Story #12, 13 -- Written from coast to coast...

CINCINNATI, OHIO -- OK, the "coast" of the Ohio River to be more precise.

Greetings from the Buckeye State. That's right, I'm in Ohio, seeing Mary once more before she heads to Greece this summer and enjoying the extended Memorial Day Weekend. It was a hectic week leading into this opportunity, and this one has been no different.

(FYI-- next week will, shocker, also be hectic. But I'm OK with that.)

I was able to knock in a few more stories and 40 more hours this week. Some of aforementioned hours were in Sacramento, Cali. Some of them were about 10,000+ feet in the air between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Cincinnati, Ohio. And some of the writing was done at Mary's desk while she was off at work.

Case and point, (cue the music) keep a look out for Mark Shugar and his amazing, fan-tacular 'virtual office,' it could be coming to a city near you. Tickets on sale now.

Alright, here are my stories that went live on MiLB.com today:

Click here for my story about High Desert Mavericks third baseman Michael Saunders. He's Canadian, he chose baseball over hockey despite "NHL potential," so what's not to like? A shout out to hockey moms in the story, who says you can't put a personal touch on a story?

Click here for my story about Salt Lake Bees radio announcer Steve Klauke. I've done a few announcer stories before, but this was one more like what I expected. Fourteen years of experience, loves the team and the city, can list players and moments, etc. Steve was a nice guy and made for a heck of a story. Fun to write (hopefully) means fun to read!

Well, everyone have enjoyable holiday weekends. I'm looking forward to The Taste of Cincinnati tomorrow (went last year, deeeee-licious), so I hope you have something fun planned too!

A picture worth 1,000 words...

Take that, Red Wings fans. At least the Penguins lost to a team of destiny...

Story #11 -- Storm, JetHawks redefine 'offensive onslaught'

When the bossman calls, you have got to accept the charges. Even if it was actually just an IM, and calling for a couple-hundred word notebook about a Minor League Baseball series that, well, defines (at least to me) what Minor League Baseball can be all about.

The Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore Storm (props to Marty, who is a fan of the Storm logo-- a pair of eyes) and Lancaster JetHawks got together this past weekend. Here's a quick rundown:

GAME 1 -- Lake Elsinore 30, Lancaster 0. Two guys have six-hit games. Another goes 5-5 with two home runs. If you listen closely on a still night in California, you can still hear the JetHawks bullpen crying.

GAME 2 -- Lake Elsinore 12, Lancaster 14. If not for a JetHawks player making California League history for hitting four home runs in one game, this one would have been another ugly Storm win. In fact, the JetHawks were down, 9-0, at one point.

GAME 3 -- Lake Elsinore 21, Lancaster 6. Well, there goes the JetHawks "momentum." A Storm player hit for the cycle and racked up eight RBIs. That's a new career-high for him, which he had just set two days earlier with seven RBIs in the opening game of the series.

Click here to read about the highlights in this ridiculous series, via MiLB.com (and me!).

Like the subhead reads: 83 runs and 23 home runs on 95 hits combined. The Storm had an inning with 12 runs scored. That's enough said.

And you were watching the Preakness Stakes this weekend, weren't you?

Story #10 -- Cowboys duo broke Pioneer no-no barrier

Well, this is the story I have been slaving over. We're talking almost a week of eight-hour (plus) days filled with interviews, research and writing, and here's the final result.

Click here for the story.

The story is about the first no-hitter thrown in the Pioneer League...and the second, which came just nine days later. Tony Jeli and Joe Feria were the pitchers, and both played for the Twin Falls Cowboys.

The year was 1942, which made this story next to impossible to research. Very little remains of the team (literally, the team no longer exists and the stadium has been long-since torn down), including articles and people who could chronicle the events a bit better.

All in all, while my boss said he liked the story, it found its way onto MiLB.com heavilly edited (we're talking close to 200 words shorter). It was a lot of work, with little to show for it.

I'm chalking this up as a hallow victory, at best.

Story #9 -- Cassel eyes return to mound

Whew. What a week. But "don't take your seats 'cause it's not over."

This is just the first of what should be two MiLB.com-related updates today, the latter being a bit more near-and-dear to my heart (more about that when it happens). Until then, feel free to kill some time reading a player feature I wrote earlier this week on Winston-Salem Warthogs pitcher, Justin Cassel, which filled a "Prospect Report" in an E-Zine to Chicago White Sox fans.

Check out the story here!

And don't forget to check back later. There's more to come! I will have the new post up, hopefully, before I head out to Raley Field. The River Cats are finally back in town, and will be so for the next week. I smell a change of pace in my near future, and it smells delicious.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Just a short story. I fired this bad boy up for the first time yesterday. I know that may sound absurd to some of you because I have been out here for a few weeks, but when you have like four forks/knives/spoons and a few miscellaneous dishes to your name, well-- you have to spend a week or two "filling" the dishwasher.

Long story short, after fiddling with a dial here and a setting there...I basically thought I had programmed the dishwasher to destroy the Earth...with a heated dry afterwards. This thing is loud. Like, "they forgot to push the button on Lost" loud. The only difference is I had "pushed the button" so to speak, willingly, possibly ending life as we know it for some clean cutlery.

(My apologies to those who don't get the Lost reference, I don't blame you for not watching).

