Goldeyes bats explode, wallop RIverHawks

They say there is nothing better than a rest. For Juan Diaz, one night off almost made him a brand new man.

Diaz, the Goldeyes’ 36-year-old designated hitter, went four-for-four with a walk, a three-run homer, four RBI and three runs scored as he led the Goldeyes to an impressive 13-5 victory over the visiting Rockford RiverHawks at Canwest Park on Sunday afternoon.

Diaz had three singles and his league-leading 11th homer of the year as he led the Fish on a 16-hit assault of the RiverHawks. He also drove in his 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st runs and raised his batting average to .278.

“It was a good game for me after a day off,” said Diaz, the Shaw TV player of the game. “At 36-years-old I need a day off every now and then. We did the same thing last year. Sometimes I need to get things straightened out in my head and that night off did clear my head.”

With the win, the Goldeyes improved to 21-15 and won their third straight game. The Fish moved past Kansas City into second place in the Northern League, a-game-and-a-half back of first-place Fargo. The Goldeyes also won the four-game series from Rockford 3-1.

“It’s good to play at home,” Diaz said. “It’s nice to play in front of our big home crowds and in our ballpark. We all feel good in here.”

The Goldeyes are now 13-9 at Canwest Park this season and on Sunday afternoon, every hitter in the lineup was comfortable enough to pound out at least one hit. Rookie Price Kendall went three-for-five with two runs scored and two RBI and raised his batting average to .357; Vince Harrison continued his hot hitting by going two-for-four with a run scored and two driven in; Justin Justice went just one-for-four, but that “one” was a three-run homer; and Luis Alen went two-for-five with two runs scored and a RBI on a solo homer in the seventh.

Starter Chris Salamida went six complete innings and got the win. Zach Baldwin pitched three strong innings in relief and earned his third save of the year.

“We played a very good game,” Diaz said. “It was good for us to win three in a row before going out onto the road.”

The Fish will open a 10-day road trip with a game Monday night against Lake County in Kenosha, Wis. Ace Walker (2-2, 3.77 ERA) will get the start.

Holliman's start and West's homer send Fish past RiverHawks

Even after a three hour and 20 minute rain delay, the Winnipeg Goldeyes went out and played an almost perfect baseball game.

A great start by Mark Holliman and a three-run bomb by Kevin West turned out to be the big difference as the Goldeyes went out and whipped the visiting Rockford RiverHawks 7-3 at Canwest Park on Saturday night. With the win, the Goldeyes improved to 20-15 on the season and won their second straight game.

Mark Holliman worked six complete innings, allowed two runs on only four hits to earn the win and improve to 4-1 (although his ERA actually rose from 1.88 to 2.02) on the season. Holliman has been terrific in most of his starts this year and after waiting three hours and 20 minutes to take the mound on Saturday night, he was outstanding once again. However, because he walked four and struck out 10, threw 101 pitches after six innings so manager Rick Forney decided to go to the bullpen.

“That’s how it goes sometimes,” said Holliman afterward. “It’s (strikeouts) really not something you’re trying to do. You want to get in and out and let your hitters get out there and do their jobs. When I strike out a lot of hitters I don’t stay in the game that long because it means I’ve probably thrown a lot of pitches.

“What I’m trying to do is pitch to contact and let the defence get the job done. That’s a good hitting team over there. I’m surprised so many of them struck out. Just one of those nights.”
In total, Holliman and relievers Casey Hodges, Chad Benefield and Bobby Korecky struck out 13 RiverHawks. With 10 Ks on the night, Holliman now leads the Northern League with 47.

“The strike out pitch tonight was the slider,” Holliman said. “They were all over my fastball early tonight. Those guys are fastball hitters. I started out using the slider just to get them off the fastball, but by the end I was throwing almost exclusively fastballs and sliders.”

Offensively, the Goldeyes started slowly and fell behind 2-0 after three innings, but in the bottom of the fourth, red-hot Dee Brown delivered a two-out, two-run double to tie it up and then, in the fifth, Kevin West hit a monster three-run homer over the leftfield wall to all but seal the deal.

“He (former Goldeyes reliever Justin Knoff) threw me a fastball, belt high,” said West with a laugh. “If he wants to do that, well...”

In a very rare occurrence, the Goldeyes put up more runs than hits – seven runs on only six hits – but also in a very rare occurrence the Goldeyes also scored five of their runs when two were out. Dee Brown had the only multi-hit game with a double and a single.

Game 4 of this four-game series goes this afternoon at Canwest Park. Former Goldeyes starter, lefty Roger Lincoln (2-2, 5.06 ERA) will get the start for Rockford while Chris Salamida (4-2, 3.24 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Fish. Game time is 1:30 p.m.

Big comeback thrills crowd of nearly 7,000

The Winnipeg Goldeyes got exactly what they needed on Friday night: A big win in front of an even bigger crowd.

In the bottom of the eighth, and the Rockford RiverHawks leading 3-2, the Goldeyes got a little two-out lightning as Vince Harrison singled home the tying run and Dee Brown singled home the eventual winner as the Fish beat the visiting RiverHawks 5-3 in a rare late-inning comeback.

With the win, the Goldeyes improved to 19-15 on the season and put a stop to a mini-two-game losing streak.

“It’s always nice to watch our guys put some two-out hits together,” said starter Stephen Flake, who scattered six hits and allowed only one run over six-and-a-third innings of work.

“They were fun to watch tonight.

It was a terrific ball game. The Goldeyes took a 1-0 lead on a solo homer by Wes Long to open the first, Rockford tied it in the second and the Goldeyes went ahead 2-1 in the fourth when Justin Justice was hit, stole second and scored on a Harrison single.

Rockford put up a pair of runs against relievers Zach Baldwin and Philip Roy in the top of the eighth and then the Goldeyes put their comeback rally together. Aharon Eggleston singled to lead off and then after Juan Diaz struck out and Kevin West flied out to left, Justice singled to send Eggleston to third. Harrison tied the game with a hard single to right, then Brown knocked in the game winner with a flair to right, Luis Alen was walked intentionally and then Harrison scored when rookie Price Kendall was hit with the bases loaded.

It was a great night for Kendall who got his first hit as a professional plus his first RBI. However, it was a fabulous night for Harrison who had three hits in four trips, scored run, drove in two and raised his batting average to .279. He was hitting just .226 two weeks ago.

“Maybe I’m heating up with the weather. I hope so,” Harrison said with a smile. “It’s really just a matter of trying not to do too much. I was working in the cage with Tom (hitting coach Vaeth) yesterday and he just said keep it simple: Just get a pitch to hit and put a solid swing on the ball.

“Tonight I just stopped thinking too much. When I think too much, that’s when I think myself out of it. I just went up there looking for a pitch to hit and then tried to put a good swing on it. We were better tonight. Flake pitched a good game and we put together some two-out hits. That’s what we needed.”

Game 3 of this four-game series will be played tonight at Canwest Park. Mike (0-2, 3.18 ERA) will get the start for Rockford while Mark Holliman (3-1, 1.88 ERA) will take the ball for Winnipeg. Game time is 6 p.m.

Bello and bats struggle against Rockford

Some days, nothing goes right.

Starter Antony Bello lasted only an inning and a third while the Goldeyes offence just couldn’t get a big hit when needed as Winnipeg fell 7-1 to the Rockford RiverHawks in front of 5,611 at Canwest Park on Thursday night.

“Antony just couldn’t come up with a pitch when he needed it,” said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney. “He’d thrown 61 pitches and only got four outs. He just couldn’t find a way and to avoid a chance at an injury, it was in his best interest and ours to get him out of there, let him think about it and we’ll talk tomorrow... make sure he’s ready to pitch another day.”

When Bello left the game, the Goldeyes were trailing 2-0. Reliever Ulysses Roque gave up three runs in two-and-two-third innings of work, Ian Thomas gave up two runs in four-and-a-third innings and Chad Benefield came in and got the final two outs in the ninth.

Rockford Catcher Travis Scott had a big night for the RiverHawks going two-for-five with a triple and a two run homer. The two-run bomb made it 4-0 and pretty much sealed the deal for Rockford.

“We finally got the lefty (Bello) out of there and I’m a lot more comfortable against right-handers,” Scott said. “He hung a change-up to me and I was able to get the barrel of the bat on it.

“This was a huge win for us. After a long bus trip, almost 17 hours, we were able to come up with a good effort. And Kyle (starter Wright) was great. He got ahead of almost every hitter he faced and didn’t walk anybody. It was a really great effort.”

The Goldeyes scored their only run in the sixth. With two out, Justin Justice doubled and then Vince Harrison singled to drive him home. It was Winnipeg’s second straight loss and dropped the Goldeyes to 18-15 on the season and 10-9 at home.

Game 2 of this four-game series will be played tonight at Canwest Park. Kyle Ruwe (1-4, 5.86 ERA) will get the start for Rockford while Stephen Flake (2-1, 2.96 ERA) will toe the slab for Winnipeg. Game time is 7 p.m.

Bullpen can't save it for Walker, Goldeyes fall 7-5 to Gary

Starter Ace Walker ground it out for six full innings and left the Winnipeg Goldeyes with a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh, but this time the bullpen just couldn’t hold on.

Although Zach Baldwin got the Fish through the top of the seventh inning and the Goldeyes scored a run in the bottom of seventh, the Gary SouthShore RailCats came back with two in the eighth off Baldwin and three more in the ninth off Philip Roy and beat the Fish 7-5 in from of 5,189 at Canwest Park on Wednesday night.

With the win, Gary took the three-game series in Winnipeg, 2-1, and pulled to within a half a game of third-place Winnipeg. The Goldeyes are now 18-14, while the Railcats are 18-15.

“It was a tough game tonight,” said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney, as the Fish fell to 10-8 at home this season. “Gary was knocking on the door all game and they finally knocked it down with some crooked numbers in the eighth and the ninth.

“We had no answer for their left-handed hitting in this series and we sure didn’t have an answer tonight. They probably hit .500 from the left side of the plate. They really grind out at-bats and they get hits when they needed them.”

The Goldeyes pounded out 14 hits, but just couldn’t get the big knocks when they needed them. Wes Long had a pair of hits and scored a run; Juan Diaz went three-for-four, drove in three and hit his 10th home run of the season (the second in as many nights); Kevin West was two-for-five with an RBI and a run scored, Aharon Eggleston went two-for- five with two runs scored and an RBI; and Vince Harrison went three-for-four.

