James Venes

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.

The past couple months have been mostly taken up by finalizing a home purchase and moving and I’m getting settled in enough that I can go back out and do some games. Shooting a lot of stuff in Sacramento and Stockton is nice when I’m only about 20 minutes from Sacramento and 40 minutes from Stockton compared to about two hours and one hour respectively, depending on traffic.

I got back out to Sacramento on the 11th then did a game in Stockton on the 17th followed by another in Sacramento the next night as I work on getting more used to night games. After covering the first game I started thinking more about getting a little extra zoom. Before I got the new camera and lens for it, I’d been using one that went up to 300mm but the problem was its aperture settings were nowhere near good enough to shoot at night (about f5.6 when at full zoom). Now I have one that’s f2.8 but it’s only 200mm and I’ve been noticing it’s not quite enough for me when it comes to cropping to a larger part of the image for a better-looking result.

I started looking at 300-400mm lenses with f2.8 but they’re definitely expensive. Rather than plunking down a few thousand on one (I’ve been spending more than enough lately getting necessary items for the house) I decided to try a 1.4x teleconverter Nikon puts out. So far I’m pretty happy with it, though having to go down a full stop to f4.0 does make for some differences in how I can shoot once night sets in. It’s a fair tradeoff, though.

Before getting into the next bit of news, three galleries:

6/11/09: Tacoma Rainiers at Sacramento River Cats:  From Raley Field in Sacramento. The Rainiers won, 6-4. Brad Nelson tied the game with a 3-run homer in the 8th inning and two-out singles in the 9th by Mike Carp and Mike Morse was enough to overcome an early 4-1 deficit. Travis Buck hit a solo homer and had a sacrifice fly and Danny Putnam had a 2-run homer to account for Sacramento’s runs. Andrew Baldwin went 7 innings for Tacoma and pitched well aside from the homers while James Simmons worked 5 for the River Cats before leaving with tightness in his back.

6/17/09: Modesto Nuts at Stockton Ports:  From Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. The Nuts won, 6-2. Connor Graham pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings for the win, allowing just 4 hits while walking 4 and striking out 7. Tyson Ross was undone by a 5-run 6th, giving up 6 runs on 9 hits with a walk and 4 strikeouts in 5 1/3. Home runs were hit by Modesto’s Jay Cox and Stockton’s Jemile Weeks, who has at least one hit in all 18 games so far this season. Brian Rike drove in 3 of Modesto’s 6 runs.

6/18/09: Salt Lake Bees at Sacramento River Cats:  From Raley Field in Sacramento. The River Cats won, 9-0. Cliff Pennington’s 3-run triple in the 7th broke open a 1-0 game and the River Cats scored a total of 8 runs in the last 2 innings to turn it into a blowout. Gio Gonzalez worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing just 4 hits and a walk while striking out 10. Dan Denham pitched 6+ for the Bees but left with the bases loaded before the bullpen failed to limit the damage. Eric Munson’s solo homer was the only run until late in the game. Pennington finished with 4 RBI while Travis Buck, Munson and Aaron Cunningham had 2 hits apiece for Sacramento. Brandon Wood was the only Salt Lake batter with multiple hits, also getting a pair.

Something else I’ve started playing around with are animated gifs. Of course they’re nothing like video with 30-60 frames per second, but with a camera that lets me shoot about 10 fps it can be fun messing around with throwing a sequence together and seeing how it comes out to get a better look at someone’s pitching motion or a stolen base.  Here are a few examples:

* Salt Lake’s Howie Kendrick tags out Sacramento’s Cliff Pennington
* Sacramento’s Gio Gonzalez from the first base side
* Sacramento’s Gio Gonzalez from behind the plate
* Salt Lake’s Dan Denham from the third base side
* Stockton’s Tyson Ross from the third base side

Some talk has surfaced among A’s fans about the delivery Ross has ever since he was drafted last year and just looking at one or two still shots doesn’t tell the story the same as a video or animation like this does. With the camera what it is, I can play around with things like this a lot more and turn it into another part of what I do.

