ChiefsVoice

ha! good luck. Well you definitely know the game and the players so no problem there. My pet peeve with any guests is if they step on the plays. Talk to Ron about it and see what he wants you to do if you are in as a Color Man, but I would want you to stop talking once the pitcher comes set, unless you are also doing play by play, I hate having to go back and say, well the last two pitches were strikes and the new batter is so and so. But that may not be a concern for Ron. Other than that my top piece of advice is: Dont be afraid to talk, Enjoy yourself and Have fun!!!!

I thought it would be strange. My brother (Huge Cubs fan) loved it from day one while it drove my father (Cards fan) huts. But no matter where I work or who i work for even at the MLB level, I will always be a Cards fan and live and die by them. Honestly I thought it would be weird, but it isnt. I wear Cardinals geaar all the time and its fun cause the guys give me crap for it. Having guys from all over the place, we have Red Sox fans, Braves fans, Mariners fans, Padres fans, a few other Cardinals fans, and of course Cubs fans so a lot of people talk trash all the time. The coaches get on me the most for wearing Cardinals shirts or hats and Eric and I have a lot of good back and forth about it too but its all in good fun. I actually love having the Cubs now. The people I have encountered have been awesome. i can't say enough about Oneri Fleita and all the Rovers that have been here from Vince Coleman to Dave Keller and Grady Little and Jeff Huson and Lester Strode. The Cubs personnel has been great and so were the Cubs workers when they were here with Nomar anr Wood. And as for being on this site, its been great and I love the enthusiasm and knowledge and I'm honored that you guys care enough to ask questions and want to know what is going on, so as long as I'm in the Cubs family, I'll be here at NSBB as well.

I dont have all the facts on what is going on here in South Bend though I know it has been a mess for a few years now. From my understanding, it will be a formality that this team will move to Southern Illinois to Sauget Park outside Marion right off I-57 by Carbondale. Now no one I talk to seems to know if that will happen for 2006 or 2007 or 2008 (when the lease ends). If it is 2007 or 2008 it will be a joke here next year with a lame duck franchise. Its sad cause everytime I have been here over the last three years they have had nice crowds for the most part. However with no radio broadcasts and very little local coverage, I do wonder if anyone will really notice?? I really like coming here. Notre Dame (even though Im not a fan) is fun to walk around, the hotel is nice, the bars are good and the College Football Hall of Fame is phenomenal...

Thanks for the question. While I dont like being negative about places in our league because I wouldn't want them to be negative about us, this one is easy: Battle Creek. Clinton and Beloit are old, but they do have thier own charms and Clinton is renovating for next year. Battle Creek is bad from a media point of view. Their press box is way up (50 stairs straight up). The windows are tiny and there is obstructed view from the press box (from my window without moving on each pitch I can't see the second baseman or third baseman). Also the radio rooms are like little dungeons. Concrete brick walls that echo and there isnt a second phone line for dial up or a high speed internet connection. There is also no in-game communication between official scorer and broadcaster and they dont do a good job of posting on the board so you kind of have to guess for a while what the ruling was. Plus they have virtually no fans in attendance but the speaker system is really really loud and there is a speaker right outside the radio window which tends to drown out the broadcast. I have been there three times for 12 games, and never had a good experience. Quad Cities new stadium really annoys all broadcasters (including there own) because while there are five windows in both radio rooms, NONE OF THEM OPEN!!!! This might be the most idiotic function of any of the league's stadiums. You get no crowd noise in QC and no real atmosphere. Other than that, I really like what they did to John O'Donnell and it is a fun place to watch a game from what I hear, but a tough place to work one! And I hope you have been to Peoria, and like it best!! :lol:

