Well the day started at around 11:00 AM when I headed to Walmart to pick up some things for the clubhouse. Got to the field around 12:30. Th first day back from the road trip is a very busy day, just catching up on the mail and front office things restocking the clubhouse with supplies etc. Well everything was going good till around 8:00 Pm when the sky openned up. We where in the top of the 3rd and leading 2-0 on my roomate Brandon Laird’s seven homerun of the season when the tarp went on and 30 minutes later the game was suspended. That means we will have to play two DH this week. We will finish this game starting tom at 5:05 PM where we left off ( this is a nine inn game) then play a seven inn game 30 min later, which means a long day at the ball park for all of us. We have not finished a game since friday. Well off to bed as I am exhausted and have a busy day tom. Hopefully we can get two wins and the rain stays away. The game can be heared in the Charleston area on Espn Radio 910 the team starting at 6:00 PM and online starting at 5:00 PM on riverdogs.com. We have Craig Heyer on the mound resuming the game for us and Adam Olbrychowski ( I hope I Spelled it wright ) pitching the second game.

Well sorry its been a long time since my last post a lot has happend since then so lets get to it. In long season A ball the seasons are split into two halfs so that teams have a good shot at making the playoffs even if they do not get off to good starts. In the South Atlantic League teams are split in two divisions the north and the south. ( we are in the south ) The winner of the first half from each division is atomatically in the playoffs at the end of the season. ( Asheville-Rockies & Lake County-Indians) It was a tough race between us and Asheville coming down to the last weekend none the less the last game. Going into the weekend they where up by one game and due to a strange Sally League rule all we had to do was tie even though they won the head to head to force a one game playoff the next time we played them which was July at our place. They where playing at Hickory ( Pirates ) and we where home vs the Sand Nats ( Mets ) Both teams Hickory and Savannah are not very good but where trying to play spolier and boy did they. We both lost Friday and Saturday setting up a very dramatic and stress full Sunday. We had to win and hope Asheville would lose to force that one game showdown. We went out and beat Savannah but Ashville also won giving them the first half crown and forceing us to win the second half to make the playoffs. Not winning the first half was of course disapointing to the players there was some good news as they would be getting the next three days off for the all star break.

All Star Break:

Most of the players stayed in Charleston to relax and play golf and go to the beach. There where a few guys who decided to get away from Charleston and go back to their off season residance and see there family and friends. One of those guys was my good friend on the team Brandon Laird. I went with Brandon to California ( The LA area ) to see his family and friends and hang out and enjoy some time away from baseball. Brandon has a great family and it was a lot of fun going out there. Brandons brother plays for the Teaxas Rangers as a catcher Gerald Laird who is out 4 - 6 weeks with a hamstring injury. It was only a two day trip with us having to fly all day on Wednesday, we got back to Charleston at around 11:00 at night after flying all day but had a lot of fun out in Cali.We had to get up early in the morning to catch the 9:00 am team bus to Columbus GA ( 6 Hours) to start the second half of the season. We did have some guys go the all star game which was played in Greensboro NC .
1) Justin Synder - SI last season
2) Jason Stephens - SI last season
3) Lance Pendelton - SI alum
4) Johnatan Ortiz - SI last season
5) Abraham Almonte
6) Jesus Montero
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Second half off to a slow start:
Well we started the second half off 0-2 then the rains came literally. We where leading Saturdays game 5-0 on a Taylor Holiday Grand Slam when the rains came the game was suspended and we where suppose to finish it today then play the regular game. It rained some more and there field does not drain well so those games where postphoned.Two good things came off all this rain. We got to leave columbus early the games where suppose to start at four so we would not have left there till around 11 pm if we played and got back to charleston at like 5 or 6 am instead we left there at four and got back at 11pm. Because we dont go back to columbus those games we be played in charleston. When we got back I unpacked did the laundry then headed home. Got in around 3 am and decided to write this blog. Well iam tired and we have a 6 game homestand starting tom with Rome Braves so hopefully we can get a win. You can listen to our games online by going to riverdogs.com Well I hope you enjoyed this blog and I hope to be writing more often. I also just want to wish the Staten Island Yankees a lot of luck thats where I got my start and have some fond memories of my time there.

