Congrats Angel Chavez!! Former 'Gator

called up the other day and made his MLBB debut with the Giants yesterday. Another Nav in the bigs!
Mis Fan notes: Navs won yesterday (no rainout). I'll be going Thurs, Friday this week (last two vouchers) and markdown Monday (last game already!) Navs have a new asst. GM who was running the CatFish of the Sally League. Good to see changes in the front office that will hopefully help. Will the name change be revealed Thursday (Sept. 1)?

It's raining....

as I post this. Got to work tonite so I'm rooting for a washout and a double dip Wed/Tues.

The week that was...

since I last posted. My new work assignment has kicked into overdrive and I haven't posted new entries. The Navs split in New Hampshire two games each and have lost the first two games to the RockCats in New Britain. They are in 5th place and forget about the post season. The final homestand is coming up and it looks like I'll be at about four games.
Misc. Fan notes: Congrats to Matt Cain's callup to the Giants and Orty being named to the EL post season All-Star team. I wonder if they will do anything special with the sub base staying open?

12-3-6-2 = 8-3 Navs win....

the 12-3-6-2 line is the combined box score results for all three of the Navigators catchers in today's game. Curry caught, Alfonzo was DH and the immortal one Steve Holm played third! Pat throws a complete game totally in a groove after the third inning. Navs rally from 3-0 with a 7 run inning totally helped along by three errors and they end up with a 3 game sweep of the SeaWolves. Small crowd, hot weather.
Misc Fan notes: they seem to be making promos up on the fly now. Today was a "win-win" game i.e. if the Gators won everyone wins a free ticket to the next home game. Hopefully I can take advantage of that one. The game after that is unused ticket game; another "in-house" promo. Good to see them pushing. The name change contest seems to be off the website now. Merk is on the DL. Got Orty's and the immortal's one's auto's today.

Navs slam SeaWolves 11-1...

tonight at Dodd. Plenty of stars in this game. Brian Mazone with another great outing allowing one run in 7 innings, Carlos goes 4-5, and Alfonzo hits a grand slam for the final 4 runs and ends the night with 5 rbi's to name a few. Threets and Chassion return from the DL and each pitch a scoreless inning.
Misc Fan notes: Small crowd but really into the game. Beach balls going most the the game. I have two vouchers left so my fear of unused tickets is gone.

Chris Beggs hurls a gem....

retiring 16 in a row tonight as the Navs beat the Erie SeaWolves 2-1. Chris out outdueled former 2002 Norwich Navigator (Yankees) Matt Beech who was equally sharp as well. Brad V.'s bloop single was the difference as the Navs snap a 4 game losing steak.
Misc Fan notes: Nice weather + Friday night Fireworks = a good sized crowd of 5500. I saw the crowd do the wave for the first time this year. A group of about 30 SeaWolves Booster club members were on hand behind the visiting dugout. Gators had a fan/booster club the first couple of years and then it seem to die out. And on a personal note with the Wolves at Dodd for their only visit of the season I've seen all of the EL teams this year. Despite all the games I see, work/family takes me away from seeing a Southern Division team some seasons.

Don King Nite at Dodd....

as the first 1000 fans got Don King wigs and the great man himself was in attendance along with Navs owner and fellow boxing promoter Lou DiBella. OK crowd but under 3000. Brian Burres pitched great but New Hampshire pitched better. FisherCats sweep the Navs four straight and stick a in fork in them but Sept.playoff baseball is not in my future this year. Navs manager Dave Mac got tossed last night in Game 2 of the DH and it's about time the frustration finally got to him. Tyler Von Schell got called out on a close play at first tonight and screamed "WRONG!" into the ump's ear which was about two inches away. He didn't get tossed but was really looking for it as a chance to vent. You could just see it especially after last night where he was on the south side of a couple of close calls.
Misc fan fans: Matt Palmer went on the DL and RP Arnoldo Mercado was called up and in his Navs debut tonight pitched a scoreless 9th with 2Ks.

(Sky) View to a kill......

