David Malamut

Life On A Bike, Thursday, February 24th, 2011

2011-02-25T00:05:00.002-06:00

Another day on the stationary bike, 34.2 miles. I rode and it felt weird. Like I was going in slow motion, I just didn't ride that fast today in the 104 minutes on the bike. The legs feel good, the hip and the back are ok. I can't wait to get outside, hopefully next week I can ride to work for the first time this year. Plus only my third time outside this year.

I finished the Michael Waltrip book. That was a good book, I highly recomend it, his insights into the 2001 Dayton 500 were awesome. I started another book, Ron Darling's, The complete pitcher.

Well somehow I really need to cut this out, I have been eating way to much snack foods. I had Oreo's, Snickers and Milkey Way's this afternoon after work. Plus to cups of soda at work. I mean, I had a good start, my usual yogurt for breakfast. A double cheeseburger for lunch. And a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Plus a whole bunch of water. What am I doing wrong that I can't loose this gut?

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

2011-02-23T22:34:00.002-06:00

Well, today I went 35.6 miles on the stationary bike. The back hurts a little right now, but the legs feel good. I could've gone more.

Well I continued to read Michael Waltrip's book. There is only one problem, I still can't watch the 2001 Daytona 500's final lap without getting emotional. The death of Dale Earnhardt senior, still hits me when I think about it. Reading about it in Waltrip's book, hit home the way he said it, I started to cry while peddleing. It has been ten years since it happend and I still can't watch it or think about it.

Life On A Bike, Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

2011-02-23T02:03:00.003-06:00

Today, i went the furthest I have gone all year long, 34.2 miles. It was on the stationary bike, and took 105 minutes. You know what though it felt good. I started to read the book by Michael Waltrip, and got almost halfway thru it. Good book, so far, looking back on his career. Still have to get to the point were the crash in the 2001 Daytona 500 happends. That will be hard to read as I am a big Dale Earnhardt fan.

The legs feel good, and even the hip feels good. It was really hurting me at work today. I don't know why but when I ride the day before the hip and back don't hurt nearly as bad. I guess I get stretched out or something.

I have one more thing on my mind. I have riden for the past three years for the American Kidney Fund in honor of my father, Alan. He is a dialysis patient for the past seven years. Some friends have been donating a penny for every mile I ride throughout the year to the Kidney Fund. The Fund has helped my family a lot with money and equitment.

I say this because my father has been in the hospital for over a month now after suffering a stroke on the 17th of January. It is really hard not to have him at home. That is the reason I didn't ride for a month, I was so busy with him that I let myself go. I need to get my life back together, and do things for him and in honor of him. Basically grow up, and take care of myself more than I already do. I miss not being able to have him encourage me to go and ride the bike at the gym every night. It is hard to see him in the rehab hospital day after day having to relearn how to speak and how to eat. He still doesn't have complete control of him face and him speech is slured. It is really hard to watch, that with him dialysis, makes me wonder how much more good times there will be with him.

Life On A Bike, Sunday, February 20th, 2011

2011-02-20T23:54:00.001-06:00

Life Is Good

I am really enjoying getting back on the bike, yes even the stationary bike. I would much rather be outside riding but oh well. Today I went 22.8 miles in my 1:05 on the bike.

The only problem was that the left knee was hurting a little but oh well. I did go a little harder then I did the day before.

Life On A Bike, Saturday, February 19th, 2011

2011-02-20T02:37:00.001-06:00

I rode again on the stationary bike. Time went by really fast while having my music going and reading a book. I went 22.4 miles.

Unfortunatly after I finished I sat in the gym for over an hour, reading that book. And just got home, oops. oh well,

Life On A Bike, Friday, February 18th, 2011

2011-02-19T00:50:00.001-06:00

Twice in one week, I rode, yes!!. Finally trying to get my life back together. The weight that I have put on is really making life hard. My right hip is killing me when I walk. It doesn't hurt at all when I ride. My back is hurting on that side, and my knee.

Tonight, I went and rode the stationary bike for an hour. 21 miles of fun. Finished reading the book 1984 finally. Plus I started, a book about Chris Coste of the Philadelphia Phillies. He survived thru 11 years in the minor leagues

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

2011-02-16T18:15:00.002-06:00

It's been way to long since i've been on the bike. Since my father has been in the hospital, I unfortunatly haven't really taken much care of myself. I haven't exercised at all. I haven't eaten healthy or even really watched what I ate. I need to get back to being healthy. Mainly because the extra weight is hurting me. My back and hip are very painfull right now.

Today, I rode from home to Good Samaritain Hopsital in Downers Grove. I took, Warrenville road to Finley. Then Finley up north to Butterfield, or actually the frontage road next to there. It was really wet the entire way, with the big snow melt. Traffic really wasn't that bad, as I only got honked at once. Then onto Main St and to the hospital. The hill just before the hospital wasn't much fun, but oh well.

It was 8.1 miles there, mainly because I had to find a place to lock up the bike at the hospital. Visited with dad then had to come home before it got too dark. I had my lights with me and I used them the entire way home. It was around 48 degrees today, and felt good. I went the same way home, but had to make a few adjustments because of rush hour and the diffrent direction that I was coming from.

In all I went 16.1 miles of fun. The funny thing is my hip really didn't hurt when I was riding, it's killing me right now while I sit and type.

It is back indoors the next two days, with 20 mile per hour winds, and having to be at work at 7 am.

month 26..6, year 267.9, hours 24:53, total, 11,184.2

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

2011-02-02T22:46:00.002-06:00

Well, it's been awhile since i've been on the stationary bike, and I felt it. First off we had almost two feet of snow last night, so I spent four hours today shoveling out two cars. I was exhausted from just that.

Then for some reason, I decided to go and ride the stationary bike. Well it was a good decision, but hurt. I haven't riden in almost three weeks, because of my father and me having broncitis. I rode the stationary for a half hour tonight, felt good for the first 15 minutes on low hills. Then I had to go and do flat land for the other 15 minutes. I made it 10.5 miles, unfortunatly throughout the ride I was coughing big time.

Been a long time since I posted

2011-01-31T01:22:00.002-06:00

It's been a long time since I posted, and it really has been a long time. Well two weeks ago my father had a stroke, so i've been dealing with the day to day stuff. Plus a day or two later I came down with bronchitis. So there went any riding, untill I get better. It's been two weeks, and i'm still coughing and hurting from being sick. Hopefully tomorrow I will get on the stationary bike. I know I will have to rebuild basically just like it was the begining of the offseason.

Life On A Bike, January 16th, 2011

2011-01-16T23:06:00.002-06:00

Today, i rode the stationary bike again at the gym. I went 27.3 miles, plus doing ten sit ups. I rode a little longer because I felt like finishing off a chapter in the book 1984. The legs felt good, I just wasn't able to go that far. I don't know why, but oh well at least I went.

month/year 241.3 hours 22:18

Life On A Bike, Friday, January 14th, 2011

2011-01-15T01:10:00.002-06:00

Ive riden 9 out of 14 days this year, that is actually pretty good for me. Im still behind last years total, but I dont care.

Today I rode 22.5 miles on the stationary bike, doing light hills, legs feel pretty good. Read more of the book 1984, got done with the 65 minutes of hell, and stayed at the gym to finish the chapter.

month/year 214, hours 19:48

Life On A Bike, Thursday, January 13th, 2011

2011-01-13T22:43:00.002-06:00

Today, I felt like shit in the morning and afternoon. I had the day off work so I just slept most of the day. I must be coming down with something or another. I woke up in the afternoon and so far feel pretty good.

I rode on the stationary for the usual 65 minutes of hell. Did 22.7 miles of light hills. Legs feel pretty good, tired, but good. Read another 20 or so pages of the book 1984 while listening to music.

month/year, 191.5 hours 17:44

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

2011-01-13T00:45:00.002-06:00

I havent riden in a couple of day, for really no reason at all besides being lazy. I really should ride at least five out of the seven day of a week. I need to loose the weight.

Tonight I got off my lazy ass and went and rode 21.7 miles on the stationary bike. My legs feel good, but I just didn't have much energy. I should've riden farther but oh well.

Was listening to music, and continuing to read the book 1984.

month/year, 168.8, hours 15:39

Life On A Bike, Sunday, January 9th, 2011

2011-01-09T16:37:00.002-06:00

Since I have been off the bike for three days, i knew I was going to ride today. The thing I didn't know about was that it would be outside. Well when I left home around 11:30 it was 18 degrees out, with no wind. I went out and did my normal training ride towards Aurora and back.

This time it was cold, I was having a little trouble breathing originally. Probably because it has been two months since I have riden outside. Oh well, after like seven miles I started to feel a little better. Then I had my big hill on the training ride to deal with. Made it up that and all the way to Mitchell Ave. Decided to go and visit a friend first before I went for a hot chocolate. So I went into Batavia and visit my friend, plus refilled my water bottle too. It made for an extra eight miles or so, no big deal.

Got back on the bike and went to my normal turn around point at the 7-11 in North Aurora, Butterfield and Mitchell roads. Got a hot coco and rested. The main problem is my mouth was so cold I couldn't really tell how hot it was, so I burnt my tounge on the hot coco.

Made it back home in one piece. Really didn't feel the cold that much untill around the 25 mile mark or so, when my legs started to get cold. I ate one power bar, one hot coco. Four bottles of water. I had one five layers on top, plus three layers on the bottom.

33.7 miles tonight, 10.1 average, 21.7 max, 3 hours and 18 minutes.

year/month 147.1, hours 13:18

Life On A Bike, Saturday, January, 8th, 2011

2011-01-09T00:18:00.001-06:00

Havent been able to ride for the past three days. Thursday and Friday, I was working the entire day, and got home not in condition to ride. Today, I am having some physical problems. My back is acting up again, I have a nerve problem in the back that I have had for years. It acts up on occation. Plus my hip is hurting, so i'm taking it easy, should be able to ride tomorrow night, hopefully

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

2011-01-05T23:25:00.002-06:00

Five for Five on the year

Today I went farther than I have all year long, 23.4 miles. The legs feel good, plus I burnt over 1,000 calories. That can never hurt considering my size. I did light hills again

The main problem of the day was the book I was reading. I never realized the 1984 was as depressing as it is. Im only through 60 pages and I really am interested in the book, but it is just so depressing to me.

month/year 113.4, hours 10:20

Life On A Bike, Tuesday, January 4th, 2010

2011-01-04T22:30:00.002-06:00

4 for 4

It took some convincing but, I went and did my hour of torture on the stationary bike. I made it 22.8 miles on the day, the legs feel pretty good. Burnt almost 1,000 calories, hopefully someday I will start to actually see the numbers on the scale go down. It would be nice.

I started reading the book, 1984 by George Orwell. No, not because I wanted to, but because I have to. I'm going to start back at school next week, and that is the assignment for the semester. A big research paper and everything. Oh well, at least i'm finally going back to school. Trying to get my life back together, after one of the worst years of my entire life. The only thing I need still is to get another job, one that will make it so I can actually support myself. It would also be nice to be able to put some money away for once.

month/year 90, hours 8:15

Life On A Bike, Monday, January 3rd, 2010

2011-01-03T23:47:00.002-06:00

Day three of the year on the bike. Went 22.3 miles, legs were nothing tonight for some reason. They felt like they were buzzing in the knees. I had no power or anything, so I was down to flat resistance the entire hour.

month/year 67.3, hours 6:10

Life On A Bike, Sunday, January 2nd, 2010

2011-01-02T23:14:00.001-06:00

2 for 2 on the year

I went 22.4 miles tonight on the stationary bike doing light hills. I was reading a book about Satchell Paige, while listening to my music. The legs feel pretty good still, it's just that i'm really starting to get bored with being inside all the time because of the weather.

month 44.9, year 44.9, hour 4:07

Life On A Bike, Saturday, January 1st, 2011

2011-01-01T23:34:00.002-06:00

First bike ride of the year, it felt great. Legs feel good, suprised at how short it felt. I mean I was reading throughout the lightly hilly ride. I was reading a book about Satchell Paige.

I went 22.5 miles, so I am well on my pace to reach my 5,000 miles mark for the year. Yeah right like I can claim that after one day. Oh well, we shall see.

month 22.5, year 22.5, hour 2:05

Life On A Bike, Friday, December 31st, 2010

2011-01-01T00:35:00.002-06:00

Wow, what a year. This is perhaps the best new years eve i've ever had. Just me and some friends riding the bikes at the gym. Also the least amount of trouble and the most sober i've been on new years in a long time. I might actually remember what I did for once.

Well, I went and finished another year of cycling. My second full year, with 22.3 miles. It was great, talking, listening to music, and reading a book. My legs feel great. The workout was light hills again, as it seems to be no problem to do while reading.

month 360.3 year 3500.4, hours 329:25

well another year is done, im at 11,239 since 5/29/08

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

2010-12-29T23:09:00.002-06:00

More fun on the bike tonight. Well, I did 22.8 miles and it really flew by. I was reading my nook, when I looked at the clock and only had 15 minutes left. I hope it's just caused by my reading, not just because of the book i'm reading.

Today was more light hills, up to 10 resistance. My legs feel pretty good so far this offseason. Unfortunatly the gut isn't going down, and neither is my weight. Oh well sooner or later that has to go down to, right?

month 338.1 year 3478.1 hours 327:24

Life On A Bike, Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

2010-12-28T23:48:00.002-06:00

Reading a book while riding the stationary is awesome. Time actually seems to fly by, before I know it I am more than half way through my ride.

Well, today I went 22.8 miles, of light hills. It felt good to ride, my legs feel pretty good. I wasn't able to ride yesterday because I really needed the sleep, I slept way to long though.

Book- Bullpen Gospel
Music-Disturbed

month 315.3 year 3455.3 hours 325:23

Life On A Bike, December 26th, 2010

2010-12-26T22:28:00.002-06:00

Another day, another training session on the stationary bike. How joyfull?, Well I rode 22.9 miles tonight. Felt really good, really only pushed it a little, but more than yesterday.

Book Starter-Baseball Gospel, Dirk Hayhurst
Music-Slayer

month 292.5 year 3432.5 time 323:23

Life On A Bike, 2011 Goals

2010-12-26T17:36:00.002-06:00

It's that time of the year again, time to set my goals for the new year on the bike. Well, this coming year as it looks right now I should be able to ride a lot. Due to not working that much, and not covering every baseball game.

1. Ride to work as much as possible. I think I only rode 3-4 times all year in 2010

2. Make at least one, 100 mile ride. I did one in 2010

3. Ride 5,000 miles, I should make at least 3,500 in 2010

4. Ride at least 500 hours, I should make 330 in 2010.

To be able to ride 5,000 miles, I calculated it out to be 96.2 miles a week. I should be able to due that, at least I hope.

5. Stay healthy, big time goal, I had a concussion, and some pulled muscles this year that kept me off the bike a lot.

6. Ride with friends more, it get really boring on these long rides by myself. I need someone to mess with.

7. Improve my miles per hour. This year I averaged around 11 mph, that is a half miles up from 2009. Still not fast enough

8. Save up enough money to by a good road bike and equitment. It will take a few years to save up enough money but I should be able to buy one before I retire, I hope.

I ride a Trek 7000 hybrid. It is able to ride both road and trail, but it also will be three years old this year, and riding 100 miles on it is quiet uncomfortable as it isn't built for that much abuse.

9. Ride in my normal three or four bike events

Swedish Days in June, Biking With Beanzie in July, Ride Like an Egyptian and Northwest Century in September. Plus maybe add one more if I have the money.

10. Make my trip in mid May all the way up to Beloit, Wisconsin. It is almost 100 miles up there. Stay there two days and watch baseball, of course. Ride the bike around there a little. Then ride the 100 miles back home.

Life On A Bike, Saturday, December 25th, 2010

2010-12-25T22:01:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas to you all

Well, eventhough it was a holiday, I still went to the gym and rode. I got a new Barnes and Noble, Nook for Christmas, so I brought it with me. It was awesome, except for the fact that I really should remember to bring my glasses with me if I want to read while riding. Unfortunatly I didn't ride as fast as I normally do, but the time seemed to go by a lot faster so that is always good. I read, Pitching in a pinch, by Christy Mathewson, or at least the first half of it.

Ok now the ride, well I did light hills today. Only because I wasn't able to ride yesterday because the ride the day before still hurt. I mustve pulled something in my back during that ride or something. Plus my knees were still buzzing. The ride tonight went by like it was only a half hour. When infact I rode the usual 65 minutes, I only did 20.9 miles. The thing is my goal is to do over 20 miles a day, so I still made my goal.

Plus I did 20 sit ups, and some light weights on the arms, and the heavier weights on the legs.

month 269.6 year 3409.6 hours 321:23
behind last year -758.5

Life On A Bike, Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

2010-12-23T22:40:00.002-06:00

Today, I went all out on the stationary for as long as I could. The worst part is im paying for it right now but oh well. I had the setting for small hills, up to ten resistance. Well for the first 55 minutes i went all out. After that the knees were just painfull.

I survived the last five minutes of the normal ride, then the cool down all at about half speed. I went 23.9 miles today. Had a mix of old school songs going tonight. Some 80's Slayer, and Metallica to keep me going.

Plus I did my customary ten sit ups, would've done more but the knees were giving me too much of a problem.

Been pretty good today. Had a pb&j sandwich, four chocolate chip cookies. Plus a bowl of ravioli and spegetti for dinner. Been drinking I think three bottles of water throughout the day. Unfortunatly also had a root beer and a sierra mist, I need to cut those out. Plus My power bar and a little bottle of gatorade before the ride. After the ride had a big bottle of gatorade and a bottle of water. During the ride I had my two bottles of water, just like if I was on my bike.

month 248.7 year 3388.7 hours 319:23
behind last year -719.4

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

2010-12-23T00:07:00.002-06:00

I haven't rode in a few days because I pulled something in my side somehow. Feel pretty good today after my ride. Well I rode 22.5 miles on the stationary bike, the usual 65 minutes of hell. The only thing is that since I haven't rode in awhile I took it easy and just did all flat land.

After doing 65 minutes of hell, for some reason I felt good enough to go and do some more working out. Granted I really need to lose weight this off season. Something like 30 pounds would probably be healthy. Well I took a step forward to that tonight, as i went and did 10 sit ups. Then did some arm and chest stuff with the free weights. I am still learning how to lift weight, and what stuff I should be doing to help where.

I still felt pretty good, so I went and did 15 minutes on the treadmill. I will most likely feel that in the morning, as the last time I ran my legs hurt for a couple of days. During my run I did mostly a fast walk, with every so often running at about four and a half miles and hour run. Plus four miles an hour on the fast walk.

I must be stupid or something, because after that I went and did 15 minutes on the stair machine. It was the first time in years I have been on that machine and I felt it. I normally hate stairs anyways, and don't do to well on them.

month 224.8, year 3364.8, hours 317:21
behind last year, -713.3

Life On A Bike, Friday, December 17th, 2010

2010-12-18T00:25:00.002-06:00

Today, my legs were tired as hell, and my knees hurt really badly. So I took it way easy, but completed the 65 minutes on the bike. I did 20.5 miles, at one resistance.

