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Showing posts from August 3, 2008

Every 5TH Day: Pitching 101 by Greg Maddux- Win #353

Even though the VBL season has come and gone, I still have every fifth day to watch the Professor pitch. After going through 14 straight starts (Longest of his career) without a victory, Greg has won two straight starts to move within 2 of tying Roger Clemens at 354! The starting time in Denver (Coors Field) was 8:05 PM EST. The game started out very typical in that thru five innings Greg had a line of 1 Run / 2 hits allowed. The bad part was the score was tied 1-1. Then the Friars offense broke open and sent 9 men to the dish. The net was 5 runs with the fifth run coming in to score when my 42 year old hero beat out a bunt single! The lead is now 6-1 San Diego heading into the top of the 7TH after Maddux just started a 1-4-6-3 double play by deflecting a ball headed thru the box over to the second baseman. 67 pitches/45 strikes so far and I think he will head back out for the bottom of 7TH. Nine outs away from win #353! I will begin my park/team by park/team recap after the Sunday

VBL announces the 2008 League Awards

You can read the entire press release by heading over to www.valleyleaguebaseball.com . Manager of the Year (Mo Weber Award)... Lawrence Nesselrodt ( Waynesboro ) Player of the Year... Tyler Townsend (Winchester/ Flordia International) Regular Season ERA Leader... Adam Liberatore ( Waynesboro / Tenn. Tech) Championship MVP... Ryan Schimpf ( Luray / LSU ) Regular Season Batting Champ... Tyler Townsend (Winchester/ Florida International) .387 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Players were voted to the 1ST team All- VBL and due to a tie 16 players were named to the 2ND team. 31 Players made the list and the Press release from Kevin at the VBL office gives a complete breakdown of both squads... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The 3 starting pitchers named to the 1ST team are Travis Smink ( Luray / VMI ), Lance Baxter ( Staunton / South Alabama)) and Liberatore ( Waynesboro / Tenn. Tech). They were joi

It is Time to Defend Winning the Game !

Some of the bigger lessons I have learned this past summer are tied directly to just how much emotion, passion and comparison that is involved in the VBL . On different occasions in many a different conversations I have found myself defending numerous people and ideas. When the topic is sponsors/ bottom line profit, I am the first to defend the efforts of Kay & Boyd Snyder of the Staunton Braves. I hear a great deal of "it must be nice to have that many sponsors/ it must be nice to have that much money coming in, etc... My answer to this is always the same- It is UN-believable how hard Kay has to work her town and the local shop owners to keep her operation where it needs to be. It's not like people drive by her park and toss big bags of money at the gate. Sometimes it is easier to try and dis-credit success than it is to try and duplicate it... When it came to the topic of how many Loopsters would cross the finish line I heard more than a few times someone say- W
While the ending ceremony was going on, I took the liberty of snagging this video of the introduction of each of the Luray Wranglers for the last time this season. Enjoy it! Soon enough I'm going to start working on an ending tribute to the summer...

John Leonard has a great conversation going on about the UN-offical Cy Young award..Check it out

For the die-hard baseball fans should jump over to http://allthingsvalleyleague.typepad.com and voice your opinion...

Page News and Courier working on a wrap-up story on ATV-60...

When we first were ready to break the story about our adventure we wanted to give the story to our local Sports Writer/ Editor Bill Meade down at the Page News and Courier. Bill actually was able to put the first words into print about ATV-60 and now he is getting ready to take a look back on this summer thru the eyes of some of the participants. I am expecting the story to run in the next week or two and I will look forward to reading it when it comes out on that given Wednesday. It is a quick turn around for Bill as he switches gears from VBL to covering our two county high schools ( Luray & Page County). Once the story is in print we will do our best to share it with those that are still checking in at the site...

