Laura

Sorry, I was having all sorts of computer problems last night. I'll try to get them up during my lunch break. Serena, what did Ron say? (I can't listen in at work - technically speaking, I'm not supposed to be online. :-$ ) I edited them quickly ... I'm on lunch. For people without audio, you can also check the boxes periodically -- sometimes the pitching / hitting lines update more quickly than the box score at the top. You guys both missed out on your shoutouts ~ CaliforniaRaisin in Cali and the great baseball fans in Belgium! :D

Hilarious! Thanks for the shout-out, Ron! :D I was laughing on the phone. 3-2 DJaxx in the 5th! HRs by Coats & Craig.

Sweet, thanks for the post, I hadn't noticed the AFTERNOON start. :wink: I can close the door and tune it in at work.

Those AZL night games means we get the boxes later. :( Oh, and Sean Gallagher's ERA is all the way up to 2.55. :( Yep, and in second place in the MWL now. :( Nathan ran through the numbers last night; I posted them a few posts up. Gallagher had a tough time with the walks last night (and has in recent starts).

Don't give him any ideas!

Still no box posted for the AZL Cubs; I'll check back later today.

Tree had 78 pitches. :?: All 3 pitchers combined for 89 pitches. :shock:

Boise snaps a streak wherein they lost 8 consecutive games to Salem-Keiser. Yay Hawks!

Chiefs lose, 10-3

Ouch, 7-2 Silver Hawks after 4. Gallagher goes 4 1/3 and is knocked out by an Augustin Murilla solo HR. Final line: 4.1IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 3/5 His ERA ---> 2.552 For the first time this season, Gallagher drops out of the ERA lead in the Midwest League. Andrew Sonnanstine of South Bend takes the lead with a 2.545 ERA. Sonnanstine was promoted in July, but he is over the minimum number of innings needed to qualify for the season MWL ERA title. A Jesse Schmidt HR makes it 7-3 in the 5th.

4-2 Silver Hawks, middle 4th. Carlos Gonzalez (SB) with a 2-run HR in the 3rd. Gallagher has walked 3; all have scored.

2-2 after the first inning in South Bend. Gallagher walks 2 in the first inning and they both end up scoring. Ryan Harvey is out of the lineup again with his hamstrings problem.

Chiefs out to a quick 2-0 start after a half-inning! Fuld with a lead-off single and Larsen with a triple ... Eric Patterson was robbed of a single and an RBI by the official scorer on a base hit up the middle that was scored an error.

Sweet! Thanks for taking the questions, Nathan -- this is cool! I'm going to pass along some questions that Craig asked me after Billek's last start; I think you can do them more justice than I can. O'Brien Field rocks! There's some talk of pulling together an NSBB get-together in Peoria before the end of the regular season.

6, 87/55

I'll go first ... Is Jonathon Douillard still on the roster? What happened to him? Is there any update on Ryan Norwood? He's obviously likely to miss the remainder of the season, but I was wondering if there was any word on what's happening with his ankle injury.

Nathan Baliva, Peoria Chiefs Broadcast & Media Manager, has graciously agreed to take questions from NSBB posters through the end of the Peoria Chiefs regular season. The Chiefs play two more home series -- over the next two weekends -- a one-game match vs the Swing on August 24, and a 4-game series at Beloit August 29 - Sept. 1. His internet access may be limited in Beloit, so please be patient if there's a delay in answers during the Beloit series. Nathan has a wealth of knowledge regarding the Chiefs players and Midwest League as a whole. Ask away in this thread!

The Sean Gallagher Question & Answer Session has been completed! You can read it in the Chats Forum: Premium Link / Regular Link He's also starting tonight vs. the South Bend Silver Hawks, the team with the most wins in the Midwest League. As always, you can follow the game in the NSBB Minor League Forum. Many thanks to Sean for taking the time and effort to respond to our questions and to Nathan Baliva for coordinating the session!

