Lots of stuff

The once and future beat writer has been busy.

There was this blog entry with some stuff that didn't make the paper from Fan Fest on Tuesday.

He spoke with GM Doug Melvin at the Leadoff Experience last night.

Prince Fielder was the big question. But, this Q & A covers many of the Q's to which you may want A's.

Setting up the pitching (BUMPED)

I just had a chance to talk with Rattlers pitching coach Chris Hook. Here is the Timber Rattlers pitching rotation for the first ten games (or the first two times through the rotation)*

There will be a tandem system for three of the spots and stand-alone starters in the other two spots.

April 8-10 v. Kane County:
THU: Nick Bucci/Del Howell
FRI: Efrain Nieves
SAT: Jake Odorizzi/Damon Krestalude

April 11-13 v. Clinton
SUN: Eric Arnett
MON: Maverick Lasker/Kyle Heckathorn
TUE: Howell/Bucci

April 14-16 @Burlington
WED: Nieves
THU: Krestalude/Odorizzi
FRI: Arnett

April 17 @Quad Cities
SAT: Heckathorn/Lasker

*-Weather permitting, of course

2010 Opening Day roster released

Head over to the release at the main site for the details.

Enjoy!

See you this week!

Come Monday

Fort Wayne has released their roster. So has Lansing, or at least I received a media release, it's not on their website yet.

But, Timber Rattlers fans will have to wait until Monday morning.

As soon as I hear word on a final set roster and am allowed to send it out, the 2010 roster will be posted here and on the main website. Plus, there will be links on the team facebook and twitter pages.

So, just be patient...okay?

Rummage! Food! Tickets! (UPDATE: PEOPLE!)

Tickets on sale at 10am.


So are these game worn BP tops.

This food is not for sale. You can stop by and have some for free when you buy some tickets.

If you have a season ticket package, stop by to pick it up and you can join in the festivities!

See you soon. See you real soon.

So will these people!



UPDATE #2: This is the Rummage Sale at about 10:20 this morning.


By the way, the phone is ringing constantly, too. This is a pretty good day! 33 Days until Opening Day!

A bit more detail

Brett Christopherson went into a bit more detail for the story about the Timber Rattlers 2010 coaching staff in today's Post-Crescent. So, instead of updating the blog post on RR that was a link to Brett's blog post, how about a link to the full story.

Both [Jeff] Isom and [Matt] Erickson expect many of the players they tutored during those instructional league sessions to begin their 2010 seasons at Wisconsin.

"There's familiarity there," Erickson said of the coaches. "We know how each other works and what to expect from each other. Anytime there's consistency in the coaching staff, it will promote consistency with the kids. … As far as from an athletic standpoint, the group we had in the fall instructional league was quite athletic. If we can teach them the game and teach them situations where they can best use their athletic ability, hopefully, it all comes together."

Click to the whole thing.

Quotes in the PC

Erstwhile Timber Rattlers beat writer Brett Christopherson has a quote from Jeff Isom and a quote from Matt Erickson at this blog post.

“I’ve had the itch (to get the season going) for a while,” Isom said when reached at his Attica, Ind., residence. “Once the new year comes around, you really want to get out there. Looking at my backyard now, you’ve got snow on the ground and it’s hard to imagine the baseball season — it’s about three months away. But I’m excited about getting it going. There’s a lot of optimism about the season this year.”

...

“I’m definitely excited,” said Erickson, who made his professional coaching debut last season. “Obviously, not only being involved in the game, but being involved with it at home, where it’s familiar. … Really, at this time, I don’t have a great aspiration of climbing the ladder. I’m enjoying my time here at home and coaching.”

There may be a story to link to in the morning. Will update this post as needed.

2010 Field Staff announced

This has been out for a couple of hours elsewhere, but now it's here.

Here are the first couple of paragraphs:

The Milwaukee Brewers have announced the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers coaches and support staff for the upcoming 2010 season. Manager Jeff Isom returns for his second season at the helm of the Midwest League affiliate of the Brewers. Also returning to the coaching staff are pitching coach Chris Hook and hitting coach Matt Erickson.

