The Dominican Republic facility was unveiled in 2011 as a place to house the team’s Dominican Summer League and better develop young Latin American baseball prospects. The Indians have seen great success in players coming out of the Dominican Summer League including Indians starting pitcher Danny Salazar, third baseman Giovanny Urshela and top-prospect Erik Gonzalez. The camp aims to help talented ballplayers such as them grow and continue to achieve high success on and off the field.
The state-of-the-art facility, located in San Antonio de Guerra, Dominican Republic, includes two complete fields, four bullpens, a gym and training facility, indoor recreation center and a classroom where players are taught English.
While at the Indians camp, Case’s NYSP took a group tour of the complex and enjoyed local cuisine prepared by the facility’s chefs.
Case’s NYSP was created in 1970 as a sports camp to help 250 underprivileged youth, and has since grown reaching nearly 600 children. The small group who traveled to the Dominican Republic was chosen based on their abilities to be certified lifeguards and speak Spanish.
–TribeVibe contributor Angela Martin
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Zach’s Two-Start Pitcher Notes – Week of 8/17
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ZACH’S PICKS
Big Erv @ Eovaldi – Eovaldi continues to rack up the W’s.
Montgomery @ Holland – Keep an eye on Holland but too risky to pitch in first start back.
Koehler @ Peralta – Koehler a toss-up but he’s a safer bet at home. Favorable matchup for Peralta.
Latos @ Chavez – Latos struggling lately and I don’t like the matchup for Chavez.
Teheran @ T. Ross – Three straight quality starts for Teheran.
Ray @ Happ
Syndergaard @ Jimenez
Buehrle @ Morgan – Buehrle has registered 12 quality starts in his last 13 outings.
Kluber @ Kelly
Guthrie @ Sampson
Cain @ J. Garcia
D. Norris @ Lester – Playing it safe with Norris.
Karns @ Keuchel – Karns has been shaky of late and the Astros can hit.
Strasburg @ J. De La Rosa
Samardzija @ Weaver – Samardzija is a mess right now. Weaver a worthy gamble in favorable matchup.
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Phillies returned home on Sunday night, spent Monday unpacking and getting ready for another road trip after Wednesday night’s game. That game is the second of a two-game series against the American League East second-place Blue Jays. Toronto is trying to reach the postseason for the first time since 1993 when they won the World Series, a painful memory for Phillies fans.
The Blue Jays have won 15 of their last 18 games, including going 1-1 against the Phillies in Toronto. They lead the A.L. with 622 runs scored and 225 doubles while second in homers with 158. 40-23 at home, the Blue Jays are 25-31 on the road but carry a six-game winning streak at Citizens Bank Park going into the series that starts tonight.
Veterans will be starting for Toronto, 40-year-old Dickey tonight and 36-year-old Buehrle on Wednesday. Combined they have started 715 games in the majors. Dickey owns the one win Toronto had over the Phillies on July 29, 8-2.
The Phillies, 7-8 in interleague play, will counter with two rookies, 22-year-old Nola tonight and 25-year-old Morgan in the next game. Combined they have 14 big league starts. During the Phillies 17-10 record since the All-Star Game, Nola has three of the wins and Morgan, two, including a 3-2 decision over the Jays on July 28.
Minor Leagues
Players of the Week (Aug. 10-16)
1B Luis Encarnacion, Gulf Coast League Phillies…The 18-year-old hit .478 (11-23) with a pair of doubles, three RBI, three runs scored, and a stolen base. He reached base at a .520 mark and posted a 1.085 OPS in his six games played. On August 10, Encarnacion had a career-high five hits, going 5-5 with a double, two runs and two RBI against the GCL Tigers. He is currently riding a 10-game hit streak, during which he has raised his average from .259 to an even .300. His 30 RBI lead the GCL. Encarnacion, a right-handed hitter, was signed by the Phillies and Koby Perez as an amateur free agent in August of 2013.
RHP Stephen Shackleford, Reading…The 26-year-old converted four saves in four chances for the Fightins, combining to pitch 4.0 scoreless innings with just two walks and one hit allowed. On August 11, he recorded his 25th save of the season, breaking the team record for most saves in a single season. He has converted 28 saves in 30 chances, holding opponents to a .196 average over 48.2 innings of work. The 6-foot-2 right-hander leads the league in saves. Shackleford was signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent in December of 2014, and was originally selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 30th round of the 2010 draft.