Below is the completed Q & A session with Sean Gallagher of the Peoria Chiefs! Thank you to Sean for taking time out of his schedule to take our questions and comments, and a special thank you to Nathan Baliva for taking the time to schedule and conduct this session! As always, thanks to all of you for making NSBB such a wonderful posting community! Sean Gallagher Q & A chicubs – Indianapolis, Indiana: 1) Do you read up on all the honors you are getting from publications like Baseball America? No. 2) Are you working on any specific pitch in particular? I’m working on my changeup. I’m just trying to get it to be a consistent pitch and throw it at any count. burnt out cubbie fan – Park Ridge, Illinois: Thanks for sharing your time with us. A while back I heard that you were working on a cutter along with your change that you are still developing. How is that coming along? Are you still working on cutter or did you decide against it? Are you throwing it a lot in game or are you working on it more on the side? Are there any other pitches that you are thinking of adding? Also, I saw you pitch earlier this year at Kane County and you seemed to have a very good move to first and picked someone off. Is that something that you have put a lot of work into? I’m not working on a cutter right now and I haven’t been all season. I’m not thinking of adding anything, just working hard on what I have. As for the pickoff move, it just is something that works for me. I’ve never really worked on it much. There have been rumors on this board that you fell in the draft because the teams could not reach you on draft day by phone. Is this true? What was that draft day like for you? It’s true. I was on a plane ride home form Boston where I was with my dad. My flight left in the second round and landed back in Florida much later in the day. Obviously you can’t use a cell phone on the plane and when I landed I had a ton of voice mails from teams and the last one was from Chicago saying we took you in the 12th round. UK: Sean, can you tell us how it has been rooming with Walt Nolen? With Walt having gone to college while having a wife w/young daughter still in Louisiana, has he brought a different perspective to life off the field? Walt has a lot of responsibilities off the field with his family. Watching what its like for him to tuck them in on the phone from 1200 miles away is different than anything I have to deal with. He likes to joke that when I was in 8th grade he was in college. It does put a twist on it seeing how happy they are as a family and that is something I look forward to in the future. NCCubbieFan – North Carolina: Thanks for enhancing our forum by taking our questions. Is there much emphasis placed in the minors on developing skills such as holding runners on, fielding, bunting, etc.? Yes, we work on that every day at home with PFP’s. We practice it all: bunt plays, holding runners, fielding grounders, covering first. Pitchers get to the field early at home and we are out there with the coaches and infielders and catchers working on it all. vance_the_cubs_fan – Monroe, Louisiana: Thanks for taking our questions. What's a typical day like for a minor league pitcher? We get to the field about 5 hours before the game, stretch, throw, run, maybe throw a side if it’s your day. Go in and change, shag fly balls for BP and then get ready for the game whatever your task is, start, game chart in dugout, video tape, chart in stands or run game chart in stands. Then we go home. Treebeard – Avon, Illinois: I'm hoping this doesn't come off as creepy. Where do Chief players live? I'm not asking for an address, obviously, but what kind of living situations (apartment, hotel, mansion, cardboard box) do the players have? Do you all have similar living situations? Our situation is we live in an apartment in Peoria with teammates and we pay all our own bills, rent, cable, phone, internet, etc. It gives us a lot of responsibilities we aren’t used to, especially those of us who didn’t go to college and live on our own before signing. TXCubsFan – Austin, Texas: Sean, When the Cubs drafted you, to which college had you committed? As a 12th round draft pick, why did you decide to forgo college and the possibility of being drafted higher a couple of years later? Florida International. The Cubs are a great organization for pitchers. The situation was right for me and it is better to get in a great organization early and develop instead of waiting three years and postponing my chance to get to the majors. Knyption – Chicago, Illinois: Thanks for your time Sean. What do you feel is your strongest asset to the Major League club in the future? Which pitches do you feel you need to work on more? I feel my strongest asset is keeping my teams in games and in position to win. I don’t shy away from attacking hitters or get intimidated. I go right after hitters and I’m not afraid of them. Right now I’m working most on my changeup. WeGotWood98: First, thanks for doing this. Now my question... Do you think you are like any pitcher in the major leagues? If you do, who? Not really. I try not to pattern myself after anyone. I just want to go out there and be myself and do what I know how to do. Craig: Given that this year's draft was just held last month, I have a couple of draft-related questions. 1. How close did you come to *not* signing and go to college instead? It was a tough decision but I wanted to start my path to the majors and I signed. 2. Do you know who handled contacts and contract negotiations from the Cubs side? Did your area scout (Pina?) do that? Or Stockstill? Or Hendry himself? I've always wondered how that's actually done from the club's side. Pina and my dad worked negotiations and the money was right and I signed. We told them what we wanted and that’s what they gave up. 3. Does your contract include a college clause, where the Cubs would pay for your college if your career broke down and you wanted to attend college? (Certainly hoping that your career stays healthy and great!) I will definitely attend college. The Cubs gave me specific money that can only be used in college and it must be used before the third year after you are done with pro baseball. 4. You were a very successful HS pitcher, and have achieved quick success now in the pros. Did the Cubs suggest any changes to your pitching last summer or in the fall instructional camp? You know, adjustment in arm slot, or grip, or other mechanical tinkering? If not with yours, which have perhaps been pretty good from the start, do you know if that's very common with other young pitchers? Yes, they tinkered with my mechanics. My motion is totally different from high school. My balance point had changed, my arm slot is lower now and I keep my weight back over the rubber more so my arm doesn’t lag behind. It is very common for that to happen with young pitchers. 5. Do you throw mostly 4-seam or 2-seam fastball, or a mixture of both? 2 seam 6. Earlier this summer I read that you have worked on both the change and the cutter. Are you already using the cutter, or is that more for future use? If you're using it now, do you see that as being equally useful versus both RH and LH hitters? Or is that more something that will give you another tool against LH hitters? I wasn’t working on a cutter during the season. I am working on the changeup. 7. How different is your strategy and use of the curve when facing good LH hitters versus RH hitters? The strategy is the same. I throw a 12 to 6 break that is the same to lefties and righties and I just try to throw it where they will pound it into the ground. 8. Would you consider yourself more of a groundball or a flyball guy? Any things you plan to work on to try to become more of a groundball pitcher? To date, you've certainly excelled in keeping HR's to a minimum. Groundball or flyball doesn’t matter to me at all as long as I get the outs. Serena – NW Indiana You lead the Midwest League among qualifying starters in ERA and WHIP; you're among the league leaders in innings, strikeouts and wins; and you started the All-Star game. They're all different measures/reflections of pitching well. Is there any one measure that's most meaningful to you? Just keeping the earned runs down and limiting the other team’s chances. That gives your team a chance to win and that is most meaningful. The Cubs organzation seems to prefer to see young players achieve some sustained success at one minor league level before promoting them. Oneri Fleita has been quoted as saying that they'd like to have you pitch a full season in Peoria. Has anything been communicated to you about what the next steps should be in terms of you getting promoted within the organization? I haven’t been told anything. I don’t know what to expect. Whatever they feel I am ready to handle I will go there and do the best I can and compete as hard as I can.

