What Happened to the Field?!?!

Never a good sign when you are greeted by a field that looks like this:

Apparently they left the tarp on too long on a couple of hot, rainy days last week and burnt it out badly.  A little part of me dies when I see a field look this poorly.

Lugnuts Announce Field Staff

The Lansing Lugnuts announced their field staff for 2011 late yesterday, featuring a 12-year Major League veteran as their new manager. You can read the full release on their website, or just view the summary below.

Manager - Mike Redmond
Pitching Coach - Vince Horsman
Hitting Coach - John Tamargo, Jr.

Tonight's Lineup - May 4th

Broxton - CF
Owings - SS
Borchering - 3B
Davidson - DH
Nick - 2B
Hollinger - C
Stone - 1B
Diaz - RF
Narodowski - LF

Belfiore - SP

Our pregame interview is with Lansing's radio broadcaster Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, and we'll basically call it scouting the opponent. I like to do that from time to time, getting a preview of what we can expect to see from the opposing team.

Pregame show begins at 6:45 PM. First pitch at 7:05 PM.

Don't forget tomorrow's game at 10:35 AM.

Long Games

The first two games of the 2010 season have lasted 3:14 and 3:11 for the Silver Hawks and Loons. That's way above the average game time for 2009 in the Midwest League.

However, it could be a lot worse.

The Dayton Dragons and Lansing Lugnuts have gone to extra innings in each of the first two games of the season, totaling seven hours and 12 minutes of baseball (47 minutes longer than the Silver Hawks).

In case you are curious, the average time for 9 inning games in the Midwest League so far this season is 2 hours and 42 minutes. The Silver Hawks have averaged 3 hours and 12 minutes so far.

File that under useless information that no one cares about.

Fu Manchu Baby!

I'm working on the media guide, and just requested a picture of new Lansing Lugnuts manager Sal Fasano. You may remember Fasano from his playing days, when it seemed like he was on a new team every year (largely because he was on a new team every year from 2000 on). You may also remember the sweet Fu Manchu that he had as a player.

Now that he's a manager, I was wondering if he was still rocking the facial hair. In the email attachment I just received from Lansing's broadcaster Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, the answer is a definitive YES!

See for yourself...

You Say Johermyn, I say Yohermyn

No matter how you spell it, former Lansing Lugnuts star Johermyn Chavez was traded from the Blue Jays organization along with Brandon League to Seattle for Brandon Morrow.

Chavez hit .283 with 21 homers and 89 RBIs for Lansing in 2009, and I could make a pretty strong case that he was one of the best all around players in the league. He probably would have gotten a lot more recognition had it not been for the fact that Lansing was terrible this season. The fact that he wasn't a postseason all-star is somewhat absurd.

(Editor's Note: If you don't understand the title of this post, it's because Chavez began the year spelling his name with a Y at the beginning, then changed midseason to go with a J at the beginning. I'm sure this was a mixup in translation, but it's still odd.)

(Editor's Note Part Two: It's ridiculous for me to include something called an "editor's note". There is no editor. The same person that writes these posts also edits them. That's right, I am the writer and editor all at once. I deserve a raise.)

Blue Jays Top 10

Baseball America is back with the Blue Jays top 10 prospects, a handful of whom you've seen playing for the Lansing Lugnuts. (NOTE: This list will change considerably once the Halladay/Lee/prospects trade becomes 100% official. I would imagine Kyle Drabek would take over the #1 spot, along with a few other changes).

Oddly enough, the #1 prospect on this list played in the Midwest League, but not with Lansing. Zach Stewart played with the Dayton Dragons in 2008, before being traded along with Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Roenicke for Scott Rolen.

As a Reds fan, I like Rolen, but Cincinnati gave up way too much to get him.

Lansing...Throwing in the Towel?

The Lugnuts promoted the following players today:

OF Brian Van Kirk
SS Tyler Pastornicky
LHP John Anderson
RHP Matt Daly

To recap, that's a starting outfielder, the starting shortstop, a starting pitcher, and the closer.

This move sounds a lot like Toronto is saying "Well Lansing isn't going to make the playoffs. Let's promote a few guys and get them some experience at the next level."

Chase for the Playoffs - 31 To Go

Again, this is the playoff race, taking Fort Wayne and West Michigan out of the mix. The top two will go to the playoffs.

................W...L...PCT..GB
Great Lakes..20..19...513..--
South Bend...18..20...474..1.5
Dayton........18..20...474..1.5
Lansing.......16..22...421..3.5

Games Left for South Bend (In order):
1 @ West Michigan
4 vs. Fort Wayne
4 vs. Lansing
4 @ West Michigan
4 vs. Great Lakes
4 vs. Dayton
4 @ Great Lakes
1 vs. Lansing
3 @ Dayton
2 vs. Lansing

(A scheduling conflict with a Notre Dame football game results in the split series against the Lugnuts at the Cove to end the season. More on that later in the year)

Photos from Lansing - Part Two

A view from straightaway center (okay, so it's just off of center, but there is a scoreboard in straightaway center, and they wouldn't let me inside to take a picture...actually, I didn't ask, but the answer would have been no.)


Down the first base line, giving you an idea of the seats and bleachers.


From the concourse behind home plate.


They stopped making Oldsmobiles a couple years ago, but the stadium is still called Oldsmobile Park. According to the Lansing radio broadcaster, it was discussed with GM and they wanted to leave it that way as a nostalgic look back.


More pictures of the Oldsmobiles as you walk up to the stairs to the suite level/press box.

Photos from Lansing Part 1

Starting our journey around the outfield wall at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park. The wall down the left field line is 23 feet high. You have to clear the entire wall, up until the point where the metal railing breaks in. If you hit it over the railing, it's a home run. If you hit the wall to the left of the railing, and it richochets onto the lawn section, it's a ground rule double. Confused? Me too.


Clear the metal railing for a home run on the left side of this picture. If it goes through the railing, it's a ground rule double. You have to hit it over top the entire Miller Lite wall for it to be a homer. Clear the green wall everywhere else to the right of the Miller Lite wall, and it's a home run. Still confused? Me too.


Underneath the scoreboard, you just have to clear the main green wall. Ignore the green section between the top of the wall and the bottom of the scoreboard...that apparently means nothing. It's 412 feet just to the right of the scoreboard and then angles in on the right side of this picture to 360. Clear the railing = home run. Why not paint a yellow line so we can figure this out? Confused? Yep, so am I.


Another freakishly huge wall down the right field line. Clear it all for a home run. Again, a yellow line would be nice down the left side of the huge wall, so that there is a distinct home run line. But that would be too easy. Confused? C'mon, this is starting to make sense.

My view from the press box. It's lovely up here.

Greetings from Lansing

Had some car trouble this morning, so I'm a bit behind on what I wanted to do today. I'll have some info from the notes up once we get to the ballpark a little bit later.

It's chilly and rainy in Lansing, but for now, the game is still on. More later, check back (and make sure you check out the post below this one in terms of what to do if the internet feed drops out).

Thanks.