Christopher Fee

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3828[/ATTACH] Photo Courtesy of Richard Bobby Photography Coming off a dismal 1-5 road trip the Rochester Red Wings came home to start an 8 game home stand against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders (Yankees) and Pawtucket Red Sox. Coming into their game Monday against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Wings had lost four in a row and had been outscored 24-8 in those games. More of the Same In the four games against the Railriders the Red Wings starters allowed 11 earned runs in 23 innings pitched, which translates to a 4.30 ERA. However, the bullpen continues to struggle, giving up 13 runs in just nine innings pitched (6.23 ERA). During the series the Red Wings were outscored 22 – 6, which included a 20 inning scoreless drought. When you only score six runs in four games, to blame the offense is an obvious choice. Exactly how much is the offense struggling though? In their four game series against the Railriders, Rochester was a combined 2-33 (.061) with runners in scoring position and 31 men were left on base. After the game Wednesday night, manager Gene Glynn talked a little bit about the teams early season struggles. “I was hoping that it wouldn’t get this deep. We had a couple of 8 game losing streaks last year early in season. I just want to put this behind us as soon as we can. You know that there’s a long season ahead, but it’s getting urgent that we turn this around.” After breaking their seven game losing streak on Thursday, the road was not going to get any easier as the International League North division-leading Pawtucket Red Sox were coming to town. Not only were the Red Sox in first place, but also they were getting better. Boston called DH David Ortiz up from Pawtucket on Friday afternoon, but sent top prospect Jackie Bradley Jr. down to the PawSox. Is the team starting to click? Friday night’s game was rained out, which meant the Red Wings would play one Saturday and a double header on Sunday, their second twinbill of the young season. Andrew Albers started for Rochester on Saturday; overall he has been one of the more reliable pitchers on the team. However due to cold weather, strong winds and control issues, Albers would only last two innings, giving up three runs on four hits. Over the remaining seven innings, the bullpen allowed just five hits and one run, while striking out five. While it wasn’t a jaw dropping offensive performance, it was still nice to see the team hit. The Red Wings went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position (RISP), but they capitalized on the Red Sox three errors, and Chris Colabello’s game winning HR in the 7th inning helped Rochester get their first winning streak of the season. Kyle Gibson took the mound in game one of the double header on Sunday. Through 5 innings he looked great and the Red Wings were up 1-0. Unfortunately he was unable to retire anyone in the 6th inning, Luis Perdomo was also unable to get anyone out in the 6th. Five runs crossed the plate in the inning and the Red Sox added three more in the 7th, in an 8-1 Red Sox victory, ending the Red Wings two game winning streak. Game two was all about P.J. Walters, pitching a complete game two hitter, to give Rochester their first shutout of the season. Despite going 2 for 14 with RISP, it was still enough to pick up their third win in four games. Let’s Look at the Numbers In the Red Wings five wins this year, they have outscored their opponents 28-14. In their 12 losses, opponents have outscored Rochester, 78-23. Also in 12 of the 17 games played (71%), the Red Wings have scored 2 runs or fewer; they are 2-10 in those games. Chris Colabello and Clete Thomas are the only two Rochester players with batting averages above .300 for the year. There are seven players with averages at .200 or below, and three more players with averages below .220 for the season. Rochester has a combined team ERA of 6.43 through 17 games. However the team has an improving ERA of 4.80 over their past four games. What Lies Ahead? Now at 5-12 on the year, Rochester finishes their home stand tomorrow in game four of the series against Pawtucket. The Red Wings then stay local, heading east to Syracuse for a four game series against the Chiefs (Nationals). Last season Rochester was 5-11 against Syracuse, and 3-5 on the road at NBT Bank Stadium. The Red Wings then return home for a four game series against the Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays). The Wings are 1-3 against Buffalo this season, including 1-1 at Frontier Field.

