May 14: RailCats at Grand Prairie

So...Usually I will post lineups here, which I am still going to do...I am also instituting something new for this year...A live blog during the game...While I won't necessarily be updating anything, I figure this might be an easy area for you to hit comment with questions as another way of reaching the broadcast booth...

RAILCATS (2-0)
Adam Klein - LF
Mike Massaro - DH
Brad Boyer - 2B
Cristian Guerrero - RF
Toddric Johnson - CF
Kyle Haines - SS
Mike Valadez - C
Mike Rohde - 1B
Chris Carrara - 3B

RHP Nolan Nicholson

AIRHOGS (0-2)
Kevin Thompson - RF
David Thomas - LF
Cesar Nicholas - DH
Greg Porter - 3B
David Espinoza - 2B
John ALonso - 1B
Scott Clement - C
Guillermo Martinez - SS
Danny Figueroa - CF

RHP Josh Rainwater - SP

Highlights

It is my goal to post these after every game, but with blogger having some issues it took me until today...Here are the highlights from the first two games of the season...

OPENING NIGHT: May 12
Adam Klein drives home the first runs of the 2011 season


After trailing 3-0, Grand Prairie tied the game in the third with Greg Porter's double


Grand Prairie's Guillermo Martinez ties the game with a first pitch double in the sixth...


Brad Boyer HR leading off the seventh


Trailing the entire game, Grand Prairie's John Alonso puts the AirHogs ahead with a double in the seventh


Kyle Haines knocks in the winning runs in the eighth inning


David Nathanson seals the opening win with a strikeout


May 13
Grand Prairie opens the scoring in the third inning with a bases loaded sacrifice fly from Cesar Nicholas


Lou Ott puts the RailCats ahead with a two-run single in the seventh, finally breaking through against RHP Scot Drucker


A controversial balk called against James Baker tied the game in the bottom of the seventh


Mike Massaro's single in the 11th puts the RailCats in front again


Cristian Guerrero drives home the final run of the night


David Nathanson nails down his second save in as many nights

QuikTrip Park

I promised some photos of QuikTrip Park, and here you go!! The home of the AirHogs...I hope my picture painting on the broadcast does this justice...I wrote a quick caption underneath all of the pictures...

The entrance to QuikTrip Park...Side angle to see the control towers on top...

The entrance to QuikTrip Park...

Hanging from the ceiling all over on the Suite level are flying pigs...

A statue greets fans at the entrance...Notice the airport like markings on the ground

Concourse as you walk in the entrance..

Sports Bar in the outfield...It is open air and open during the game...They feed the teams here afterwards...Note the net to save the patrons from homers...

Off the distance in right field is the Verizon Center, Bruno Mars is playing there on Tuesday...Pretty large concert venue...

The pool in right field overlooking the field

More pool shots...Notice how it juts out into the outfield...

Scoreboard

View from the left field corner...

Suite level...

My broadcast booth

Right field corner

Looking at home plate from center field

Looking at the pool from the field

Looking at the pool from the field

Up the first base line

The visitor's dugout...

Press box is underneath that QuikTrip Park sign...I am basically right in the middle of that...

An airplane at the entrance on opening night...

Fans filing in on opening night...

From my booth looking at home plate and the cool AirHogs logo thingee

Lined up on opening night...

Opening night crowd...

RoundUp Recap

If you missed it, here is all of the audio from this week's edition of Woody's RailCats RoundUp, which airs every Saturday at 9am on The Lakeshore...

Derrick Gordon chats about starting the home opener on May 20, and introduces himself to you in Getting to Know You...


Manager Greg Tagert discusses the opening of the season and joining the American Association in addition to taking your questions...


Pitching Coach Tom Thornton chatted about the change from pitcher to coach as well as some other sports...


Lastly, Director of Marketing Natalie Kirby discusses Opening Weekend...

Rainin' Rangers

UPDATE: Since I can now get back on the blog to upload some things...Here are some photos of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington...

While the team was off on the final day before the seaosn, I went to The Ballpark in Arlington for the Rangers and A's...The game was rained out with the Rangers up 7-0 in the 4th...As I understand, practice was also rained out today for the 'Cats...I will post some photos in a bit...Last reminder...Tagert's MailBag for this week...Send a question to me if you want the skipper to answer for Woody's RailCats RoundUp this week...

Opening Night Explanation

If you missed my broadcast on Friday where I kinda explained what happened in the 8th inning of Thursday's opener, here is what happened during the strange 8th inning of Thursday's game as was explained to me today...A simultaneous call was made by both the base umpire and plate umpire on Mike Massaro's liner...AirHogs third baseman Greg Porter reacted to the home plate call, which was a catch...Adam Klein reacted to the field ump call, which was no catch...Thus with two calls being made, they went with the out on the liner and sent Klein back to first because he was reacting to what he saw in front of him...Hope that makes sense...You can see why I was so confused...Especially since Klein ended up on third while Grand Prairie thought they had a double play...