Questions for Nathan Baliva, Peoria Chiefs Broadcaster

[Jon]

That's a pretty impressive summer.

 

Thanks for the info.

[Laura]

Nathan, could you show us some time-based hitting splits on Sam Fuld? Maybe by month or whatever seems reasonable? Thanks!

 

April: .172 11-64, 5 runs, 4 rbi, 1 steal

May .279 19-68, 13 runs, 7 rbi, 8 steals

June: .321 27-84, 17 runs, 5 rbi, 9 doubles, 2 steals

July .340 34-100, 25 runs, 9 rbi, 9 doubles, 3 steals

Aug: .337 30-89, 16 runs, 10 rbi, 6 doubles, 4 steals

 

.285 on road with 33 runs, 12 doubles, 1 triple, 22 rbi, 4 hr, 3 steals

.312 at home, 43 runs, 18 doubles, 3 triples, 0 hr, 13 rbi, 15 steals

 

since the All-Star break he is 75-216 which is a .347 average

 

the other interesting split is that same is batting .328 in the leadoff spot in 61 games with 24 rbi, 18 doubles, 46 runs...

 

and he is hitting .344 when leading off an inning, 323 with runners on, .302 with RISP and 2 outs...

 

He really did pick it up in the second half!

 

 

I read (and posted about) how Ryan Harvey gunned down another runner at the plate in Sunday's game. Since you mentioned tracking this, :) how many OF assists does that give him for the season?

 

Does anyone track that stat league-wide?

[ChiefsVoice]

well i wouldnt really say gunned down for Sunday's OF assist. McIntyre tripled off the wall and should have stayed at 3rd but they got greedy. Ryan one-hopped it to the plate from straight away center and bernard was ready for about 3-5 seconds with the ball. The triple hit the brick wall above the Cat sign and flew over Fulds head back to CF where Harvey got to it first backing up the play.

 

The official league stats have Harvey with 10 outfield assists and 1 error (bobble), i have 11 so i must have credited him with one on a carry over play (9-2-6 for example) that an official scorer didnt credit to him.

 

as for the league it is a stat kept on the milb private portal for teams. Eight players have more than 10 OA and the leader is Kenard Springer in LF for Burlington with 21. CF Yordany Ramirez of Ft. Wayne has 19.

 

Fuld has 7 with 4 E

Montanez 7 with 0 E

Flowers 5, 9E

Schmidt 2, 0E

Larsen 3, 2 E

[Laura]

Oh well ... "gunned down" sounded better since I didn't see or hear it. :)

 

 

Are the $4 tickets Sun - Mon for all seats?

 

Edit to Add: Yes, they are!!! And lawn seats are $3. YAY!

Edited August 30, 2005 by Laura

[Laura]

A potentially annoyingly complicated question:

 

Could you run down the basics of the wild-card race from here on out for the Chiefs?

[UK1679666180]

Question about an event during tonight's Beloit/Peoria game. Why was the Beloit player out on the DP that was a foul out to Bernard? He clearly got back before throw reached Larsen.

 

Didn't feel like bothering you before the game or I would've said, hello...

[ChiefsVoice]

Question about an event during tonight's Beloit/Peoria game. Why was the Beloit player out on the DP that was a foul out to Bernard? He clearly got back before throw reached Larsen.

 

Didn't feel like bothering you before the game or I would've said, hello...

 

Burt was off and running on the pitch, went past 2nd base, retreated to 1st base and NEVER RETOUCHED 2nd base on his way back. Therefore when Larsen threw to Simo at 2nd, Burt was out. I was shocked the base ump actually noticed that he didnt retouch the base. With a 2-man crew they usually miss those things.

 

And please feel free to say hi any time pre or post-game. Its never a bother!

[ChiefsVoice]

A potentially annoyingly complicated question:

 

Could you run down the basics of the wild-card race from here on out for the Chiefs?

 

Well here goes.

 

Beloit is 32-31, so is Kane County. Cedar Rapids is 31-32, We are 30-33 and Burlington is 29-34. Assuming Quad Cities (35-28, 3 games up) wins the division, that leaves 5 teams for one spot.

 

7 Games left:

Beloit: 3 vs Peo, 4 vs. Wis

KC: 3 @ SWM, 4 vs CR

CR: 3 vs. QC, 4 @ KC

Bur: 3 vs CLI, 4 @ CLI

 

The Chiefs own the tiebreakers against Beloit (7-2) and Cedar Rapids (10-5) but don't against Kane County (5-11) or Burlington (5-6). A 3-way tie breaker is win pct vs the other 2 teams so anything that involves KC and we are screwed.