“We had a couple of opportunities in the first and second innings but two double plays wiped them out,” Forney said. “We had five hits in the first two innings and didn’t score. That really hurt us.

“In the end we just couldn’t hold on. The bullpen has been bending, not breaking. Tonight, it broke down.”

Thursday night, the Rockford RiverHawks come to Winnipeg to face the Goldeyes. Antony Bello (1-2, 3.55) will get the start for Winnipeg, Game time tonight is 7 p.m. and if you can’t make it to the park, the game will be shown live on Shaw TV Channel 9.

Goldeyes get it all in win over Gary

Aharon Eggleston had a tough road trip through Chicagoland last week. Tuesday night, he snapped out of his mini-slump.

Eggleston has had three hits in four trips, scored two runs and drove in two more and made a spectacular catch in centerfield as he led the Goldeyes to a 9-3 victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats at Canwest Park in downtown Winnipeg.

“We’ve been battling,” said Eggleston, as he was named Shaw TV’s Player of the Game. “Today we got to the park early, we got lots of swings in the cage, took extra batting practice, we were ready to go tonight. I think it showed in the results.”

It sure did. The Goldeyes pounded out 12 hits and put up four crooked numbers – three in the first, two in the third, two in the fifth and two in the sixth.

Besides Eggleston, red-hot Kevin West, newcomer Justin Justice and veteran Vince Harrison each had two-hits while Juan Diaz got everything going for the Goldeyes with a three-run home run in the first inning. Harrison and Justice each drove in two runs.

“We got off to a great start,” said Eggleston. “And Sal gave us a great effort. We had everything going tonight. We just have to keep it going.”

Starter Chris Salamida had a tremendous outing. He allowed just one run on seven hits through the first seven innings before getting tagged for three hits and a pair of runs in the ninth. Ulysses Roque came on with a man on and nobody out in the ninth and retired the three men he faced to give the Goldeyes their 18th win of the season.

At 18-13, the Goldeyes are in third place in the Northern League, but both first-place Fargo and second-place Kansas City lost on Tuesday night, so the Fish are just two games back of Fargo and a half-a-game behind the T-Bones.

Wednesday night, the Goldeyes play Gary in the final game of this three-game set. Ace Walker will toe the slab for the Fish. Game time tonight is 7 p.m.

Great Pitching Performance Wasted in 2-1 Loss to Gary

Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney made no excuses. The Goldeyes squandered “a fantastic” pitching performance by starter Mark Holliman and two rookie relievers in a 2-1 loss to the visiting Gary SouthShore RailCats at CanWest Park on Monday night.

“Our pitching was fantastic tonight,” said Forney after the game. “Chad (reliever Benefield) made one mistake. He hung a slider to a good hitter (Tanner Townsend) and he hit it out. But we didn’t lose this game because a rookie reliever made one mistake.

“It’s the same thing every game. We’re struggling to have good at bats. I feel that too many of us are giving up our at bats way too early. But we’ll keep grinding away and we’ll get back at it tomorrow night.”

With the loss, the Goldeyes fell to 17-13 on the season, third in the Northern League, just 2 ½-games back of first-place Fargo.

It was a frustrating loss for the Fish, a team with traditionally good hitters, who have been in some dreadful funks. Wes Long, who went into the game leading the NL in hitting at .356, had a rare zero-for-five night and watched his average drop to .341; Dee Brown went zero-for-four; and Josh Asanovich, who went into the game hitting just .180, went zero-for-three and dropped to .175.

In total, the Goldeyes had only five hits and scored their only run without an RBI. Aharon Eggleston singled, went to second on a passed ball, went to third on a fly ball to right off the bat of Juan Diaz, and scored on a wild pitch.

Meanwhile, the Goldeyes pitchers were very good. Starter Holliman pitched six full innings, allowed only one run on seven hits and dropped his earned run average to 1.88. Benefield pitched 1.2 innings and gave up the home run to Townsend – and nothing else. Rookie Casey Hodges pitched an inning and a third of hitless baseball to finish the game.

“We got two good pitching performances from two rookie right-handers tonight,” Forney said. “We’ll take that with us into Tuesday night’s game.”

Tuesday night, the Goldeyes play Gary in Game 2 of this three-game set. Chris Salamida (3-2, 3.26 ERA) will get the start for the Fish.

June 21: West Rakes on Road Trip. Still Happy to be Home

Kevin West stood around the batting cage just before the Goldeyes nine-game road trip through Chicagoland, blasting balls over the leftfield fence.

When asked to describe his hot start to the 2010 season, West snickered, then laughed and said, "I can flat-out hit."

He was joking, of course, but not all that much. It’s true that in his third year with the Goldeyes he’s off to his best start and during the Goldeyes eight-game trip to the Chicago area (one game was rained out), West hit a gaudy .375 and raised his batting average to .333 on the season. He’s tied (with Juan Diaz) for the team lead in runs batted in with 21, leads the team in doubles with 11, is second in on-base percentage at .402 and leads in slugging percentage at .520.

He’s fifth in the Northern League in hitting, fifth in RBI and second in doubles.

So was it the outstanding spring training he had with the Cincinnati Reds that set him up for this red-hot start?

"No, I think it was probably my 11 years of professional baseball experience," he said with a grin.

"Listen, this has always been my philosophy about baseball. Players will always do what players do. In other words, because we play 100 games or 125 games or 162 games, there are no flukes. Guys get off to slow starts and almost always finish where they’ve always finished in the past.

"Remember (Brent) Metheny or (Dustin) Richardson last year. They started off hitting like .400 for the first month, but by the end of the year, their betting averages were where they always are. That’s the thing about baseball. We play so many games that by the end of it all, you are what you are."

West is convinced that the criticism that has come with the Goldeyes 17-12 start has been directly related to hitters getting out of the gate slowly.

"Everything is so magnified in the first month or so," West said. "People say, ’Oh, so and so is in a slump, or so and so is red-hot.’ It’s true, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. The guys will do what they’re capable of doing. Our .300 hitters will be .300 hitters. That’s just the way it goes.

"We haven’t been very good yet, but we’re still 17-12 and that’s pretty good. The guys will get it together and do what they’ve always done. This is a good team that will do well before the season is over."

True, but it still doesn’t explain why guys such as Vince Harrison and Dee Brown have been scuffling and West has been lighting it up.

"I made a conscious decision this year to concentrate on my defence," West said. "I feel that if you really try to play well when you’re out in the field, it will translate to your hitting. I’ve just tried to concentrate hard on every aspect of the game and so far, it’s been paying off."

West will have a chance to get back at it tonight at 7 p.m. when the Goldeyes play host to the Gary SouthShore RailCats at Canwest Park.

June 18: Asanovich Hits Another Bomb, Goldeyes Win 8-4

It’s been a struggle at the plate for second baseman Josh Asanovich this season, but here’s a sure sign he’s snapping out of it: he’s hit three home runs in three straight games.

Last night in Kenosha, Wis., Asanovich hit his third home run in as many outings as he led the Goldeyes to an 8-4 win over the Lake County Fielders. With the victory, the Fish moved to 16-10 on the season and remained in second place, two games back of first-place Fargo.

Asanovich had an outstanding night, going two-for-four with a double, a home run, two runs scored and three driven in. With that, he got his batting average back to an even .200. Asanovich now has three homers and 12 RBI on the season and while he’s hitting only .200, his slugging percentage has risen to .333 over the past week.

Meanwhile, Kevin West drilled his 10th double of the campaign and scored a run; Vince Harrison had two hits, drove in three and scored two; Dee Brown hit his ninth double, drove in a run and scored a run; and Jeremy Hamilton had a single, scored a run and drove in one as the bottom of the order combined for seven hits, six runs and seven driven in. It was the kind of team effort that manager Rick Forney had been expecting since he signed this veteran crew during the winter.

Meanwhile, starter Chris Salamida allowed only two runs on six hits over six complete innings, got his third win of the year and lowered his ERA to 3.26. Stephen Flake and Ulysses Roque each delivered a perfect inning of relief.

The Goldeyes have now won four straight on the road, are 4-1 on this road trip and will head into Joliet to begin a three-game set tonight before returning home to face Gary at Canwest Park on Monday.

June 17: Diaz, Asanovich Homer. Goldeyes Move Into Second Place

Another solid outing from starter Mark Holliman and home runs from Juan Diaz and Josh Asanovich gave the Winnipeg Goldeyes a 5-2 victory over the Lake County Fielders on Tuesday night.

The win was significant for a number of reasons:

(1) It gave the Goldeyes a 15-10 record, the first time this season the Fish have been more than four games above .500 and it moved them past the Kansas City T-Bones into second place in the Northern League.

(2) It gave the Goldeyes their third straight win, their longest road winning streak of the season and a win on Wednesday night in lake County will give the Fish their longest winning streak of the season – home or away.

(3) It gave the Goldeyes a 3-1 record on this Chicagoland road trip (Monday night’s game at Lake County), and with one more win, they’ll be guaranteed a .500 record on the road.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Goldeyes victory on Tuesday night – besides Juan Diaz’s eighth homer of the year and Asanovich’s second in as many games – was Holliman’s performance.

The Goldeyes’ outstanding righthander struck out seven to take over the league lead in strikeouts (34), lowered his ERA to 2.19 (fifth in the NL) and won his third game of the season (second in the NL).

Without question, this Goldeyes team hits well enough to win 60-70 games if it gets enough pitching. Holliman has shown that he’ll provide this team with six-seven solid innings every time out. Stephen Flake, Ace Walker, Chris Salamida and Antony Bello have all shown they can be lights out. The bullpen is improving every time out and Ian Thomas, Zach Baldwin, Philip Roy, Ulysses Roque and Bobby Korecky have all had outstanding appearances.

Hitting is fun and entertaining. People buy tickets to watch hitting. But all baseball fans know that pitching wins championships. After a 7-2 loss at Schaumburg in the first game of this road trip, the Goldeyes allowed only seven runs in their next three games.

It’s a simple assumption: Shut down the opposition and suddenly there is no pressure on the hitters.

June 11: Long’s Big Hit, Quality Pitching, Give Goldeyes Series Split

Mark Holliman did not deserve to take the loss and Wes Long knew it.

So in the bottom of the seventh, with one out and runners on second and third, the Winnipeg Goldeyes leading hitter delivered. Long drilled a solid single to leftfield to score Vince Harrison and Josh Asanovich with the tying and eventual winning runs as Winnipeg came from behind to beat the Kansas City T-Bones 2-1 in a cold, damp thriller at Canwest Park.

