A Lot of Damage, A Lot of Hope

The drive from the airport in New Orleans to the hotel on Magazine Street takes about 30 minutes. You get to see a lot of the damage that Hurrican Katrina caused just in that drive. You drive by the Superdome and the same image of the Dome with the skin of the dome ripped off is still evident. So is a large banner that reads, "Will re-open 9-24-06, GO SAINTS!" If you look off to the sides of the highway you also see some of the neighborhoods affected by the hurricane. What you see is a sea of blue plastic tarps. Those tarps cover roofs damaged, destroyed, vaporized by the hurricane. When you arrive at the hotel on Magazine Street you see even more damage, caused, not by the storm, but caused by looters. At one intersection in the French Quarter there are many businesses still open, still doing business. But in that same intersection are three stores; FootAction USA, and two Foot Locker outlets. These shoe stores are boarded up because looters broke in and stole the inventory. The sidewalk is made of pieces of slate and many of those slates are now gone. Outside the hotel are two street lamps. One is missing one of the lamps, the other is lying on the sidewalk, the entire thing snapped at the base and still lying on the sidewalk. Everyday life is a lot harder. I spoke with a freing in New Orleans who stayed and she said, and I quote,"If you live in New Orleans, you drink." She also told me that just going to a grocery store to get milk and bread can be a two hour ordeal. Imagine going to the local Krogers and finding out that they had NO milk and bread. Them picture the Harris Teeter and the Publix in your neighborhood in the same fix.

That's the bad news. The good news is that there is a lot of work being done. Construction (or, re-construction) is everywhere with orange barricades and highway cones and yellow tape marking the area where repairs are taking place. The people, and there are fewer of them than there were a year ago, were pretty hopped up when I was there. It was not because they were happy top see me, but rather they were happy about recent events. During our first game word leaked out that the Houston Texans had inked a deal with Mario Williams for the number one pick in the NFL draft, thus ensuring their place as the biggest chumps in the NFL. This meant that the Saints would get Reggie Bush from USC, the best player in the draft, bar none. Apparently the Texans felt that they would be okay with Domanick Davis, which is like telling somebody that you'll pass on the Maserati because you already have a Chevy Impala. Maybe they figured Mario Williams would be the safer pick because that way, with Williams on defense, the Texans pathetic offensive line would not get him killed. Needless to say the city of New Orleans is printing up Reggie Bush jerseys ASAP.

The other good news for the Big Easy was Jazzfest. Jazzfest started the day after we arrived and was a huge success despite some wet weather and the fact that Little Feat was one of the acts. Attendance was great and gave a lot of hope to the city that it will recover its place as the city where everyone gets drunk, throws beads, and flashes complete strangers.

As for the Sounds (you think I forgot this was a baseball blog?) they did not do much to improve the cities mood as they swept four straight from the New Orleans Zephyrs. Its hard to find a fault in the way the Sounds played. They were outstanding defensively, the pitching was superb, even Dennis Sarfate, who struggled with his command, kept the damage to a minimum, and the offense was, well...............Johnny Knoxville on a dare. The Sounds are team built for speed and they were playing in a ballpark (Zephyr Field) rated as the best pitchers park in all of AAA year after year. So, of course the Sounds hit eight home runs in four games, including four in the final game. Nelson Cruz hit a shot the opposite way that landed halfway to Lake Pontchartrain and Corey Hart hit a home run to left field that gave the pitcher whiplash. You know you've hit the ball hard when the leftfielder only drops his head and never moves his feet at the crack of the bat.