Lehigh Valley IronPigs (54-69), 4th place, North Division)
Were not scheduled on Monday. Season resumes at 7:05 tonight in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Reading Fightin’ Phils (70-51), 1st place, Eastern Division)
Improved to 13-2 this month with an 8-1 win over New Hampshire. WP: Joely Rodriguez (5-2), 7-4-1-1-1-5. Middle of batting order (Brock Stassi-Andrew Knapp-Destin Hood) were 6-10 with 3 RBI. Bottom three (Angelo Mora-Harold Martinez-KC Serna) were 3-10 with 4 RBI. Knapp had 2 hits, extending his hitting streak to 15 games and boosting average to .406. Including Clearwater, Knapp is hitting .316, 31 doubles, 70 RBI.
Next: Nick Pivetta (1-3) 7:05 tonight vs. New Hampshire.
Clearwater Threshers (31-20, 2nd place, North Division)
Won, 6-3, in Dunedin before a crowd of 615. WP: 20-year-old Ricardo Pinto (7-2), 6.2-3-0-0-2-6. Including Lakewood, he’s 12-4. SV: 22-year-old Miguel Nunez (6); last 10 games: 2-0, 4 SV, 0 R, 13.2 IP. 1B Rhys Hoskins, HR (6); 14 including Lakewood. 4-5-6-7-8 in the batting order went 10-19, 6 R, 4 RBI.
Next: Matt Imhoff (6-4) 6:30 tonight in Dunedin.
Lakewood BlueClaws (28-22, tie 2nd place, Northern Division)
After playing 3 games in Delmarva, the two teams shifted to Lakewood for another 3-game series. Delmarva won the opener, 6-2. 2B Scott Kingery, 2-4, R. CF Jiandido Tromp, 2-4, RBI.
Next: Austin Davis (3-4) 7:05 tonight vs. Delmarva.
Williamsport Crosscutters (35-21, 1st place, Pinckney Division)
Season resumes Wednesday following a two-day break for the All-Star Game.
Gulf Coast League Phillies (29-18, 2nd place, Northwest Division)
Split a pair vs. the Astros, 5-3 win in a suspended game and 5-2 loss in a 7-inning game. 18-year-old LF Cornelius, 5-7 in the DH, lifting average to .309. 1B Luis Encarnacion had his hitting streak snapped at 10 games.
Next: 12 noon today at Astros.
This Date In Phillies History
August 18, 1997:
LF Billy McMillon and C Mike Lieberthal hit grand slams as Phillies sink San
Francisco, 12-4, at the Vet, the second time in club history they have two slams in
one game. SS Ralph Miller and P Lee Meadows did it 76 years ago, April 28, 1921.
August 18, 2006
Mike Lieberthal catches his 1,125th game to break Red Dooin’s club record for most
games caught. Dooin’s played for the Phillies from 1902-14, including the dual role of
player-manager, 1910-14. His managerial record is 392-370.
Today’s News
Tonight’s Game
White Sox vs. Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim (9:05 p.m. CT, CSN) in the second game of the four-game series. Probable Starters: LHP John Danks (6-9, 4.58) for the Sox, RHP Garrett Richards (11-9, 3.55) for LA.
Last Night’s Highlights
Carlos Rodon tossed a gem of a game, allowing just two runs (a pair of solo homers), four hits, three walks and five strikeouts in eight innings of work as the White Sox lost a tough 2-1 decision to the Angels. He is the first Sox rookie to throw a complete game since Zach Stewart in 2011 at Minnesota and the first rookie left-hander since Wilson Alvarez in 1991 vs. Cleveland…Avi Garcia singled and doubled as the DH and starting rightfielder Trayce Thompson singled and walked.
Quote of the Day
Robin on Rodon’s performance:
“This was probably his best stuff…After the first homer, how he reacted to it and responded was great. You’re kind of seeing him mature a bit…It’s a tough front part of that lineup to go through, and he did a pretty good job.”
MLB Stat of the Day
Chris Sale has fanned 32.8% of the batters he has faced in 2015.
California Dreamin’
Carlos Sanchez takes the opportunity to focus on his game plan during BP in Anaheim last night.
