06.25.2011: Inside the Dugout and Opening Night

Tough way to kick off the home schedule in front of huge crowd. It isn't as much the fact that we lost that was tough, as it was the way we lost. After waiting over nine months for Voyagers baseball to return to Centene Stadium, fans witnessed a game just barely over 2 hours that included a grand total of three runs, two Voyagers hits, and one kind of rally in the bottom of the ninth--by the way, for those in attendance, was Q safe in the ninth? A combo of pitchers retired 14 Voyagers in a row after the Osprey took the lead.If we were going to go down in our home opener, it would have been nice to put up a stronger fight. Not that the team didn't play hard--they did. They played great defensively, they just haven't swung the sticks well for the last two games. It happens. They'll snap out of it and when they do, it will be fun to watch.

-------

So, I got the Flipcam. Thank you to my brothers, Darryn and Jason, as it was graduation present! I shot my first interview with it as below we have our second installment of the Inside the Dugout series, with today's subject: Kevin Vance. Leave it to me, though, to leave to plastic strip that protects the lens on the camera, so I apologize for the blurriness (also, if you are a blogging savant and want to help me in figuring out how to allow the video to fit, I'd appreciate it!)

Yesterday was an incredibly long and stressful day. I want to tip my hat to the entire Voyagers office staff for the hard work they put in working towards tonight's game. Everyone worked their butt off for tonight--gameday staff included--but no one worked as hard as Kattie, Scott, Erik, Ryan, Greg, and Billy and his grounds crew.

--------

Great crowd last night. A few stopped me as I was walking around and introduced themselves or offered some compliments. It is always really neat meeting fans and, for the five people reading this, if I haven't met you, please introduce yourself as I am walking around!

It was nice to call a game from the home perch, but with the fast pace of the pre-game chaos and the fast pace of the game, I didn't feel like I ever settled down. I blinked once and the game was over. Tomorrow should be much smoother on all fronts.

I am slowly starting to decorate my radio booth. If I am going to spend significant time in a particular room, I am not one to just leave it be. Already hung up is the Dallas Morning News the morning after one of the most special moments of my life--the Dallas Mavericks NBA Championship victory. I plan on adding some pictures and maybe a memorabilia item or two for the summer.

It was also nice meeting the Gentlemen of the Press Box. Starting last year, I made it a tradition to give each staff member of the Press Box a pre-game handshake and I restarted that tradition last night. I hope we all bond as the season progresses and hopefully we can do it while witnessing winning baseball for the Voyagers.

Between going to sleep at around 3:30am after coming back from Billings to the chaos of yesterday, I was wiped out.

-----