Why is this notable aside from the fact that it's right next to the hotel?
For this. This old-school Pepsi Machine Rocks! And it has a button for Coca-Cola!
No comment. None.
Nothing says fine dining like a GIANT rooster with a top hat
You can tell this bar is in Illinois. They open at 7:30am Monday-Saturday and Noon on Sunday. They would be out of business in Wisconsin with hours like that.The day after a baseball traveling in excess of 100 mph sent him from the pitching mound to the hospital, doctors pronounced Rafael Soriano both fortunate and lucky — or as lucky and fortunate as possible for a uy who took a line drive off his skull.
The Mariners reliever spent Tuesday night at Harborview Medical Center in the intensive-care unit, and remained there Wednesday morning and afternoon for tests. Satisfied with the results, doctors released Soriano later in the afternoon. It is unclear how soon he will return to pitching, a secondary concern to his overall health the past two days.
Soriano had a second CT scan in the morning, along with a physical-therapy evaluation (walking, balance, etc.) in the afternoon, and after both tests, doctors were convinced he suffered only the mild concussion and no further brain injury.
Doctors also found Soriano articulate in both Spanish and English, and in good spirits. Family members who gathered at Harborview Medical Center told doctors that Soriano seemed normal.
The swelling on his head occurred outside, not internally, and Soriano still had what doctors called a "goose egg" behind his ear Wednesday that continued to cause him pain. He was taking medication for his headaches, but even those appeared to be improving.
"It hurts where the ball hit," Ellenbogen deadpanned when asked if Soriano had any complaints. "But he's pretty stoic. He's pretty bright and alert and cooperative and doing much better than anybody would have predicted if they watched that TV replay."
"When he does return, you have to figure out, 'How do I deal with this fear issue now?' " said Dave Valle, a Mariners broadcast analyst and a former major-league catcher. "You have to wonder, 'How do I get back to where I was without having thoughts in the back of my head?' You don't want him to be like, 'I don't want to throw pitches on the outside corner because it might come back to me.' "
Valle doesn't believe it will be an issue for Soriano, a 26-year-old who already has come back from Tommy John surgery, but who knows for sure?
A smokin' line drive to the cranium off Vladimir Guerrero's bat no less will present a dicey mental challenge. Wednesday, a day after the incident, few at Safeco Field seemed to have recovered from witnessing the trauma.
"Gruesome," Valle said, shaking his head. "Just the ball hitting the flesh, it's like something hitting a watermelon, a hollow and then gushing sound."
Valle recognizes the sound too easily. Spend a life in baseball, and that sound will nag.
He can hear Brad Holman taking one off the head in 1993 in Texas. The late Kirby Puckett unintentionally clocked Steve Shields in the cheek in 1987. Matt Young took one in 1983. It happened to Billy Swift, too.
"It's always tough to see," Valle said. "It brought back some bad memories."
Everyone at Safeco Field was breathing a sigh of relief Wednesday about Rafael Soriano's hopeful prognosis, but no one more so than Vladimir Guerrero.
It was Guerrero, of course, who hit the line drive in the eighth inning on Tuesday that hit Soriano flush in the head and led to considerable consternation about his health.
The Angels' superstar was so concerned he went to Harborview Medical Center after the game to check on Soriano, a fellow Dominican and long-time acquaintance.
"I feel a lot better knowing he's OK," Guerrero said through an interpreter. "Just knowing he didn't have any fractures, I feel a lot better. ... I don't want anything bad to happen to any player; even more so to a player from my own country. We're pretty good friends."
In his first year as a manager in affiliated baseball, Davis won a first-half title in the Western Division to assure the Chiefs an invitation to the Midwest League playoffs starting next week.
Chiefs players and employees have been equally impressed with the way Davis handles autograph requests - every day, home and away - and a heavy volume of mail.
"It's funny that he gets more fan mail than anyone on this team," Chiefs first baseman Ryan Norwood said. "That's what we all want. I won't say it's a jealousy thing, but you see it and you say, 'Yeah, I want that. I want to be that good where people want my autograph.' "
Chiefs president Rocky Vonachen said this is the first season he can recall the manager being the center of attention. That has raised awareness of the team in the community.
