Downtown Reno Baseball

Still Playing in the Dirt

2008-07-11T21:36:31Z

Heading off to the All-Star Game next week (no, not that one, this one) but I wanted to post another round of construction photos before I head out.

This is the view in line from home plate to straightaway center field to the northeast. Note the curve of the stands on the right field side beginning to take shape. To the left of the backhoe in the center of the site, you can see a pile of reddish dirt; this is the remnant of a foundation from a long-lost, long-buried brick building on the site.

A closer look at the slope of the first base/right field grandstand area.

The right field berm continues to rise.

More boulders dug up from around the site... soon to be appearing at the Sparks Whitewater Park.

The view up Evans Avenue. Granite Construction is the subcontractor for the site excavation; the tanks in the foreground are water tanks for keeping dust down during construction.

The view down 2nd/Kuenzli, with the Truckee River flowing just beyond right field.

I'll have some photos from Louisville at some point next week, and we can start looking at All-Star events that Reno's team will host in the not-too-distant future. Everyone have a great weekend!

Climbing the Standings (Sort Of)

2008-07-10T22:15:17Z

As of the end of play on July 9, the Sidewinders (Reno's future franchise) have recovered from a very ugly start to... well, to climb into second-to-last place in the entire league, and within five games of third place in the division.

By losing 19 of the first 22 games of the year, the team certainly didn't do itself any favors; however, in the time since then, the team has played a respectable 36-36. The team had trouble finding its footing as four of the team's top prospects were traded to Oakland in exchange for Dan Haren before the season began, but now has All-Stars Jamie D'Antona and Emilio Bonifacio leading the charge.

Such is Triple-A baseball. The Sidewinders went from 8 games under .500 in 2005, to a league-best 38 games OVER .500 the following season, then back down to 8 games over .500 in 2007. Because the team is part of the parent club's big picture to win at the Major League level, a team's fortunes might shift dramatically on the arm or bat of a called-up phenom.

On the other hand, maybe it's not always just one player or two, but simply team synergy and lucky streaks. Just a few days after star pitcher Max Scherzer was called up to the bigs, the Sidewinders went on a 6-2 run to begin their long climb back to respectability.

The Ballpark's Taking Shape

2008-07-01T22:35:53Z

Andrei and I spent some time out at the construction site last week (special thanks to Tomara and Corky over at Devcon for giving us the grand tour.)

As you may know, the early stages of the ballpark's construction is actually a massive dig. When you walk through the gates next year, you'll be at the top of the concourse, and you'll walk down to your seats, not up. That is, picture the Oakland Coliseum's lower deck, where the main walkway is at street level; rather than, say, Mackay Stadium, where you enter the stands at field level and walk up.

Much of the dirt from the excavation will be taken off-site, but some of it will be used to build up the hill in right field for lawn seating. In the photo below, facing northwest, you can see the beginnings of the hill. It's hidden on the other side of the dirt, but that's the Truckee right beyond the hill.

Here's a better look at the excavation process. This is a view looking west, from about where the right center field fence will be. The drop from street level to field level will be roughly 14 feet... so at the point when this picture was taken, they're just about down to field level already. Since the point when this photo was taken, the excavation has now reached right field and the infield.

Of course, it's not all dirt and pebbles underground on the site. Below, you'll see some of the large river boulders discovered during the dig, along with some ancient pipes from long-lost buildings which once occupied the block.

At the northwest corner of the site stands the historic Freight House (built 1931). The structure will be a signature location within the ballpark complex.

Finally, a view from home plate, looking northeast.

Obviously, there's still quite a bit of work to do, but things are taking shape...

-Brett

Back to the Blog

2008-07-01T22:26:51Z

After being called out by ksrfascist and johnnyv22 on the message boards, I'm resolving to be far, far better about posting to the blog, and the message boards. I'll have some construction photos shortly, with more to follow in the coming days and weeks.

-Brett

Insomniacs Love Name-the-Team

2008-05-07T19:20:25Z

We launched the "Name the Team" contest at 12:01 Monday morning, and the entries keep rolling in. So far, we have nearly 500 entries, and over 200 unique names.

But here's the weird part... since we've launched the contest, we have received entries in 51 of the 61 hours the contest has been up. Yesterday morning, we had one entry at 4:27 a.m. Just this morning, we had an entry at 1:40...

And yet, nobody has submitted "Red Eyes" or "Sheep Counters" yet. Odd.

Vegas Jealousy Redux

2008-04-29T19:16:34Z

Fan Forum member johnnyv22 brought to our attention that the Vegas jealousy continues, this time from Ed Graney of the Review-Journal...

"A new facility is the key and what would really get people excited," Logan said. "But we're not counting on (Mayor Oscar Goodman) because we can't count on him. If a stadium deal was going to happen with Oscar, it would already have been done."

Of course, but why would Goodman and his cohorts be interested in a project that would create jobs and additional tax revenue? Reno, by the way, will have done both with its new state-of-the-art ballpark in 2009.