On just a miserable day for baseball, the Goldeyes got a tremendous start from Holliman who left the game after six complete innings having allowed only one run on two hits. In fact, Holliman paid dearly for the only mistake he made, leaving a high fastball out over the plate that Kansas City’s hottest hitter, Ray Sadler, smacked over the left-centerfield fence.

It looked like Holliman might take the loss, but Long came up with the game’s big hit in the seventh and then Ian Thomas, who got the win and improved to 4-0 on the season, and Philip Roy, who picked up his fourth save, shut own the T-Bones for the final three innings as Winnipeg split a four-game series with first-place Kansas City.

"It was my first at bat off the relief pitcher (Drew Graham), a guy ‘d never seen before," said Long after the game. "He threw me a fastball in the middle of the zone on the first pitch and I took it, so that’s what I looked for on his second pitch. He threw exactly the same pitch and I was able to get the barrel of the bat on it and hit it into leftfield.

"That was a huge win for us," Long added. "Especially after the whooping they laid on us on Monday (Kansas City won Game 1 of the series 12-3 on Monday and then won Game 2, 7-2). We were able to pull off a win in the second game last night and this was really just a huge win. When you’re going out on the road to play nine games in 10 days, it’s really nice to get on the bus coming off a win."

The Goldeyes will play three games in Schaumburg this weekend and then move on to play three in Lake County and three in Joliet before returning home to play Gary on Student Night -- Monday night, June 21.

June 11: Ugly Win Just Fine for Forney

Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney had no trouble winning ugly on Wednesday.

"You have to win a few games like that," Forney said, "because you sure lose enough of them."

After losing 7-2 to the visiting Kansas City T-Bones in the continuation of Tuesday night’s rain-suspended game, the Goldeyes bounced back and won Wednesday night’s regularly scheduled affair 7-6.

But it took a long time and convoluted route for the Goldeyes to get to their 11th win of the season.

Winnipeg came out behind starter Antony Bello and built a 5-1 lead through the first three innings of the seven-inning game. By the time Bello sat down after five complete, the Goldeyes led 6-2.

But then the bullpen blew up once again. Philip Roy was tagged for four runs in the sixth (although Ian Thomas gave up the double to light-hitting Jimmy Mojica that allowed the final two runs to score) and despite a great start from Bello, the game was tied 6-6 heading into the seventh.

And that’s when the Goldeyes finally got a break. Vince Harrison was hit by a pitch, moved to second on an error, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch by T-Bones reliever Kyle Dahman. It wasn’t pretty but in a seven-inning game that took two hours and 47 minutes to play, the Goldeyes finally got a victory and improved to 11-9 on the season.

"It was not a good day for us," said Forney. "We have a lot of work to do. The bullpen is scuffling along and we have to get better defensively. Despite all of that, it’s nice that we have a chance to get a split in this series on Thursday."

After losing the series opener 12-3 on Monday and then the suspended game 7-2, the Goldeyes did get a win in Game 3 of the four-game set with first-place Kansas City. Thursday’s game, which starts at 11 a.m., features Goldeyes starter Mark Holliman who is 2-1 with a 2.25 earned run average.

"I’m not really paying attention to our record these days," said Forney. "I’m concerned about the way our ball cub is playing. The effort is good. They’re trying. They’re just struggling.

"Our starting pitching has been getting the job done, but all these short starts because of the rain has really beaten up our entire pitching staff. Bello is coming along and (Stephen) Flake pitched real well in the suspended game, but the rain hasn’t helped us much.

"I just hope we start to play better. We’re scuffling along right now."

June 8: Kansas City Scores 12 Runs on 16 Hits. Filets Fish 12-3.

The Kansas City Lumber Company came to Canwest Park Monday night and lit up the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

Behind a solid start from lefty Ryan Knippschild and a grand slam home run off the bat of Brian Joynt, the first-place T-Bones drilled the Fish 12-3 in the first game of a four-game series at Winnipeg’s downtown ballpark. With the win, the T-Bones improved to 11-5 on the season while the Goldeyes fell to 10-8.

"They’re way better than we are," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney bluntly. "They had good pitching, great defense, great hitting with a bunch of home runs and they put up some crooked numbers. They had a real good game tonight."

Kansas City put up 12 runs on 16 hits as Joynt had a double and a grand slam, drove in five and scored three. Second baseman Jake Blackwood also homered for K.C. as the T-Bones had eight extra-base hits off starter Ace Walker and relievers Ulysses Roque and Austin Donmoyer.

"We’ve got a lot of holes right now," Forney said. "We aren’t very good right now. I don’t feel we’ve been very good for two weeks. It’s making me think of making some adjustments here way before I wanted to."

The game was put out of reach when Joynt hit his grand slam in the eighth – that made it 8-2 for Kansas City -- but Forney believed the turning came in the top of the second inning. The Fish were leading 1-0 after Kevin West tripled home Aharon Eggleston, when Winnipeg gave up three in the top of the second and even though Juan Diaz hit a solo shot in the fifth, Winnipeg never had a sniff of the lead again.

"What happened in the second inning changed the game," Forney said. "We got a leadoff ground ball to third base and we didn’t make the play and then there was double play to second and we didn’t turn it. Because of that, they scored three runs. We aren’t getting the job done defensively and we haven’t been getting the job done all year. We have to improve on defense. And we need to do it in a hurry here."

The Goldeyes will get a chance to even the series on Tuesday night. Righty Stephen Flake will get his first start for the Goldeyes while former Goldeye Andrew Cruse will take to the bump for K.C. Game time is 7 p.m. The game is on Shaw TV Channel 9.

Photo: Shawn Coates

June 7: Long’s Three-Run Bomb, 10-game hitting streak, give Goldeyes 5-4 win over Schaumburg

Wes Long doesn’t think about hitting streaks. In fact, the Goldeyes shortstop looks at hitting much more simply – one at-bat at a time.

Yesterday afternoon, however, it was his second trip to the plate that made the difference. With Vince Harrison and Josh Asanovich on base, Long belted a three-run homer to give Winnipeg a 5-0 advantage in the second inning. It not only kept a 10-game hitting streak alive, it also gave the Goldeyes enough runs to win their 10th game of the year.

With starter Chris Salamida pitching well (one run on five hits over seven full innings) and with Bobby Korecky shutting the door in the ninth (it was Korecky’s first save since joining the Goldeyes last week), the Fish overcame a shaky bullpen to hold on and beat the Schaumburg Flyers 5-4. With the victory, the Goldeyes improved to 10-7 and won a three game set with the Flyers at Canwest Park.

"I’m not thinking about any streak – unless it’s 40 games, that would be different," Long said with a laugh. "Right now I’m just trying to go up there every time and get a hit. I’m been doing pretty good just trying to swing at good pitches.

"I’m trying to separate every at bat and to concentrate on every pitch, each time I go up to the plate."

Whatever the plan, it’s working. Long went one-for-three with a walk, two runs scored and three driven in during yesterday’s win and even so, he watched his batting average dip a little to a still-awesome .388. He remains the Northern League leader in hitting and is among the league leaders in RBI (13), runs scored (11), doubles (7) and slugging percentage (.582). Pretty good for a middle infielder who bats in the leadoff spot.

And yet, Long isn’t satisfied. After missing the second half of last season with a broken ankle, the 27-year-old (he turns 28 this Saturday) from Seattle will admit he’s not yet at 100 per cent.

"My defence hasn’t been as good as it should be," Long said. "My footwork isn’t where it should be and I‘ve thrown the ball away a few times. I have to improve on that. I’m not close to the top level yet. I still have stuff to work on."

At 10-7, the Goldeyes are third in the Northern League, a game and a half back of first-place Kansas City. And it’s the T-Bones who come to town Monday night to start a four-game series at Canwest Park.

Photo: Shawn Coates

June 6: Forney Manages His 400th Game With the Goldeyes

On his first day as a manager, Rick Forney was nervous. These days, Forney takes every game in stride. Still, when you’ve reached a milestone as a manager at any level of baseball, it’s an emotional day.

And it will be an emotional day Sunday afternoon at Canwest Park, as Winnipeg Goldeyes field boss Rick Forney manages his 400th game.

“It’s gone by quick,” Forney told Paul Edmonds yesterday. “I guess there is something to be said for longevity.”

Forney was being modest. With a record of 219-179 and a .550 percentage he’s one of the most successful managers in the Northern League. He’s never failed to put up a winning record and he’s made the playoffs in all four years he’s been the Goldeyes manager.

And yet, back in 2006 when he took over the job from his mentor Hal Lanier, Forney was “nervous and emotional” when he finally took the Goldeyes onto the field at Canwest Park.

“It was really an emotional day,” Forney recalled. “The first one was against Hal (Lanier) and I’m still convinced that when Hal got that job in Joliet, the league did it (scheduled the Goldeyes and JackHammers to open the season) on purpose.

“But it was very emotional. It was my first day handing in a lineup card with my signature on it and it was against Hal, a guy I’d spent years sitting beside in the dugout learning how to do this job. Couldn’t have had a better teacher.”

Darwin Soto was the Goldeyes pitcher that day and even though he got hit hard, it seemed as if every line drive the JackHammers hit, the ball fell into a Goldeyes’ defender’s glove. The Goldeyes won the opener and went on to sweep the series.

“It was fun,” Forney said of that first weekend series. “We swept Joliet, but all weekend, I remember I was nervous.”

Now, almost 220 wins later, Forney has become very comfortable in his role. It’s his job now and while he still gets fired up for every game, the nervousness is gone.

“I’ve grown to feel that I’m pretty good at this,” Forney conceded. “I have an understanding of this league and the players who play in it. I love the job and I’m very lucky to get to do this every day.”

June 5: Bello Gets First Win, Brown Goes Deep. West Keeps Hitting, Goldeyes Beat Flyers 6-4

Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney has made no bones about the fact he loves Antony Bello’s arm. As it gets more work, it appears as if Bello’s arm is starting to love Forney back.

Friday night at Canwest Park, Bello went five complete innings, throwing 63 pitches while allowing only two runs on four hits as he gained his first Northern League victory, a 6-4 Goldeyes win over the visiting Schaumburg Flyers.

