Behind the Plate

Not My Normal Little League World Series Seat

guest — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:59:01 GMT

When I have the opportunity to watch one of the baseball games here at the series, it's at one of two places. My first choice is on the field, down the first base line just past the ESPN camera. While I can't actually "sit", the view and the pictures I can take there make it a great place to take in the game.

My second choice is under the stadium next to the first base dugout. This is where most of the "professional" photographers are. Here you can sit on the bench to take your pictures but you have to watch out for those nasty foul balls. Some come right into the "well" and can take out some pretty expensive camera equipment.

My plan today for the International and US Championship games was to spend half of each game at both of my favorite places. However, that didn't happen.

!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-51370/WhatAView_NOT.jpg?blogID=8913|height=367|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=576|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-51370/WhatAView_NOT.jpg?blogID=8913!Around 10 AM this morning I developed a sharp pain on the lower left side of my stomach. If I still had my appendix and if it was on the left side, I would have said that's what was wrong. The pain felt like I was being stabbed with a sharp object and it kept getting worse. I figured the pain would just go away, I'd be fine and head to the fields. But the pain didn't go away... it got bad enough that I ended up going to the Williamsport ER.

As you can see from the picture, my "seat" for the International Championship game was a hospital gurney with an IV in my arm. At least whatever drug they used made watching the game a "happy" and pretty much pain free experience. I had a CAT scan which showed I had a 5mm kidney stone which is 1/5th of an inch or about the size of a large pea. He told me that the stone was probably going to be too big to pass right away. He went on to say that had I lived in Williamsport, I would have been admitted. Instead, they just kept me comfortable until the pain was manageable, gave me a prescription for pain and an antibiotic and sent me on my way.

I got back to the hotel and was able to sleep and because of the rain delay, I'm at least able to watch the US Championship game on ESPN. But this is NOT my best seat and wish I were at the game. I'm hoping tomorrow is a much better day!

I forgot to mention - To add insult to injury... while I was waiting outside the hospital for my ride back to the hotel, I was stung by a bee on the back of my leg. This was not a good day.

Cheating At The Little League World Series??

guest — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:11:33 GMT

In the game between, Staten Island, NY and Urbandale, IA, each team is looking to do its best. All players have taken a vow to not cheat and this vow is memorialized by the patch on each player's uniform. In bold letters it says "I WILL NOT CHEAT."

!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-51106/NY1.jpg?blogID=8913|height=320|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=180|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-51106/NY1.jpg?blogID=8913!However, the coaches take no such vow. Maybe some thought ought to be given to having the coaches also understand the words of this vow.

The third base coach for New York is Manager Michael Zaccariello. He appears to communicate more than the usual information to his batters while he was coaching. He was able to tell them the type of pitch. How? Was he cheating? You be the judge.

Each time the Urbandale Iowa pitcher Trae Cropp prepared to pitch he would place his fingers on the ball in the proper way to throw each type of pitch. Curveball one way, slider another and fastball a third way. The New York coach appeared to lean way in to see the method of holding the ball prior to delivery (see picture 1) and then would signal the pitch to his team via hand signals (see picture 2). The New York batters put this information to good use as they pounded out 6 hits and scored 4 runs, 3 earned, while Trae was pitching.!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-51105/NY3.jpg?blogID=8913|height=324|style=padding:10px;|align=right|width=180|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-51105/NY3.jpg?blogID=8913!

Players often will steal pitch signals by looking around the pitcher while standing on second base. A hand signal to the batter helps him understand when the pitch is expected to be delivered. Sometimes a batter will look back and steal the signals while standing in the box. So is this cheating. Most people would say no as this is common practice in baseball. But coaches stealing pitches by looking at the hands of the pitcher. That's new to most of us.

So, was this cheating by the Coach? There is no rule against it. There is also no precedent for this behavior. Perhaps the operation committee of Little League ought to investigate whether this violates the spirit of the no cheating vow taken by the players. In a conversation I had with the Director of Communications for Little League International, Lance Van Auken, who is also a memeber of the Rules Committee, he indicated that this type of behavior may be discussed for further action in future rules.

Updated Umpire List

guest — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:36:38 GMT

I was able to obtain the updated umpire assignment list for the series. This list includes games 1-24 and hopefully when Little League announces the assignments for the Semi-Finals and Championship games, I will be able to get and post those as well. I have also included the assignment spreadsheet schedule if you want to download it. You will need to scroll to the bottom of this page for that.