Isom becomes the fifth Timber Rattlers manager to return for a second consecutive season in the Fox Valley . Wisconsin finished the 2009 season with a record of 58-81. The 2010 season will be the fourth year for Isom in the Milwaukee organization. He is the ninth manager in Rattlers' history. Including seven seasons as a manager in the independent leagues, Isom has a career record of 520-462.

Click the link for the whole thing.

Here is the full-size version of the picture from the article.

Photo Courtesy of Wm. Glasheen

C

C=100

100=Days until Opening Day, 2010 from today!

Stuff is about to get real, folks!

Final times

The full and complete 2010 Timber Rattlers schedule is available at the website. This includes the times for all of the away games.

April

Weird home start time: 4/11 vs. Clinton @ 5:05pm. It's a Sunday and the first game of a series. Clinton is coming in from out of town and we can't start the game any earlier than this.

Weird road start time: 4/19 @Quad Cities @ 11am. Not complaining. It's a Monday getaway game. As long as it's not a doubleheader like last year, I think that this is great!

May

Weird road start time: 5/3 @Beloit @ 11am. Not complaining. A Monday getaway game again!

June

Weird road start time: None. A quite normal month. Except for the three Mondays in a row that are off days.

July

Weird road start times: 7/4 @Cedar Rapids @ 5:05pm. See the weird home start time in April. Although a later start on Independence Day might have been nice to allow for a big fireworks display.

7/24 @South Bend @ 4:30pm CDT/5:30EDT. The Silver Hawks are -- apparently -- trying 5:30 as their Saturday start time this year.

Schedule Anomaly: The last three Tuesday in July are scheduled off days.

August

Weird road start time: None. There are only three weekday afternoon games in August and all three are at Time Warner Cable Field.

September

Weird road start time: 9/5 @Kane County @ 6:00pm (or there about). A Sunday evening game on the day before Labor Day isn't all that weird. Just different. I am pretty sure that there will be fireworks.

Make your plans

I normally don't post entire press releases from the Timber Rattlers, but when it's something like this, I can't help but shout this from as many mountain tops as I have. So...

Rattlers release 2010 schedule & ticket packages

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers fans can start making plans for 2010! The Midwest League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers has released their schedule for next season. As an incentive to act quickly, fans who purchase a ticket package of 10 or more games will receive a free ticket to the Opening Night game against the Kane County Cougars on April 8, 2010 at Time Warner Cable Field.

There are four 10-game packages that will be available for the 2010 season. They are Bang Four Your Buck with soda, beer, and hotdogs for $1; Fireworks with either a Friday or a Saturday post-game fireworks display; Weekend with a mix of Saturday and Sunday games; and Weekday with a mix of night games during the work week. Prices on the 10-game packages start at $60.

A trio of 7-game packages is also on sale for fans. Office Escape is back and features seven weekday day games. Souvenir Seven will feature seven games during the 2009 season with a guaranteed giveaway to owners of this ticket package. There is also a 7-game fireworks package. Prices for a 7-game package start at $45.50.

The Timber Rattlers also offer fans half season and full season packages beginning at $210 or $420.

There are 140 games on the slate and those games are evenly split between 70 home games and 70 away games. One major change is the number of times the Rattlers will face teams from the Eastern Division.

The Bowling Green Hot Rods and the Lake County Captains have joined the Midwest League and Wisconsin will face each team from the other division in one three game series during the regular season. The Timber Rattlers will host Bowling Green and the Dayton Dragons in the first half. Wisconsin welcomes Lansing and Great Lakes in the second half of the season. The Rattlers will visit the Fort Wayne TinCaps and Lake County in the first half. In the second half, Wisconsin will visit the West Michigan Whitecaps and the South Bend Silver Hawks.

Fans must purchase 10-game ticket packages for the 2010 season before January 1, 2010 to receive their free ticket to Opening Night 2010. Single game tickets for next season will go on sale at a date to be determined early in 2010.

To purchase 2010 ticket packages or tickets to any of the remaining games of the 2009 season, fans may go to www.timberrattlers.com; call 800-WI-TIMBER or (920) 733-4152; or stop by the Time Warner Cable Field Box Office.