The playoffs are here.
September is the dominant month for Independent Baseball playoffs, but the calendar is going to get stretched just a bit with the American Association and United League starting their postseason competition Tuesday (August 31). The Atlantic League, which does not close out its regular season until September 19, will spill over on the other end into the early days of October.
This is what we know for now, with much more in this week's Independent Baseball Insider which will go out to subscribers on Thursday:
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION--Defending champion Lincoln, NE squeezed its way into the postseason on the final day of the regular season, and now faces the rugged task of taking on Sioux Falls, SD, on the Pheasants' home diamond starting Tuesday. Shreveport-Bossier, LA and Pensacola, FL both won a division title in the South Division, and the first two games in that best-of-five set will be played in Pensacola.
UNITED LEAGUE--With four Texas-based teams involved, regular-season champ Amarillo visits Harlingen to take on Rio Grande Valley in the start of best-of-three series play Tuesday. Laredo hosts Edinburg in Game 1 of the other semifinal series.
CANSECO STAYS HOT: Former American League MVP and Rookie of the Year Jose Canseco, who originally signed with Laredo only to play in home games, decided to join the Broncos for much of their season-ending road trip against Edinburg and Rio Grande Valley. Canseco, 46, posted numbers much like the six-time All-Star of old. In 10 games, he hit .400 (14-for-35), with three doubles, four home runs, 13 RBI and a similar number of runs. He went 3-for-4 but also walked six times in the last two games against the Coastal Bend Thunder. Canseco also pitched twice in free-swinging affairs for first time since 2006. Canseco entered the first game in the midst of a 17-4 blowout at the hands of the White Wings (Rio Grande) and effectively silenced bats for one inning, giving up only one hit and striking out a batter with a steady diet of knuckleballs. It was not so easy the next time out when he walked five, gave up two hits and four runs in another inning of work.
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Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 09, 2010
FORMER ATLANTIC LEAGUERS GIBBONS, WATSON MAKING NEWS IN MAJOR LEAGUES
Two recent Atlantic League players gave some Independent Baseball buzz to the major leagues over the weekend.
Jay Gibbons, who got prominent time with both Long Island, NY and Newark, NJ as he resurrected his reputation after being named in the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs, is being given a chance to produce as the top left-handed pinch hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Now 33 and out of the majors since 2007, Gibbons's contract was purchassed from Albuquerque Sunday to replace Garret Anderson (designated for assignment), and he produced immediately with a run-scoring pinch single in the bottom of the sixth inning to increase the Dodgers' lead to 6-3 over Washington. LA won, 8-3.
Gibbons played 27 games for Long Island in 2008 (.280-5-19) and 40 for Newark last season (.233-4-19), and the Dodgers signed him during the winter although they did not issue the Lakewood, CA resident an invitation to the major league spring training camp. The outfielder-first baseman went to Triple-A and hit .347 with 19 homers and 83 RBI for the Isotopes.
Meanwhile, outfielder Matt Watson, who played at Lancaster, PA of the Atlantic League until May 28 of this season and was getting increasing playing time with the parent Oakland Athletics, was taken to the hospital prior to Sunday's game when he complained of pain in his side and back. The team said later the issue was not baseball related. Watson had started five of the previous six games in left field, and while his season average was only .200 (6-for-30) he had gone 4-for-14 (.286) with three runs batted in the five games.
We expect to cover these developments in greater detail, including some of their own comments, in this week's Independent Baseball Insider column.
Jay Gibbons, who got prominent time with both Long Island, NY and Newark, NJ as he resurrected his reputation after being named in the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs, is being given a chance to produce as the top left-handed pinch hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Now 33 and out of the majors since 2007, Gibbons's contract was purchassed from Albuquerque Sunday to replace Garret Anderson (designated for assignment), and he produced immediately with a run-scoring pinch single in the bottom of the sixth inning to increase the Dodgers' lead to 6-3 over Washington. LA won, 8-3.
Gibbons played 27 games for Long Island in 2008 (.280-5-19) and 40 for Newark last season (.233-4-19), and the Dodgers signed him during the winter although they did not issue the Lakewood, CA resident an invitation to the major league spring training camp. The outfielder-first baseman went to Triple-A and hit .347 with 19 homers and 83 RBI for the Isotopes.
Meanwhile, outfielder Matt Watson, who played at Lancaster, PA of the Atlantic League until May 28 of this season and was getting increasing playing time with the parent Oakland Athletics, was taken to the hospital prior to Sunday's game when he complained of pain in his side and back. The team said later the issue was not baseball related. Watson had started five of the previous six games in left field, and while his season average was only .200 (6-for-30) he had gone 4-for-14 (.286) with three runs batted in the five games.
We expect to cover these developments in greater detail, including some of their own comments, in this week's Independent Baseball Insider column.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
THE TREES ARE TALLER AT SUN-FILLED WAHCONAH PARK
Brian Daubach's Pittsfield (MA) Colonials have been playing so well in grabbing a solid second-half lead in the Can-Am League there was plenty to talk about when I interviewed the former major leaguer for last week's Independent Baseball Insider, but I still had to ask about the setting sun issue at Wahconah Park.
This has been an issue through the years with games frequently delayed early in the evening when the sun is directly in the eyes of hitters at the venerable stadium built 91 years ago. Wahconah was given what I understand was a very nice facelift recently--Daubach called it much more "fan friendly"--but that did not change the sun, of course.
He estimated "six or seven" Colonials games have been delayed an average of 12 to 15 minutes, but that the delays were less intrusive than when he played for the Pittsfield Mets in the New York-Penn League on his way to the majors. The improvement in battling the sun is pretty basic, as Daubach explained: "The trees have grown" since 1992.
This has been an issue through the years with games frequently delayed early in the evening when the sun is directly in the eyes of hitters at the venerable stadium built 91 years ago. Wahconah was given what I understand was a very nice facelift recently--Daubach called it much more "fan friendly"--but that did not change the sun, of course.
He estimated "six or seven" Colonials games have been delayed an average of 12 to 15 minutes, but that the delays were less intrusive than when he played for the Pittsfield Mets in the New York-Penn League on his way to the majors. The improvement in battling the sun is pretty basic, as Daubach explained: "The trees have grown" since 1992.