UPDATE - 9:15 PM 8/25 - I have added the semi-final game assignment spreadsheet file that you can download below.

2009 LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES UMPIRE SCHEDULE
FRIDAY - AUGUST 21, 2009

GAME 1	MIDATLANTIC VS NORTHWEST
1:00 P.M.	HP	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
VOLUNTEER	1B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
ESPN HD	2B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
	3B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
	RF	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN

GAME 2	ASIA-PACIFIC VS EUROPE
3:00 P.M.	HP	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
LAMADE	1B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
ESPN HD	2B	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
	3B	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
Andy Konyar	RF	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada

GAME 3	MIDWEST VS SOUTHEAST
5:00 P.M.	HP	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
VOLUNTEER	1B	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
ESPN HD	2B	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
	3B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
	RF	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela

GAME 4	NEW ENGLAND VS SOUTHWEST
8:00 P.M.	HP	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
LAMADE	1B	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
ESPN HD	2B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
	3B	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
	RF	John Mashburn, Telford, TN


SATURDAY - AUGUST 22, 2009
GAME 5	MEXICO VS CANADA
11:00 A.M.	HP	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
LAMADE	1B	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
ESPN HD	2B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
	3B	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
Super: Andy Konyar	LF	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
	RF	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN

GAME 6	CARRIBEAN VS LATIN AMERICA
1:00 P.M.	HP	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
VOLUNTEER	1B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
ESPN HD	2B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
	3B	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
	RF	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

GAME 7	SOUTHEAST VS MID-ATLANTIC
3:00 P.M.	HP	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
LAMADE	1B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
ABC HD	2B	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
	3B	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
Super: Mike Legge	LF	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
Andy Konyar	RF	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME

GAME 8	MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA VS JAPAN
6:00 P.M.	HP	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
VOLUNTEER	1B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
ESPN2 HD	2B	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
	3B	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
	RF	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA

GAME 9	GREAT LAKES VS WEST
8:00 P.M.	HP	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
LAMADE	1B	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
ESPN2 HD	2B	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
	3B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
	RF	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX


SUNDAY - AUGUST 23, 2009
GAME 10	MIDWEST VS NORTHWEST
12:00 P.M.	HP	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
VOLUNTEER	1B	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
ESPN HD	2B	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
	3B	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
Andy Konyar	RF	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines

GAME 11	GREAT LAKES VS SOUTHWEST
2:00 P.M.	HP	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
LAMADE	1B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
ABC HD	2B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
	3B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
Super: Frank Policano	LF	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
	RF	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ

GAME 12	ASIA-PACIFIC VS CANADA
3:00 P.M.	HP	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
VOLUNTEER	1B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
ESPN HD	2B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
	3B	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
Super: Mike Legge	LF	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
	RF	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX

GAME 13	WEST VS NEW ENGLAND
6:00 P.M.	HP	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
VOLUNTEER	1B	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
ESPN2 HD	2B	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
	3B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
	RF	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH

GAME 14	CARIBBEAN VS JAPAN
8:00 P.M.	HP	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
LAMADE	1B	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
ESPN2 HD	2B	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
	3B	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
	RF	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany


MONDAY - AUGUST 24, 2009
GAME 15	EUROPE VS MEXICO
12:00 P.M.	HP	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
LAMADE	1B	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
ESPN2 HD	2B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
	3B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
Super: Andy Konyar	LF	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
	RF	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV

GAME 16	LATIN AMERICA VS JAPAN
2:00 P.M.	HP	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
VOLUNTEER	1B	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
ESPN2 HD	2B	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
	3B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
	RF	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA

GAME 17	SOUTHEAST VS NORTHWEST
4:00 P.M.	HP	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
LAMADE	1B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
ESPN HD	2B	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
	3B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
Super: Mike Legge	LF	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
	RF	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN

GAME 18	CARIBBEAN VS MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
6:00 P.M.	HP	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
VOLUNTEER	1B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
ESPN2 HD	2B	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
	3B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
	RF	John Mashburn, Telford, TN

GAME 19	MID-ATLANTIC VS MIDWEST
8:00 P.M.	HP	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
LAMADE	1B	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
ESPN2 HD	2B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
	3B	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
	RF	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela


TUESDAY - AUGUST 25, 2009
GAME 20	MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA VS LATIN AMERICA
12:00 P.M.	HP	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
LAMADE	1B	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
ESPN2 HD	2B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
	3B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
Super: Mike Legge	LF	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
Andy Konyar	RF	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN

GAME 21	EUROPE VS CANADA
2:00 P.M.	HP	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
VOLUNTEER	1B	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
ESPN2 HD	2B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
	3B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
Super: Frank Policano	LF	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
	RF	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines

GAME 22	GREAT LAKES VS NEW ENGLAND
4:00 P.M.	HP	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
LAMADE	1B	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
ESPN2 HD	2B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
	3B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
	RF	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX

GAME 23	MEXICO VS ASIA-PACIFIC
6:00 P.M.	HP	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
VOLUNTEER	1B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
ESPN2 HD	2B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
	3B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
Super: Frank Policano	LF	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
	RF	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA

GAME 24	SOUTHWEST VS WEST
8:00 P.M.	HP	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
LAMADE	1B	Damaso Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
ESPN2 HD	2B	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
	3B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Super: Mike Legge	LF	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
	RF	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
		WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 26, 2009
INTERNATIONAL SEMI-FINAL
GAME 25
4:00 P.M.	HP
LAMADE	1B
ESPN HD	2B
	3B
Super: Mike Legge	LF
Andy Konyar	RF

		UNITED STATES SEMI-FINAL
GAME 26
8:00 P.M.	HP
LAMADE	1B
ESPN HD	2B
	3B
Super: Frank Policano	LF
Andy Konyar?	RF

Chula Vista Park View - WOW!

guest — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:27:42 GMT

My partner here in Williamsport and co-worker at Active Greg Lopez sent me a text message during the game between Park View Little League (Chula Vista, CA) and Logan County/Russellville Little League (Russellville, KY). The text said simply, "What'd I tell ya?"

!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-50994/GL-West2.jpg?blogID=8913|height=432|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=288|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-50994/GL-West2.jpg?blogID=8913!Now Greg is a little prejudiced. It's not just because Chula Vista is located close to San Diego where our Active offices are located that he's excited about this team. Greg went to Chula Vista High School and also played Little League for Chula Vista American Little League. He told me that when he played (a long time ago), Park View Little League didn't even exist.

Before coming to the Williamsport, Greg had gone to the Western Regional tournament in San Bernadino, CA and watched Park View play there. He told me that the team had scored 98 runs in the 6 games they played in. But the most impressive part of those 98 runs? 38 of them were from home runs! Center fielder Kiko Garcia hit 12 home runs and First Baseman/Pitcher Luke Ramirez hit 4. And unfortunately for Russellville, Chula Vista continued the trend.

Things started out looking good for KY as starting pitcher Barrett Croslin took down the first two CA batters. But with two outs Chula Vista had a pair of singles and then a two-run triple from right fielder Bradley Reberto and they took an early 2-0 lead and never looked back.

Luke Ramirez lead off the third inning with a shot over right field that landed up the hill. As you may recall, Little League extended the outfield fences a few years ago to 225 feet. This was to help increase the doubles and triples and reduce the number of home runs. It just didn't matter to Chula Vista. To Russellville's credit, they hadn't allowed a hit since the first inning and Chula Vista's lead was only 3-0 and it looked like we were going to have a pretty close game. Boy was I wrong.

The Park View team did what they do best in the fourth and fifth innings. Things were still looking good for !http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-50995/GL-West1.jpg?blogID=8913|height=432|style=padding:10px;|align=right|width=288|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-50995/GL-West1.jpg?blogID=8913!Russellville with only one out to get... but they didn't get it until Andy Rios and Bulla Graft both got singles and Ramirez had his second home run of the game.

Starting with the first pitch in the fourth inning to the final out in the fifth, the California team had six home runs and scored 12 runs while batting around the lineup twice. Every Chula Vista batter had at least one hit while Rios, Ramirez and Garcia had two!

In the press conference following the game, Russellville manager Kevin Kettings said, “After the fifth inning, it got to the point where it was comical to them (his players). "They were having a good time with it. The trainer came in and asked if we needed to ice any pitchers arms, but, of course, they didn’t throw hard enough to get iced down. So we told her we needed our necks iced down from watching all the home runs being hit over the fence.” And this from the losing team. I think it says a lot about this small team from Russellville, KY.

