James Venes

While I only covered one Minor League All-Star Game this season, I was able to make up for not going to any others by putting a little four-day trip together to Colorado for the first time.

It all began around planning to see 311, a band my brother got me into over a decade ago.  I really enjoy their sound and style and got out to 311 Day in New Orleans in 2008 to see them play over 60 songs over about five hours. Every even-numbered year they do a concert like this on March 11, so it’s considered the ultimate show for a 311 fan.

This summer they toured with The Offspring for about a month and their only dates in California were down south.  I decided to at least see what would work around my days off if I went out of town and when I saw they were playing Red Rocks in Colorado I knew that was the place to go. It’s one of those venues any fan of live music should get to at least once if they can.

From there it was a matter of figuring out what else to do around Denver and decide on how long to stay. I found a wild animal sanctuary outside Denver and liked what I saw, so I donated to them and made plans to visit the place.

I would have liked to see the Colorado Rockies but they were out of town so I checked on the Colorado Springs Sky Sox as a backup. It happened to be they were at home and the Sacramento River Cats would be visiting. Perfect timing! Thanks to that, I had my plans. A friend in Colorado Springs also suggested I visit Garden of the Gods while out that way, so that was added to the mix as well.

All told, I ended up posting 280 photos in six different galleries. The wild animal sanctuary was nice, though the stories of a lot of the animals that ended up there are pretty sad. Some were really abused and the things people did and ways they kept some of these animals illegally is disturbing. It was good to see them in a more open area and as evening set in, the lions and tigers roared, the wolves howled and it felt right.

Red Rocks was pretty special. Just the way the seating fits in between the rocks creates a perfect, natural place to see music with some great scenery around it. Rain fell for much of the early evening but it cleared up by the time 311 took the stage. I don’t usually take pictures at a concert but I got some decent ones out of this with my Nikon Coolpix P100, the non-DSLR camera I used for everything but baseball on this trip. It was picked for its superzoom ability (26x) and I knew that’d come in handy in exchange for sacrificing a little image quality compared to the DSLR.

Garden of the Gods was also pretty neat and the weather cooperated long enough for me to get some good shots over the course of about an hour and a half. I would’ve liked to get up to Pikes Peak but for me that’d probably be more of a full day because of all the stopping and snapping of pictures I’d probably do.

Sacramento won both games without much trouble and put up 49 runs and 12 homers in the four-game series, sweeping it. I always enjoy the chance to work at a ballpark I haven’t been to before and while the one in Colorado Springs isn’t the fanciest, I was a little closer than I usually am at other places. It’s the highest pro ballpark in the country (about 6,500 feet above sea level) and has the smallest capacity of any in Triple-A (about 8,500). The first night was a sellout with Rockie Troy Tulowitzki there for an injury rehab appearance, and the way it worked out I saw his only two games there.

Good, enjoyable trip. Here, have some galleries:

7/19/10: Wild Animal Sanctuary

7/20/10: Red Rocks

7/20/10: 311 & The Offspring

7/21/10: Garden of the Gods

7/21/10: Sacramento River Cats at Colorado Springs Sky Sox

From Security Service Field in Colorado Springs. The River Cats won, 8-1. Tyson Ross earned his first win for Sacramento with 5 shutout innings, allowing just 2 hits and 2 walks to go with 7 strikeouts. Chris Carter & Steve Tolleson homered for the River Cats while Tolleson, Dallas McPherson, Josh Donaldson & Adam Heether all recorded a pair of hits. Eric Sogard, Tolleson & Carter had 2 RBI each. Troy Tulowitzki singled in an injury rehab start for Colorado Springs & Chaz Roe took the loss.

7/22/10: Sacramento River Cats at Colorado Springs Sky Sox

From Security Service Field in Colorado Springs. The River Cats won, 14-9. Seven Sacramento players had 2 or more hits, with Jeff Baisley picking up 3, 2 of them doubles while scoring 3 times. Josh Donaldson, Anthony Recker & Dallas McPherson all homered and combined with Baisley for 9 RBI. Chris Carter walked and scored 3 times as well. Boof Bonser picked up his first win for the River Cats. Chris Nelson homered, had 3 hits and scored 3 times for Colorado Springs, and Matt Miller also went deep while driving in 3 runs. Josh Muecke took the loss.

Catching up on some things since the last entry, with another to come after this.