"He does quite a few speaking engagements," Vonachen said. "We've never really gotten a lot of requests from rotary clubs and Kiwanis before. We've had a lot for Jody. He's done an excellent job with that. He goes out and tells great stories about his playing days. Jody's a laid-back guy who's pretty much done whatever we've asked him to do for us."
Years of rumors are finally a reality as poor attendance has forced the franchise out of town. This season, the Devil Rays ranked third from the bottom in Midwest League attendance.
However, the team isn't void of true fans. There's simply not enough of them.
Thirty-five loyalists have been season-ticket holders all 12 years and several other people have supported the team strongly. The Devil Rays offered all the 12-year ticket holders the opportunity to throw out a ceremonial first pitch between games of tonight's doubleheader finale against the Beloit (Wis.) Snappers, which starts at 5:35 p.m.
Three years ago, the Payne family decided to make baseball a part of their lives. Ever since, Deborah and Brian, along with daughter Samantha have been C.O. Brown regulars and player hosts.
This year, the Paynes hosted fan-favorite Cesar Suarez, the Devil Rays' smiling, solid-hitting third baseman. Samantha Payne, 12, has become a baseball fanatic and one of the Rays' loudest supporters behind the third-base dugout.
"It's an awful feeling (seeing the team leave)," Samantha said. "I was thinking about it just the other day, and I didn't like the way it felt. I just like the atmosphere at the ballpark."
Even though it became inevitable the franchise would leave, that realization isn't making the breakup any easier on fans.
"Baseball has enhanced our lives in numerous ways," Deborah Payne said.
"It's been more than just a sport. To us, it's like breaking up a big family."
People either thought this would never work, or they thought it could last forever. Turns out they we're all right, to a certain extent.
In 1999, 40 percent of the Michigan Battle Cats' starting pitching rotation consisted of Roy Oswalt and Johan Santana.
Oswalt and Santana are just two of the 42 players who spent time in the Battle Creek franchise and went on to play in the major leagues.
Whether it was the Michigan Battle Cats, Battle Creek Yankees or Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, the last 12 seasons have been talent-rich.
I enjoyed this Hitchcock movie but, I hated the ending. The whole movie is building to an obvious ending, but it doesn't end the way it should have.
I enjoyed tonight's game, but hated the ending. The whole game was building to a Rattler win, but it didn't end the way it should have.
Darn it.
Get 'em tomorrow.
Complete Wednesday Box Score HERE.
Tillman, who also throws a curveball and a changeup, allowed no runs and one hit in six innings and struck out 10. He was the winning pitcher in the 8-5 decision over Yakima. He showed the ability that led to his being taken in the second round despite being 5-5 this spring in his senior season at Fountain Valley (Calif.) High School.
"I guess I was kind of bored with the competition," Tillman said of his senior season. "I had faced all those hitters since I was a freshman. So I kind of cruised a little bit.
"I like playing against a higher level of competition, and I think it makes me play better baseball."
Mariners right-hander Julio Mateo, who leads the major leagues in victories by a relief pitcher, was lost for the season on Monday when he broke a bone in his left hand in a weight-lifting accident.
The Mariners placed Mateo on the 60-day disabled list and selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Jon Huber from Class AAA Tacoma.
Huber arrived at the ballpark shortly before game time and was in uniform, wearing No. 60.
Mateo, 29, was lifting weights before Monday's game against the Los Angeles Angels at Safeco Field. While returning a 35-pound weight to the rack, his hand slipped and got caught between a weight and the rack. He fractured the fourth metacarpal bone, and was outfitted with a splint. No surgery will be required, and Mateo will get a permanent cast on Friday.
Just for the record, Brandon Morrow did develop a sore arm that has slowed his progress, but it had nothing to do with the Mariners' first-round draft selection in June picking up a telephone.
After being taken No. 5 overall by Seattle out of the University of California, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a spoof column about how Morrow seriously injured himself while taking a call from reporters.
Soon, several media outlets were reporting it as fact. Morrow was blissfully unaware until he received a call from Massachusetts, from the family that hosted him when he played in the Cape Cod Summer League.
"I got this call from my host brother, who was watching [Pardon the Interruption] on ESPN," he said. "I didn't know what he was talking about."
