Posted 26 Feb 2008 19:53:07 (Updated: 26 Feb 2008 22:43:26) by admin
Lt. Leahy was working tonight at the Albany airport doing routine deicing of an aircraft when the truck he was operating in experienced a mechanical failure stranding him 40' in the air. A squad and a rescue from the Albany airport and a local engine and ladder took 30 minutes to rescue him from the bucket. "I was extremly cold and frozen" after spending nearly 2 hours in the elements says Leahy.
Listening to the broadcasts, the roster sheets haven't been entirely accurate. I think the players sometimes have have switched jerseys or have unlisted numbers...It's amazing how the announcer can keep up with them. I don't think I could. I have enough trouble just keeping up with two players on two different teams! But I hope this helps...Please let us know.
So there we were. It was Friday night. We had spent most of the day inside because of the beautiful weather we were having and we had just gotten Sam down to sleep. We were listening to the Scorpions / Pilots game and heard the announcer talking about a website that one of the players family had. It had some info on the league and some pictures that he thought were nice. We went on listening. Then we realized he was talking about us. Wow. We just put this site together to give the grandparents their Sam and Caroline fix, to make sites that we frequent more easily accessible, and for the occasional rambling post. We never thought that anyone (okay - anyone that wasn't related to us) would actually read it! So here is what we think happened. By copying and pasting the stuff from the AWL Website and the Yuma Sun, we inadvertently Google-bombed the term Arizona Winter League. Whoops. But we're certainly flattered that someone enjoys the site and very happy when people leave comments (thanks, Keith). Someone other than Sam and Caroline's Grandparents. They have to enjoy it.
We were busy yesterday cleaning up from the almost foot of snow that we had. We put Caroline to work right away shoveling. Talk about hard work. She shoveled until she dropped. I don't think we broke any child labor laws... While Caroline seemed to enjoy her time working outdoors, Sam was less than thrilled and let us know it. But then, once we got inside and got him out of his snowsuit, he was quite comfortable. We also got the last of the pictures from Palm Springs the other day. It looks so gorgeous (and warm) out there. I think I could handle being there for a while... Here are some pics we got of Matt... But Matt - I'm sorry to break it to you. But here's what Mom and Dad did to your room while you were away. They thought it would make it look more cozy. What do you think?
A rainy, gray, damp Monday. At least it's not snow.
We didn't get a chance to listen to the game in Yuma last night, but it looks like it was a good one.
Today is going to be one of those days where you just run around and see how much you can get done. Not that there's any lack of things to do around here...I should be busy all day.
But we did get this picture yesterday...they're too cute.
SONORA PILOTS COME BACK TO WIN WILD ONE FROM YUMA SCORPIONS
The Sonora Pilots held leads of 6-0 and 11-5, gave up 7 runs to trail by a run, then came back with two runs in the top of the ninth to win 13-12 over the Yuma Scorpions in a wild game at Desert Sun Stadium Saturday night. Brandon Flythe led off the top of the ninth with an infield hit, stole second base, and was singled home by Whitney Pierce. Andrew Barbaro then doubled Pierce in with the winning run. Both Pierce and Barbaro had three hits in the game. The Yuma seven run bottom of the seventh featured a 2 run homer by left fielder Randy Ditzer and six other Scorpion hits. Shortstop Pat Cummins drove in three runs, one in the sixth and two in the seventh. Dwayne Levels, the former Oklahoma State and Cincinnati Bengals linebacker trying to earn a professional baseball job, pitched the first five innings for the Sonora team, allowing four runs on four hits. Billy Shea pitched the scoreless bottom of the ninth to get the save for the Pilots.
The game last night was a little too exciting, if you ask me. But Sonora came out on top. It was nice to hear Mikey and Matt playing at the same time. We're listening enough to the games that we're starting to "know" the players and their tendencies. I thank Sam for his excellent timing, allowing me to be home during the day to listen. =-) We were pleasantly surprised to hear the announcer talk about Mike and Matt and how they've played ball together since they were six years old. We were more surprised to hear him say "hello" to Matt (and my) and Mike's parents in New York. But we were most surprised to hear him say "hello" to the Pilots fans in Worcester, MA. I'm glad we recorded this broadcast!