I stayed busy with that lens I rented about a month ago, finishing up with a few more games to begin July. More worth noting was a game where Oakland’s Dallas Braden went back to pitch for Stockton in an injury rehab start. While coming up through the A’s system he briefly played for Stockton in 2005 and 2006 but I never saw him pitch. The only thing I really remember of him was a photo I took from the seats of a few players before a game.  Braden was in it and he was goofing around.  Sounds about right.

When the City of Stockton honored him in May, that was a pretty special moment.  Braden himself admitted before the rehab start that he was going to be the most excited person there by far but he had to remember the purpose of the outing. As expected, it brought out a pretty good crowd.  I’ve got pictures from that and a few more, including a 4th of July game in Stockton:

7/15/10: Visalia Rawhide at Stockton Ports

From Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. The Ports won, 10-9. Mike Spina’s 3-run walkoff homer capped a wild game that featured hometown hero Dallas Braden making an injury rehab start. He pitched 4+ innings, allowing 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K and 2 HR on about a 75-pitch limit. Jermaine Mitchell led off the 1st with a homer & Yusuf Carter hit a 3-run homer in the 4th for Stockton. Marc Krauss, Paul Goldschmidt & Josh Ford all homered in the 5th for Visalia (the first two were back-to-back against Braden).

7/4/10:  Modesto Nuts at Stockton Ports

From Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. The Ports won, 7-5 in 12 innings. Stephen Parker’s walkoff home run gave Stockton the win after they came back from a 4-0 deficit only to see Modesto tie it on a single by Jordan Pacheco with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 9th. Brandon Pinckney, who replaced Grant Green after an 8th inning ejection, singled with 1 out in the 12th before Parker ended it with a blast that was gone the moment it left his bat. Todd Johnson, who had 3 hits for the Ports, drove in 3 with a bases-clearing triple in the 7th. Modesto’s Scott Robinson had 3 hits, 3 runs and 2 stolen bases.

7/3/10: Fresno Grizzlies at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The Grizzlies won, 5-1. Brett Pill doubled twice and drove in 3 runs to lead Fresno to the victory. Eugenio Velez & Tyler Graham also had a couple hits. Kevin Pucetas couldn’t finish the 5th inning and Alex Hinshaw picked up the win. Matt Carson had a double for Sacramento and Michael Taylor drove in their only run with a single. Graham Godfrey took the loss.

7/2/10: Fresno Grizzlies at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 4-3 in 11 innings. Matt Watson had an early 2-run homer and drove in 3 for the River Cats, who rallied late to tie it before winning in extra innings. Matt Downs & Jesus Guzman both homered for the Grizzlies. Fresno’s Joe Martinez pitched 5 innings and allowed a couple runs, while Sacramento’s John Halama gave up the same in 5.2 innings.

It’s been a very busy week for me, but that’s the way I like it when it means being around baseball.

I rented a 200-400mm f4 Nikon lens and, determined to make the most out of it, I’ve done something I’m not even sure A’s Director of Player Development Keith Lieppman has. In consecutive days, I covered games in Sacramento, Stockton and Midland, the three highest levels in Oakland’s minor league structure.  The one in Stockton was simulcast on MLB Network, which was fun in its own right, but I went to Midland to shoot this year’s Double-A Texas League All-Star Game.

For starters, it’s quite a change going from taking a 150-seat 757 to Denver’s airport, which has somewhere in the area of 150 gates spanning three terminals, to a 50-seat Canadair jet to Midland, which has all of five gates at their airport. A rental car, a few miles and about 15 minutes later (thanks to a little unfamiliarity with the highways and side roads in Texas), I was checked in at the Residence Inn bordering the Scharbauer Sports Complex that consists of both Citibank Ballpark (baseball) and Grande Communications Stadium (football). As far as sports goes, the Midland/Odessa area is probably most famous for being the basis of the Friday Night Lights movie.

I caught a quick lunch at Osaka, a nice new sushi/hibachi/etc. place a couple blocks away that just recently opened.  I don’t know how popular sushi and teppanyaki will end up being in that area but they’re probably in the right place to draw business from people in town for football and baseball.  As a little sign of how foreign the concept is there, it took a few minutes for them to understand that pot stickers, or gyoza, are dumplings to them. Hey, at least they were good, and so was the sushi I had.

