Chiefs continue celebration with win over LumberKings

Posted on May 26, 2012 by

Peoria Chiefs 2B Zeke DeVoss wearing a 2002 throwback jersey

The Peoria Chiefs are 2-0 in their 2002 throwback jerseys after beating the Clinton LumberKings 3-1 Friday night.

Thursday was the 10th anniversary of the first Chiefs game at O’Brien Field/Peoria Chiefs Stadium, prompting a three-day celebration of the occasion. The Chiefs beat the Cougars 3-0 in that first game, which featured future major-leaguer Dontrelle Willis on the mound for Kane County.

(Willis started 19 games for the Cougars in 2002, going 10-2 with a 1.83 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 127.2 IP.)

This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the only Peoria team to win the Midwest League championship, so that team will be celebrated Saturday. (The Chiefs beat the Lansing Lugnuts 3 games to 1 in the 2002 MWL championship series.)

Several future major-leaguers were part of that Chiefs team, including Yadier Molina (.280, 7 HR, 50 RBI in 112 games), Dan Haren (7-3, 1.95 ERA, 89 Ks in 101.2 IP), Chris Duncan (.271, 16 HR, 75 RBI in 129 games) and Chris Narveson (2-1, 4.46 ERA, 36 Ks in 42.1 IP).

In Friday’s game, the Chiefs got RBI hits from DH Paul Hoilman, 1B Ryan Cuneo and CF Taiwan Easterling, who also stole a base.

Peoria Chiefs CF Taiwan Easterling connects with a pitch from Clinton LumberKings SP Jeremy Dobbs.

Clinton’s lone run was driven in by catcher Michael Dowd.

Clinton LumberKings catcher Michael Dowd bats in the top of the 1st inning Friday.

If ESPN awarded Web Gems to minor-leaguers, LumberKings LF Guillermo Pimentel would’ve earned one with his leaping catch against the wall in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Conversely, Clinton SS Patrick Brady overthrew 1B Jharmidy De Jesus in the bottom of the 4th inning, earning the game’s only error.

Bonus photo!

Before the game, I watched some LumberKings play pepper in the leftfield corner:

A sextet of LumberKings play pepper before Friday’s game.

For those of you unfamiliar with this time-tested baseball drill, I refer you to this old story that ran in the St. Petersburg Times.

Posted in Midwest League, Clinton LumberKings, Kane County Cougars, Lansing Lugnuts, Peoria Chiefs | Leave a comment

More improvements unveiled at South Bend’s stadium

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

More finished improvements to Coveleski Stadium, home of the South Bend Silver Hawks, will be unveiled Friday when children can use the new playground area and splash pad in the rightfield corner of the ballpark for the first time. The splash pad area includes a changing room so parents can put dry clothes on their kids before they leave the park.

I don’t have any photos of that area because it was still under construction when I visited The Cove earlier this month, but here is a photo of a few of the inflatable pieces in the new Fun Zone playground near the outfield entrance to the ballpark:

The new team store also is scheduled to open Friday. Previously merchandise was sold from what amounted to several small booths located throughout the ballpark. Now the hub for sales of Silver Hawks-themed stuff will be inside a renovated synagogue famously known for getting hit with a Carlton Fisk home run when the Hall of Fame player rehabbed in South Bend in 1992.

The new team store is located inside this old synagogue, which was still being renovated when I shot this photo earlier this month.

This photo shows where the Fun Zone playground and the team store are located:

When I was given a tour of the renovations earlier this month, I was told that a pair of fire pits were to be installed near the entrance to the team store to make it a place where people can warm up during cold weather. I believe they basically will be smaller versions of the outfield fire pits at Dow Diamond, home of the Great Lakes Loons. (You can see a photo of one of the Dow Diamond fire pits in this post.)

That isn’t the only place to keep warm at The Cove. There are nice-looking space heaters (imported from Italy, I’m told) in the new outdoor suites along the concourse and in the new patio area in right field. It was nice to feel their warmth when I was in South Bend early this month, when the weather was still cold.

The new outfield patio area is located beneath The Cove’s state-of-the-art scoreboard.

A more subtle change to The Cove is the new brick facade, which was installed during the offseason. It replaced a plain-looking facade.

Surely by no coincidence, the new facade matches the Union Station building across the street from the ballpark.

South Bend’s old Union Station building is located across the street from Coveleski Stadium.