I think the most encouraging part was the bullpen. Allan Simpson, who had struggled early on, saved two games on the trip and Mike Meyers curveball is still going to make somebody cry one of these days. Knuckleballer Jared Fernandez joined the club shortly before the trip and some of his pitches were ghastly in their movement. The Oklahoma Redhawks at times looked like angry men swinging at bees. The Sounds finished the trip 6-1 with one game suspended by weather and tied for the best record in the PCL and their best April record since the Sounds joined the PCL in 1998. The philosophy that manager Frank Kremblas has instilled in this club of putting pressure on the other team with aggressive baserunning and shifting defenses is paying off. I spoke with Breent Abernathy and Jermaine Clark on the way to the ballpark one day and they helped explain how Frank's philosophy is paying off. At the beinning of the year the Sounds were running all over other teams and scoring runs by forcing errors from their opponents. Now the Sounds are not as successfuol stealing bases because other teams are starting to spend extra time holding runners and calling for pitches that help the catcher throw out base stealers like fastballs, and fastballs away.. Of course when you spend so much time worrying about the runners, you can't spend as much time worrying about the guy at the plate. Sounds hitters are seeing more fastballs because that is what the catcher is calling for so he can get a throw off quicker to try and nab baserunners. Sounds hitters, ALL hitters, love fastballs. So instead of running all over the opposition, the Sounds are pounding fastballs over the wall and getting good counts to hit in because the other team is calling for pitch outs. Eventually the other team will make an adjustment and start throwing more pitches that concentrate on the hitters and the Sounds will start running again.

Thats all for now. I'll try and write more later. And a quick P.S. If anyone knows where the good fishing is around Nashville, post it here. A couple of the Sounds are trying to waste a good day in a boat.

As always please email your questions to

chuck@nashvillesounds.com

Thanks Jilly!

Good to be back home (Written as I pack for another road trip)

Former Pirates and Cardinals outfielder Andy Van Slyke was once asked what the difference between playing at home and playing on the road. His response? "At home if I wander down to the kitchen in my underwear to get a cup of coffee, they don't call security."

Minor league life is a life of extremes. You get to be a part of a baseball game almost everyday. You are doing what you love for a living. You get to see different cities and meet people from all over the country. You get to hear funny accents. On the downside most players are paying a mortgage AND a rent. The flights leave at 6:30 AM in most cases, which can mean that you get back to the hotel at 12 midnight after the final game of the series and have to get up at 3:00 AM to catch a 4:30 AM shuttle to catch a 6:30 AM flight that has a two hour layover in Dallas and finally lands in Nashville at 3:00 PM allowing you to get your luggage at 3:45 PM and get home at 4:15 PM and drop your bags off so you can head to the ballpark for a 5:00 PM stretch before a 7:00 PM game. This is why minor league ballplayers (and broadcasters) have become experts at sleeping. Anywhere. On the plane, in the airport, on the shuttle to the hotel, on the clubhouse floor, anywhere. But ask any ballplayer or broadcaster if they would trade with you and you'll get a big fat no. As Willie Stargell once said, "I ain't complaining. I ASKED for this job."

The travel is a lot easier when the team is winning. Nobody wants to fly 5,000 miles roundtrip to get stomped like Luxemborg or (shudder) the Kansas City Royals. Last year a Sounds win was not uncommon. After all they did win the whole enchilada. So far this season it has not been too bad. The Sounds came home at 3-5 after splitting the series with Iowa and the guys got to play behind Ben Sheets, who not only is an incredible pitcher, but an incredible teammate. Some players are intense on game day like Roger Clemens. Others, like Sheets, are pretty loose. Someday soon Ben Sheets is going to take the mound with a flower on his lapel and when the umpire goes to the mound to tell Sheets to take it off, he'll squirt the ump with water. He keeps the players loose behind him and it seems that his teammates have an extra spring in their step whenever he takes the hill.

Coming back from Iowa the Sounds made thir return to Greer a memorable one, sweeping the Oklahoma Redhawks. They even treated the fans to a little extra excitement when Nelson Cruz put on a show with a two-run, walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth. It showed the type of potential Cruz has as he stayed with two straight Scott Feldman pitches down and away. His first line drive went foul down the right field line by five feet. The next time Feldman threw the same pitch Cruz hit a line drive fair over the wall. The team and the fans and I went crazy.