The body hurting has a lot to do with being up since five this morning on three hours sleep.

month 202.2 year 3342.3 hours 315:21
behind last year -644.8

Life On A Bike, Thursday, December 16th, 2010

2010-12-16T20:58:00.003-06:00

Well, it's another day, another trip to the gym to get my miles in. Today I went 23.9 miles, in a two part workout.

The first part I went to the gym, and as i was peddleing the first mile, my father calls. The dog we are watching for a few days need to go out, can I come home and take him out. So I went home and took him out, then went back to the gym. After that back at the gym I did lite hills all throughout the workout tonight. I was 0.6 up on the first half hour, so that's not that bad.

The second half hour I was feeling pretty good until about the 53 minute mark when I could start to feel my legs getting tired. I made it through the whole workout, and the cool down 5 minutes with 23.9 miles for the day.

day 23.9, month, 181.7, year 3321.8 hour 313:21
behind last year -665.3

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

2010-12-16T00:03:00.002-06:00

Rode the stationary bike today for the 65 minutes of hell. Today i started it out with some lite hills for the first half hour. After that I took it all the way down to completely flat for five minutes. By this time I was 0.6 ahead of pace. For some strange reason I hit random and did five minutes of huge hills, all the way up to 18.

After that I went for another five minutes of flat. Then it was 15 minutes of lite hills before my five minute cool down. All together I did 22.5 miles.

I feel ok, but by the 15 to go mark I was starting to feel it a little bit in the upper legs. Tomorrow, I will probably do just lite hills to recoup after the big ones.

All I visited, Bicycle Ect. today, and had time to kill. I had to get my cellphone fixed. Well I bought some bar end lights, that I have no clue how to put on the bike. I also bought a map and instruction holder that straps onto the stem. The only problem is that I now have to figure out how to remove the bell on the left side of my handle bars and move the speedometer bracket over there.

157.8 for the month, 3297.9 for the year, 311:16 hours
-689.2 from last year

Life On A Bike, Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

2010-12-15T00:37:00.002-06:00

I finally got back to training today after taking a few days off. Basically i was too lazy to get my ass up and go to the gym. So instead I ate and watched tv. That is what got me in the shape I am in, in the first place.

I went and did 22.3 miles on the stationary tonight. It felt good, but it also felt like I hadn't ridin in awhile, as I didn't have as much power. So I did a half hour of completely flat. Then a half hour of some hills, only up to ten resistance though. Had both bottles of water, legs feel a little tired right now.

I also did my ten sit ups, I was going to do weights also tonight but just didn't feel up to it because of the legs. Hopefully tomorrow will get a weight workout in. Still need to figure out how to incorporate that into my overall training for next year.

Any suggestions on how to do the weights, plus really am struggling on the motavation to ride inside. That is part of why I didn't ride for awhile.

month, 135..3, year, 3275.4, hours, 309:16
-711.7 from last year

Decision time on who to cover

2010-12-12T16:33:00.004-06:00

Well, i'm torn between my heart and my head in deciding if it is time to give up covering the Kane County Cougars. My heart is bleeding Cougar green, but i'm not really having that much fun any more covering the team that i've covered for the past 13 years.

I started to cover them the first year that I had season tickets back in 1998. I covered them because there was no coverage of the team. I couldn't find any articles in the local newspapers, or online. So I decided to put together a website and put together game stories. It was fun for the first eleven or so years. Yes, I know it got me a book deal to write about the team in 2005. That book really yes it was nice and all, but it really fizzled with sales and stuff.

Yes covering the Cougars has gotten me to write for scout.com for the past three years. I have had the privilige to work with a lot of great people. Melissa Lockard, Mike Knapp, Kevin Druley and Paul Johnson, plus Shawn Touney and Jeff Hem with the Cougars.

The thing is last off season I was conflicted, covering the Cougars really wasn't that much fun any more. I wasn't having much fun going to the ballpark every day. It got to be more like work than what it originally was. Granted I still love baseball. Maybe I just need to take a year off and do whatever I want.

Well, last off season I was thinking about it and yes i am a big White Sox fan. Yes I would love to cover the team, especially the entire minor league system, and the majors. I went through last year, and had a good year, but it's like something in the back of my mind is telling me something else. I had a blast covering the team, and interviewing the players.

This off season well the website isn't really that updated. I just don't have the want to do that right now. I am also still working on the boxscores from June, along with the player stats. I just don't feel like doing the Cougars stuff that much.

Well, im thinking of doing a website about the White Sox and their minor leagues. I am a big Sox fan. I just don't know where to go with all of this, and am looking for advice from my friends.

The White Sox site would be very similar to the Cougars one, except with the entire system being followed. This year with the Cougars, I would be going to about 10-15 games, instead of 65-70, im not renewing my season tickets. I would have to listen to the games online.

Sorry for the question folks, its just Ive always been up front with you readers and told you what was on my mind

Life On A Bike, Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

2010-12-08T23:21:00.002-06:00

Today was the first day of the off season workouts that I actually felt horrible. I had nothing in my legs or body for that matter. It could've been the fact that i've been up for most of the past two days on about an hour of sleep. Or the late hour of my going to the gym. I think it was lack of sleep, as I almost fell asleep on the bike.

Well, I survived 21.5 miles still, somehow. I had the resistance all the way down to one and just peddled. I don't even know how I made it through 65 minutes. I did though. Hopefully tomorrow, after some sleep I will be able to do hills again.

21.5 for the day, 113 for the month, 3253.1 for the year, 307:16 hours for the year
-654 from last year

Life On A Bike, Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

2010-12-07T21:08:00.003-06:00

Turning the pedals some more, unfortunatly indoors still, probably for another three months till the temp stays above freezing, and I don't have to deal or worry about ice.

Tonight it was some hills, really wasn't to bad, as it went only up to 10 tonight, over and over again. Well I managed 24.4 miles, the knees hurt towards the end. All is good though. I also managed to do a full workout, ten reps on each machine, and 20 sit ups.

Tomorrow hopefully I will do more hills, at least I hope as I have an early morning of work so we will see.

Music, Down:Nola

month 91.5, year 3231.6 hours 305:16
last year, -655.5

Life On A Bike, Monday, December 6th, 2010

2010-12-06T22:40:00.003-06:00

Today, I did 24.3 miles of work on the stationary bike. Well it wasn't that bad because I did speed intervals, with the resistance never going above 4. Around the 42 minute mark my right knee did start to hurt a little bit. Plus around the 54 minute mark and all throughout the cool down my upper legs started to hurt.

I really went for it today, for no reason at all, just to see myself go fast at 1 resistance and try to keep it up at four. Tomorrow I need to work on some hills on the machine so i'm not really looking forward to that.

24.3 miles for the day, 67.1 miles for the month, 3207.2 for the year, 303:14 hours

-659.9 from last year

Sunday, December 5th, 2010, Bike

2010-12-05T22:17:00.002-06:00

Well, another day another workout on the stationary bike at the gym. Today it was a high in the 20's and it was 10 degrees outside when i walked back from the gym, so there was no way I was going to go out on my bike today. That being said it has unfortunatly been three days since I went for a training session, and I can feel it.

My legs did not feel that good throughout my workout tonight. I could feel the layoff imediatly. I did intervals tonight, instead of random. The intervals were set easy, so that helped things out a bit. I went 22.5 miles in 65 minutes of hell.

This is after eating a half a deep dish pizza and having a beer for diner. So I really did need to workout, eventhough the last two days my diet hasn't been good. A whole pizza on Friday, and a half slab of ribs last night. Oh well back on the diet starting today. Back to drinking lots of water and working out every day, hopefully.

42.8 miles for the month, 3182.9 for the year, 301 hours and 12 minutes on the bike
-684.2 from last year

Notice

2010-12-04T10:04:00.002-06:00

I will be posting about my bike riding and training more here, as I decided to take my other blog down, Life on A Bike, it got to much to have two blogs

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

2010-12-04T09:58:00.002-06:00

Well, another fun Saturday, I woke up early for no reason at all since there is snow on the ground and that means that I can't go and ride my bike. Hopefully I will get around to working on the website a little today, before I go and do my stationary bike workout.

Still thinking of changing the subject of my website from the Kane County Cougars to the Chicago White Sox minor leagues. Haven't done so yet, but really giving it a thought. I would like to do it but just don't know if I could keep up with all the work that I want to put into it. Granted I haven't exactly kept up over the years on the work I want to put into the Cougars either. It's just the way the Cougars are, I just don't know if I want to write about them anymore.

6/28/10

2010-06-28T23:40:00.003-05:00

Well the day after the first event of the year. My legs are sore and very sunburned. It was the first event i ever wore shorts at, and my legs are crispy. My calves hurt more than anything really.

Went to work then did a half hour on the stationary bike tonight to keep it going. 10.5 miles of fun

for the year

2048 miles, 191:43 hours.

Im still 210 miles or so behind last years pace

6/27 Swedish Days Ride

2010-06-28T23:40:00.001-05:00

First bike event of the year was fun and challening. First off we got there about 8 in the morning and it looked like it was about to rain. It was already thundering. I got my que sheet and the t-shirt. This is the 41st annual Swedish Days ride.

Almost as soon as I got on the bike it started to rain, I kept going. For the first 18 miles it was a downpour, with lightning and thunder added in. I still kept a 11 mpg average somehow. It wasn't really that tough of terrain.

First rest stop was at the forest preserve in Hampshire. Well stocked and even a Luou theme to it, nice. Something diffrent.

The second part of the ride was ok, it finally stopped raining about mile 20 or so. The thing is my hands turned purple, I guess the paint from the handlebars was coming off in the rain or something. It was weird, and the first time that had happend.

I will say this what I learned in a year or actually its more like a month or so about gears really helped because it was easier going up hills.

The only bad part was i got passed by a truck, and at the stop sign he made a sudden stop and I almost went into the back of his truck. He yells roads are for cars not bikes. Maybe someone needs to read the rules of the road. oh well.

The second rest stop was at the same site as the first, the second part of the ride was only 11 miles or so, it was getting more difficult. I was soaked from the downpour, and now it was starting to get hot out.

The third part was weird as I took a couple of wrong turns. I also got off the bike to tie my shoe and a cop comes around and first asked if I was ok, then said they had been getting complaints about riders in the middle of the road. He said if he caught any they would be getting a citation. Well since I dont do that I just nodded and smiled and went on my way.

The wrong turn took me past Hampshire high school. THen I got back on track and then near the start/finish of the ride, Central High near Burlington, I took a wrong turn and went back and started following the first part of the ride again.

Finally I just went into Burlington itself and found my way back to the high school and called it a day.

54 miles, 4 hours and 44 minutes.

I did better then I did last year where I only survived 28 miles. In 09 it was very windy and I know im in better shape now compared to then

Notice

2010-06-23T20:45:00.004-05:00

Notice
This blog will be moving to a more general life blog. I will still blog about baseball, but im also going to blog about riding my bike, and other stuff in my life. Sorry for the change, but if you want to see only about the Kane County Cougars and baseball then please go to my website at http://malamut.net thank you

5/13, Quad City 5, Cougars 1

2010-05-13T21:27:00.001-05:00

The Cougars offense would be shut down by the Quad city River Bandits pitching tonight as they would lose 5-1. Shelby Miller, who was the Cardinals first round pick last year, pitched great. He tied his longest outing of the year with five and one thirds innings, giving up three hits and no runs. He walked two, the last two hitters he faced and struck out five.

He kept the Cougars off balance all game long, as he gave up the three hits but strikeouts in key situations and a key double play limited the Cougars. In the third inning the Cougars got their first hit, with one out in the third inning, Myrio Richard doubled to the leftcenterfield wall. Miller then struck out the next two hitters. In the fourth inning, Tyreace House beat out a grounder to second to lead off the inning. Two batters later, Leonardo Gil grounded into an inning ending double play. Nino Leyja led off the fifth with a single down the right field line, then would be caught stealing.

In the sixth inning with one out, Miller walked both Mike Gilmartin and Connor Crumbliss. He would leave the game after that. Reliever Justin Smith then got House to ground into an inning ending double play. Smith would give up a leadoff walk to Anthony Aliotti in the seventh. He then struck out the next two hitters before walking Max Stassi. Smith then struck out Franklin Hernandez to end the inning.

Justin Marks started for the Cougars and in the first inning things just didn't seem to go his way. D'Marcus Ingram led off the game by blooping one to left. Gilmartin and Hernandez both tried to catch the ball and it fell in between them for a double. Two outs later, matt Adams singled to center to score Ingram.

After that inning Marks would get the next eight in a row before giving up a two out single in the fourth. In the fifth inning, Marks walked both Ryan Jackson and Michael Swinson to lead off the inning. Luis Mateo then bunted the runners over. Ingram would single up the middle to score both Jackson and Mateo. The next inning Jason Stidham took Marks over the right field fence for a solo homer.

To finish off the seventh inning, after the homerun, Adams singled to left. Ryde Rodriguez then reached on a fielder's choice with Adams being out at second. Robert Stock would then single to right. The Cougars then made a pitching change bringin in Bo Schultz. Jackson would then line one to second and the Cougars would double off Rodriguez at second to get out of the inning. The other run the Bandits would score came in the seventh inning off of Schultz. Swinson led off with a single up the middle, then stole second. One out later, Ingram singled down the right field line to score Swinson.

The Cougars only run of the game came in the ninth inning off of Jesse Simpson. Aliotti led off the inning by reaching on a single to second. Gil then reached on an error by the short stop. A passed ball would get Aliotti to third. Leyja then blooped a single to center to score Aliotti. Simpson then got both Stassi and Hernandez on strikes to end the game.

Next Game
5/14 vs Quad City, 7pm
Joe Kelly (2-2, 2.96) vs Rob Gilliam (2-1, 2.87)

5/11, Cougars 5, Beloit 1

2010-05-11T21:47:00.001-05:00

A great complete effort tonight by the Cougars, as they would beat the Beloit Snappers 5-1 in game two of the series. The Cougars had nine hits and left eleven men on base.

Leonardo Gil was a homerun short of hitting for the cycle. He had a double in the second, a single in the third and a triple in the fifth. His other two at bats were fly ball outs. The other story of the game was the pitching, Dan Straily, Connor Hoehn and Josh Lansford all pitched very well.

Straily went six innings, giving up three hits and one unearned run. He walked one and struck out six. He would let the leadoff man reach in four of his six innings. The only runs against him came after an error put a man on third in the sixth. He would get out of trouble a lot, in the first, Aaron Hicks led off with a double to right center. A groundout, strikeout and flyout later the inning was over. In the fifth inning he would also escape trouble. Josmel Pinto led off with a double to right. Michael Gonzales then lined one to left where Franklin Hernandez made a great diving catch. James Beresford would strike out looking, on strike three, Pinto would be thrown out at third to end the inning.

The only run of the game for the Snappers came in the sixth. Hicks led off the inning by reaching on an error. On the play Franklin Hernandez dropped the ball. One out later, Steve Liddle grounded out to short to score Hicks.

Hoehn also pitched very well, he went two innings, giving up two walks while striking out two. He had to get out of some trouble in the eighth inning. With one out, Beresford walked. One out later, Brian Dozier walked. He would get Liddle to ground out to get out of trouble. Lansford pitched a scoreless ninth. He walked the ledoff man, but would get a double play.

The offense came alive tonight as they would score five runs, on nine hits and leave eleven men on base. The first two runs came in the second inning. Gil leadoff with a double down the left field line. Nino Leyja then singled to left center to score Gil. Two outs later, Hernandez singled to right to score Leyja. In the third inning with two outs, Anthony Aliotti singled to left. Gil then singled to third and Leyja singled to right to score Aliotti.

In the fifth inning, Tyreace House led off with a walk. One out later, Gil tripled to center to score House. The next two hitters would strike out looking to strand Gil at third. Max Stassi then hit a two out solo homer in the seventh.

Kane County could've scored a few more runs in the game. In the sixth inning with two outs, Myrio Richard was hit by a pitch, he would go to second on a wild pitch. Connor Crumbliss then walked, both runners would stea a base. House then walked to load the bases. Aliotti would line out to deep center, to the warning track to end the inning.

House had three walks, and scored a run. Leyja and Stassi both had two hits.

Rashun Dixon was placed on the disabled list with a sore left wrist. This is retroactive to Friday, he is on the seven day disabled list.

5/10, Cougars 7, Beloit 8 (10)

2010-05-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

The Cougars gave this game away, they were up 7-4 going into the bottom of the eighth. The Beloit Snappers would then score three runs to tie the game. After that the Snappers seemed to have runners on always. The Cougars walked 10 hitters, four of then would score, two hit batters also didn't help them much.

The big inning was the eighth for the Snappers as that shifted the momentum to them after they scored three runs to tie the game at seven. With one out against Cougar reliever Ryan Quigbey, Aaron Hicks walked, then Brian Dozier singled to left. Steve Liddle would then walk to load the bases with still only one out. Angel Morales singled to left to score both Hicks and Dozier. The throw from left fielder Connor Crumbliss was offline and let Liddle score.

In the bottom of the tenth the Cougars would give away the game as walks and errors caught up to them tonight. Bo Schultz was in his second full inning of relief for the Cougars. With two outs, Angel Morales was hit by a pitch. Anderson Hidalgo then reached on a fielding error by Mike Gilmartin. Both runners would advance on a Morales steal of third. Wang-Wei Lin then was intentionally walked to load the bases. On the first pitch to Josmel Pinto, he would be hit by the pitch. That would force in Morales to end the game.

The Cougars would score first in the game, with three runs in the first. With one out, Tyreace House and Anthony Aliotti both walked, a wild pitch moved both of them up a base. Leoanrdo Gil then reached on a fielder's choice. On the play the third baseman threw home to get House, but the catcher didn't have the ball and House would be safe after a colision. Nio Leyja then lined one off of the pitcher to drive home Aliotti. Max Stassi would double to left center to score Gil.

Ian Krol would start for the Cougars and pitch ok. He went five innings, giving up six hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out two. He never had a clean inning, but would be able to get out of some trouble. In the second inning, Hidaldgo led off with a single to center. One out later, Pinto would reach on a throwing error on Gil. Reggie Williams then walked to load the bases. James Beresford would line one to short, Gilmartin caught the ball and threw to third to get Hidalgo to end the inning.

Beloit scored their first run in the third inning off of Krol. With one out, Dozier walked. Liddle then singled to right. An error by rightfielder Franklin Hernandez would allow Dozier to score. Krol though gave up a double to Morales, that would put runners on second and third with only the one out. He would then get a fly out and a ground out to end the inning.

The other run the Snappes scored off of Krol came in the sixth inning. Pinto led off with a double down the right field line. One out later, Beresford singled to left. Hicks would follow with a sacrifice fly to right to score Pinto.

The Cougars added two more runs in the fifth inning after they chases starter Edgar Ibarra. Connor Crumbliss led off with a single to left. House would then double down the left field line to get Crumbliss to third. Aliotti grounded out to second to get Crumbliss home. Gil would then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score House.