A little while later I strolled into Citibank Ballpark and added to my A’s minor league hat collection with a RockHounds cap (next year, Kane County?), then walked the concourse to see what the place looked like from different spots.  This is something I like to do any time I go to a place for the first time.  I’m into the design of the places, the architecture, and I enjoy getting a view from different angles. The concourse is open to take advantage of the wind, and their bullpens and outfield wall (at least in left) are arranged a little abnormally.  It seems to fit without feeling too contrived.

Then it was down to the field for the Home Run Derby.  The big story was Roger Clemens being there to throw at…I mean, pitch to the hitters.  Among them was his son Koby, who plays for Corpus Christi in the Houston Astros organization.  The Derby wasn’t much to write about, as very few balls were hit out.  That was mostly because of a strong wind that blew in from left and, though it blew out to right, most of the hitters were right-handed and had some trouble going the opposite way.  For the record, the father shut out the son, though Koby did line a couple back up the middle.

While I’ve never been a big Clemens fan (I think my favorite moment was his ejection in Oakland in the 1990 ALCS), I’d be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed being around something like this.  As a baseball fan it’s fun and as a photographer it’s nice to get some good pictures of.  My personal feelings don’t really matter when I’m there to push the little button on the camera a few hundred times.

What about the game?  First, a link to both galleries (totaling 150 photos) and my very brief summary:

6/30/10 – 2010 Texas League All-Star Game

The South Division won, 5-4. Luis Martinez of San Antonio singled in the go-ahead run in the 4th and the South held the lead, aided by a diving catch by Top Star J.B. Shuck of Corpus Christi to save a run in the 6th. Shuck did it again to end it, throwing out a runner at the plate after a base hit. Clint Robinson of Northwest Arkansas homered for the North and Alex Valdez of Midland tripled for the South. Jordan Lyles of Corpus Christi was credited with the win, Blake King of Springfield took the loss, and Jared Lansford of Midland got the save in spite of allowing singles to all three hitters he faced.

That’s the quick and dirty version, though it covers the main points.  In truth, I think the South was fortunate to hang on for the win when you consider they allowed 14 hits and only picked up 6 of their own. It came down to limiting damage and getting out of jams as the North went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on as a team.  The South was 3-for-10 but made the most of the chances they did have, leaving just 4 on base.

After the game a few of the special All-Star jerseys were autographed and auctioned off.  Jeff Baisley’s bagged about $700. Archie Gilbert’s?  Around $2,000 or so.  What about the Roger Clemens one?  $5,000. Yes, it went for that much. Someone wondered why, that it wasn’t even a Houston Astros jersey.  I figured since it was worn by him and a true one-of-a-kind, that helped account for it.  It was worth that much to somebody, and at least some of that money is going to a charity.

The crowd was good and aside from a brief bit of rain early, it only lasted about an inning and it was great the rest of the night.  There was even a rainbow beyond right field just before the first pitch.  My main goal was to get at least one usable shot of every player I could and I came close.  I think there were only a handful I didn’t get something of, which isn’t bad.  I also got a few plays in the field, mainly a stolen base, a sliding triple into third, and a couple shots to first and third basemen (one foul, one a hit).  Other than that, it was a lot of typical pitcher/hitter shots, but those are the easiest to get quickly at something like this.

If anything, the overcast skies helped me get some of the best photos I’ve taken yet at a game.  Given the way it looks like the sun sets there, the infield would have been in shadow early on while the outfield would have stayed sunny and bright, which would be really difficult to shoot in until the sun went down.  Instead, I had no real shadows to contend with until the lights took effect and I got some stuff I’m very happy with.  Hopefully the people who write for the various team pages on Scout.com can make good use of it all.

As for me, it was another chance to get out and do something I enjoy and do it at a place I hadn’t been to before. Hard to find anything wrong with that. Most importantly, I’ve used the 200-400mm lens enough to know that one of these days I should buy one of my own.  It’s far and away the best lens I’ve used yet and still gives me the flexibility I want without being locked in to one set length.

To wrap up, here are the other galleries from earlier in the week:

6/28/10 -Tacoma Rainiers at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 7-5. Dallas McPherson’s 3-run homer in the bottom of the 8th put Sacramento in front and they held on for the win. McPherson, Josh Donaldson, Steve Tolleson & Matt Carson all went deep for the River Cats. Tacoma took an early lead when Matt Tuiasosopo hit a 2-run homer in the 1st off Graham Godfrey, but they didn’t get much after that. Godfrey pitched 6 innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 hits, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts. Tacoma’s Michael Pineda also went 6, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts and 2 homers.