When I was at the Central Region tournament, I had a chance to interview Kettings and he told me that their total town population was about 28,000 and they only had three Major Baseball teams during the regular season. This gave them a total of 33 players to try and chose an all-star team from and they chose these 10. The team may be small but they have big hearts and are still having a great time in Williamsport.

Unfortunately, they lost their second game as well to the Southwest team from San Antonio, TX 12-0. With two losses, this will eliminate them from moving on to the championship round.

But the kids are not hanging their heads down. They are the champions of the Great Lakes divison. They survived thousands of teams trying to get to the Little League Baseball World Series and only sixteen got here. Congratulations Logan County/Russellville Little League. You are a class act!

World Series Umpire Game Schedules

guest — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:52:38 GMT

I was able to obtain the Little League Baseball World Series umpire schedule for the first 16 games. I know all you fellow umpires want to know who is doing what, so here you go. If I'm able to obtain the additional game schedules, I will post them later.


GAME 1	MIDATLANTIC VS NORTHWEST
1:00 P.M.	HP	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
VOLUNTEER	1B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
ESPN HD	2B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
	3B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
	LF	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
	RF	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN

GAME 2	ASIA-PACIFIC VS EUROPE
3:00 P.M.	HP	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
LAMADE	1B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
ESPN2 HD	2B	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
	3B	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
	LF	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
	RF	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada

GAME 3	MIDWEST VS SOUTHEAST
5:00 P.M.	HP	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
VOLUNTEER	1B	Damasco Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
ESPN2 HD	2B	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
	3B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
	LF	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
	RF	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela

GAME 4	NEW ENGLAND VS SOUTHWEST
8:00 P.M.	HP	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
LAMADE	1B	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
ESPN HD	2B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
	3B	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
	LF	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
	RF	John Mashburn, Telford, TN


SATURDAY - AUGUST 22, 2009
GAME 5	MEXICO VS CANADA
11:00 A.M.	HP	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
LAMADE	1B	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
ESPN HD	2B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
	3B	Damasco Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
	LF	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
	RF	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN

GAME 6	CARRIBEAN VS LATIN AMERICA
1:00 P.M.	HP	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
VOLUNTEER	1B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
ESPN HD	2B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
	3B	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
	LF	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
	RF	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

GAME 7	SOUTHEAST VS MID-ATLANTIC
3:00 P.M.	HP	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
LAMADE	1B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
ABC HD	2B	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
	3B	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
	LF	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
	RF	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME

GAME 8	MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA VS JAPAN
6:00 P.M.	HP	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
VOLUNTEER	1B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
ESPN HD	2B	Damasco Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
	3B	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
	LF	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
	RF	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA

GAME 9	GREAT LAKES VS WEST
8:00 P.M.	HP	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
LAMADE	1B	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
ESPN HD	2B	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
	3B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
	LF	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
	RF	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX


SUNDAY - AUGUST 23, 2009
GAME 10	MIDWEST VS NORTHWEST
12:00 P.M.	HP	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
VOLUNTEER	1B	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
ESPN CLASSIC	2B	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
	3B	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
	LF	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
	RF	Damasco Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines

GAME 11	GREAT LAKES VS SOUTHWEST
2:00 P.M.	HP	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
LAMADE	1B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
ESPN2 HD	2B	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
	3B	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany
	LF	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
	RF	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ

GAME 12	ASIA-PACIFIC VS CANADA
3:00 P.M.	HP	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
VOLUNTEER	1B	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
ABC HD	2B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
	3B	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
	LF	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV
	RF	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX

GAME 13	WEST VS NEW ENGLAND
6:00 P.M.	HP	Damasco Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
VOLUNTEER	1B	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
ESPN2 HD	2B	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
	3B	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
	LF	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
	RF	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH

GAME 14	CARIBBEAN VS JAPAN
8:00 P.M.	HP	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA
LAMADE	1B	Jim Hallonquist, Seguin, TX
ESPN2 HD	2B	Tony Eller, Brooklawn, NJ
	3B	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
	LF	Michael Galiano, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
	RF	Randy Ewart, Waghaeusel, Germany


