Quad Cities Field Staff

They don't have it up on their website yet, but the Quad Cities River Bandits just sent out a press release announcing their 2011 field staff. However, all three coaches are back from last season, so there's not a lot of drama with this one.

Manager: Johnny Rodriguez
Pitching Coach: Tim Leveque
Hitting Coach: Joe Kruzel

Playoff Results - Round One, Game One

Well, the first night of Midwest League playoff baseball is in the books, and there were some very interesting games last night. Let's take a look (each score link will take you to the box score of the game)....

Fort Wayne 1, Great Lakes 0
Main Storyline: Everett Williams provided the lone run of the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. It was one of just three hits for the TinCaps.

Secondary Storyline: Matt Lollis (WP, 1-0) and three other Fort Wayne pitchers combined to shut out the potent Loons offense.

Up Next: Game two is at Great Lakes tonight at 7:05 PM. A couple of lefties go head-to-head with Jose De Paula battling Greg Wilborn.

Lake County 4, West Michigan 2
Main Storyline: Tyler Holt capped a three-run Captains rally in the top of the seventh with a two-run single to lift the Captains from a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 lead.

Secondary Storyline: The Captains won game one on the road, and return home with two chances to win one game on their home field to advance to the Eastern Division Finals.

Up Next: Game two is at Lake County tonight at 6:30 PM. LHP Vidal Nuno starts for the Captains against RHP Trevor Feeney for West Michigan.

Quad Cities 4, Kane County 0
Main Storyline: Shelby Miller (WP, 1-0) struck out 13 hitters in 7.0 innings, allowing just two hits to lead the River Bandits to the series opening victory.

Secondary Storyline: The River Bandits didn't show signs of missing injured Matt Adams' bat in picking up four runs on 11 hits at Kane County.

Up Next: Game two is at Quad Cities tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Jonathan Joseph starts for the Cougars against River Bandit starter Michael Blazek.

Cedar Rapids 3, Clinton 2
Main Storyline: With two outs and the bases empty, the Kernels had two singles and then three straight walks in the top of the 7th to force in two runs and break the 1-1 tie. They held on to win 3-2.

Secondary Storyline: Like two other teams in the league, the Kernels won on the road and have two chances to win the series at home.

Up Next: Game two is at Cedar Rapids tonight at 7:35 PM Eastern Time. LHP Buddy Boshers starts for the Kernels against Clinton's RHP Yoervis Medina.

Baseball America Top 10s

Since the last time I linked you to the latest rankings, a few more teams that have affiliates in the Midwest League have been posted over at www.baseballamerica.com. Click on the team names below to see who BA considers the top prospects in each organization (and see some familiar names in the process).

Cardinals (Quad Cities River Bandits)

Padres (Fort Wayne TinCaps)

Dodgers (Great Lakes Loons)

The Diamondbacks are coming up on Wednesday, and I'll of course have a lot more information on that when it happens.

Photos from Quad Cities - Part Four

I don't know if anyone cares about this other than me, but let's take a few shots of my radio booth in Quad Cities.


This is typically what my booth looks like everywhere I go. Main Equipment to my left. Scorebook directly in front of me. Binoculars, Tape, Highlighters, Etc. on the table. Computer to my right on the table top. Rosters on the chair to my right (didn't want to tape them to the walls...they are already torn up enough, didn't want to tear up the walls anymore). Stats, Notes, etc. on my equipment case even further to my right. Yes, there's a lot of cheat sheets in here...now way I could remember everything off the top of my head, although I do try.


This is my favorite photo I've taken of any ballpark. This would be my view from the booth if I sat in a relaxed pose. The window (which doesn't open by the way) does not go down nearly low enough to see home plate if you want to be in a comfortable position.


This is the view that I get if I sit up straight, and pull my chair in as far as possible. Yes, it's good to sit up straight so my mom would be happy. It's also good that I am skinny and don't have a big belly keeping me from getting close to the table. The negative here is that I'm only 5'9", so being a few inches taller would make this a better view.


From my booth, to the left.


From my booth, to the right. It would be a lot nicer if this giant window in front of me opened.

Hope you all enjoy the ballpark tour of Modern Woodmen Park in Quad Cities. I'll have pictures from Kane County over the weekend.

Photos from Quad Cities - Part Three

Standing inside the visitor's dugout on the first base side, looking out onto the field. Again, the grass is a bit choppy right now, but hopefully it'll be worked on soon. Right now, it's pretty much the biggest negative to an otherwise enjoyable ballpark.


From the first base concourse.


On this shot, I'm actually standing on a sidewalk down the right field line looking back towards the field. That is another sidewalk at the top of the hill, and then obviously the fence is just down the hill from the sidewalk you can see. At this point, I'm still 20 feet away from the river, so you can see just how far you'd have to hit one to splash it into the mighty Mississippi.


This picture and the next will give you a better idea of the distance from the river to the outfield wall. I'm on a sidwalk here in straightaway right field, note the Tiki Hut on the right side of the picture. Now, to the next picture...


There's the Tiki Hut again, so you have to clear the wall, the Tiki Hut, the sidewalk, the grass (in the above picture), the fence (in the above picture), and a little bit more land beyond the fence to get it into the river. Maybe you can do it on a bounce, but it would take an absolute bomb to get there on a fly.

Photos from Quad Cities - Part Two

Taken from behind the batter's eye, looking southeast with a view of Centennial Bridge crossing the Mississippi.


Again from behind the batter's eye, looking northeast at some ships/barges docked on the Illinois side of the Mississippi.


From just to the right of the batter's eye, shooting back towards home plate. The red area at the top is the press box. My booth is the smallest one in the middle, above the "errors" section of the line score (if you click the picture, it'll open larger and you can get a better view).



From the left field line, shooting back towards the press box to give you an idea of the number of rows of bleachers and seats.


This is an area down in the left field corner added last season where they will grow corn. Obviously it's dead in April, but by the end of the summer, the corn will rise and it'll make for a unique feature to the ballpark.

Photos from Quad Cities - Part 1

A view from the third base side out towards right field and the beautiful Centennial Bridge spanning the Mississippi.


From the concourse behind home plate, looking out onto the field. Not to point out a negative, but right now the field is really choppy around the plate and even out towards the pitchers mound and outfield. A lot of rain will do this, and a lot of work will be done to improve the field once the River Bandits leave town for a few days.


A restaurant/bar located behind home plate off the main concourse. You'd have a hard time seeing the field from here, but a lot of TVs and it looks like an enjoyable place to seek shelter from bad weather.


A view from the suite level down to the restaurant/bar talked about above.


This area is on the suite level, and clearly can be used for banquets, receptions, etc.

Greetings from Iowa

Just got into the room (not all of the rooms were ready when we got here), and a lot to do before the game in less than three hours. Here's tonight's lineup, but I probably won't have another post until after the game. First pitch at 5 eastern, pregame show at 4:40 on 1620 AM The Point and online at www.silverhawks.com.

Estevez 3b
Elmore 2b
Diaz cf
Parker dh
Marte lf
Gomez 1b
Davis c
Asencio rf
Navarro ss

Moorehouse sp

Rise and Shine

There is no part of my alarm going off at 6 AM that I enjoy. I know to some of you that is not early at all, but to those of us that work nights (particularly a doubleheader the night before), the alarm buzzing that early just rocks you out of your sleep.

Early morning bus to Quad Cities, with game one of the series tonight at 5 PM eastern time. Pregame show comes your way at 4:40.

I'll check back in with some updates on the blog once we get to Iowa.