Just to the left of the “Where Everyone Comes to Play” sign is where the new splash pad area is located.

Another addition appears outside the ballpark on game days: a large inflatable Swoop (the Silver Hawks’ mascot) holding a “Game Today” sign.

This large inflatable “Swoop” is positioned near an intersection outside the ballpark on game days.

To me, the large inflatable Swoop adds an old-school element to the place, giving it a true “minor league” feel. I mean that in a good way.

My only complaint about the new-look Cove is found in that same area: the used cars and trucks parked along the walkway leading to the outfield entrance. This also gives the place a “minor league” feel, but this time I mean it in a bad way.

Overall, I like what I saw at Coveleski Stadium, but more importantly, it seems the people of South Bend do, too. All reports indicate there is more of a buzz around the ballpark now than there has been in years — hopefully, for the sake of the Midwest League’s continued presence in South Bend, that will continue to be the case.

Posted in Baseball Hall of Fame, Great Lakes Loons, Midwest League, South Bend Silver Hawks | 1 Comment

Pillar ties Midwest League record with 6-for-6 game

Posted on May 13, 2012 by

Lansing Lugnuts OF Kevin Pillar bats against the Peoria Chiefs last month.

Lansing Lugnuts LF Kevin Pillar tied the Midwest League record for most hits in a game when he went 6-for-6 during his team’s 16-4 rout of the struggling Dayton Dragons on Saturday.

Pillar almost didn’t get a chance to tie the record, but he came up to bat with two outs in the 9th inning. (He was due up sixth that inning.) The Toronto Blue Jays prospect made the most of his opportunity, not only getting his 6th hit of the game, but collecting it by slugging a grand slam!

Pillar hit four singles, a double and a grand slam, and drove in 6 runs. His 6-for-6 performance raised his batting average 33 points to .331. He now has the second-best batting average in the Midwest League, behind Kane County Cougars OF Lane Adams (.338).

Hoilman’s hit streak ends

Peoria Chiefs 1B Paul Hoilman went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts against the Burlington Bees on Saturday, ending his 24-game hitting streak. During the streak, Hoilman raised his batting average 170 points, from .136 to .306. His average dropped to .296 after he went hitless in Saturday’s game.

Visiting other leagues

For those of you wondering why I haven’t been as active here and on Twitter the past few days, it’s because I’m on vacation. I’m on a road trip to North Carolina, and as you probably suspect, I’m taking in a few baseball games. So far I’ve seen four games at four ballparks in four different leagues (International, South Atlantic, Southern and Carolina). I’ve seen many former Midwest League players in action during those games, including former West Michigan Whitecaps OF Gorkys Hernandez, who now plays for the Indianapolis Indians. Hernandez was the Midwest League’s MVP in 2007, when he hit .293 with 4 HR, 50 RBI and 54 SB in 124 games. He went 2-for-4 when I saw him play against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Thursday.

Indianapolis Indians OF Gorkys Hernandez stands on second base during Thursday’s game.

On Saturday I was at Five County Stadium, home of the Carolina Mudcats, who beat the Potomac Nationals 9-1. The star of the game was Mudcats 1B Jeremie Tice, who went 2-for-4 with a walk, a 3-run homer and 5 RBI. The former Lake County Captains third baseman leads current Carolina League players with 25 RBI.

Tice played 131 games for the Captains in 2009 and 2010. He hit .275 with 12 HR and 81 RBI during that time.

Posted in Burlington Bees, Carolina League, Carolina Mudcats, Dayton Dragons, Indianapolis Indians, International League, Kane County Cougars, Lake County Captains, Lansing Lugnuts, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Midwest League, Peoria Chiefs, Potomac Nationals, South Atlantic League, Southern League, West Michigan Whitecaps | Leave a comment

Hoilman extends hit streak; Portillo hurls gem for TinCaps

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

Chiefs 1B/DH Paul Hoilman bats during a game at Peoria’s O’Brien Field last month.

Chicago Cubs prospect Paul Hoilman extended his hitting streak to 21 games last night, singling to lead off the top of the 8th inning. His team, the Peoria Chiefs, beat the Quad Cities River Bandits 7-2.

Hoilman now has the longest hitting streak in professional baseball this year, besting San Francisco Giants OF Angel Pagan’s 20-game hitting streak that ended with an 0-for-5 performance Monday.