 

Best case for us is to win at least 3 against Beloit and have Kane County lose 4 of 7. Very tough position for us since we play South Bend at home to end the year and now we dont have Patterson, Weber ot Gallagher but the guys we do have are gonna battle their arses off I can promise that!

[Joe_Cub]

Thanks thats some complicated playoff formullas. It'd be funny if they made it in with almost a totally differant team now.

[Chris]

Since there have been several guys called up from Peoria, I'm curious as to how close you allow yourself to get to the players while they're in Peoria. Is it tough in that your job puts you in a situation where people are constantly coming and going? Do guys keep in touch after they move up through the system?

[ChiefsVoice]

Since there have been several guys called up from Peoria, I'm curious as to how close you allow yourself to get to the players while they're in Peoria. Is it tough in that your job puts you in a situation where people are constantly coming and going? Do guys keep in touch after they move up through the system?

 

 

yeah it is tough. Id say of the guys on the team this season I am pretty close with a lot of guys. Patterson and Weber were at the top of the list. Fuld, Gallagher, Rick and Smith are some of the other guys I talk to a lot along with Larsen and now Billek.

 

I like to try to talk to all of them at some point and get to know them and the toughest part is that the guys that just go here barely know anyone and are trying to get to know 25 guys at once and you dont want to step on that experience. When we get 5 new guys with a week to play it is tough to really get to know them other than idle chit-chat.

 

I do talk to guys after they leave. For those who listen to the broadcasts, they know that I had a player from last year Sal Frisella who is now out of baseball on the air with me for 3 innings Friday night as he was back in town from his home in STL to visit. I talk to a few guys from 2003 and 2004 as well and two live in Peoria now in the offseason after getting engaged to local girls. I have talked to Lee Gwaltney about once every 10 days since he has left and I have talk to Shaver a few times as well. I'm sure I will talk to Patterson, Weber and Gallagher soon and most of the guys a couple of times in the off-season.

 

You can't not talk to them during the year and get to know them. You have to get to know them to be able to do your job and beacuse otherwise you just wouldnt have anybody to talk to ever! When the time comes you just shake their hand, wish them best of luck and then become a fan like everyone else. I can tell you from experience it is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder when a guys get sent down, or even worse released. A promotion is the goal for everyone involved in minor league baseball so you can't help but be happy for the deserving player...

[ChiefsVoice]

Thanks thats some complicated playoff formullas. It'd be funny if they made it in with almost a totally differant team now.

 

Well we should have made it in the first half to be honest with you.

 

We now have 7 players who have been here since day 1. I should make it a trivia question :) but here goes: OF Sam Fuld, OF Bo Flowers, OF Ryan Harvey, C Alan Rick, IF Aaron Smith, RP Jerry Blevins and SP Jesse Estrada.

 

Heading into tonight 55 different players have played for the Chiefs (counting Hill, Nomar and Wood) This doesn't count Francisco as a 3B and a P but just once, nor does it count Norwood who has been DL'd on our roster all year. We will have at least 3 more with Guzman, Berg and now Blackford..

 

in 2004 the Chiefs had 54 total players for comparison while the 2003 team had 51

[Joe_Cub]

How come they didn't win it in the first half? If you look at who was on the team it sure seems like they should have done better than they did.

 

They had the batting average leader and the era leader plus Gallagher is still leading in wins now I think, and he started off so good right away. I know Harvey was hurt and didn't play some in the first half but he's still leading in HRs and rbis now. Montanez had a good halfseason in Peoria before leaving and Shaver and Weber were solid even if Weber got cheated on some wins. Was it mainly becaues the bullpen was bad? Or maybe just bad luck?

 

Hope they can pull off the wild card now.

[ChiefsVoice]

How come they didn't win it in the first half? If you look at who was on the team it sure seems like they should have done better than they did.

 

They had the batting average leader and the era leader plus Gallagher is still leading in wins now I think, and he started off so good right away. I know Harvey was hurt and didn't play some in the first half but he's still leading in HRs and rbis now. Montanez had a good halfseason in Peoria before leaving and Shaver and Weber were solid even if Weber got cheated on some wins. Was it mainly becaues the bullpen was bad? Or maybe just bad luck?

