Wanted to know how many people follow the hagerstown suns, hoping to find some fans.

The Suns are the best thing about Hagerstown.

I'm going to try to make it to atleast a few games this spring/summer.

Maybe when Moms has time, she can give us her updates on the team this season. I loved her reports last year!

I am a fan, complete with a "it's fun to be a fan" t-shirt!

Great game last night Suns won in the bottom of the ninth. The hero of the game Ventura, 3rd basmen was 0 for 4 that night with 4 strikeouts before he got his one hit of the night. How ironic.


Player of game

MArtinez 3/4 with and a RBI and a stolen base The kid is spectacular.



Pitching

Pretty good I strter worked his way out of a few jams nicly

News
Another Sun was busted for the Juicing.

Hope you like the updates!!!!

who was busted for juicing????

REyes, another pitcher he was a low draft chioce so I guess he needed the help

Talk to me after May 20th. I've only made it to 2 games so far. I'm so far out of the loop. We don't even have a host player this year...a lot of peeps offered their homes combined with a lot of foreign players equals no baseball roomie in our house . I will go into full swing after graduation, I promise!

Glad to see you. I've been waiting for you and your hubbies updates. I was wondering who you guys were hosting this year. I figured the phenom might be staying with you
glad your back and can't wait to hear your take on the team

No, the 17 year old with $1.4 mil in his pocket probably has better digs than a guest room in a local's house!

Early opinions: Love Butera as catcher. Not only does he call a good game behind the plate, but he also seems to be decent at bat. Nick Evans may be this year's Mike Carp...1st baseman even! Yes, 17 year old is amazing...the boy's got wheels in the outfield and on the base paths! Let's hope he can live up to the hype, unlike Concepcion last year. Pitching is the weak point again this year. Middle relief and closers are really struggling. Glad, in a way, to see Marcelo Perez come back to fill the closer position. I'm sure he's not happy about still being in Hagy though. Haven't seen him yet to talk to get his opinion, but his english is bad and my spanish is worse, so it might not be much of a conversation anyway!

All right, gotta go write a 10 page paper for class. It's due Wednesday and I don't even know what it's going to be about yet. Help!

Great report mom.

Butera is awesome, extremely hard to run he save 2 runs last night with his arm.

Martinez is very good, 17 but is he really, I read a report that most those domicans lie about their age, anyhow he is the most consistant on the team.


Aguilar, all around great pitcher

Ventura, man never saw someone strike out as much as him.

Castro, make great plays and makes stupid errors he will get better as time goes by.

Crew, did you see that homer last night it still hasn't landed

I have made everygame at home this year and this is what I have notices.

The suns coaches don't seem to be playing the game to win but rather playing the game to give everyone work. The last two games where lost by only one run.

The suns continue to change relief pitchers reguarfdless of their ERA, Other teams like the Captain last night, have a definate closer and don't parade in pitchers with ERA's of over 10 when the game is on the line. The suns have talent and could win those games most likely if they didn't want to give everyone work.

I guess its just how it is done in the minor leagues. I always figured if you lose by 1 or 2 runs every night its bad coaching, if you lose by 5 or 6 runs every night its bad players. From what I have seen from the suns its not the players, and I don't know if the coach's hands are strapped by the way he calls the game.

What was up in the bottom of eigth yesterday 2 outs tying run on third and coach calls a sqeeze play, you do that with 1 out or zero outs, you don't take yourself out of the inning by doing that crap with 2 outs when the game is on the line.

A couple of years ago, I was talking to someone higher up in the organization about a player that they had cut and replaced with someone that wasn't as good. The explanation given to me was that their job is to evaluate players and find out who has the ability to move up and who does not. The player that they cut was, at the time, a better position player and hitter than the other guy, but they felt he was at his peak whereas the other guy, they felt, had a lot more potential in the long run.

So, apparently, winning is nice, but they may not always play to win.

Phluux is pretty much correct. The other aspect you have to take into consideration is $$. If you have given a million dollar contract to a guy, he will be playing pretty much every night because he will be proving his worth if he plays well or he will be working out the kinks so he can move up if he is playing poorly.

An example situation of this would be the Giants team two years ago. The primary catcher was out for a couple of months on the DL, so Brian Munhall became the main catcher. He was calling a great game, throwing out runners, and was on a hot hitting streak, but when the other guy came off the DL, he went right behind the plate and Brian sat in the dugout and the bullpen. Even though the other guy was performing poorly, he had a bigger contract, so he played. Money talks, my friend. Minor league baseball is about money and front office politics, and the game be damned.