Morrow, a diabetic who wears an insulin pump, is feeling so good he is expecting to join Class A Inland Empire for the final week of the regular season. He was expected to be at Inland Empire two months ago, but the M's have been cautious after Morrow developed a sore arm.
...I guess what surprises me the most about the whole situation is that there was actually minor league pro ball played in Battle Creek in the first place.
Take this way-back machine ride with me to help understand my point ...
Back in the good ol' days, good ol' Bailey Stadium - which reminded one of a Wrigley Field-type ballpark - consistently drew tons of folks to it to watch regular-season city league Stan Musial-division adult baseball and North Central Regionals action and the Stan Musial World Series.
Aside from the singles and couples who loved the game, entire families regularly attended city ball. Kids could be found en masse inside Bailey Stadium watching the games, and outside its brick and stone walls making their nickels and dimes retrieving foul balls and home run blasts.
But then times changed. Society changed.
...Nevertheless, local movers and shakers of the late 1980s and early 1990s thought interest in amateur baseball could thrive once again if only the local people had a brand-new, modern-type ballpark to come to.
Voila! We bring you C.O. Brown Stadium.
I remember sitting in dark, dank, upper-story rooms in the old parks and rec building. Sitting - via invitation - in the same rooms where the movers and shakers of that time planned and eventually realized the razing of old Bailey Stadium and the construction of the new C.O. Brown Stadium.
And with the theory of "if we build it, they will come'' in mind, the movers and the shakers started making lists of amateur baseball events they could bring in that would fill the seats in the new stadium to the brim.
But ONLY with amateur baseball events.
Professional baseball? Those two words were not to be uttered - ever - the movers and shakers said in those dank, dark meeting rooms in the old rec building.
But city league ball never drew like the movers and shakers thought it would. And it wasn't long before Musial-level regular-season games featured more people on the field than spectators in the stands. It was costing more to turn on the lights and fire up the concession-stand hot dog machines than the amount of money that was coming in.
So, after losing money and losing money and losing money, the city decided to try to lure minor league pro baseball to town.
And for a short while, the strategy worked, too.
But again, not for long. The losing money scenario continued. Not even a Midwest League championship team could make the turnstiles spin in grand fashion.
No matter the marketing strategies the minor league franchises employed, the fans did not come as hoped for.
And now, we're back to where we started.
Chris Snelling, Seattle.
A pair of home runs in the Mariners sixth win in a row. Snelling is now hitting .364 since returning to Seattle.
At the Minor League level
Rich Dorman, Tacoma
Eight shutout innings with 14 K's in a Rainier win.
Tacoma (AAA – 71-67; 2nd PCL Pacific Northern Division): Tacoma beat Salt Lake 2-0. Rich Dorman (WI ’03) struck out fourteen over eight shutout innings for the win. He allowed three hits and walked one. Adam Jones (WI ’04) and Oswaldo Navarro (WI ’05) each drove in a run for the Rainiers.Initial reports were positive.
As teammates surrounded Soriano next to the mound on the empty field in a ballpark long gone silent, his arms and legs moved. He was conscious. He knew where he was and what had happened, terrible as it was.
He complained of a major headache and suffered some swelling where the ball hit head. And so he was taken to Harborview Medical Center for evaluation.
Three outlaws bring an infant across the desert to safety in this John Wayne/John Ford movie.
Three Rattler pitchers bring a three run lead to the win column in Tuesday's 3-0 win at Peoria.
Complete Tuesday Box Score HERE.
The Loons will play in central Michigan, strategically
placed in the middle of four of the five Great Lakes.
"To the east we have
Lake Huron, to the west we have Lake Michigan," said Stacey Trapani with the
Loons. "The south has Lake Erie, and the north has Lake Superior. It's a great
location, and the lakes are so much a part of this state."
"Loons are very well-known birds in the area," said
Trapani. "The idea was to have a name that encompassed everyone and not just one
area of the state."
The new team will still be affiliated with the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays and play in the Midwest League. The Class A affiliation will also
remain. Trapani said a new, fresh team identity will draw new fans.
