-man roster and trying to pass players through waivers right now.

If Ford keeps playing like he has in Tacoma, he won’t have to worry about these things – he’ll get his call-up, or a trade to another team that can use him - soon. He’s playing like a bona-fide major leaguer right now, and he has been doing it for a  month.

The release of Marquez signifies another confirmation of the disappointing season the Rainiers have had. Marquez and opening day starter Matt Fox were both Triple-A free agents the Mariners signed to stabilize the Tacoma starting rotation and be ready for a big league call-up.

Instead, Fox got injured after three starts and has been rehabbing in Arizona all season, and Marquez just plain struggled to get outs.

I had high expectations for both – go back and check my pre-season blogs, I thought these two guys were going to be rotation anchors and that Fox might even end up in the big leagues. Instead, here we are. It’s been that kind of season.

The new pitchers from the Ichiro trade are arriving: D.J. Mitchell starts tonight, and Danny Farquhar is expected to report today. If he does, another roster move will be required to activate him.

And that’s just the surface of it. Trade deadline time is wild in Triple-A, especially when your parent club is not a contender. That means they are usually trading a veteran or two for prospects, and often those prospects are Triple-A level players. Roster moves get interesting this time of year.

—

So, I kinda spent the last two days in the big leagues. (On twitter, we call that a #HumbleBrag).

I cannot express in writing how fun it is to call Major League games. It’s the biggest jump in baseball, from Triple-A to the majors. That doesn’t just apply to players, it applies to lots of other jobs in the game – including broadcasters.

The Mariners ridiculously awesome broadcast crew of Rick Rizzs, Mike Blowers, and Kevin Cremin treated me so well that I was embarrassed by it. They made me feel like a regular member of the team, and that was awesome.

Matt Pitman and Shannon Drayer also earn my respect for being quality humans who happen to be great at their jobs.

I thought I did OK on the air. My chemistry with Rick was much better than last year, when we did three games together. Broadcaster partnerships simmer over time, and Rick and I have now done a whopping total of five games together. Our fourth and our fifth games were our best. If we get to do a sixth, I know it will be our new best game.

It’s a weird adjustment, going from working entire games by myself to working as a #2 to one of the best in the business. I found myself at times just sitting back and listening to Rick, in awe of how good he is at calling the action. Rizzs has an amazing ability to work in tiny little colorful details – I need to work on this.

It was bizzaro-land being at Safeco Field and calling Mariners games with Ichiro on the Yankees. Really, this was surreal and ridiculous – and that was just for me, as a once-in-a-blue-moon substitute announcer. I can’t imagine what Rick Rizzs, Dave Sims, and Mike Blowers had going through their minds during the series. It was just plain weird.

The strangest part for me was watching Ichiro catch fly balls. A Mariner would loft a routine fly to right, and I would watch the Yankees right fielder move over to catch it – and it was Ichiro. If you’ve watched Mariners games for the last ten years, you know this: Ichiro does not look like other outfielders when catching a fly ball. He eases over, gets under it, and then stands kind of sideways while grabbing the ball with his glove. M’s fans, you know what I’m talking about: he has his own style. It was weird watching him retire Mariners with his different – yet common to us -  outfield style.

I had an on-air screw-up – well, I’m sure I had many screw-ups, but this one made me laugh at myself and the situation - with the attendance on Tuesday night. The crowd for the Yankees-Mariners game was 31 908. When I was tasked to read the Happy Totals (I also read the unhappy Totals on Wednesday, which I learned are just called Totals), I got to the attendance… and my brain went Triple-A: I saw that first digit and said “three thousand and one… errr… thirty-one thousand…”

I read the totals every night in the PCL. No team draws more than 15,000 for a game. So I saw that “3″ in the first digit, and just assumed three thousand…. whoops! At least I was only off by 28 grand.

—

Finally, two quick stories that made me laugh at the Mariners games the last two days:

Rizzs and Blowers were talking about what they were going to do on their upcoming off-night in New York. Rick said he was going to go to a favorite Italian restaurant and have “a great big plate of pasta.” I was rolling, reminded of this, of course (click lower right).

Also, I learned that I was brought in to call the games because Jay Buhner, who was scheduled to do the games, had to bail out (no, this had nothing to do with his Ichiro-related comments – I was locked in well before that happened).

So, I apologize to Mariners fans who had to listen to me, but, what can I say? The Bone sent me.