Tomorrow’s Schedule
White Sox vs. Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim (9:05 p.m. CT, CSN) in the third game of the four-game series. Probable Starters: RHP Jeff Samardzija (8-8, 4.78) for the Sox, RHP Jered Weaver (4-9, 4.60) for LA.
Photos of the Day
In the 1989 film “Field of Dreams,” one of finest baseball movies of all-time, many baseball fans were distracted by the fact that the Sox’ outstanding outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson, a left-handed hitter from the South (top photo below) was portrayed by right-handed hitting Ray Liotta from New Jersey (second photo).
The latest film to take liberties with the facts is the recently released movie, “Straight Outta Compton,” which has been a huge hit so far at the box office. But observant White Sox fans will tell you that there is a flaw.
In the opening scene of the film, which is set in 1986, actor/rapper Easy-E is wearing the current Sox cap that didn’t surface until 1990 (third photo). For the sake of accuracy, the actor should have been wearing the cap in the bottom photo that the Sox wore from 1982- 86 and have been wearing occasionally the past couple of years as part of an alternate throwback uniform.
Arlie Latham, 1911
In the weeks to come, I will offer up some Arlie Latham tales that were published in the New York World a century ago and reprinted by a handful of newspapers, beginning in August 1915, but have escaped notice since. Latham is one of baseball’s most colorful if not necessarily likable (or trustworthy) characters. Born in 1860, Latham lived long enough–until 1952–to tell, repeat, and “enrich” his tales for several generations of writers, including Robert Smith (author of the wonderful the wonderful Baseball, 1947). To get us started, here’s a snapshot of who he was.
Arlie Latham was called “the Freshest Man on Earth” after a popular song of the 1880s. The song is long forgotten, but Latham lives on in his stories. He was also something of a clown and thus a fan favorite. He was famous for profanely badgering the opposition and hectoring his own players, thus earning him the enmity of both. His private life was as tumultuous as that on the field: his first wife attempted suicide, and his second wife divorced him, charging “perversion, assault, desertion, and infidelity.”
Latham had a brief trial with Buffalo’s National League team in 1880, but didn’t stick in the leagues until he joined the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in 1883, who went on secure four straight American Association championships from 1885 through 1888. Although he batted above .300 four times in his career, he was not considered an outstanding hitter. He excelled mostly on defense, exhibiting one of the strongest arms in baseball, as well as on the basepaths. Because the rules at that time credited a player with a steal whenever he took an extra base on a teammate’s hit, it is impossible to accurately reconstruct Latham’s record in modern terms. However, under the rules of his day, he was credited with 129 steals in 1887, and he led the league the next year with 109. His career total, with some years unavailable, is 739.
Latham played part of the 1890 season in the Players League, then joined Cincinnati of the National League, where he starred through 1895, his last full season. He did play briefly with St. Louis in 1896 and with Washington in 1899. He spent three years as an umpire before returning to the game in 1909 with the New York Giants.
At a time when players took turns coaching baserunners at first and third, John McGraw hired Latham to be baseball’s first professional coach. Some say that his habit of roaming the length of the foul line inspired the creation of the coaches’ boxes that bracket the diamond today. Latham also played in four games that year, and though he went hitless, he became, at the age of 49, the oldest player to steal a base.
Into his nineties he served as the press box custodian at, first, Yankee Stadium, and then the Polo Grounds.
Latham Tells Stories of Chris von der Ahe
New York, N.Y., Aug. 14 [1915]–There was a fat German saloon keeper outside the old ball grounds in St. Louis and after the games he used to stand at the end of his bar and watch his sweating bar-keepers rake in the shekels.
“Five tousand tamn fools,” he would say, “and one wise man. Und dat wise man is me–Chris von de[r] Ahe.”
But old Chris saw money in baseball and soon he became interested in the sport, writes Arlie Latham in the World. Eventually he became owner of the St. Louis Browns, one of the most successful teams that ever played the game. From that time on everyone knew Chris. For all his eccentricities he was a likable old fellow and, as he said, no fool.
He was a big man with a face like the full moon and a nose like a bunch of strawberries. It’s a wonder he wasn’t cross-eyed from trying to see around it. He had a stomach as big as a bush leaguer’s opinion of himself, and for every step he took forward he had to take two to each side.
Chris had a great sense of his won dignity, and if he caught a player trying to pull any wise stuff on him he made the player pay for it–that is, he told he was fined. I have estimated that while I played with his club he fined me a million dollars. But he never got a cent of it, for he always forgot it the next day.