The verdict is in – the Michigan Baseball Foundation
apparently has hit a home run with the name of its minor league
team. Shortly after the announcement Saturday that the
team will be the "Great Lakes Loons," several spectators at The Main Event near
the Tridge lauded the MBF for its choice. The prevailing
opinion seemed to be that "Loons" was good and "Great Lakes" even
better. "I love it. I was surprised, because I thought it
would be more like ‘Tri-City’ or ‘Midland,’" said Midland’s Pat McDonald. "It
just sounds good."
The team nickname – which was chosen from over 3,500 entries
submitted by the public to the MBF – was the brainstorm of 8-year-old Shawn
Zebrak, a third-grader at Adams Elementary School, and Pinconning’s Randy
Trudell, who also suggested the nickname "Loons."
Midland’s Tom Darger also liked the inclusive nature of the
"Great Lakes" moniker. "I think the fact that they chose
‘Great Lakes’ instead of ‘Mid-Michigan’ was smart, because it goes outside
mid-Michigan," Darger noted. "You’re going to get people from the Thumb and
people from northern Michigan who want to go to a game, and if they just called
it ‘Mid-Michigan,’ those people (might not) feel
welcome. "I think ‘Great Lakes’ is an excellent
name."
Bay City’s Stacey Werner and Midland’s Steve Taglauer echoed
Darger’s sentiments. "It’s kind of a general name, and
that’s good," Werner said. "It includes everybody." "I
thought it would be something (like) ‘Tri-City’ or something like that, not
encompassing the whole area," Taglauer admitted. "It’s great. It’s not just
(about) Midland; it’s (about) the whole area."
Bay City’s Jeremy Gauthier said he liked the originality of
the name. "I like it. It’s different. I’ve never heard of
a team named that before," said Gauthier,
Werner and Taglauer said that they, too, were pleasantly
surprised by the nickname. "I like it a lot," said
Werner. "The ‘Loons’ is a great name for (a family-oriented)
team." "I think it’s awesome. It’s different," Taglauer
said. "It’s not like the ‘Mustangs’ or anything generic like that. It’s a catchy
name."
I'm sorry if I offend anyone but...
I (and my brother) were distraught when we caught a glimpse of the new name. We arrived at the event late (we have 3 young daughters each) and checked out the team sales tent to get the name. I am thoroughly disappointed with both parts...
"Great Lakes" and "Loons". We are both desperately searching for a positive to this debacle and can't seem to accept these names in our hearts. Both of us showed up intending to purchase hats, jerseys, and stuff for the kids. We left with nothing but an ill feeling. I was one of those who showed up early on the first day of ticket sales to secure good seats for my brother and I.
Having both attended a number of semipro games aroung the country while in the service we are both familiar with the quality of entertainment such a team brings. But the recognition the name brings s a huge part of it. The Toldeo Mudhens, Salinas Spurs, Lansing Lugnuts, etc. I am disappointed because this team had SO MUCH potential for bringing in an awesome, marketable name and if completely FAILED.
I haven't spoken with a single person who likes the name. Those I know who simply accept it aren't the type who would be considered real fans anyway. Didn't management consider the marketing failure of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim? This is a sports team. I am sorry but "Loons" (even those with "piercing eyes") aren't intimidating to anyone. I feel sorry for the guys who will have to play with the monicker. I'm not a big fan of the color scheme either. Sorry.
Someone else hit the nail on the head when they said that "Great Lakes" is far too encompassing. This was an opportunity to help the Valley shine. Failure. "Loons", regardless of the fact that is an actual bird, sounds cartoonish. Why not name the team the "DO-DOs" or the "Cuckoo Birds"? Shameful.
That might be a bit over the top. Distraught? Shameful? It's just a nickname, a hilarious nickname for a sports team in your area, but just a nickname.
I was extrememly disapointed at the name selected for the new minor eague team. My parents who are long time Midland sports supporters (50+ years) called me after they got home from the events downtown to tell me about what was going on. My mother was upset that the name did nothing to represent Midland. My dad thought it was a joke!
PATHETIC!! It would be nice to know if the deep pocketed bully foundations would release the list of names that were entered. THe name S**KS! I was under the impression that the name would have something to do with Midland or the greater region that we live in, since we are funding it!That is just from the first page of the forums.
