In 2005, his first full season, he had a 5.47 earned-run average for Class A Wisconsin, and learned a valuable lesson about himself during that up-and-down campaign: Coping with success is more problematic than coping with failure.
"It seemed like when I was having success, I backed off a little bit," he said. "I didn't run as hard, I didn't focus as much on what I was doing, because I was doing so well.
"When you're failing, you're trying to find answers, doing everything you can to get out of that slump. It's just something I've learned — when I have success, like I've had all season, I've pushed myself even harder, every single day, whether it's running, or playing catch, or focusing more when I'm on the mound."
Scott Hanson features Jeff Clement in the M's farm report: Clement flying through system:
Clement's rise has produced some big questions: With offseason acquisition Kenji Johjima handling the catching duties well in Seattle, where does Clement fit in? Will he be changing positions?
"I am willing to do whatever they want me to do, but I am positive that they want me to be a catcher, so that hasn't even been a thought in my mind to play another position," Clement said. "I am a catcher, and until they tell me something different that is what I am going to plan on being."
One other note from the Times, and it is in regard to former Timber Rattler Rafael Soriano:
Reliever Rafael Soriano was named Monday as one of six finalists for American League Comeback Player of the Year. Soriano, 1-1 with two saves and a 2.06 earned-run average in 43 appearances, sat out most of the past two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery to reconstruct ligaments in his right elbow.
The other five AL finalists are: Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Curt Schilling, and Corey Patterson.
You can vote on the mlb.com site HERE.
Not sure if you have clicked on the link to the Missions game story down in the system report post belowyet today, but if you haven't do so now and look over at the sidebar story to get a load of this news about a former Rattler closer:
Missions pitcher Eric O'Flaherty, who pitched 12/3 innings of relief in a 4-3 loss at Corpus Christi on Sunday night, was promoted to Triple-A Tacoma shortly after the game. He will be replaced by reliever Byron Embry, who the Seattle Mariners organization signed Friday.
Good luck, Eric. He started the season in Inland Empire and has moved up the ladder quickly.
Brian VanOchten of the Grand Rapids Press has a blog called Hit&Run. His post No Jeering in the Press Box caught my eye.
I've held my tongue long enough.I won't make this a big issue because it's something I've been able to work around for much of the summer, but the $1.3 million in offseason improvements made to Fifth Third Ballpark by the West Michigan Whitecaps included one of the strangest and stupidest mistakes in the history of the local minor-league baseball franchise.
In adding outdoor suite-level seating, the Whitecaps put two rows of seats directly in front of the press box, resulting in obstructed views for the media. It was done with full knowledge that it would interfere with the official scorer and the beat writer for The Press. It has been a source of frustration for me all season, but whenever I've aired those complaints to team officials I've gotten blank stares and garbled words that sound like someone has been gargling with a mouthful of marbles.
After getting nowhere, I simply gave up.
...
It got so bad early in the season that a Tiger official in town for a series at Fifth Third Ballpark remarked that he couldn't believe the Whitecaps would handicap the media like that. Tigers minor-league instructors have complained about it. A visiting radio announcer took one look at the setup and laughed.It can be awfully distracting, too, when the suite patrons stand up and turn around to watch the TV monitor in the press box or knock on the window to ask for the a Tigers score. That's rough on deadline. It happens all the time.
For the record, I was not the visiting radio announcer who laughed. Later in the post, he does mention that it's "no biggie." Just Low-A ball.
Also for the record, Brian should try working the press box in Beloit when it's 97 degrees. Or, the press box in Clinton that has people coming up to you and asking you to announce a birthday or to turn the music down on the PA system. Or, the press box in Dayton. Yes, Dayton. Oh, the facility is great and all, but they have tour guides stop by the Radio booths and tell the groups that Dayton's radio station does all 140 games, but only a few other teams in the Midwest League have radio stations that do raod games...while the visiting radio announcer is sitting right there. There are fourteen teams in the league. Only two don't have a radio station that travels to road games.
Sorry. Touched a nerve there. Ten deep breaths.
Mainly for the ending
