We're back

Sorry about that. The new LADT has had so many visits and comments that we exceeded our monthly plan, and the damn machines turned it off. So we upped the usage plan, and it's back on. Sorry for the inconvenience. Jeff has a MiLB Report done, which he will hopefully post after this.

Rants & Raves

• I must have really pissed Mookie Betts off. You are done, Mookie! You are a Bum! There....

• Hunter Feduccia!

• Of course, Shohei!!!

• Landon "Freaking" Knack! Who knew! I said he might play a role this year... if just for one night. He once was highly rated... You never know when it all clicks.

• Matt Lauer continues to earn his keep.

• Sorry about Seth Halverson - we'll see him back soon!

• Bring on the Stinking Brewers...

  

OKC Comets 6 – Albuquerque Isotopes (Colorado) 0

RHSP Emmet Sheehan made his first meaningful start since being optioned.  He went 5.2 shutout innings, throwing 97 pitches (64 strikes).  He allowed 3 hits, 2 BB, and 8 K.  Sheehan was followed by RHRP Jerming Rosario, RHRP Ben Casparius, and RHRP Nick Robertson completed the combined shutout.  

OKC scored a run in the 1st, RF Zach Ehrhard got a 1 out single.  He stole his 20th base and scored when 1B James Tibbs III singled. 

In the 2nd, DH Ryan Fitzgerald doubled (26) and moved 3rd on a WP.  C Griffin Lockwood-Powell doubled home Fitzgerald for a 2-0 lead. 

OKC scored their 3rd run in the 3rd. LF Ryan Ward singled and moved to 3rd on JTIII’s single.  Ward scored on a groundout. 

Still leading 3-0 going into the bottom of the 8th, SS Alex Freeland and Ehrhard drew walks.  Ward followed with a 3-run HR (15). 

·      Zach Ehrhard – 2-4, 1 BB, 2 runs

·      Ryan Ward – 2-4, 1 BB, 2 runs, 3 RBI, HR (15)

·      James Tibbs III – 2-5, 1 RBI

·      Alek Thomas – 2-4, 1 BB

·      Griffin Lockwood-Powell – 1-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI, double (8)

·      Doubles – Ryan Fitzgerald (26), Miller (16)

Box Score 

Tulsa Drillers 9 – Arkansas Travelers (Seattle) 8 

LHSP Adam Serwinowski started for the Drillers.  He allowed a leadoff HR in the 2nd inning. 

Tulsa took the lead in the 3rd inning.  2B Taylor Young hit a one out single and scored when LF Josue De Paula doubled (31).  With 2 outs, DH Jake Gelof slugged a 2-run HR (23). 

Arkansas tied it up in the 5th.  Serwinowski allowed a leadoff single.  The runner moved to 2nd on a disengagement violation and scored on a single.  Serwinowski struck out the next two batters, but a SB, PB, and double tied the score.  LHRP Evan Shaw was brought in to replace Serwinowski who got the final out. 

Tulsa took the lead in the 5th.  JDP was issued a one out BB.  CF Mike Sirota singled with JDP to 2nd.  After a 2nd out, SS Elijah Hainline doubled home JDP with Sirota moving to 3rd.  3B Logan Wagner singled home Sirota with Hainline to 3rd.  RF Kole Myers tripled (2) home both runners, and a Tulsa 4 run lead. 

The lead was short-lived as Shaw and LHRP Christian Suarez gave up 5 in the 6th, including a grand slam hit off Suarez. 

Tulsa tied it up in the 6th.  Young hit a one out single.  He stole 2nd and continued to 3rd on a catcher throwing error.  Young scored the tying on Sirota’s RBI single. 

Tulsa took the lead in the 7th.  Gelof walked and moved to 2nd on a groundout.  Wagner hit the go-ahead RBI single.  

RHRP Cam Day pitched a scoreless 2.0 innings for his 6th save. 

