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.