Roadtrip Finale: June 10

What a long strange trip its been...I read that somewhere one time...Apparently it is also the title of an album by the Greatful Dead...Perhaps I should make random music references on a daily basis...Anyway, I digress...The trip ends tonight...The adage in baseball is play .500 on the road and take 2 of 3 at home...Tonight, the Crushers look to win their second series of the season and finish the trip at 3-3...A win would also give the Crushers the season series with River City after taking two of thre last week at All Pro Freight Stadium...The game is the fifth rubber game of the year in this the sixth series...The Crushers own a 1-3 mark in rubber games so far...Lineups are below...Arden McWilliams will be my guest on Crushers First Pitch...Airtime is 6:50pm...

CRUSHERS (7-10)
Dom Duggan - CF
Jodam Rivera - SS
Andrew Davis - 3B
Drew Saylor - 2B
Travis Vetters - LF
Eddie Tisdale - 1B
Lee Huggins - DH
Arden McWilliams - RF
Joel Collins - C

RHP Phil Rummel (0-1, 6.57 -- 5th Appearance, 4th Start)

RIVER CITY RASCALS (10-9, -- 3rd Place West Division)
Caleb Curry - CF
Doug Sanders - 2B
Scott Robinson - 1B
Stephen Holdren - RF
Danny Sawyer - C
Chris McClendon - 3B
Chad Maddox - LF
Josh Banda - DH
JoJo Gutierrez - SS

RHP Josh Lowey (1-1, 5.56 -- 3rd Start)

We are the Champs!!

Tonight I broadcast with my Blackhawks hat on after winning the Stanley Cup last night...Its not a Stanley Cup Champs hat but I will get one of those soon enough hopefully before the visit to Traverse City so I can wear it proud in Red Wings country (Detroit trains in Traverse City before the season)...I had a great time watching the game at a fine St. Louis establishment decked out in Hawks gear...While I was celebrating one person next to me remarked, "Well, at least its not the Cubs."

Immediately following our day game yesterday I put on proudly my Hawks stuff which I wore up until just moments ago when I placed on my Crushers polo...But I still have the hat on my noggin!!!! What a feeling...Go Hawks!!! I know one Crusher person who is not happy...Travis Risser...He is a Flyer fan...I gave him some good natured ribbing today...Perhaps I should have made a friendly wager...I also made sure to pester Traverse City's broadcaster who is also a huge Flyers fan...It was an unreal series though...Thats enough of hockey talk :)

Inside the Roadtrip: Numbers

Tonight is the final game of a six-game, seven-day roadswing through St. Louis...I know the crew is looking forward to returning home...I wanted to take a moment to look inside some of the numbers from this trip entering tonight...My findings are below...

Record: 2-3
Total Runs Scored: 22 (4.4 per game)
Total Runs Allowed: 55 (11 per game)
Total Hits: 40 (8 per game)
Total Hits Allowed: 58 (11.6 per game)
Homers: 4
Homers Allowed: 17
Stolen Bases: 7
Doubles: 6
Saves: 1
Quality Starts: 1
Starting Pitchers Record: 2-2
Innings Pitched: 42
AVG: .229
ERA: 9.43
Errors: 9
Walks Issued: 19
Walks Drawn: 18

New Warning Track

Tonight's game at River City will feature a new warning track at T.R. Hughes Ballpark...The staff spent all day installing a new surface on the track and is currently working still to have it all ready for today...As I say from time to time...Tip of the cap from the Crusher broadcaster...It looks very nice (In my best Borat voice)!

Here Come the Hawks!

The day game will allow me a chance to watch my Blackhawks chase the Cup tonight...Game Six...Go Hawks!!!!

Rascals 8, Crushers 6

Well...That was one of the strangest games of baseball I have seen in a long time...Most of the odd occurances came in the sixth inning but there were some other oddities as well...The four homers hit in the contest were the first four of the roadtrip for the Crushers, who have allowed 17 in the five games thus far...

HIGHLIGHTS
Lee Huggins homers i nthe 2nd to put Lake Erie on the board...