...In fact, I can die a happy man. At 22 years old, I realized my lifelong dream of running out onto a baseball field and shooting T-shirts out of an oversized slingshot with a man in a giant dog costume as thousands of screaming fans cheered us on. It's all downhill from here.
I accomplished this last Monday as I filled in as a member of the Party Patrol, the in-game entertainment crew at Round Rock's Dell Diamond.
The Party Patrol is composed of 13 people, and three to six of them will participate in the promotions for any given game. As soon as I donned my loaner "Party Patrol" shirt, I was ready to see baseball from a new perspective.
While I was comfortable with passing out coupons and talking to kids and smiling to fellow baseball fans, there were moments in the evening when I did feel distinctly out of place.
The first occurred in the middle of the fourth inning. In all of my daydreams of dancing on top of dugouts, I was always doing so to celebrate my game-winning hit in the World Series. Never once had I imagined my dugout-top dance to be part of a promotion. But as soon as the side was retired, Seamus told me to get up on the home team's dugout for "the chicken dance."
The prospect of dancing in front of thousands of people was scary enough, but the fact that I'd never done "the chicken dance" before tightened the knot in my stomach. There's nothing like learning new steps in front of 7,844 paying customers. But my shirt read "Party Patrol," so I knew I had to do get up there. I really lucked out, though, because it turns out the chicken dance is actually quite simple. It's four basic steps, the most complicated of which is flapping your arms as if you were a chicken. So I held my own, I suppose. Or did I?
It was a view unlike any other I've ever had at a baseball game.
Tracking the Party Patrol for a night is not without its perks. But it turned out we were there on business, because it's from that gate the Party Patrol emerges with Round Rock's mascot, Spike (a rail yard dog), to shoot shirts into the crowd.
My heart sped up as I saw the green grass from behind the center-field fence. And the thrill I got from running into the outfield did not disappoint. Spike's right-hand woman, Britney Paxman, managed the slingshot with Seamus and me, while Spike and fellow Party Patrol member Joe Diaz cruised the sidelines in a four-wheeler with a cannon.
That time between the fifth and sixth innings was one of the highlights of my night with the Party Patrol.
But this event also dealt me an extra dose of adrenalin. One of the shirts we fired off looked dangerously close to falling short of the fans and onto the warning track, which would have been further evidence that I wasn't cut out for Patrolling. I was already the guy who couldn't dance. No, I was not ready to take strike two.
My heart was in my throat as that shirt made its way toward the crowd, and I breathed a sigh of relief as it barely cleared the outfield fence.
When I explained that fear to Seamus as we retreated out of sight, he told me that it happens to everyone. Apparently, Seamus misfired a shirt on June 16, the night Roger Clemens pitched in front of a franchise-record crowd of 13,475 at Dell Diamond. Seamus earned a hearty round of boos for his efforts, something he took completely in stride.
On any other night of the week, the Party Patrol would have started to wind down after the stretch. But it was Monday, and Monday is the one night that features a second dugout dance. I was being punished for something.
In the middle of the eighth inning on Mondays, Party Patrollers do the twist. Compared to the chicken dance, which has some breaks for flapping, the twist is a strenuous dance, involving constant motion and, it turns out, a degree of flexibility that far exceeds the the arm flap for the chicken dance.
Certain Party Patrol members confess to having a hard time with the twist.
"I can handle the chicken dance but the twist? I just get uncomfortable up there," said Chris O'Brien, another easily embarrassed and perhaps rhythmically challenged Patrol Patroller.
Again, I was reluctant, but I got up on the dugout with Seamus and the two of us twisted for the length of the inning break, which seemed like a long time. I don't know if the leadoff man was particularly impressed with our moves, or particularly amused by them, but I believe he could have gotten into the batter's box a lot sooner.
I finally dismounted the dugout, suddenly overwhelmed with an unreal craving for Oreos, when an usher to reveal what thousands of others in the stands were probably thinking: there aren't a lot of fans who want to see two men twist together flamboyantly on top of the dugout.