Tim - Thanks a bunch for the questions! I love the ones that really make me think back! 1. Well the easy answers are Dayton and West Michgan because they are alwyas full and the staffs are huge and they just seem to do EVERYTHING right and they are what the rest of us as a staff aspire to be. However, my favorite is Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin home to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The stadium is 10 years old and all one level. If feels intimate and can get really loud. They have a huge parking lot and since it is the Official State Sport, all fans tailgate hours before and after each game! at a Minor League Baseball game! awesome. Anyway, the press box is right on top of the action, the fans are great, the staff is great and they dont have one of those annoying on-field emcees but still keep the fans in the game with good between inning activities, hot dog tosses, strikeout contests, etc. Unfortunately we only went there once this year and it was the first four games and Northern Wisconsin is about 30 degrees in April! 2. I can check the online numbers and I usually do so in the 5th inning or so if I remember. So I have an idea of how many people listen on Live365.com. I havent seen any numbers from the radio station yet this year. Their signal isn't the strongest in the world so I dont know how many people listen on radio though I am surprised occasionally around town by people talking about listening. 3. Oh man, with this bunch of characters I could write a book. No one real thing stands out in my mind but these guys have so many inside jokes and one-liners that the whole season has just been so funny and so much fun. They ride everyone: each other, the coaches, me, the bus driver, the bat boys, the trainer. It all trickles down from Julio Garcia the manager who is hilarious. Of the moments I can remember and that are clean enough to discuss, Id have to go with either the imitations of Julio tossing the umpire from the game after he had been tossed, or when we saw Patterson and Alberto Garcia sitting in my pre-game chairs talking on the microphones and doing a mock interview mixed in emglish and spanish and in the press box we turned the volume up on the stadium speakers and busted them. 4. Well a bunch have already gone up. I think you should check out Quad Cities OF Nick Stavinoha he really impressed me last weekend in two games. Alexi Casilla of Cedar Rapids just hit over .400 in July and is a burner on the basepaths. The third baseman here in South Bend Agustin Murillo is good. Pitching wise, Mike Ekstrom and Ft Wayne, Matt Elliott the closer in So. Bend (who hopefully we wont see again!), definitely Eric Hurley in Clinton and Mark McCormick in Quad Cities. Though I'm biased, personally I'd pay to watch Patterson, Harvey and Gallagher. I think we have the best trio in the MWL and I cant wait to see how my fellow front office staffers and the players vote for the Chiefs MVP, Prospect of the Year and other awards which we will hand out in the final game on Labor Day. Last season it was a no-brainer with Daric Barton taking everything, but I think the votes are gonna go down to the wire this season. Thanks for the questions, keep them coming, I'm happy to answer anything to give more of an insight to the players, me, or minor league baseball in general!

Thanks for the questions! 1a- There doesn't appear to me to be anything about Grant's motion or mechanics that are going to hold him back. Cubs fans shouldn't be worried about his numbers at all. If you do a close examination of them you see a 2-0 road loss (1 earned run) a game he left down 2-1 (1 earned run) and lost, a game he left up 5-0 (no-decision in a 7-6 10 inning loss and in his 1st start he left up 4-1 and took a no-decision in a 11 inning win. Plus most of the damage to his ERA came in the flukish 21-2 loss on July 4. As for his spring injuries, I have no idea if his mechanics caused those since I wasn't out there and he said it was just a fluke hamstring injury. 1b - I haven't. I have not met Grant's mother or any of his family for that matter nor have I received emails from them. I do meet some families, friends etc when they are in town but I have not had the pleasure of meeting Johnson's family nor do I even know where they are at games. 2- Ryan's knees are not the problem, his hamstrings are. His right hamstring is what held him back earlier in the season and is now too. He has a huge bruise (think grapefruit size) at the bottom of his hamstring where all the blood is pooling up and it is too painful for him to run. He did pinch hit last night (8/15) and they hope he will be ready for full activities by the Quad Cities series which starts Friday (8/19). As far as I know, the hammys are Ryan's only health concern right now

Yeah it can be strange, especially toward the end of games if you get too excited and look through the window to the rest of the place and see other people rooting against you! Really it all depends on how friendly and welcoming the front office staffs of the other teams are. Im in my third year so I have made some "friends" around the league and there are some places (Wisconsin, Kane County, Dayton, Clinton surprisingly) where I look forward to going because I know the beat writer or the scoredboard guy or a front office worker or the official scorer and have nice chats and a after-game beer, etc. But there are times where you feel like a place is out to get you or the official scorer is screwing your players or making unfair rulings. But really I am just spoiled at home and like to be able to have high speed internet and a refrigerator at my disposal and an intern to work hard for me, but that is just me being spoiled!