6/29/10 – Bakersfield Blaze at Stockton Ports

From Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. The Ports won, 8-6. David Thomas, Grant Green & Jeremy Barfield homered for Stockton as they came back from an early 3-0 deficit to win, Green’s breaking a 5-5 tie in the 7th. The Blaze also showed the power with homers by Chris Gradoville, Mike Bianucci & Johnny Whittleman. David Paisano doubled and tripled for Bakersfield while Stephen Parker and Ryan Ortiz both had a single and a double for Stockton. Neither starter, Ben Hornbeck of the Ports & Carlos Pimentel of the Blaze, figured in the decision.

I’ve had a lot to keep me busy so far this season, covering ten games in the first two months. I’m keeping it to an average of about one a week but there will be times where it picks up. One of those will be the end of the month to coincide with maximizing the rental of a 200-400mm, f4 lens. I’m strongly considering buying a used one after that because I believe it will really help me get even closer to the action. You get to see the end result but there’s some cropping that goes into it first and the closer I can start with, the better the overall quality should be.

That week I’ll be at least covering a mid-morning game in Stockton that MLB Network will be showing, then flying the next morning to Midland for the Texas League All-Star Game. Around that I may do a game in Sacramento as well. Definitely looking forward to that week.

A few more games to point to since the last entry:

5/24/10: Nashville Sounds at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 8-3. Steve Tolleson went 3-for-4 with two solo homers while Chris Carter also went deep to go along with a double. Matt Carson, Josh Donaldson and Adrian Cardenas also had two hits apiece for Sacramento. Brett Anderson worked 3 innings in an injury rehab appearance (6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 SO before Travis Blackley went 3 more (2 H, 1 BB, 3 SO) for the win. Nashville’s Chris Waters didn’t make it out of the 4th, giving up 8 R (7 ER) on 8 H and 5 BB.

6/2/10: Tacoma Rainiers at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The Rainiers won, 9-7. Sacramento blew a 6-3 lead late thanks to home runs by Tacoma’s Mike Carp and Jack Hannahan. Carp had 3 RBI while Hannahan and Brad Nelson had 2 each. Chris Carter homered for Sacramento and Matt Watson drove in a pair with a double. Neither Tacoma starter Andrew Baldwin nor Sacramento starter Graham Godfrey factored into the decision. Henry Rodriguez took the loss, allowing Carp’s homer.

6/7/10: Bakersfield Blaze at Stockton Ports

From Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. The Ports won, 9-8. Tyler Ladendorf capped a 4-for-4 night with a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth after the Ports blew a 3-0 lead but came back from 6-3 and 8-5 deficits late. Grant Green and Stephen Parker homered on consecutive pitches in the first and Ryan Ortiz also went deep in the seventh. Mike Bianucci and John Whittleman homered for the Blaze. Neither Paul Oseguera nor Michael Schlact figured in the decision. Schlact made his first start since coming back from shoulder surgery and rehab.

Michael Schlact is an interesting story that kind of helps justify the use of social sites like Twitter, which he’s active in along with Facebook. Through a writer I know with Scout.com (Jason Cole, who covers the Texas Rangers organization), I ended up following Schlact during the latter stages of rehabbing from shoulder surgery. As it happened, this game in Stockton was his first since returning to starting so I figured it’d be fun to go watch and shoot the game.

The truth is, thanks to Twitter I’ve ended up paying more attention to a player I wouldn’t have otherwise had much of a reason to think about, and it makes me more interested in watching how his career progresses. I’ve already done that in some cases with certain players I’ve seen play at lower levels and know they’ve got a shot at the bigs (such as Daric Barton, Kurt Suzuki, Ubaldo Jimenez, Andy Sonnanstine, Brandon Wood and more at the High-A level) but this is a little different. I never thought I’d use Twitter but it’s been great for keeping up on breaking baseball news along with following various baseball players to see what they’re talking about, and I also use it to try sharing my photography better.

I was in Stockton last night not just to see the Ports and Visalia Rawhide, but also because Stockton’s own Dallas Braden was being honored at Banner Island Ballpark.