But the young fans loved it. And if there's one thing I kept rediscovering in my night at Dell Diamond, it's that the Party Patrol exists for the young fans. For every 30-year-old guy drinking a beer and staring at you from the front row with a look that seems to ask, "What are you doing to yourself, man?" there's a 4-year-old girl who just likes to see people having fun, flamboyant or not. And, if the crowd participation on Monday night is any barometer, watching goofy grownups do the twist is the definition of fun for a lot of kids.
GRAND CHUTE — If it was up to Jim Horner, he'd have his Appleton area apartment all lined up for 2007.
Instead, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers manager will have to spend part of his off-season in the dark as he waits to learn what his future holds."Love to," he said when asked of his desire to return to the Rattlers dugout. "I loved it. I loved everything about this year. If I get the opportunity to come back, I would love to."
Count first-year pitching coach and Wisconsin native Lance Painter as another who hopes to get a second crack with the Rattlers.
Like Horner, Painter found the going rough at times as he handled a staff that struggled with its command and is leading the league in walks (531) and among the bottom in team ERA (4.54).
Still, the experience produced more positives than negatives and gave him and his family an opportunity to catch up with relatives and friends.
"My family loved the fact that we were near my side of the family, so they could see grandma, aunts and uncles," said Painter, who spent 10 years as a major league pitcher, was a prep standout at Glendale Nicolet and played at the University of Wisconsin. "More than anything, I guess I was a little surprised by the fact that we had to repeat mechanics consistently all year long.
"But yeah, I enjoyed it. There were some tough moments, obviously. The losing was difficult at times this year. I know we're here to develop guys, but you also like to put a winning team out there. That was the biggest disappointment. But I would enjoy coming back."
GRAND CHUTE — Putting a cap on the Sharpie and finding refuge from the hordes of autograph hounds, Robby Hudson took stock of the past four-plus months and smiled....
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers infielder may never play in Appleton again, but he'll never forget the area, either.
"I haven't been part of a place like this where they love their sports so much," Hudson said following the Rattlers' 3-2 Midwest League victory over the Clinton LumberKings on Sunday in their home finale. "Coming to Appleton was an awesome experience."
A crowd of 5,332 ventured into Fox Cities Stadium to spit seeds, collect autographs and cheer the Rattlers on one final time before calling it another baseball year.
That gave Wisconsin an attendance mark of 209,033 in 65 dates — an average of 3,216 per game — and the third straight season it has hit the 200,000 plateau.
The Rattlers, who sprinkled in a handful of new promotions this season like showcasing the team in 1960 Fox Cities Foxes jerseys and caps during Friday games and allowing fans to play catch on the field prior to Sunday matchups, were buoyed by a strong late-season surge in which they averaged 5,323 fans in their final eight contests.
"You never like the season end," Rattlers president Rob Zerjav said. "It's fun for what we do. We like to entertain the crowd, and it's going to be a long, cold winter until we get going again. We'll be planning (for next year) and we're still open. But it's tough when you don't have the games everyday to reinforce what you're doing."
Yeah, you get buried the first half with a (low) average," Horner said. "That's why numbers aren't that important because you see them getting better everyday. Sometimes you take a couple of steps backwards with guys. But hopefully, when you go forward, you go two or three steps forward instead of just one step."
Count starter Paul Fagan as someone who took a giant step forward on Sunday.
The left-hander came in with a 5-13 record and a 5.12 ERA but exited with eight strikeouts and two walks in a solid seven-inning no-decision.
It was the third time in his past four outings Fagan has earned a quality start and left him feeling positive about what he has accomplished this summer.
"It's been a learning season for a lot of people," he said. "I've learned a lot, and I know a lot of other guys here have learned a lot. It's been a struggle this season. But everybody's learning, and I don't think we'll make the same mistakes next year, wherever we'll be."
Photo Credit: Kevin P. Casey/AP
From ourmidland.com
look at this mascot...
Say the name of the team...
Great. Lakes. Loons.
Are all the good nicknames gone?
Never saw this The Fast & The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift. But, why did I think of it when looking for a match for tonight's 3-1 loss to the Chiefs?
Two hits in the game for the Rattlers. Two hits in the Fast & Furious movie series.
Complete Monday Box Score HERE.
Yep, the LumberKings were Doyle Lonnegan today. They must have thought there was no way they'd get beat on a Jeff Flaig homer.
From ie66ers.com