Another example would be Ambiorix Concepcion last year. He's worth a mil or so, but he never really came around at the plate. However, he played almost every game, even when others were hitting better but sitting on the bench.

Just food for thought when making critiques of the coaching methods!

Pretty much figured that one out. Anyhow a sqeeze play with the tying run on third and 2 out in the 8th is a stupid call. IT has nothing to do with playing guys or evaluating players.

I also want to thank the kid who gave the ball to my daughter last night. Most adults who get foul balls are pretty classy and give them to kids. I would of bought him hot dog or something but it Feed your Face Monday.


By the way the promotion dept is doing a great job, I do worry about the attendance isssue though, they better get some more fans out there.

With the Keys around (in a much nicer stadium), the Suns not being affiliated with the Orioles anymore, and Municipal Stadium being the oldest stadium in minor league baseball, this does not surprise me one bit. If I remember correctly, when the Orioles dropped the Suns attendance dropped sharply and people stopped caring about them. They can't even give all of their tickets away.

They probably make money from the Chili Cookoff (~$17,000 from the first one, not sure about last year) than they do in ticket sales all season long.

Attendence is always sketchy at the beginning of the season. The weather is too unpredictable and no one wants to watch a game in the cold and/or rain. Not to mention school and all the activites that are going on at this time. Once school lets out, and all the recitals and soccer seasons are done, attendence will pick up.

I have no idea how much the team makes off of ticket sales, so I won't even touch that topic.

I would almost guess that there will be more refurbishments to the stadium over time, hence the new plaza, which is very nice, btw. JMHO, though.

Did any of ya go to the education day game this morning? I listened to the end of it. Grand slam in the bottom of the 9th by Evans to tie it! I think someone singled Ventura in for the win (sorry, was working on my term paper...otherwise I would have been in the stands on such a beautiful day!!!).

My DD went to that. We have actually attended games in the past. Just not had time this year. Every time I have turned around this year someone has been sick, had to work..you name it...but I do like the team. Even if they lose alot.

Anyone go to the game on Friday? Caccatori should be ashamed of himself. Top of the 9th the other team tee-s off on one of our pitcher for something like 7 runs in that inning. The game is lost and the kid clearly doesn' have it that night, but the coach never brings in a relief pitcher because he knows the game is lost and doesn't want to use the bulpen.

So this poor kid is left out there getting creamed and people yelling at him. The coach showed no mercy, just let them tee off on him all ining until they scored 8 runs.

I love suns baseball and support them by attending almost all games, but the coaching this year has been suspect, I know they have directives bythe big club but I am sure one them isn't to totally embarass a young pitcher just because you don't want to use your bullpen. I ahve never seen a coach give up on a team like that.

Just my humble opinion, but more than likely, the entire bullpen is shot at this point. Pitching has been inconsistent all season, and the pen has been used a lot. Best guess is that Frank let the pitcher go because it was better to suck up one game that was pretty much done for so that the rest of the pitching staff could get an extra day of rest on their arms. After the brutal roadtrips all month, the offense isn't producing either, and the whole thing sucks. Everybody's tired. Hopefully the play will improve with all the homestands now that warm weather is here and the guys get to sleep in their own beds instead of a bus for a change.

Can't wait to get to the stadium for a few games. Missing the place dearly with the schedule we keep. Little one sings the anthem on the 14th, so I know I will be there that night!

All right am I right or wrong?

I was at the game on cub scout night, I was sittting down with a friend and his wife and a couple of cub scouts where throwning sunflower seeds at our back, it was all in good fun so I threw a peanut back at them.
The father came down and said don't mess with with anyones kids and tried to be hard.

Was he doing this to be tough in front of his kids? I don't know I told him to get a life and stood up and then he sat back down.

You can't even tease anymore with a kid when they where in the wrong. Some parents are blind to the truth that there kid might actually be wrong.

For as much as I like to pester the little snots right back, it's usually better to just ask them to politely stop. If that doesn't work, then talk to the parents, and as a last resort, find a staff member to intervene. Unfortunately, you never know what kind of temperment people have these, so it's wiser to go the safe (but not as fun) route!

Hubby and I have detected a pattern in the Suns wins and losses. Two years ago, they were last in the division both halves. Then last season they were first in the first half and last in the second half. This year they are last in the first half, which would naturally lead one to believe they should be first in the second half, right? Last Last First Last Last (First).

Still haven't made it to many games, but will be there Thursday since little one is singing. Things are finally beginning to get sane around here, so maybe we'll take up residence on the first base side again soon!