The stories are out there for those who want to read them, telling of Braden’s rough childhood and struggles with school along with the guidance his grandmother gave him to help get him on the right track. It’s culminated so far with a starting spot on the Oakland A’s pitching staff and now taken to another level thanks to his improbable perfect game on Mother’s Day against the Tampa Bay Rays.

As much as last night’s ceremony was because of that game, the more important, underlying story is Braden’s embracing of the city he grew up in, the 209 as being more than just an area code, and the amount he gives back to the place that raised him.

Some people would run as fast as they could away from a rough town once making it in something, but he’s done the complete opposite. Now more than ever, Braden has shown even more love for his roots. Need more evidence? This is from his speech last night:

“This is where I come from. It’s like that country song goes, ‘These are my people. This is where I come from.’ I’m proud to put you guys on my back any day of the week. I’ll go to war with you any day of the week and I want you to be there by my side day in and day out as we succeed, because that’s what we’re doing together as a city as it comes up, and we’re gonna keep coming. So let’s go. We’ll all be perfect together.”

I fully believe this day would have happened sooner or later anyway, but the perfect game sped things up just a bit.  It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if, after his playing days are over, Braden becomes even more deeply involved in doing whatever he can to continue to help Stockton.

I’ve put up 25 pics from the pregame events here: 5/22/10: Stockton Honors Dallas Braden

Also, here are a couple links to a video of the full presentation by the Ports, and a story by the Stockton Record that includes a shorter interview clip with Braden along with the key to the city presentation.

It was truly a special night.

2010 should be a busy year for me around the ballpark now that I’ll have a full season within about 15 miles of Raley Field in Sacramento and a little over twice that to Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. So far I’ve shot three games in the past couple weeks and will be out there again twice more this week. I could get used to that.

The first two games were from Sacramento and featured the River Cats against the Reno Aces and Portland Beavers. The home team lost both but what made it a little more fun for me was getting to see Rickey Henderson around the A’s prospects. He’s with the organization as a roving instructor and spent a week between Stockton and Sacramento.

I got a great candid the first night, thanks to Michael Taylor. The second game that week was the first day game I had a chance to shoot in about a year and it was also the first one I worked in the rain (after about an hour delay to the start of it). As long as I keep the camera dry it’s actually not bad to work in at all. The light is obviously better so I can shoot faster and at a higher quality, but there are also fewer shadows to deal with. I like that.

Last week I got out to one in Stockton where the Ports played the Bakersfield Blaze, and once again the home team lost. In fact, the Blaze blew it open in the last few innings but it was so cold and windy that I called it a night after shooting about half the game, leaving right before Bakersfield scored most of their runs.

Here are links to the three games so far:

4/19/10: Reno Aces at Sacramento River Cats: From Raley Field in Sacramento. The Aces won, 5-3. Early defensive miscues by the River Cats staked Reno to a 2-0 lead but a double by Matt Carson tied it in the fifth. In the eighth, Reno’s Brandon Allen extended a 3-2 lead with a 2-run homer. Sacramento’s Jack Cust got a run back with a single but that was it for the scoring. Sacramento’s Trevor Cahill pitched into the fourth in his first start following an injury and Graham Godfrey took the loss. Reno’s Cesar Valdez earned the win with a solid outing.

4/21/10: Portland Beavers at Sacramento River Cats: From Raley Field in Sacramento. The Beavers won, 5-1. Aaron Cunningham hit a solo homer and Craig Cooper drove in two for the Beavers, who won behind a good outing by Will Inman. Mike Affronti had a couple hits for the River Cats while Michael Taylor brought in their only run. Kyle Middleton struggled and took the loss.

4/29/10: Bakersfield Blaze at Stockton Ports: From Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. The Blaze won, 12-5. Stockton led 3-1 going to the 7th but Bakersfield scored 8 times to put the game out of reach, in spite of striking out 17 times overall while also drawing 10 walks. Ports starter Shawn Haviland only allowed a run on a homer in 5.1 innings, striking out 9, but the bullpen fell apart. Stephen Parker homered for Stockton while Chris Gradoville went deep for Bakersfield.