Kane County scored their last two runs of the game in the seventh inning. With one out, Crumbliss walked, then stole second. House would then walk, on the last ball Crumbliss would move to third on a wild pitch. The Snappers then made a pitching change. Aliotti singled to right center to score Crumbliss. Gil would then hit a sacrifice flyt o right to score House.

The Cougars had one more opportunity to score in the game and it came in the third inning. House led off the inning with a walk. Aliotti was then hit by a pitch. Gil would put down a sacrifice bunt. That ment runners on second and third with one out. Leyja then grounded one to short, the shortstop threw home and got House at the plate. One other inning would end in a double play, the sixth, after Gilmartin had a one out single.

Beloit couldv'e won the game in the ninth inning off of Schultz. Lin led off the inning with a single to left. Pinto then bunted him over to second. Schultz then intentionally walked Williams. Beresford would hit into a fielder's choice with Lin being out at third.

Next Game
5/11 @ Beloit, 6:30
Dan Straily (3-1, 5.65) vs Michael Tonkin (NR)

5/9, Peoria 6, Cougars 15

2010-05-09T22:35:00.000-05:00

Chris Affinito hit two, three run homers in the Cougars 15-6 win over the Peoria Chiefs in the final game of the series. Tyreace House and Nino Leyja both had two hits.

Rob Gilliam started for the Cougars and was good today. He went six innings, giving up five hits and one run. He walked four and struck out four in his 90 pitch outing. The bullpen wasnt bad either. Hector Garcia pitched two innings of one hit ball, giving up two walks and one strikeout. Max Peterson cam in for the final out. Jose Guzman had some trouble, he was only able to get two outs in the eighth, giving up two hits and five runs. Only three of them were earned, he walked three and struck out two.

Offense really wasn't a problem for the Cougars today as they would score 15 runs on 13 hits. The got ahead in the first inning of off Chiefs starter Su-Min Jung, who was 4-0, with a sub 1 era entering the game. In the first inning Connor Crumbliss led off with a walk. House then singled up the middle. Two outs later, Leyja walked to load the bases. Max Stassi would follow with a single to left to score Crumbliss. Mike Gilmartin struck out to strand the bases loaded.

The Chiefs would tie the game in the fourth inning off of Gilliam. With one out, Greg Roahn walked, Justin Bour then singled up the middle. One out later, Richard Jones singled to right center to score Rohan. After that Jose Valdez would walk to load the bases with two outs. Gilliam would get Francisco Guzman on strikes to get out of trouble.

In the bottom half of the inning the Cougars would put a five spot on the board. Leyja led it off with a single up the middle. Max Stassi was then hit by a pitch. Gilmartin tried to bunt them over but popped up a bunt for the first out. Franklin Hernandez would single to right to score Leyja. Chris Affinito then hit a three run homer to right center. Crumbliss followed with a double down the right field line. House would bloop one to center. Anthony Aliotti hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Crumbliss.

Peoria had a couple of more chances before they would break through in the ninth for five runs. In the sixth inning, Rohan and Bour led off the innings with singles. Gilliam would then get two strike outs and a fly out. In the seventh inning, Guzman led off with a bunt single, and Hak-Ju Lee walked. After that a strike out, a ground out and a line out ended the inning.

The Cougars would get two more runs in the fifth inning. Leyja led off with a single to rigth center. Stassi would reach on a fielding error by the third baseman. On the play it should've been a force out at second on Leyja, but the third baseman threw the ball into right field, Leyja made it to third and Stassi went to second. Gilmartin followed with a sacrifice fly to left to score Leyja. One out later, Affinito and Crumbliss walked to load the bases. House would then single to left to score Stassi, Affinito would be out at the plate.

In the eighth inning the Cougars sealed the game, or so they thought. The would get seven runs, on three hits. Crumbliss led it off with a walk against Steven Grife. House then was hit by a pitch and Alliotti walked to load the bases. The Chiefs then brought in Jordan Latham to pitch. Leonardo Gil reached on an error by the shortstop. On the play the ball simpley went through his legs, Crumbliss would score and the bases remained loaded. One out later, Stassi doubled ot right to score both House and Aliotti. Gilmartin followed with a single to right to score Gil. One more out later, Affinito hit a three run homer to left.

Jose Guzman came in for the ninth inning and tried to pull a Hector Almonte on the fans. With one out, Guzman singled up the middle One more out later, Logan Watkins walked. Matt Cerda then doubled to right to score both Guzman and Watkins. Rohan would walk. Bour reached on a droped third strike, wild pitch to load the bases. Jonathan Mota then walked to force in Cerda. Jones would reach on an error by the first baseman Aliotti. Rohan and Bour would score, with Jones getting to third. After that Max Peterson came in to relieve Guzman and got a grounder to end the game.

Next Game
5/10 @ Beloit, 6:30
Ian Krol (1-1, 2.67) vs Jhon Garcia (NR)

5/8, Peoria 0, Cougars 5

2010-05-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

Justin Marks had his best performance of the year for the Cougars, he went six innings of shutout ball. Giving up five hits while walking two and striking out five. Peoria would strand seven runners on base while facing Marks. The Cougars would beat the Peoria Chiefs 5-0.

Marks left two men on base in four of his six innings. The Chiefs would strike out looking three of the first four hitters of the game. The tried to bunt to get on and out of four times they singled once and got an error. None of them would score.

Bo Schultz then came on for two innings of relief and pitched very well. He gave up one runner, who reached on an error. schultz threw 19 pitches and got strikes with 18. Josh Lansford came in for the ninth and struggled a little, as he had trouble finding the strike zone, but he would give up only one hit and no runs.

The Cougars would get three runs in the first off of Jonathan Nagel. Nagel would last two third of an inning. Connor Crumbliss led off with a single to left center. Tyreace House then reched on an infield single to third. Anthony Aliotti would walk to load the bases. Leonardo Gil then walked to force in Crumbliss. One out later, Myrio Richard reached on a fielder's choice, on the play House would be out at home for the first out. Franklin Hernandez then blooped one into left to score both Aliotti and Gil. Mike Gilmartin then walked to reload the bases. The Chiefs then made a pitching change, bringin in Ryan Searle. He would get a force out of Gilmartin to end the inning.

Searle would pitch five and one thirds innings, giving up four hits and one run. His main problem was he walked five. The Cougars would leave eight men on base against him. Searle ended three innings with strike outs. The one run the Cougars would get against him would come in the sixth inning. With one out, Crumbliss singled to left center. House then reached on a fielder's choice, with Crumbliss being out at second. House then stole second, and Aliotti would walk. Gil then singled to left to score House.

The final run the Cougars would get came in the seventh inning. With one out, Hernandez doubled to center. On the play the centerfielder dove for the ball and missed. Gilmartin followed with a double off of the center field wall to score Hernandez.

Next Game
5/9 vs Peoria, 1pm
Su-Min Jung (4-0, 0.78) vs Rob Gilliam (1-1, 3.13)

5/7, Peoria 10, Cougars 5

2010-05-07T23:13:00.001-05:00

Tonight just was not the Cougars night, as they would lose to the Peoria Chiefs 10-5. The Cougars gave up eight walks and hit two batters, plus gave up eleven hits to the Chiefs.

Peoria got off to a good start in the first off of new Cougar pitcher Kyle Christensen. With one out, Logan Watkins singled to right. Matt cerda then walked. Greg Rohan would follow with a double down the left field line. On the play Tyreace House dove and the ball got past him. Watkins and Cerda both scored. Justin Bour would single to left to get Rohan to third. Jonathan Mota would then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Rohan.

Christensen would last into the fifth inning, he gave up six hits and six runs. he walked three and threw a wild pitch, and hit two batters. The Chiefs also scored a run in the third. Logan Watkins led off with a bunt single to first. Cerda then hit a fly to right center, neither fielder could find the ball and it fell. Rohan would then hit into a fielder's choice, with watkins being out at third. A wild pitch would bring home cerda. The other two runs that Christensen gave up came in the fifth inning. Cerda led off with a walk, then Rohan was hit by a pitch and Bour walked to load the bases with nobody out. The Cougars then brought in Max Peterson. Jonathan Mota would double to left center. Myrio Richard dove and missed, Cerda and Rohan both scored.

In the bottom of the inning the Cougars would score four times. Nino Leyja led off with a walk. Franklin Hernandez then singled to short, the ball hit off of the shortstops glove. Hernandez would be able to get to third on an error on the throw by the shortstop towards third. Leyja would score on the error. Mike Gilmartin then singled up the middle to score Hernandez. Connor Crumbliss would walk. The Chiefs then made a pitching change. One out after the change, Anthony Aliotti singled to left to score Gilmartin. Leonardo Gil would hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Crumbliss.

Max Stassi led off the sixth inning with a homer to center. After that the Cougars offense would dry up as they wouldn't score again.

In the seventh inning the Chiefs would score twice. Bour led off with a walk. One out later, D.J. Fitzgerald singled to center to score Bour. Richard Jones would then hit a double off of the right field wall to score Fitzgerald. With two outs in the eighth the Chiefs scored again. Rohan would get hit by a pitch. Bour then singled to center. Mota would single to right to score Rohan. The final run of the game came in the ninth, Richard Jones led off with a walk. One out later, Hak-Ju Lee walked. One out later, Matt Cerda reached on an error by Aliotti, Jones would score on the play.

Next Game
5/8 vs Peoria, 5pm
Jonathan Nagel (0-1, 3.60) vs Justin Marks (0-3, 9.13)
Web Statistics and Counters

5/6, Cougars 7, Burlington 4

2010-05-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

The Cougars have swept Burlington in all six games this year so far. They would win the finale of the three game series in Burlington, 7-4.

Dan Straily pitched well, he went six innings, giving up five hits and no runs. He walked one and struck out seven. He would pick up his third win of the season. He was really only in trouble twice in the game, in the fourth inning he gave up a one out double to Wil Myers, and a two out single to Carlo Testa. With runners on first and third, he would get Rene Oriental to fly to left to get out of it. In the fifth inning it would get harder. With one out, Ryan Wood singled to right. Adam Frost then singled to left. Straily then got the next two hitters to fly out to end the inning.

The Bees scored their four runs in the ninth inning off of Hector Garcia. Garcia came in after Bo Schultz had pitched two good innings. Schultz gave up only two walks and nothing else. Garcia led off the ninth by walking Testa. Oriental then singled to center and Fernando Cruz would walk also, to load the bases with nobody out. Ryan Wood grounded out to score Testa. Adam Frost then reached on a throwing error by Garcia. Oriental would score on the error. Hilton Richardson then reached on a throwing error by Nino Leyja at second. Cruz would score. A wild pitch would bring home Frost.

Kane County would score seven runs in the game, they walked five times, four of those walks would eventually score. They scored three runs in the fourth inning. Tyreace House led it off with a walk, then went to second on a balk. One out later, Anthony Aliotti walked. One out later, Leonardo Gil hit a three run homer to left centerfield. One more run for the Cougars in the fifth inning, Leyja led off with a single. Then Juan Nuenz doubled to center to score Leyja.

In the sixth inning with one out, Rashun Dixon walked. Gil then doubled to right, Dixon went to third. one out later, Leyja singled to left to score Dixon. Mike Gilmartin led off the seventh with a walk. One out later, Myrio Richard reached on an error by the first baseman. W wild pitch later, Gilmartin would score. The final run for the Cougars came in the ninth inning. Gilmartin led off with a double to right. One out later, Richard grounded out to score Gilmartin.

Next Game
5/7 Peoria, 7pm
TBA vs Trey McNutt (1-0, 1.57)

5/5, Cougars 6, Burlington 1

2010-05-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

The Cougars would take the second game in the series against the Burlington Bees, 6-1. This means they have one the series, since they took the first game. Ian Krol pitched a great game and got lots of offensive support.

Krol pitched six innings giving up two hits and no runs. He gave up two walks and struck out four. The only chance the Bees had to score on him was in the fourth inning with runners on second and third with one out. Krol would get a pop out and a ground out to end the inning.

The offense came through tonight as they would score six runs on eleven hits. Anthony Aliotti led the way with three hits. Tyreace House, and Nino Leyja both had two hits.

The Cougars would take the lead in the second inning and never look back. With one out, Aliotti singled to left then stole second. One out later, Kent Walton singled up the middle to drive home Aliotti. The same combo would score the second run for the Cougars two innings later. This time Aliotti led off the inning with a double down the left field line. One out later, Walton hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Aliotti.

Three doubles in a row would score two runs in the sixth inning for the Cougars. With two outs, House doubled to right center. Myrio Richard then doubled to right to score House. Rashun Dixon would follow with a double to right center to score Richard. The Cougars scored one run in the seventh and one in the eighth also to end their scoring.

In the seventh inning with one out, Leonardo Gil pitch hit for Walton. Gil would be credited with a triple to left center. The left fielder misplayed the ball and should've been charged with an error on the play. Mike Gilmartin then put down a squeeze bunt to score Gil. In the eighth with one out, House singled to left center. One out later, Dixon walked and Aliotti then would single to left center to score House.

The Bees only run came off of releiver Jonathan Joseph in the seventh inning. With one out, Ryan Wood singled to center. Juan Graterol then doubled to right to score Wood.

Next Game
5/6 @ Burlington, 11:30 am
Dan Straily (2-1, 7.15) vs Tyler Sample (1-0, 4.81)

5/4, Cougars 3, Burlington 2 (13)

2010-05-04T23:10:00.001-05:00

The Cougars would beat the Burlington Bees 3-2 in 13 innings to remain undefeated this year in four games. Rob Gilliam had his best outing of the year for the Cougars, he went eight innings and gave up one run.

In the 13th, Rashun Dixon led off with a walk. Leonardo Gil then hit a sacrifice bunt to move Dixon over. One out later, Max Stassi grounded one slowley to short, the short stop bobbled it slightly and Stassi beat the throw for a single. Mike Gilmartin followed with a single to center to drive home Dixon to give the Cougars the lead.

Gilliam was great, he went eight innings, giving up five hits and one run. He walked one and struck out seven. At one point he retired ten in a row in the middle of the game.

He did have to get out of some trouble though. In the secong inning with one out, Ray Oriental singled to right, then stole second and went to third on an error by Stassi. One out later, Ryan Wood walked. Gilliam would be able to get Adam Frost looking to end the inning. His best disapearing act came int he seventh. Joey Lewis led off with a double to left center. Oriental then blooped a single to right. Fernando Cruz would strike out for the first out of the inning. Gilliam then got Wood to ground one back to him, to get an inning ending double play.

The one run he gave up came in the eighth inning, Frost led off with a triple off of the right centerfield wall. Alan Caldwell then hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Frost. The only other run the Bees would score came in the ninth off of reliever Jose Guzman, who had just came for the save. Wil Myers walked on four pitches, then was balked to second. Two outs later, Fernando Cruz would double to right to score Myers to tie the game. Guzman would be able to only give up one run, because he would strike out Wood to get out of the inning.

The Cougars scored their first run of the game in the second inning, Max Stassi hit a homer to left. The other run the Cougars scored came in the seventh. With one out, Nino Leyja put down a bunt, the catcher got the ball and threw it into right field. Leyja would get to third on the play. Connor Crumbliss then hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Leyja to give the Cougars a two run lead.

In all the Cougars would get 14 hits off of Bees pitching. Nino Leyja and Max Stassi both had three hits apiece. Crumbliss had a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. Connor Hoehn did a nice job in relief of Guzman. He went two innings, giving up one hit and four strikeouts to get the win. The newest Cougar Max Peterson then came in an struck out the side in the 13th inning to pick up the save.

Next Game
5/5 @ Burlington, 6:30
Ian Krol (0-1, 3.43) vs Kelvin Herrera (2-0, 2.30)

Ryan Webb and Vince Mazzaro were recalled by the Padres and the A's respectivley. Sad news is that legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell has passed away at 92.

5/3, Cougars 1, Cedar Rapids 8

2010-05-03T20:07:00.001-05:00

The Cougars get swept by the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the four game series in Iowa. This time they lose 8-1. Today the Cougars only stranded six runners on base, but gave up two homers.

Justin Marks started for the Cougars and besides two bad innings didn't pitch that badly. He would go six innings for the first time this year, giving up eight hits and six runs. Five of those runs would be earned, he also walked one and struck out four. Marks would give up a leadoff homer in the first to Mike Trout.

In the third inning the Kernels would strike for two more runs. Casey Haerther led of by getting a walk. One out later, Marks would hit Trout. Ivan Contreras then doubled to left to score both Haerther and Trout. The trhwo home to try to get Trout was off line and leftfielder Kent Walton would get an error. On the throw Contreras tried to go to third and would be out.

Three more runs for the Kernels in the sixth inning off of Marks. With one out, Carlos Ramirez singled to right. Luis Jimenez then singled to third. Randall Grichuk then hit a three run homer to left to put the Kernels up 6-0.

The Cougars did score one run in the game, in the seventh inning Rashun Dixon hit a leadoff homer to left. They also had a few more chances in the game. In the fifth inning, Anthony Aliotti leadoff single to center. Max Stassi then hit into a double play. In the sixth inning, Tyreace House led off with a walk, he would then be picked off of first. The best chance came in the ninth, Dixon led off the inning with a single to center. Leonardo Gil then hit into a double play. After that, Aliotti and Stassi both singled to center. That would put runners on first and third with two outs. Franklin Hernandez would get caught looking to end the game.

Cedar Rapids had some good pitching today, their starter Tyler Skaggs pitched five innings of two hit ball. Tyler Kehrer then came in and pitched four innings, giving up five hits and one run.

Hector Garcia came in and pitched an inning and two thirds, he would give up five hits and two runs. In the eighth he would give up the Kernels final two runs. Jean Segura led off the inning with a single to right. One out later, Luis Jimenez tripled to center to score Segura. Grichuk then singled to right to score Jimenez.

Next Game
5/4 @ Burlington, 6:30
Rob Gilliam (1-1, 3.80) vs John Lamb (0-3, 2.45)

5/2, Cougars 3, Cedar Rapids 6

2010-05-02T20:55:00.001-05:00

This is a game that the team and it's fans would most like to forget. We lose the game, the starting pitcher and our centerfielder all in one day. Chris Mederos came out of the game after two hitters with an apparent shoulder injury. Myrio Richard was hit on his left hand by a pitch. That is the same hand that has a sore wrist. The Cougars lost the game 6-3 to the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Things just did not go right from the begining for the Cougars as they would give up one run in the first and two in the third. Honestly it could've been worse too. In the first inning, Mederos walked Mike Trout to lead things off. Ivan Contreras then took two pitches from Mederos, then Ryan Quigbey came on an walked him. Jean Segura would bunt the runners over into scoring position. Jose Jimenez then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Trout. A wild pitch would move Contreras to third, but Luis Jimenez would strike out to end the inning.

In the third inning, Trout led off with a long homerun to left. Contreras followed with a double down the left field line, and went to third on a wild pitch one out later. Jose Jimenez then hit another sacrifice fly to right to score Contreras.