Got up today around 10:00 AM because the visiting clubby was coming to pick me up around 11:00 AM to take me to the Walmart to buy are pre game spreads for the next few days and then to have some lunch. Got to the field around 1:00 PM and then set the guys lockers up and put all the Uniforms and there baseball clothes that are washed by the hotel in there lockers. I also set up the equipment for batting practice and cleaned the coaches’ shoes and get our two new players all set up. At around 2:20 the Trainer and Strength Coach game over with some of our guys who need treatment and need to work out. The rest of the team came over around 3:30. ( Its a 20 min ride from hotel to stadium ) Well as far as the game went we got up 1-0 on a passed ball. Asheville proceeded to score two in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. We tied it at three in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the inning the umpire was squeezing our pitcher and gave them a few runs because a strike here and there would have ended the inning. They wound up scoring four in that inning and one in the seventh and one in the 8th and we lost 9-3. We never win in Asheville we are 1-12 there the last three years. They are now a half game back. Well the players have to go lift at 10:00 am so I think iam going to also go so iam going to get some sleep. Hope you enjoy the blog. Vinnie

Box Score
Charleston
Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Almonte, A CF 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .282
Angelini SS 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .234
Snyder 2B 4 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 .328
Montero DH 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .319
Rufino 1B 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .284
Pruitt 3B 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .333
Baisley C 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 .233
Holiday RF 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 .250
Krum LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .261
Castillo, N P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Hoover P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Medina P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

BATTING
2B: Pruitt (1, Graham), Holiday (6, Rodriguez), Snyder (9, Baker), Baisley (3, Baker).
TB: Snyder 4; Montero; Pruitt 2; Baisley 2; Holiday 2.
RBI: Holiday 2 (10).
2-out RBI: Holiday 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Baisley 2; Pruitt; Almonte, A.
Team LOB: 7.

Asheville
Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Cabrera 2B 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 .321
Mitchell CF 5 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 .330
Rike RF 4 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .311
Holcomb 3B 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 .339
Clark LF 4 1 3 1 0 0 3 1 1 .289
Christensen DH 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 .224
Cunningham 1B 5 2 3 1 0 1 2 0 1 .267
Velazquez SS 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .211
Davis C 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .219
Graham P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Rodriguez P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Baker P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

BATTING
2B: Christensen (6, Castillo, N), Mitchell (6, Hoover), Clark (8, Hoover), Cunningham (6, Medina).
HR: Cunningham (5, 4th inning off Castillo, N, 1 on, 2 out).
TB: Mitchell 2; Rike 3; Holcomb 2; Clark 4; Christensen 2; Cunningham 7; Velazquez 2; Davis.
RBI: Cunningham 2 (18), Clark 3 (18), Mitchell 2 (17), Holcomb (24), Cabrera (13).
2-out RBI: Cunningham 2; Clark 2; Mitchell 2; Holcomb.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Velazquez 2; Rike; Christensen 3; Mitchell.
Team LOB: 11.

BASERUNNING
SB: Davis (1, 2nd base off Castillo, N/Baisley).
CS: Cunningham (3, 3rd base by Hoover/Baisley).

FIELDING
E: Cabrera (9, fielding), Cunningham (3, pickoff).
PB: Davis (2).
Outfield assists: Mitchell (Pruitt at home).

Charleston
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Castillo, N 4.2 6 3 3 3 5 1 3.62
Hoover (L, 2-1) 1.1 5 4 4 2 0 0 4.96
Medina 2.0 5 2 2 0 3 0 7.45

Asheville
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Graham 5.2 4 3 2 3 6 0 2.39
Rodriguez (BS, 2)(W, 3-1) 1.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.20
Baker 2.0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0.59

WP: Medina.
Ground outs-fly outs: Castillo, N 4-5, Hoover 0-3, Medina 1-2, Graham 4-7, Rodriguez 2-1, Baker 3-1.
Batters faced: Castillo, N 23, Hoover 10, Medina 11, Graham 25, Rodriguez 4, Baker 8.
Inherited runners-scored: Hoover 2-0, Rodriguez 3-2.
Umpires: HP: Ross Nickel. 1B: Kolin Klyne. 2B: . 3B: .
Weather: 74 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 16 mph, Out to CF.
T: 2:52.
Att: 1,719.