9/18/09: Memphis Redbirds at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The Redbirds won, 6-0. In Game 3 of their Pacific Coast League championship series Memphis cruised to a sweep behind a strong outing by Evan MacLane (8 1/3 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K), who didn’t allow a run in starts against Albuquerque and Sacramento. The Redbirds scored single runs in the 1st and 2nd before adding a pair in the 5th and 7th. Brian Barden drove in two runs while Allen Craig, David Freese and Shane Robinson each had one. Jon Jay and Jarrett Hoffpauir set the table at the top of the order, both going 3-for-5 while scoring twice. Mark Shorey also chipped in with a pair of hits. Sacramento, denied in their attempt for a third straight PCL title, was led by Brett Wallace, Chris Carter and Adrian Cardenas who all had two hits each but Jerome Williams allowed 4 runs in 5 innings.

There isn’t much else to say but “Congratulations, Memphis.” With a 77-67 regular season record they didn’t seem like too much of a threat to beat Albuquerque in the first round but they won all three games. It earned them a matchup against Sacramento, coming off of scoring 36 runs in four games against Tacoma. That would turn around quickly with just two in three games as Memphis breezed through the PCL playoffs with a 6-0 record, once more proving that the games aren’t won or lost on paper. So much of it has to do with getting hot at the right time and in their six games Memphis allowed just ten runs, six of them coming in Game 2 in Albuquerque. No doubt, they earned their title.

For me, there is a certain excitement to covering a clinching game because of the emotion involved on both the winning and losing sides.  It’s not a World Series victory but it’s still a championship for the players, teams and fans no matter what the competition is, from Little League through high school, college and all levels of the Minors.

Unless I work any Arizona Fall League games, this also wraps up my “season.” It began in March as a fan with the final rounds of the World Baseball Classic at Dodger Stadium, included three Minor League All-Star Games, and was capped off with shooting a league title game.  All told, I did 20 games this year and that’s not too bad considering much of my time from April to June was taken up with buying, moving and settling into my first house.  Each game I cover, I like to try to capture something I haven’t before whether it’s a certain play or something from a specific angle, because that helps keep things fresh. The link up top contains 80 shots. As always, thanks for looking.

I’ve been keeping busy but the lack of posts here probably suggests otherwise. Just in case anyone does follow this (you should see all the comments: spam, spam, spam), here’s what I’ve been up to with my photography since August:

8/7/09: Oklahoma City RedHawks at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 4-3 in 12 innings. A throwing error on a stolen base allowed Eric Patterson to score the winning run a few innings after the RedHawks tied it in the ninth. Earlier, Patterson hit a home run to become the second River Cat (Mark Bellhorn, 2000) with at least 10 homers, 10 doubles, 10 triples and 10 stolen bases in one season. Gregorio Petit had three hits for Sacramento and Travis Buck added a pair. Four RedHawks had two hits apiece and Chris Davis walked four times.

8/27/09: Fresno Grizzlies at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The Grizzlies won, 6-3. Four Fresno hitters had two hits apiece, including two doubles by Joe Borchard. Buster Posey had 2 RBI for the Grizzlies, who scored four runs in the seventh to take the lead and make a winner out of Waldis Joaquin in relief of Matt Kinney. Dana Eveland worked six-plus innings but failed to get an out in the seventh, taking the loss. He allowed 9 hits and struck out 9. Matt Carson and Travis Buck hit solo homers for the River Cats, who struck out 17 times compared to 13 for the Grizzlies.

8/29/09: Fresno Grizzlies at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 9-5. First Sacramento honored the Oakland A’s World Series win in 1989, then they scored 7 runs in the 2nd inning to break it open early. Brett Wallace collected 3 hits and drove in a pair, Chris Carter, Adrian Cardenas (both doubles) and Gregorio Petit had 2 hits apiece, and Eric Munson knocked in 3. Clayton Mortensen made it through 7 innings though he allowed 11 hits and 5 runs (3 earned). Fresno’s Kevin Pucetas was hit hard to the tune of 9 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks and 2 hit batters while recording just 5 outs. Kevin Frandsen had 4 hits for the Grizzlies and Matt Downs had 3 RBI.

8/31/09: Sacramento River Cats at Reno Aces

From Aces Ballpark in Reno. The River Cats won, 17-6. Chris Carter’s first 3 homers with Sacramento, along with 7 RBI, led a 20-hit attack as 7 River Cats had multiple hits, including 4 by Matt Carson and 3 each by Carter, Chris Denorfia and Brett Wallace. Carson and Tommy Everidge also hit home runs, Everidge’s hitting the top of the scoreboard. Josh Whitesell and Luke Carlin had 3 hits apiece for the Aces and Cole Gillespie homered. Reno’s Seth Etherton gave up 10 runs on 12 hits in 5 innings along with 4 homers, and Scott Dohmann allowed 7 more in the 9th. Chad Reineke pitched into the 6th for Sacramento, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.