If Hoilman gets a hit against the Beloit Snappers in Peoria tonight, he will set a new Chiefs record. His 21-game hitting streak matches that of former Chiefs Kerry Robinson (1996) and Jack Wilson (1999) — both of whom went on to play in the major leagues.

Robinson hit .359 with 2 HR, 47 RBI and 50 SB in 123 games with the 1996 Chiefs. Wilson hit .343 with 3 HR, 28 RBI and 11 SB in 64 games with the 1999 Chiefs.

Portillo’s gem

It wasn’t a perfect gem, but Fort Wayne TinCaps RHP Adys Portillo pitched like he was in his prime at Parkview Field today.

Portillo gave up only one hit and two walks while striking out six in seven innings against the visiting South Bend Silver Hawks. Portillo took a no-hitter into the 7th inning, when it was broken up by Silver Hawks 3B Matt Helm with one out. The TinCaps won 5-2.

Silver Hawks 3B Matt Helm bats during a game at South Bend’s Coveleski Stadium last weekend.

Portillo’s performance must be a welcome one for the San Diego Padres, who saw their pitching prospect go 3-11 with a 7.11 ERA in 23 games with the TinCaps last year. The 20-year-old has looked better so far this year. Going into today’s game, Portillo was 1-1 with a 1.72 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 31.1 IP this season.

Regardless, the dominant start was timely for the TinCaps, whose bats were probably a little tired after the team played 23 innings during a doubleheader against the Dragons in Dayton yesterday (16 innings in Game 1, 7 innings in Game 2). After today’s game ended, the TinCaps had played 32 innings of baseball in a 19-hour span.

Something tells me it’s nap time in Fort Wayne this afternoon …

Posted in Beloit Snappers, Dayton Dragons, Fort Wayne TinCaps, Midwest League, Peoria Chiefs, Quad Cities River Bandits, South Bend Silver Hawks | Leave a comment

Loons beat Silver Hawks in Battle of the Birds

Posted on May 5, 2012 by

Great Lakes Loons RF Devin Shines, son of former major-leaguer Razor Shines, runs toward first base after hitting the ball in play.

The Great Lakes Loons beat the South Bend Silver Hawks 6-1 Saturday night at Coveleski Stadium. All six Loons runs were charged to Silver Hawks SP John Pedrotty, who also gave up seven hits and three walks and hit two batters during his five-plus innings of work. His record is now 1-2 with a 6.67 ERA.

South Bend Silver Hawks LHP John Pedrotty

Loons SP Gustavo Gomez fared much better, giving up only one run on five hits and no walks while striking out three in 6.1 IP. The lone run against him came in the bottom of the 7th inning when Silver Hawks 3B Matt Helm knocked in DH Gerson Montilla, who had hit a leadoff triple.

Great Lakes Loons SP Gustavo Gomez (4-1, 3.77 ERA) warms up before Saturday’s game. He is throwing a red tennis ball.

This was my first trip to The Cove since the Silver Hawks were bought by Chicago businessman Andrew Berlin and more major improvements were made to the stadium. Many of the improvements are still in progress, while others are finished, such as the addition of outdoor suites and a “fun zone” playground for children. I will write more about the changes at The Cove in my next post.

The new “fun zone” playground for children at The Cove

I’ll be back at The Cove tomorrow for the second game of the four-game series that will determine who is in second place behind the Lansing Lugnuts in the Eastern Division. Silver Hawks RHP Jesse Darrah (2-1, 4.15 ERA) will face Loons RHP Arismendy Ozoria (3-0, 3.47 ERA).

One other note from the Midwest League tonight: The Quad Cities River Bandits beat the Peoria Chiefs 20-5. Two River Bandits hitters, 3B Tyler Rahmatulla and 1B Roberto De La Cruz, each went 4-f0r-6 with 4 RBI. No River Bandit went hitless, and only one didn’t drive in a run. You can see the box score here.

Ryan Cuneo, a first baseman who was Peoria’s designated hitter in the game, pitched a scoreless 8th inning for the Chiefs.

Posted in Great Lakes Loons, Lansing Lugnuts, Midwest League, Peoria Chiefs, Quad Cities River Bandits, South Bend Silver Hawks | Leave a comment

Two Timber Rattlers combine to throw no-hitter

Posted on May 5, 2012 by

A Rattlers no-no and other Midwest League news:

Two Timber Rattlers pitchers, RHP Chad Thompson and RHP Mark Williams, combined to no-hit the LumberKings in Clinton on Friday night. It was the Midwest League debut of Thompson, who struck out six and walked three in the first five innings. Williams struck out three and walked one in the final four innings to earn his first professional save.