As May has started the team has started to get some injuries. We lost Brad Suttle a week ago to an injury and he is rehabbing down at the minor league complex down in Tampa ,Florida. A rash of early-season injuries has continued for the first-place Charleston RiverDogs, who have placed starting third-baseman Brandon Laird, starting pitcher Adam Olbrychowski and reliever Ryan Zink and on the disabled list, the New York Yankees announced Wednesday.

To fill their spots, the Yankees announced that infielder Braedyn Pruitt and pitcher Casey Erickson will come to Charleston for the first time, while pitcher Gabe Medina will re-join the club. Charleston now has seven inactive players, joining pitchers Jairo Heredia and Michael Solbach, catcher Austin Romine and infielder Bradley Suttle.
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May 6th:
Just finished off a 4 game sweep of Hickory and are now headed to Asheville. ( 1 Hour 30 Min ) With a noon time start in Hickory we where able to get to our hotel at around 5:30 PM . Then I went to grab some food with by buddy on the team Brandon Laird. Later that night around 10:30 I took the equipment over to the stadium to set up. I had to wait till the game between Asheville and Savannah had finished. That took about an hour then I returned to the hotel and went to bed.

Hi my name is Vinnie Colangelo I am 26 years old from Belleville NJ and I am a Equipment Manager for the New York Yankees in their minor league department. This will be my sixth season with the organization. I worked two seasons at Staten Island and two seasons at Battle Creek and now will be going into my third season in Charleston SC. Before joining the Yankees I worked with two Independent League teams in New Jersey the New Jersey Jackals and Newark Bears as an Equipment Manager. I also worked two big league spring trainings and worked at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx when the minor league seasons are over.

This is a very important job that mostly goes unnoticed as we are not the ones in front of the camera or on the field but the players understand and appreciate how important the equipment manager or ” clubby ” as we are also called is to their jobs and the day to day operation of the team. It is very important for me to manage 30 egos and personalities and get along with everyone. My job is to basically to take care of the players and the coaches, trainers, etc and make sure they have everything they need to make to help them go out there and win games for you the fans.

My job duties include the following making sure the clubhouse is always clean, vacuum, making sure they have a nice pre game food spread, making sure the equipment is always set up for the game and batting practice, order equipment, and wash the uniforms. I also will help them by doing errands such as maybe washing their personal clothes, run to the store to pick up something for them all kinds of errands, help them get rental cars, or a hotel room for the family when they come to town. I am also the liaison from the affiliate front office and the players helping them get players for appearances or getting things autographed.

Basically I am the players moms while they are playing. My job is to make sure they have everything they need to perform out on the field and just to relax and play. Well that’s a little about me and my job , now a little about what is going to be in my blog. My good friend Robert who runs this website and who I met in Staten Island my two years there asked if I would be interested in doing this and I said yes. In this blog I will be telling you about what the players and I will be going through for an entire minor league season from Spring Training in Tampa, Fl which starts in a few weeks through the whole season in Charleston SC which ends in September.

There are however some things that I cant mention in this blog as I am an employee of the Yankees and there are something’s that go on in a clubhouse and being around the guys that are kept private and behind clubhouse walls. There is a saying like the old Vegas saying that what happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse. For the most part you will be learning what these players go through the ups and downs as well as some other cool things. I will be preparing next Sunday to head to Tampa FL where the big league team will be getting ready for the season on Thursday followed by the minor league guys a few weeks later. ( More on that in future blogs. )

I hope you enjoy this blog this season. I hope to maybe even have pics and videos possibly included in this. I want to make this a interactive blog also so please send some suggestions on what to write about and please send questions anything you want to ask about big leagues and minor leagues. If you have questions for players on my team or any of the minor league teams past and present please ask I have seen a lot of the guys come through the system. My email is Vinsports5@aol.com.

Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this. Talk to you soon.
Vinnie

Welcome to the return of In The Clubhouse on Baby-Bombers.com