Wednesday, July 23, 2008

RAIN CAUSES MAJOR HEADACHES IN TWO SOUTHERN LEAGUES WHILE CHRISTIAN AND ZIEGLER ARE IN STARRING ROLES

Independent Baseball has had more superb feats by its graduates already this week to give this typist plenty of ammunition for Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider, but all of our thoughts at the moment need to be sent in the direction of the flood-drenched Texas coast.

It probably would not register with every baseball fan because of the geography, but both the United and Continental Leagues have had their schedules disrupted by the hurricane. We can only hope they escape long-term damage.

Both Laredo and Harlingen in the Lone Star State had enough advance warning that they actually played games ahead of when they were scheduled. Harlingen moved a Wednesday game up to be part of a Monday doubleheader and Laredo moved its Wednesday contest to be half of a Tuesday twin bill.

The Continental called off a series between Texarkana and Corpus Christi.

Some games on the East Coast also will no doubt be lost because of heavy rain expected over a wide swath of real estate tonight (Wednesday).

As for the most recent feats by onetime Indy players in the majors, add Yankees outfielder Justin Christian to the headliners. His two-run double broke up a scoreless battle between New York and Minnesota this afternoon, jump-starting the suddenly hot New Yorkers as they reeled off still another Yankee Stadium victory. Christian, one of four players who started their pro career in Independent Baseball (River City, Frontier League) and broke into the majors this season, went 2-for-3 and stole a base in a rare start.

Tuesday night, the unbelieveable scoreless streak of onetime Schaumburg, IL (Northern League) hurler Brad Ziegler continued with the Oakland Athletics. With two scoreless innings in a win at Tampa Bay, the submariner now owns the American League record for most zeroes to start a career (23.2) and is only four outs shy of tying the major league record. George McQuillan had his 25 innings for Philadelphia a short 101 years ago.

Little old Indy strikes again.


Subscribe now to 2008 Independent Baseball Insider columns


REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Friday, July 18, 2008

MIKE CERVENAK'S DAY TO REMEMBER, GARY CARTER'S HAT AND AN IDEA FOR DONALD TRUMP

Some leftovers from a busy week along the Independent Baseball trail, heightened by a heavy schedule of affiliated and Indy All-Star Games.

Mike Cervenak must have felt like he was having one of those wild dreams where nothing was going right and everything was getting extremely complicated as he got called up to the major leagues for the first time in his 10-year professional career.

(We discussed the call-up and Cervenak's great credentials in this week's subscriber-only Independent Baseball Insider, including his current No. 2 ranking in the International League batting race--.310 with 7 homers and 52 runs batted in--but did not have the space to tell the rest of the story about his initial major league experience.)

It was not a dream however, as the most recent player who started in an Independent and now has a major league resume explained on the telephone Thursday as he was preparing to leave with his Philadelphia Phillies teammates for an important weekend trip to Florida to square off against the Marlins.

As the 31-year-old former Chillicothe (OH) Paints (Frontier League) star explained, his Lehigh Valley team had just finished a homestand with a night game (July 9) and had bussed to Syracuse, NY, where a road trip would start. It is roughly 200-225 miles from Allentown, PA to Syracuse so it is a reasonable assumption the IronPigs (sorry, that is their nickname) arrived no earlier than 2 a.m.

Cervenak and roommate John Ennis turned off their cell phones and went to bed. (I will paraphrase Mike's words from this point.) Wouldn't you know it, the hotel alarm clock kept going off, shortening the night of sleep even more. And, little did Mike know he was being called on the hotel telephone. It turned out it was broken.

The next sound was a pounding on the door about 7:30 a.m. It was Manager Dave Huppert. "Is Mike in there", he called. "They need you in Philadelphia."

Those are the magic words for every minor leaguer, of course, and even moreso if you played four seasons in Double-A after leaving the Independent world and were in your fifth year in Triple-A.

I'd have to believe that once Cervenak knew it wasn't a dream he could have gotten to the door in about one long step.