Cedar Rapids was not done scoring, as they put another run on the board in the fifth inning of of Bo Schultz. With one out, Contreras walked, then stole second. One out later, Jose Jimenez was hit by a pitch. Luis Jimenez then blooped one to right to score Contreras. In the seventh they would striek again, this time with one out Contreras would get a standing triple off of the right field wall. Segura hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Contreras. The final run of the game for the Kernels came in the eighth inning with one out. Randall Grichuk hit a homer to center. Reliever Jose Guzman had to get out of some trouble in the inning as Eric Oliver followed with a bloop single to center, he would be pitch run for by Matt Long. One out later, Adam Younger singled to left to move Long to third. Trout flew out to right to end the inning.

Kane County did score three runs in the game, but as has been the case recently they came late in the game. The Cougars would score three runs in the eighth inning. Connor Crumbliss led off with a double to left center. Kent Walton followed with a double off of the left field wall to score Crumbliss. Richard would be hit by a pitch, with Franklin Hernandez coming in to run for him. The Kernels then made a pitching change with David Carpenter coming into replace reliever Jon Bachanov. Leonardo Gil hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Walton. Anthony Aliotti then singled to left center. Rashun Dixon then singled up the middle to load the bases. One out later, Gilmartin would be hit by a pitch to force in Hernandez. Tyreace House would strike out to end the inning.

The Cougars, who lead the league in runners left on base per game, left nine more on base today. In the second inning with two outs, Rashun Dixon walked, Max Stassi then singled to right. Mike Gilmartin would strand them after an inning ending fly out. In the third inning with one out, Crumbliss singled to left center, then went to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Richard walked, Gil would pop out to strand the two runners on. In the fifth inning, Gilmartin led off with a single to first. Crumbliss then singled to left. This time Walton would hit into an inning ending double play.

With one out in the sixth, Gil walked, then Aliotti hit into an inning ending double play. In the seventh inning, Dixon led off with a walk, he would get to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Gilmartin flew to center and Dixon went to third. House would ground out to end the inning.

Next Game
5/3 @ Cedar Rapids, Noon
Justin Marks (0-2, 9.72) vs Tyler Skaggs (0-1, 0.64)

5/1, Cougars 8, Cedar Rapids 11

2010-05-01T18:30:00.001-05:00

Well, what a diffrence between todays game and last nights game. Last night the Cougars were no hit by the Kernels. Today there were a combined 19 runs and 20 hits, with three Cougar errors. The Cougars would lose 11-8, and are now 1-4 against the Kernels on the year. The funny thing is the Cougars scored four times in the first, and then four times in the ninth and that is it.

The Cougars offense came alive int he first inning with those four runs. Connor Crumbliss led off the game with a double to center. One out later, he would move to third on a wild pitch, as Rashun Dixon walked. Anthony Aliotti singled to right to score Crumbliss. Leonardo Gil then hit a three run homer to right field.

Dan Straily did not have a good day against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He lasted into the third inning, giving up nine runs on seven hits. He walked three and struck out one. He also gave up two homers and hit a batter. In the first inning he was spotted four runs by the offense, then gave them right back in the bottom of the inning. Mike Trout led off by being hit by a pitch. Ivan Contreras walked. Two outs later, Luis Jimenez singled to left to score Trout. Randal Grichuk then hit a three run homer to left.

Two more runs for the Kernels in the second inning. Eric Oliver led off with a double to right. Adam Younger would reach on a fielder's choice, with Oliver being out at second. Mike Trout then reached on a force out of Younger at second. He would then steal second. Contreras doubled to center to score Trout. Jean Segura would then double to center to score Contreras.

It got even worse for the Cougars in the third inning as the Kernels would score three more times against Straily. With two outs, Jose Jimenez walked. Oliver then singled to right. Adam Younger would hit a three run homer to left to put the Kernels up 9-4 after three innings.

The saving grace for the Cougars was the pitching of Connor Hoehn. He came in to relieve Straily in the third and pitched three and one thirds innings. He gave up one hit and struck out three. The one hit was a one out triple to Trout in the sixth. A strike out and a ground out later, Trout would still be at third.

Hector Garcia didn't have as good of a day. He would come in to replace Hoehn in the seventh. He would go two innings, giving up three hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out five. His only problem was the seventh, the eighth he pitched perfectly. With one out in the seventh, Luis Jimenez doubled to left. Grichuk would then single to center to score Jimenez. A passed ball on catcher Juan Nunez and a wild pitch on Garcia would put Grichuk at third. Jose Jimenez then reached on an error by first baseman Anthony Aliotti. Grichuk would score ont he play and Jimenez got to second. Eric Oliver then singled to center, Jimenez went to third and Oliver would make second on a throwing error by centerfielder Myrio Richard. After that Garcia would be able to strike out Younger for the second out. He walked Trout, which loaded the bases. Ivan Contreras would strike out looking to let Garcia off of the hook.

The other big inning for the Cougars came in the ninth inning when they made a game out of it. Aliotti led off with a double to center. Leonardo Gil then walked, a wild pitch by Kernel reliever Buddy Boshers would move both runners into scoring position. Franklin Hernandez followed with a double to right to score Aliotti. Juan Nunez then singled to center to score Gil. Chris Affinito hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Hernandez. Mike Gilmartin then singled to right adn Crumbliss walked to reload the bases. Cedar Rapids then made a pitching change bringin in Johnny Hellweg. Richard would hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Nunez. Dixon then walked to load the bases, but Hellweg ended the game with a groundout by Aliotti.

Next Game
5/2 @ Cedar Rapids, 2pm
Chris Mederos (2-1, 1.50) vs Orangel Arenas (0-4, 3.57)

4/30, Cougars 0, Cedar Rapids 3, Cougars Get No Hit

2010-04-30T21:50:00.001-05:00

The Cougars were no hit tonight by the Cedar Rapids Kernels, losing the game 3-0 to even their record at 11-11 for the season. This is the first time since July 9th of 2003 in game 2 of the doubleheader in Clinton that the Cougars were no hit. 7/9/03 G2.

They would leave eight men on base as they did walk five times in the game. The diffrence in the game was the pitching from both sides. Fabio Martinez started for the Kernels and had the first five innings. He walked three and struck out nine. Kyle Hurst then came in and pitched the next two innings, walking two and striking out two. Mike Kenney then came in and pitched the final two innings to record his first save of the season. He struck out three hitters.

Ian Krol started for the Cougars and was really good, he threw six innings, giving up four hits. He did not give up a run and struck out five. Jonathan Joseph then came in and went an inning and a third and gave up three hits and three runs.

The first run of the game came in the seventh inning for the Kernels against Joseph. With one out, Luis Jimenez doubled to right. One out later, Eric Oliver would be hit by a pitch. Casey Haerther then singled to right to score Jimenez. Joseph would get Adam Younger looking to end the inning.

The other two runs the Kernels would score came in the eighth inning. Mike Trout led off with a single to right center. Trout would then steal second base, after the throw from catcher Max Stassi went off of short stop Mike Gilmartin's glove. One out later, Jean Segura struck out. Stassi couldn't get the ball cleanly so he had to throw to first to get the strikeout. He bounced the throw, allowing Segura to reach and Trout to get to third. A wild pitch would move Segura to second, before an interntional walk to Carlos Ramirez loaded the bases with only one out. Josh Lansford then came on in relief. He would get Jimenez to pop out to right for the second out. Oliver then blooped one to the right field line that fell in front of Rashun Dixon. Trout and Segura would score. Ramirez would be out trying to score to end the inning.

Leaving eight men on base didn't help the Cougars cause tonight. Tyreace House was left on after a one out walk, and stolen base in the first. In the second, Connor Crumbliss and House both walked with two outs but would be stranded. In the fourth inning with two outs, Max Stassi reached on an error by the third baseman. Dixon was then hit by a pitch, unfortunalty Franklin Hernandez grounded out to first to end the inning. The fifth inning the Cougars would get a runner to third. With one out, Crumbliss walked then stole second. One out later, Kent Walton reached on an error, allowing Crumbliss to get to third. Leonardo Gil would then strike out to end the inning.

Stassi walked with one out in the sixth, but would be erased on a caught stealing. Mike Gilmartin walked with one out in the seventh but would go no where.

Cedar Rapids had more chances to score, but some nice pitching by Krol got the Cougars out of trouble. In the first inning, Matt Long reached on a single to second. Long would be picked off of first, but would be credited with a stolen base. Gilmartin missed the tag at second. In the fourth inning, Long led off the inning with a double down the right field line, he tried to get a triple and would be out on a relay throw from Crumbliss.

In the fifth inning Krol had to battle out of a big jam. Jimenez led off with a single to left. Randall Grichuk then reached on a fielder's choice, with Jimenez being out at second, he would beat the throw back to first for the double play. Oliver then singled to left. Krol would then be able to get Haerther to ground into the inning ending double play. In the sixth inning with two outs the Kernels would get another runner on base. Long reached on an error by Hernandez at first. Segura would hit into an inning ending force play at second to let Krol off the hook.

The loss breaks the Cougars four game winning streak.
Next Game
5/1 @ Cedar Rapids, 2pm

Notes-Jonathan Joseph was activated from the disabled list today. A.J. Huttenlocker was placed on the disabled list with a sore shoulder.

Trevor Cahil was promoted to Oakland

Tyler Ladendorf and Dusty Napoleon were both sent from Stockton to Sacramento

Josh Horton was activated from the disabled list and sent from Midland to Stockton

This was the first time that there were two no- hitters in the Midwest League on the same night since 7/10/87. Peoria no hit Clinton tonight. Peoria and Cedar Rapids were also the teams that pitched the no-hitters back then.

2010-04-30T19:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry no posts the last few days, I forgot my password. If it happends again just go to my website for Cougar news, http://malamut.net

4/22, Cougars 4, Peoria 6

2010-04-22T23:14:00.001-05:00

The Cougars would get swept out of Peoria, and extend their four game losing streak tonight, as they lost 6-4. They left seven men on base.

Justin Marks started for the Cougars, he lasted four innings, giving up six hits and five runs. His first and third innings were perfect, the other two were not as good. He walked two and struck out three. Marks also had a wild pitch.

The story of the game though was the Chiefs starter Su-Min Jung, who still has not allowed a earned run in his three wins. He went five innings, giving up three hits, and no runs. He walked two and struck out four, three of those looking.

Kane County got most of their runs again in the ninth inning. They would score three times against Chief reliever Cory Martin. Max Stassi led off the inning with a single to left. Anthony Aliotti and Leonardo Gil both walked, which would load the bases. Juan Nunez would strike out. Nino Leyja grounded out to second, on the play Stassi would score. Connor Crumbliss then singled up the middle to score both Aliotti and Gil. At this point the Cougars were down two, with the tying run up to bat. The Chiefs then brought in their closer, James Leverton. He would strike out Tyreace House looking to end the game.

The Chiefs would lead off the scoring in the game in the second inning off of Marks. Greg Rohan led off the inning with a walk. Richard Jones then singled to right. Jovan Rosa would then doubled to right center to score Rohan. On the play, the relay throw in from Gil would get past Stassi. Marks forgot to back up the catcher. On the error by Gil for the throw home, Jones would score. One out later, Jesus Morelli singled to right to score Rosa. Marks would get out of the inning with a double play.

Rohan also led off the fourth inning, this time with a double to left, he would get to third on a wild pitch. Marks then struck out, Jones and got Rosa to ground out to keep Rohan at third. Alvaro Ramirez then singeld to right to score Rohan. Morelli walked, and Jose Valdez then singled to right center to score Ramirez.

The last run for the Chiefs came in the sixth. Rosa singled to right. Ramirez singled to left, and Morelli singled to center to load the bases. By then A.J. Huttenlocker had come in for his second inning of relief. He would strike out Valdez looking. Huk-Ju Lee then reached on a fielder's choice. On the play, Morelli would be out at second and Rosa would score.

The Cougars scored their first run of the game in the seventh inning off of Chief releiver Ronny Morla. With one out, Anthony Aliotti singled up the middle. He would get to third on two wild pitches. One out later, Juan Nunez reached on a error by the third baseman. On the play the ball went off his glove, Aliotti would score.

That would be all of the scoring in the game but not all of the chances. In the first the Cougars stranded House at second after a single up the middle and a steal of second. In the second Aliotti was stranded at first after a one out single. The fourth inning was frustrating, as both Rashun Dixon and Stassi both walked with one out. Aliotti would then hit into a inning ending double play.

A leadoff single by Gil in the fifth would lead to nothing. In the eighth inning with one out, House reached on a fielder's chocie. He would get to third before being stranded there. The Cougars would walk five times with only the two walks in the ninth coming around to score. The Cougars would strike out ten times, four times to end innings. Five of those strike outs were looking.

Next Game
4/23 @ Clinton 6:30
Ian Krol (0-1, 6.52) vs Jimmy Gilheeney (1-1, 2.93)

4/21, Cougars 2, Peoria 4

2010-04-21T23:41:00.001-05:00

Three straight losses for the Cougars, as they would lose to the Peoria Chiefs 4-2 this morning.

Kane County got out to a early 1-0 lead in the second ininng. Max Stassi led off with a walk, he then would get to third on two stright wild pitches. One out later, Leonardo Gil singled to right to score Stassi. The only other run the Cougars would score came in the sixth when Rashun Dixon hit his first homerun of the season. This to left field with one out.

Besides those two innings the Cougars had a couple of other chances in the game. In the fourth inning, Dixon would lead off with a single to center. Two groundouts later, he would get to third. Gil then struck out to end the inning. In the fifth, Mike Gilmartin led off with a single to center. Tyreace House would be out on batters interference, after putting down a bunt. Connor Crumbliss and Kent Walton both struck out to end the inning.

Chiefs start Ken McNutt pitched great, actually the bullpen of Steve Grife and Jordan Lathan also pitched well also. McNutts went five innings, giving up five hits and one run. In the seventh inning the Cougars would get two walks and strand both of them.

The eighth inning would start out with a Myrio Richard single to left. Two outs later, Anthony Aliotti walked. Gil would then strike out to end the threat. In the ninth the Cougars would get two runners on with a walk and a hit by pitch. Richard would strike out to end the game.

Chris Mederos pitched well again for the Cougars. He went into the sixth inning, giving up six hits and two runs. He would have to get out of some trouble though. In the second inning with one out, Justin Bour singled to right, a wild pitch would move him to second. Mario Mercedes then walked. Richard Jones hit into a fielder's choice, on the play Mercedes would be out at second. A wild pitch moved Jones to second, while Bour held on at third. Mederos then would strike out George Matheus to end the inning.

Peoria scored two runs in the sixth inning. Logan Watkins led off with a single to third. Matt Cerda then singled to right. Greg Rohan would then double to left to score Watkins. Bour grounded out to score Cerda. The Cougars would then make a pitching change and bring in Connor Hoehn. He would strike out the next two hitters to get out of the inning.

Hoehn would take the loss in the game as he went two and two thirds innings, giving up one hit and two runs. The game deciding runs came in the seventh inning for the Chiefs. With one out, Jesus Morelli was hit by a pitch. Jose Valdez then walked. One out later, Cerda singled to left to score both Morelli and Valdez. Cerda would get to second on the throw home, and would be out at third to end the inning but the damage was already done.

Next Game
4/22 @ Peoria, 6:30
Justin Marks (0-1, 10.13) vs Su-Min Jung (2-0, 0.00)

4/20, Cougars 7, Peoria 8 (11)

2010-04-20T23:56:00.000-05:00

What a messy game tonight turned out to be, the Cougars would get seven runs, ten hits and ten walks and lose. 14 strikeouts and six errors did not help much. Plus the Peoria Chiefs scored eight runs and got 14 hits, in a 8-7 eleven inning game.

Things looked great for the Cougars untill the bottom of the fourth inning when the Chiefs offense would start to get on track. Dan Straily started for the Cougars and lasted into the fifth inning. He would give up seven hits and six runs. Only four of those runs were earned, he walked three and struck out four. Bo Schults and Josh Lansford would give up the other runs.

The offense was lead by Connor Crumbliss who had three hits and two walks. Juan Nunez also had two hits and one walk.

Peoria got the first run in the game in the first inning off of Straily. Hak-Ju Lee led off with a single to left center. Logan Watkins then singled to center. Matt Cerda would reach on a fielder's choice. On the play Crumbliss go thte ball and threw to shortstop Mike Gilmartin for the force out of Watkins. Only problem is Gilmartin droped the ball, which would load the bases. One out later, Justin Bour hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Lee.

The Cougars would break away with five runs in the fourth inning sending eleven men to the plate. With one out, Rashun Dixon singled to shrot. One out later, Leonardo Gil and Gilmartin both walked, which would load the bases. Juan Nunez hit into a fielder choice, on the play the third baseman got beat to the base by Gil, and Dixon scored. Crumbliss would then single to left center to score Gil and Gilmartin. Peoria would then bring in a reliever, Tim Clubb came in for starter Jeff Antigua. Tyreace House greated him with a single up the middle to score Nunez. Myrio Richard then singled to left to score Crumbliss. Max Stassi then walked to reload the bases. Dixon then grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.

Things were looking very good for the Cougars untill the bottom of the inning when they gave back three of those runs. Bour led off with a walk. Mario Mercedes then singled to right. Bour would make it to third on an error by right fielder Dixon. Mercedes would be out at second trying to advance on the error. Richard Jones then doubled off the left field wall to score Bour. Alvaro Ramirez hit one to left, that left fielder House misplayed allowing Ramirez to get to second Jose Valdez grounded out to second to allow Jones to score and Ramirez to get to third. Lee then tried to use a squeeze play to get Ramirez in from third. He would bunt through the ball and Nunez threw to third. The throw from Nunez went into left field allowing Ramirez to score.

Kane County did come back with two more runs in the fifth inning. Chris Affinito led off the inning with a walk. Gil then doubled down the left field line to get Affinito to third. One out later, the Chiefs would make a pitching change. Andres Quezada came in for Tim Clubb. Quezada promtly walked Nunez to load the bases. Crumbliss would then hit one back to the pitcher that he wouldn't be able to field properly. Affinito scored and the bases remained loaded. House then walked to force in Gil. The way the day went for the Cougars, Richard then hit into an inning ending double play.

The misplays continued in the bottom of the inning for the Cougars as the Chiefs would score twice more. Watkins led off the inning with a walk. Nunez would get Watkins picked off of first base, the only problem is the throw went into right field. Watkins moved to second then would get to third one out later on a wild pitch. Greg Rohan singled to right to score Watkins. Bo Schultz then came in for Straily. Bour greated him with a ball that fell on the warning track in right field. Dixon couldn't find the ball. Rohan would only get to third and Bour made second. Mercedes then grounded out to score Rohan.

At that point the score was 7-6 in favor of the Cougars. The Chiefs tied the game up in the seventh. With two outs. Schults struck out looking the first two hitters of the inning. Rohan then walked. Bour singled to left. Mercedes then singled to right to score Rohan.

Josh Lansford came in for the eleventh inning. Jose Valdez led off the inning with a single to second. Lee then tried to bunt him over, he would pop up the bunt to third. Gil then threw to first and got Valdez doubled off. Watkins would walk. Cerda then doubled down the left field line to score Watkins who got the ball out of the glove of Nunez at home plate to win the game for the Chiefs.