Today is a day of rest for the Pilots. But my sources were able to get me some action shots of yesterday's game. Now if I could only get Caroline to take a nap (Mommy needs to rest)...
From the Arizona Winter League Website: SONORA PILOTS BEAT THE HEAT 12-6 IN AFTERNOON DESERT CONTEST The Sonora Pilots won their third game of the season by beating the Blythe Heat 12-6 in the Wednesday afternoon AWL game at Desert Sun Stadium.Every Sonora batter contributed at least a hit and/or RBI for the Pilots. Catcher Whitney Pierce had three hits, including a triple. Marcus Davis had a triple and single. Dwayne Levels, the former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker, doubled in the eighth inning for his first hit of the season.Blythe first baseman Steve Alexander doubled in a run in the Heat first inning and hit his league leading sixth home run of the season over the center field wall in the sixth. Ross McCoy doubled and singled and drove in three Blythe runs.
The afternoon game was enjoyed by all yesterday (even those listening on the internet in frozen, snowy Worcester). But I think this rattled everyone's cages last week (no pun intended). Here are some pics from my "sources" in Yuma from yesterday's game:
Here is Josh Zumbrun pitching. Zumbrun got the win for the Pilots.
Here is Matt Leahy at second base diving in the hole. If this play was half as good as it sounded on the radio, I SO wish I was there.The radio announcer was finally able to pronounce Leahy correctly. Hooray! But under the Pilots stats, there are still two listing for Matt (with two different sets of statistics...one for Matt Leeahy and one for Leahy). Oh, well.
We have been recording the majority of the games that have been broadcasted and can burn them to disc for anyone that wants to listen. Just let me know.
For our "tradition" in honor of pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training, I thought I would post these. To give you an idea of the importance of this, just in case you're not from New England, let me give you a glimpse of our news yesterday... Headlining was that the majority of the starting pitching staff has reported to Fort Meyers and have begun their workouts (except for Schill - he and Dr Morgan are busy). Next it was the weather. Big deal. It's cold. And it's going to snow. Duh. THEN they report on the presidential primaries and that Venezuela might cut off our oil supply. Interesting, huh?
And to continue the tradition (that was the whole point of this post, anyways)...
Update - hopefully the pictures are fixed and will post... ...Okay - to update on last night's post, Sonora did end up losing. Oh, well. We're listening to the game in Palm Springs again tonight. Pilots are already down 8-2. Matt is playing, though (second base tonight) - so that's fun for us to hear. Caroline is in bed. She began to run a fever this afternoon. 101 degrees - so not terribly high. Just enough to make her miserable. When putting her to bed, she picked all long books to read (four George books and Clam-I-Am) - so I can't tell if I'm coming down with the same thing or just have a sore throat from reading aloud so much. Samuel is being his typical evening self. While the Xantac helps, he still wants to be held constantly, which isn't possible when I'm trying to make dinner or give Caroline a bath - so we still get a good deal of screaming. We just (affectionately?) refer to this now as "Sammy being Sammy". We were able to get outside today before the nasty weather started. We even had thundersnow! I haven't heard that since I moved out of Rochester! We went sledding at Jim's old stomping grounds. We found some toddler sized hills and had a ball.
...I don't want to jinx anything, but Sonora is up by two runs. It's only the fourth inning - but I don't think I've heard them have a lead in any game I've listened to. I'm hopeful. We found that the Palm Springs Chill also broadcast their games. The announcer seems decent (scratch that - now it's the middle of the fifth inning and he's talking about football and doesn't seem to realize that he's being broadcasted), but Sam is having a rough night - so I can't hear much. My sources in Yuma tell me that Matt "did good" in the field in yesterday's game, but the official stats are yet to be put up. Hopefully I'll be sent some pictures of the action soon. HINT, HINT.
Oh - and one thing...if you're planning on listening to the games...keep in mind that the games in Palm Springs are in Pacific Time and the games in Yuma are in Mountain Time. I don't know how people keep things straight out there...I can barely keep my life in order living in one time zone.
From the Yuma Sun: Yuma pounds out nine extra-base hits
The Yuma Scorpions will get their first chance to play as a road team tonight in Palm Springs, but as the visiting team at Desert Sun Stadium on Thursday night they did just fine taking first at-bats.