Technically Douillard is still on the roster but he is not with the team. He injured his knee in Fort Wayne when he took a throw from Harvey, planted and spun to try to tag a runner at the plate. He planted his leg and twisted and his knee didnt go with the rest of the body. When we went to Kane County at the beginning of August he went to a doctor in Chicago for season ending surgery. I believe (but am not 100 percent positive) that it was a MCL and meniscus injury. As for Norwood, he suffered setback after setback in Arizona. We hear All-Star Break, then we heard July 1, then we heard July 15 and we havent heard anything since then. All I have heard recently was from our trainer that Ryan was on the Mesa report as Hitting of a Tee and throwing and doing drills. That was about a week ago. Ill try to get an update from Matt Johnson (trainer) this week

South Bend's starter tonight is RH Ross Ohlendorf (8-9, 4.88 ERA) 120 strikeouts. Should be an interesting series since 1. We havent played in 2 days, 2. they had a DH Sunday 3. South Bend ran away with the first half title and is in first again this half 4. The two teams HAVE NOT played at all this year and 5. They are hitting .278 as a team with 102 homers, both which lead the league...

and we are rained out....

rain delay to start in Peoria....this is gonna be a fun day.... :evil:

First time Ive had a chance to listen in this season and Ive gotta say I really like the way Ron works. People don't realize how difficult it can be to work alone and Ron makes it sound very easy, hopefully I do as well!! and a great almost HR call on Creighton's double, and on the diving play by Carolina's outfielder that tied the game for West Tenn.

Id take them too, but it would be a downgrade from my usual seats! :lol:

http://ism.infinityprosports.com/Uploads/183/Metallica.jpg This is what the jersey looks like. Signed in Silver Sharpie. Nathan

Clinton's hurler against the Chiefs tonight is RH John Bannister...i updated our website with pitching matchups for this series today

Hi back Outshined!!! Bo Flowers solo shot, 1-0 mid 7...we've left 7 on base...ugly. but weber is pitching well (knock on wood)

4 batters...22 pitches....1 hit, 2 K's. 1st batter, GO 5-3 on 1st pitch 2nd batter, K looking on inside corner slider after three 3-2 foul balls 3rd batter single up middle on 3-2 fastball after 1 3-2 foul ball 4th batter K swinging on five pitches.... only threw fastballs and sliders...7 balls, 15 strikes. they dont have a radar gun posting here....but our starter running the gun flashed up a 96 sign in the middle of the inning. slated to go 2 innings in Peoria on Tuesday...

I cant speak for Dopirak and Moore, but the other one is a very solid evaluation...

Serena- Oneri made it sound like he wont start. We will hopefully find out for sure Saturday. I have seen it both ways. Steve Kline threw the first two innings when he was here. And we had a couple AAA guys who came down on rehab and just got put in the pen and told what day they would throw and then either went 6, 7 or 8 in a close game or held for the 9th in a blowout.

Kerry Wood will pitch fot the Chiefs in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on Sunday and if all goes well, again on Tuesday in Peoria against Kane County. For Tuesday tickets go online at http://www.peoriachiefs.com or http://www.ticketreturn.com or call 1-866-MYTICKET or 309-680-4008. I will post more about it shortly. Nathan

:D like that one! just trying to be a little sarcastic after a long 3 days!!!

my educated guess would be West Tenn or Iowa...but again just a guess. i honestly have no inside info on this one!

he running looked fine to me. He didnt do anything to really test it though. just went one base at a time. never really had a chance to go 1st to 3rd on a single, or score from 2nd. he did go 1st to 3rd on harveys double but that was easy. he did score on a sac fly but again, wasnt any test, deep fly ball to center throw went to 2nd. said in the post-game presser that he felt great today again.

the 2nd walk was a gift. in my opinion. 3-2 pitch that was in for strike 3 but the home plate ump apparently didnt want 9600 booing him. even nomar froze at the plate.... he's done now...last AB hit one 373 feet...to left...too bad the wall is 375...LFer caught it with back to the wall....this crowd is great!!!!

Field conditions today are perfect....and how ironic is it that before yesterday we hadnt put the tarp on the field since May and even then it was off before BP. Yesterday was the first drop of rain we had after 2:00 PM on a game day in 2005.....