The Cougars had plenty of chances thoughout the game. They got two walks in the first inning but a caught stealing and a inning ending strikeout by Max Stassi stranded the one walk still left on. In the second inning a one out walk to Affinito would be erased by a double play. In the third inning the Cougars got two more runners on base. This time with two one out singles. After that a strikeout and a fly out ended it.

The next best chance was in the eleventh for the Cougars. Richard led off with a single to left. Stassi then reached on a fielder's choice, with Richard out at second. Dixon would do the same thing with a fielder's choice. Dixon then grounded out to first.

Hector Garcia pitched great out of the pen tonight. He went three innings, giving up two hits and getting one strike out. In the eighth he had to get out of some self inflicted trouble. Ramirez bunted one back to him, Garcia fielded the ball then fell down and threw it to first. The ball would get away as Ramirez was coming into first. Ramirez made it all the way to third on the error. Two outs later, Ramirez would be caught off of third by Nunez to end the inning. In the tenth inning Garcia again had to get out of trouble. Bour led off with a single to right. He would then be pitch run for by Jesus Morelli. Mercedes put down the sacrifice bunt to move Morelli over. Jones then grounded one to first to move Morelli to third. Ramirez then flew to left to end the inning.

The Chiefs bullpen of Andres Quezada, Corey Martin, Jeff Beliveau and James Leverton did a nice job of holding the Cougars down. They combined to go 6.2 innings, giving up three hits and walking three. They also struck out seven Cougars. They retired 19 of the last 22 Cougars they faced.

Next Game
4/21 @ Peoria, 10:30 am
Chris Mederos (1-1, 0.71) vs Trey McNutt (1-0, 1.00)

4/19, Cedar Rapids 6, Cougars 3

2010-04-19T21:14:00.001-05:00

Giving up three runs in the tenth inning to the Cedar Rapids Kernels would lead to a loss for the Kane County Cougars, 6-3. The Cougars droped the third game of the series, and were 5-4 on the nine game homestand.

Rob Gilliam pitched well, he went six innings, giving up three hits and two unearned runs. He walked one and struck out four. The first run of the game came in the first inning for the Kernels off of Gilliam. Mike Trout led off with a single to short. Matt Long then hit a grounder to first. First baseman Franklin Hernandez tried to get the lead runner Trout and threw the ball into right field. On the play Trout made it to third and Long was safe at first. Jean Segura would hit into a double play, on the play Trout would score.

The second run of the game for the Kernels again came on an errant throw by Hernandez. Adam Younger led off the sixth inning with a double to left. Trout would then put down a sacrifice bunt towards the first base side. Hernandez got the ball and tried to throw it to the second baseman Connor Crumbliss who was covering first. The ball would get away, and Younger would be able to score. Gilliam did a nice job to hold the Kernels right there. Long would then put down a bunt to move Trout to second. One out later, Jose Jimenez walked to put runners on first and third with two outs. Luis Jimenez then flew out to center to end the threat.

The great part is after a half inning where they made an error that cost them a run, the Cougars would put up three runs in the next half inning. With one out, Myrio Richard doubled to left, he would then steal third. Both Max Stass and Rashun Dixon walked to load the bases. Chris Affinito would then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Richard. Hernandez would double to left to score both Stassi and Affinito. Mike Gilmartin and Leonardo Gil both walked which loaded the bases again, this time with two outs. Kernels reliever David Carpenter would strike out Crumbliss to end the inning.

Cedar Rapids came back for another run in the seventh inning off of Ryan Quigley. Randall Grichuk led off the inning with a double to left. Eric Oliver then reached on a fielder's choice, on the play, Grichuk would be out at third. Michael Wing and Adam Younger both walked, which would load the bases. Trout then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Oliver.

That is the way the game would stay untill the tenth inning. In the tenth, Jose Guzman came on to pitch for the Cougars. With one out, Long singled to right. Segura then singled to right, then stole second. Jose Jimenez walked to load the bases. Luis Jimenez then would hit a triple to center, to clear the bases. Guzman would be able to strand Jimenez at third, after a strike out and a line out.

Next Game
4/20, at Peoria, 6:30
Dan Straily (1-0, 3.38) vs Jeff Antigua (0-0, 3.60)

4/18, Cedar Rapids 3, Cougars 5

2010-04-18T16:22:00.001-05:00

The Cougars offense would come alive late in the game to beat the Cedar Rapids Kernels 5-3. They scored one run in the sixth and four in the seventh. The Kernels starter Garrett Richards pitch well and the Cougars really couldn't get anything going while he was in the game.

Richards pitched into the sixth inning, he gave up three hits and one run. His main problem was five walks, he also struck out eight. The Cougars had a couple of chances off of him, in the third inning, Leonardo Gil then singled to short. Connor Crumbliss would single to left. One out later, Kent Walton struck out, and on strike three got in the way of the catcher. This while Crumbliss was trying to steal second, so Crumbliss was called out on batters interference.

Kane County was able to start to get to Richards in the sixth inning. With one out, Rashun Dixon walked. Max Stassi then singled to left. Anthony Aliotti then followed with a walk to load the bases. The Kernels would then make a pitching change, C.J. Bressoud came in an walked Mike Gilmartin to force in Dixon to tie the game. Tyreace House would pop up to center, and Gil grounded one to first to let the Kernels off the hook.

The big inning for the Cougars came in the seventh inning when they scored four runs. Crumbliss led off with a walk. Walton then singled on a bunt towards first. Myrio Richard would sacrifice then over, on the play the pitcher Bressoud threw the ball into left field trying to get Crumbliss at third. Crumbliss would score, Walton would get to third and Richard went to second. One out later, Stassi blooped a single down the right field line, on a check swing. on the play both Walton and Richard scored. Aliotti then singled to right on a hit and run play to get Stassi to third. Gilmartin woudl then hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Stassi.

Ian Krol started for the Cougars and was that bad, he went four innings, giving up three hits and one run. He walked one and struck out four. In the first inning he would give up his one run. Mike Trout led off the game with a triple to right. On the play Rashun Dixon misplayed the ball to turn it into a triple. Matt Long then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Trout.

The only other real threat for the Kernels came in the ninth when they would score two other runs against reliever Jose Guzman. Guzman led off his outing by hitting Carlos Ramirez. Luis Jimenez then reached on a fielder's choice, with Guzman being out at second. One out later, Eric Oliver singled to center. Casey Haerther would reach on an error by shortstop Gilmartin. Jimenez scored and Oliver went to second. Kevin Ramos then blooped a single just in front of Richard in center. Ramos took a wide turn at first and would be thrown out to end the game at first.

Connor Hoehn and A.J. Huttenlocker did a nice job out of the pen. Hoehn went three shutout innings, giving up just one walk and getting four strike outs. Huttenlocker then came in for an inning, he walked one.

Next Game
4/19 vs Cedar Rapids
Tyler Skaggs (0-1, 1.80) vs Rob Gilliam (0-1, 8.31)

4/17, Cedar Rapids 14, Cougars 6

2010-04-17T21:01:00.001-05:00

Well this was a very ugly game for the Cougars, as almost nothing went right for them. The Cedar Rapids Kernels would beat them 14-6, and it could've been a lot worse. 2 hit by pitches, 1 wild pitch, 1 balk, 9 walks, 15 hits against, along with 2 errors will not win you a ballgame.

Justin Marks started for the cougars and really didnt have much. He lasted into the fourth inning. Giving up six hits and nine runs. Also four walks and four strike outs. Plus he hit two Kernels, and had a wild pitch.

Cedar Rapids started things off in the second inning with four runs. Carlos Ramirez led it off by being hit by a pitch. Luis Jimenez then followed with a single to right. Randell Grichuk doubled down the lefft field line to score both Ramirez and Jimenez. Eric Oliver then took the second pitch he saw out of the park for a two run homer.

The Cougars followed with three runs of their own in the third inning. Leonardo Gil led off with a single down the left field line. Nino Leyja and Connor Crumbliss both walked to load the bases. Kent walton then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Gil. One out later, Rashun Dixon then tripled to left center to score both Leyja and Crumbliss.

In the fourth inning the Kernels blew the game open with five runs. Randall Grichuk singled to right. Eric Oliver then singled to right. Casey Haerther would pop up a bunt for the first out. Adam younger walked to load the bases. Mike Trout would walk, to force in Grichuk. Matt Long was then hit by a pitch to force in oliver. Jean Segura would then hit a ball off of Marks' glove towards second base for an infield single. On the play Younger and Trout scored. The Cougars then brought in Josh Lansford to pitch. He would give up a single to right center to score Long.

More runs for the Kernels in the sixth as they scored three more times. Segura doubled off of Rashun Dixon's glove, in which Dixon dove and missed. Carlos Ramiez followed with a walk. The Cougars then made another pitching change, as Bo schultz came in for Lansford. Jimenez singled to right to load the bases. Grichuk then reached on an error by Connor Crumbliss, on the play Segura would score and the bases would remain loaded. Eric Oliver then grounded into a double play for the first two outs of the inning, on the play Ramirez scored. Haerther would then single to right to score Jimenez. Schultz would get out of the inning with a ground out.

Three more runs for the Cougars in the seventh. Tyreace House led it off with a single to left center. Gil then singled to center. Leyja would reach on a fielder's choice. On the play it would've been a double play, but on the throw to the shortstop by the second baseman, the shortstop droped the ball and the bases loaded. Crumbliss followed with walk to force in House. walton would then single to left center to score both Gil and Leyja.

The game already seemed like it was put away but the Kernels would score two more runs in the eighth. Ramirez led off the inning with a walk. Jimenez then reached on a fielder's choice with Ramirez being out at second. Grichuk then singled to left. Oliver singled to right to load the bases. Haerther would bloop a single to center to score Jimenez. One out later, Trout singled to third to score Grichuk.

The only time they would not score with a good chance was in the fifth inning when they would load the bases off of Lansford. With one out, Oliver walked. Haerther then doubled off the right field wall. Younger would pop out to second for the second out. Trout walked to load the bases. Lansford would then be able to get Long to strike out looking to get out of trouble.

Next Game
4/18 vs Cedar Rapids, 1pm
Garrett Richards (0-0, 0.82) vs Ian Krol (0-1, 9.53)

4/16, Beloit 6, Cougars 0

2010-04-16T22:08:00.001-05:00

The Cougars would be out hit 11-6, and leave ten men on base. They lost 6-0 to the Beloit Snappers. The main reason they lost was the long ball, as they would give up two of them in the game.

Chris Mederos would take the loss, but really pitched well, and if he had gotten some run support he could've gotten a win. He went six and two thirds innings, giving up three hits and one run. He walked one and struck out five. He had a no hitter going into the fourth inning. The hit he gave up was a bloop in which right fielder Rashun Dixon misplayed a ball, then had to try to make a late diving catch.

Mederos would walk a hitter in the first. He also gave up a bloop single in the sixth. The seventh inning the Cougars would give up one run. With two innings, Angel Morales doubled to right center off of Mederos. The Cougars then brought in Ryan Quigley, who would give up a bloop single to left to Wang Wei Lin to score Morales.

Beloit had a chance to score in the eighth inning with two outs. Brian Dozier singled to left, thenhe would steal both second and third. Derek McCallum would strike out to end the inning.

Quigley had a lot of problems in the ninth. Danny Rams led off the inning with a double off the right field wall. He would be pitch run for by Reggie Williams. Michael Gonzalez then hit his third homer of the series, and his second in two days over the right field deck. Angel Morales singled back to the mound, then mound, then would steal second. Lin singled to short. Josmil Pinto hammered one over the scoreboard in left center for a three run homer.

The Cougars did have runners on base in the game and some opportunities. In the fourth inning the Cougars left the bases loaded. Myrio Richard led off the inning with a single to right. Two outs later, Rashun Dixon singled back to the mound, and Mike Gilmartin walked. Juan Nunez then lined one back to the mound to end the inning. In the fifth inning, Kent Walton hit a double down the left field line. The Snappers then made a pitching change, Richard would ground out to end the inning.

In the eighth inning with two outs, Richard doubles just over the head of the left fielder, then he went to third on a throwing error by the left fielder. The Snappers then made a pitching change. Chris Affinito grounded out to end the inning.

The ninth inning the Cougars would leave the bases loaded. With one out, Dixon reached on an error by the third baseman. Gilmartin then walked, and Nunez blooped one to center to load the bases. Leonardo Gil struck out for the second out. Connor Crumbliss would ground one to first to end the game.

Kane County is now 5-4 on the season, and 1-4 in night games. They lose the series against Beloit.

Tomorrow's Game
vs Cedar Rapids, 5 pm
Tyler Kehrer (0-0, 0.00) vs Justin Marks (0-0, 0.00)

4/15, Beloit 4, Cougars 5

2010-04-15T21:38:00.001-05:00

The Cougars came from behind with three runs in the ninth to beat the Beloit Snappers 5-4. The win gives the Cougars a 5-3 record on the year, and a series win in the series against the Snappers.

In the ninth inning Snapper reliever Matt Tone was in his second inning of relief, he had struck out the side in the eighth. All of a sudden he could not find the plate. He would walk both Mike Gilmartin and Tyreace House to lead off the inning. Nino Leyja, tried to put down a sacrifice bunt, but would hit into a fielder's choice, He hit it to close to the mound, and Tone got the ball and threw to third to get Gilmartin for the first out of the inning. Connor Crumbliss then walked, to reload the bases for the Cougars. Beloit then made a pitching change. Kane Holbrooks came in and on his second pitch, Myrio Richard hit a double to the wall in left center. House and Leyja would score. Crumbliss came around third, and the shortstop bobbled the ball, trying to throw it home. Crumbliss would be safe and the Cougars would win.

The Cougars only scored in one more inning of the game, in the sixth inning they scored their other two runs. Crumbliss led off with a walk. Richard then doubled to the wall in center. Kent Walton would hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Crumbliss. Chris Affinito then walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Max Stassi came through with a double to the left center field wall to score Richard. After that the Snappers made a pitching change, and Edgar Ibarra would walk Anthony Allotti, then strike out the next two hitters to get out of the inning.

Beloit started the scoring in the second inning off of Cougar starter Dan Straily. Michael Gonzales hit his second homer of the series, this one over the right field deck. In the sixth inning the Snappers would strike again with another run. With one out, Danny Rams doubled down the left field line, he would get to third on a wild pitch. One out later, Angel Morales doubled off of the left center field wall to score Rams.

The other runs that the Snappers would get one would come in the seventh, off of reliever Connor Hoehn. With two outs, Brian Dozier blooped a single to left. A throwing error on a pick off attempt would put Dozier on third. Derek McCallum then singled down the left field line to drive in Dozier. In the eighth innin the Snappers would score their last run of the game. Steven Liddle led off with a single to center. A strike out later, he would steal second. One more out later, Anderson Hidalgo singled to right center to score Liddle, this would put the Snappers up 4-2.

Snappers starter Miguel Munoz pitched well, he was wild but pitched well. He went into the sixth inning, giving up five hits and two runs. His main problem was he gave up five walks, but he also struck out three. He did get three double plays in the game, two of which would end innings. For the Cougars, Dan Straily started, and also lasted into the sixth inning. He would give up six hits and two runs. he walked one and struck out two. He threw two wild pitches.

Kane County had more chances to score in the game. In the fifth inning, Aliotti led off with a walk. Gilmartin then hit one back to the mound that would turn into a double play. In the seventh inning with two outs, Richard tripled just past the reach of the right fielder. Walton would then strike out to end the inning.

The Cougars gave Beloit a ton of chances in the game. In the third inning with two outs, Dozier and McCallum both singled. Straily would then be able to get Danny Rams to fly to center. In the fourth inning, Liddle led off with a walk, then stole second. Morales and Gonzales both hit liners to center for the first two outs. Hidalgo grounded out to end the inning.

Tomorrow vs Beloit, 6:30
Brad Stallings (0-1, 1.80) vs Chris Mederoa (1-0, 0.00)

Notes-In the fourth inning, the ground out by Hidalgo was after an adventurous foul ball. He poped it up foul near the third base dugout. The ball carried, near the top step. The batboy tried to get out of the way but couldn't get out of the way of the players. The ball would eventually hit him in the helmet, and almost cost the Cougars. The on deck hitter, Reggie Williams gave the kid a high five for helping them.

4/14, Beloit 6, Cougars 5

2010-04-14T21:42:00.001-05:00

A sloppy game, in which the Cougars would lose 6-5 to break their four game winning streak. The bad part was the three runs the Beloit Snappers scored in the ninth inning to come from behind to take the first game of the series.

The big inning of the game was the ninth, Hector Garcia had just come in to pitch for the save, the Cougars started the inning off with a 5-3 lead. With one out, Michael Gonzales walked, then was pitch run for by Wang Wei Lin. Reggie Williams then walked. James Beresford, singled to short to load the bases. Garcia then walked Aaron Hicks to force in Gonzales. Brian Dozier singled to left to score Williams to tie the game at 5. The very next pitch, Garcia threw a wild pitch to allow Beresford to score. After that Garcia got two grounders to get out of the inning.

The Cougars started out the scoring with a homer by Max Stassi to straight away center, that just carried out towards the batters eye in the second inning. Beloit tied the game in the next half inning with a Gonzalez lead off homer to left field.

The good thing is the Cougars did come back and get the lead back in the next half inning with a run of their own. With two outs, Connor crumbliss walked. Kent Walton then doubled down the left field line to score Crumbliss.

Two more runs for the Snappers in the sixth to take the lead again. Aaron Hicks lead off the inning with a walk. Cougar starter Rob Gilliam then threw a pick off attempt into the bullpen to move Hicks to second. One out later, Derek McCallum then doubled to right to score Hicks. One more out later, Steven Liddle double down the right field line to score McCallum. It could've been worse, Gilliam threw a wild pitch on ball four to Tobias Streich, Liddle tried to score from second and would be out at the plate.

Somehow the Cougars came back in the next half inning with three runs of their own in the sixth inning. Stassi led off the inning with a double down the left field line. He would get to third on a wild pitch. Franklin Hernandez then blooped one over the drawn in infield at third for a single to score Stassi. Hernandez then went to second on an errant pick off attempt. One out later, Nino Leyja walked. The Snappers made a pitching change, Tyreace House singled to right to great the new pitcher. On the play Hernandez scored, and Leyja went to third. Myrio Richard grounded out to second to score Leyja. The Cougars could've gotten more, and Crumbliss walked. Walton struck out to strand runners on first and third.

Connor Crumbliss would have two hits, and two walks in the game. He also stole a base and scored a run. Max Stassi had two hits, including his second homer of the year. He also had a double and scored twice. Josh Lansford pitched two good innings, he gave up two hits and two strike outs.

Next Game
Tomorrow vs Beloit, 6 pm
Miguel Munoz (0-0, 1.80) vs Dan Straily (1-0, 3.60)

The runs that Garcia gave up today were the first runs that the bullpen gave up on this homestand, 18.2 innings.

4/13, Burlington 5, Cougars 6 (11)

2010-04-13T23:01:00.001-05:00

Four in a row, and a sweep of the Burlington Bees, with the Cougars 6-5 win today. It took eleven innings and a bases loaded walk but they would prevail, after falling behind by five runs.