Henry Calderon's double and run in the opening frame of the game against the Sonora Pilots were the first of nine extra-base hits and 19 runs for the Scorpions in an 19-2 victory.
Thirteen different Yuma players recorded the team's 20 hits, but Scorpions manager Mike Marshall said he was more impressed with his four horses that took the mound and only gave up seven hits and one walk.
"I love pitching," he said. "That's been the key. I'm so happy to have a good solid pitching staff. It looks like I know what I'm doing, but really it's these guys that pitch for us in Yuma and live around here."
Among those familiar Scorpions playing Thursday was Ray Devaul, who had one earned run on two hits in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, and Glendale Community College product Shaun Majlinger pitched two scoreless innings to end the long night for the Pilots, whose only substitutions of the night were for pitching purposes.
"Some of the teams have decided to split their teams into Team 1 and Team 2, but not by talent," Marshall said. "One team plays the whole game one night, and the next night the other team plays the whole game, but I don't want to do it that way. I don't want guys to sit there all game. It's a mangers choice."
Already ahead 2-1, Yuma's rout started with a six-run fourth inning. After leadoff hitter Kiki Sanchez reached on an error, Sonora pitcher Ryan Weber brought him home walking and hitting the next three batters. Once Weber found the strike zone, Mike Campbell, Alex Lachapelle and Matt Voorhies each had extra-base hits to end his night.
Yuma went back to work offensively in the fifth with four more runs. Pinch hitter Mike Passarell ripped a two-RBI single to right field, and Lachapelle brought him home with a ground rule double over the wall in center field to give the Scorpions a double-digit lead.
The Pilots got back a run in the bottom of the inning, but Mike Porchas' leadoff home run in the sixth and Henry Calderon's RBI single made it a 13-2 game before Yuma piled on six more runs in the seventh.
Calderon, 30, a member of Scorpions' summer team and one of the elder statemen of the Arizona Winter League, finished 4-of-5 at the plate with two RBI and four runs. The Yuma native did most of his damage swinging on the first pitch.
"I come here to get in shape and I'm not gonna play all the games, so it's exciting when you get four hits in the night," he said. "You see the fastball right there, so if it's there you swing at it and make good contact."
Some 24 former NYSL players are currently playing in the Arizona Winter League. San Diego Surf Dawgs: Pat Burgess. Yuma Scorpions: Patrick Cummins, Mike Passarell, Matt Britt,Brian Rzepka,Ray Devaul,Marc Sikora. Palm Springs Chill:Joe Dempsey,Brian Campbell, Shawn Ravenscraft. Sonora Pilots: Frank D'aversa, Ryan Grant, Alex Bardequez, Matt Leahy, Andrew Barbaro, Brandon Flythe, Ryan Weber. Blythe Heat: Ryan Crespi, Ross McCoy. Canada Miners:Brian Grupp, Jono Brooks, Jon Burke, Joe Walentin.
...I have about three projects going at the same time, but couldn't resist putting this up. Caroline found a sleeping buddy! I'll have more from Yuma later (depending on naps and when I can get the scoop from Matt).
I sure am glad I don't have to go to work tomorrow and deal with Patriot Nation.
[Jim Update: I did have to deal with the Nation - and the Nation is tired, sullen, dizzy and a little hung over from not understanding how this happened. From personal experience, I learned to deal with this in 1984 from Super Bowl XVIII, when my Redskins (averaging 35 points per game that year-including playoffs) were thoroughly trounced by the Raiders - and began my "hate" of the Raiders and Marcus Allen. I cried myself to sleep that night. In the end, I also learned that it's just a game, so don't worry about it. I also found this article from the Boston Herald's Mike Felger that the Patriots were undefeated until last night - they were not, nor ever were, "perfect". IMHO, you can execute an individual football play perfectly, exactly as you draw it up in the coach's head, but football is a game of individual battles in 60 minutes - and the Pats were successful 18 out of 19 times this year in those 60 minute incriments...just not when it counted]
We stayed up to listed to the Pilots game. Sam was screaming for a lot of it, but from what I heard the feed was MUCH, MUCH better. The only glitch with the broadcast I heard was when the announcer was unable to find the pitcher's number on the roster sheet and actually left the booth to find out what his name was. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good night. Sonora was able to eek out only three hits, had some errors and weren't able to capitalize on Yuma's mistakes. It was pretty cool to hear it on the radio, though. I'm sorry that Mikey is hurt and can't play. I think he and Matt would have had fun if they met at first base. =-) We were able to record the broadcast. It's a pretty big file, so we would be unable to send it over the internet - but if anyone is interested in getting a copy, we can try to burn it to a disc and send the disc out. The Palms Springs Chill also broadcasts their games over the internet. Looks like they play Sonora on the 9,10 and 15th - so we'll be able to listen to those games, too. Also, Yer Old Pal Fitzy was on WBZ this week in the mornings. Some pretty funny stuff. I have to say that I'm still wearing my Paul Posluszny jersey and rooting for the Bills. I mean Giants. I mean anyone but the Paytoilets.