Arden McWilliams ties the game with the first of two homers in the contest


Travis Vetters connects on his first homer of the season


Arden McWiliams greets River City closer Jason Lowey with his second homer of the game in the top of the ninth

Crushers at Rascals: Day Baseball

Today is the third day game of the season...Lake Erie owns a 1-1 mark in such games so far in 2010 having lost at home to Oakland County and won on the road at Kalamazoo...You have probably heard me say many times that I am not a huge fan of day baseball, however...Today, I make an exception...A day game means I should have plenty of time to watch the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals tonight...Below are the lineups (I really like the way this lineup has been drawn)...Random notes for the game...The Crushers have not homered in the first four games of the road trip...It is thought that GCS Ballpark (Gateway) and T.R. Hughes Ballpark (River City) are two of the friendliest parks in the league for hitters...Well, the Crushers are 2-2 on the trip so far and have yet to homer...Opponents have connected on 15 longballs...

CRUSHERS (7-9)
Dom Duggan - CF
Jodam Rivera - SS
Andrew Davis - 3B
Drew Saylor - 2B
Travis Vetters - DH
Lee Huggins - 1B
Arden McWilliams - RF
Wayne Bond - LF
Julio Rivera - C

RHP Josh Roberts (1-0, 1.42 -- 4th Start)

RIVER CITY RASCALS (9-9, 3rd Place West Division)
Caleb Curry - CF
Doug Sanders - 2B
Scott Robinson - 1B
Stephen Holdren - RF
Danny Sawyer - C
Chris McClendon - 3B
Chad Maddox - LF
Josh Banda - DH
JoJo Gutierrez - SS

RHP Tim Woodward (1-1, 5.12 -- 3rd Start)

Crushers 4, Rascals 2

The Crushers held off River City last night, winning 4-2 to capture the opener of a three-game set...Dom Duggan out of the ninth slot and Jodam Rivera out of the leadoff post provided the difference...Duggan scored three runs and stole a pair of bas...Rivera posted three hits and an RBI...Andrew Davis also recorded a pair of hits...The bullpen was awesome as was Travis Risser on the mound in his start, tallying his first victory of the year...

HIGHLIGHTS
Jodam Rivera plates the game's first run with an RBI single in the third


Drew Saylor coaxes a bases loaded walk in the fifth


River City's Scott Robinson homers leading off the bottom of the seventh

Crushers First Pitch: Travis Vetters

Travis Vetters on Crushers First Pitch before the final game with Gateway on June 6...

Around the League: June 8

Following the final off day for most teams until July 5, the Frontier League returned to action in full force yesterday...Gateway brought their homer sticks to Washington but was squeezed out in extras...Evansville scored early and often in a rout of Traverse City...Oakland County pushed by Florence...Normal stretched its win streak to four with a 9-5 victory at Windy City...Kalamazoo and Southern Illinois were washed out in Michigan...

GATEWAY-WASHINGTON
Wild Things Leave Gateway Feeling Squeezed

BOXSCORE

WINDY CITY-NORMAL
CornBelters Feast

BOXSCORE

TRAVERSE CITY-EVANSVILLE
Otters on Hot Streak

BOXSCORE

OAKLAND COUNTY-FLORENCE
BOXSCORE

Tucker Activated

Prior to the start of the series with River City, the Crushers activated opening night starter Cardoza Tucker...Tucker was placed on the 7-day Injured Reserve list following his first start of the season after leaving in the third inning with a leg injury suffered on a pickoff throw...

Tucker will likely be inserted in the rotation upon returning from the road trip but will be available in relief the next couple nights...

Crushers at Rascals: June 8

Returning to the scene of the crime...The Crushers return to the site of the Championship clincher from 2009...Below are the Lineups...Lake Erie took two of three from the Rascals at All Pro Fright Stadium last week...

RIVER CITY SERIES OPENER

CRUSHERS (6-9)
Jodam Rivera - SS
Drew Saylor - 2B
Andrew Davis - 3B
Travis Vetters - DH
Arden McWilliams - RF
Wayne Bond - LF
Lee Huggins - 1B
Joel Collins - C
Dom Duggan - CF

RHP Travis Risser (0-2, 4.70 -- Fourth Start)

RIVER CITY RASCALS (9-8 -- 3rd Place West Division)
Caleb Curry - CF
Doug Sanders - 2B
Scott Robinson - DH
Stephen Holdren - RF
Chad Maddox - LF
Josh Banda - 1B
Danny Sawyer - C
JoJo Gutierrez - SS
Chris McClendon - 3B

RHP Gary Moran (1-0, 2.25 -- Fourth Start)

Day Job

Here is why I broadcast...Because I can't hit and have very little baseball ability, as evidenced by my attempts in the Grizzlies Baseball Academy at Gateway on Sunday afternoon...Hope you get a kick out of the video and photos...