Craig: Sorry for the delay, I wasn't around this weekend and just saw that you had posted these questions. I'll try to tackle these, but I'd also suggest that you also ask Nathan Baliva about Billek. He mentioned last night that he'd have email access in the booth for most of the Chiefs' current roadtrip, including tonight (his email address = nathanb@chiefsnet.com). He's also planning on taking some more questions here at NSBB. Yes, it was! This was my first time seeing him. BeerHere2003 saw his previous start at Kane County (8/5) and posted some notes from that game (Premium/Regular). Billek looked good ... other than the Rivera fielding error, he didn't allow a baserunner until the 6th. Tough to argue with the results. 89 - 93 on the scoreboard gun; low 90s consistently. A couple of ticks lower than where McCormick was consistently throwing (for reference). Mainly fastballs - curves and most were around the zone. When he missed, it wasn't by much. The curve had good break; not 12-6 but more lateral movement. I didn't recall seeing changeups, but he may have thrown some. If pitching to contact means being consistently around the plate, he was. He didn't walk anyone, either. He got several swinging strikes on his curve and he had 2 strikes on several hitters; no one seemed thrilled with the strike zone that night. There were several well-hit balls to the OF that became long outs. He had good control when I saw him. I read T2E's draft report on how he had lost some velocity, apparently due to a hip injury. If he gets it back and can locate his curve, he should do well at this level. I'd assume he'd need to throw another pitch consistently if he wants to continue starting at a higher level. I haven't checked his game logs, so I don't know if 6 innings was his longest outing thus far. In his previous outing, he had to come out in the 5th inning after taking a line drive off his pitching hand. As you know, he's a big guy -- listed as 6'4" 235. He looked to be in good shape. I suppose there's always the possibility that he could plump out, but he hasn't yet. Definitely!

The boxscores for the AZL games often aren't posted for a day or so, and the box for yesterday's game hadn't been posted as of 5 am this morning CT. That's part of the reason Outshined put the direct links to the box scores in the first post.

Iowa: LHP John Koronka (7-10, 4.71) @ LHP Donovan Osborne (4-0, 4.28) West Tenn: LHP Renyel Pinto (8-2, 2.47) vs. RHP Jose Oyervidez (5-9, 4.08) Daytona: RHP Juan Mateo (8-5, 3.48 ERA) vs. LHP Danny Muegge?? (6-2, 3.55) Peoria: RHP Sean Gallagher (13-4, 2.29) @ RHP Steven Jackson (7-4, 5.51) Boise: LHP Jesus Yepez (3-0, 3.38) vs. RHP Taylor Wilding (2-0, 5.57) Mesa: RHP Jose Pina (2-4, 4.32) @ ???