I would be shocked if he's not called up at some point this year, tough not to root for him too. One of the nicest people I've had the opportunity to interview. He gave great answers, very humble, loves the game, and works hard, tough not to like the guy.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1575-Q-A-with-Chris-Colabello

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3776[/ATTACH] Photo courtesy of Tim Doohan and the Rochester Red Wings After spending eight seasons playing baseball in the Independent leagues, Chris Colabello finally was given the opportunity to play for a major league affiliate. Last year in New Britain, Colabello turned some heads hitting .284 with 19 home runs and 98 RBI’s. So far in Rochester it has been more of the same, hitting .395 with 4 home runs and 6 RBI’s and was named the IL player of the week during the opening week of the season. After batting practice on Tuesday, I had the chance to talk to him about his time in the minors, his season so far, as well as his time playing for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. CF - Being from Framingham, the cold weather hasn’t been bothering you at all this season has it? You must be used to it at this point. Chris Colabello (CC): It’s not to say that I like it. I would say no matter where you grow up, for me it was Central Massachusetts, where I spent almost my whole life. You get used to it I guess, but it’s still not something I enjoy. (laughs) You do the best you can with it. CF - What do you credit your early season success to? Being named the International League Player of the Week last week, hitting over .400, pretty good start. CC - I think more than anything else is to try to stay consistent mentally. Over the past couple of years I tried to put an emphasis on taking care of the process, not worrying about the results. When you focus too much on results, you force things. You try to focus on the things that you can control every day, taking care of things that you can take care of. Taking care of your swing. Taking care of your pre-game, and prepare yourself the best you can and hope for the best. At that point playing that game becomes part of the process. CF: The team is off to kind of a rough start (Rochester was 2-9 when we spoke), how is the morale in the locker room? CC – I think everyone’s doing okay. I mean obviously as individuals you want to get off to a good start, team wise and on a personal level. It’s very important to remember that it’s a long season and you have plenty of time. Not to say that starting 2-9 is something that everyone wanted to do, you just keep battling, keep grinding. We haven’t gotten very many breaks, and that’s part of the game, when it rains it pours. We just have to go out, keep grinding every day and things will start to turn, start to catch some breaks, start feeling a little bit better about yourself and the team. CF - You played Left Field for the first time in a couple of years the other night. Was there a reason for that? CC – I’m not really sure, I played a lot of outfield in college, a lot of outfield in Indy ball. Gene (Glynn), had asked me in Spring Training if I felt comfortable enough to do it, just to mix things up a little, also to try to get other guys into the lineup, it was fun though, I enjoyed it. CF - Any problem out there, or was it just like riding a bike? CC – I don’t know if it’s like riding a bike. (laughs) When you get used to playing a certain position for a while it sort of becomes second nature, so you don’t have to worry about situations and where you’re going to go with the ball. In left field, I was always double-checking to make sure I knew what to do with the baseball if it got hit to me before the play, things like that. Thankfully I was able to make a pretty good play on a line drive that saved us a couple of runs. My heart was racing a little bit on that one (chuckles). CF - Having played 8 seasons in Indy ball, what would you compare the level of play too in affiliated baseball? AA, AAA? CC – On any given night it really depends on the guy on the mound. In the Indy leagues you could face a guy who pitched in the big leagues, AAA, AA. A guy who has plus stuff who may be coming off of an injury, trying to reinvent himself or whatever it might be. I think the difference between Indy ball and a level like this is, you have a bigger disparity of the kind of guy you’re going to get. You might have a 36-year-old guy who played 10 years in the big leagues, or you might have a guy who’s right out of college. In affiliated ball you really don’t see that as much because there is a development process. I think that’s the single biggest thing. In affiliated ball you see why guys are here, whether its tools oriented, or they’ve been around the game for a while or whatever it may be. I think it terms of top to bottom on a roster there is a little bit more consistency in the type of player you’re going to get. CF - What was it like being on the Italian World Baseball Classic Roster? CC – It was unbelievable. It was a tremendous experience, definitely something that I’ll never forget. I couldn’t be more thankful to the