TD Ameritrade Park’s main purpose is to replace Rosenblatt Stadium as the site of the College World Series.  However, it will also be converted to a football field in the fall to accomodate the Omaha Nighthawks football team (UFL).  While it is still baseball season, TD Ameritrade Park will host several (if not all) of the Creighton Bluejays baseball games and probably some Nebraska games, too.  I’m pretty excited for the Red Sky Music Festival, a 6-day concert series that will take place this July (and in years to come, too).

Some pictures:

Official website: http://www.tdameritradeparkomaha.com/index.asp

Werner Park is the new ballpark for the Omaha Storm Chasers (formerly Omaha Royals) (stupid new name, I know) who also lost a home at Rosenblatt :’( but Werner Park is a nice little stadium too.  It’s hardly a stadium, actually, it seats around 6000 if I’m not mistaken.  It looks pretty cool and the Storm Chasers seem to be trying to be a very family friendly organization, and almost the entire outfield seating is an open berm, perfect for picnics.

Some pictures:

It seems like a nice cozy little place, just it’s out in the middle of nowhere…  I apologize that the pictures are a little stretched.  I don’t know how to get it perfect, oh well.

If you’re really hardcore about these pictures, here’s a link: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100923&content_id=14993646&vkey=multimedia_t541&fext=.jsp&sid=t541

Official website: http://www.wernerpark.com/index.php

sooooo……..yep

I guess I’ll update you all on what’s going on: I’m now a junior in high school and have unfortunately been out of baseball since my injury.  I hope to get back this summer in a rec-league or something, idk whatever floats my boat I guess.  I’m hoping to be able to head down to Kansas City this summer to see the Cubs play the Royals.  Should be exciting…hopefully.  I’ve just updated my music list, which is down there on the right (if you scroll down a few times).  I’m still kinda frustrated that the Cubs aren’t looking too great for next year, but I can just hope and pray for a nice season.  Well…I’ve got a girlfriend now but she’s more like my best friend…she’s pretty cool/awesome We’re getting two cool new stadiums here in Omaha.  I’ll post some pictures and/or thoughts later.  I think the Super Bowl is starting now.  I don’t really care who wins.  I feel like I’m just rambling….oh well.

To finish up, I’d like to give a shout out to Johnny, Julia & all my other past supporters/commenters.  Thanks a lot!!

C – Brandon Inge (says he’s a catcher but i don’t know the last time he actually caught)

1B – Miguel Cabrera

2B – Brian Roberts

3B – Chone Figgins

SS – Troy Tulowitzki *

2B/SS – Cristian Guzman (had derosa here but dropped him today) *

1B/3B – Lance Berkman

OF – Grady Sizemore

OF – Nick Markakis

OF – Curtis Granderson

OF – Shane Victorino

OF – B.J. Upton

UTIL – Adrian Gonzalez

P – Joakim Soria

P – Brian Fuentes

P – Francisco Cordero

P – Josh Johnson

P – Mark Buehrle *

P – Bobby Jenks *

P – Brad Lidge

P – Fernando Rodney *

P – Erik Bedard *

BE – Derek Lowe

BE – Jered Weaver *

BE – Roy Oswalt *

DL – Jake Peavy *

* – midseason pickup

                       Nick Swisher                                               Paul Janish

                         Josh Wilson                                               Ross Gload

They say that whenever you go to a baseball game you will always see something new.  Well we’ve seen it a handful of times already this season, more notably with shortstops Paul Janish of the Reds and Josh Wilson of the Padres, outfielders Cody Ross and Ross Gload of the Marlins, Nick Swisher of the Yankees and Jonathan Van Every of the Red Sox, being called in to pitch.  While most of these guys usually only go in for an inning and tend to do all right, others haven’t been as lucky as most.  Janish has had a couple of rough outings this year, being called out twice and posting a 49.50 ERA.  But the most disappointing one was Josh Wilson coming in, pitching 3 innings in the Padres 18 inning battle with the Diamondbacks, giving up the 3-run homer to D’backs 3B Mark Reynolds.

I propose that MLB allow an optional 26th man on all rosters so things like this don’t have to happen.  No offense to Wilson, but San Diego may have won that game if he wasn’t pitching.

This is how fans treated Barry Bonds when they knew he was taking PEDs.

This is how Manny gets received.

They both used steroids, maybe still are, yet Manny is loved by fans while Barry is hated on.  But what’s the difference?  I would really like to know.  Honestly, I don’t like Barry Bonds, but I don’t hate him.  So why does everyone else?

Roy Halladay

Joe Nathan (a.k.a. best closer in the MLB)

Brandon Inge

Oh by the way, vote Inge to the All-Star Game!!!

Matt Kemp

In his time with Montreal and Cleveland, Phillips was hardly given any time to improve his baseball skills.  He averaged only 108 at-bats per season in his time with the Indians from 2002-2005, including 370 of them in 2003.  Phillips never consistently produced until he was locked in as the starting second baseman for the Reds in 2006, and since then, his numbers have gone skyward.  78 home runs, 290 RBI and a .276 average since then indicates that possibly just knowing that you will play everyday helps mentally improve the way someone plays.  I think being somebody who was never given a chance to play makes Phillips an underrated player.  Plus playing for Cleveland and Cincinatti, who have never really been in contention during his time there, also adds to the underrated part.  But looking at where the Reds are this year, Phillips may help lead his team very far down the stretch, maybe even to the postseason.