Hey AN, thought you might be interested to read what Oakland's second pick yesterday, Tyson Ross, had to say about being drafted by his hometown team. Also, he reveals why he has such an unorthodox follow-through on his delivery.

Basically, Ross is a shortstop on the mound. He never changed his throwing motion from the time he was an infielder, and throws the same way when he toes the rubber now.

You can read the full interview here.

In my communication with Ross, I was impressed -- as the scouts said in his draft report, this is a character guy with great mental makeup.

Hello from northwest Arkansas! Contrary to popular opinion, it's actually very nice here, and everyone I've met so far has the majority of their teeth.

I drove down from Nebraska today to catch the first two games of the RockHounds-Naturals series. I'm covering the game as part of my work at MVN.com , in case you're wondering why I drove six hours to catch a AA game. Well, other than the obvious "love of baseball" factor.

The reason I'm writing is that I have credentials for these games, and wanted to open it up to AN to ask some questions of these guys. If there's anything you'd like me to ask a RockHound, post it in a comment and I'll try to track down the player in the clubhouse after tonight's game, or at some point tomorrow.

Harvey Perlman has finally wised up and fired Steve Pedersen.

http://journalstar.com/blog/huskers....

Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 15, 2007 -- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman today announced he has asked UNL Athletic Director Steve Pederson to step down from the post he has held since January 2003.

Perlman said he believes Pederson is no longer positioned to move the Athletic Department forward.

"We are of course disappointed about the progress in our football program. Steve has done many positive things for Husker athletics during his tenure but I think only new leadership can objectively assess the state of our program and make the decisions necessary to move us forward," Perlman said.

Pederson's contract was renewed for five years at the end of July.

"You make the best decision you can with the information you have," Perlman said. Since then, Perlman says he has noted a decline in morale in the Athletic Department, and growing concern about retention of key personnel.

Perlman said he will immediately initiate conversations to identify an interim athletic director with full authority to assess the state of the Athletic Department and its athletic programs and to make any decision necessary to advance those programs. He also indicated his intention to consult with a national search consultant to begin the process for selection of a new permanent athletic director.

"It is not clear how long such a process will take or its precise form. It is important it be done expeditiously but thoughtfully," Perlman said.

"The selection of Steve Pederson in 2003 as athletic director was widely thought to be the only clear choice because of his experience, his roots and his knowledge of our traditions. I know Steve made the decisions he thought best for the interests of the program and the university. I am disappointed that I had to come to this decision."

I was in Geneva, Ill. about a week and a half ago to catch a couple Kane County Cougars games, and while there, spoke at length with A's draft picks Sam Demel and Josh Horton. I'll post some of my conversation with Demel in this diary, but for the rest you'll have to click here. Sorry for not posting the whole thing, but I'd be in trouble if I did...

--- -- ---

The former TCU closer, now a right-handed setup man for the Cougars, got off to a rough start with Stockton in his initial venture into pro ball, but has been lights out for Kane County, helping the Cougars to a 2.47 team ERA in the month of August and a shot at the Midwest League playoffs. What’s more, Demel is yet another example of the type of character guys that Oakland seems to stock their organization with.

Continue reading this post »

Well, I'm in the Chicago area to visit a friend, and more importantly, watch the A's. I'm heading out to the game tonight at "the Cell", but I caught yesterday's Kane County -- Oakland's low class-A affiliate -- game in Geneva, Ill., a suburn of Chicago.

I wrote up some notes on the game over at the A's minor league site I run (with ConditionOakland) on MVN, but I'll post the portion dealing with RHP Scott Deal's well-pitched start. I spoke with Deal after the game, while he was icing down. It was obvious by his performance in the game, and his attitude afterwards, that he's regained the confidence that he had as a 19-year old in Vancouver last season.

Continue reading this post »

Tony Watson held the Longhorns to two hits, Ryan Wehrle had four of his own, and Nebraska took another Friday game in a Big 12 series. Another big plus came when Augie Garrido was tossed from the game after arguing a call. In the college ranks, you're not likely to find an easier coach to dislike than "Argue" Garrido.

The big story, though, is... could this collegiate Big Red machine finally be up and running? The Huskers look good, and seem to have more than just one or two players clicking on all cylinders.

But, here comes another wrench in the gears.

Charlie Shirek and Mike Harmelink were suspended for this weekend's series. While I might joke that it's a relief that Mike Anderson can't put Shirek in to blow a game (see Wichita State...), this is serious business. This season, Nebraska has become the Cincinnati Bengals of Big 12 baseball. The suspensions have piled up. Tony Watson and Mike Harmelink, DUI. Andrew Brown, team rules. Erik Bird, team rules. Charlie Shirek and Mike Harmelink, vandalism and public intoxication. Harmelink has been suspended twice now, and according to reports, might even be facing some charges related to prescription drugs.