—

Tonight’s Rainiers game is at 7:05, and you can hear it on South Sound sports 850 AM and streaming online right here. Tacoma starts RHP D. J. Mitchell (0-0, 0.00) against Tucson LHP Colt Hynes (4-8, 6.52).

Links:

• We start with the Rainiers game story from The News Tribune.
• The Mariners lost to the Yankees yesterday, and dropped the series, 2-1.
• With Ichiro leaving Seattle, John McGrath writes that the Mariners future begins now.
• Jerry Brewer has a similar column at the Seattle Times.
• In the PCL, Reno blasted Colorado Springs yesterday, 17-9. The Sky Sox had trimmed Reno’s division lead down to 5.5 games, but now it is back up to 7.5. Reno pitcher Trevor Bauer has been shut down.
• A BYU graduate went into Salt Lake City and homered against the Bees. Meanwhile, they celebrated the 25th anniversary of the old Salt Lake Trappers famous 29-game in streak.
• Fresno’s Todd Linden keeps setting franchise records.
• Omaha’s Johnny Giavotella is tearing up the New Orleans Zephyrs this week.
• Former major leaguer Claudio Vargas tossed a gem and Nashville beat Memphis, 7-1.

Big thanks to Bob Robertson for holding down the fort while I was away. Nothing quite like a Hall Of Fame broadcaster filling in for you while you are gone. Also, many thanks to KJR Sports Radio talkmasters Ian Furness and Mike Gastineau for helping out.

Tuesday and Wednesday

It’s going to be quiet here on the blog until Thursday – I’m taking two days off from Rainiers radio to cover the big club, so I’m focusing on that tonight and tomorrow.

The Rainiers are hosting Tucson in a four-game series starting tonight at Cheney Stadium. Bob Robertson will handle the play-by-play, with guests Ian Furness (Tuesday) and Mike Gastineau (Wednesday). You can catch the broadcasts on South Sound Sports 850 AM and streaming online right here.

The pitching matchups look like this:

• Tuesday, 7:05: RHP Hector Noesi (0-1, 14.04) vs. RHP Jorge Reyes (6-9, 5.34)
• Wednesday, 11:35 AM: TBA vs. RHP Matt Palmer (6-6, 6.16)

TBA will probably be rehabilitating Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Wednesday’s scheduled starter was Andrew Carraway, but he landed on the disabled list with a strained lat. It’s unclear how long he will be out for.

—

So, the Mariners traded Ichiro.

I was stunned by this, just like most of you guys. I thought for sure that Ichiro was a Mariner For Life. I actually expected the Mariners to sign him to a contract extension for next year, even though it probably wasn’t in the best interest of the team.

There is no question that Ichiro’s skills are starting to fade. He is such a speed-based player that “losing a step” really brought down his overall production.

Still, he is one of the greatest players in Mariners history, and watching him play the last 11 years was a true joy.

I remember spring training 2001, when Lou Piniella expressed concern that Ichiro wasn’t going to be able to hit. I was at the game in September of 2004, in the left field foul pole seats where The King’s Court is today, when Ichiro broke the single-season hit record.

He brought us a lot of great memories. Since the Mariners aren’t in it this year, I might – might; don’t hold me to it – root for the Yankees in the playoffs, just for Ichiro to get to a World Series. Ugh, it pained me just to write that sentence. I need to do some soul-searching on this one.

—

In return for Ichiro, the Mariners received two Triple-A pitchers: D.J. Mitchell and oft-traded reliever Danny Farquhar.

Both pitchers are joining Tacoma. Mitchell is a starter, Farquhar a sidearm reliever. They are expected to arrive on Wednesday – but I’m not sure if they will arrive in time for the 11:35 AM game. No roster moves will be made until these guys actually show up; they were on a road trip in the International League – in fact, they played for a homeless team, the “Empire State Yankees.” More on that later this week.

Also, Justin Smoak has been optioned to Tacoma, the Mariners are activating Mike Carp from the DL tonight, and they have one more roster spot to fill before tonight’s game.

So, we’re getting a flurry of transactions here – and the trading season is just getting underway! Deadline time is always wild at the Triple-A level.

