Random Observations From My Quad Cities Trip

As always when I travel to some of the minor league venues, I conduct a few interviews. And, as always, I dread the chore of transcribing them. But I hope to have a couple of interviews posted this week and a couple more next week. In the meantime, I'll just share a few random observations from my recent trip to Quad Cities.

Watching Michael Feliz and Jandel Gustave throw long toss is pretty awe-inspiring.

Particularly when Gustave throws from here without bouncing it.

And, although I already knew this about myself, I was reminded what a baseball nerd I am. I absolutely love watching Pitchers Fielding Practice (which some people might find as exciting as watching paint dry). Pitching Coach Dave Borkowski also does a dexterity drill with his pitchers that was a lot of fun to watch. Time and again, the bullpen outlasted the starters on a "one and done" challenge. Here are relievers Tyler Brunnemann, Albert Minnis, Chris Cotton, Patrick Christensen and Andrew Walter showing how it's done.



I was glad that I finally got to see Brett Phillips in game action. He was hurt when I was in Greeneville last year so I've only seen him in Spring Training simulated games. Not only did I get to witness his cannon of an arm on an outfield assist, I also got to see his speed as he was literally flying down the line after bunting.

Lefty pitcher Chris Lee has got some skinny legs.

The team defense was simply excellent and it didn't matter who was in the line-up. The work that Manager Omar Lopez and his coaching staff do on fundamentals clearly shows.

I wasn't a huge fan of Modern Woodmen Park when I visited last year. The view of the bridge is fantastic, but it just seemed to be missing something for me. To me, it lacked character. The ferris wheel beyond left field has remedied that. Here's the view from right field now.

However, with that said, if I was a season ticket holder, I would have to sit on the third base side. After dark, the lights on the ferris wheel are downright mesmerizing. I couldn't take my eyes off of the ever-changing light patterns.

One of the fun parts of traveling to the different venues is that I invariably meet players' parents or girlfriends and end up having some terrific conversations. I often offer to take photos of them which I send to them privately and never post, but I'm going to make an exception because this one of Brian Holberton and his Mom is just too good. I don't think they'll mind.

Aside from a few weather issues and a delayed bag, the trip was definitely a success and I enjoyed myself immensely. Many thanks to Scott Kornberg who took very good care of me in Marco LaNave's absence. And many thanks to Manager Omar Lopez and Pitching Coach Dave Borkowski for their time.

And, as usual, I took far too many pictures and I'm still in the process of weeding them down to a manageable number to post on Flickr. In the meantime, enjoy one of my favorites from the trip.

Austin "Catfish" Elkins and Ronnie Mitchell

All Photos by Jayne Hansen

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