Mike Anderson has done the right thing so far by taking a firm line and suspending as many people as he has, but the message isn't getting across. You have to wonder just why these kids think they're going to get away with anything, anyway?

-- - --

Nebraska will look to take the series with a win today at home, and they'll do it before a packed house at Haymarket. I stopped by the park on my way to work today, over an hour before game time, and the place was packed. They were handing out free t-shirts to the first 500 students to enter, and they were long gone by 5:45. Haymarker offers a huge home-field advantage for the Big Red, and it's good to see the fans come out in droves for virtually every game.

I've got to say, there were more contentious calls in that game than I've seen in a while. There were no less than three stolen base attempts, two plays at the plate, and a strikeout call that didn't come out as Nebraska would have liked. Certainly one or two were the right call, but it just egged on the crowd.

The worst missed call, by far, was in the eighth inning. With a runner on second, Creighton bunted to advance the runner. The bunter was out on the play -- but for whatever reason, the runner was slow advancing to third. Andrew Brown threw back across the diamond, and the Bluejay runner was out by six feet, though he slid. For reasons unbeknownst to me (and the rest of the ballpark), he was called safe.

On the subsequent play, Creighton laid down a suicide squeeze, but while it looked like the runner was surely out this time, Mitch Abeita apparently dropped the ball as he reached into his mitt for it. Once again, a safe call on the basepaths caused the crowd to erupt.

Speaking of the crowd, I was once again disappointed in the behavior of a large and vocal portion of the Creighton fans. After Creighton took the lead, a group of fans sitting in the 1st-base box seats began to get into it with students in the berm section. As soon as the game was over, a dozen or so blue-clad "fans" began to taunt the Nebraska students filtering out of the berm. There was pointing to the scoreboard, loud mocking laughter, and a general sense of arrogance exhibited by the Bluejay hecklers. I don't want to stereotype all Bluejay fans as such, but when I'm consistently exposed to behavior like this from their fans, a pattern begins to emerge.

-- - --

Since I'd rather not linger any further upon an ugly game and ugly fans, I'll leave you with these photos from the game, and look forward to the Texas series this weekend.

Jake Opitz and Ryan Wehrle turning two in the early innings of the game.

Look closely. That's the same pitcher, using both hands. It's Creighton's switch-pitching Pat Venditte. Notice how he throws a traditional arm slot with the right arm, but sidearms from the southpaw side. He's effective from both ends, too.

Nebraska scored one on this wild pitch, but the second run was out at the plate in a close call that the umps got right, though the crowd disagreed.

Nebraska and Oklahoma are one of the storied rivalries in all of sports. Well, if you're talking about football, and are asking anyone over the age of 35, or those that recall the glory days of the Big Eight.

In baseball, they're just two of the perennially stronger teams in the Big 12. This weekend, they'll meet to decide, once and for all, which is the better middle-of-the-pack team in the Big 12 this season. Is it Oklahoma, who comes into the series ranked as high as No. 23 nationally, sporting a 24-11 overall record with a 4-5 mark in conference? Or is it Nebraska, winners of one straight Big 12 series, owners of a 20-13 (5-7) record?

Here are the details for your weekend of following the disappointing 'Skers:

Probable Starters

Friday, 7:00 p.m. CDT
NU - Tony Watson, Jr., LHP (3-1, 3.33 ERA, 46 K, 48 IP)
OU - Stephen Portier, So., RHP (4-3, 3.15 ERA, 62 K, 52.1 IP)

Saturday, 3:00 p.m. CDT
NU - Johnny Dorn, Jr., RHP (5-1, 4.89 ERA, 37 K, 46 IP)
OU - Heath Taylor, Jr., LHP 6-1, 2.86 ERA, 46 K, 50.1 IP)

Sunday, 1:00 p.m. CDT
NU - TBA (Herr? Bowman? Foust? Bill Callahan? Larry the Cable Guy? who knows...)
OU - TBA

Broadcasts

Radio: Husker Sports Network (KLIN, KFAB, etc.) and for free on Huskers.com
Satellite Radio: Saturday and Sunday’s games will be on SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Channel is TBA)
TV: Saturday’s game at Oklahoma will be carried live on Fox Sports Net (Ch. 37 in Lincoln, Ch. 47 in Omaha)
Live Stats: Huskers.com

Is that too ham-handed a pun for the title? Oh well.

On Wednesday, I drove about four hours south of Lincoln to visit the home of the storied Wichita State baseball team. Literally built from the ground up by current head coach Gene Stephenson, the Shocker baseball program has graduated many recognizable names in baseball: Casey Blake, Joe Carter, Darren Dreifort, Braden Looper, Doug Mirabelli, Mike Pelfrey, Nate Robertson, and Eric Wedge. They won the national title in 1989, just over a decade after the founding of the baseball program in the late 70s.