organization and the Italian Federation for giving me the opportunity to do it. Obviously being able to move on to the second round too, something not a lot of people expected us to do. I think everyone that was watching saw how much fun we were having as a group. It was really neat to get together with a bunch of guys, who for the most part didn’t know each other. I was fortunate enough to play with a bunch of the Italian guys, whether it was growing up or at the European Cup last year. But to have guys come in from big league camp, from minor league camp that really didn’t know each other all that well and have us come together like we did was great. CF - I’m not terribly familiar with the process of being selected to the WBC, how did you get selected and how did you find out that you were on the team? CC– I’ve known the Italian manager for quite a while. I grew up in Italy; my father had played on the International team for quite a few years. Last year, when we were about half way through the season, the manager had emailed me to see if I’d be interested in playing in the European Cup in the fall. I was really excited to be able to do, if the opportunity allowed itself with the regular season and playoffs in New Britain. Unfortunately we didn’t make the playoffs in New Britain last year, we missed out by a game. We had discussed it out there, talked about it a little bit the year before, we were just going to wait to see how the roster shook itself out. He stayed in touch with me all winter, I did okay during the European Cup, and so he was excited to potentially have me on the roster. We kept talking throughout the first few months of the year, fortunately things were able to work out, the Twins green lighted it and it was an awesome experience. CF - You had a pretty good Spring Training campaign; did you expect to get sent down to Rochester? Or was there a part of you that thought you may stick with the Twins coming out of camp. CC – Honestly, as a player, as an individual my goal is to go out everyday and control the things that I can control. I don’t think there was ever an expectation to make the big league club out of camp. They have a pretty good First Baseman up there, he’s been to a few All Star Games, done some really nice things, won an MVP. I didn’t really know what the protocol would be, but I talked to some people who had mentioned Rochester being the most likely scenario. I worked as hard as I could to show the staff up there what I was capable of; again I try to control the things that I can control. Whether it is in Rochester, New Britain, Minnesota, I’m just thankful to put on the uniform every day and play the game that I love. I know there are a lot of people that would trade places with me, if the opportunity comes to do it in a Twins uniform, that would be unbelievable. Right now I’m worried about being a Rochester Red Wing, and being the best Rochester Red Wing I can be, and try to help this team win some games. CF - How surprised are you that it took 8 seasons in Indy ball before getting picked up by a Major League organization? CC – I mean, at the end of the day I don’t worry about what other people think. There were a bunch of things that I had heard, whether it was “I couldn’t run fast enough” or “I didn’t hit for enough power” or even “I’m only a first baseman”. I’ve been very lucky to have people at a young age that told me to “control you”. I went out and tried to play to the best of my ability every day. If someone saw enough they liked to give me an opportunity, I would be more thankful then anyone could ever imagine. For some reason it took 8 years for someone to give me that chance, but in a lot of ways it was almost a blessing in disguise in terms of me being able to develop as player maturity wise. It allowed me to be able to deal with failure, and deal with things that the game brings out. When you’re young, you don’t really know how to cope with things. For whatever reason it happened the way that it did, and I couldn’t be more thankful to be here today, and have a pretty good grasp on myself as an individual and to be able to take that with me when I go to the field. CF -What are your goals for the rest of the season, not only for yourself but for the team as well? CC – I would have to say consistency more than anything else in terms of how you approach the game. Results are very difficult to create, process is something as a player, as a team you take care of every day. Whether it means fundamentals, preparation, whatever you do as a player to get yourself in a routine, is what you need to do to give yourself the best opportunity to succeed. I told coaches in Spring Training my biggest goal was to bring mental consistency to the field everyday, to stay positive mentally no matter what’s going on around you. As a team that’s the goal every day to be consistent and to give yourself the best chance to win every night. There’s no real secret formula to say this is what you have to do, you just gotta keep grinding. There’s going to be upswings and downswings in baseball, and when the downswings happen early, people have a tendency to key in on them. If you go through a 0-10 stretch in July or you’re 2-30 in July, people just say, “It is what it is” and tend not to notice it at much. It comes down to being able to find mental consistency as an individual and as a team, and then see where the road takes you.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1570-Rochester-Red-Wings-Road-Trip-Review