I mean, this thing pulses pure, unadulterated loudness. I say pulses because it will work for a minute or two, turn off for five minutes and than scare the crap out of you when it decides to turn on again (with a sound comparable to a small vehicle driving into your humble abode). I almost dove for cover once...almost.

Luckily I survived (though I was nervous at the time because I was sitting directly across from the dishwasher at my computer working). And the dishes came out clean, score! I did learn a valuable lesson though: run the dishwasher during the day, or better yet, when I'm out of the apartment. Running this thing at night would be "sleep-suicide," to say the least.

And that's the dishwasher story.

Story #6, 7, 8 -- "The Farm's Almanac" bonanza! (pt. 2)

Here's the batch of stories about Raley Field I promised the other day. I thought that the "Farm's Almanac" was a weekly, Wednesday installment, but something held it up going live on MiLB.com this week. But the stories are finally up and here are the links.

Click here to see this week's installment of the "Farm's Almanac" in its entirety. I once again have all three stories in the 'On Location' section.

Or, if you want to skip right to the stories:

Click here to read, "Fans flock to Raley Field," a general story about the ins and outs of Raley Field, and the surrounding area.

Click here to read, "Doskow followed vibe to Sacramento," a story about the River Cats radio broadcaster and what he likes about working at Raley Field.

Click here to read, "Even the enemy impressed with Raley," a story about Tuscon RHP Casey Daigle's take on Raley Field (interesting side note, Daigle is married to Team USA softball pitcher, Jenny Finch, so he's got that going for him).

Behind the scenes at Raley Field...

Get it? Three stories about my home field coming later this week so check back!

Story #3, 4, 5 -- "The Farm's Almanac" bonanza!

Well today is an exciting day. My three stories I wrote during my time in San Jose went 'live' on MiLB.com and are linked to here for your enjoyment.

Click here to see the "Farm's Almanac" in its entirety and how my stories tie into it (hint: all three of the 'On Location' stories are mine).

Or, if you want to skip right to the stories:

Click here to read, "Where Giants play, 'Gigante' roams," a general story about the ins and outs of San Jose Municipal Stadium, and the surrounding area.

Click here to read, "Ritzo answered 'call' to San Jose," a story about the Giants radio broadcaster and his take on the stadium, team, manager and more.

Click here to read, "Burriss knows the way to San Jose," a story profiling Giants shortstop, Emmanuel Burriss, and his take on San Jose.

And if you like San Jose, just you wait. The Sacramento River Cats are back in town tonight and I will be attending my first game --as a journalist-- at my home park, Raley Field. I will be doing a similar profile of Raley Field for next week's "Farm's Almanac," while conducting a few player interviews as well.

Four-straight days of baseball games starts today, and I couldn't be happier!

More San Jose shots...

Hello. I'm back in Sacramento and I had a few minutes (not to mention, my AT&T internet is working...FINALLY!), so I thought I would post a few more pictures I took while in San Jose.

Most of these pictures were taken as reference shots for a story I wrote about San Jose Municipal Stadium, so my apologies if they are incredible random. That story, and two others, will be posted later today so be sure to check back! As always, enjoy!

There was a lot of stuff painted on the walls of the enterances and concourse at Municipal Stadium. This mural above is of the Giants' mascot, Gigante (pronounced like there is an 'H' at the beginning). Gigante is a pretty goofy-looking mascot, so I throughouly enjoyed him. Oddly enough, Gribb sent me a rap video as a joke...and Gigante showed up in it! For those that want to see Gigante in action, check out the Mistah Fab, "Ghost-Ridin'" video. For those of you with a vested interest in any of the Ghostbusters movies...well, just prepare.

More random art. This door is locked, and as far as I can tell-- it's not a phone booth.

This is about, I dunno, a 10th of a elaborately painted wall depicting the history of the California League and the San Jose Giants. It lists the championships, it lists the different make ups of the league...it's basically a history lesson cave man style. To the left of this wall was probably an equal stretch of wall just depicting the logos of every Minor League league and its respective teams. Someone has a lot of time on their hands, that's for sure.

Like I said, a lot of art. These shots can't even begin to display half of the images.

The Club House (aka the store). This is a new addition to the park, and is one of many recent changs. A new outfield wall was installed before this season, and a JumboTron was just erected in right field before the 2006 season. Last season also marked Gigante's 'birth,' which I hope was as exciting as it sounds. Case and point-- this team is on the up-and-up. Winning a championship in 2005 and being the favorite to do it last year/so far this year helps too.

A place for the kids to hang out. There's all kinds of inflatable stuff, and there is also a batting cage, pitching/radar gun area. That's leaving out the petting zoo you caught some of in my last post. I dunno, I think this is a decent amount of attractions for a Class A Advanced club.

Story #2 -- Reflecting on April, looking towards May

SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- For those of you who may be interested, below is the link to my second story I have completed for MiLB.com. As the name of the story suggests, it recaps what happened in April and previews some of the goings-on to come in May. The Minor Leagues are far from boring, that's for sure, so highlighting just a handful of players, teams and other odds/ends was an interesting chore.

This was by far one of the most labor-intensive stories I have even been assigned (in terms of research), but it was also one of the most satisfactory to complete. I'm sure things will only get busier and more intense as the season goes on.

But yeah, the story. Check it out here! Enjoy!