James Venes

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.