Afterward, Williams delivered this great quote for the official game story:

“When I came in, it was just another game,” Williams said. “I didn’t even realize it was a no-hitter until I looked up at the scoreboard in the seventh inning. … I was a little bit nervous at that point. I knew [Thompson] was throwing really well. But when you’re in the bullpen, you’re screwing around, you’re talking a little, so you don’t know just how well the starter’s going.”

Truer words were never spoken about the mindset of bullpen pitchers who aren’t in the game, especially during the early innings. It’s not a criticism — just the truth.

Interestingly, Clinton went 14 years without being no-hit (from 1996 to 2010), but has been no-hit in each of the last three seasons, including at a game I attended last year. (Hat tip to Peoria Journal Star sportswriter Kevin Capie, who tweeted that fact shortly after Friday night’s no-hitter.)

Whitecaps RHP Thomas Collier also threw a gem Friday night, giving up just one hit in seven innings of West Michigan’s 3-2, 12-inning loss to the Fort Wayne TinCaps. The Detroit Tigers prospect struck out five and walked two.

During that game, the Whitecaps received a free run thanks to a blown call. According to media accounts of the game, 3B Jason King hit a ball to deep left field that bounced on the warning track and over the fence for a ground-rule double. The umpires awarded King a home run, upholding the original ruling after a brief conference. TinCaps manager Jose Valentin got ejected as he continued to argue the call.

(Unrelated Whitecaps side note: Nick Castellanos, who hit .312 with 7 HR and 76 RBI for West Michigan last year, is currently leading the minor leagues with a .426 batting average for the High-A Lakeland Flying Tigers.)

Also on Friday, Beloit Snappers 3B Miguel Sano homered in both games of a doubleheader against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. His second homer cleared both benches as the Kernels took exception to Sano admiring it a little too much. No punches were thrown. You can read the Cedar Rapids Gazette‘s account of the incident here.

Sano is tied with Burlington Bees OF Dusty Robinson for the league lead in home runs (8) and leads the MWL in RBI (28), walks (19), on-base percentage (.439), slugging percentage (.660) and other offensive categories.

Beloit Snappers 3B Miguel Sano

I’ll be in South Bend this weekend to watch the Silver Hawks take on the Great Lakes Loons. Unfortunately, I won’t get to see Arizona Diamondbacks No. 2 prospect Archie Bradley pitch for the Silver Hawks, but I will take note of how the improvements to Coveleski Stadium are coming along. I’ll post photos of the changes along with my usual coverage of the games I attend.

In six starts, Bradley is 4-1 with a 2.03 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP and 34 strikeouts in 31 IP.

Posted in Beloit Snappers, Burlington Bees, Cedar Rapids Kernels, Clinton LumberKings, Florida State League, Fort Wayne TinCaps, Great Lakes Loons, Lakeland Flying Tigers, Midwest League, South Bend Silver Hawks, West Michigan Whitecaps, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers | Leave a comment

Angels and Padres swap former Midwest Leaguers

Posted on May 3, 2012 by

The San Diego Padres traded RHP Ernesto Frieri to the Los Angeles Angels today in exchange for a pair of minor-leaguers, infielder Alexi Amarista and RHP Donn Roach. All three players are former Midwest Leaguers.

Frieri pitched for the Fort Wayne Wizards in 2006 and 2007. In 41 games, he went 1-2 with a 2.74 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 65.2 IP. He made his major-league debut with the Padres in September 2009.

Amarista played for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2008 and 2009. In 126 games, he hit .317 with 4 HR, 49 RBI and 38 SB. He made his major-league debut with the Angels in April 2011 and has been playing with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees this season.

Roach pitched for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2011. In 45 games, he went 5-5 with a 3.45 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 70.1 IP. He pitched exclusively in relief last year, but he’s been used as a starter in the California League this year. In six starts for the Inland Empire 66ers, Roach went 5-0 with a 2.16 ERA, 29 strikeouts and 3 walks in 41.2 IP. He is expected to stay in the California League with the Lake Elsinore Storm.

RHP Donn Roach

Posted in Midwest League, Cedar Rapids Kernels, Fort Wayne TinCaps, California League, Inland Empire 66ers, Lake Elsinore Storm | Leave a comment