The Cougars came back in the ninth with three runs to tie the game at five. With one out, Myrio Richard homered. One out later, Kent Walton would reach on an infield single to third. Chris Affinito then walked. The Cougars pitch ran for him with Tyreace House. Max Stassi would then get a double to left to score both Walton and House to tie the game.

In the eleventh with two outs, Walton walked. Juan Nunez then walked, he came in to catch after Affinito was pitch run for. Stassi then walked which would load the bases. The Bees would then make a pitching change, bring in Sam Runion to replace Scott Kelley. He would walked Rashun Dixon to force in Walton to win the game.

Burlington got out to a really fast start in the game with one run in the first and three in the second off of Cougar starter Ian Krol. Gerard Hall led off the game with a walk, then stole second. Deivy Batista singled to right to get Hall to third. William Myers grounded out to second to get Hall in from third. In the second inning with two outs, Jose Bonilla walked. Allen Caldwell then singled to center. Hall would follow with a double to left to score both Bonilla and Caldwell.

Cougar reliever Ryan Quigley then came in to start the third and had to get out of a jam. With one out, Joey Lewis walked then stole second, He would get to third on a third strike wild pitch, and be stranded there. Quigley gave up a run in the fifth inning. With two outs, Lewis singled to short. Carlo Testa then singled to third. Fernando Cruz would reach on a missed catch error by first baseman Anthony Aliotti to load the bases. A passed by on catcher Chris Affinito would allow Lewis to score.Bo Schultz then came in to replace Quigley and get the final out of the inning.

The comeback would start in the sixth with one run. Connor Crumbliss led off with a single to short. Walton then singled to right. One out later, Stassi hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Crumbliss. On the throw in from the centerfielder, the ball would get away, and allow Walton to get to second. Dixon walked, but Aliotti would line out to end the inning.

Another run for the Cougars in the seventh inning. Mike Gilmartin led it off with a single to left. Leonardo Gil followed by reaching on a fielder's choice, on the play the third baseman would make an error, allowing Gilmartin to be safe at second. Gilmartin then stole third, and Gil would be caught trying to steal second. Myrio Richard followed with a single to short to drive home Gilmartin.

Next Game
Tomorrow vs Beloit, 6:00
Daniel Osterbrock (0-1, 11.57) vs Rob Gilliam (0-1, 16.87)

Jonathan Joseph went on the disabled list, retroactive to the 10th with back spasms. Ryan Quigley came up from extended spring training.

4/12, Burlington 2, Cougars 7

2010-04-12T22:39:00.001-05:00

A three game winning streak for the Cougars, as they beat the Burlington Bees 7-2. With six runs in the first three innings, they never looked back.

The most damage came in the first inning for the Cougars as they would score four runs. Connor Crumbliss led off with a doubled to center. One out later, Kent Walton and Chris Affinito both walked which loaded the bases. Max Stassi then came up and blooped a single to center to score both Crumbliss and Walton. Anthony Aliotti would follow with a double to left to score Affinito. A ground out by Rashun Dixon would allow Stassi to score the final run of the inning.

That should've been all that the Cougars really needed. The only problem was that they had three errors and walked five. The biggest problem came in the third inning when the defense let down Cougar starter Justin Marks. Gerard Hall led off by reaching on an error by the third baseman Leonardo Gil. Ryan Stovall then reached on a fielder's choice. Crumbliss got the ball at second and had no play, this led to runners on first and second with nobody out. Two outs later, William Myers walked to load the bases. Rene Oriental then singled to center to score both Hall and Stovall. Myers would get ot third and Oriental to second on a bobble error by centerfielder Myrio Richard. Marks then got Joey Lewis to fly to center to end the inning. At this point it was still a 4-2 game.

Kane County would be able to answer those two runs the Bees had just scored in the bottom of the inning with two of their own. With one out, Stassi reached on an error by the third baseman, in which Stassi would be awarded second. Aliotti then doubled to center to score Stassi. Dixon would follow with a single to center to score Aliotti. Mike Gilmartin singled to right. A wild pitch would move both runners up into scoring position. Bee starter Bryan Paukovits then would be able to strike out Gil to end the inning.

The Cougars would score once more, in the eighth inning. With one out, Gilmartin reached on an error by the second baseman, then stole second. Gil singled to center, Gilmartin would make third. Crumbliss followed by reaching on a fielder's choice. On the play, Gil would be out at second, and Gilmartin would score.

Both bullpens did great work, for the Bees, Nicholas Wooley pitched four one hit innings. He gave up a lead off double to Walton in the seventh, and a walk to Walton in the fourth. Besides that he struck out four, and held the Cougars in check. Connor Hoehn did some great work for the Cougars. He went three and one third innings, giving up one hit, one walk and striking out five.

Hoehn had to get out of a jam right away. Marks had started the fifth inning, he gave up a leadoff bunt single to Hilton Richardson. Deivy Bautista then reached on a fielder's choice, with Richardson being out at second. Myers would single to left. One out later, Lewis walked, which loaded the bases. That is when Hoehn came in and got Carlo Testa to pop out to short to get out of trouble.

Next Game
Tomorrow vs Burlington at Noon
John Lamb (0-1, 2.25) vs Ian Krol (0-1, 4.91)

4/11, Burlington 1, Cougars 9

2010-04-11T22:45:00.001-05:00

Chris Mederos pitched one great game today, as he went six innings, giving up four hits and one unearned run for the win. The Cougars won 10-1 over the Burlington Bees for their second win in a row. The highligh offensivley was a six run seventh inning, with Kent Walton hitting a grand slam.

Mederos didnt give up his first hit untill two outs in the second. he really only got into trouble twice in the game. One time he was able to get out of it in the fourth and in the sixth he gave up a run on a fielder's choice.

In the fourth inning, Wil Myers led off with a single to short, the throw was high. Joey lewis then walked. Carlo Testa bunted the runners over to second and third. Mederos would then be able to get Ryan Stovall looking for the second out. Jose Bonilla then walked to load the bases. Allen Caldwell grounded out to first to allow Mederos to get out of the inning.

Myers led off the sixth inning by reaching on a fielding error by Leonardo Gil at third. He would then steal second, on the strikeout of Lewis. Testa walked and Ryan Stovall then singled to left to load the bases. Jose Bonilla then reached on a fielder's choice, with Stovall being out at second and Myers scoring.

The Cougars got off to a good start in the game and never were behind. In the first, Connor crumbliss led off with a single to right center. Myrio Richard then singled just past the first basemen into right field. Kent walton doubled just over the left fielder, to score crumbliss. Chris Affinito bounced one to the shortstop, who took the bounce off of the face to allow Richard to score.

Six runs for the Cougars in the seventh, Anthony Aliotti led off with a single to left. Rashun Dixon and Mike Gilmartin both walked, which loaded the bases. Leonardo Gil then hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Aliotti. Crumbliss would then ground one in the hole at short, the third baseman got to the ball, and couldn't get it out of his glove ot get the out at second. Crumbliss would be safe on the single after the throw to first was a little late. The Bees then made a pitching change, Mike Lehmann came in for the first reliever Scott Kelley. Richard would walk which reloaded the bases. Kent Walton then hit a grand slam onto the deck in left field.

The other run for the Cougars came in the eighth. With one out, Gil walked, then went to third on a wild pitch. The catcher never could find the ball. Crumbliss would ground out to short to allow Gil to score.

Next Game
vs Burlington at Noon
Bryan Paukovits vs Justin Marks

4/10, Cougars 10, Wisconsin 5

2010-04-10T16:16:00.001-05:00

The Cougars put some runs on the board today, and came away with their first win of the season. They would win 10-5 over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to win one of the three games in the series.

Cougar starter Dan Straily pitched very well. He gave up one hit through the first three innings. He ran into some trouble in the fourth and fifth innings. In all he pitched five innings giving up five hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out six. The most impressive part was in the fourth inning, he would get out of a bases loaded jam without giving up any runs.

Scooter Gennett lead off the inning with a single to right. One out later, Cameron Garfield singled to left center, Gennett would get to third and Garfield went to second on the throw into third. Chris Dennis walked, which loaded the bases. Straily would then be able to get both Sean Halton and Joe Paciorek to strike out, which would end the inning.

The other big story of the game was the Cougars fourth and fifth innings, in all they score seven of their ten runs in those innings, with five of them being in the fourth. Kent Walton led off with a walk. Then a strange play, a ball in the dirt, Walton was running towards second, he would've been out. The catcher threw to first, and Walton made it into second. Then nobody covered third so Walton went to third. Rashun Dixon followed with a double off the center field wall to score Walton. One out later, Franklin Hernandez walked. Mike Gilmartin would then hit a ball to left. The left fielder lost the ball in the sun, it would drop on the warning track, to load the bases. Leonardo Gil followed by reaching on an error by the short stop. Dixon would score, and the bases remained loaded. Tyreace House reached on a fielder's choice, it would've been a double play but House beat the throw. Hernandez would score. Myrio Richard continued the inning with a double down the left field line to score both Gilmartin and House. Connor Crumbliss would be caught looking to end the inning.

At that point the Cougars were up 5-0. Thye would score twice more in the fifth inning. Walton led off with a bunt single to first. Dixon then singled to right center. One out later, Hernandez reached on a throwing error by Paciorek, Walton would score. One out later, Gil singled down the left field line to score Dixon.

After that the Rattlers offense would come alive and make a game of it with five runs in the next two innings. In the fifth Straily would give up his two runs. Carlos George led off with a single to short. Franklin Romero then tripled to center. Tyreace House just basically droped the ball, but they ruled it a hit. George would score on the play. D'Vantrey Richardson then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Romero.

Bo Schultz then came in for the sixth inning and would be wild at the start, he would give up three runs in two innings of work. In the sxith Schultz hit Garfield to lead off the inning, then walked Dennis. Halton would ground one to third. Leonardo Gil would try to tag the runner Garfield and miss, which loaded the bases. Paciorek grounded out to third to score Garfield. Geroge hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Dennis. Romero doubled off the center field wall to score Halton.

In the seventh inning, Max Stassi would hit his first professional homerun. The other two runs the Cougars scored would come in the eighth. With one out, House singled to shrot. Richard then doubled down the left field line. Crumbliss followed that with a single to right to score both House and Richard.

The Cougars bullepn of Josh Lansford and Jose Guzman both pitched shutout innings. Lansford gave up a two out single in the eighth. Guzman pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.

Tomorrow vs Burlington, 1pm
Matt Mitchell vs Chris Mederos

4/9, G2, Cougars 3, Wisconsin 6

2010-04-10T00:25:00.001-05:00

This is a young team, just keep saying that over and over this year, and you may stay sane. Well young mistakes cost them again in the second game of the double header against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, this time 6-3.

They would be able to attempt a comeback in the seventh and they fought the entire game. That still does not atone for the mistakes they made that got them in the hole in the first place in the begining of the game.

One inning really cost the Cougars, as they would give up dour runs in the third inning that proved to be the differnce in the game. Rob Gilliam started and just ran out of gas in the third,. Ryan Gennett led it off with a single to right, followed by Khris Davis single to second. Chris Dennis then walked to load the bases. Sean Halton hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Gennett. The Rattlers then had a double steal going and, catcher Chris Affinito threw the ball into left. Davis would score and Dennis went to third. Joe Paciorek then walked, and stole second. Austin Stockfish hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Dennis. The Cougars then brought in Connor Hoehn to replace Gilliam. Carlos George greated him with a double down the right field line to score Paciorek.

Things looked bright at the start of the game as the Cougars would get out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Connor Crumbliss led off by reaching on a throwing error by the third baseman. Myrio Richard then reached on a fielder's choice with Crumbliss being out at second. One out later, Affinito and Stassi both walked to load the bases. Rattler starter Nick Bucci then walked Mike Gilmartin to force in Richard. Anthony Alioti then grounded out to end the inning.

In the second inning the Cougars would score another run. Rashun Dixon led of by singling to left. One out later, Crumbliss and Richard walked to load the bases. Kent Walton then grounded one back to the mound, Bucci threw home, the catcher threw to first, but the ball went into right field. Crumbliss would score on the error. Affinito then struck out to end the inning.

Wisconsin pulled within one run in the bottom of the inning with two outs, Carlos George reached on a strike out. The ball got away from Affinito and George would be safe at first. Franklin Romero then tripled to the right center field wall to score George. D'Vantrey Richardson then grounded out to end the inning.

The Rattlers final run of the game came in the seventh inning off of Hoehn. Dennis led off with a walk, then stole second. Sean Halton singled to left center to score Dennis.

After the run the Cougars scored in the second inning, their offense would get really quiet until the seventh. Down four runs, they tried to comeback. Dixon led off the inning with a double off the left field wall. One out later, Crumbliss doubled to right center to score Dixon. Richard would then walk. With runners on first and second and one out, Walton would strike out, and Affinito grounded out to end the game.

Next Game
Tomorrow @ Wisconsin, 1 pm
Dan Straily vs Efrain Nieves

4/9 G1, Cougars 2, Wisconsin 3

2010-04-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

The way the game and season started it seemed like it could be a long season. Well it still could be, but they came back and tied the game and had a chance to win. The Cougars would lose game one of the opening day double header 3-2 to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

The Rattlers had big leaguer, Jeff Suppan starting on a rehab assignment, he would go into the fifth inning. He gave up seven hits and one run. Walked three and struck out four. The thing is he showed why he is a big leaguer in the fourth by getting out of a big jam.

Chris Affinito led off the inning with a double to right center. Max Stassi then singled to right. Michael Gilmartin would follow with a single to right center to score Affinito to give the Cougars their first run of the year and tie up the game. Anthony Aliotti then walked to load the bases with nobody out. Suppan then got Rashun Dixon on strikes, and would get Leonardo Gil to ground one back to him to start a double play, with Stassi being out at home and Gil at first.

Wisconsin would score first in the game, the first innings wasn't that good for the Cougars. D'Vontrey Richardson led off with a single to short. On the play Gilmartin's throw to first got away and Richardson went to second. After that, Cougar starter Jonathan Joseph threw a wild pitch to get Richardson to third. Joseph then settled down a little and got to strike outs. Cameron Garfield would single up the middle to score Richardson. Garfield would get to second on a wild pitch, then he got to third on a throwing error by Stassi. Joseph then got Chris Dennis to fly out to right to end the inning.

The second inning also wouldn't go that well for the Cougars, but they did not give up any runs. With one out, Joe Paciorek doubled down the right field line, he would get to third on a wild pith. Carlos George then walked and stole second. Joseph again settled down and got Franklin Romero on strikes.

Kane County did get the lead in the sixth with a run. With one out, Aliotti and Dixon both walked, then a double steal. One out later, Connor Crumbliss hit one to first. He would beat the pitcher to first for a hit. Aliotti scored on the play.

Krish Davis led off the sixth with a walk for the Rattlers. One out later, Dennis singled to left to score Davis. Dennis would then get picked off of first by Ian Krol.

The winning run for the Rattlers was in the seventh. Paciorek led off the inning with a single to right. George then bunted him over to second. Romero was then intentionally walked. Richardson would then tap one in front of the plate and be tagged out by Stassi for the second out. Ryan Gennett then grounded one to second, Crumbliss would misplay the ball, Gennett got a single, and Paciorek would score to win the game.

Kane County stranded eight runners on base, they had plenty of chances to win the game. In the first inning off of Suppan with one out, both Myrio Richard and Kent Walton singled to short. Suppan then struck out both Affinito and Stassi. In the third inning, Richard got a one out walk, Walton would then ground into a inning ending double play.

Jonathan Joseph pitched three inning and finished strong, he retired the final five hitters he faced. He would give up three hits and one run. His biggest problem was the three wild pitches he threw. Ian Krol came in after and pitched four innings, He would almost cruise through the first two innings, giving up only a single in the fourth. After that a leadoff walk in the sixth, and the two hits in the seventh were all he gave up. He would give up four hits and two runs. He would walk two, one intentionally, and three strike outs.

Game 2 of the double header
at Wisconsin
Rob Gilliam vs Nick Bucci

More News (Matt Ray/Kevin Melillo)

2010-02-02T21:57:00.002-06:00

Matt Ray who played for the Cougars in 2008 and 2009 was released by Oakland. He was mainly a second baseman, but spent a lot of time the last two years on the disabled list.

He was able to play in 105 games in 2008, hitting .251 with 93 hits. Last year he played in 54 games, hitting .222. In 2008 he spent awhile on the disabled list with a strained left shoulder. Last year he had a hairline fracture in his hand after being hit by a pitch.

Ray was a 18th round pick by Oakland in the 2007 draft out of Middle Tennessee State.

Kevin Melillo had one plate appearance with Oakland in 2007 in which he drew a walk. Last year he spent the year in AA Huntsville for the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit .249 in 113 games with nine homers. Before that he played most of the 2008 season with Syracuse, and the rest in Sacramento.

Melillo spent 2007 and 2008 with Sacramento. In 2005 and 2006 he spent in Midland. 2005 he was in three diffrent spots in the Oakland system. He started the year with the Cougars and played 78 games, hitting .286.

He was picked by Oakland in the 5th round of the 2004 draft out of the University of South Carolina.

Ex Cougars in the Caribbean World Series

2010-02-02T13:15:00.003-06:00

There are four ex Cougars in the Caribbean World Series this year.

Alex Valdez is playing for the Dominican Republic. He played for the Cougars in 2007, hitting .264 with 10 homers and 60 runs batted in.

Stephen Morales is playing for Puerto Rico. He played for the Cougars in 1999 and 2000 when they were with the Marlins. He was the back up catcher both years. He hit .271 in 99 and .219 in 00.

Raul Padron and Gregorio Petit are playing for Venezuela. Raul Padron played for the Cougars in 2005 and 2006. He hit .260 and .242 in those years. Gregorio Petit, has played in the majors with the A's for parts of the last few years.

Kevin Millar (94) signs with Cubs

2010-02-01T15:56:00.002-06:00

Kevin Millar signed a one year minor league contract with a spring training invite with the Chicago Cubs. He will fight to be on the bench for the Cubs this year.

Last year he played for the Toronto Blue Jays hitting .223, which was the lowest he has ever hit in a 12 year major league career. He also had his lowest amount of games played as a major leaguer with 78. He hit 7 homers and had 29 runs batted in.

The previous three years he played in Baltimore where he was a designated hitter and first baseman.His average has fallen every year in the major since he hit .297 in 2004 to help lead the Boston Red Sox to their first title in 86 years.

He played in Boston from 2003 thru 2005, before that he was in Florida, where he hit a career high .314 in 2001.

Kevin is one of the few to have come out of the independent leagues and stay in baseball for a long major league career. He started out playing in 1993 for the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Cougar fans will remember him for his 1994 season in Geneva in which he played in 135 games and hit .302 with 19 homer and 93 runs batted in.

After that he played in 95 in Brevard County, then spent two years in both Portland, Maine and then two years in AAA for the Marlins. One in Charlotte and one in Calgary.

He is going to be 38 this year. He was orginally purchased by the Marlins from the Saints in September of 93. In 2003 he was purchased from Florida from Boston. In 2006 he signed a free agent contract with Baltimore and in 2009 with Toronto.