 

Hope they can pull off the wild card now.

I'd say it was two things both equally as important: lack of clutch, timely hits and blow saves. The team has 21 blown saves on the year...11 were in the first half and two of those were against Clinton who did make the playoffs.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

How did Berg look? What pitches does he throw?

[ChiefsVoice]

How did Berg look? What pitches does he throw?

 

He was clearly nervous and his control was not on. He throws hard though which is good, just missed the zone and fell behind in counts. Didnt really get hit hard but the walks really hurt.

 

He throws a fastball, a fastball with sink, slider and change. He also threw two wild pitches which I think had a lot to do with having not worked with the catcher before. His mound presence was encouraging and I predict a much better outing on Monday.

[ChiefsVoice]

What number did Maddux wear when we was with the Chiefs?

 

Sorry it took me so long to get this answer, but thanks to the good folks at the Peoria Journal Star, especially our beat writer Ryan Ori who tracked down a photo, the answer is: 12

[Laura]

What number did Maddux wear when we was with the Chiefs?

 

Sorry it took me so long to get this answer, but thanks to the good folks at the Peoria Journal Star, especially our beat writer Ryan Ori who tracked down a photo, the answer is: 12

 

Thanks to Ryan Ori. I had emailed him a couple of months ago about one of articles and to tell him he was frequently quoted around here. :)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Since you're bored, Nathan :D:

 

What was your first impression of Blackford and what did you think of Berg and Guzman in their second Chiefs appearance?

[Chris]

Are you coming to any of the playoff games in Jackson?

[ChiefsVoice]

Since you're bored, Nathan :D:

 

What was your first impression of Blackford and what did you think of Berg and Guzman in their second Chiefs appearance?

 

Thanks!

 

I was very impressed by Blackford. However, he threw 57 pitches and 51 of them were fastballs so I'd really have liked to see another pitch or two. But having said that, he shut down the best offense in the league over 5 innings with just a fastball that was 90-92.

 

Guzman got hit hard on Monday. He was encouraged though. I talked to him after the game and he was happy with his performace. He made a mistake on the HR but his fastball was good and he had more command with the curve than he did on Tuesday.

 

Berg's command on Monday was very sharp. He ran out of gas in the 9th inning but was very good through his first 3 innings. He moved the ball in and out and up and down. I expect he could be at the front of Peoria's rotation in 2006 along with Blackford. (and hopefully Pawelek!)

[ChiefsVoice]

Are you coming to any of the playoff games in Jackson?

 

Unfortunately no. If gas were about $1.50 less a gallon then i would have considered it but I am also in a wedding in the Chicago area on Saturday which I wasn't sure I'd be able to attend but since we missed the playoffs I'll be there...

 

I will be listening to Ron tonight though as i sit on my couch watching the Cards-Cubs and Agassi-Blake...it is very nice to veg out in front of the tube for once!

 

And I did talk to Eric today and he is excited about the series against Carolina. He asked all about our final weekend here and wished he had been here to add more shaving cream to my attack from Saturday night!

[Chris]

Unfortunately no. If gas were about $1.50 less a gallon then i would have considered it but I am also in a wedding in the Chicago area on Saturday which I wasn't sure I'd be able to attend but since we missed the playoffs I'll be there...

 

I will be listening to Ron tonight though as i sit on my couch watching the Cards-Cubs and Agassi-Blake...it is very nice to veg out in front of the tube for once!

 

And I did talk to Eric today and he is excited about the series against Carolina. He asked all about our final weekend here and wished he had been here to add more shaving cream to my attack from Saturday night!

 

I totally understand on the gas prices. Hopefully Aunt Florence will have some windows open tonight for the game!

 

I'm glad that Eric is enthusiastic about the series and I'm glad that you had a chance to visit with him. I heard about the shaving cream incident, I bet that was hilarious! FWIW at least Eric got to use some shaving cream on Ron's head the other day! ha ha

[Laura]

This doesn't really do justice to the shaving cream carnage (I think Nathan had already wiped a good amount off before this picture was taken!), but it's the only picture I have right now. :)

 

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/minorleagues/chiefs/photos-9-6-05002.jpg

[Laura]

Nathan, if it's not a *huge* hassle, it would be great to get Gallagher's final pitch numbers for the following games:

 

4-8

4-14

4-20

4-26

5-1

5-6

5-16

5-22

5-27

6-11

6-17

7-7

7-18

8-28

 

Thanks!