MONDAY - AUGUST 24, 2009
GAME 15	EUROPE VS MEXICO
12:00 P.M.	HP	Mike Yeager, Snoqualmie, WA
LAMADE	1B	Rick Wagner, Indianapolis, IN
ESPN2 HD	2B	Jesus Guzman, Maracaibo, Venezuela
	3B	David Leatherwood, Missouri City, TX
	LF	Thomas Henry, Forest Lake, MN
	RF	George Brooks, Rainelle, WV

GAME 16	LATIN AMERICA VS JAPAN
2:00 P.M.	HP	Chris Parker, Bangor, ME
VOLUNTEER	1B	John Mashburn, Telford, TN
	RF	Hugo St-Amant, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
	3B	Jeffrey Stokoe, Kettering, OH
	LF	Damasco Sancon, San Miguel, Phillipines
	RF	Michael T Martin, Livermore, CA

Opening Day At Little League World Series

guest — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:37:43 GMT

It might have been just Opening Day jitters for the losing teams and just another day at the ball park for the winners

There were four games played yesterday and all of them were pretty much blowouts. In the three United States games, the Mid-Atlantic team, South Shore National Little League from Staten Island, New York defeated the Northwest team, Mercer Island Little League from Mercer Island, Washington, 10-2 and the Southeast team, Warner Robins American Little League from Warner Robins, Georgia beat the Midwest team, Urbandale Little League Urbandale, Iowa, 11-3. In the night game, the Southwest team, McAllister Park American Little League from San Antonio, Texas took out the team from New England, Peabody Western Little League from Peabody, Massachusetts, 10-1.

In the International game, Asia-Pacific from Kuei-Shan Little League from Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei, beat the Europe team, KMC American Little League from Ramstein AFB, Germany, 16-0.

After each game the Manager of the winning team and a few players and the losing Manager without players present, hold a press conference to discuss their respective games. I think these quotes are a good representation and helps put into perspective what it means to play in the Little League Baseball World Series.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to the kids yet, but what I did get to say was 'It's pool play, one loss doesn't put you out'". "We're not out of it and hopefully this is the game where we worked everything out." New England Peabody Manager David Batchelor

“You have no idea what this week is like. I was pulling my hair out while the kids were sitting there making friends. I wanted to get a win and get it out of the way. I was tired of waiting.” Southeast Manager Randy Jones

"He pitched a great game. He was just nailing the strike zone. We pride ourselves on being patient hitters, but, patience works well when you can get ahead in the count. But he got himself in a favorable position, 70, 80 percent of the time it felt like." Northwest Manager Steve Stenberg talking about Mid-Atlantic Pitcher Angelo Navetta who threw 87 pitches - 68 were strikes (78.2 percent).

“There were kids talking in the dugout that it’s only a couple runs, we can get this. We were in position late to steal a game we had no business being in, to be honest. Their pitcher did a fantastic job keeping us off balance. We looked like we hadn’t seen a curve ball before. Our boys are a little down, but we'll bounce back quickly. We always have with this group." Great Lakes Manager Scott Grau

"The big thing with us is we need to rest up and get a good night's sleep because we have a few kids who are under the weather right now. That's no excuse, either. We just have our backs to the wall now and have to win two of our next three to advance, but I'm confident they'll bounce back. When we went to regional's we were just pinching ourselves because we could not believe it, so anything after that is gravy. The great thing about kids is that they'll be up in the dorm five minutes from now having a great time and they will have forgotten about all this. It's the coaches who will struggle with the loss and rehash it in our minds over and over again." Northwest Manager Steve Stenberg

Greg Lopez, our Industry Manager for Active Sports and his son Gabe are with me here in Williamsport. We have our Active booth setup and are handing out trading pins, pin towels, taking pictures that will be posted on www.pictureu.com/eteamz and meeting some great Little League folks. It's been a very busy Opening Day and I haven't been able to do many tweets or Facebook updates. I wasn't even able to do many videos but hopefully that will change.

There are five games scheduled for today and it should be another great day at the World Series... as long as the rain holds off!

New Scoreboards At Little League Stadiums

guest — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:06:27 GMT

New video-capable scoreboards from Daktronics, Inc. and purchased through a donation provided by the Easton Foundations, will help enhance the experience for players and fans that attend the 2009 Little League Baseball World Series.