Scheduled Games (All Times Local) Iowa Wins, 6-4 Box Score Hairston 2B - 2/3, 3B, 2RBI, SB Cedeno SS - 0/3, BB, R, E McClain 1B - 2/3, HR(27), R, 2RBI, BB, K Kelton RF - 1/4, HR(10), R, RBI Grieve LF - 0/4, K Soto C - 3/4, 3R Koronka (W, 8-10) - 7IP, 4H, R, ER, 4/1, WP Rohlicek - 0.1IP, 3H, HR, 3R, 3ER, 1/1 Haines (H, 3) - 0.2IP, H Van Buren (S, 22) - IP, 0/1 West Tennessee Wins, 3-0 Box Score Bacon LF 0/4, K Theriot SS 2/4, 2B, RBI McGehee 3B 1/4 Sing 1B 0/4 Coats CF 2/3, 2B, R, SB(14) Montanez RF 0/2, SF, RBI Sisk 2B 1/3, HR(5), RBI, R SP Pinto (W, 9-2) 6IP, 4H, 9/3, HBP, Pickoff RP Aardsma (H, 6) 2IP, 2/2 RP Shipman (S, 9) 1IP, 1H, 1K Daytona Wins, 7-4 (with 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th) Box Score Salas PH-SS - 2/2, HR(8), 5RBI, R Moore 3B - 1/3, BB, SB(20) Dopirak 1B - 0/4, K O'Toole DH - 2/3, R, BB Johnson (J3) RF - 1/4, R Richie C - 1/4, K Cruz 2B - 1/3, 2B, RBI, SF, SB(6) Culpepper LF - 1/2, 2R, 2B, BB, K SP Mateo 7IP, 6H, HR, 4R, 4ER, 4/2 RP Gerk (W, 4-4) 2IP, H, 2/2, IBB, E(pickoff) Peoria loses, 10-3 Box Score Fuld CF 2/5, R Simokaitis SS 0/5, 2K Patterson 2B 0/4*, R *basehit ruled error Schmidt RF 1/3, HR, R, RBI, BB Larsen LF 3/4, 3B, RBI Flowers PH 1/1 SP Gallagher 4.1IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 2HR, 3/5 RP Jones, 1IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 1/3 RP Layden 1.2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 4K, WP RP Mendez, 1IP, 1H, 1K Boise Wins, 8-2 Box Score Gregg CF - 1/5, K, SB(32) Reed DH - 3/5, HR(4), 2B(9), R, 2RBI, K Gaskin 1B - 3/5, HR(5), R, 2RBI, K Defendis RF - 0/5, 2K Puella 3B - 1/3, R, 2BB, K Reynolds 2B - 1/4, R, SB(1) Valdez LF - 2/3, 2R, BB Muyco C - 2/4, CS(2, home) Mota SS - 2/4, 3RBI, K, E(16, fielding) SP Yepez - 6.1IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 6/3, PO RP Teasley - 1.2IP, 2H, R, ER, 4/1 RP Chambers - 1IP, 2H, R, ER, HR, K Mesa Loses, 3-2 in 10 innings Box Serrano 2B - 0/4, BB, 2K, E(13, fielding) Baez 3B - 0/5, 3K, E(11, fielding) Brown CF - 2/4, K, SB(6) Lewis DH - 0/4, K Harris RF - 0/4, BB, R, K Episcopo LF - 2/4, 3B, K Canzler 1B - 1/4, 2B, R, 2K, E(6, fielding) Johnston SS - 0/4, 2K SP David Taylor - 2IPs, 3Ks RP Jose Pina - 2.2IPs, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 1/1, 2WP, HBP RP Aleurys Lopez - 1.1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0/2 RP Armando Fernandez - 3IPs, 5/3, 2IBBs, WP RP Michael Greenhouse (L, 0-3) - 0.1IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER Overall: 4-2

Chiefs get two on in the 9th, but the rally falls short. Chiefs lose 5-4 ... but they made it a good game.

Chiefs rallying in the 8th to make it 5-4 Silverhawks! Eric Patterson has 2 doubles: one off the wall in RF, one off the wall in LF. But gets caught stealing 3B for the second out in the 8th. :( And Jesse Schmidt immediately doubles! Ryan Harvey didn't start ... tight hamstrings again ... did PH in the 8th and singled, but was lifted immediately for Bo Flowers to PR.