9/1/09: Sacramento River Cats at Reno Aces

From Aces Ballpark in Reno. The Aces won, 8-6. Reno took an early 7-1 lead against James Simmons, who gave up 5 runs while getting only 5 outs, and held on for the win. Eric Byrnes, Cole Gillespie, Ed Rogers and Abraham Nunez each had a pair of hits for the Aces while Rogers and Agustin Murillo drove in 2 apiece to help Tony Barnette (6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 9 SO) to the win. Tommy Everidge hit two solo homers and drove in 3 runs for Sacramento and Daniel Haigwood pitched well in relief of Simmons, allowing 2 earned runs in 5 1/3 IP.

9/11/09: Tacoma Rainiers at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 13-2. In Game 3 of their best-of-five Pacific Coast League playoff series with the Rainiers, Sacramento poured it on early and late and rode a strong performance by Jerome Williams (7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO) to coast to the victory and a 2-1 series lead. Chris Carter, Matt Carson and Brett Wallace all went deep for the River Cats and Wallace had 4 RBI. Chris Denorfia and Adrian Cardenas both pitched in with 3 hits each and Cardenas also had 3 RBI. Tacoma’s Andrew Baldwin didn’t make it out of the 3rd, giving up 6 ER on 8 H before the River Cats added on in the 8th with 5 more runs against Robert Manuel, capped off by Wallace’s 3-run homer.

9/12/09: Tacoma Rainiers at Sacramento River Cats

From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 13-8. In Game 4 of their Pacific Coast League playoff series Sacramento scored 6 times in the 1st and after Tacoma closed to within 7-5 the River Cats opened it back up with 6 more in the 7th, advancing to play Memphis for the PCL title. Tommy Everidge drove in 3 runs with a pair of hits, Chris Carter homered for the fifth straight game (1 regular season, 4 playoffs), Brett Wallace tripled in 2 in the big 1st inning and Aaron Cunningham had an important 2-run double in the 7th. Shawn Chacon lasted 5+ innings and allowed 4 runs for the win while Gaby Hernandez of the Rainers was lit up for 6 runs in just 2/3 innings and Justin Thomas later allowed 4 of his own in 1/3 innings. Chris Shelton and Matt Tuiasosopo both homered for Tacoma and drove in 3 runs apiece.

I’ll probably be covering at least one or two of the Sacramento/Memphis games at the end of the week then that might be it for me for the year unless I get out to any of the Arizona Fall League games, which would be fun.

Baseball isn’t all I’ve shot, though it does wind up being the majority of it during the season. While I was in Reno I came back through Virginia City so I took the chance to basically redo some photos I took a few years ago and get a few more of things I didn’t the first time around.  Those can be seen here.

I also enjoyed having my brother visit not too long ago and he and some friends invited me out to see them do some power kiting on a sod farm in Lodi. That’s some pretty cool stuff but you definitely have to know what you’re doing. You can see a couple galleries here and I’m sure it won’t be the last time I take pictures of them doing it. It’s fun to shoot different things and play around with it.

This is going up a little later than I planned but a few things (house, work, some laziness) have led to me being a bit slow in putting things up.

I was in Portland from July 13-15 to cap off the trio of Minor League All-Star Games I covered. For the Triple-A game, they do it similarly to the Major League version by having a multi-day event of it.  After a weekend fanfest, they held a Home Run Derby on Monday, a media/workout day Tuesday and the game Wednesday.

PGE Park has quite a long history. Originally opening in 1926, it went through a number of renovations in 2001 but it’s still very easy to tell how unique it is, what with its irregular shape that makes it easy to host football and soccer games. Down the first base side foul territory is fairly normal and they’ve got a seating area that ends within a couple feet of the foul line. Down the third base side it rivals the Oakland Coliseum for open space. It’s deep enough below the surface streets that a high wall runs from left to center, cutting the distance to a mere 317 feet down the line. However, the wall is not in play like Fenway’s Green Monster. Anything hit off of it or the large, completely hand-operated scoreboard is a home run. The ballpark also has a roof that extends out to cover the entire seating area.