Quick links:

• My Rainiers game story for The News Tribune on Tacoma’s 9-1 loss in Colorado Springs on Monday, in which Danny Hultzen struggled.
• The Seattle and Tacoma papers are chock-full of Ichiro coverage – just hit their front pages for tons of stories.
• One Ichiro story you must read, that you might have missed: columnist and Mariners historian Art Thiel weighs in right here.
• Sacramento’s Dan Straily kept it going last night, shutting out Tucson as the River Cats avoided a sweep. Straily is keeping them guessing.
• A column from Las Vegas about the late, great Bob Blum.
• Salt Lake beat Fresno last night, 1-0, and the only run of the game scored on a balk. Baseball!

We close out with a big, warm ”Goodbye” to long-time Rainiers front office employee Mallory Beckingham, who is leaving the organization to pursue other opportunities. Best of luck down the road, Mallory, and come back and see us – you will be missed.

Bats, Fans Chilly At Opener

The Rainiers lost the season opener to the Salt Lake Bees last night, 3-2.

Cold temperatures prevailed – when I drove home an hour after the game, my car said it was 38 degrees outside. It was even cold in my booth, and I have walls on three sides and a heater.

With that, I’d like to salute the 5,292 of you who attended. That was a pretty robust crowd, considering the conditions.

It’s going to be chilly again tonight, but it’s supposed to warm up for the weekend and even reach the mid-60s for our day game on Sunday. Springtime!

Hopefully the Rainiers bats will get used to the temperature tonight. Tacoma was limited to two runs on six hits last night – mostly because of the pitching of Salt Lake’s Garrett Richards, who was very impressive in his Triple-A debut. The Angels pitching prospect worked in the mid-90s with his fastball.

The Rainiers scored their first run of the season when Richards hung a slider to Mike Wilson – which is always a bad, bad idea. Wilson deposited it over the left field fence for a homer in the fifth inning.

Tacoma scored again in the seventh, when Carlos Peguero launched a long triple to deep center, and scored on a ground out by Luis Jimenez. Peguero was 2-for-4 in the game, and he made contact in all four at-bats.

Tacoma starter Matt Fox was lifted after three innings and 77 pitches, allowing two runs (one earned). He wasn’t hit very hard and he certainly wasn’t wild – the Rainiers had some defensive problems in the infield that led to Fox’s early exit.

A few other positives from the game: Cesar Jimenez and Sean Henn pitched scoreless relief; Trayvon Robinson threw out a runner at the plate from center, and catcher Adam Moore threw out two baserunners including the speedy Mike Trout when he was trying to steal second.

Trout, by the way, had three hits and certainly looked the part of the future star.

Game two is tonight at 7:05, and RHP Jeff Marquez starts for Tacoma against Salt Lake RHP Matt Shoemaker. We’ll have the broadcast on 850 AM and streaming online free right here, and those of you who subscribe to MiLB.TV can watch it online (I believe all Tacoma home games and most of the road games will be available through this service, so if you are an out-of-area fan you might want to sign up).

One note on the MiLB.TV service: the audio is the home team radio feed, which means that for Rainiers home games you will hear my inane chatter, and for the Rainiers away games you will hear the refined, professional broadcasters of the opposing team.

—

I enjoyed the ceremonial first pitch, thrown out by my broadcast partner Bob Robertson.

Robertson won the Keith Jackson Award for broadcasting excellence in the state of Washington, and of course he’s broadcast PCL baseball and other sports in Tacoma for decades. Let’s not forget that he’s in the College Football Hall Of Fame for his 48 years of work as the voice of Washington State football.

Bob told me he did not practice his pitch – he went out there cold. He tossed a one-hop strike to Washington Husky Forrest Snow.

Bob will be joining me on the air for all Monday home games this year, and he’ll do play-by-play during the middle innings.

Links:

• We’ll lead off with Doug Pacey’s Rainiers game story for The News Tribune. Doug doesn’t write the headlines so don’t blame him for that dumb one.
• John McGrath’s column on the Rainiers opener includes a great tidbit on Matt Fox’s Major League debut two years ago.
• The Mariners have Opening Day #2 tonight in Oakland, and Jason Vargas makes the start against Brandon McCarthy. Vargas is looking for more consistency this year.
• When Alex Liddi made the Mariners roster, he called his parents in Italy – at 3:00 AM, Italy time.
• Jason Churchill has an interesting post today: the Mariners draft #3 overall, and Stanford ace Mark Appel is considered a top draft talent. Churchill wants the Mariners to just say no to Appel, who pitched at Washington last night. Pat Gillick was at the game, too, and the post ends with a nice anecdote about him.
• USS Mariner has a post on why we watch minor league games and box scores, with three good photos from last night’s Rainiers game. The comments feature some spirited discussion from fans who attended the game.
• Due to an injury to reliever Kyle Farnsworth, the Tampa Bay Rays called up former Rainiers pitcher Josh Lueke, who will be with them in their season opener today.
• Baseball America posted the attendance numbers for every minor league team that opened last night.