It was to be a day game in Philadelphia, too, at 1:05 job against St. Louis. Mike started scrambling, gathering whatever clothes he had and getting his baseball gear from the trainer.

An 11:30 flight was the best that could be arranged, and it was due in Philly at 12:30. Would it be on time? No way. It arrived nearly an hour late, with the game underway. By the time Mike got to Citizens Bank Park, signed his MAJOR LEAGUE CONTRACT, suited up in his sparkling Phillies uniform and reached the dugout the fifth inning was starting.

Cervenak did not get into the game as the Phillies won, 4-1, but he was there to celebrate with his new teammates, who included two others who labored in Independent Baseball, catcher Chris Coste and pitcher R. J. Swindle, the latter now back with the IronPigs.

Cervenak's long-awaited major league debut came the next night against Arizona. He pinch hit against Connor Robertson, shook off some of the nervousness he admitted feeling in the on-deck circle and flied out to the warning track with Ryan Howard on first base and one out in the 11th inning. The Phillies won it in the 12th.

What a day!

Mike Cervenak is a realist. He knows this major league experience could end any day, especially with the Phillies acquiring Joe Blanton from Oakland Friday. But he will not ever forget those early-morning experiences in Syracuse.

WHAT ABOUT THESE ALL-STAR LEFTOVERS?

I wonder how many people were curious about the cap Hall of Famer Gary Carter was wearing for the celebrity softball game he was catching in during this week's major league All-Star festivities at Yankee Stadium? Golden League brass recognized it immediately. It was the cap of the Orange County Flyers of Fullerton, CA. Carter is the manager of the first-half champions. The hat also includes the Golden League logo.

The home run-hitting contest before the Atlantic League All-Star Game in Somerset, NJ had to be a one-of-a-kind attraction for fans. Several of the blasts by the winning player, the hometown Patriots' Josh Pressley, crashed off the scoreboard in right-center. Bridgeport, CT first baseman Jesse Hoorelbeke may have gone one better when he hit a drive off a moving train.

Maybe Donald Trump, a guest in Somerset, will start a reality TV show to highlight such feats.


Subscribe now to 2008 Independent Baseball Insider columns


REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

INDY STARS DREW (MVP) AND SHERRILL PLAY MAJOR ROLES IN A.L. VICTORY; SANCHEZ CLOUTS TWO TO BOOST UNITED LEAGUE OVER GOLDEN

If you were among those who did not make it through all 15 innings of the thrilling major league All-Star Game then you probably have no idea how major the roles were of the two players who started their professional careers in Independent Baseball.

They could not have been more important in the American League's 4-3 triumph in the longest game by time in the history of this classic that started in 1933. And that is not just this typist beating the drum, either, as we have been doing in this space and more extensively in our weekly subscriber-only Independent Baseball Insider column.

J. D. Drew, who played with the St. Paul (MN) Saints in 1997 and 1998, was named Most Valuable Player, and rightly so because it was his two-run seventh inning home run off Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez which pulled the A. L. even at 2-2. Drew, the Boston Red Sox rightfielder, also drew a key walk in the bottom of the 15th to move Justin Morneau to third base and load the bases. Michael Young's sacrifice fly scored Morneau with the winning run, ending the dramatic evening at Yankee Stadium. Drew's night also included a single so he was on base three times and officially went 2-for-4.

Baltimore closer George Sherrill hurled two and one-third scoreless innings, and was full of dramatics. The former Frontier League and Northern League southpaw, who needed four and a half years in the Indy leagues before Seattle gave him a chance in 2003, came into the game with the National League having a runner at each base and two outs in the top of the 12th. He promptly fanned San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez to get out of that jam.

The 31-year-old Sherrill, who has 28 saves this season, allowed only one of the next seven N.L. hitters to reach base. The Mets' David Wright got a soft single to center to lead off the 13th, then Sherrill fielded Cristian Guzman's bunt and got a force on Wright at second. He struck out Corey Hart and got Ryan Ludwick to pop to second. In the 14th, the former Evansville, IN and Winnipeg hurler got Nate McLouth and Russell Martin on flies to Drew and Miguel Tejada on a grounder to short to end his night's work. Sherrill used a tidy 25 pitches, 18 of which were strikes.