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3753[/ATTACH] At 2-8, the Rochester Red Wings 2013 season is not going the way anyone had hoped for. It was just two weeks ago that optimists (including myself) were wondering if this would be the season that Rochester would finally put a competitive team on the field for the first time in several years. The Scranton Split The Red Wings started off their seven game road trip by heading to Scranton Wilkes-Barre to take on the Yankees. What was meant to be a three game series, became two, due to terrible weather. Typical for this time of year. Despite splitting the two game series against the Yankees, it’s tough to take a lot of positives out of it. The offense continued to struggle; scoring just four runs in two games, and a lowly 2-15 (.133) with RISP. Clete Thomas, Chris Colabello and Oswaldo Arcia continue to be the strength in the lineup going 6 for 16 (.375) with 1 home run and 3 RBI’s in the series. Starting pitching was one of the few positives out of the entire road trip. P.J. Walters and Andrew Albers combined to pitch 10 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 earned runs, and striking out 12. While it’s difficult to win a lot of games averaging 2 runs a game it’s not impossible, but you need consistency from your bullpen, something Rochester does not have. In the Wings 2-1 victory, the bullpen gave up just 3 hits and struck out 5 in 3.2 innings. However, in their 4-2 loss the bullpen gave up 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 5 hits in 3.1 innings. If the Red Wings want to live up to their potential, and I still believe it’s there, they are going to need better productions from their lineup and bullpen. Next Stop Rhode Island After his strong debut last week in Buffalo, Kyle Gibson’s second start in Pawtucket was not the follow-up he was hoping for. Gibson gave up 5 runs and 8 hits in just 4.1 innings. However an encouraging stat would be his strikeout to walk ratio, on the year Gibson has struck out 10, while walking just one batter in 9.1 innings pitched. Weather played a factor in the road trip once again as Friday’s game was rained out meaning there would be a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. Minor League doubleheaders are a little different; they play only seven innings instead of the standard nine innings like they do in the major leagues. In game one against Pawtucket, Shairon Martis was on the mound for Rochester. While it would be hard to call this a quality start, walking four batters. Martis only allowed one run in 3.2 innings of work. It was once again the offense and bullpen that let this game slip away for the Wings. In 2.1 innings the bullpen allowed 6 runs on 6 hits striking out 2 and walking 3. The offense combined for just 4 hits and Chris Colabello drove in their lone run in the 7-1 loss in game one. Game two was almost a mirror image of game one. The final score was the same (7-1), the lone RBI was a homer by Chris Colabello, and in two innings the bullpen combined to give up 4 runs on 4 hits and striking out on batter, what was once a staple for the Red Wings have become one of the two biggest issues so far this season. If you’ve read everything thus far about the Red Wings road trip you’ll know exactly how Sunday went down. Clete Thomas hit a leadoff homer in the first, and Chris Colabello hit a leadoff double and scored later in the 4th to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead. Andrew Albers had another strong outing, giving up just four hits in five innings and striking out five. It was once again a lack of offense and the bullpen’s inability to keep runs off the board. On this day the bullpen pitched 5.2 innings, giving up 5 runs on 4 hits, walking 4 and striking out 4. Daniel Turpin gave up the tying runs in the 7th, and Anthony Slama (0-3), gave up the game winning runs in the 11th inning. Let’s Look at the Numbers The Red Wings were swept on the road by Pawtucket for the first time since 2005, and suffered their first four game losing streak since May of last year. On the seven game road trip, Rochester hit a combined 4-38 (.105) with runners in scoring position, including 2-26 (.077) in the four game series in Pawtucket. Rochester’s starting pitching combined for a 3.36 ERA during their 7 game road trip. Compare that to the bullpen who combined for a 7.85 ERA over the course of the road trip, it’s clear there are some issues to address in the later stages of the game. What’s Ahead? Rochester comes back to Frontier Field, Monday, starting an 8 game home stand. Monday thru Thursday the Wings play the Yankees, and then finish off the week with four more against Pawtucket. The Red Wings were 6-10 last year against the RailRiders at their home field, while they were 4-4 against the Red Sox.