·      Taylor Young – 3-5, 2 runs

·      Mike Sirota – 2-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI

·      Logan Wagner – 2-4, 1 run, 2 RBI

·      Kole Myers – 2-3, 1 BB, 2 RBI, double (5), triple (2)

·      Jake Gelof – 1-3, 1 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (23)

·      Doubles – Josue De Paula (31) and Elijah Hainline (14) 

Box Score 

Great Lakes Loons 11 – South Bend Cubs 3 

The Loons jumped out to the early lead in the 1st.  DH Charles Davalan singled, CF Eduardo Quintero walked, and 2B Nico Perez singled with one out to load the bases.  After the 2nd out, 1B Eduardo Guerrero hit a bases clearing single.

 RHSP Jacob Frost pitched 3.0 scoreless innings.  But in the 4th, he allowed 2 runs after a double, BB, 2 HBP, and a SF. 

Great Lakes got the two back in the bottom of the 4th.  3B Mairo Martinus led off with a single.  Moved to 2nd on a WP.  Davalan walked.  Both runners scored on Quintero’s double (23). 

GL broke it open in the 6th.  Catcher Victor Rodrigues singled and Davalan walked.  Quintero singled to load the bases.  SS Emil Morales had a RBI single with the other runners moving up 90’.  Perez tripled (5) home 3.  RF Jaron Elkins walked and Guerrero tripled (2) both runners home. 

In the 8th inning, RHRP Reynaldo Yean allowed a run after 2 BB, catcher’s interference, and run-scoring HBP. 

·      Eduardo Quintero – 2-2, 2 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, double (23)

·      Emil Morales – 1-2, 3 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI

·      Nico Perez – 2-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI, triple (5)

·      Eduardo Guerrero – 2-5, 4 RBI, triple (2)

Box Score

Ontario Tower Buzzers 5 – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 1 

Ontario scored in the 4th.  With one out, LF Ching-Hsien Ko was HBP.  With 2 outs, 2B Javier Herrera singled with Ko to 3rd.  C Bryan Gonzalez Garcia singled to score Ko for a 1-0 lead.  Ontario took a 2-0 lead when RF Abel Lorenzo had an RBI single to score Herrera. 

RHSP Luis Carias pitched 3.0 scoreless innings.  In the 4th inning, he gave up lead off back-to-back doubles.  RHRP Angel Cruz was brought in for relief of Carias and got the side retired without any further runs. 

The score stayed 2-1 into the 9th.  Lorenzo singled.  He stole 2nd and continued to 3rd on catcher’s throwing error.  DH Caleb Johnson walked.  SS Kellon Lindsey doubled (6) to score Lorenzo with Johnson to 3rd.  Johnson scored on a WP with Lindsey to 3rd.  Lindsey scored on a groundout to finish the scoring. 

RHRP Luis Gamez was the bulk pitcher with 4.0 scoreless frames.  He allowed 2 hits, 1 BB, with 6 K. 

·      Abel Lorenzo – 3-4, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (2)

·      Kellon Lindsey – 2-4, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (6)

·      Ching-Hsien Ko – 2-4, 1 run 

Box Score

 Teaser to the book: the mountainmover

 The book is due out in September or October. Here's a teaser...

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A BAD DAY?

Have you ever had a bad day?

I have.

Mine lasted almost ten years.

It began the day I was framed for a heinous crime I did not commit, convicted, and sentenced to forty years in prison.

Forty years.

There are moments in life when everything changes in an instant. One minute, you recognize your life. The next, it is gone. Your freedom, your reputation, your family, your plans for the future, even your identity can suddenly seem to belong to somebody else.

I wish I could tell you that I discovered some magic formula for surviving what happened to me. I wish there were a secret I could hand you, a magic wand to wave, or a silver bullet that could make pain, injustice, fear, and despair disappear.

There isn't.

But I discovered something far more powerful.

There are truths that do not change, and when you finally understand them, they have the power to change you.

It starts with your thinking.

And changing your thinking begins with changing your focus.