The only previous player who started in an Independent league and eventually played in the All-Star Game was another Winnipeg reliever, Jeff Zimmerman. He was in the 1999 contest at Fenway Park while a member of the Texas Rangers.

UNITED LEAGUE TOPS GOLDEN BEFORE FULL HOUSE IN TEXAS

The only All-Star Game between two Independent leagues also took part Tuesday night with the United League besting the Golden League 8-5 before a sellout crowd of 4,421 at Foster Field in San Angelo, TX.

Twenty-three-year-old catcher Luany Sanchez of the Laredo (TX) Broncos blasted two home runs and drove in four to earn MVP honors. His three-run clout in the second gave the United League a lead it never surrendered.

We will be writing about more All-Star Games, including those in the affiliated minor leagues, in this week's Independent Baseball Insider which comes out on Thursday.


Subscribe now to 2008 Independent Baseball Insider columns


REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Monday, July 14, 2008

MIKE CERVENAK FOURTH INDEPENDENT 'ORIGINAL' AND 10TH OVERALL TO DEBUT IN MAJORS IN '08

I am not certain I can keep up.

I wrote in last week's Independent Baseball Insider column about seven former Indy players getting fresh opportunities in major league baseball.

Had my deadline been a few hours later it would have been even more impressive in that two more players pulled on big-league uniforms. Catcher-first baseman Robinson Cancel returned to the New York Mets. The other one was a personal favorite--if writers are allowed such admissions--because Mike Cervenak is another 30-plus player (32 next month) who started in Independent Baseball (Chillicothe, OH of the Frontier League in 1999-2000) and was getting his first regular-season promotion to the bigs.

Cervenak's story is nearly as good as that of Chris Coste, who debuted at 33 two seasons ago, and now, ironically, is a Philadelphia teammate.

Part of one paragraph from my January 17 IBI column when Cervenak was featured can catch the uninitiated up on the third baseman-first baseman: "It is vital you know about some of Cervenak's accomplishments so you do not get the impression this is some chump ballplayer we are discussing. The all-time hits leader at the University of Michigan (293), a former member of Team USA, the runnerup in MVP voting behind Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard (another new teammate) and ahead of third place Curtis Granderson (Detroit) in the Eastern League in 2004 and last summer's International League leader in hits (157, with Baltimore's Norfolk, VA farm club)."

Cervenak is now one of a very impressive list of 10 players with Indy playing resumes who have made their major league debut this season. Four of the 10 got their start in an Independent league, including outfielder Justin Christian (River City, Frontier League) and pitcher Scott Patterson (Gateway, Frontier League), both with the New York Yankees, Max Scherzer (Fort Worth, American Association) with Arizona and Cervenak. Patterson and Scherzer are back in the minors, although we suspect not for long.

And, with another 70 or so games to go for each major league team we can visualize the list of 10 making their debut and 29 overall with some time in The Show this season continuing to grow. It seems noteworthy only 24 Indy players were in the majors at any time in 2007.


Subscribe now to 2008 Independent Baseball Insider columns


REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Monday, July 07, 2008

AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STARS BOAST NOT ONE, BUT TWO WHO GOT THEIR START IN INDEPENDENT BASEBALL

If you have been keeping up with our Independent Baseball Insider columns you know that one of this reporter's favorite subjects the last couple of weeks has been speculating about what it would mean for Independent Baseball if Baltimore closer George Sherrill was selected for the American League All-Star team.

I should have been speculating on two players who got their professional start in non-major league-affiliated leagues.

That's exactly what has come to pass.

Both Sherrill and Boston outfielder J. D. Drew made it, doubling the number of times it had happened in the previous 15 seasons of the Indy game. What a milestone it is, and all 62 of today's teams should be trumpeting the story.

