Jeff Williams All-Star Save

Brett Bostelman's All-Star Appearance

Brett Bostelman All-Star Interview

Jeff Williams All-Star Interview

Gregg Langbehn's First Half Report Card

Roger Mason Night Interview

Williams to the Yankees

Good News!! Today third year Beach Bum and Frontier League All-Star Jeff Williams had his contract purchased by the New York Yankees!!!! Williams will report tomorrow to Greensboro, N.C. to join his new team the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs in the second game of a series...Williams will join up with former Kalamazoo pitcher Trent Lare at the Single-A affiliate of the Yankees in the South Atlantic League...

The signing is bittersweet for me...As most of you know, Williams and I have lived together for the past three years here in Northern Michigan...I am extremely thrilled for him to get this opportunity and as I have said numerous times baseball is a way to forge lifelong relationships and there is no doubt in my mind that will continue with Jeff, but as you know it is also hard to say goodbye, especially to someone you have grown close with for a three-year stretch...That said...I couldn't be happier for Jeff...Nothing but the best! Represent us well in South Carolina!!!!

All-Star Info

Greetings from Rockford and the Frontier League All-Star Game...I have learned that Brett Bostelman will pitch the fourth inning tonight and Jeff Williams the ninth if the East has the lead...I am planning on joining the Rockford crew for the fourth inning...

Lineups: July 1 -- Kalamazoo at Beach Bums

Did I just say that? Are we really in July already??

KALAMAZOO KINGS (24-13, 1st Place East Division)
Kyle Higgins - SS
Joe Ramos - 2B
Tim Brown - 1B
Brendan Murphy - DH
Simon Williams - RF
Amos Ramon - 3B
Josh Short - LF
Jett Ruiz - C
Brad Roblin - CF

RHP - Bernard Robert (2-1, 5.56)

BEACH BUMS (19-18, 4th Place East Division)
Corey Whiting - LF
Al Barbato - 2B
Mike Epping - CF
John Alonso - 1B
Brian Lapin - RF
Mike Victor - DH
Robby Alcombrack - C
Kyle Maunus - 3B
Andrew Stafford - SS

RHP David Dinelli (0-0, 0.00)

Familiar Face

Kalamazoo made a roster move today, adding a familar face to Beach Bums fans...Brad Roblin who spent the past two summers in Northern Michigan, was signed and will be in the starting lineup tonight for the Kings...

Changes

The Beach Bums today released Catcher Patrick Perry (Above), who is an LS-2...Perry spent last season as the starter for the Beach Bums...Also releaded was outfielder Scott Billak (LS-1) who is pictured in the home whites...Billak won Frontier League titles with Windy City in 2007 and 2008 as an everyday player...

In their place, the Beach Bums added Catcher Doug Coe, who is a Rookie-2 that has logged time with Windy City the last two seasons...Also signed was OF Stephen Douglas (LS-2) who was let go by Gateway earlier this season...

June 29: Lineups for Beach Bums at Lake Erie

Haven't done this in a while and since I am pretty much done with all my pregame prep for today I thought I'd post the starting lineups...And don't miss the Labatt Blue On Deck Show for details on everything from last night from Manager Gregg Langbehn...The final meeting of the season between the Beach Bums and the Crushers in Ohio is scheduled for a 7:05pm start though rain is threatening...

LAKE ERIE CRUSHERS (20-15, 2nd Place East Division -- 3 Games Back)
Jodem Rivera - SS
Drew Saylor - 2B
Andrew Davis - 3B
Luke Hetherington - RF
Gordie Gronkowski - DH
Tim Binkoski - LF
Eddie Tisdale - 1B
Wayne Bond - CF
Nick Maragas - C

RHP Josh Faiola (1-4, 7.56)

BEACH BUMS (17-18, 4th Place East Division -- 6 Games Back)
Corey Whiting - LF
Al Barbato - 2B
Mike Epping - CF
John Alonso - 1B
Mike Victor - DH
Brian Lapin - RF
Kyle Maunus - 3B
Robby Alcombrack - C
Andrew Stafford - SS

RHP Brett Bostelman (5-0, 1.55)of

Feature Article

Make sure to pick up a copy of this week's Grand Traverse Insider for a feature on me, Mr. GQ! Lol...

Feature on Me

June 26: Jason Kiley Interview

Talking with Jason Kiley about his start on June 25 and how he came to Traverse City...

Getting to Know Scott Billak

Scott Billak interview from June 25...

James Guerrero Interview

I chatted with James Guerrero shortly before he suffered his injury that landed him on injured reserve...Full dialogue from the Labatt Blue On Deck Show is below...

Livin' the High Life

So as we were about to depart the hotel to go to All Pro Freight Stadium this afternoon we noticed something familiar...The guy from the Miller High Life Commercials...He is staying at our hotel and is apparently going to the Indians game tonight...Here is a picture of a bunch of us with him posing outside the hotel...The Beach Bums, Living the High Life!!

Wild Things Wild Thing

You may have heard me talking about this during last night's broadcast...This summer was the 20th anniversary of the movie Major League...When we were at Lake Erie the Indians did a Rick Vaughn bobblehead to commerate it, it wasn't on the day we went to the game unfortunately...Check out what the Washington Wild Things did...Randy Gore (Washington's broadcaster) hooked me up...It has been added to my collection which is not on display this year here...Its just difficult to transport them as you can imagine so here is the Wild Things Wild Thing...