As for the actual news, I’ve got credentials lined up for three minor league All-Star Games in the next month:

* June 23: High-A All-Star Game in Lake Elsinore, CA (California League vs. Carolina League)
* July 1: Double-A All-Star Game in Frisco, TX (Texas League North vs. Texas League South)
* July 15: Triple-A All-Star Game in Portland, OR (Pacific Coast League vs. International League)

The opportunity to cover a few of these is a good one, especially with the chance for some of the photos to see further exposure online and in print. It’s also just a lot of fun to be around things like this. I’ve been to both ballparks in Lake Elsinore and Portland but the one in Frisco will be a first and from everything I’ve seen it’s a beautiful ballpark. You’ll see what I mean. I’ll also be close enough to go watch a game or two in Arlington and knock one more MLB ballpark off my list. Midland (the Oakland affiliate in the Texas League) is too far to go to this time around but about 10 players from the team will be in the All-Star Game anyway.

The next month will be pretty busy but that’s just fine with me.

With the Nikon D3 and a 70-200mm, f2.8 lens, I’m reaching the point where I’ll be able to do a lot more than just day games thanks to having equipment that can really handle it and the kind of lighting that’s common at minor league facilities. Still, I enjoy an afternoon at the ballpark and will continue shooting as many of those as I can because it’s much easier to freeze the action and get some nice, crisp shots.

Take Wednesday’s game between the Portland Beavers and Sacramento River Cats. Conditions were nice and sunny and for most of the game I was shooting at a shutter speed of 1/6400 or 1/8000 at f2.8 while the ISO ranged between about 500 to 1000 depending on how bright the background was or which direction the sun was coming from. What this let me do is something I’ve been wanting to be able to get since I began shooting baseball: really freeze the bat and ball, especially from one side of the infield or the other.

Behind the plate, when the ball is coming toward you it’s not really moving anywhere but on a mostly straight line. From the first or third base areas, it naturally goes side-to-side so there’s going to be blurring if the camera’s not fast enough to really stop it. With the D3 and the lens I’m using, it’s a piece of cake to get it to the point of being able to see the stitches. Maybe it’s a small thing but it’s something I like.

So, about the game. The Portland Beavers were in Sacramento for a series with the River Cats and this one wasn’t close at all. Behind four home runs, thirteen hits and twelve walks, the Beavers cruised to an 11-1 victory that saw not one but TWO position players (outfielder Matt Carson and catcher Raul Padron) pitch for the River Cats. Every once in a while you’ll see a position player get an inning in a blowout - just the other day Nick Swisher did it for the Yankees - but I’ve never heard of two doing it in the same game. Maybe it’s a little more likely in the minors and I’m guessing Sacramento wanted to save one or two of their pitchers, but it’s still got to be pretty rare.

Portland also wore a vintage-style uniform that consisted of a dark blue top and pants with white piping. In checking the Pacific Coast League’s media guide I found the top is their alternate jersey, but they’d worn it with the traditional white or gray pants before. This was the first time they broke out blue pants as well. It reminded me of things I’d seen from the 70s in particular when teams like the Indians wore all red uniforms. I actually like taking pictures of stuff like that once in a while because it’s a little different, but I can’t really call it a good look. See what I mean:

4/15/09: Portland Beavers at Sacramento River Cats

One of the things I’m working on doing is getting more non-action shots that show players in the dugout or reacting to what’s happening on the field. It takes paying a little more attention to it but it can add to the overall effect of what I do and it’s something I’ve seen others pull off very well.

Next week is going to be pretty exciting for me as I head to the new ballpark in Reno for the first time. During the offseason Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate moved there from Tucson, and tonight was the first game in their new downtown ballpark. I really like getting to places I haven’t been before, especially when they’re as new as this. Look for pictures from two games there over the next couple weeks. There may be a bit of a delay depending on how quickly I move into my new home.

I’m starting to develop a general philosophy about doing photography at the minor league level. I see people like me and the players themselves as being in similar places. We all want to do well enough to be noticed and move up to a higher level. There are some things I’m good at getting and doing when it comes to composition and editing later on the computer, but there are a number of others I can definitely get better at. I’ve talked about experimentation before and that remains a big part of improving in a profession like photography.

Anyhow.

Another Wednesday, another game worked. That’s four in a row and more due in May. I’m going to be wasted by the time this month is over but that’s a good thing.

Here, the Sacramento River Cats beat the Omaha Royals 4-1. In his first game with Sacramento, Joe Gaetti (who was recently signed and called up from Double-A Midland with the Sacramento outfield a little short-staffed) homered his first time up before adding a double and a single to his credit. Nick Blasi singled three times, Lenny DiNardo worked 6 scoreless innings for the win and Brad Ziegler picked up the save. Ryan Shealy homered for the Royals.