One part of the game that has been exciting to watch has been the defense, anchored up the middle by Chris Barnwell and Jermaine Clark. Last season when Barnwell was promoted from AA Huntsville he seemed like a scrappy player who hustled and got the most out of his ability. This season Barnwell is a leader. He is doing all the things you need to do to win games. Hitting to all fields, running the bases, getting the runner home from third with less than two outs. He has even made an appearance on the mound for Nashville.......That didn't go so well. Defensively Chris looks comfortable and confident. And he looks like Harry Potter, a FACT I constantly reminded him of last year. Vinny Rottino deservedly got a lot of attention in spring training. Barnwell deserves some as well. Before he gets sent off to Hogwarts Magic School or something.

That will wrap up this blog. The laundry is almost done, I've picked up the dry cleaning and my neighbor has agreed to watch my dog for the next nine days while I am on the road **NOTE: For those of you thinking of robbing my place while I am gone my dog is a mixed breed Rottweiler, Pit Bull and Raiders Fan so don't try it.

If you have any questions you want to ask, feel free to email me at chuck@nashvillesounds.com. As soon as I figure out how to make that a link to email me instead of crashing my hard drive I will.

Hello from Omaha

One of the most revered rules in baseball is posted in every clubhouse in professional baseball. It is the rule banning gambling. Players have lifetime bans over this sort of thing. One player, whose name rhymes with 'Beat Nose', is still under the effects of the ban. Gambling is the biggest taboo in professional baseball.

So, of course, I'm writing this blog from the Holiday Inn/Ameristar Resort and Riverboat Casino where the team is staying. Remember, no gambling allowed!

Opening Night has come and been washed away. Heavy rains in the Omaha area, the same weather system that would cause so much destruction around Nashville on Friday caused the postponement of the season opener. The Sounds defense of their PCL title would have to wait.

Friday was not much better. It had stopped raining but the temperature dropped into the 30's. The Sounds showed some positives in their first game of 06', especially Ben Hendrickson who threw five innings of no-hit ball and pitched out of a couple of jams early on. Unfortunately the Royals scored five unearned runs in the eighth to get the win. The night took a definite turn for the worst after the game. I wandered over to the hotel/casino sports bar to get something to eat and found the place packed. Apparently a local band was performing and they usually brought in a good crowd. This was a great crowd. This was the type of crowd every band in Nashville wishes they could draw! Too bad the band in no way DESERVED a crowd this big. It's hard to appreciate the music scene in Nashville until you see a band like The Rumbles mangle every rock and roll standard there is. I guess you have to have a real sadistic band bent to jump from Cheap Trick to the Bee Gees to Green Day. They also rapped. I have no idea what they rapped, but I'm pretty sure they screwed it up. The worst part about The Rumbles was that they were not even really playing! I found out from some of the employees that they use a CD track for the music because you apparently have to concentrate really hard to screw up all those INXS tunes. They were a lip synching cover band. It boggles the mind. Most everything they did on stage was puzzling. Instead of the lead singer or the lead guitarist jumping into the crowd to show off, the bass player started moving through the crowd playing, well, psuedo playing and showing off. Unless your Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, bass players are pretty boring. There is an old joke that asks how you get a bass player off your doorstep. The answer? Pay him for the pizza. If any Nashville band ever wanted to be a big fish in a small musical pond head ut to Council Bluffs, IA. You'll own the place in a week.

Some good news. The Sounds recently signed a deal with WNSR Sports Radio 560. Though we have not done a full game yet on 560, so far everything is working great and the board ops are just as good as I remembered. More good news. I read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel online and they say that Ben Sheets will make a rehab start in Iowa vs. the Cubs. I feel bad that he won't pitch in Nashville. There has not been a huge star playing for the Sounds since Jason Scmidt made a rehab start, and that was before he became a Cy Young candidate. It will still be nice to watch Sheet's pitch as he has oustanding ability and is rumoured to be quite a fun character as well.

As always you can email at chuck@nashvillesounds.com. I'll try and answer as soon as my ears stop bleeding.