Randy Winn (96) signs with New York (AL)

2010-01-27T15:04:00.003-06:00

Former Cougar Randy Winn signed a one year deal to play for the New York Yankees next year. This is after he played the last four and a half years in San Francisco. Last years he hit .262 in 149 games. He had his lowest hits total in a season since 2001 with Tampa Bay. He is going to be 36 years old and in his 13th major league season.

Winn started his major league career in Tampa in 1998 and played there for five seasons. In 2005 he played for both Seattle and San Francisco. Winn was an all star with the Rays in 2002.

Cougar fans will remember him for his 1996 and season with the team. In 96 he played in 130 games, hitting .270 with 139 hits. He would steal 30 bases. He would play one more seaosn in the Marlins system before going over to Tampa and playing parts of three seasons in Durham.

Randy was orignally a 3rd round pick of the Marlins in the 1995 draft. He would move to the Rays in the expansion draft. He was traded by the Rays to the Mariners in 2002 for Antonio Perez. Then in 2005 he was traded by the Mariners to the Giants for Jesse Foppers and Yorvit Torrealba.

Tommy Everidge and Jason Stokes

2010-01-11T19:40:00.003-06:00

Tommy Everidge was designated for assignment by the Oakland A's this week to make some room on the roster. Everidge made his major league debut this July, after spending five years in the Oakland system. He was originally selected by Oakland in the 10th round of the 2004 draft out of Sonoma State Univeristy.

He was always able to hit in the minors, in his first year in pro ball he played in Vancouver and hit .275. In 2008 he played for Midland and hit .279 with 22 homers and 115 runs batted in.

His year in Kane County was 2005 when he hit .279 with 14 homers and 66 runs batted in.
He would hit for the cycle on June 25th at Clinton. In that game he had 3 runs batted in and 2 runs. Tommy also would make two errors in the game.

In 2009 he would play in 24 games for the A's and hit .224 in 85 at bats. Tommy hits six doubles and two homers. In the minors last year he played for both Midland and Sacramento. He hit a combined .335 in 107 games with 144 hits and 33 doubles. He also hit 20 homers and drove in 94 runs. He walked 51 times and struck out 68.

That is compared to his 2008 season in which he walked 55 times and struck out a career high 133 times for Midland.

Jason Stokes has been injured for the majority of his career. He signed with the Detroit Tigers. He was a second round pick of the Florida Marlins in 2000. Jason broke the record in Texas for home runs in a season with 23 for a high schooler/

In 2002 he played for the Cougars, setting a then all time home run record. Most of the year he battled a sore left wrist, eventually being placed on the disabled list for the rest of the season on August 21st. In that year he hit .341 in 97 games with 27 homers and 75 runs batted in.

The next year he played for Jupiter of the Florida State League and in 121 games he hit .258 with 17 homers. 2004 He was in Carolina of the Southern League and hit .272 in 106 games with 23 homers.

After that injuries really took their took on him, as his back and legs took a beating. He would leave the Marlins system after the 06 season in Albuquerque and go to Oakland. There he played in 18 games with Sacramento before being shut down.

Jason did not play in 2008 or 2009. In his career he has 459 games and a .275 average with 92 homers.

Scott Podsednik (97) signs with Kansas City

2010-01-08T19:48:00.002-06:00

Scott Podsednik a Cougar from 1997 signed a one year deal with the Kansas City Royals. In the deal the Royals would have a club option for 2011. The deal in worth 1.75 millin with incentives that could increase the deal to about 2 millon. The option for 2011 is for 2 millon, with incentives that could earn him an additional 300,000.

Podsednik can void the option if he reaches 525 plate appearances in 2010.

Scott played for the Cougars in 1997, he hit .277 in 135 games with 147 hits and 23 doubles. He had 28 stolen bases that year. He was originally drafted by Texas in the 3rd round of the 1994 draft. Scott played for the Gulf Coast League Rangers and the Hudson Valley Renegades in the Texas system before being traded to Florida. He was traded on October 8th, 1995 completing the deal in which the Marlins sent Bobby Witt to Texas for two players to be named later. One of those players was Wilson Heredia and the other Podsednik.
He started out with the Marlins system in Brevard County in 1996 and Kane County in 1997.

In December of 1997 he was picked up by the Rangers in the rule five draft. With the Rangers he played in Charlotte, Tulsa and the Gulf Coast league thru the 2000 season.
After the 2000 season he became a minor league free agent and signed with the Seattle Mariners

2001, Scott would see the majors for the first time as he played five games up with the big club. He spent 14 games with them the next year. 2001 in Tacoma he hit .290 in 66 games. In 2002 he was with Tacoma again and hit .279.

Somehow the Mariners lost him on waivers to the Milwaukee Brewers on October 11th, 2002. In Milwaukee he would shine. In 2003, he hit .313 in 154 games with the Brewers with 43 stolesn bases. In 2004 he only hit .244 in 154 games but stole 70 bases. He did strike out 105 times.

The Chicago White Sox got Podsednik in a trade on December 13th, 2004, in the trade he came to the south side for Luis Vizaino and Travis Hinton. The Sox gave up Carlos Lee. The 2005 season would be a magical one on the south side. He hit .290 in 129 games with 59 stolesn bases. He batted leadoff most of the year and if it wasn't for injuries to his legs would've been better for the Sox. In the playoffs and world series he hit .286 in 12 games with six stolen bases, in route to helping the Sox win the world series.

Over the next couple of years he kept on hurting himself. He was out with pulled groins, pulled rib cage muscles, and other injuries. The White Sox designated him for assignment and waived him in November of 2007.

The 2008 season Scott would spend in Colorado Springs, where he rehabbed from injuries for four games, and the played 93 games for the Rockies, hitting .253.

2009, would be another awakening for Podsednik as he would return to his old form. He started out the year in Colorado Springs, before being released. He would be picked up by the White Sox and assigned to Charlotte. In 10 games he would hit .262, and show enough to be brought up to the big club once again. He would get into 132 games for the Sox and hit .304 with 163 hits and 30 stolen bases as a leadoff hitter.

A numbers and age game played against Scott in the offseason of 2009-2010. He would sign with the Kansas City Royals.

Francis Gomez (03) killed in the Dominican Republic

2010-01-07T18:20:00.003-06:00

Francis Gomez who played for the Cougars back in 2003, the first year as a Oakland affiliate, was shot to death in the Dominican Republic over the weekend. He played second base when he was in Kane County.

In that season he hit .265 in 128 games with 128 hits, 18 doubles three triples and five homers. He drove in 53 runs. Francis also had 21 stolen bases. Before coming to Kane County he started out in baseball as a 18 years old playing for the Athletics Dominican League team. In 2000 he came to America and played for the Arizona Athletcis. In that year he hit .355 in 17 games.

After that he played in Visalia, California. He hit 234 in 120 games. The next year he went down to short season Vancouver and also played in the Arizona League. After playing in Kane County he spent the 2004 season in both Midland and Sacramento in the A's system.

In 2003 he was the Cougars second baseman in the playoff series against the Clinton Lumberkings. In the three games he hit .364 with four hits in eleven at bats.

Francis was born on September 2nd, 1981 in La Romana, Dominican Republic. He was killed in his hometown of La Romana. originally a non drafted free agent signed by Oakland on December 5th, 1998.

Cougars announce coaching staff for 2010

2010-01-06T19:01:00.003-06:00

The Kane County Cougars and their major league affiliate the Oakland Athletics announced their 2010 coaching staff for the Midwest League season. Aaron Nieckula will be manager, Haas Pratt will be the hitting coach, and Jimmy Escalante will be the pitching coach. The Cougars made the playoffs last year, with a 76-64 record, before being bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Burlington Bees.

Aaron Nieckula will be on his second go around as manager of the Kane County Cougars. He managed the Cougars from 2006-2008, compling a 214-202 record. Making it to the Midwest League championship series in 2006, before losing to the West Michigan Whitecaps. Nieckula is from nearby, Stickney, Illinois, and a University of Illinois graduate. Before becoming the manager of the Cougars he played in the Oakland orginization for five years. He made it as high as AAA-Fresno for 11 games in 2002. Nieckula was drafted by the A's in the 22nd round of the 1998 draft. In those five seasons he hit .257 in 319 games as a catcher, hitting 12 homers and driving in 130 runners. In 2002 he played for the San Francisco Giants orginization after being picked in the rule 5 draft.

After playing "Nuke" went into coaching starting in 2004, as the hitting coach for the Cougars. He would stay in that position thru 2005. Last year he managed the Stockton Ports in the California league. Nuke leads the Cougars all time in ejections with 10.

Haas Pratt will begin his third year as the Cougars hitting coach in 2010. He was originally selected by Oakland in the 30th round of the 2004 draft, after playing for the University of Miami and the University of Arkansas. The Colorado native, played for Kane County in 2007 hitting .223 in 64 games with 10 homers and 28 runs batted in.He also pitched in relief four times that year, and in 5.2 innings he gave up five hits and one run. He walked two and did not strike out anyone. Haas began his coaching career with the Cougars in 2008. He did hit a homerun off of Los Angles Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, who was playing for the Great Lakes Loons, in August of 2007.

Jimmy Escalante is in his second year as the Cougars pitching coach. He was there last year, after having the same position in Vancouver for two years in the Oakland system. Escalante was a 36th round pick of the Orioles in the 96 draft. Back then he was an infielder. In 1999 he was selected in the rule 5 draft by Anaheim. Escalante pitched against the Cougars in 2000 when he was a member of the Cedar Rapids Kernels. That year for the Kernels he went 0-1, with a 2.43 era in 25 games, including 7 saves. He would move up two levels that year, ending the year in the Eastern League with Erie. The next time he was on a pro mound was in 2002 in Sonoma County of the Indpendent Western League. In 2005 he tried again to pitch, this time for Fargo-Moorehead of the Northern League.

The Cougars begin the 2010 season in Appleton, Wisconsin against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on April 8th. They make their home debut on April 11th against the Burlington Bees.

Another Decade of Cougar baseball (2000)

2010-01-01T14:34:00.003-06:00

Well, another decade of Kane County Cougars baseball has come and gone, yes I know they have only been around for 19 years, but it's been an interesting 19 years. They have won one title, granted it was in a shortend playoffs in 2001. They have seen 108 former players make it to the majors in that time.

In the last decade the Cougars have been affiliated with the Florida Marlins for three years and the Oakland Athletics for seven years. It has been a roller coaster of a ride, but the good part is at least in the first half of most of those seasons the coaster has been going upward. Six times this past decade the Cougars made the playoffs in the first half of the season. Five of those times have been with Oakland.

The decade saw 56 former Cougars make it to the majors, from B.J. Waszgis in July of 2000, to Henry Rodriguez in September of this past season. Some former Cougars have won World Series titles (Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, to name a few). Beckett has also been named World Series MVP. There have been many all stars and award winners.

This decade began with a playoff run in the 2000 season. That season the Cougars were affiliated with the Marlins, they would make the playoffs in the second half by winning the divison. Problem was that they would be bounced in the first round of the playoffs by Wisconsin after winning the first game at home in 10 innings.

That season saw players like Chip Ambres, Matt Frick, Kevin Hooper, Matt Padgett, Luis Ugueto, Kelley Washington and Josh Wilson. Scott Goodman led the team in homeruns with 16. Padgett and David Calalhan tied for the lead in RBI's with 60.

The pitching was good. Todd Moser, Marc Sauer, Gustavo Lopez, Jorge Cordova and Joe Sergent. The Cougars also had pitching phenom Josh Beckett. He would pitch 13 games and show a few signs of what was to come. The problem was the he would spend a lot of the season on the disabled list for the first time in his career. He only went 2-3 with a 2.12 era in 13 games for the Cougars. The bullpen was good, Brandon Bowe went 7-3 with a 3.73 in 61 games with 6 saves. He pitched 80 innings, and struck out 89 while giving up 73 hits. Bryan Moore was the Cougar closer, he went 5-2 with a 3.10 era in 58 games, he would set a Cougar record with 27 saves.

On June 10th in West Michigan the Cougars were no-hit by the Whitecaps. They would lose 8-0, Beckett started the game and went 2.2 innings, giving up three runs and would get the loss. The Caps sent out Tommy Marx who had a complete game, he walked six and struck out ten for the win.

On July 13th the Cougars played the Michigan Battle Cats at home, the game would go 13 innings and four and a half hours. The Cats would win 7-6, but the Cougars had plenty of chances. They would load the bases in both the ninth and the tenth inning and would not score. There were 34 hits in the game and 27 men left on base.

In the first game of the playoffs, at home against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Cougars would win depite the umps. They left 13 men on base, the Cougar starter Gustavo Lopez was only able to go into the fourth inning because of a pulled muscle in his side.

Wisconsin almost won the game in the top of the tenth when with one out Justin Leone was "hit by a pitch", the ball actually hit the bat. Chris Snelling then hit into a fielder's choice, which should've been a double play to get the Cougars out of the inning. The ump blew the call, because the throw clearly beat the runner, but that's baseball. Ryan Christainson then walked. Orlando Hernandez then hit into a fielder's choice to get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the inning the Cougars sent Matt Frick up there first and he put one just inside the line in right, the ball went somewhere down the line, foul and just kept rolling, Frick made second. Scott Goodman was then intentionally walked. Ferrnad then came up and hit one over the heads of the outfielders in right centerfield, Frick would come around and score the winning run.

Game two was a complete disastor as the Cougars would lose 10-1 in Appleton. Nothing went right, as this time they just couldn't get any baserunners to leave any on. Hector Henriquez had a miserable game, going 1.1 innings in relief, giving up six hits and six runs. Even though only one of those runs would be eanred.

In game three they would face Rattler pitcher J.J. Putz who threw a no hitter against the Cougars on April 29th in Appleton in the first game of a double header. In that game the Cougars did get one run, while Putz walked five and struck out four in the win.

This time the Cougars would get three runs and five hits off of Putz in six innings. The problem was that the Rattlers got five runs and seven hits off of Marc Neubauer in four and two thirds innings.

This is the first in a series about this past decade for the Cougars, please read later on in the offseason as I review the other seasons in this roller coaster of a decade.

Jeff Bailey signs with Arizona

2009-12-29T09:34:00.002-06:00

Former Cougar Jeff Bailey signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a free agent yesterday. He played in 26 games last year for the Boston Red Sox. Hitting .208 in 77 at bats with three home runs. In three years in Boston and his only years in the majors, he has hit .228 in 136 at bats with 6 homers and 16 runs batted in.

Bailey played in the Boston system for six years. The last four years at Pawtuckett. Last year he hit .262 with 10 homers in 63 games. His best year was 2008 in which he hit .301 in 109 games with 25 homers and 75 runs batted in. He matched his career high in hits with 126.

Jeff began his career in the Flordia system. Spending two years in the gulf coast league before becoming a Cougar in 1999. He hit .278 in 76 games with Kane County. In the playoffs he has a it in five of the seven games, along with a homer and a triple. Plus seven runs batted in.

After that he played a couple of more seasons in the Florida system before signing with Montreal as a free agent in2002. In 2004 he signed with Boston. Jeff made his major league debut on July 6th, 2007 with Boston.

Bailey was originally a second round pick by the Florida Marlins in 1997 out of Kelso High School in Washington. He turns 31 during the 2010 season.

Lots of Signings and News

2009-12-22T18:22:00.002-06:00

Lots of signings and news of former Cougars tonight

Former Cougar manager Juan Bustabad (98) has been assigned to manage the Great Lakes Loons in the Midwest League for the third straight year.

Nic Ungs (02) has been re-signed by Florida
Larry Cobb has been released by Oakland
John Suomi was signed by Philadelphia
Brian Stavisky was re-signed by Philadelphia
Javier Herrera was signed by the Yankees

Ungs played for the Cougars in 2002 for the Jacksonville Suns last year going 10-3 in 18 starts with a 2.37 era.

Larry Cobb played for the Cougars in 2007 and 2008. He was suspended for most of last year due to testing positive for an amphetimine.

John Soumi played for the Cougars in 2003. He has bounced around since then between Philadelphia, Washington and Kansas City. Suomi has been picked in the rule 5 draft twice in his career. Last year he spent time in both Nortwest Arkansas and Omaha both in the Royals system

Brian Stavisky played for the Cougars in 2003. He left the A's system in 2007. Brian spent time in 2008 in independent ball in Lancaster. He hit .282 and earned a shot with Arkansas in the Angels system. Last year he spent in Reading in the Phillies system where he hit .279 in 118 games.

Javier Herrera played for the Cougars in 2005. He was suspended for the begining of the 2005 season due to steriods. Javier has spent the majority of his career on the disabled list, but was once a five tool prospect. Last year he played in one game for Midland in the A's system

Wes Long (05-06) signs with Winnepeg

2009-12-19T20:34:00.002-06:00

Wes Long signed with the Winnepeg Goldeyes of the Northern League Last year the 27 year old played for the Goldeyes also. He started out the year by getting play of the month honors in May. He hit .313. He was named to the Northern League all star team. His season ended early though, on June 30th in Schaumburg he would fracture his left ankle and be done for the season. He hit .343 with three homer and 15 stolen bases.

His previous two season he played for the Windy City Thunderbolts in the Chicago suburbs. He hit .331 in 2008 with 11 homers and 71 runs batted in. In 2007 he hit .334 with 7 homers and 67 runs batted in. He also hit 36 doubles in 2007.

In 2006 he would be a Cougar for 84 games, he hit .198. His other time with the Cougars was in 2005 when he hit .193. Wes started out his career hitting .345 for the Arizona Athletics in 2004 before ending that year in Vancouver hitting .286.

He attended the University of Alabama at Huntsville and was a 29th round selection of the A's in 2004.

Matt Treanor (99, 01) signs with Milwaukee

2009-12-19T20:22:00.002-06:00

Matt Treanor signs with Milwaukee to be their backup catcher. Treanor who is going to be 34 this season and has been in the majors for six years is on his third team. He played five years with Florida begining in 2004-2008 as the backup catcher. He only played in 274 games hitting .237. Matt played last year for the Detroit Tigers, he only got into 4 games and did not have a hit.

Treanor has played 12 years in the minors, ten before his first taste of the big leagues. In 2008 he spent most of the year on the disabled list. His last time before that in the minors was 2004 in Albuquerque. Matt began his career in 1994 in the Kansas City Royals system. He would spend three years there before being traded to the Marlins. He was originally a 4th round pitch of the Royals in the 94 draft out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. He was traded straight up to the Marlins for Matt Whisenant just before the trade deadline in 1997.

Cougar fans would remember him for the 1999 season in which he hit .286 in 86 games with 10 homers and 53 runs batted in. He also made a stop to Geneva in 2001 on a rehab outing in which he gota hit and two walks in his three plate appearances. His big moment for the Cougars came in game three of the Midwest League semi finals in which he hit a homer in the 8th inning off of Burling pitcher Brandon Whatley. The Cougars would eventually lose that game.