Yuma Scorpions' Mike Passarell (6) fields a throw during an attempt to tag out Canada Miners' Josh Grady (46) at second base Friday at Desert Sun Stadium.
This article was in the Yuma Sun from last night's game:
Bundled up in coats and blankets, Nearly 1,500 fans at Desert Sun Stadium were treated to nine innings of penguins and pom poms, Hondas and high school band music, five-foot tall hamburgers and free giveaways.
Not to mention a pretty good baseball game to top it all off.
The second season of the Arizona Winter League was off and running Friday night, but the Yuma Scorpions couldn't give the home team a season-opening victory in a 5-4 loss to the Canada Miners, who also had a fair share of maple leaf flag-touting supporters in the stands.
"Opening night is always cool," Canada manager Brooks Carey said. "We were pleasantly surprised that there were no errors. Both teams played a good defensive game, and I thought our pitching was awfully good the whole way though."
Of the Miners' three pitchers who took the mound, Jonathan Burke was the last to enter the game and the only one from either team to throw more than three innings. Burke held the Scorpions scoreless from the sixth inning on, allowing only one hit and striking out three for the win.
"He had been working out extensively before he got here, so he was a little more ready than the other guys," Carey said of Burke, a New York native who played for the Quebec Capitales last year.
The Miners took the lead in the top of the sixth inning when Darryl Brinkley sent a Ray Devaul offering over the leftfield wall for a solo home run and his only hit off the night. All eight of the other runs put on the scoreboard Friday night came in the fifth inning when both teams traded turns scoring four runs.
"We had the one rough inning, but other than that our pitching did a nice job," Yuma manager Mike Marshall said. "We had a nice rally to get back in the game and saw some great plays out there, so I enjoyed watching them play hard."
Trailing 4-0, Matt Britt, Mike Porchas and Mike Passarell each singled in the bottom of the fifth to load the bases before Matt Voorhies smacked a two-RBI double into the gap in right field. J.D. Poplin and LaBarian Willis, who entered the game earlier that inning, would bring the remaining runners home on a pair of sacrifice hits.
Only four players from both teams played the entire game, a statistic that will continue throughout the AWL to give each player as many opportunities as possible to show their stuff in front of as many scouts and coaches as possible.
"It looks like the way I'm going to do it is we'll kind of split the game to get everyone in, so your two at-bats can come pretty quick and you don't get a chance to get in a groove," Marshall said. "But some guys will play the whole game. It's a lot like spring training."
And spring training is exactly where the league's 150 players hope to be headed at the end of this month.
Matt is a Sonora Pilot. Rosters are posted at the link here, but have yet to make it on the Winter League Website. It seems like the Yuma area is really psyched about the league - the talent level is very high. Matt seems very excited. My very favorite Met will be the league hitting instructor. What a great opportunity. Yuma games are webcasted live. Sonora plays Yuma tonight at 6pm Mountain Time. The feed isn't spectacular, but you can hear everything okay. Last night they were broadcasting before the pre-game show was on without even knowing they were on the air (with us hearing in the background "Can SOMEBODY PLEASE get me some rosters?!?!" and the announcer is a very heavy breather - but it's great to hear baseball when there is so much snow on the ground. And it's even better to hear it when it's people you know that are playing. We're proud of you, Matt.