I think Arcia has a pretty good arm, nothing earth shattering though. I'd be leaning more towards boneheaded plays in this instance, however the ability to throw guys out is definitely there. Sharing the field with the Yankees last year was tough, for the field more than the team. They did essentially get 8 more home games last year by Scranton/WB playing at Frontier Field though. It was also tough for fans... with over 100 games at the ballpark attendance suffered a bit. I remember games last year with 500 people or less which is a shame, it's a great park to see a game.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1534-Rochester-Red-Wings-Opening-Week-Review

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3685[/ATTACH] Opening week has come and gone, and after playing a four game home and home series against the Buffalo Bisons it’s safe to say that at 1-3, the Rochester Red Wings are not where they had hoped to be. The First Three Games In the two games in Buffalo and the home opener in Rochester offense was the biggest problem. As previously stated in Red Wings Season Preview, scoring runs was going to be tough for Rochester to do. Being outscored 24-11 in 3 games, that appears a little deceiving. In the first game the Wings scored 7 runs, and scored just 4 runs in the next two. The most alarming stat was the .125 batting average (3 for 20) with runners in scoring position. It’s unfair to put all the blame on the offense though, with a 6.35 combined ERA for the starters (Walters, Gibson, and Martis) and a bullpen ERA of a staggering 13.25. Even if this team had the greatest offense to ever come through the International League, trying to score 8 runs a game is impossible. One of the few pitching highlights was Friday’s start by Kyle Gibson. Gibson pitched five innings, gave up four hits, one run and struck out four. Offensively the three players that did not disappoint on offense were Oswaldo Arcia, Chris Colabello and Mark Sobolewski. In three games they combined to hit .364 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI’s. The New Week Begins Sunday’s version of the Rochester Red Wings was something that people have been waiting to see from the start. In the first two innings they scored 10 runs on eight hits, and gave starting pitcher Virgil Vasquez a lot of run support to work with early on. Vasquez went 6 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits; all four of the runs allowed were solo home runs. Oswaldo Arcia, Chris Colabello and Clete Thomas combined to go 10-13 with two home runs and nine RBI’s, Thomas accounted for five of those RBI’s. What’s Ahead? The Red Wings head to Scranton to play three against the Yankees. In 2012, Rochester was 6-10 against the Yankees, losing five of their last six games against SWB. After their three game series against the Yankees, they head to Pawtucket to play four games against the Red Sox, in which they went 7-9 last year and 3-5 at McCoy Stadium.

Clete Thomas is sadly one of the few guys who, when he gets on base actually is a base stealing threat.... that's my only explanation. I won't be surprised to see him get the majority of the starts unless he's hitting like Nishioka was last year around the .200 mark.... I think a huge positive today would be the pitching of Kyle Gibson, he looked good in his start.

I agree that Arcia has broken out, however whenever a young guy moves up to a new level it's always something to watch for. I do agree that Vasquez does appear to be the odd man out, it all depends on the pitchers currently on the DL and how quickly they return. Benson has a wrist injury. It's the same wrist he had surgery on last year, something to definitely watch out for. He's not on the DL right now, but it wouldn't surprise me if this keeps lingering that he's inevitably put on there.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1510-Rochester-Red-Wings-Season-Preview

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3647[/ATTACH] In 2010, the Red Wings finished 46 games below .500 with a record of 49-95, their worst record since 1920. 