Day #70- End of Week #10... A time for Thanks ! Media Outlets First

The 10TH and final week of the season is coming to a close and I believe that the only official business left for the VBL is the post season awards. The league will name a Manager of the Year (Mo Weber Award) as well as a 1ST and 2ND all VBL team. Toss in a MVP award and you are in business. I should also add that Luray is back up to #3 in the nation in the latest poll and with the number of teams expanded from 16 to 32, Waynesboro came in at #18. There will be at least one more poll before the end of the summer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It will take me a number of lists to say Thank You to everyone that helped make this project a little more visible so I had better get started... Bill Meade (Sports Editor) and Randy Arrington (Editor) of the Page News and Courier... John Galle (Sports Editor) and Susan Thompson (Editor) of the Shenandoah Valley Herald Chris & Crystal Graham of the magazine- THE NEW DOMINION Kip

Amazing Numbers from the 2008 Luray Wranglers season :

Team Home Runs - 68 Team Strike Outs- 515 Runs Scored------ 315 Team Wins------- 37 * All Time Wrangler Record Individual Numbers - Travis Smink (6 Wins, 6-1) Jeff Jefferson (59 hits) Ryan Schimpf (11 Home Runs) * In under 30 games due to joining the team after Omaha Adam McClain- 32 RBI's A look at the playoff run after Harrisonburg won game 1 to push the Wranglers to the brink: Harrisonburg 7 @ Luray 2 THEN: Luray 8 @ Harrisonburg 1.............. Never trailed / Rucinski wins @ Luray 4 Harrisonburg 3.............. Never trailed / Koronis win in relief @ Luray 6 Staunton 3....................Never trailed / Koronis win as a starter Luray 6 @ Staunton 5....................Trailed 5TH thru 9TH / Cichy wins as reliever @ Luray 3 Covington 0.................. Never trailed / Smink wins Luray 10 @ Covington 5.................Trailed for 1/2 inning / Rucinski wins @ Luray 4 Covington 0................ Never trailed / Wimmers wins 7 straight wins by a

Game #3- All the makings of a Reecee's Penut Butter Cup Commercial: Wranglers sweep with 4-0 win

By: Scoop Carter ATV Correspondent LURAY - The conversation all season long about Luray hitting and Luray pitching simply became magnified during the Wranglers impressive three game sweep of the Covington Lumberjacks. Game 1 went to Luray on the strength of the left arm of Travis Smink ( VMI ). Smink dominated the contest as the home team captured a 3-0 victory. Game 2 belonged to Ryan Schimpf (4 of 5, 5 RBI's ) and the rest of the offense as 25 Wranglers touched first base during the 10-5 victory. The series headed back up to Bulldog Field for Game 3 on Tuesday and just like in the commercials from the 70's and 80's where one person walks around with peanut butter and the other is eating milk chocolate until the bump into each other. Alex Wimmers (Ohio State) turned in a pitching performance that rivaled ANY seen in the VBL this summer and Schimpf brought back flashes of Reggie Jackson by carrying a team offensively for three nights. Wimmers pitc

Bill Meade and Randy Arrington burning the Midnight Oil at the Page News & Courier

I always know what night of the week it is by the number of lights on at the Page News & Courier when we toss out their copy of the Washington Post to the front door. On Tuesday night you will always see the office lights on upstairs where the editor Randy Arrington is hard at work. The last minutes before print time is crunch time and Randy will be up there trying to finish "putting the newspaper to bed" before it is transmitted over to Harrisonburg . The newspaper is printed over at the Daily News Record each Wednesday but not until Randy signs off on the finished product. This week that exercise took on a whole new meaning of "Deadline Pressure" as the Luray Wranglers captured their second VBL Championship in the past three seasons. The fact that the clincher took place on a Tuesday night and then the post game ceremony lasted to well after 11:00 PM made things very interesting for both Bill & Randy. There was a story to write and pictures to match-up

The Pictures You've Been Waiting For: Your 2008 VBL Champions

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Enjoy these photos. There are a lot of celebration shots toward the end! Ms. Barbara Black singing the National Anthem Great to see the bleachers so full Game #3 Action Alex Wimmers (Ohio State University) Bulldog Field was the place to be Ryan Carroll (L) and Seth McGuffin (R) doing the web cast The Jacks getting losse between innings Check out the hustle Ryan Schimpf at the dish Ryan rounding third base after his 3RD dinger of the finals After his 4TH finals HR came later his mates were asking is that all you can do? Smiling faces were abound as the Wranglers closed in on the Crown Haymarket Joe was down for both games 1 & 3 clicking away Gus Miller (OSU) and check out the ball there at the end of the bat The Park really was Standing Room Only! Far right side- Jason (Covington) and Bill Turner visit Hard working Bill Meade and his camera Lady Rebecca Armstrong Did we mention , Great Crowd? Did we just hit another home run? Check out Bill Meade out there trying