This was an interesting game to shoot. I got a nice shot of a dive in left field by Danny Putnam and pretty good timing on Gaetti’s homer, but aside from that I missed a lot of stuff I’d have liked to get: a couple comebackers to the mound (which are pretty tough to predict anyway) and my timing/positioning was off for a couple double plays. Oh well. That’s why you keep working. I did play around with some faster shutter speeds than normal, getting up to 1/3200 for a few shots, trying to freeze the ball even more. It’s no problem when you’re behind the plate because it’s moving straight toward you but from side-to-side it blurs easily.

4/30/08: Omaha Royals at Sacramento River Cats

I get to see Omaha again in a few days down in Fresno.

Triple-A action here. Sacramento, behind 6 innings of no-hit ball from Dan Meyer, shut Tucson out 3-0. After the second game of their four game series, Tucson had managed a grand total of no runs on just 6 hits and 3 walks en route to a 2-12 record. Then again, it may be little surprise with some of the prospects Arizona sent to Oakland in the Dan Haren trade.

One of them, Carlos Gonzalez, went 3-for-4 and turned in a spectacular leaping catch in the right-center field gap for Meyer’s final out of the day in the 6th inning. Todd Linden and Brooks Conrad added a pair of hits for the River Cats, one of Conrad’s coming on a solo home run in the 1st. Ryan Wing and Brad Ziegler combined to allow 2 hits over the final 3 innings, with Ziegler picking up the save. Evan MacLane started for Tucson, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits over 5 innings. Trot Nixon, who accepted a minor league assignment when Arizona chose Alex Romero over him coming out of Spring Training, had the day off with the late morning start after a night game.

I worked with a slightly faster shutter speed than I did the week before in Stockton (mostly 1/2000th of a second) and in many cases the differences were clear, especially catching the release of the ball during pitches. As long as there’s enough light, it’s easier to get away with it and just do some editing later if I need to add a little more brightness.

4/16/08: Tucson at Sacramento

In West Sacramento, Raley Field is probably one of the nicest minor league ballparks you could find. Unless you’ve been to a number of them (and there are a few great websites out there with a ton of photos by people who have) it’s hard to compare one to another, but the layout’s nice and it’s situated in an area that’s pretty easy to get to. That it’s about 100 miles from home means I only go there once in a while, and I had my first chance to shoot a game there on August 8, a morning start (11:35 AM) between the Sacramento River Cats and visiting Oklahoma RedHawks.

This one was a pitching duel between Oklahoma’s Edinson Volquez and Sacramento’s Colby Lewis. They entered the game with a combined 11-1 record in Triple-A this season and both were dominant in Oklahoma’s 2-0 victory. Lewis went 8 innings, allowed just a run on 4 hits and struck out 10 without walking anyone, yet he took the loss as Volquez pitched 7 strong, giving up 2 hits and 2 walks to go with 9 strikeouts. Oklahoma’s only runs? In the 7th, the first came as the result of a sacrifice fly in which the third out was recorded at second base a split second after the run scored. In the 9th, the other one crossed the plate due to a fielding error. The game was played in a swift 2:15 and the hot summer temperatures took a break with the high topping out in the mid-80s.

I mention the temperature because my preference tends to be shooting day games. While I know it makes some things tougher to shoot because of different shadowing effects and the position of the sun relative to the direction I’m facing, I get better overall results than I would at night because I’m not yet to the point of being able to afford better glass to work with in lower light. I live in a very comfortable area so most of the year is pretty nice but during the summer months there are places that definitely get hot, including Sacramento and pretty much anywhere along Hwy 99 (Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield) and much of the Southern part of the state that features other California League teams. It’s just one of those tradeoffs. I can live with a bit of heat in exchange for better shots and we don’t really have to deal with all the humidity the Midwest and East Coast gets.

The gallery: 8/8/07: Oklahoma RedHawks at Sacramento River Cats

There’s a greater focus on Sacramento players mainly because I was shooting for the A’s part of scout.com. Usually I try to balance both sides out a little more. Among the shots I liked best were multiple ones of different pitchers taken behind the plate, plus a couple of River Cat Jeremy Brown - one diving for a base hit and another from a broken bat, one of the best I’ve taken yet of something like that.