It is easy to overlook Drew as an Independent player since his appearance with the St. Paul (MN) Saints in 1997 and 1998 came about because he could not reach contract terms with the major league teams drafting him. But the truth is he played in 74 games for the Saints when they were a fixture in the Northern League. (They still are a fixture for Indy baseball even though they helped form the American Association three years ago.)

Drew, the No. 2 draft choice in the country in 1997 after being a collegiate standout for Florida State, could not reach agreement with Philadelphia so off he went to St. Paul, where he became Northern League Rookie of the Year for hitting .341 and pounding 18 homers and driving in 50 runs in a mere 44 games. Drew, now 32, went back into the draft pool in '98, but he hit another nine round-trippers and drove in 33 runs in 30 additional games for the Saints before St. Louis could select him fifth overall and reach contract terms. He hit over .300 at two different minor league stops for the Cardinals that season, and finished by hitting .417 in 14 games in the National League with five homers and 13 RBI.

The All-Star selection for next Tuesday's heralded show at Yankee Stadium came about because of his prolific June when he carried a big chunk of the World Champion Red Sox's offensive load from the No. 3 hole, where it was expected David Ortiz would be greatly missed.

Sherrill's 27 saves in his first season as a major league closer have been a major reason for Baltimore's improved 2008 campaign. His selection climaxes (to this point) his brilliant rise from a starter with Evansville, IN of the Frontier League in 1999-2000 after a college career at Austin Peay to his transition as a left-handed specialist for Sioux Falls, SD in 2001 and the Winnipeg Goldeyes for the next season and a half before his contract was purchased out of the Northern League by Seattle.

The only previous time that someone who started in an Independent league was selected for a major league All-Star Game was when Texas reliever Jeff Zimmerman was tabbed in 1999. He had pitched for the Goldeyes in 1997. Brendan Donnelly had pitched for Ohio Valley of the Frontier League (1994) and Nashua, NH when it was in the Atlantic League (1999) prior to becoming the winning pitcher for the A.L. in the 2003 game, but he played in the farm system of both Chicago major league teams before going to Independent Baseball. Donnelly currently is on a rehab assignment with Cleveland's Gulf Coast League team.

One can only hope that many a fan will be thinking back to the Independent game when they see Drew and Sherrill being introduced at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night. You can bet every current Indy player will be thinking about where they started and where they are today.


Subscribe now to 2008 Independent Baseball Insider columns


REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

Thursday, July 03, 2008

A SALUTE TO KRENCHICKI AND VERDI, EVEN AS 'DIRTY AL' TAKES A HIT

Three longtime baseball managers, all with Independent ties, have been in the news lately. Two of them have happy stories; one does not.

The first managerial casualty in the Independent ranks in 2008 that I have seen came this week in the United League. That was longtime Indy skipper Al Gallagher with Harlingen, TX. "Dirty Al", his affectionate nickname from his major league playing days, was replaced by his pitching coach, Caleb Balbunea, who also had been the White Wings' closer.

On the more pleasant news front, we tip our cap today to Newark (NJ) Bears Manager Wayne Krenchicki and to Frank Verdi, one of the pioneers of the Northern League.

Krenchicki picked up his 1000th managerial win last month. Most of those victories have come in Independent leagues, starting with the Texas-Louisiana League and the Northern League, followed by the Atlantic League, where the onetime major league infielder has been a fixture since the circuit started in 1998.

Krenchicki led the Bears to the Atlantic League title last season, but to this typist the most notable feat has been in leading Camden, NJ to the league's best record for four consecutive seasons (2002-05).

Verdi is one of the Class of 2008 going into the International League Hall of Fame. Known as "Old School", Verdi won 938 games with a total of five IL teams, closing out that run in 1985. He was the manager of the Sioux Falls (SD) Canaries in the Northern League's initial season of 1993 as well as parts of the next two years. His induction will take place at Norfolk, VA July 30, where he led the Tidewater Tides from 1977-80.


Subscribe now to 2008 Independent Baseball Insider columns


REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER