- Salute to Heroes Night: come see & interact with various police, fire, ambulance and military equipment along with a special pre-game ceremony.
- Post-Game Fireworks by Verizon.
- First pitch and “Take Me out to the Ball Game” by KMBC anchor Kris Ketz.
Sunday:
- Coca-Cola Family Days - $1 Coke/Diet Coke products all game long.
- Select T-Bones Players Pre-Game Autographs.
- Wyandotte County Appreciation Night: Ticket special for WyCo residents.
- Post-Game Kids Run the Bases by Midwest Dairy Association.
NEWS AND NOTES
Kenny’s Korner
On Grand Prairie and how the T-Bones match up in this second series of the homestand:
“Some of their big power guys maybe don’t handle balls in different locations as well as ones that are elevated, so I think out pitchers have taken it upon themselves to make sure they don’t miss by elevating the pitch. We have a winning record against the AirHogs, but they’re as good as anybody. They could come in here and beat anyone on any given night, and I feel the same about our club. We’ve got to really kick it in gear and make sure that we get back on the winning track tonight.”
On the hitting in last night’s series-ending loss to the St. Paul Saints:
“We got five hits, and we couldn’t string them together or string three or four good at bats together. Hits don’t matter if you can’t do something with them or hit the ball the other way when you need to and move runners around the bases. I don’t look at the number of hits as much as whether guys have good, quality at bats. We have one or two good at bats, and then somebody has a bad at bat, swings at a first pitch or gets a double play or a quick out. You have to continue to have good at bats, consistently, to keep the pressure on the pitcher. When you do that, I think you let him out of some innings with some runners on base and you get his pitch total up to get him out of the game sooner.”
On the adjustments made by last night’s starter Josh Rainwater, who gave up two hits in a complete game:
“It was more about getting back to what he knows he should be doing with his lower half. We were having a hard time getting him to feel what his body was doing. His upper body and his lower half were not in sync. Once you get synced back up, when you have that much background to go on and you throw a couple good pitches, it all kind of comes back.”
Welcome, Christie Ambrosi!
As part of our 10th anniversary celebration this season, we’ve been inviting local media and sports celebrities to join us for a first pitch and then lead the crowd in “Take Me Out To the Ball Game.” Tonight, as the Olympics open in London, we’re thrilled to have one of the best ever softball players from the Kansas City area, 3-time Kansas All-State softball player, a member of the 1999 NCAA national championship team at UCLA, and a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic gold medal winning softball team, Christie Ambrosi.
Stuck on 200
Ray Sadler, one of the most feared hitters in the Kansas City lineup, has hit a home run dry spell. Sadler hasn’t hit a homer since Wednesday, July 11, at Wichita. That home run to left-center 13 games ago against Andrew Aizenstadt marked Sadler’s 10th of the season, his 55th as a member of the T-Bones and the 200th of his professional career.
Rainwater throws another complete game
Kansas City starter Josh Rainwater allowed just two hits and one earned run over nine innings against St. Paul on Thursday night. Because of some defensive errors and a lack of offense, the T-Bones came away with a loss, and so did Rainwater, despite his great performance.Thursday was the third time this season Rainwater has pitched a complete game.
SERIES NOTES
Grand Prairie Again
The AirHogs come to Kansas City with a record of 40-25 and have a 5.5-game lead over Amarillo in the South Division. While Grand Prairie has the second-best record in the league, the AirHogs have lost seven out of their last 10 games.
Grand Prairie has multiple players on the league leaderboard. Starter Nick DeBarr is tied for the most wins with 10 on the season, while fellow starter John Brownell is in a tie for third with seven wins. Brownell is also in a tie for second in the league with 73 strikeouts.
AirHogs designated hitter Brian Myrow’s .351 average is the second-best in the American Association. First baseman Andres Rodriguez leads the team with 48 RBIs, and Myrow trails Rodriguez’s total by just one. Three AirHogs have launched 10 homers on the season, as Chris McMurray, Trent Lockwood and Rodriguez all share the team lead for home runs. Five AirHogs have posted a batting average above .300 so far on the season.
Grand Prairie and Kansas City recently split a four-game series in Grand Prairie. On the first road trip of the season, Kansas City swept the AirHogs. This three-game series at CommunityAmerica Ballpark will decide the season series between the two teams. Currently, Kansas City leads the season series 5-2.
Kansas City eyes playoffs
With the season past its halfway point, the T-Bones are 2.5 games behind Wichita in the Central Division, as the Wingnuts are 3-7 in their last 10 games while Kansas City is 5-5 in its last 10.
If the T-Bones can’t overtake Wichita, which has struggled since losing several of its best players to Mexican League teams, they still have a shot at getting to the playoffs with the Wild Card berth.
In the Wild Card race, Kansas City trails Winnipeg by three games and is tied for second place from Amarillo.
Kansas City Playoff History
2004
Kansas City finished the regular season with a 48-48 record. Schaumburg eliminated the T-Bones in the first round, taking the best-of-five series 3-2. Eddie Pearson paced the T-Bones on the season, capturing the league’s MVP award.
2008
The T-Bones celebrated a Northern League championship after defeating Gary SouthShore three games to one in the championship series. Kansas City (46-50) pulled the upset of the playoffs in the semifinals, when it swept one-seed Fargo-Moorhead after sneaking in the playoffs with a 46-50 record and being the last team to make the playoffs.
2009
Gary SouthShore bounced the defending league champ Kansas City in the first round. The T-Bones qualified as the four seed, posting an identical regular season record as the previous year, 46-50.
2010
Despite leading the Northern League throughout the 2010 season, a late-season fade found the T-Bones as the second seed in the playoffs. After Kansas City dispatched the Joliet Jackhammers in the semifinals, Fargo-Moorhead swept the T-Bones in the championship series.
One Year Ago Today …
On July 27, 2011, Adam Frost drove in two runs with a single to break a three-all tie in the bottom of the eighth inning as St. Paul took the rubber match of a three-game series versus the T-Bones, 7-3, at Midway Stadium.
Both teams matched run totals in the third and fifth innings as they scored one and two runs respectively in those frames. Kansas City gain a 1-0 advantage on an RBI single by Jim Fasano in their half of the third before Ole Sheldon answered with an RBI double off Kris Johnson in the bottom of the inning.
The T-Bones scored both of their fifth-inning runs on a double by Fasano before an RBI single by Sheldon and sacrifice fly from Jason Cooper tied the game at three in bottom of the frame.
Kansas City’s Drew Graham retired the first seven batters he faced in relief before walking Ronnie Bourquin in the eighth. Andy Shipman entered and sandwiched a strikeout between two singles as the Saints loaded the bases with two outs. Frost followed with his game-winning hit, driving in two runs and pushing the score to 5-3. The next batter, Shane Costa, reached on an infield single that plated two additional tallies for St. Paul and capped the final at 7-3.
Graham took the loss after being charged with Bourquin’s go-ahead run in the decisive inning. It was the only base runner Graham allowed in the outing. Kyle Foster earned his second victory in as many nights for the Saints with two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
Fasano finished two-for-five while driving in all three of Kansas City’s runs.
Up Next for the T-Bones
In the last series in the nine-game home stand, Kansas City takes on Winnipeg for the first and only time this season starting Tuesday, July 31.
Winnipeg is currently 37-27 and second in the North Division of the American Association. In their last series, the Goldeyes took on the Quebec Capitals and lost all three games. Winnipeg’s Yurendell de Caster has a .345 batting average so far this season with 68 hits in 53 games. Brian Beuning is leading the team in pitching with a 0.77 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 11 games.