His heart and soul were bound up in his ball club, and he never could see any excuse for losing a game. If anyone booted away a game, Chris roared like a bull. Sometimes, when the team would be going bad, Chris would become so disgusted that he would threaten to fine the whole club. But we would remember that it was only old Chris von der Ahe talking, and we let it go at that.
If there was one thing Chris hated it was to see a man hit afly ball.
“Shtop hitting them high-fliers!” he’d yell. “Keep them on th efloor! Don’;t you know them fielders can catch does high vuns?”
Taking Observations
He used to have a seat on the bench, and when a fly ball would be hit Chris would groan and then grab a telescope he had always with him. He’d focus the fielder running after the ball and then begin to pull with his arms and legs as if to pull the ball away from him. He’d grunt like a man lifting a heavy weight and bend his body almost double, as though he thought he could change the course of the ball. Finally, just as the fielder was about to catch the ball Chris would be so excited and doubled up that he usually ended by toppling off the bench with a crash. Then the players always gave him the horse laugh.
When Chris picked himself up his mustache would be sticking up like the quills of a porcupine, and if he saw anyone laughing heaven help that wretch!
As I could, he never could see any excuse for an error. No matter how hard the ball came, get it! If you knew it was going to knock your head off, get it! If it came so fast that it would kill you–well, Chris would forgive–maybe.
One day in St. Louis they were knocking them at me so fast I could only wave my arms and hope one of them wouldn’t hit me in the teeth. They must have hit a million at me. Well, a million may be an exaggeration, but there were at least 900,000. All I could do was stand there, let them hit me on the chest and trust to luck to recover them in time to throw the runner out at first. I could hear Chris mumbling something about a “chackass,” but I was afraid to look at him.
At the eighth inning the other team had us three runs to the bad. That was too much for Chris. He pulled himself out of his seat and started for the gate. He could never stay to see us lose, and when the game got beyond what he thought was hope he would get up and march out to the box office. There he’d drown his sorrows by counting the gate money. If the crowd was big he would speedily forget about the game.
This day, however, when he was in the middle of his counting there was a terrific noise outside.
A player came running in and found Chris serenely counting his coin.
“Did you hear that, Chris?” yelled the player.
“Chass.”
“Do you know what it was?”
“Oh, I suppose that chackass Laydem made anodder error.”
“No. But he just made a home run with three on, and won the game for you.”
“I always said,” remarked Chris that night, “dot Laydem vos the best man I effer hat in a binch.”
Not a Sane Fourth
But I got back at Chris in my own way. And then he got back at me again.That was always the trouble with that old bird. He got wise to things eventually and then he’d gum the cards with a fine.
We were playing in St. Louis one Fourth of July morning and it occurred to me that I’d have a little fun with the club owner. During our batting period I got a dynamite bomb from a man in the grandstand, and then, when our side was out, I walked out to third and put it under the base where Chris couldn’t see it. I had also got a piece of punk, and, as though tying my shoelace, I lit the fuse of the bomb. Then I pulled down my cap, put my hands on my knees and while shouting, “Come on! Get in the game!” I watched it.
All of a sudden–boom!
I jumped three feet in the air and landed on my back, kicking and writhing.Then I rolled on my side and kept one eye cocked at von der Ahe. He always carried a bugle with him with which he summoned the special policemen when he needed them. When he saw me fall he put the bugle to his lips and tooted away for dear life. The specials came running from all parts of the stand and surrounded their employer. When he felt that he was safe and that no one could shoot him without first killing guard he got up and yelled,
“Who in blazes shoot Laydem?” Then he came down oin the field surrounded by his guard and looked at me.
Presently I jumped up, shook myself and looked old Chris in the eye.
“It’s all right, Chris,” I said; “It didn’t go in; it just stunned me.”
Just then a player with a pail of ice water came running up and threw it over me. At that the spectators and players began to roar, and I could see the light of understanding coming into Chris’ eyes.
“You chackass,” he yelled at last. “I fine you $50.”
Which he never got.
Up in the Air
But Kid Gleason pulled a better one than that on him–and nearly got away with it.The team had been going bad for a while and Chris began to look blue around the gills. He couldn’t understand it. He never could. He never could see why the breaks should go against his team.