Well a mixed bag tonite sports fans as I don't know where to start. Let's start with the good stuff. I'm sitting out in right field and my buddy Strat finds me and he's got free skybox tickets! I've been up there only once in 11 seasons and have been trying to win the contest to upgrade up there all season. It's nice up there--free programs/scorecard, TV, access to "Lou's Lounge", waitress sevice, etc, etc. Also on a clear Wednesday night you can see the weekly fireworks show from Mohegan Sun. Doubleheader with the FisherCats tonite (games 35 & 36 for me--and I go over the halfway point for home games which total 71 in a season). Game one starts out great as the Navs get four runs in the bottom of the second; the first two on a Tyler Von Schell HR and two more on a Carlos V. rbi single. But the FisherCats come storming back and score 10 runs over the next two innings and win 10-5. Navs starter Anthony Moreno suffered some shaky D behind him and it got in his head I think. He gave up a three run HR in a 7 run fourth and it quickly turned into BP for the FisherCats out there. RP Oscar Montero came in with a couple of runners on and I swear does what a Navs middle relievers always do; gives up a big hit to the first batter he faces which in this case was another 3 run HR bomb and THEN he settles down a pitches great the rest of the way. In Game Two James Garcia gave up a first inning HR down the left field line that we had a great view of up in skybox land but the Navs have since tied it up. They need the split.

Misc Fan nots: Congrats to 2B Kevin Frandsen and closer Brian Wilson on their promotions to Frenso--they'll be missed in the stretch run. The gift store is now 25% off everything as they look to clean out Navigator stuff in front of the name change. The Infield grass looked great; much improved over the last time I saw it. Some brown spots in the outfield but given the brutal hot weather the grass is in good shape. Thanks again Strat!!!!!!

Navs losing 4-1 going into the 9th...

didn't go tonite. Will be there for the DH Wednesday. If this score holds up, not a great way for this homestand to start.

Mazone's gem leads Navs......

over the SeaDogs 2-0 yesterday in Portland. The 8 inning 3 hitter was probably the best pitching effort of the season. Brian Wilson got another save and the Gators are two games out of a playoff spot. FisherCats in town staring Tuesday for 4 games in three days.

Carlos gets a SI shout-out.....

and the Navs roll over the SeaDogs yesterday 12-1. Navs got HR's from Lewis, Alfonzo and Hutting and Begg gets the win. Carlos get a mention from SI's Steve Rushin in the 8/15/05 issue. Steve was in the stands in New Britain the game Carlos hit a grand slam.
Misc Fan notes: Well I might be wrong about the immortal one being shipped back to A ball. Steve got in the game in later innings last night and singled in his only AB. Just looked at the Gators' on-line roster and it is still showing three active catchers. Hartford Courant in it's weekly Eastern League write-up reports the RockCats are packing them in and a pushing toward another great season in attendance--300,000+. The team is reworking it's lease with the city and is thinking about a parking garage! Nice problems to have.

Cap History 101...part 3 of an occasional series

This one came my way in 2003, the first year of the Giants affiliation, hence the brown color. This was given to fans who had purchased a season ticket package of some nature. I buy six pack ticket vouchers. You just exchange them at the ticket office. Cheaper than buying them at the game. This year I bought 4 of those six paks for a total investment of $144. Still have vouchers left for this year despite being to about 34 games so far, thanks to free tickets (can't believe the number of times I'm walking up the box office and someone offers a free ticket!), Big Y Sundays ($4 to get in) and Markdown Mondays ($5 to get in). This Tuesday is the Luk Oil promotion where if you buy 8 gallons of gas you get two free tickets for the game that night. I think I'm going to end the season with unused vouchers.

Navs win 6-4.......

Alfonzo is back and I guess the immortal one is back in Single A. Wilson gets his 7th save, Sadler gets the win in relief of Brian. Bomber hits a three run HR early and Navs get two runs in the top of the 9th to win it. CONGRATS to 2003 Navigator Alejandro Freire who made his MLBB debut with the Orioles recently. Micheal C. and him were the only offense in 2003.

Two more on the DL but....

Navs win yesterday 8-5. P Scott Chiasson and INF Brad Vericker went on the DL. Too bad for Scott trying to get back the the bigs. Brad was been little used since being called up. Mets and Navs currently tied 5-5. Chris Curry with a HR.

Frandsen comes alive...

I have a feeling that Kevin is going to be one of those Navigators that hits lights out on the road and not so much at Dodd. Both of his HRs have been away games including the winning 3 run blast last night against the Mets. He's got to be about a .350 hitter away and .250 at home. Dodd will do that to some guys. They moved in the fences after the first year so many guys complained. And I'm not sure the number on the fences are accurate; look at D.C. Stadium last week when they took a tape measure out to the field and found out the power alleys were 10 feet further then signed.
Anyway just checked out the on line box score and see pitcher Brian Mazone went yard becoming the second Navigator hutler ever the it one out. Mazone also hit a SF. Joe Bateman hit the first HR by a pitcher last year.