For photographers, it’s not that easy a place to shoot in unless you have a longer zoom. Mine only goes to 200mm so there were a number of shots where I couldn’t get as close as I’d like before having to crop out things I didn’t need later on, which shows a bit in the overall quality of the action shots from the game itself. It also has no traditional photo wells so finding room to shoot among other photographers was a challenge at times. Still, nice place to see a game, nice place to work in. Let’s just say I’m glad I don’t cover games there all the time.

Monday’s Home Run Derby: Portland’s Chad Huffman hit a combined total of 15 homers, topping Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Shelley Duncan who finished with 10. Huffman belted 5 in the final round to Duncan’s 1. The ability to shoot from closer spots on the field made this easier to get good close-ups and I took the chance to wander around the ballpark for a few different perspectives during the middle round.

Tuesday’s Media/Workout Day: A good opportunity to work on shots around the batting cage. Listening to the crack of the bat is one of those things we’re all familiar with from batting practice but being within a foot or two of the netting taking pictures of it makes it just a little different. It’s also important to be very aware of what’s going on around you as just a few feet away a coach is hitting grounders to the infielders.

Wednesday’s All-Star Game: The International League won, 6-5. Erik Kratz of Indianapolis went 2-for-2 with a homer, double, 2 runs, 2 RBI and a walk. Drew Stubbs of Louisville also homered and drove in a pair with Andrew Carpenter of Lehigh Valley getting credit for the win after a scoreless 2nd in which he struck out the side on 9 pitches. The IL struck out 14 hitters on the night. Esteban German of Oklahoma City went 3-for-4 with a homer, double and 4 RBI. Yorman Bazardo of Round Rock took the loss, giving up 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning.

One highlight was seeing and meeting the San Diego Chicken, who was brought in for the game. You can read up on his history as a mascot since the 1970s elsewhere, but it’s safe to say Ted Giannoulas revolutionized the art of character mascots and helped lead to other famous ones like the Phillie Phanatic and the Phoenix Suns Gorilla. Now just about every professional team has a mascot of some kind.

As it happened I was down behind the backstop near the first base dugout at the same time he was so I had the opportunity to chat with him for half a minute or so. I just told him it was my first time seeing him in person and I wanted to let him know how much fun it was, which he sounded like he really appreciated. I’m sure he’s heard it a lot but he still goes at it with so much energy and dedication. I also mentioned how perfect the timing was on the “Employee of the Month” sign that came after a homer by one of the PCL hitters during the first half-inning he was out there and he said it couldn’t have worked out any better for using it. Specific photos I took of him performing are here.

From Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, TX. The North Division won, 2-1. Corey Smith of Northwest Arkansas was the only player with 2 hits as pitching dominated. He also scored a run and drove in another late in the game. Midland’s Josh Horton doubled in the only run for the South Division. Springfield’s Trey Hearne started and pitched 2 innings to get credit for the win while Midland’s Jason Fernandez, who also went 2 innings, gave up an early run that saddled him with the loss.

Ever since I saw pictures of this ballpark a couple years ago I’d hoped to get a chance to see a game there in person. When I found out earlier this year that the Texas League All-Star Game would be played there I made it a goal to cover it. Fortunately that worked out, I took my trip to the Dallas area last week, caught a Rangers game on Monday (and marked one more MLB park off my list of places to visit), then worked this one on Wednesday.

When a league has an All-Star Game where just its own divisions face each other it means a lot more players from those teams are involved than you get with the California/Carolina League game or the Pacific Coast League/International League game, which has a max of three players per team this year. Maybe it waters down the talent a bit but in this case it gave me the chance to see a number of A’s prospects from Midland’s team along with others as well. I’d been thinking of trying to catch a game in Midland but the timing didn’t work out, though they do have an airport nearby so I wouldn’t have to drive five hours or so once I got into Texas.

So far that’s two minor league ASGs with 2-1 finals. I’d bet the last one I’ll be at in Portland will have a few more runs scored than that. The dugout steps were a little steep and I wanted to be a bit safer from foul balls so I shot from inside the dugout itself, close to the steps, and it let me get ground-level angles for everything I did from the sides. I like being that low if I can. One thing I did more of this time was take shots of pitchers from off to one side of home plate as they warmed up between innings. I also like them wearing their team uniforms so much better because it makes it a lot easier to remember who’s who later on when you have more than just a hat to go by. There are 115 shots.

7/1/09: Texas League: North vs. South (Double-A)