In the PCL:

• Las Vegas has always been a tough place to pitch – and nothing changed on opening day, as former Mariners left-hander Aaron Laffey learned in an 11-6 drubbing at the hands of visiting Sacramento. Grant Green opened the season with a leadoff homer, Michael Taylor and Chris Carter each had three hits, and Sacramento rolled to victory. Reigning PCL batting champion (and Cal Bear) David Cooper had three hits for Vegas.
• San Francisco Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong had a successful rehabilitation appearance, tossing four scoreless innings in Fresno’s 3-0 win at Tucson. Some Tucson Padres shared their favorite opening day memories.
• A.J. Pollock is the new leadoff man for Reno, and he reached base four times in the Aces 5-2 win over Colorado Springs in the home opener. He was probably cold, though – it snowed.
• Tony Campana had an eventful day – he was sent down by the Chicago Cubs, raced to Des Moines, and led the Iowa Cubs to a 5-3 win over visiting Round Rock.
• Omaha opened Werner Park with an 8-4 win over Albuquerque. Kevin Kouzmanoff is with Omaha this year – he drove in three runs.
• Ben Lasiter hit a grand slam in the eighth inning, propelling New Orleans to a 6-2 win over Nashville.
• Oklahoma City drew over 9,000 fans to Bricktown Ballpark, but the RedHawks lost to Memphis, 4-3, as Redbirds closer Eduardo Sanchez got out of a big jam in the ninth.
• In the International League, former Rainiers infielder Matt Mangini had two hits and an RBI for the Durham Bulls.

Today’s goal: let’s get the Rainiers back to the .500 mark.

Opening Day & Broadcast Plans

It’s finally here – the 2012 Tacoma Rainiers season opener.

The Rainiers host the Salt Lake Bees tonight at Cheney Stadium. First pitch is set for 7:20 – Tacoma starts RHP Matt Fox against Salt Lake RHP Garrett Richards.

If you are coming to the game, please try to get in a bit early – the pre-game festivities will begin at 6:50, when select fans parachute into the stadium. There will be tickets available at the gate.

I cannot advise you strongly enough to dress warmly. I went to the Rainiers workout last night and it was *chilly*.

The radio broadcast will be airing on South Sound Sports 850 AM – which will once again be radio home to all 144 games of Rainiers baseball, home and away, plus the Triple-A All-Star Game and, if we should be so fortunate, the playoffs. Additionally – technology willing (fingers and toes crossed) - the broadcast is supposed to be streaming online right here.

Typically the Muckleshoot Casino Pre-Game Show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch. Since it’s Opening Day, I’m doing 20 minutes today. We’ll start at 7:00 sharp. 

Pre-game interviews will be different this year. Last year, I interviewed manager Daren Brown before each game. This was an experiment - radio guys interview the manager every day in the Major Leagues, and I wanted to try it for a season. I thought it had some benefits, and I learned a few things – but it came at the expense of player interviews, as I only did one player interview a week (Sundays). I didn’t get to everybody on our team, and I certainly didn’t get to interview any of the other interesting people around the league.

So this year we’re doing something different: I’m going to interview the manager before the first game of each series, and on Sundays. Before all other games I’ll interview our players or opposing players or managers or executives from around the league.

(Note: that doesn’t apply today. I always interview the Rainiers GM before the home opener, so today we’ll talk to Aaron Artman about what fans can look forward to at Cheney Stadium this season).

—

A few notes from the Rainiers workout last night:

• Catcher Adam Moore was there, and he’s going to play tonight. Moore is currently on the Mariners disabled list, and he will technically be on a rehabilitation assignment with Tacoma. Moore told me his wrist feels great, he’s ready to go, and he is scheduled to catch seven innings tonight.
• Manager Daren Brown already had his lineup decided, but he did not want to share it with us the day before. He said he wants to communicate with the players who are not playing before telling the media or anyone else.
• Opening day starter Matt Fox said that his cut fastball is his best pitch.
• Relief ace Chance Ruffin talked a bit about growing up in a Major League clubhouse – his father Bruce Ruffin was a longtime MLB pitcher for the Phillies and Rockies. He said his biggest memory as a kid in the clubhouse was Rockies second baseman Eric Young picking him up and throwing him into the couch – over and over and over again.
• The big winners from Alex Liddi making the Mariners roster are Johan Limonta and Luis Jimenez. These guys are going to get the at-bats as long as Liddi is in Seattle.
• The mysterious marc w from USS Mariner was in attendance, straight from his real job – and I saw him without a hat on for the first time ever. Guess what? Not bald. I still have never seen Jason Churchill without some sort of head cover. My guess: bald. 

Let’s hit the links:

• The News Tribune has two stories in advance of the Rainiers opener today: Larry LaRue has a profile of shortstop Carlos Triunfel, in which he re-lives the injury that changed his career. John McGrath whipped up a column on the improbable rise of pitcher Forrest Snow.
• Larry Stone has an article on the Mariners setting their second opening day roster.
• The second page of this PDF document has the opening day rosters for all four Mariners full-season minor league affiliates. Greg Johns has a review of the assignments. Baseball America has a quick-take on the organization.
• Baseball America looked at all 120 minor league opening day rosters, and they picked out the one with the most talent on it. Which one was that? The Mariners Double-A Jackson Generals. This bodes well for us. Three teams from the PCL made the Top-10 (Sacramento, Tucson, and Memphis).
• USS Mariner is posting Mariners minor league previews today – as of right now they have three of the four teams posted; I’m assuming Tacoma will come later today.
• Know your enemy: the Salt Lake City newspapers are all about Mike Trout, who along with Bryce Harper (AAA-Syracuse) is considered one of the top two prospects in minor league baseball. Features from the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News.
• They’re excited in Las Vegas, where the team is going to be very strong up the middle. Centerfielder Anthony Gose is an electrifying player. The 51s are – once again – for sale << entertaining column alert!
• Sacramento has talented pitchers that are new to the A’s organization. Here are the River Cats at a glance.
• The San Francisco Giants decided to keep Brandon Belt and Hector Sanchez, who figured to be Fresno’s top two players.
• All of the progress with the Miami Marlins is having a positive effect on Triple-A New Orleans.
• Memphis has a new manager in Ronald “Pop” Warner. He was featured today in the Commercial-Appeal.
• One thing the Dodgers players assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque are not thinking about is new Dodgers owner Magic Johnson.

Opening Day – I love it. Can’t wait to get to the ballpark!

Winter Meetings Ahead

It’s been a quiet week, but that’s going to change when the Winter Meetings start on Monday.

The Rainiers are sending three front office members and reps from the ownership group to Dallas, but don’t look for them to make any news – they’ll be participating in league and Mariners organizational meetings, shopping merchandise lines and promotional items at the trade show, and I’m sure they’ll be on the lookout for the next great ticket salesperson.

The real news will come from the major league side of things, where the free agent market and trade action should really get going. I always enjoy this time of year.

To carry us over to Monday, here are a few stories of note:

• Let’s talk about something we can all get behind: coffee. The Rainiers signed a five-year exclusive with Forza. Little-known radio fact: coffee is a key component in every Tacoma Rainiers broadcast. You are required welcome in my booth every day, Forza! 
• Here’s a new one: Japanese free agent shortstop Munenori Kawasaki announced that he is willing to sign with an American team – but only if it is the Mariners. Waiting for a similar announcement from Albert Pujols.
• The Mariners announced that they will be keeping the same radio format that they used last year. Ken Levine is trying to get the jump on the good games.
• Here’s a story from Minor League Baseball’s website on three Triple-A announcers who broadcast major league games last year. Hey look, it’s me!
• Great news out of Nashville, where progress is being made on a new ballpark.

Have a great weekend!

Who’s Catching?

It was about 11:00 at night in the cramped visiting coaches locker room at Cashman Field in Las Vegas.

The team was all dressed and gone, and usually we are right on their heels, but this time was different.

Manager Daren Brown, pitching coach Dwight Bernard, trainers Tom Newberg and Jeremy Clipperton, and I just sat there, with surprised expressions on our faces: both Tacoma Rainiers catchers had just been called up to the major leagues, because both Seattle Mariners catchers had been injured.

None of us had ever seen this happen before – and the five of us combined for over 100 years of professional baseball experience, mostly at the AAA and MLB levels.

Josh Bard and Jose Yepez were promoted to Seattle, leaving the Rainiers without any catchers.

Thank goodness the team had Wednesday off. Today, we have a ton of Tacoma roster moves:

• Catchers Josh Bard and Jose Yepez – called up to Seattle on Wednesday.
• Catcher Ralph Henriquez – promoted from Class-AA Jackson.
• Catcher Trevor Coleman – promoted from Class-A High Desert
• Pitcher Denny Bautista – released so he could sign with a team in Korea.
• Pitcher Chaz Roe – designated for assignment; unavailable for a few days while we see if he clears waivers.
• Utility Leury Bonilla – sent to Jackson.
• Pitcher Jarret Grube – promoted to Tacoma from Class-AA Jackson

Tacoma has 22 active players for tonight’s game, with 11 pitchers and 11 position players.

Tonight’s game is at 7:05, with the Rainiers at home against the Fresno Grizzlies. Tacoma is scheduled to start LHP Nate Robertson (2-2, 5.26) against Fresno LHP Dan Runzler (0-1, 4.50). You can hear the broadcast on 850 AM and streaming online right here. 

The Rainiers are home through the weekend, with fireworks after the games on Friday and Sunday. Sunday’s fireworks show is the massive one – the annual July 3rd Fireworks Extravaganza, and tickets are still available.

—

Congratulations to Tacoma Rainiers reliever Josh Lueke, who will represent the team in the Triple-A All-Star Game on July 13 in Salt Lake City. Lueke is fully recovered from his rough start in the major leagues and he appears to be ready again should the Mariners make the call.

Seeing how the Rainiers all-star gets promoted to Seattle the day after the all-star break every year, thus meaning that he doesn’t get to play in the all-star game itself, I suggest that Brown use Lueke as often as possible in the next ten days.

Here is the release on the entire PCL All-Star team.

—

I was on the early flight to Seattle (with all of the Rainiers catchers) on Wednesday, and I made my Mariners Radio debut that afternoon.

I thought the broadcast went well. I wasn’t nervous, and I only called the Mariners the Rainiers once (whoops!). 

I was comfortable because of how warm and welcoming Rick Rizzs and producer Kevin Cremin are. They made everything go very smoothly, and they eased me in.

Rick is such an excellent, professional announcer and he’s a complete natural for the lead position in the booth. In addition to easing me (a rookie) into the broadcast, he’s working with a revolving door of announcers this year, so his rhythm and flow are constantly changing.

One thing that fans don’t see is that between innings, Rick is constantly greeting sponsors and visitors during the commercial breaks. His enthusiasm is relentless and he truly has fun in the booth.

On top of that, Rick is supremely prepared. He has several pages of hand-written notes for each broadcast, so he stays up all night (or wakes up at dawn – I don’t know) and preps for his game.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank all of you who left me notes of encouragement on this blog and on twitter. It’s great to hear some positive feedback – thanks!

Links:

• I’m 0-1 as a Mariners broadcaster, although I did get to sit next to Rizzs as he called a Dustin Ackley home run.
• Ryan Divish has some analysis of Ackley’s hitting success.
• Larry LaRue has more on the Mariners catching situation.
• At the Seattle Times, Jerry Brewer tries to get a handle on whether or not the Mariners are contending.
• Todd Dewey – the guy who covers the Las Vegas 51s for the Review-Journal – ran a piece on Alex Liddi on Wednesday.
• I’m glad the guys at The Weekly Volcano aren’t handing out nicknames.
• Former Mariners pitcher Chris Bosio has taken over as the pitching coach for Nashville. Bosio was the pitching coach with Jim Slaton for the 2001 Rainiers.
• Not surprisingly, Reno led the PCL with four all-stars.

See you at Cheney this weekend!

Cup Of Coffee

The Rainiers lost the final game in Las Vegas on Wednesday, 11-4, ending the team’s five-game win streak.

The team is off on Wednesday before opening a big holiday weekend series against Fresno on Thursday night at 7:05. Tickets are still available for all four games, including both fireworks nights (Friday and Sunday).

As you may have heard, I’ve been asked to work the Mariners broadcast with Rick Rizzs on Wednesday (12:40, 710 AM). It’s an honor to get the opportunity to call a Mariners game, and hopefully I won’t mess it up too badly.

It’s a one-day assignment – I’ll be back with the Rainiers on Thursday. I’ll do a post about the experience on Thursday or Friday.

Special thanks to Randy Adamack of the Mariners for giving me the opportunity!