Claudio Vargas (99) signs with Milwaukee

2009-12-19T20:00:00.002-06:00

Claudio Vargas re-signed with Milwaukee. He spent most of the year in 2009 with the Brewers, going 1-0 with a 1.78 era in 28 relief appearances. He only pitched 30.1 innings, giving up 18 hits. He did walk 11 while striking out 20. He started out the year in Los Angeles with the Dodgers, there he had no record but a 1.64 era in eight relief appearances. He was traded to Milwaukee on July 31st for Vinny Rottino.

The reason he didn't pitch that much in the begining is he was placed on the 60 day disabled list on April 6ththe with elbow tendenitis by the Dodgers.

In 2008 he pitched for the New York Mets. He went 3 and 2 with a 4.62 era in 11 games. The Mets had him start four of those games. He only had 37 innings for the year. He spent a good portion of the year in AAA-New Orleans. Where he went 5-2 with a 4.36 era in eight starts.

He has bounced around the majors since his debut in 2003 with the Montreal Expos. He pitched two year with Montreal going a combined 11-13 in 68 games, 34 starts. In 2005 he started out the year with Washington going 0-3 with a 9.24 era. In June he would be claimed on waivers by Arizona. He ended up going 9-6 with a 4.81 era in 21 games, 19 starts with the Diamondbacks.

The next year he went 12-10 with a 4.83 era in 31 games, 30 of them starts. He gave up 185 hits in 167.2 innings and 27 home runs. In November he was traded by the Diamondbacks to Milwaukee.

Claudio came up with the Marlins, he made his pro debut in 1996 as a 17 year old in the Dominican. In 1999 he would come to Kane County. He went 5-5 with a 3.88 era in 19 starts with one complete game. He walked 41 and struck out 88 as a 20 year old.

His complete games came on June 4th in Cedar Rapids. He would get the win, giving up two hits and one run. He walked two and struck out five.

After Kane County he went to Brevard County, Portland and Calgary in the Marlins system. He was sent to Montreal in July 11th, 2002 in a traded forCarl Pavano, and four others for Cliff Floyd and Wilton Guerrrero. With Montreal he played in Harrisburg and Edmonton. He would be named Eastern League (AA) pitcher of the week in 2003. He has also pitched for New Orleans twice 2005, 2008 and a rehab start in St. Lucie in 2008.

Vargas is 31 years old comming into the 2010 season and has a major league record of 47-40 with a 4.76 era in 200 appearances with 114 starts and on save.

Marcus McBeth signs with Oakland (03, 05)

2009-12-14T20:16:00.002-06:00

Marcus McBeth signed with the Oakland Athletics, a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. This will be his second time with Oakland, as he came up with them.

Marcus spent last year in AAA Pawtucket in the Boston system. He went 2-3 with a 2.69 era in 44 games with 3 saves. He pitched 67 innings, and gave up only 43 hits, and 30 walks while striking out 66. Before that in 2008 he pitched in both Louisville and in Pawtucket. He combined to go 2-1 in 28 games. In Louisville he went 1-1 with a 6.20 era in 24.2 innings.

McBeth made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds on June 6th, 2007. He would get into 23 games with the Reds that season, going 3-2 with a 5.95 era. He also pitched in Louisville that season for the Reds AAA affiliate, going 1-1 with a 2.56 era in 30 games with 12 saves.

He was traded On April 27th of 2007 from Oakland to Cincinnati for Chris Denorfia. Before the trade McBeth was in Sacramento, AAA for the A's. He was 1-0 with a 1.80 era in 8 games with 5 saves.

In 2006 Marcus pitched in three diffrent stops for the A's. He went from A-Stockton to AA-Midland to AAA-Sacramento. His start of the year was great he gave up no runs in eight games in Stockton with seven saves. After that he would spend the majority of the year in Midland. In 44 games he went 3-2 with a 2.53 era with 24 saves. He really struggled in a six game stretch in Sacramento with a 11.05 era.

The amazing thing about McBeth is that he started out as a right fielder with a cannon of an arm. He was drafted by the A's in the 4th round of the 2001 draft out of the University of South Carolina. He would play his first games in 2002 and would combine to hit .227 in the Arizona rookie league and A-Visalia. The next year he came to Kane County as our right fielder. He would hit .256 in 68 games with 4 homers, 9 doubles and 3 triples. His season would end prematurly on July 26th as he tore some ligaments in his hand going after a ball in the outfield.

After that he would move up to A-Modesto in 2004 and hit .234 in 99 games. His arm was always really strong, so the A's made a pitcher out of him.On May 30th, 2005 he came back to the Cougars this time to work out of the bullpen and learn how to pitch.

He would go 1-2 with a 5.03 era in 16 games for the Cougars. His season was over a early that year as on July 29th he was placed on the disabled list with a right pinky contusion.

Marcus is 29 years old going into the 2010 season, his arm is pretty fresh as he has only thrown less than 300 innings. He will either be in the A's bullpen or more than likely will be in AAA-Sacramento as insurance.

Josh Wilson (00-01) signs with Seattle

2009-12-10T18:56:00.002-06:00

Josh Wilson was re-signed by the Seattle Mariners as a utility man. He is going to be 29 going into the season and this will be his 4th major league year, and his sixth team. Last year he played for Arizona, San Diego and Seattle, he hit .219 in 72 games, 192 at bats. He did hit 3 homers and have 11 doubles. As a big leaguer he has hit .227 in 188 games.

He played for the Cougars in 2000 and 2001. In 2000 he came up on June 3rd. He would play with the Cougars for two weeks then get assigned elsewhere. Josh came back for the final two games of the regular season and the playoffs. In the playoffs he would go 2-12 with a homer.

Wilson spent the entire 2001 season with the Cougars. That would be the only championship the Cougars have ever gotten. In the playoffs he had a hit in each game, including three doubles and a homer in the final four. During the 2000 season he hit .269 for the Cougars in 13 games. In the 2001 season he hit .285 in 123 games.

After his time in Kane County he went up through the Florida Marlins system, and would make his major league debut in 2005. After that he went to Colorado, Washington, Tampa and Seattle .

Wilson was a third round pick by the Marlins in the 1999 draft out of Mount Lebanon High School in Pittsburgh.

Santiago Casilla (03-04) released by Oakland

2009-12-10T18:47:00.002-06:00

Santiago Casilla was released by the Oakland A's. He was in their bullpen for six years, the last three as a mainstay. He appeared in 152 games in relief, with a 6-4, 5.11 era and 4 saves.

Santiago or as Cougar fans remember him by Jairo Garcia, pitched as a starter for the Cougars in 2003. In 14 games he started nine of them and had one complete game. The next year he came back and was the closer and was lights out. In 25 games he had 16 saves and a .30 era. He shot through the rest of the minors in the A's system and made his major league debut. Over the next two years he would be going back and forth between the A's and AAA Sacramento.

Casilla is a free agent, after the A's released him, eventhough some reports suggest they were going to non tender him anyways. He is going to be 30 this coming season, he was born in the Dominican Republic.

Ben Jukich (06) Taken in Rule 5 draft by St. Louis

2009-12-10T18:07:00.002-06:00

Ben Jukich was taken in the rule 5 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Cincinnati Reds. He was taken in the major league portion of the draft which means that he must be on the Cardinals major league roster all season in 2010 or be offered back to the Reds.

Jukich pitched for the Cougars in 2006, while he was still in the Oakland system. He went 3-2 with a 2.38 era in 13 games. Only four of those were starts as this was his first year in pro ball. He pitched 41.2 innings and gave up 41 hits, but got 40 strikeouts. He did walk 25 that year. He pitched two games in the playoffs and one won of them. He would have a 1.15 era in the playoffs that year for the Cougars. In the first game he pitched in the playoffs he went into the eighth inning while only giving up four hits and no runs. He ended up striking out eight and walking two. He threw 119 pitches. In the second game, this would be the championship round against West Michigan, he went eight innings in a no decison. He gave up three hits and two runs.

Ben came to the Cougars on July 6th and started that game at home against Dayton. He would win his next three games. He did move permanatly into the rotation untill his last couple of starts of the season.

From Kane County he went to Stockton for the 2007 season. He would get traded in June to the Cincinnati Reds to complete the deal in which the A's sent Marcus McBeth to the Reds for Chris Denorfia.. He got assigned to Sarasota and made 14 starts, going 8-2 with a 3.55 era.

In 2008 he pitched in both AA Chattanooga, 10-4, 3.82 and AAA Louisville 1-1, 4.37. In Chattanooga he would throw 139 innings, which would be the most in his career.

Last year he went 9-6 with a 4.10 era for Louisville. He was originally drafted by Oakland in the 13th round of the 2006 draft. He will be 27 years old this season, and was botn in Duluth, Minnesota.

Ross Gload (98) Signs with Philadelphia

2009-12-08T23:41:00.003-06:00

Ross Gload who played for the Cougars in 1998 signed today with the Philadelphia Phillies. This is Gload's sixth major league team, he is regarded as a good pitch hitter and excellent first baseman. Last year with Florida he hit .261 in 125 games. He only had 230 at bats in those games. He had six homers and ten doubles. The previous two years he spent in Kansas City. He hit .288 in 2007 and .273 in 2008 for the Royals. Before that he spent three season on the south side of Chicago. He originally came up with the Cubs in the 2000 season after a trade brought him to the north side. He spent 2002 in the big leagues with the Colorado Rockies. In eight big league seasons he is a .283 hitter in 608 games with 28 homers and 192 runs batted in.

Kane County fans will remember him as being the co- MVP of the 1998 team as our first baseman. He shared the award with A.J. Burnett. In 98 he played in 132 games and hit .313 with 12 homers and 92 rbi's. He would move to Brevard County the next year and hit .298 with 10 homers. In 2000 he started the season with the AA Portland Seadogs and finished it with the AAA Iowa Cubs. In all he would hit .309 with 30 homer in 128 games. In nine seasons in the minors he has hit .309 with 120 homers in 892 at bats.

As a first baseman at least at Kane County he was good with the glove. In 129 games at first he had a fielding percentage of .989 with 14 errors for the year.

Gload signed a two year contract with the Phillies to come off of their bench. He is 34 years old and was drafted in the 13th round of the 1997 draft by the Florida Marlins out of the Unviersity of South Florida. He is originally from the Bronx, New York, and went to East Hampton, New York High School

Greg Zaun Signs with Milwaukee

2009-12-05T23:41:00.002-06:00

Greg Zaun signed with the Milwaukee Brewers to be their back up catcher. The 38 year old major league vetern will be entering his 16th major league season. He was an original Kane County Cougar back in their first year in existance in 1991.

Zaun would spend the entire year here as the starting catcher before moving up the ladder year by year in the Baltimore Orioles system. He left the O's in 1996 after spending parts of four seasons with AAA Rochester.

He would get to play for a World Series as the back up to Charles Johnson on the 1997 Florida Marlins, before moving on to Texas, Kansas City, Houston, and Colorado.

He would be able to spend five years with the Toronto Blue Jays as their backup catcher from 2004-2008. In 2009 he played for both Tampa and Baltimore.

Greg started out the season as the starter, basically filling in untill super prospect Matt Wieters was ready to make it to the majors. After that he moved on to Tampa.

Zaun is a career .251 hitter with 86 homers and 432 runs batted in. He has played in 1204 games in the majors.

White Sox

2009-12-05T19:51:00.002-06:00

The White Sox have upgraded their bench this offseason, they have signed Mark Kotsay, Omar Vizquel and Andrew Jones. That is a start for them on the bench. Yes, I believe it is an upgrade over last years bench, only in the fact that it has a lot more expierence pitch hitting wise. Kotsay can play corner outfield or first base. Vizquel who was a fantastic shortstop, they now wanthim to play a more utility role. Meaning he will have to play second and third also. We will see how he handles that at his advanced age.

Andrew Jones was once a great hitter, he was once an all star. Everything went south for him all of a sudden in one year in Atlanta. He is an upgrade in the outfield off the bench. Can he return to his former glory?

What the Sox need is an outfield, they set Jeremaine Dye free. Alexis Rios is really a distaster. I dont think he will make it as a starting outfielder. He doesnt seem to be able to hit, hit for power, or seem that interested sometimes.

Only 125 More Days Till Opening Day

2009-12-05T00:28:00.002-06:00

Well I rode to work today, it was 25 degrees and the wind chill was 14. The wind was blowing hard out of the west. I made it with no problems. Work sucked but oh well. Thats a story for another day. Thankfully when I got off a 4pm, I ate, and then got offered a ride home.

Coming home I would've been going straight into the teeth of the wind the entire way home. Plus there was frost on the ground and I dont really want to deal with ice.

The training for next season is going well. i went this evening after watching my Hawks lose, over to the gym. Rode 20 miles and did weights. I have the next three days off work, so I probly will spend a lot of time sitting on my ass here in front of the computer working on the website, and over on my ass at the gym on the dam stationary bike. It is supposed to get into the 30's tomorrow and on Sunday. Then we get snow and mid 20's. I hate winter.

The Hawks were probly trying to do too much with the puck tonight, and not getting shots on net, and getting in the way of the goalie. He had clear vision of the shots and was great. Huet also let in two goals in the last five minutes to make it a 4-1 loss. There goes eight in a row at home. Tomorrow they play the deffending champs in Pittsburgh. I have to miss most of the game since I have a dinner to attend.

Cougar news. Greg Zaun, who was an original Cougar in 91 was signed by Milwaukee. He is 38 yrs old.

Only 144 More Days Till Opening Day

2009-11-17T00:04:00.001-06:00

Today wasnt that bad for a Monday. I mean I worked 5 hours, and got a break for the first time in a while. I wish we were busier because I would like at least six hour days five days a week, but right now I will take what I can get.

Came home and found a few packages of schedules on my desk. I got somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 new schedules. I think I only have five or six doubles. Mostly from 04-08, which fills in a lot of gaps in my collection.

Watch, Dinner Drive Ins and Dives on the food network. it was another good show. One whole show about turkey, yuk.

Former Cougars Andrew Bailey got the American League Rookie of the Year award, so that is a great thing that happend today.

I went and worked out, I did 20 miles on the hated stationary bike. plus I did my full weight workout. Those first 10 I thought were the slowest I had ever done on that bike, that was untill I did the second ten. Yikes, 35 minutes to do 10 miles on a stationary.

Right now my legs are hurting, im tired. and I have to get up at six in the morning to be at work at 8. I have a six hour day tomorrow. Then its off to get my fall haircut, im only two months late on it but oh well, I think I kind of need it.

Only 145 More Days Till Opening Day

2009-11-16T00:55:00.002-06:00

Well, lets see, Jimmie Johnson won the race today, and moved his point lead further ahead of Mark Martin. I would love to see Martin win a title, but I just dont think it will happen this year.

The Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks in overtime. Tonight was Jeremy Roenick heritage night at the Madhouse. It was cool to see him on the ice and drop the puck. The Hawks won which makes things even better. They now go on a six game road trip because of the circus coming to town.

I got the boxscore from July 22nd, 2009 vs Fort Wayne up online. I am way behind on my website work for the offseason due to a few things. Riding my bike, lazyness, and facebook. All in no particular order.

I did get my workout done, I rode 20 miles on the stationary. I still hate the stationary, but I need the work. Plus I lifted weights.

I am thinking about doing the Grand Illinois Trail sometime next year. It is a 600 miles ride from Chicago to Morris-LaSalle/Peru to Moline, Galena, Rockford and back to Navy Pier.

People try to do this ride all at once. I think I would drop dead if I tried that, no matter how much I worked out this offseason. I will do it, but at my pace. Im thinking 12 days, which should put me near 50 miles or so per day. The thing is I will not be doing it in consective days, as im not going to take off work to do this. I will do this on the weekends, and just mark down where I finished the last weekend and restart there. I hope to start this is Mid May.

The one part im really worried about are the hills from Savanah to Galena to Rockford. I rode some of those hills in the Northwest Century and barely survived, I really need to train hard this offseason.

So far this year ive put in 3,350.8 miles. that equals out to 337 hours and 45 minutes on the bike

So far this month im at 226.1 miles and somewhere near 20 hours on the bike

Only 154 More Days TIll Opening Day

2009-11-07T00:18:00.002-06:00

Well today is Friday, thankfully. The last day of my work week. I had a fun four hour shift, and we were pretty busy towards the end of the day.

I would've ridden the bike today except for 20+ mph winds. I come home and watch the Blackhawks lose. What is this they all of a sudden cant put the puck in the net. I mean I understand the captain is out and the other top center in Dave Bolland is out but come on. Anti Neimi played well today. It went into a shootout went like six rounds, but we should've beaten the Avalanche.

I also got some more schedules in the mail today. 2009 Bowie Baysox, Mobile Bay Bears, Hudson Valley Renegades, Williamsport Crosscutters, and Victoria Seals. So I believe all I need is 31 more to finish off the proffesional protion of the 2009 season. I am a long way away from getting any where near a quarter fo the college or college summer league teams.

I went and did my workout, 10 miles on the bike, and then weights

Only 163 More Days Till Opening Day

2009-10-28T00:00:00.001-05:00

Well today was a fun 4 and a half hour work day, it rained most of the afternoon so I didnt ride to and from work

I got a couple of new pocket schedules in the mail today, I only need 37 more 2009 schedules to have all of pro baseball.

I got Texas Rangers which made it so that I had all the major league ones. I also got the Calgary Vipers of the Golden League.

Day 3 of the offseason workout. I survived. 10 mile son the bike and weights. Im less then 100 miles from last years mileage total.

Only 164 More Days Till Opening Day

2009-10-26T23:20:00.002-05:00

Well, today, was a full four hour day at work, having my hours cut this bad really sucks, but oh well at least I have a job to go to every day, so I am thankfully about that.

Came home and got a shitload of 2009 schedules in the mail via trades. I only need 43 more to complete the set of all of pro baseball.

Went and worked out, day two of the offseason training program

5 miles on the bike, then start with the weight machines on the arms, there are five exercises that im not exactly sure the names of that I do. Plus a weight with the legs on the same machine. Then off to do 20 situps. After that its free weights for the arms, again im not sure of the names of the exercises but there is two of them. Follow that up with a legs weight machine exercise up to 40 times. Then right now im up to 0.16 miles on the treadmill. Only because im not supposed to run because of my sciotica. Then its another 5 miles on the bike to close it off.

I do the same rutine everdays. The only changes is if I ride to work, then I dont have to get my riding part in and only have to do the weights. I hope to loose 15 pounds by April.

Only 166 More Days Till Opening Day

2009-10-25T19:24:00.003-05:00

I know Ive been really bad at posting recently, well, I have no excuse except lazyness.

I finally also got some work done on the webiste

Boxscore
7/18/09 at West Michigan

Also Day 1 of offseason training again
10 miles on the stationary, and weights, im tired but fell good

Only 181 More Days Till Opening Day

2009-10-09T00:55:00.000-05:00

Well it been a little while since i posted on here. Ive been kind of busy as my father got sick again, he is doing a lot better but still only as he says 50%.

I also began to collect pocket schedules a lot more, im trying to collect every baseball one out there, all teams and all diffrent kinds from each team. Pro, College, and college summer.

It has been raining here the last couple of days, hopefully I can ride on Saturday. My hope is to ride up to Rolling Meadows to get some schedules to trade