!http://www.eteamz.com/skiedge/images/Sunkist.jpg|height=360|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=480|src=http://www.eteamz.com/skiedge/images/Sunkist.jpg!The scoreboard installed at Lamade Stadium features inning-by-inning scoring, hits and errors along with panes at the bottom of the board that tabulates the number of pitches thrown by the pitchers of record. A video display board flanks the scoring panels on either side of the scoreboard with sponsor logos rotating throughout the game. The same model scoreboard has been installed at Volunteer Stadium but is a bit smaller. Both new scoreboards are approximately the same size as the previous scoreboards that had been in place since 2001.

Both new scoreboards have re-play functionality for those great plays!

Great Lakes Championship Game - Kentucky vs Indiana

guest — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:29:47 GMT

We have about a half hour until the scheduled start of 7 PM. As with the Midwest Championship game, ESPN is in charge of the actual start. Maybe we should say that TV coverage starts at 7 and the game will begin about 10 minutes later.

Iowa held off the stubborn team from Missouri to become the Midwest champion earlier today, winning 7-6. It was a great game with back-to-back home runs, a grand slam home run and combined hits between the teams of 16. When looking at the game stats, both teams were pretty close. Missouri had 6 runs on 9 hits and 2 errors. Iowa had 7 runs on 7 hits and had 1 error. The costly error for Missouri was in the bottom of the 5th that allowed the go ahead 7th run. Iowa then put Missouri down for the count in their last at bat.

Tonight's game between Logan County Little League from Russeville, Kentucky and Bartholomew County National Little League from Columbus, Indiana should be another great game of baseball.

Earlier today I spoke with John Roll, the Little League District Administrator that Logan County ALL belongs, and he said that the league only had 33 players to chose a team from and these are the top 10. That's pretty amazing.

The game has started and we're in the top of the first and the score is already 2-0, Kentucky. A hit batter and a home run.... not a very good start for Indiana. But there's a lot of baseball yet to be played.

Behind The Plate Again - Sort Of

guest — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:39:16 GMT

When we came up with the name "Behind The Plate" for the title of my blog it was because I'm an umpire and it sounded good. So today, I'm behind the plate again but not as an umpire.

One of the great benefits of working with Active and Little League during the Regional and World Series is that I'm part of the official media. I'm able to write this blog, tweet and video pretty much anywhere in the stadiums. Today, I'm sitting in one of the small press media rooms just "behind the plate". As I write this, we're in the bottom of the 1st inning and Trea Crop and Cole Scieszinski of IOWA just hit back-to-back homeruns and lead MISSOURI 3-0.

I have a great view of the action but it would be nice to be able to watch the game on TV too but I'm not complaining. All of the Central Staff and volunteers here have been great to work with. It's hard to believe that we're down to the final 2 games. I head back to Michigan in the morning and fly out to Williamsport on Wednesday. A short turnaround for sure but well worth it!

I hope you have enjoyed the Blog, videos and my tweets so ar. I want to thank Michael Clarke back at our Active office in California for all the work he has done editing and then uploading my videos. As you can imagine, I take a lot of videos and then uploaded them for Michale to do his magic. He does make me look good!

I'm going to watch the rest of this game now... we're in the bottom of the 2nd and the Urbandale Little League team still leads 3-0 over Daniel Boone National Little League from Missouri.

If you haven't had a chance to view the videos, click here to check them out.

Iowa and Missouri To Battle For Midwest Title

guest — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:09:16 GMT

In the first game today, the Iowa state champions from Urbandale defeated the N/S Dakota state champion, Harney Little League 3-2. Iowa's left fielder Spencer Sturges helped with the win with a two run shot over the left field fence in the second inning.

Iowa's lead held until the top of the fifth inning when South Dakota's Dmiitri Bledso tied the game with his own two run shot over center field fence. The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when Jake Grau hit a long single into center field and Trae Cropp scored from second.

In the second game, Daniel Boone National Little League from Missouri defeated the Nebraska team from Blair Little League also by a score of 3-2.

Nebraska game into the game undefeated and Missouri was 2-2 but that didn't bother Missouri who came out hitting and scored 2 runs in the bottom of the first inning. Missouri was led by winning pitcher Connor Brumfield who went 2 for 3,

As one of the team hosts for Nebraska it was a sad ending to a great run. The kids were great and a lot of fun to be around.