2011 was not much better for Rochester. The team won four more games than the previous year; however they lost 90+ games in two consecutive seasons, the first time that had happened since 1903 & 1904. It was time for a change, manager Tom Nieto was let go and Gene Glynn was hired to take the job. In 2012, his first season as manager, the Red Wings finished with a 72-72 record, their best finish since 2008. Rotation (With 2012 Team & Stats) P.J. Walters – Rochester: 3-3 4.01 ERA 15 Walks 47 Strikeouts Minnesota: 2-5 5.69 ERA 22 Walks 42 Strikeouts Kyle Gibson – GCL Twins: 0-0 2.45 ERA 4 Walks 16 Strikeouts Fort Myers: 0-0 2.57 ERA 1 Walk 7 Strikeouts Rochester: 0-2 9.45 ERA 6 Walks 33 Strikeouts Shairon Martis – Altoona 6-2 4.56 ERA 19 Walks 30 Strikeouts New Britain: 1-1 5.68 ERA 5 Walks 11 Strikeouts Indianapolis: 0-0 7.56 ERA 4 Walks 7 Strikeouts Rochester: 4-3 5.22 ERA 17 Walks 39 Strikeouts Pedro Hernandez – Birmingham: 7-2 2.75 ERA 18 Walks 37 Strikeouts Charlotte: 1-0 3.71 ERA 3 Walks 17 Strikeouts Rochester: 0-2 5.19 ERA 1 Walk 11 Strikeouts Virgil Vasquez – Southern Maryland: 10-9 4.44 ERA 48 Walks 120 Strikeouts It’s clear that that Kyle Gibson is the biggest name in the rotation. Currently listed as Baseball America’s #4 prospect in the Twins system, this season will be a true test to see if he is going to be able to live up to the expectations of him since being drafted in 2009. P.J. Walters will be the Wings opening day starter for the 2nd year in a row, along with Martis and Vasquez, the 2013 starting rotation is arguably the strongest in the International League. According to manager Gene Glynn the closing role will consist of both Anthony Slama and Luis Perdomo, who each have experience pitching in the later innings. Starting Lineup (With 2012 Team & Stats) OF Clete Thomas - Rochester: .232 12 HR 47 RBI 15 SB 4 CS C Chris Hermann – New Britain: .276 10 HR 61 RBI 91 Runs OF Oswaldo Arcia – Fort Myers: .309 7 HR 31 RBI 22 Runs New Britain: .328 10 HR 67 RBI 54 Runs 1B Chris Colabello – New Britain: .284 19 HR 98 RBI 78 Runs 3B Mark Sobolewski – New Hampshire: .262 18 HR 51 RBI 57 Runs Las Vegas: .188 2 HR 8 RBI 12 Runs OF Joe Benson – GCL Twins: .375 0 HR 0 RBI 1 Run Fort Myers: .303 1 HR 8 RBI 7 Runs New Britain .184 3 HR 20 RBI 13 Runs Rochester: .179 2 HR 8 RBI 9 Runs DH Brian Dinkelman – Rochester: .252 4 HR 32 RBI 32 Runs 2B Rey Olmedo – Charlotte - .273 0 HR 19 RBI 9 SB 3 CS SS Doug Bernier – Scranton: .201 0 HR 10 RBI The Red Wings currently have 3 catchers on their 25 man roster. Drew Butera is expected to be the starting catcher for opening day, however Chris Hermann should get at least half of the starts behind the plate. Also, on their current roster there is no listed player to play second; Rey Olmedo is my guess for who will be taking that role on a day to day basis. The Wings top 5 batters have a lot of pop in the bats; however 6-9 is where there could be an on going issue throughout the season. Breakout Picks The obvious pick would be Oswaldo Arcia, because it is the correct pick. Being the youngest player on the Red Wings squad, Arcia has thrived at every minor league level he’s played in. In 2012 between Fort Myers, and New Britain, Arcia hit .320 with 17 home runs and 98 RBI’s. Arcia drew comparisons of Bobby Abreu from his manager Gene Glynn who also called him, “one of those scary hitters. He deserves to be here, you can tell when he steps up to the plate he believes in himself, doesn’t matter who is pitching.” The player to watch for out of the rotation though is Pedro Hernandez. With a career 5 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio it’s clear that control is one of the keys to his success. It wouldn’t be a surprise at the end of the season if Hernandez ends up with 12-14 wins with an ERA hovering in the 3.70 range. If All Goes Well Assuming there aren’t a lot of injuries, or drastic changes on the team (call-ups, send downs etc.) it would be no surprise to see the Red Wings contending for a wild card spot. Last season they were 7 games out of the wild card spot and 12 games out of the division. Maybe I’m drinking the kool-aid on this team and the management, but an 80-64 record would not be outside of the realm and for the first time since 2006 they will be in the post season. If All Falls Apart Outside of drastic call ups, or devastating injuries the team is built for success. With Nick Blackburn, Rich Harden, Scott Diamond and Samuel Deduno on the DL to start the year pitching could be where the Twins system has its most depth. The one flaw may be the offense; there isn’t a lot of speed on this team. There may be games where the hitters don’t hit and they lose 2-1 or 3-2 games, which could be a big concern. If the bats go cold, it doesn’t matter how good your pitching is, you will always need at least one run to win.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1336-An-Early-Rochester-Red-Wings-Preview

Being a guy who has been in Rochester the past three seasons, the fans are definitely supportive of the team whether they win or lose. Unfortunately there has been a lot more losing then winning over that time, but I think this year will be different. Gene Glynn is a good manager, really seems to know how to motivate the team. He also has full support of the front office, which I think is a big help. I'm excited for opening day, and looking forward to seeing a lot of great baseball at Frontier Field in 2013.... and you're right about the price & experience, you can't beat it.