Which makes it official: They not only have better college football coaches up there, but also smarter politicians.

At least Ed doesn't resort to any flannel stereotypes.

Scherzer's Getting Attention

2008-04-25T01:01:07Z

For those of you following Sidewinders starter Max Scherzer's exploits, he's getting even more national attention. Scherzer's fantastic start (1.17 ERA, 38 strikeouts in 23 innings) earns him nothing but praise in today's Yahoo! Fantasy Sports article.

With the start he's having, it's unlikely that Scherzer will still be at the Triple-A level when the Sidewinders franchise is in Reno in 2009. Still, there are quite a few prospects in the organization that could be wowing fans in Downtown Reno next season, including...

Jarrod Parker- Single-A South Bend...1.86 ERA, 11 K's in 9 innings of work

Cesar Nicolas- Double-A Mobile... .360 batting average, .443 on-base percentage

Emilio Bonifacio- Triple-A Tucson... leading the PCL with 9 stolen bases

Looking forward to seeing some quality baseball on the river next year!

UPDATE: Scherzer was called up for Arizona's game against San Diego on Sunday. Good luck Max!

Opening Day

2008-03-31T18:18:54Z

I know that the A's and Red Sox officially opened up the baseball season last week, when the Red Sox and A's split a two-game series in Tokyo. But it's hard to get that "baseball is back" feeling when the games take place in the middle of the night in another hemisphere, and the other 28 teams are still playing Spring Training games.

Not to mention the fact that both teams came back stateside and continued playing pre-season exhibitions... the A's against the Giants, and the Red Sox against the Dodgers.

But now that the Nats and Braves got things started last night with the first game in North America, and most of the other teams start today, it really feels like the season is getting underway. Our parent club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, will begin defending their NL West title in Cincinnati today, if it stops raining.

Looking at their Opening Day roster, you can see just how talented the Diamondbacks' system is. Of the 25 players on the roster, eight played for the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders last year, and 13 played there in the past two years. And four of the starters made their way through Tucson, including starting pitcher Brandon Webb.

Meanwhile, Randy Johnson is slated to be the Opening Day starter for the Sidewinders as their season opens up Thursday, as he works his way off the Disabled List.

Long story short: in just over a year, Reno is in for some exciting, high-level baseball.

Pack Baseball

2008-03-07T18:38:38Z

In a completely unofficial capacity, I'm heading to the Wolf Pack baseball game this afternoon at 2... I'll be sitting in Section 1, wearing a blue shirt and a San Francisco Seals cap. Andrei will be there too, looking far too overdressed for a ballgame.

If you're there, stop by and say hey, and let's talk baseball.

Jealousy and Loathing in Las Vegas

2008-02-29T02:00:57Z

Interesting quote from Ron Kantowski's column in the Las Vegas Sun regarding Reno's new ballpark...

Reno is getting a new $50 million Triple-A baseball stadium.

Las Vegas is not.

Next, they’ll be giving us the flannel shirt off their back.

Wait, really? Is that the Reno stereotype, that we all wear flannel? Meaning that we're grunge musicians? Lumberjacks? Neil Young fans?

I'm not sure I was aware of that.

Latest Ballpark Rendering

2008-02-29T01:42:47Z

Our groundbreaking was a big success! Thanks to the hundreds of fans who came out to see us get started, and for those of you who couldn't make it downtown on Monday morning, we hope to see you out at the ballyard a little over a year from now.

We have an image gallery of the festivities posted at BaseballReno.com, which includes a large version of the new conceptual rendering. Take a look!

Groundbreaking

2008-02-22T23:01:45Z

Just a few short days until we break ground on the ballpark... Monday at 11 a.m. at the northeast corner of 2nd and Evans. Representatives of the Diamondbacks will be on hand, and the latest renderings of the ballpark will be released.

If you're still on the fence, one last item to consider: there will be peanuts and kettle corn.

As for the weather, so far it's looking like we'll be back to relatively warm temperatures and we'll miss the effects of the weekend storm. We should have known what we were getting ourselves into when we scheduled the groundbreaking right after the Wolf Pack baseball home opener, which virtually guarantees a snowstorm will hit.

WELCOME!

2008-02-20T01:28:54Z

Welcome Reno fans! I hope you're as excited as I am about Triple-A baseball coming to Northern Nevada.

Everyone here with SK Baseball is working hard to get things ready to play ball at 2nd and Evans in April 2009, a little over a year from now. There's a lot to be done, from building the ballpark, to creating the team identity, to developing ways to become a true community asset.

We're getting started with Step #1 on Monday, February 25 at 11:00 a.m., when we break ground on the ballpark. Please join us at the free event, and try to imagine the crack of the bat and the smell of hot dogs on Reno summer nights. It will be here sooner than we think!

In the meantime, you can stay in touch with us here on the blog, or on the Fan Forum at BaseballReno.com. See you there!

-Brett