Throwing Out The First Pitch

guest — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:22:30 GMT

I've written about my time in the announcers booth and operating the scoreboard both of which have been a wonderful experience for me. So when I was then asked to throw out the first pitch for one of the games, well what can I say... that was about the most exciting things to happen to me since umpiring here back in 1998.

I wish I could tell you that I threw a perfect strike but I would be stretching the truth... a lot! Before I threw the ball, I even yelled out "I'm an umpire... not a pitcher". I of course proved the point by throwing the ball !http://www.eteamz.com/llbcentral/images/FirstPitch.jpg|height=285|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=190|src=http://www.eteamz.com/llbcentral/images/FirstPitch.jpg!short as it hit the ground in front of the plate before being scooped up by the catcher from Kentucky.

Being here in at the Central Region tournament representing Active and then being allowed to be a team host, announce games and run the scoreboard has been an absolute thrill for me. Active sent me here to try and provide a behind the scene prospective and to blog and Twitter about the games. As we begin to move into the semifinal games, I hope I've succeeded at least a little.

Representing Active as I threw out that first pitch was a very proud moment for me. As with all the baseballs I've collected from big games I've umpired in, I had the team in the "booth" autograph it for me. It will now take its honored place in my collection.

Nebraska Ends Pool Play 4-0

guest — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:11:18 GMT

Blair Little League from Blair Nebraska ended their pool play games today with a win over Cherokee Community Little League from Cherokee Kansas by a score of 14-8.

Nebraska went into the game without having a single defensive error and not allowing a run in the three !http://www.eteamz.com/llbcentral/images/Nebraska-medals.jpg|height=200|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=268|src=http://www.eteamz.com/llbcentral/images/Nebraska-medals.jpg!previous games... but all of that meant nothing to the team from Kansas as they scored 8 runs on 12 hits including 4 homeruns. Considering that Nebraska had only allowed any runs before, this was quite the slug-fest by the Cherokee team.

Blair will now go up against the fourth-seeded team from Missouri in the semifinals at 1:30 p.m. today. Daniel Boone National Little League, from Columbia, Missouri., comes into the game with a record of 2-2. Both teams have everything on the line with the winner of today's game advancing to the regional final against the winner of the Iowa-North/South Dakota semifinal. Considering that team Nebraska has already beaten both the N/S Dakota and Iowa teams in pool play; allowing no runs or errors, the odds should be on their side. But this Little League... and on any give day, anything can happen.

ESPN will arrive tomorrow to begin setting for the finals on Saturday. The Midwest Championship game will begin at noon.

At Least I'm Consistent

guest — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:39:54 GMT

As an umpire, we always try to be consistent in our calls of balls and strikes. While we calls might be a little high, a little low, a little inside or out, you at least want to be consistent by making the calls equally between the teams playing.

I wrote about my first experience announcing in a previous posting and now, after announcing my third and final game of the series here in Indianapolis, I can at least say I've been consistent with this as well. However, about the only consistent thing I seem to be able to do is either mispronounce player names, forget to announce the managers and coaches, announce the wrong batter, forget to announce a starting player altogether, announce the score incorrectly and for the wrong team... oh the list could go on and on.

You would think the folks running things in the booth would have learned a lesson from the first game I announced... that I'm not good at this at all! And if you can believe it, I was told I was even getting better.

All kidding aside, this was a fun and rewarding experience for me and I appreciate being asked to not only announce some games but to run the scoreboard too. My thanks go out to Jim Nichman for bravely taking a chance and asking me to volunteer. And a special thanks to Bob Monday, Mark Commons and the rest of the "moles" in the booth for allowing me into their "den".

These volunteer professionals make things look easy and they are very consistent in getting things right. Of course now I'd like to see them umpire so I can critique them as they have me.

Tomorrow the Midwest and Great Lake semifinal games begin. I won't even be allowed near the booth during these games.... which is probably a good thing.

Team Nebraska Sets Sites on Williamsport

guest — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:04:37 GMT

Last year Canyon Lake Little League from South Dakota became the first team to ever make it to the Little League World Series from the Dakota's. This year, Nebraska may also reach the pinnacle baseball event too.

!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-50054/Nebraska.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=15029|height=216|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=288|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-50054/Nebraska.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=15029!Blair Little League is currently 3-0 in the Midwest pool with only one game remaining against Kansas who are 0-2 and play later today against 0-2 Minnesota. Nebraska has the day off and then will meet Kansas tomorrow in the final pool game for each team If Nebraska defeats Kansas they will be the number one seed in their pool and would play the number four seed in the semifinal game on Thursday, August 13.