"I’m starting to get it (his arm) stretched out," Bello said afterward. "It was a long bus trip back from Gary. I threw 63 pitches tonight. Hopefully I’ll throw 80 on Wednesday in my next start. Depends how the game goes, but I’m starting to feel really good."

Bello, the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder from Miami, last started a game back in November of 2009 in the Florida Winter League. His last previous start was in September of 2008. From September of ’08 until his first start of the year with the Goldeyes back on May 22, Bello had a grand total of three starts.

But when coach Rudy Arias scouted Bello in Miami last winter, he saw a guy who could come in and be a quality starter in the Northern League. Every time out he seems to get better. Friday night he lowered his ERA to 4.97 and improved his record to 1-2.

"I’ve been impressed with the hitters in this league, they’re competitive hitters," he said. "They all swing the bat pretty well but they’re patient as well. They’re really competitive."

The hitting heroes for the Goldeyes last night were Wes Long, Dee Brown, Kevin West and Luis Alen. Long had three hits in four trips and scored two runs; Brown hit a 410-foot solo homer over the centerfield wall in the fifth; West went two-for-four with an RBI and raised his batting average to .353; and Alen had a two-run single in the fourth.

In all, the Goldeyes pounded out 11 hits as they improved to 9-6 on the season.

Game 2 of this three-game series goes Saturday night at 6 at Canwest Park. Dustin Glant will get the start for Schaumburg while Mark Holliman will take to the bump for the Fish. Tickets are available at the box office or by calling 982-2273.

May 31: This Is What Makes the Game so Exciting

It was one of those games that reminds us all why we listen to baseball on the radio. It certainly was a game that assures the die-hard fan why he listens until the final out. It was a game that you’ll never forget, even though you didn’t see one pitch, one base hit or one throw from short.

Sunday evening in Rockford, Ill., the Winnipeg Goldeyes proved that Yogi Berra was right, “It isn’t over ’till it’s over.” And even though I didn’t see it, I had my radio friend Paul Edmonds to paint the picture of a comeback for the ages.

Early on Sunday evening, the Goldeyes were done. Through six innings, the Rockford RiverHawks had this one in the bag. Starter Mike Wood had allowed only two runs on five hits through the first six and when Rockford manager Bob Koopmann went to his bullpen, the RiverHawks had an 8-2 lead and I figured I’d turn on 60 Minutes. After all, it was 8-2, the Fish had barely put up a fight and what the heck, 6-5 isn’t a bad record early in the season, is it?

But hey, we’d come this far, one more inning couldn’t hurt.

And in the seventh, the Goldeyes appeared to have some life. Kevin West came up with two-on and belted a three-run homer off reliever Alex Thieroff and suddenly it was 8-5. If the Goldeyes bullpen could shut down the home side for three innings then maybe there was a chance.

In the bottom of the seventh, reliever Andrew Barb came in for the Fish and after walking a man, suffered an apparent injury (the second Goldeyes pitcher to hurt himself on Sunday as starter Matt Kniginyzky was felled by a shoulder problem earlier in the game) and he had to be replaced. Manager Rick Forney went to lefty Ian Thomas and Thomas went to work.

He got out of the seventh unscathed and that allowed the Fish to come back up in the eighth trailing by only three.

Now, if this were anything but a fairy tale, I’d tell you that the Rockford bullpen took care of Winnipeg in the eighth and ninth and everybody in Illinois went home to watch Sunday Night Baseball, but then it wouldn’t be a comeback would it? And my pal Edmonds would not have had a minor vocal coronary.

In the top of the eighth, with Edmonds along for every swing of the bat, the Goldeyes exploded. Wes Long drove in a run with a single to cut the Rockford lead to 8-6 and then big Juan Diaz drove in two more with a double. West, who had three hits in four trips, drove home pinch-runner Luis Alen (West’s fourth RBI of the game) with a single as the Goldeyes took a 9-8 lead.

Wow! The Comeback was complete. Or was it? This is baseball, after all and against professional hitters nothing is easy.

In the bottom of the eighth, RiverHawks outfielder Kevin House tied the game at 9-9 with a solo homer off Thomas, but heck, it’s still tied and that will just make the Goldeyes comeback all the more rewarding. Won’t it?

Indeed. In the top of the ninth, first baseman Jeremy Hamilton, who already had two hits in the game and four in the series, came up with a runner on third and one out and hit a sacrifice fly to give Winnipeg a 10-9 advantage. It was hard to imagine that the Fish were headed to the bottom of the ninth with the lead, but it did remind an old baseball fan why we listen until the final out.

In the bottom of the ninth, young Philip Roy, a reliever who simply beats up the strike zone, came in and allowed one hit before retiring the side and notched his third save of the season. It was mind-boggling, thrilling and even gut-wrenching at times, but it was exactly why Pete Rose once said, “Man invented all the other games, but God invented baseball.”

If today’s series opener in Gary is half as good, it will be another three hours well spent. I just hope Paul has recovered enough to get back on that mic by 3 o’clock.

May 28: Goldeyes Bullpen Can’t Hold the lead, Fish lose 7-3 to JackHammers

Despite a 7-3 loss to Joliet in the final game of an eight-game homestand, Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney had no problem finding a silver lining.

“We’re off to a good start,” Forney said bluntly. “5-3 is a good start. If we went 5-3 over every eight-game stretch until the end of the season, it would be a very successful year for the Goldeyes.

“Right now, we just need some consistency. I thought we’ve pitched pretty well, especially the starters, and the big thing right now is staying healthy. Our defence is a little inconsistent and I suppose if we have one area we need to improve, it’s our defence. But overall, I’m happy to start the season 5-3.”

On Thursday afternoon, the Goldeyes lost the final game of an eight-game homestand, 7-3, to the visiting Joliet JackHammers to split a four-game series. The Fish had already won their first series of the year against Lake County (3-1) and were now 5-3 heading out onto the road to open a series in Rockford on Friday night.

The Goldeyes fell behind 3-0 to Joliet on Thursday, then battled back to tie the game 3-3 in the fifth before the Jacks blew it open with four runs against the Goldeyes bullpen.

Goldeyes catcher Brett Wallace had a big day at the plate for the Fish going three-for-four with an RBI triple. Shortstop Wes Long and centerfielder Aharon Eggleston also had three hits each for the Fish. Eggleston improved his batting average to .433.

“I hit the ball OK, but I’m not happy with my defence,” Wallace said after the game. “I have a reputation as a catcher who doesn’t make many mistakes and I had two passed balls today. I don’t remember if I’ve ever had two passed balls in a game before.”

Ultimately, Wallace was charged with only one passed ball. The second was ruled a wild pitch, charged to reliever Austin Donmoyer.
The Fish will now head out onto the road and play three games against Rockford and three against Gary before returning home to open a weekend series against the Schaumburg Flyers on Friday, June 4.

May 27: Holliman Almost Unhittable while West Finds Hitting Easy as Goldeyes Hammer Jacks

Mark Holliman’s four-pitch repertoire combined with Kevin West’s sweet swing was the recipe for a sweet victory on Wednesday night.

Holliman, who once threw a no-hitter at the Double A level, improved to 2-0 on the season as the Goldeyes’ right hander threw seven complete innings of four-hit baseball as the Fish drilled the visiting Joliet JackHammers 6-1 at Canwest Park.

Holliman was so sharp on Wednesday night that after giving up his only run of the game in the third, he cruised through the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings without allowing a base runner. He retired 13 batters in a row before giving way to relievers Ian Thomas and Philip Roy who shut down the JackHammers in the eighth and ninth.

Meanwhile, the Goldeyes got more timely hitting, this time off the bat of veteran right fielder Kevin West. West went three-for-four with three doubles and three runs batted in as the Fish tagged former teammate Bear Bay with five runs on seven hits over six innings.

“It’s always interesting when you face a former teammate,” West said, on Shaw TV’s post-game show. “You really never know what you’re going to get. We know from Bear that he can be really good and you have to get to him early. We were able to score five runs in the first two innings before he settled down and pitch pretty well.

“At this stage of the season, the pitchers are ahead of the hitters, and it’s the pitchers who have held us together. Mark was great tonight and the other pitchers on the staff have been very good this year. We’ve been fortunate to have had so many great starts in our first seven games.”

West started the game hitting .238 and finished with a .333 average. Meanwhile, centerfielder Aharon Eggleston was back in the lineup after missing a game and a half with lower back pain and he picked up right where he left off. Eggleston went two-for-four with two runs scored.

“We didn’t bring these guys to Winnipeg to hit home runs all the time, although we certainly don’t mind it when they do,” manager Rick Forney told Paul Edmonds on the radio post-game show. “But we did sign them to drive in runs and that’s what they’ve been doing. We’ve had a number of two-out hits that have created runs this year and it seems that on most nights, someone in the lineup steps up and gets the job done for us.”

On Wednesday night, Kevin West was the man who stepped up.

Thursday morning at 11 a.m., the Goldeyes and JackHammers will play the final game of this four-game series. It’s getaway day and that means an early start as Winnipeg has to play in Rockford, Ill., on Friday night while the JackHammers go home to play host to Lake County.

Lefty Devin Anderson will get the start for Joliet (0-0) while another lefty, Chris Salamida (1-0), will take to the bump for the Goldeyes. Come out and enjoy brunch at the ballpark. The game will be replayed on Shaw 9 in Winnipeg at 7 p.m.

May 26: Bats Boom, Goldeyes Light Up JackHammers 8-4

Vince Harrison figured Joliet JackHammers lefty reliever Sean Teague was going to try to bust him inside.

“Dee (Brown) just hit the double and drove in two runs and I figure he’d try to throw something inside to make me hit it on the ground,” Harrison said. “I was looking fastball inside and he got the ball elevated. It was a good pitch to hit.”

Indeed. Harrison took Teague’s pitch into the trees over the left \field wall for a two-run homer that put an exclamation point on a six-run fifth inning that carried the Goldeyes to an 8-4 victory over the visiting JackHammers in the second game of a four-game series at Canwest Park.

One night after the Goldeyes were drilled 7-0 in a rain-shortened game the night before, the Fish came out and pounded five JackHammers pitchers for eight runs on 12 hits. All nine Goldeyes batters had at least one hit while Wes Long, Jeremy Hamilton and Harrison all had multi-hit games.

“That’s the great thing about baseball,” said Harrison. “We weren’t very good on Monday, but we get to come back every day and play again. We mess up one day, we get to come back and make up for it the next day. It’s tougher for football players. They play badly and lose, they have to wait around a week before they play again. That’s one of the great things about being a baseball player.”

