Enough of the "upstart Rays."

Can we all please stop referring to the Tampa Bay Rays as the "upstart Rays"?

I think they have probably heard enough of that themselves. Although more likely they don't care.

I understand at the beginning of the post-season referring to them this way, but not anymore. Not after they dispatched the White Sox with relative ease, and have won three straight from the BoSox, not to mention scoring 31 runs in those last three games. The argument is probably that there are more people watching now, not die-hard baseball fans, blah blah blah. Fine. No more. People that are watching the series get it.

The Rays are now on the brink of becoming the American League Champions by eliminating the Defending World Champion Boston Red Sox. Even if they somehow collapse and lose the final three games of the ALCS it is my belief they have gotten past the "upsart" thing. The Indians aren't "upstart" are they? They lost the final three games of the ALCS last year to the Sox. The Yankees coughed up a 3-0 ALCS lead in 2004 to Boston. Point is it can happen to an established team just as easy as a team making their first post-season appearance. Anyway I don't see it happening anyway.

Enough.

Happy Birthday

It’s almost the end of the day as this goes up on the net, but it’s important that it goes up today. Today my dad would have been 58. He never made it to his 57. He passed the day before, one year ago yesterday.

It was my dad who made me a baseball fan, and obviously, a Cardinals fan. Because he was and my grandpa (still is). I went to a lot of games with my dad. More than I can remember. Obviously the time was special. It was our time. Just me and him. My parents were divorced at an early age and I didn’t live with dad. But on those baseball nights we got to be together. Even then I knew I knew it was special. I just didn’t know it would be over so soon.

I did live with my dad for a little over a year. After I graduated college and before I got married, I lived with him and my grandpa. I’m so thankful we had that time. All three of us. I was busy and in and out, but it was the most time I probably spent with either of them. Now I wish it had been more.

Sometimes I think it isn’t fair that I only got 29 years with him. Then I remember that my three sisters got less. My youngest sister didn’t get 18 years with him.

It’s mostly unfair for my youngest daughter and my niece and any other siblings or cousins to come. They’ll never know “PawPaw Lam.” My oldest daughter remembers, but only a little. He was good at being a grandpa and I think we all would have loved to see him get to do a little more of it.

Dad was the strongest man I ever knew. He was in a major car accident at the age of 16 which cost him both of his legs. He started his own company making artificial limbs and changed countless lives over 20-plus years in the business. The accident should have killed him-ultimately it did. He contracted Hepatitis C during one of the many blood transfusions that followed his accident. That was in 1966. It stayed dormant for 35 years. He received a liver transplant in 2004 and was strong for a couple of years. The Hepatitis came back and stronger.

For my 29 years he was the greatest man I knew. He remains so. He wasn’t perfect. No one is. But he did a lot of good for a lot of people. Nobody treated people like my dad.

Although not professionally, I’d like to think I followed in his footsteps. In the way he treated people and in the example he set as a person, and my father.

I need to thank my cousin Lisa for encouraging me to write something here. Lisa was also my dad's god daughter.

We love you and miss you every day! Happy Birthday dad!

So Long for just a while. . .

Just a quick wrap on the season that was. Losing in the playoffs hurts. Really it does. When you finish the season in the regular season it doesn't feel the same way. Not that it isn't somewhat sad when any season ends, but if the club doesn't make the playoffs then the end is clear-you expect it, plan for it even. When it is the playoffs there is always hope that there is one more game, or one more series. Then there just isn't.

All that being said the final week of the regular season this year was some of the most thrilling baseball I have been a part of-mainly because of the circumstances. All year long it seemed as if the team was snake-bitten. Things would start to look up, only to have something else go wrong. So then to get a week or so away from the end of the regular season, trailing the wild card by two games and needing to reel off a good string of consecutive victories just to get a chance to go on it all seemed unlikely. Things would have to go the Grizzlies way and they'd need some breaks and it all happened. Guys stepped up and they played loose and had fun and made that run. I really had fun calling that run.

I'm not going to try to look back and analyze what went wrong, or what could have gone better. Like I said it was a thrilling run and fun to be a part of. Phil Warren and Darin Kinsolving and Randy Martz should be commended for the job they did.

There's a ton of young guys on this team and that means, at least, good competition next Spring. You know Phil and staff will be well prepared come May for another season in the sun!

Bye to Chillicothe. . .
I guess most FL fans know that Chillicothe will be leaving the league next year, which is one of a few league changes. As you probably know Chillicothe has long been one of my favorite places to go during our season. I will miss it greatly and wish everyone involved nothing but good things!

Listen up. . .
I've posted a few of the more notable highlights from this past season on the Grizzlies website. Click on the "team" tab on the left of the website. One of the choices is audio archive. A couple of Mike Breyman's highlights are up there as well as the end of the no-hitter against Kalamazoo.

Batter up. . .
Maybe you've heard. Maybe you've noticed construction near the Kid's Zone here at the ballpark, but Grizzlies manager Phil Warren and hitting coach Darin Kinsolving are getting set to open a hitting academy. The building won't be anything fancy, but the training and equipment certainly will. The Grizzlies hitting academy will open later this fall with instruction for players of all ages.