If Nebraska wins the semifinal game, it would put them into the Midwest Championship game on Saturday, August 15 against the winner of the number 2 and 3 seed semifinal game. If the superior play and pitching continues and with a little luck, Blair Little League would represent the Midwest team in Williamsport and be the first from Nebraska to do so.

Nebraska's number one pitcher, Jackson Petersen is 2-0 in tournament play with a 0.00 ERA in 12 innings. While allowing 11 hits his teammates have had his back allowing only 2 runs in the three games played thus far. Offensively, the Nebraska team's combined batting average is .269 led by TJ Loudner and Cal Adamson both batting at .500. Loudner has also had four hits with two of them being homeruns and 3 RBI's. Defensively, the team has had no fielding errors which over all, is a pretty good statistic going into game four.

I almost didn't write this blog post not wanting to, in the words of one of the volunteer scorekeepers Bob Monday, "Black Cat" them. But it is a great story and I wanted to share it.

Now Batting For.....

guest — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:19:48 GMT

I got a first hand look at what it takes to announce a Little League Baseball Central Region game and learned a couple valuable lessons. One... it's really hard and second... don't quit your day job!

!http://www.eteamz.com/llbcentral/files/Tom-Announce.jpg|height=216|style=padding:10px;|align=left|width=342|src=http://www.eteamz.com/llbcentral/files/Tom-Announce.jpg!As you know I've been here in Indianapolis, IN with blogging, Twittering, taking videos and pictures and volunteering as a Team Host for Nebraska. Well yesterday, I was asked if I would if I could announce the first game of the day between Michigan and Illinois. Now, I've announced plenty of our local Little League games back home in Kalamazoo, MI but never at anything at this level of play. My initial response was... "are you kidding me...?" But they weren't....

Just about every job here at the regional tournament is handled by volunteers. From the people in the gift shop, the grounds crew, the people who take care of the media, run the music between innings, scorekeepers, scoreboard operators, 50/50 raffle ticket sellers, umpires, Team Hosts, etc.... all of them volunteers. There are only a handful of full time employees of Little League here like Mike Legge, the Regional Director and Nina Johnson, the Assistant Regional Director plus a very small support staff. They credit the volunteers who make the tournament run smoothly. Without these dedicated volunteers, many who have been coming here for over 15 years, the tournament wouldn't be the class act it is.

So, when asked to be the volunteer announcer for a game... how could I refuse... other than I didn't think I would be very good and was thinking they were making a terrible mistake!

The first thing I had to do the "booth" was to get the team lineups written into my scorebook. I say "my" scorebook because not only did I have to announce, I needed to know the player positions (and where they moved to), who was batting, who hit what and where, the player names and coaches (and how to pronounce their names phonetically), and keep track of the pitch count. Are you kidding me??!! But, the guys maintaining the "official" scorebook (both paper and on the computer) made sure I didn't make any huge mistakes. Mark Commons and Bob Monday are two of the volunteers that have been coming here for many years and take the job of keeping score seriously and score most if not all of the games during the tournament. I also did a video interview with them that I hope to have posted shortly.

To say that announcing a ball game at this level is hard is an understatement and I truely respect the other volunteers who announce these games. I had to write down little "cheat" notes and lists just to start the game with. I had to remember the sequence to begin announcing the game. For example, reading the "Welcome message" and what teams were playing, announcing the team lineups, who the President of the league is, who's District Administrator, the Team Host's, stand for the National anthem, who was going to read the Player and Parent/Volunteer Pledge.... I was doing fine until announcing the teams. The Illinois team went fine other than mispronouncing a couple of names but I announced the players, coaches, President, DA and team hosts. Then came the Michigan team (my home state) and totally forgot to announce the coaches, President, DA and team hosts. I kidded about that a lot later.

The game was an exciting one with Illinois winning 6-5 and are 3-0 in their pool while Michigan drops to 1-1 and plays their third game today. I must have not done too badly because at dinner last night, I was asked to once again to step into the booth and announce the first game today. Pretty funny too because Michigan is playing again. Hopefully I won't forget to announce everyone this time. I'll let you know...

Until later...