Rubber Game #4: Crushers at Gateway -- June 6

Tonight will be the fourth rubber game of the season for the Crushers in the fifth series...Lake Erie owns a 1-2 mark in rubber games thus far...The Crushers are looking to capture two consecutive series heading into an offday tomorrow in St. Louis...Travis Vetters will join me on Crushers First Pitch...Airtime is 6:50pm EDT...Here are tonight's Lineups...

LAKE ERIE (6-8)
Dom Duggan - CF
Drew Saylor - 2B
Andrew Davis - 3B
Travis Vetters - DH
Arden McWilliams - RF
Wayne Bond - LF
Joel Collins - C
Lee Huggins - 1B
Jodam Rivera - SS

RHP Mike Raymond (0-1, 4.09 -- 3rd Start)

GATEWAY GRIZZLIES (9-6 -- 2nd Place West Division)
Bobby Burk - SS
Brandon Peters - LF
Justin Baum - 3B
Logan Parker - 1B
Charlie Lisk - C
Jareck West - CF
Toby Davis - 2B
Breck Draper - RF
Landon Hernandez - DH

RHP Mark Brackman (0-1, 4.05 -- 4th Start)

Baseball's Best...

So, Gateway GM Steve Gomric joined me during the series opener on Friday night and was talking to me all about the food at GCS Ballpark...I thought I would share a photo of my meal last evening, Baseball's Best Hotdog...I indulged in Baseball's Best Nachos (Philly Cheese Steak Nachos -- Why I ate something with the word Philly in it while my Blackhawks are playing the Flyers I won't know) on Friday as well as The Beast...I will add pictures of whatever I eat today as well...

My Future is in the Booth

The crew at Gateway was kind enough to allow me to test their state of the art pitching machine in the Grizzlies Baseball Academy (Thanks Jeff O'Neill, Joe Pott, Phil Warren, and Steve Gomric)...There I had the opportunity to face a full range of pitches including a 100 MPH fastball...I will be posting photos and video...Joe Pott was kind enough to take them for me as I made a fool of myself...I did make contact on some changeups, a couple sinkers and the 70 MPH Fastballs, but was quite intimidated by everything else...You know I will be talking about this during tonight's broadcast...

Crushers 7, Gateway 3

Matt Smith was very solid in his return to the rotation as the Crushers topped Gateway last night, finally cooling off the Grizzlie bats who had scored 10+ runs with 10+ hits in the previous three contests...Gateway mustered just four hits against the combination of Smith, who improved to 2-1, Ronnie Morales, and Alberto Rolon...Eight players posted hits for the Crushers...

MEDIA
Crushers Push Around Grizzlies -- Belleville News Democrat

TEAM
My Game Recap

Crushers Halt Streak -- Gateway Recap

Gateway's GCS Ballpark...

As promised...Here are some photos from Gateway...I'll put a brief caption below each image...You can click on each image for a larger view if you so desire...


Me sitting in the press box...


The sign at the entrance of GCS Ballpark, pointing fans where to go...


I don't kid when I say that Gateway is located in the shadows of the arch...Directly behind the pressbox this is the view...A blimp was flying around for Fox on Saturday...


Some of the 5,000+ fans gathered for Saturday night's contest...


THe night sky I was speaking of featuring many different colors...


The view from above...This is my broadcast angle, looking out over Gateway...


From the right field corner looking toward home plate...


The scoreboard with both walls and the grassy area...


The hot tub in right field...


Gateway broadcaster Joe Pott hard at work...He recently broadcast his 800th Frontier League game with Gateway...Pott is also one of two broadcasters to have done a game from the hot tub above, broadcasting with Jason Troop who is now with River City...


The dugout that I have mentioned many times...Top bench in front of the other bench...



The suites all have baseball themed names...



My crowd mike dangles in front...I couldn't get a koozie past this point in the 7th inning on Saturday when I attempted to throw one out to the crowd...