Keeping reading here this off-season. I'll try and keep everyone updated on all things Grizzlies and any news with me too!

What a Night!

What a night it was last night at T.R. Hughes Ballpark. Believe it or not, the big win was secondary. Sincere congratulations to Mike Breyman for becomming the Frontier League's all-time hit leader. It was my honor to be behind the mic for nearly all of Mike's hits, and the of course the two last night that sent him over the top!

As it turned out River City was probably the second best spot for Mike to break the record. P.A. announcer Randy Moelman and their music guy Andy set it up nicely. Randy made a nice announcement and Andy played the soundtrack from the Natural in the background. Something worthy of Grizzlies' music man Jarrod Frey! Plus the fans gave Mike a sincere stading ovation. Classy all the way around!

It was a fantastic night and, again, I was honored to be part of it!

Grizzlies are still in the hunt, can't hurt that the 'Hawks are in town for three. Hope its as memorable a weekend as it was Thursday night!

Thanks to Paul Baillargeon for the photo!

It's only one game. . .

So I approach with cautious optimism, but last night looked more like the Grizzlies team that we all know and love. It was a complete 180 from the night before. 10 hits-for the first time in more than a week and good pitching. I think Ridener was a little gassed heading into the ninth, and that's why he couldn't finish it. Otherwise it was a solid performance by him. Congrats to him for setting a franchise mark for appearances. And this is only his second year here.

Gotta get tonight's game. Blacksher give you a good chance. Here's hoping they play like last night and not revert back to Tuesday.

What has happened?

A lot since I last wrote, just a week or so ago. It feels like this team has been out of the playoff race for months, when in reality they were IN the wild card spot going into Sunday's game at Windy City and just a game out before last night's loss to the Wild Things. It seems like they have cashed in the season and that's a shame. As long as I have been here it has never seemed like the team has given up-it seems like it now. It all seemed to fall apart the day Campbell left-last Wednesday in Evansville.

I realize the Campbell move was a big blow, but there are two points that should be made regarding that move.

First off Phil Warren did that as a favor to Michael. He wanted to help Campbell, and felt like a move to the Atlantic League would do that. He didn't want to be the manager that held him back. That is comendable on Phil's part. He also didn't know that he would essentially be penalized by the Frontier League because he wasn't able to replace Campbell on the roster. Rules are rules and Frontier League rules state you can't replace a player who left after the trade deadline unless they were purchased by a Major League organization. Tough break Grizzlies.

The second point is that Campbell wanted to leave. Plain and simple. Phil put the decision in Michael's hands, and he chose to leave. If he didn't want to be here how much help would he have been anyway?

Either way it is hard to replace his productivity. The guys need to step it up. Hope they can.

As always. . .stay tuned!

State of the Grizzlies with 20 games to play

I wrote last time that it was important to win a game in that series at Southern Illinois. I thought it was. As it turns out the Grizzlies lost a heartbreaking game. They were 30-30 after that series. Things have turned since then. They are 11-6 since that point. Their only series loss came at home against Kalamazoo. The first half of this season long 12-game road trip went well. They were 4-2 vs. the Michigan teams and that is important. Last night here in Evansville was a good start (albeit ugly) to the second half of the trip. They need to finish the trip strong, especially against the red-hot Thunderbolts. Windy City has won 11 of their last 12 and are nipping at the heels of Southern Illinois in the West.

Not sure if everyone is aware of how the playoffs work in the Frontier League. The two division winners get in as the one and two seeds with the two next best records (regardless of division) getting in as the three and four seeds. Right now the Grizzlies are in the fourth spot. It is different because when the playoffs have been like this in the past, at least since the Grizz have been in the league, it has come up three East teams and the West winner. Obviously that is not the case this year. The Grizzlies own tie-breakers against Florence and Traverse City if they were to finish second in the East. Washington could get into that spot too, so it makes for a big series when the Grizzlies come home for them the 19th. They also need to take care of Midwest and by take care of I mean sweep. Nothing else can be acceptable.

Good move for the Grizzlies-acquiring Willie Keene from Southern Illinois. It is tough to see Manny go, but I really believe he will benefit greatly from increased and more consistent playing time. That is the difference between his season this year and last. Keene is going to provide the Grizzlies a stable outfielder who can hit consistently. House wasn't getting it done. I was sorry that the move didn't work out, but Kevin knew it. He told me yesterday when he was leaving it was going to do him well to clear his head and step away from the game.

Bottom line this team seems to be in good position. And should they get in I expect better results from a more prepared playoff team. Not that it should be hard to improve upon an 0-3 post-season from a year ago but to a man EVERY player I have asked believes that this team will be in better position for playing close, meaningful games down the stretch-something that didn't happen last year.

It should be a great last 20 games and don't think this team is going to settle for being just the four seed. They are gunning for the West title and they're right there to get it. We'll see how the series goes at Windy City and remember the final three games of the season will be against Southern Illinois at GCS! Should be fun! Stay Tuned. . .