Well, I finally made my broadcast debut at the Triple-A level last night, despite having a couple of technical snafus early on during the internet broadcast.
I was busy preparing for the first broadcast and ordered room service. The restaurant at the hotel is called Doozie’s and it was more than a Doozie. The quality of the food was outstanding. I ordered buffalo wings and a bleu cheese and bacon hamburger. Room service was prompt and excellent as I was still preparing for the game.
I left the hotel and went to the ballpark via the hotel van. Principal Park, the home of the Iowa Cubs, is located east of the hotel and in the downtown area. I had a nice view of the ballpark. A double-deck stadium with 45 suites and a nice view of the State Capitol of Iowa way beyound the center field fence, albeit the view from my hotel room is a lot better.
As i got to the ballpark, I was seeking to find my way around. Like any new ballpark I enter for the first time, I always have a little bit of difficulty finding my way around, but people at the ballpark were very helpful. I finally made my way to the clubhouse to get the lineup. Already, I was getting good natured ribbing by a few of the guys. I just laughed it off and joked around a bit, too. I interviewed Don Money for my first interview (which I will eventually get on the Sounds’ website) and he talked a bit about a few of the players.
After my brief duties in the clubhouse, I made my way to the pressbox. I had to walk out of the clubhouse the same way one enters it. From the left field corner. I made sure that I kept my eye on the field in the event I had to duck out of the way of any batted balls so I don’t get nailed with them.
I set up my equipment and checked everything out. It seemed to run fine, until the start of the game which I will explain a bit later on. Deene Ehlis, the long tenured and talented broadcaster of the Iowa Cubs came into my booth and warmly greeted me. I did the same. We shook hands and went over the pronunciations and over tidbits that us broadcasters like and need to do. I met Deene’s partner, Randy as well. The notes and all of the media guides were accessible and they had a nice spread. Instead of lasagna (which was being served, but for some reason, I was never a lasagna fan), I opted for cold but tasty pasta with meat sauce. It was awesome.
Well, everything was squared away, but as Norris Hopper stepped into the batter’s box, I got an immediate call from my Sounds’ front office colleague, Jeff Young, who has done a masterful job in assisting me in putting together the internet procedures. Like I said, we checked things out early and everything went fine, but wouldn’t you know it, Jeff informed me that he was NOT picking up my signal. I thought to myself, “Aiy yay yay” but i stayed calm and I knew that I had to switch the cable from one connection to the alternate connection. While all this was happening, Hopper draws a walk to start the season and he scored later on when Trent Oeltjen doubled him home. Then Brenden Katin belted a long two run homer to make it 3-0. We were still having some snafus when this took place, but once we got everything restored, there were no troubles on the internet. Still, I had a few other issues. Sure enough, when I was playing my Don Money interivew, the batteries went dead on the recorder. I thought for a moment that someone from upstairs was playing tricks on me. Even my CD player to play the commercials had issues, until I was able to smooth everything down.
Anyway, for the rest of the night, we had no problems and I was able to broadcast the innings where the Sounds got single runs in the 2nd and third innings against Iowa Cubs’ lefthander, J.R. Mathes, who won 12 games for the team last year. However, he did not pitch like the 12-game winner from the year before in last night’s game. He did make a few mistakes early on and the Sounds made him pay, especially in that 3 run first inning.
Meanwhile, 6’8″ Kameron Loe started for the Sounds last night and the former Texas Ranger did a nice job despite issuing four walks in the game. He did have some trouble in the third inning when there were two runners in scoring position for Iowa and two men out when Cubs’ left fielder, Jim Adduci, hit a slow bouncer back to the mound. I figured easy out, right? WRONG! Unfortunately, Loe “babied” the play when he took too much time and tried to make too perfect of a throw to Joe Koshansky at first base and ended up throwing the ball away! Two runs scored and Iowa was on the board to make it 5-2, Sounds. Still, like being an established professional, Loe didn’t let the error bother him and he settled down to get the next batter when Catcher Chris Robinson bounced out to first.
Iowa would get to Loe for another run in the 7th inning to cut the Sounds’ lead to 5-3. At that point, Loe was maximizing his pitch count as he was supposed to throw 85 pitches in the opener. He did start to tire, but left handed reliever Zach Braddock came in and showed why the Brewers think highly of him. Here is a 22 year old lefty in Triple-A ball and what does he do? He was able to strike out pinch batter, Bryan LaHair went two runners in scoring position and none out in the 8th. He did allow Center Fielder Sam Fuld to knock in a run with a sac fly to drive in the third Cubs run. The next batter, Second Baseman, Darwin Barney lined out to right to end the inning. Braddock showed his prowess when he struck out the side in the eighth inning.
Sounds right fielder Brendan Katin displayed why he will be important to the Sounds again this year. He had hit a long two run homer over the left field wall in the first, but Katin went deep again in the eighth when he hit a mammoth homer over the left center field wall for a big insurance run to make it 6-3, Nashville.
Sounds’ reliever Chris Smith picked up his first save of the season to help Kameron Loe get his first win and fanned two batters in the ninth inning despite giving up a walk. Loe also helped his own cause with two hits in the game, including a bunt single. He could have had his first RBI of the year had it not been for Sam Fuld’s great throw to the plate when he nailed Sounds’ Catcher Angel Salome, who tried to score from seoond base on Loe’s single to center in the third.
A crowd of 6,034 witnessed the game and despite their disappointment, they seemed to enjoy themselves. So did I and of course, so did the Sounds team since they got the result that they as well as every sports team looks for in a contest and that is a win.
Well, tonight, we will see former Indian farmhand Chuck Lofgren make his Sounds’ seasonal debut and a very promising lefthander indeed. Ted Lilly was supposed to start on a rehab assignment tonight, but he was pushed back to Saturday’s contest in favor of right hander Jay Jackson. Tonight’s webcast will start at 6:20PM with the Sam’s Sports Bar & Grill report and then the play-by-play, which will follow. I’m sure that things will be a lot smoother, technical-wise tonight. Until then, have a great day and thanks for tuning in to the first webcast last night!
- Posted on April 9, 2010 at 10:34 am
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