When you focus entirely on the problem, the problem begins to consume you. You replay it. You analyze it. You argue with it in your mind. You wake up thinking about it and go to sleep thinking about it. Eventually, it becomes so enormous that it blocks out everything else.

You begin to see yourself only as a victim.

And once you accept yourself as a victim, you begin to accept the life of one.

You become like a dog chasing its own tail, running furiously but going nowhere.

At some point, you have to break the cycle.

You have to stop staring at the problem and begin searching for the solution.

That does not mean pretending the problem does not exist. It does not mean denying the pain. It means refusing to allow what happened to you to determine what happens next.

There is a profound difference.

In many ways, my story reminds me of the Biblical story of Job, one of the most extraordinary examinations of suffering, faith, perseverance, and the limits of human understanding ever written.

Job lost virtually everything.

His wealth.

His family.

His health.

His standing.

His sense of security.

He was stripped down to almost nothing and forced to confront questions that human beings have wrestled with for thousands of years:

Why did this happen?

Why me?

Where is God when everything is falling apart?

And how do you continue when there appears to be no reason to continue?

Job is a story of devastating loss and suffering, but it does not end there. It is ultimately a story of endurance, faith, redemption, and restoration.

So is mine.

This book is about losing everything.

It is about injustice.

It is about despair.

It is about sitting alone when the world seems to have forgotten you.

But more importantly, it is about what comes next.

It is about redemption.

Restoration.

Work.

Faith.

And the realization that sometimes the only way out is through.

You cannot change what happened yesterday.

You cannot rewrite history.

You cannot crawl backward through time and make the injury disappear, resurrect what was lost, unsay the words, undo the betrayal, or prevent the injustice.

What happened, happened.

But you can change your response to it.

And by changing your response, you can change what happens next.

That realization changed my life.

If something has already been taken from you, why surrender today to it as well?

If yesterday has already caused you pain, why allow it to steal tomorrow?

For five years, I sat in prison waiting for the legal system to act.

I waited for someone to recognize the injustice.

I waited for an attorney to uncover the truth.

I waited for elected officials to do the right thing.

I waited for the system to correct itself.

I waited for a miracle.

Day after day.

Month after month.

Year after year.

And the miracle never came.

At least, not in the form I expected.

Eventually, I came to a terrifying realization:

No one was coming to save me.

If I was ever going to walk out of that prison, I was going to have to become an active participant in my own rescue.

I believed the system that convicted me had been corrupted by politics, power, and people determined to protect themselves. I also came to believe that no attorney was going to attack those officials with the ferocity that was required. For an attorney working within that same political and legal structure, doing so could be career suicide.

So I made a decision.

I would do it myself.

From inside a prison cell, I would investigate the people who put me there.

I would uncover the contradictions.

I would expose what had happened.

I would learn the law.

I would find the evidence.

I would keep digging when everyone else told me there was nothing left to find.

For the first time, I stopped waiting for someone else to move the mountain.

I finally understood that the mountain was mine.

And it was enormous.

Forty years enormous.

The legal system was the mountain.

The political establishment was the mountain.

My conviction was the mountain.

My fear was the mountain.

My anger was the mountain.

Even my own thinking had become part of the mountain.

But every mountain, no matter how enormous, is made of smaller stones.

And stones can be moved.

One at a time.

That became my mission.

I was in the fight of my life, and there were no guarantees that I would win. But before I could ever move that mountain, I had to accept two things.

First, there was a mountain standing between me and freedom.

Second, I was going to have to move it.

And then came the most important realization of all:

You will never move a mountain you have already decided cannot be moved.

Faith begins before the evidence appears.

Victory begins before the battle is won.

Freedom begins in the mind long before the prison door opens.

You have to see something that does not yet exist.

You have to believe in the possibility before you can create the reality.

Because when you can see the invisible, sometimes you can do what everyone else believes is impossible.

No mountain can be moved until you first KNOW that mountains can be moved.