Eck Stadium is the home of Shocker baseball, and I've got to say, I was impressed. It's a nice facility -- awful astroturf infield notwithstanding -- and it just feels like a college park. There were plenty of WSU students around the park, even though it was a chilly 50 at game time.

The most interesting thing about Eck Stadium, though, is the beer policy. Coming from Nebraska where both Haymarket and Rosenblatt are dry stadiums, it was a shock to see beer stands set up at a college park. Not only could you buy a brew from the concession stand up until the end of the game, if you had a $5 outfield berm ticket, you could bring your own cooler. That's right, for $5 you can bring a cooler full of your favorite brew, sit on the grass and watch a baseball game. If they had that policy at Nebraska, Haymarket's berm section would be packed with half-drunk college kids every game.

There was a drawback to the loose alcohol policy, though. Unlike the vast majority of college games I've been to, there were a decent number of people in the crowd that were heckling the students on the field. A couple idiots to my left were getting so bad that a cop had to come and threaten them with ejection if they didn't shut up. All things being equal, I think I'd rather catch a game at a beer-free college park than one that serves. There are plenty of minor and major league games I can attend and have a frosty one; I'd rather not see these kids on the field get heckled brutally by an intoxicated dumbass. If you're getting paid to play, you're a legitimate target. Student-athletes? Nope.

Anyway, as for the game itself... Drew Bowman got the start for the Huskers, and pitched very well. He gave Nebraska 5 2/3 innings pitched with only 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.

Matt Foust then came in to relieve him, and continued the Husker pitching excellence. In an inning and a third, he gave up only one hit and struck out one.

Nebraska entered the bottom of the eighth inning with a 3-1, but then... everything fell apart as Mike Anderson felt a need to give the massively struggling Charlie Shirek an opportunity. Shirek gave up one run, but left two baserunners for Zach Herr (pictured on the left), who struck out the only batter he faced for the first out in the inning.

Anderson lifted Herr and replaced him with Erik Bird, who has yet to show this season that he remembers how to pitch. After all was said and done, Wichita State scored four runs to take a 5-3 lead.

Two of the Shocker runs were scored by 3B Conor Gillaspie, who went 2-for-4 against Nebraska to improve his average to .338 on the year. Gillaspie is a native of Elkhorn, Neb., and while I'm not concerned that the Huskers didn't show interest in signing him, it hurts when a Nebraskan is a key factor in a Husker loss.

After taking such a promising start to the game, the mismanagement of the bullpen by Mike Anderson let a quality win slip away. Using arguably the two least effective pitchers on the staff in the late innings of a game you're leading on the road... well, that's just not smart.

So, the Huskers left Wichita with a 20-13 record, continuing to slide down to what could be their worst season in a decade.

On a cold and rainy Nebraska evening, the Huskers pulled out a win against their cross-Missouri River rivals, successfully avenging a March 4th loss. There were about 350 fans there, from my estimate, though official attendance was 800.

The Huskers fell behind early, though spot starter Dan Jennings (pictured on the left) was effective over his four innings of work. He gave up five hits and one earned run with four strikeouts and no walks, left with the lead, and eventually was credited with his first career win.

Jeff Tezak and Jake Opitz each had two hits and two RBI to give the Huskers an early 7-3 lead, a cushion they'd need later. Tezak hit his third homer of the year to left field, where the sole fan braving the weather retrieved it from the berm.

The Huskers entered the ninth inning with a four run lead, and handed the ball to their de facto closer, Steve Edlefsen. Apparently Edlefsen didn't handle the inclement weather well, as he walked three, threw two wild pitches and allowed two runs. Bases loaded, and... enter Matt Foust. Foust leads the team in walks allowed, and after getting one out, walked in one more run. He managed to get the last out on a foul ball for his second save of the season, but not before creating substantially more tension than needed.

This brings me to a problem with the traditionally reliable Nebraska bullpen. In 113 innings of work, they've allowed 79 walks. That's almost seven per nine innings of work, a rate that's far too high for a starter, let alone a relief specialist.

If the Huskers are going to even pretend to compete in the Big 12, they need to have a reliable bullpen. One that puts that many runners on for free isn't going to cut it.

Hopefully the Huskers didn't burn up the pen by using six relievers in the cold on Tuesday night. They take on Wichita State on Wednesday, and then travel to Oklahoma this weekend.

Speaking of the Shockers and travelling, I'll be heading down to Wichita on Wednesday to take in the game. Assuming I can find a coffee shop with free WiFi, and I think I did, I'll have a recap and some photos up after the game. I'm sure corn blight will have a game thread up, and if you're lurking, come on out and leave your $.02 in the pot.