He took us into a hotel and began to call us down. He hadn’t been talking long when all the players began to laugh. Chris couldn’t stand anyone laughing at him. He saw Gleason just closing his mouth.
“Vot are you laffing at Gleason?” he demanded.
“Oh,” said Gleason, “I was laughing at those three kids looking in the window.”
Chris became furious at this and ordered the shutters closed immediately.
“Dey can’t look in here, the little low-lifes,” he exploded.
We were on the ninth floor of the building!
Chris saw the joke next day, hunted up Gleason and fined him $50. Which also he never collected.
If he became thoroughly disgusted with the team’s work he’d threaten to fine or release the whole team outright. When he’d threaten us in that manner we’d all go to the nearest telegraph office and wire for jobs. Of course Chris would hear of this immediately and in a few minutes down he’d come with good nature oozing out of him, haul us all up to the hotel and buy us a good dinner with wine.
Another thing he hated was to lose a baseball. Every time a ball was fouled out of the grounds he’d almost break his neck trying to keep his eye on it. One day in St. Louis they were fouling them off as fast as the pitcher could shoot them across. Every foul that would sail up in the air Chris would watch until he almost fell out of his seat. And to make it worse for him I’d run up and yell:
“There goes another dollar and a quarter, Chris!”
Finally Chris couldn’t stand it any longer.
“You’re too fresh, Laydem!” he said, getting up and pointing at me. “You’ll pay for dem balls. I fine you a hundred dollars!”
Poor old von der Ahe is dead now, and, I hope, at rest. His good nature got him a host of friends and his eccentricities lost him all his money. He was a good old fellow, when all is said, and he treated his players like men. And, even if they did poke fun at him they liked him just the same.
From mid-afternoon until 9:56 pm, it was awesome.
More than 100 of us gathered in a room for a few hours, and we heard Scott and Mike hold forth for an hour and we heard JD answer a thousand questions for nearly an hour and a half and, in between, we watched this incredible video and raised $18,700 for Julie McGraw and her family.
$18,700.
The McGraw family grew by more than 100 yesterday. Julie and Gary leave for Northern California this week for a neuro-clinical program they were just accepted into, and they march on the shoulders of a much larger family.
The baseball game was awesome. Cole Hamels was good, not great, but he kept the bullpen down for seven innings and his teammates battled. They competed, they did the little things, they battled, and they won on a score rather than an out, and for those of us thinking #McGrawStrong on Monday, that was pretty fitting.
And awesome.
As Devin put it: Nice night for a walk.
This is the kind of morning when I’d typically talk about the 10/240 that Robinson Cano signed for the same winter as Shin-Soo Choo’s 7/130, and how one of them came up with a huge, possibly decisive play on defense late while the other had his wrong foot on the bag on the second bunt of the bottom of the ninth, a lazy play that was pretty decisive, too, and while I’m not about to suggest either one of them is anywhere near making his contract a non-issue (though it might surprise you which is out-OPS’ing the other this year), I know which one of them at least looked like he was playing with purpose all night.
He was on the team celebrating a sixth straight win, eighth straight at home, 13th of 18 overall.
But this isn’t that kind of morning for me. I won’t even dump 100 words on Sam Dyson’s groundout-groundout-groundout eighth.
I’m thinking more today about Dyson’s bullpenmate Keone Kela, and what he did off the field on Monday for the McGraw family seven hours earlier.
It was just awesome.
Awesome on an Adrian Beltre level, and that’s about the highest compliment I can pay in the space of just a couple dozen words.
A week ago the Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs post-season odds generators had Texas flagging low in the single digits as far as percentage chances go.
Today both have the Rangers in the 24-25 percent range.
Let’s go.
It was a great night, capping off a great day. A strong day.
Thank you.
Named after the former B.A.T. Chairman who introduced the Spring Training Fundraising Tour, the award is presented annually to the AL and NL teams whose players commit the most amount of resources to B.A.T. Bobby was a legend on and off the field. His compassion for others and strong will to do the right thing was exemplified as a member of the B.A.T. Board of Directors. His role in life was that of service and that is why he is the name sake of the Bobby Murcer award.
Tigers manager, Brad Ausmus accepted the 2015 Bobby Murcer Award on behalf of the Tigers for their contributions to the Baseball Assistance Team.
Click here to view the full presentation of the 2015 Bobby Murcer Award to the Detroit Tigers
To make a contribution, please visit baseballassistanceteam.com.