THE INDY IMPACT VERY VISIBLE IN A SINGLE MAJOR LEAGUE GAME

Anyone in need of a reminder of the impressive role Independent Baseball plays at the major league level should think about Houston's 4-2 win over Arizona Saturday. Okay, it probably did not have major postseason implications, but it certainly entertained the 39,412 fans who were at Minute Maid Park.

Max Scherzer, who started his professional career with the Fort Worth (TX) Cats in the American Association, opened on the mound for the Diamondbacks, and while he took the loss (7-8) the four runs he gave up in five innings were not exactly a pasting. Scherzer fanned seven.

Once he was lifted, with all of the scoring complete, Clay Zavada (Southern Illinois, Frontier League) hurled two perfect innings, striking out one and lowering his rookie season ERA to a tidy 2.87.

For the winning Astros, Chris Coste (Fargo, ND, Northern League in addition to the departed North Central and Prairie Leagues) went 0-for-3, but did the calling of pitches for the five Houston hurlers. One of those was Tim Byrdak (Gary, IN and Joliet, IL, Northern), who worked 1.2 innings in relief of winner Brian Moehler, allowing a harmless double and striking out two as his ERA dropped to 3.13.

That's four former Independent players, all playing key roles in a single game.

Even though Seattle sent Chris Jakubauskas (reportedly tired arm) to Triple-A Tacoma over the weekend, ending what had been a full season of rookie mound duty for the M's, 22 players with Indy ties remain in the majors. That number probably will go up once rosters expand September 1.

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THE TELL-TALE SIGNS OF AUGUST

A couple of things make it easy to tell when late August rolls around in Independent Baseball, and I am not talking pennant or playoff races even though they make it the best time of year.

First, teams start signing players from the Mexican League, where play is winding down and big arms or bats can solidify a postseason run. While I have never personally liked seeing a team "load up" this way, it is very natural. If the player is available and a team has salary cap room, well, it is going to happen.

Second, this is the time when we see records starting to tumble. Many times it is a season record, but the Frontier League had a career mark tumble this week when Chris Sidick of Washington, PA broke the mark for games played. Sidick moved past the previous mark of 411 games, which had been owned by Fran Riordan, who now is both Director of Baseball Operations and Manager of the Kalamazoo (MI) Kings. I cannot help but wonder how many of today's players realize what a playing career Fran had.

THE FUN OF FENWAY

It had to be quite a thrill for a pair of former Indy leaguers to get to play a regular league game recently at Boston's Fenway Park. The Red Sox scheduled a doubleheader in which their Double-A and Triple-A teams visited the Green Monster and all of the quirks the venerable ballpark offers. It was not an empty stadium, either, with 16,126 fans counted.

Daniel Nava, who started his Independent Baseball career in Chico, CA (Golden League), went one-for-three, scored a run and played rightfield as his Portland, ME mates edged Baltimore's Class AA Bowie, MD, 3-2. On the losing side and hitting cleanup was first baseman Eric Crozier, who was in the Atlantic League (Southern Maryland) earlier this season. Crozier, who also has played for Lancaster, PA, had a single in two at-bats. Crozier did play 14 major league games with Toronto in 2004, but did not face Boston.

In the Triple-A game, the Pawtucket, RI (Boston) starter was knuckleballer Charlie Zink, who started one game for the parent Bosox last season (his only major league appearance). He was charged with a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets' Norfolk, VA farmhands.

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SO YOU THINK IT IS EASY TO STAGE A FIRST PITCH CEREMONY

I would imagine most everyone thinks it is pretty routine to stage a pre-game ceremony, especially something as "simple" as a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game.

Get the "pitcher" to the right location, make certain someone is there to catch the toss, have a fresh baseball and cue the public address announcer. How difficult can this be, right?

I can share two incidents where the best of planning did not work out.

Golden League Commissioner Kevin Outcalt related the story recently that he calls "the worst first pitch ceremony in the history of professional baseball".

It happened prior to the much anticipated home opener of the new Tucson (AZ) Toros at Hi Corbett Field, with the Commish himself as the pitcher. Well, one of the pitchers, and that is where the plan was not exactly executed by the book.

The renowned mascot known everywhere as The Famous Chicken was to be a surprise and another first ball thrower. When Outcalt got into his windup, the Chicken would show up, interfere and eat the baseball. Eventually, the Chicken would lay two eggs (baseballs) for the double ceremony.

The problem was the Chicken was nowhere to be found. Outcalt was left to stall, on the mound, no less. The Commissioner asked the catcher for a sign. The fans started razzing him. Then, he dropped the ball. People got on him even more, but there still was no sign of the normally prompt and amusing Chicken.

"It seemed like three or four minutes", Outcalt remembers. Alas, the Chicken--Ted Giannoulas--heard the booing, scurried in from The Chicken Coop (or wherever he was), and the supposedly simple ceremony continued.

This reminded me of an incident the late Bowie Kuhn, who was major league commissioner at the time, shared when he was to throw out a first pitch from the box seats in Jacksonville, FL.

The team got him into position, and gave him the baseball. Alas, something went awry between the on-field coordinator and the public address announcer. The game started and, I believe, ended with Kuhn never introduced to make the pitch.

I can only imagine this resulted in some red faces in the front office the next morning.

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THE ALL-TIME RECORD IS SAFE AS COASTAL WINS IN ITS 27TH TRY.

The Continental League must be breathing a little easier knowing that one of its road-only teams, the Coastal Kingfish, will not be breaking the all-time record for consecutive losses in a minor league season.

Coastal had dropped 26 games in a row until Saturday night when it edged first place Alexandria, LA, 4-3. This left the Kingfish six losses short of tying the 32-game loss streak of the 1914 Austin Senators of the Texas League, who hold the minor league record for futility. If you are old enough to remember, the minors had AA, A, B, C and D levels at that time. The Texas League was a "B" league, and Austin finished an agonizing 67 1/2 games behind first place Houston. The Senators were 31-114, then, perhaps out of pity, Austin did not have a professional team again until 1947.

CEO TURNS IN FOUR SHUTOUT INNINGS

It was a newsmaking weekend in Alexandria. Chief Executive Officer Eric Moran, who had not pitched in seven years, worked four scoreless innings of one-hit baseball Friday when the Aces stretched Coastal's losing streak to 26 in an 11-0 whitewash in the second game of a doubleheader.

STUNNING RESULTS

Every week when we write our subscriber-only Independent Baseball Insider it is agonizing to realize there is not enough opportunity to mention all of the outstanding performances being turned in at the Independent Baseball level. Consider these feats from recent days:

***Affiliated baseball would no doubt scoff for fear of ruining a career, but Florence, KY allowed Preston Vancil to stay on the mound for 149 pitches. The Sacramento, CA native, making only his second professional start, hurled a 5-0 no-hitter against Traverse City, MI. Vancil walked seven and hit a batter, but also picked up eight strikeouts. "Adrenaline carried me through," Vancil explained. It was the 14th no-hit game in the 17 seasons of the Frontier League.

***Former major league catcher Pete LaForest, who has been guiding Eric Gagne through his comeback on the mound for Quebec, hit for the cycle and went 5-for-6 in a 14-5 romp on the road in Augusta, NJ against the Sussex Skyhawks. LaForest's three-run homer broke the game open during a seven-run seventh. LaForest drove in four runs for the game and scored three times.

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