Harrison is now hitting .350 with two runs, two doubles, a homer and three RBI early in this 2010 season, but interestingly, his scouting abilities might have as much to do with the Goldeyes early success as his bat.

It was Harrison who brought 23-year-old first baseman Jeremy Hamilton to town and on Tuesday night Hamilton went two-for-two with two runs scored and took over the batting lead in the Northern League. Hamilton is now hitting .500 (seven-for-14) in his first week with the Fish.

Meanwhile, Canadian starter Matt Kniginyzky (1-0, 5.00 ERA) got his first Northern League win. Kniginyzky went five complete innings and allowed three runs on seven scattered hits to earn the victory.

Wednesday night, the Goldeyes and JackHammers play Game three of this four game series. Come and enjoy a TV game at the ballpark and then go home and watch yourself on Shaw’s replay at midnight. Game time is 7 p.m. and yes, the midnight TV replay is at 12 midnight.

May 25: Soggy Goldeyes Drilled 7-0 in the Rain

Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney summed up Monday night’s rain-shortened 7-0 loss to the Joliet JackHammers succinctly:

“It was a wasted day,” he said bluntly.

“(Antony) Bello was pretty good. He gave us some good innings. Other than that, it was just a wasted day.”

At a rain-soaked Canwest Park, the Jackhammers held a 1-0 lead after four innings when home plate umpire Reggie Jackson halted play for the first time.

Joliet had one run on only one hit off Bello who pitched brilliantly, but got no help.

When the rain subsided, one hour and 52 minutes later, young Austin Donmoyer came in to pitch for the Goldeyes and the lefty got ripped for six runs on seven hits in just two and a third innings. With one out in the seventh, lightning lit up the sky, rain pelted the field and the game was called.

Bello suffered the loss while reliever Michael Rocco was credited with the win for Joliet as Winnipeg fell to 3-2 on the season. Joliet finished with seven runs on eight hits while Winnipeg had no runs on four hits.

“I haven’t got much to say,” Forney added. “We didn’t play long enough to formulate anything more to talk about.”

Tuesday night, the Goldeyes and JackHammers play Game 2 of this four game series. RHP Matt Kniginyzky will get the start for Winnipeg while right hander Rory Shortell will take to the bump for Joliet. Game time is 7 p.m.

May 24: Walker Brilliant, Diaz Hits Third Home Run in an as Many Days, as Fish drill Fielders 7-1

After Lake County lead-off man Amos Ramon opened the game with a double, Winnipeg Goldeyes starting pitcher Ace Walker stepped off the mound and took a breath.

“My first thought was ‘Oh, no, not this again,’ so I stepped off the mound and said to myself, ‘Not this time’,” Walker said shortly after leading the Winnipeg Goldeyes to a 7-1 victory over the visiting Lake County Fielders.

“Last year, if anyone was going to get to me, they’d get to me in the first or the fifth innings. After that guy hit the double, I just thought, ‘No way, not this time. It’s going to be different. I have to be better.’

“I have such a good defence behind me and I know I’ll get help at the plate from my guys. I wasn’t going to put us in a hole early.”

He didn’t. In fact, after Ramon’s double, Walker was almost perfect.

In the end he pitched seven complete innings, allowed no runs on only two hits, walked one and struck out five as the 2009 Northern League Pitcher of the Year mowed down the Fielders to claim his first victory of the season the Goldeyes third win in a row.

“I probably could have gone longer but I know I was on a pitch count,” Walker said. “I think the pitch count was 90. I know I got to 88 after seven innings. I didn’t mind coming out of the game with a 7-0 lead.”

At the plate yesterday, the Goldeyes were absolutely stellar. The Fish pounded out 14 hits, the big blow, a two-run shot off the bat of DH Juan Diaz in the bottom of the third that gave Winnipeg what was to be an insurmountable 4-0 lead.

Five Goldeyes had multi-hit games: Diaz was three-for-four with a walk, a run scored and three driven in; Aharon Eggleston went three-for-five with three runs scored and an RBI; Kevin West went two-for-four with a run scored and two RBI; and Vince Harrison and Jeremy Hamilton each had a pair of hits. Hamilton is now hitting .455 after his first four games in the Northern League.

“Just watching Juan hit the ball is really exciting, isn’t it?” said Walker with a wide smile. “It was just a great day of baseball out there.”

The Goldeyes will have another shot at a great day of baseball on Monday night when the Joliet JackHammers come to town. Left hander Antony Bello will get the start for the 3-1 Goldeyes.

May 23: Diaz Bomb, Great Start by Salamida, Fish Beat Lake County 2-1 in a Thriller

It’s a simple formula: Get a great effort from your starter, have a closer ready to shut it down and get a bomb from your slugger and you can probably eke out a win.
That’s what the Winnipeg Goldeyes did on a damp Saturday night as the Fish edged the Lake County Fielders 2-1 in front of 5,012 at Canwest Park.

Starter Chris Salamida pitched six and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball, reliever Andrew Barb put a halt to a Fielders rally in the ninth and “Big Juan” Diaz hit a two-run homer in the fourth as Winnipeg improved to 2-1 on the season.

“I had good command tonight,” said Salamida afterward. “I felt good right from the first inning. I trusted my stuff, threw strikes and got them to hit a lot of ground balls, My defence was outstanding behind me and that’s all I can ask for.

“I’m a pitch-to-contact hitter and I’m not trying to strike guys out, I’m just trying to get a ground ball. When I have the defence I had behind me tonight, I can be pretty successful.”

In a game that lasted just two hours and 22 minutes, Salamida was in control from his opening pitch. To be fair, however, Lake County starter Corey Bass was solid himself. Bass allowed only two runs on four hits over six complete innings. In fact, he probably made only one bad pitch...

“He threw me a fastball inside and I was able to turn on it,” said Diaz who hit a line shot over the leftfield wall with Aharon Eggleston standing on first. “I’ve been seeing the ball real good, but I’m not off to as fast a start as I’d like to be having. But I’ll just keep working in the cage and taking extra batting practice and I’ll get my timing back.”

Diaz’s homer was his second of the season and his second in as many games. However, he’s hitting just .273 early in the campaign and he’s not completely happy with his numbers.

“But we’re OK,” he said. “We’ve had two good games and two wins. We just have to keep going. Our pitching has been outstanding and our defence has been good. We just need to start hitting.”

The Goldeyes will have another chance to start hitting on Sunday afternoon when they face the Fielders in Game 4 of this four-game season-opening series. Right hander Jeff Long will get the start for Lake County while the 2009 Northern League pitcher of the year, Ace Walker, will get the call for Winnipeg. Game time is 1:30 p.m.

May 22: West, Long and Harrison Teach Kids How the Pros Play

The look of wonder in the eyes of 40 youngsters at Maples Community Centre on Saturday told most of the story. The looks in the eyes of about a dozen parents and community club coaches told the rest.

When Winnipeg Goldeyes’ stars Wes Long, Kevin West and Vince Harrison showed up at Maples on Saturday morning to put the kids – and their coaches – through their paces, it was baseball time in Northwest Winnipeg.

And did the kids ever respond. Starting at 10:30 on Saturday morning, three of the Goldeyes’ most high-profile players put on a clinic that introduced the youngsters to everything from base running to swinging the bat to turning a double play.

“You look at these Goldeyes players and you realize all that talent didn’t just happen,” said Dan Ricard, the president of Maples Community Centre. “Someone had to nurture that talent. Somebody had to inspire them to want to play the game and become the best they could be. That doesn’t happen without people coming into their lives and encouraging them to work hard and develop their skills.

“That’s what today was all about: Introducing the kids to the professional way to play and inspiring them to pursue their dreams, whatever those dreams might be.”

For Tom Barak, the organizer of the event, it was first in a series of programs designed to expose the kids in the Maples to pro sport and pro athletes.

“We’re now planning a trip with our basketball teams to take part in a camp with the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves,” Barak explained. “And we’ve had discussions with a number of local NHL players to put on a special hockey camp here at the rink.

“It was great having Kevin, Wes and Vince out today and it was just first clinic of this kind designed to expose our kids to professional athletes and professional sport. I just hope the Goldeyes had as much as fun as the kids did.”

“It was great,” said Long. “But I’m worn out. We just did a three-hour clinic. That’s like playing an entire game.”

May 22: Holliman Nearly Perfect, Bullpen Terrific as Goldeyes Win Their First of the Year

Mark Holliman smiled and said, rather matter-of-factly, “I felt pretty good out there.”
“Pretty good?” Pretty good would be a masterpiece of understatement.

After the Winnipeg Goldeyes lost their 2010 season opener 7-5 on Thursday night, Holliman took the ball from manager Rick Forney on Friday and went out and threw six and a third innings of two-hit baseball and earned the victory as the Fish shut out the visiting Lake County Fielders 3-0.

It was exactly the type of performance Forney expected from the 26-year-old Tennessean. Holliman, who has 65 starts at the Double A level and five at Triple A, beat up the strike zone on Friday night, struck out four and allowed only one runner to reach third base as Winnipeg evened its 2010 record at 1-1.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Holliman said modestly. “I felt pretty good out there. I did have good command of all my pitches. I threw the ball where I wanted to and I went in and out. Rick had me on a pitch count, I think it was about 85.

“I used every pitch I had tonight,” said Holliman whose four-pitch repertoire includes a fastball, curve ball, slider and change. “When you have four pitches, it will keep the hitters off balance and that’s all I tried to do tonight.”

Holliman threw 78 pitches, 47 for strikes, and after leaving the ball game got some assistance from his bullpen.

Zach Baldwin, on the same day he shot a five-under 67 at the challenging Quarry Oaks Golf Club, pitched an inning and two thirds of hitless baseball while the team’s new closer, Philip Roy, allowed only one hit as he shut it down in the ninth to record his first save.

Offensively, the Goldeyes pounded out 11 hits and got runners to third base on five separate occasions, but just couldn’t get enough clutch hits to blow the game wide open. As it was, the Fish got their first run in the bottom of the first on an opposite field home run by DH Juan Diaz, got another run in the fourth on a home run to left off the bat of shortstop Wes Long and then added an insurance run in the eighth when Jeremy Hamilton’s two-out single brought home Dee Brown from second.

“I got some very, very good defence behind me tonight, too,” Holliman said. “And the guys came out swinging the bats. We had, what, 11hits?

“Still, it was a close game and that’s when it’s really fun. Spring training is over and the games mean something now. It’s great when the games are close like that. It really gets your on your game. It’s great to to be competitive like that. It was fun out there.”

The Goldeyes and Fielders play Game 3 of this four game series tonight at Canwest Park. Corey Bass will start for the visitors while Chris Salamida goes for the Fish. Game time is 6 p.m.

May 21: Dunbar Hits Two Bombs, Goldeyes Give Up Five in the Ninth, Lose Home Opener to Lake County

Lesson 1: Don’t throw fat pitches to a 6-foot-4, 220-pound power hitter.

Lake County Fielders right fielder Jeff Dunbar hit a pair of long home runs to lead manager Fran Riordan’s expansion Fielders to a 7-5 win over the Winnipeg Goldeyes in the Northern League season opener for both teams.

As 6,311 looked on at Canwest Park, the Goldeyes took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning, but Winnipeg reliever Andrew Barb gave up five runs on four hits and while Winnipeg came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth, it wasn’t enough.

The big blow in the ninth was Dunbar’s second homer of the game, a three-run bomb with Lake County leading 4-3. Dunbar also hit a two-run homer in the second as the big right fielder drove in five runs.

“The first pitch was a fastball right down the middle,” Dunbar told Shaw TV’s Jim Toth. “The second was a curveball that hung right up there. I got two pitches I could hit and handled them both.”

It was a shaky start for the Goldeyes who came back from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead in the seventh on an RBI single by Luis Alen. But after Philip Roy got the Fish out of a tight squeeze in the eighth, Barb couldn’t get the job done in the ninth.

“We didn’t play very well,” said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney on the post-game show. “We didn’t play well defensively and we didn’t get the hits we needed. We can be better than that.”
Forney hopes his team will be better tonight when Mark Holliman goes to the mound to face Lake County’s Garry Bakker in the second game of this season-opening four-game series.

May 19: West, Asanovich Ready to Play for Real

Spring training baseball games are fun. But in the big picture – heck, even in the small picture – they don’t mean anything at all.

So after going 2-2-2 in six pre-season, no one is more fired up to start playing games that matter than your 2010 Winnipeg Goldeyes.

“I know we have to play these games,” said veteran right fielder Kevin West. “But if you’re asking me, I’d rather practice, take a lot of batting practice and do extra work in the cage than play games that don’t matter. It’s May. It’s time to start playing games that matter.”

Thursday night, West and the rest of his teammates will get their wish. The expansion Lake County Fielders come to town to open the season at Canwest Park and this first four-game series will be quite a test for the Fish.

After all, for the veterans on this veteran Goldeyes team, the Fielders come to town with some pretty familiar names. Pitcher Garry Bakker helped Fargo win the Northern League championship last season while reliever Chris Homer pitched out of the Goldeyes bullpen last year. Catcher Anthony Esquer was one of two catchers in Gary last season. The other was Brett Wallace. And Joliet veteran Joey Gomes will DH and play the outfield for the Fielders as Lake County tries to make an impression in its inaugural series on the road.

“I’m just glad we’ll be playing real games,” said Goldeyes second baseman Josh Asanovich. “I know the importance of these spring games we play. We have to work on a lot of things and these games help us get ready. There are always a lot of little issues you have to work through.

“For instance, last season Wes (shortstop Long) and I were really coming together as a unit when he was injured. He missed almost the entire last half of the season and there is no doubt, when spring training started, he and I had to start over, in terms of timing on the double play and always knowing where each other is going to be. We used the spring games to get that timing back and now I think we’re ready to go.

“I’m excited that we’re getting the regular season underway and I’m really excited about our team.”

Game time Thursday is 7 p.m. Fireworks will follow the game. As for Asanovich and West, they just hope there will be plenty of fireworks during the game.

May 17: Outcome Meaningless: Forney Still Happy With What He Sees

FARGO, N.D. – Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney was prepared to ignore the first inning of Sunday night’s pre-season game at Fargo’s Newman Outdoor Field.

His starter, Mark Holliman, had just been lit up for six runs on five hits as the Goldeyes were eventually crushed 10-0 by the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and yet, Forney was more interested in the big picture. Spring training games are designed for evaluation and Forney still has a bit of evaluating to do before his final cuts are made.

“Overall, I’ve been really happy with the pitching,” the manager said, matter-of-factly. “I like our catchers and I know we have some very good hitters, we just haven’t hit the ball very well in the pre-season. But I’m not worried about it. I think, once we get going, we’ll be very good offensively.

“I think Mark was unlucky in the first inning. We threw away a double play we should have converted behind him and a couple of those hits weren’t hit all that well, they just found holes. It’s pre-season so the score doesn’t matter. The important thing was, I saw some good things from the pitchers tonight.”

The Goldeyes are now 2-2-1 in five pre-season games this spring and they’ll wrap up the exhibition schedule on Monday night in Fargo. In the meantime, Forney still has to make three personnel decisions before Thursday’s 2010 opener against the Lake County Fielders at Canwest Park.

“I’ll make three cuts,” Forney said. “I’ll probably move one pitcher, one catcher and one outfielder. We’ll be down to 21 or 22 by Tuesday morning. We’ll see what happens on Monday night.”

May 17: Alen Excited About New Season in Winnipeg

It didn’t hurt that Luis Alen was the hero on Saturday night. Regardless, even if he wasn’t able to deliver the winning hit in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, he’d still be excited about the coming Northern League season.

“I just can’t wait for the season to begin,” said the 25 year-old Winnipeg Goldeyes catcher. “I’m in great shape, I’m seeing the ball well, I feel good behind the plate. I’m so excited for Opening Night. There will be a big crowd and I already know this is a great town to play in.

“I just appreciate everything everybody has done to bring me back to Winnipeg.”

It might only be pre-season, but a nice crowd (announced at 3,413) on another beautiful spring night at Canwest Park was brought to its feet in the bottom of the ninth when Alen hit a blast to straight away centrefield that went over the head of Nic Jackson and all the way to the wall. That scored Price Kendall and Corey Patton with the tying and winning runs as the Goldeyes edged the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 3-2 in a thriller.

“He (Fargo pitcher Adam Tollefson) threw me a slider,” said Alen. “He threw me a slider on the first pitch and I missed it. I saw that he threw a slider to Patton and I thought that was his pitch. So I went up there looking for a slider.

While Alen’s triple was the big hit of the night, Winnipeg’s pitchers had another solid evening on the bump. In fact, five different pitchers allowed only two runs on six hits as left-handed reliever Zach Baldwin, who pitched a scoreless ninth, earned the victory. Canadian right-hander Matt Kniginyzky started the game and allowed only one run on one hit over four full innings.

With the win, the Goldeyes improved to 2-1-1 in this year’s pre-season as they head to Fargo for a pair of games on Sunday and Monday.

“I know it’s only pre-season, but the way I play, I’m always trying to win even the game doesn’t mean anything in the standings,” Alen said. “It’s always good to win, no matter what the situation is.

“I really like our team.”

May 15: West Ready: His Bomb, Great Pitching, Four in the Fifth, Give Goldeyes Win Over Fargo

For Kevin West, pre-season baseball is simply another thing that has to be done in order to prepare for a long baseball season.

West doesn’t necessarily like it. He’d definitely prefer to be playing meaningful games, but he understands the role exhibition baseball plays in his manager’s preparation for a 100-game campaign and as a result, West and all of the Goldeyes’ veterans, will use these “unimportant” games to make sure they’re ready for the home and season opener on May 20.

“I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about whether it’s an exhibition game or a regular season game,” West said late Friday night. “I just come to the field ready to play, do my preparation and then go out and try to put some good at bats together. There is no doubt that when the regular season starts, the concentration level will go up, but right now, you just try to use these games in order to be at your best when the regular season rolls around.”

West appeared ready on Friday night. The tall, lean right fielder hit a three-run homer to cap off a four-run fifth inning as the Goldeyes beat the visiting Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 4-2.
“On the home run pitch, he (Nick Fellman) threw me a change-up, a little inside on a two-strike count,” West said. “I just reacted to it. Sometimes it can be so simple and other times it can be so difficult. That’s the kind of game this is.”

The Goldeyes got solid performances from six pitchers while Juan Diaz added an RBI single as the Fish won in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd of 3,134. It didn’t hurt that it was a wonderful evening for a ball game.

For West, who got a couple of hits in three official at bats, drew a walk, scored one and drove in three, it was a good night to start getting the kinks out. While the first five hitters in the Goldeyes lineup – Wes Long, Aharon Eggleston, Diaz, West and Vince Harrison – combined for seven of the Goldeyes nine hits, it was also a good night for the top of the order to start doing the things they’ll need to do if they want to win the championship they all say they covet so dearly.

“I find that every year it gets easier for me to prepare for a new season,” West said. “And it helps that I’m playing here in Winnipeg for Rick (manager Forney). I know I’m going to be here, this is where I play, it’s comfortable and it’s really easy for me to get ready for the season.”

May 14: Kniginyzky Ready To Post Great Numbers

Matt Kniginyzky wasn’t even a pitcher until he was drafted out of high school by the Toronto Blue Jays.

In fact, he was a third baseman from Mississauga who played his minor baseball in downtown Toronto (High Park) and pitched only on occasion. However, on one of those occasions, the Jays scouts saw him and drafted him in the 43rd round of the Major League amateur draft.

“Never did sign with the Blue Jays,” said Kniginyzky with a smile. “I went to junior college and then to High Point University (a Division 1 liberal arts school in North Carolina) and was ultimately drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 22nd round.”

Kniginyzky signed with the Royals and thus began his long, arduous journey through organized baseball. From 2005-2009, he went from Idaho to Burlington, Vt., to Arizona Rookie League, to Idaho Falls, back to Burlington, to Wilmington, Del., and finally to Northwest Arkansas. After spending the spring training season with the Royals, Kniginyzky was released and got a call from Goldeyes manager Rick Forney.

“It was a great opportunity and I’ve wanted to play in Canada for awhile,” said the 27-year-old Kniginyzky. “Like everyone else here, I want to get back to organized ball and eventually play in the majors, but having the opportunity to play independent ball in Canada is a pretty good option.”

In order to get back into organized ball, Kniginyzky knows he has to do two things: put up good numbers and play for a winning team. Historically, players who play for Northern League champions tend to get a good look from big league organizations.

In order to accomplish his goals, Kniginyzky will bring a four-pitch arsenal – four-seam fastball, curveball, slider and change.

“I love playing the game and I know that to get back into organized ball, I have to have a good season,” said Kniginyzky. “Right now, I’m not even thinking about getting back. I’m just concentrating on putting up good numbers and helping this team to win. If I do that, the other stuff will take care of itself.”

May 5: Hamilton Playing Alongside His Boyhood Hero

Veteran third baseman Vince Harrison just smiled when it was suggested he would have a little more pressure on him this season.

“Yeah,” said Harrison. “I’ll have to be good this year.”

The source of the added pressure was sitting across the clubhouse yesterday wearing a No. 11 Goldeyes batting practice jersey. Ever since he was a kid, Jeremy Hamilton looked up to Vince Harrison. Now they’re teammates.

“I have literally known Vince for my entire life,” said Hamilton proudly. “I used to spend entire summers at his house. I was best friends with Vince’s little brother Josh. I’d be at Vince’s house all the time.

“Vince was my idol. He was a three-sport star in Cincinnati and everyone knew him. He was a great athlete and I wanted to be just like him.

“He even taught me in school. He was a substitute teacher at my high school and I was often in his class. It was hard, too, because we all called him ‘V-Hay’ and I’d put my hand up in class and start by saying ‘Hey, V-H... I mean Mr. Harrison.’ It was hard.”

It shouldn’t be hard this year. At least, not as long as the 23-year-old Hamilton has a good pre-season and earns a spot on the team.

While Harrison, 30, will start at third and probably bat clean-up, Hamilton, a young man with plenty of pop in his bat, will have to impress manager Rick Forney and coaches Tom Vaeth and Rudy Arias with both his skills and his work ethic.

Winnipeg has a great veteran team this year and Hamilton’s spot is not guaranteed. Training camp and the pre-season schedule will either be his best friend or his worst enemy.

In the meantime, he’s approaching the 2010 Northern League season with the right attitude.

“I just want to come in here and play good baseball,” Hamilton said. “I know I’m on a team with a lot of experience and I expect to learn a lot. I guess my goal is play good baseball and really learn how to play the game right.”

It’s a nice goal, but if Jeremy Hamilton has been around Vince Harrison all of his life, he probably already knows how to play the game right.

May 4: For Forney, Camp Will Be Fun, Eye-Opening & Ultimately Difficult

Goldeyes manager Rick Forney isn’t asking for much: Just good weather and a roster full of players in game shape.

If he gets it, Forney says training camp will be a real treat. After all, he needs at least three rookies on his Opening Day roster and that means "some very good players will have to be released."

It’s going to be competitive, to say the least.

"Right now, on Day 1, I’m just keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that we get to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), so we can have a good day on the field," he said.

"I’m just excited to see our guys on the field doing some baseball exercises. We don’t have much time, just two days before our first exhibition game. It’s important that everybody comes to camp in game shape ready to go. If I keep 21 players, I must have three rookies on my roster. If I keep 22 or 23 players I need four. So before camp is over, some good players are going home.

"I’m looking to see who’s prepared to play right away. Baseball is a game of preparation. I want to see the guys who did all that extra work in the off-season and are prepared to play hard right now. In baseball, you just can’t snap your fingers and turn it on. You have to be prepared. I know I have good players here. I’m looking for the good players who are prepared to play hard right now."

Forney said that’s one of the major reasons he likes to get into the pre-season early and play a lot games.

"Because baseball is such a game of preparation, I want these guys to get into their routines right now and be prepared for a long season," Forney said. "With 100 games this year, we’ve done away with four off days. That’s another big reason why I’m looking for guys who are in shape."

Camp opened with 23 players at Canwest Park, but more will be added soon. One pitcher is expected meet the team in St. Paul on Thursday with another expected to meet the team in Sioux Falls on Saturday. As well, reigning NL Pitcher of the Year Ace Walker and rookie returnee Ian Thomas should arrive next week, with yet another pitcher expected the week after next.

That will bring the camp total to 28 players and it will be competitive at almost every position.

"I really have some tough decisions to make," Forney said. "I’m serous when I say there will be some good players who aren’t going to be here."

* * *

For those keeping track, the Goldeyes opened training camp with four rookies: lefty Thomas, two other pitchers named Austin Donmoyer and Casey Hodges and infielder Kendall Price.

"But there is no guarantee that all the rookies will make it either," Forney said. "I could go with 21 players (and he’ll only need three). And we know there will be some releases made all over independent baseball next week. You never know who might come available.

"I’m serious. This will be a competitive camp."

May 4: Training Camp Opens Today

It is one of the finest rosters ever assembled by a Goldeyes manager.

From top to bottom, these Goldeyes give the impression they can hit, field their positions and, hopefully, pitch with the likes of pre-season favorites such as the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and Gary SouthShore RailCats.

Spring training opens today and the excitement surrounding this year’s team is palpable.

“This just might be one of the best teams I’ve ever played on,” new centre fielder Aharon Eggleston said last week. “There are some very good players on this team. If we all just do what we’re capable of doing, we’ll be competitive right to the end.”

When training camp opens, there will be three important things to watch before the regular season begins on May 20:

1. The pitching. After Ace Walker, Zach Baldwin and Ian Thomas, we don’t really know this year’s pitching staff. However, as Forney points out “There are four of them with Double A experience so they should be pretty good.” It will be fun to watch.

2. The battle for the catching position. Luis Alen, 25, is back after spending two years in the Mets organization. He hit .333 with the Goldeyes in 2007. Brett Wallace, 27, was acquired from Gary in the off season. “I’ve always liked Brett,” said first base coach Rudy Arias. “He really plays hard. He leaves it all out on the field.” And the third catcher is the exciting young Travis Howell, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound, 25-year-old with a gun for an arm. This will be the best individual competition at camp.

3. The decision on the first baseman: Kevin West will probably play right field, but he could play first. Cory Patton was a solid centre fielder who could play right and could also play first. And then there is young Jeremy Hamilton, 23, who comes highly recommended by veteran third baseman Vince Harrison, has shown real pop at the Single A level and is a natural first baseman. All three of these guys will play, but where they’ll play is a question that still needs an answer.

“It should be a pretty good camp,” said Arias with a sly grin. “I’m excited about it.

“The line-up is great and all of these guys can field their positions. The pitching could be very good, too. This could be a really competitive team. I think I like it.”

Training camp goes Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and then the Fish start the pre-season with games Thursday and Friday in St. Paul and Sunday and Monday in Sioux Falls. Sandwiched in-between is the team’s annual open house, which goes Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Canwest Park.

April 29: Alen Back And He’s Ready To Go

Luis Alen’s return to Winnipeg is one of those good news/bad news situations. It’s certainly good news for the Goldeyes and their fans. The bad news, well, that’s for opposing pitchers.

In 2007, there wasn’t a better catcher in the NL. Luis Alen did it all for the Goldeyes. He handled the pitching staff with authority and hit like a monster. In 82 games (285 at-bats), he batted a team-leading .333 with 23 doubles and 44 runs batted in and had the best season of his career.

Because he played so well, he was given a contract by the New York Mets. Following two years in their system, he’s happy to be back in Winnipeg.

“They were two tough years for me, I have nothing much more to say,” admitted Alen, who played in four cities at three different levels in two seasons of organized ball. “But I learned a lot. I worked closely with the Mets catching co-ordinator and I really learned how to call a game, how to handle a pitching staff and how to work with both pitchers and catchers.

“This winter, I played winter ball in Venezuela and I did pretty well. I hit .370 and I really got a lot of confidence at the plate.”

And that’s why, a bigger, stronger Alen is happy to be back in Winnipeg. He always felt comfortable here. He liked manager Rick Forney and when he arrived on Thursday, said it felt like he was home.

“I’m so happy to be back here, I’m ready to come back and hit,” he said with a smile. “I feel really good and feel so good being back here. It’s an honour to be back with this franchise.

“And wow, what a team! I have played against Juan Diaz and against Kevin West. I know how good they are. I’ve looked at the stats of the guys coming back and this team is really impressive. I’m so happy to be back with a good team and in a place where people really appreciate what you do.”

The Goldeyes will open spring training with three catchers: Alen, Travis Howell and Brett Wallace. It should be a tremendous pre-season battle for the No. 1 job.

April 20: West On A Mission: Win a Championship

If Kevin West is anything, he’s a guy that tells the truth. No, he’s not happy that things didn’t work out in spring training with the Cincinnati Reds. Yes, he is happy that his second choice is a spot roaming right field for the Goldeyes.

“I wanted things to go better with the Reds but they didn’t and I just feel fortunate that I have an opportunity to return to a team I really care about,” West said Tuesday. “I had a shot and it didn’t work out, but I’m always a happy guy. I always try to think positively no matter what the situation. Wherever I go, I do the best I can and try to be the best I can be and that’s what I intend to do in Winnipeg again this year.

West is one of the final pieces to manager Rick Forney’s puzzle. Last season, his second with the Goldeyes, he hit .285 with 19 home runs and 66 runs batted in. He also had 22 doubles and scored 58 runs and, over two seasons, has hit 37 home runs – the most over two seasons for Winnipeg since Sean Hearn hit 39 in 1998-99.

Forney, though, feels West’s greatest contribution could come not on the field but in the clubhouse, where his presence has been profound.

“He’s one of the best veterans we’ve had in a long, long time,” said Forney. “With Kevin back in the mix, we feel we have a very good group of people this year – good guys with great personalities. They work hard, they like each other and they want to win. I can’t ask for anything more than that.”

That part impresses West.

“For the past two weeks, I’ve been getting phone calls and texts from the guys all asking if I’m going to sign with Winnipeg,” West said. It’s important that a team have camaraderie because we spend an insane amount of time around each other. I care about the people in this organization and I think we’ll be even better than we were last year.

“Hopefully we can win a championship. That’s what I really care about this year. For everybody, for all the guys. We have a great opportunity.”

April 20: Forney Excited About Influx Of New Pitchers

After a winter in which Goldeyes manager Rick Forney acquired all-star centre fielder Aharon Eggleston, signed catcher Luis Alen following two years in the Mets organization and brought back the likes of Dee Brown, Vince Harrison, Wes Long, Juan Diaz, Josh Asanovich and Cory Patton, plenty of people have wondered about the pitching.

This is understandable, for just Ace Walker and southpaws Zach Baldwin and Ian Thomas are back from the 2009 squad that led the Northern League in earned run average.

But the lack of returnees is something Forney isn’t the least bit concerned about. In fact, he figures his Goldeyes might just have one of the best pitching staffs that have come to Winnipeg in years.

“We have five guys with Double A experience,” Forney said. “We have Ace, Mark Holliman, Joey Norrito, Matt (Kniginyzky) and (Chris) Salamida. This team has plenty of pitching. We have three guys back – Ace, Zach and Thomas and four other guys from Double A. Man, that looks pretty good to me.”

There is also talk that a reliever with Major League experience could sign during training camp, so indeed, these Goldeyes would appear to have plenty of pitching.

In fact, when you add in Stephen Flake, one of the top pitchers in the Frontier League the past two seasons, and you already have the reigning NL Pitcher of the Year in Walker, pitching might be the deepest part of an already deep team.

“I’m not at all worried about pitching,” Forney said. “Our pitching will be very good.”

April 14: Samson’s Back In The Clubhouse. It’s Starting To Feel Like Baseball At Canwest Park

When the clubhouse manager returns to get everything in order for the upcoming season, one gets the sense that spring has sprung and baseball is returning to the downtown ballpark.

Jamie Samson, who will begin his fourth season as clubhouse manager – and tenth with the Goldeyes (“...counting all my bat boy years”) – is back at the park, getting the lockers ready and helping groundskeeper Don Ferguson with some facility maintenance.

With Samson back, it won’t be long before the season is upon us.

“I spent the winter at the University of Winnipeg,” he said while painting a runway that leads out to the field. “I was in first-year business and took three courses. I didn’t hate it, but I just might switch to kinesiology. We’ll see what happens after this season.”

Samson also worked at Hu’s on First, which simply suggests it’s tough to leave Canwest Park, even in the off-season.

Of course, like most people involved with the Goldeyes these days, he is excited about the prospect of at least 10 returnees this year.

“Last year, Rick built our team a little differently than he had in other years,” Samson said. “He went after more experienced players and we had a lot of older guys who really appreciated the opportunity they were given to play here.

“There were a lot of guys who had been in organizations who didn’t take for granted everything they got here. These guys all understood how good they had it and I didn’t deal with a lot of complaints. This is a great organization that treats the players really well and with a clubhouse full of veteran guys, it was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what this season brings.”

March 22: Juan’s Prep: Taking His Kids To The Batting Cages

It was one of those magnificent seasons that only comes along once in a while.

Big Juan Diaz, the Goldeyes gifted designated hitter, finished the 2009 season hitting .317 with a league leading – and franchise record – 29 homers, a franchise-record 90 runs batted in and a league-leading .598 slugging percentage. In the playoffs, he was even more magnificent, hitting .500 in 12 official at-bats. He was also walked 10 times and had a .727 on-base percentage. His playoff slugging percentage was 1.000 while his OPS was an almost insane 1.727.

So what does he do for an encore?

Well, for one thing, he prepares like a professional and is ready to roll when he arrives for spring training in early May.

“I had a good winter in Colombia,” Diaz said, via telphone from his home in Miami. “I had 11 home runs and 45 RBI and hit .280 in 200 at-bats. It was fun in Colombia. It’s good to be home to spend time with my family, but I had fun in winter ball.

“Now that I’m back home, I spend a lot of my time taking my kids to the batting cages. I pick them up after school at 3 o’clock, and we go and swing for a few hours each night. My eight-year-old can really swing the bat.”

Diaz has three kids: Johanzell is 8, Juan Carlos is 6 and Ronnald is 4. All three are quickly picking up dad’s profession: Hitting a baseball.

“It’s fun for me to be around my boys every day,” Diaz said. “But it will also be fun to get back to Winnipeg, too. Last year we had a good team and it was special for me to be around so many teammates who were such good players. This year, we have added Aharon (centre fielder Eggleston) and we should be even better. It’s going to be fun this year.”

February 16: Wallace Ready To Challenge For No. 1 Catching Job

Brett Wallace knew he’d be in tough when Goldeyes manager Rick Forney signed Luis Alen.

But the 27-year-old catcher from West Grove, Pennsylvania is looking forward to the challenge.

Wallace, who hit .285 in 58 games with the Gary SouthShore RailCats last season, has developed into a pretty solid Northern League catcher. He hit .210 in 28 games with Gary in 2007, .274 in 65 games in 2008 and then had a very good year last year. Until Forney signed Alen, Wallace was a lock to be the Goldeyes No. 1 backstop, but now there will be a battle for that job in training camp.

“I remember Luis Alen in Winnipeg three years ago and I know he hit .330,” said Wallace. “But I feel that if I play up to par, I can win the No. 1 job.

“I talked to Rick when I signed and told him I wanted to play 80 games out of 100 this year. Rick said that with the travel and the schedule we have, it was unlikely any of us would catch more than 60 or 65 games, but I’m going up there expecting to battle it hard and play a lot of baseball.

“I’ve been working hard in the off-season and I’m excited about playing in Winnipeg.”

Wallace has spent the off-season instructing at Maplezone Sports and Fitness Center in Boothwyn, outside Philadelphia.

“It’s been great working at Maplezone,” said Wallace. “I’ve even had an opportunity to catch for Cole Hamels of the Phillies. We get there at noon everyday, do our work, get some hitting in and work out and then work with the kids when they’re finished school. It’s been a really good off-season and I’ll be ready to go for spring training.”

Like most of his Goldeyes teammates, Wallace looks at the line-up this season and figures it’s going to be very difficult to get this team out.

“This is a great line-up, there isn’t a hole in it,” Wallace said. “You look at the people coming back and the people who have been added to the team and one-through-nine, that’s a solid order. Every guy is a tough out. I think we have reason to be excited about this team.”

February 12: Taylor’s 2010 Ticket Tour

It’s an idea that isn’t particularly new. In fact, it’s exactly what my great-uncle did when he sold encyclopedias door-to-door.

It’s referred to as “burning shoe-leather” and really is a defining principle of “old school.”

Granted, in this age of texting, Facebook, Twitter, iPad, e-mail and yes, even the occasional telephone call, the thought of actually knocking on doors to sell a product seems rather archaic. But when you stop and really think about it, it’s the only real way to meet people you’ve never met. And for me, here in the dead of winter, there is an urgent need to meet more people.

So starting, officially, on Tuesday, February 16, on behalf of the Winnipeg Goldeyes Baseball Club, we will commence with “Taylor’s 2010 Ticket Tour.”

The goal is to meet the people who work every day to make Manitoba’s businesses successful. We’ll start on the 16th and keep at it until the end of March. The goal is to talk to 300 businesses in and around Winnipeg and invite them, personally, to purchase Goldeyes tickets for the 2010 season. In fact, we’ve already set the 17th as the date we visit Carman, home of the old senior and junior Carman Goldeyes.

Now, I’ve been around our Goldeyes in some manner (or in some incarnation) since a time when the club was a mere twinkle in Sam Katz’s eye and I can tell you, I’ve never been more excited about a team’s chances to win than I am this year.

With shortstop Wes Long, third baseman Vince Harrison, designated hitter Juan Diaz, left fielder Dee Brown, right fielder Cory Patton and second baseman Josh Asanovich back in the fold and with the addition of centre fielder Aharon Eggleston and catchers Luis Alen and Brett Wallace, this is a team that will score plenty of runs. If manager Rick Forney adds the power-hitting first baseman he’s after, the Goldeyes could be an offensive powerhouse like no other.

This is a team that, barring injury, should take a legitimate run at a Northern League championship.

Meanwhile, the Northern League itself is better and more competitive than it’s been in a couple of years thanks to the addition of two new teams, including Kevin Costner’s Lake County Fielders. The 2010 NL season promises to be one of the best ever.

And that’s why I want everyone in Winnipeg to join me at the ballpark this summer. I’m so excited about this season, I’m going to go door-to-door to personally invite as many people as possible to buy Goldeyes tickets.

And then, every day during this year’s Ticket Tour, we’re going to blog about our travels right here at goldeyes.com. We want to get to know as many business people in Winnipeg as we can and we’re even going to have a prize or two at the end of the Tour. And in the process, we’re going to tell everyone about our travels.

So whether it’s a nine-game mini-pack in the Grand Slam Section ($45) or a 21-seat SkySuite for the entire 50-game home schedule ($25,000), we want you to be part of the Goldeyes family.

In fact, we started a preliminary mini-tour on Thursday evening and visited with Brent Sayles, the general sales manager at Winnipeg Hyundai, Darrell Boughton, the regional manager of First Canadian Insurance Corp., and Al Franklin, one of the three partners in Superstars Sports at 1885 Portage. I told Al that when I deliver his tickets, I’ll bring Goldie along for the celebration.

The same goes for everyone else we visit in the days ahead. All you have to do is give me a call at 982-2273 and I’ll do all the work. And on the day we deliver your tickets, we’ll bring Goldie with us just for laughs (he doesn’t know it yet, but I’m sure we can convince him).

So it’s here: Taylor’s 2010 Ticket Tour is now underway. I hope we see you before the end of March.

January 28: Wes Long Is "At 95 Per Cent, Ready To Go Today"

The 2009 Northern League season started out so promisingly for Goldeyes shortstop Wes Long.

The 27-year-old was hitting .343 over the first 41 games with three homers, 15 doubles and 15 stolen bases in his first 166 at-bats, and had just been named to represent Winnipeg at the Northern League All-Star Game.

But on June 30, Schaumburg catcher Richard Mercado went well inside the baseline to break up a double play and took out Long in the process. It was a crushing collision that left Long with a broken ankle and on the shelf for the rest of the season.

And while the Goldeyes played well down the stretch, it was obvious come playoff time that they missed Long's glove and bat.

Back in Seattle, where he’s spent the off-season working two jobs, working out daily and running a small business on the side, Long is just itching to get back to Winnipeg.

He gets up every morning and goes to work at a neighbourhood Starbucks, then spends the afternoon and early evening selling home furnishings at a Restortation Hardware. In the evenings, he works out, does his physio and operates the Wes Long Baseball Academy.

Not surprisingly, Long is anxious to put the off-season behind him in favour of the regular season.

"It’s only January and I’ve already had a long off-season since the end of June and I just want to bet back up there and start playing,” he said. “I’m ready to roll. I just can’t wait. My ankle is about 95 per cent. I’m going through regular physical therapy just to get the strength back, but I’m ready. I’m excited to play again. It’s been a long time for me.”