Getting to Know Kevin Reese

I sat down with Kevin Reese following his fourth win of the season to talk a little about baseball, and a lot about getting to know the Beach Bums starting pitcher, who threw in 10 games for Washington last year and was a teammate of Beach Bums hurler Steve Roberts, currently on injured reserve, at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania...

Labatt Blue On Deck Show June 23: Gregg Langbehn Interview

Here is the On Deck Show Interview with Manager Gregg Langbehn from June 23, prior to the series finale with Florence...

Catchin' Up: David Hurst Interview

Here is the interview with David Hurst from Washington before the series finale on June 20...

Playing Catch-Up: Mike Victor

Here is the Mike Victor interview from the Washington series in game two...Victor is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak for the Beach Bums...This was the best picture I could find of him in a quick search...

June 22: Beach Bums 3, Freedom 1

Jeff Williams (Pictured) recorded his league leading eighth save last night, working a 1-2-3 ninth...Kevin Reese had his best start of the season as the Beach Bums evened the series with Florence by winning 3-1...John Alonso posted three hits...
Below is the audio recap featuring highlights...


Labatt Blue On Deck Show Interview with Kyle Maunus


Interview with Beach Bums Manager Gregg Langbehn is below...

Intern Story

Found this in the Record-Eagle today...It is a piece talking about interns in Northern Michigan this summer...Featured in the story is Audrey Thwing, who is interning in the Beach Bums ticket office with Nick Jacqmain...The photo is from the Record-Eagle...Check out the story which talks about how important interns are to operations...

Interns Survive Fierce Competition

Farm Bureau Insurance Beach Bums After Show: June 22 Interview with John Alonso

John Alonso dropped by the broadcast booth following yesterday's 3-1 win over Florence...Alonso had three hits in the game and talks about the contest and his new hairdo below...

Florence at Traverse City: June 22, 2009

Lineups for tonight are below...

FLORENCE FREEDOM (16-12, 2nd Place East Division)
Brad Hough - SS
Erold Andrus - CF
Billy Mottram - 2B
Ryan Basham - LF
Justin Pickett - C
Tim Grogan - DH
John Welch - 3B
Jordan Baker - 1B
Jay Johnson - RF

RHP - Andy Clark (2-1, 2.92)

BEACH BUMS (14-14, 4th Place East Division)
Scott Billak - LF
James Guerrero - 2B
Mike Epping - CF
John Alonso - 1B
Mike Victor - DH
Brian Lapin - RF
Kyle Maunus - 3B
Patrick Perry - C
Brad Miller - SS

RHP - Kevin Reese (3-1, 5.48)

Today

A loaded Labatt Blue On Deck Show in store featuring third baseman Kyle Maunus talking about his transition from first to third and a simple change at the plate that has helped him in his six-game streak...Manager Gregg Langbehn will also give a simple answer as to why the pitching staff has been giving up a lot of homers recently...

Today at Wuerfel Park The Scout will be on hand...The Scout is writing a blog on the Frontier League website and has seven visits to stadiums planned...There is a link on the Frontier League site to his blog as well as a new link from this blog as well...

Things I Have Noticed...

In prepping for today's game I came across a lot of interesting notes from the Beach Bums play of late and though I would pass some along...

- Last night was the first time the Beach Bums lost back-to-back games since losing both ends of a doubleheader on June 7 at Evansville...The Beach Bums have lost three in a row just once this season, from May 24-28 in the first week of the season...Three games is the longest losing streak of the season...

- When the Beach Bums left Wuerfel Park last Sunday, they owned the top ERA in the Frontier League...A week later they sit in fifth with a team ERA at 4.56...Then again, over the last four games the team has allowed a total of 41 earned runs...Kalamazoo presently leads the league with an ERA of 3.38 as a staff...

- There has not been a quality start by a Beach Bums pitcher since David Nathanson earned his first win of the season last Tuesday at Lake Erie by allowing two runs in seven innings...The longest start from that point on is five innings by Kevin Reese last Wednesday at Lake Erie and David Nathanson last night...

- Traverse City has managed 10 or more hits in five consecutive games...A positive sign at the plate...The problem? The team is just 2-3 in those five games...Despite all those hits, the team batting average is still last in the league at .255

- Five players currently own hitting streaks of five games or longer with another holding a four-game streak...Brian Lapin has a nine-game streak, the longest by a player on the Beach Bums this season...Lapin has a hit in all but one contest with the Beach Bums this year...Mike Victor is riding a seven-game streak, Kyle Maunus a six-game streak, and Mike Epping and James Guerrero each have five-game streaks...Epping has a hit in 10 of the last 11 games...Victor has 12 hits during his streak and has driven in seven runs in the last three games...Maunus has reached safely in eight straight games and has five RBIs in his last five contests...

- Kevin Reese has two of his three wins in his starts at Wuerfel Park...Tonight is his third home start...

Washington and Kevin Reese

Here are a couple pictures from Washington including two of the giant Kevin Reese
picture behind the first base grandstand with him posing next to them...

Trip to the Indians

Some pictures from Cleveland's Progressive Field...A couple of us went to the Indians-Brewers contest...

Lake Erie in Pictures

Here are some pictures from Lake Erie's All Pro Freight Stadium...Hopefully I described this place well enough for y'all...

Evidence

Yes this is me in a Wings jersey...This is what we call evidence...Posing with me is Wings fan and Southern Illinois broadcaster Scott Gierman...Why am I smiling???