Navs win 5-3 and take two out of three...

I was visiting with friends at Dodd and the game was secondary to my attention. Solid effort from Brian, Merk looked great in relief, Wilson slammed the door in the 9th. Holm got his first Navigator hit, a double and scored, and the Senators defense was shaky leading to some unearned runs.

Dead at Dodd....

tonight as the Navs blow a 6-3 lead late and come up short 8-6 to the Senators. Thought the Navs were going to pull this one out. They fell behind in the fourth as Anthony Moreno gave up lead off HR and then a couple more for a 3-0 Senator lead. The Navs scorced the next 6 runs, a single run in the 4th and batted around for 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th for a 6-3 lead. Bomber and Orty with big RBI hits in the rally; Fred Lewis gets 3 hits on the day. Simon came in for Moreno and shut down the Senators. Chaisson came in the 7th and had his second bad outing giving up a lead off walk (hate 'em!) a 2R HR and a triple. Salder comes in and so does the tying run and it's 6-6. Then the thing I hated most was with the score tied Salder in the bottom of the 8th hits for himself after Curry was HBP. Salder is a K and that's that. They have plenty of bats on the bench but no one was warming in the Navs pen. Don't understand it. Pitching coach Bob Stanley had been tossed by the home plate ump earlier. So Sadler goes out in the top of the 9th for his 3nd inning of work and gives up a 2 out RBI triple and that guy scores on WP for a 8-6 loss.
Misc Fan notes: Steamer got tosed after Julio Cordido stuck out and complained to the home plate ump. There was some chatter coming from the Navs dugout and the ump nailed Steamer. I was sitting on the 3nd base side and man Bob Stanley was out of that dugout and in the ump's face in about two seconds. He probably hasn't moved that fast in years.
Grateful Dead Night at Dodd is my favorite promo if only for the fact the players wear tie dye uniforms. This is the 3nd year for this promo since the band is from S.F. There is always a Dead tribute band playing pre-game. A little live music is nice. A lot of fans wear tie dye and it's a festive night. It's also one of those games I take a ton of pictures at because they are in different uniforms. The game worn uniforms are bid on and fans contibute to charity. Chris Curry's had the highest bid I saw at $250! I liked this year's uniforms best over the prior two years; very colorful (see example in my photo blog-link is on the right). Crowd was 3500; should have been more.
All Gator stuff in the store is 15% off because of the pending name change.

Transactions.....

Interesting reading under baseball transactions this morning. The frequent flier miles continue to add up for sometime Navigator C Justin Knoelder as his stay with the Giants lasted one day and he is back with the Frenso team. Looks like the Yankees are serious about Trenton making the playoffs as they sent three players down from Columbus including Melky Cabrera who played a little with the Yanks this season. And the indy Atlantic League team the Long Island Ducks signed one time Navigator 3B Donny Leon. Navs home for a short 3 game homestand against the Senators--should be at Sat. and Sunday's games!

Former Navigators manager Lee Mazzilli fired today as.....

Baltimore Orioles manager. Tough week for the O's with Rafy getting suspended and now this. Baltimore fading fast in the AL East and something had to give. Always easiest firing the manager than the players.

Two the wrong way......

Navs lose last night 3-1. Begg gave up all three runs on a couple of HR's. Orty provides the only Norwich run with his 19th HR but it was only one of 5 Gator hits. THE IMMORTAL Steve Holm started and went 0-2 with a pair of walks. This afternoon they lose again 5-3. Mazone takes the loss, Walter with a 2 run HR. They need to turn this around quickly if they want to get to the playoffs.

If it's Wednesday it must be S.F. for Justin....

In the last days ten or so C Justin Knoelder has gone from Triple A to Double A and then up to the Giants (sad deal however as regular Giants catcher Mike Matheny is on bereavement leave). Justin's second tour of duty with the Giants. He got called up last year in Sept. I spent every day reading the Giants boxscore to see if he played and made his MLBB debut. He finally got in the last game or second to last game and flied out in his only AB. Hope he gets back in Sept. or sooner; he's a good guy.

Curry goes yard twice and .....

my favorie backup catcher also hits a 2B as the Navs roll to 9-3 victory over the BaySox. The immortal one Steve Holm will be wearing #39 as the Gators on line roster been updated.

The return of the immortal one!!!!........

C Steve Holm returns to the Gators as foreseen (see below) . Let's hope he can get some ABs. Navs get blown out tonite in Bowie 12-5 as Simon takes the loss.