Pros Rally For A Good Cause At Camp For A Cure

The debate over ALCS Game 5 bullpen management continued to rage at PTownJr's baseball game today. EV-eryone had an opinion. Concensus: huge screwup. I have a feeling Game 6 will bring an (even more) intolerable night of TBS commentary. Those guys are gonna be all over Maddon like a Craig Sager suit.

Joe, just play your game. Make and adjustment and move on.

Speaking of kids and baseball, the 5th Annual Camp For A Cure is coming up.

This is such a neat thing. I hope someday it catches on in
other towns.

Camp For a Cure is a youth baseball camp held each fall that raises funds for The American Cancer Society and Lupus Foundation of America. The camp is staffed by Northern California baseball players (both amateur and professional), pro scouts and high school coaches who donate their time to maximize the camp's potential. Since its 2004 inception, Camp For A Cure has raised nearly $40,000 for cancer and lupus research.

The 5th annual camp will be held Saturday, November 8st at the Casa Grande High School Baseball complex. (Rescheduled from November 1st due to a major rainstorm.) There will be a silent auction from 8-noon and an autograph signing session throughout the day.

The All-Star Coaching Staff will be headlined by Petaluma’s own Jonny Gomes of the American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays. (Take a minute to read that out loud. It's pretty awesome.) Brandon Morrow, starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners will also be there along with other Petaluma area pros including Joey Gomes and Chad Fillinger of the Joliet Jackhammers, Tommy Everidge who had a tremendous year with the Midland Rockhounds (Oakland A's organization) and Louis Ott (Detroit Tigers Organization). See the Camp For A Cure website for a complete list of the 2008 Coaching Staff.

Campers pay a requested donation of $50 to attend camp, which includes a Camp T-Shirt and wristband if they register by October 20th. Registration forms are available on the Camp Website, the Athletic Edge Fall Ball Snack Shack on Saturdays and Sundays (Petaluma National Little League field on Kenilworth Drive adjacent to the Fairgrounds) and at the Athletic Edge Batting Cages (260 Water Street, Suite F, Petaluma).

A BBQ and Silent Auction during Camp bring athletes and the community together to battle these diseases. Families are invited to enjoy the BBQ and auction while players hone their skills at Camp. Gloves, bats and other signed memorabilia donated by players, scouts, and coaches were among the most popular sports items in past years. Restaurant certificates, movie passes, and merchandise donated by local merchants kept other auction goers in the bidding.

I'm the Camp's Silent Auction Skipper. If you would like to donate a Silent Auction item, perhaps in honor of a loved one that has battled cancer or lupus, please email me at TanyaSullivan@comcast.net .

The Camp For A Cure Story…

Three area coaches founded Camp For A Cure in 2004.

Paul Maytorena, Dan Leslie, and Gregg Adams were inspired by family members and close friends battling cancer and Lupus. They saw an opportunity to use a life long love of the game to fight back against these tragic diseases. Peers and pros rallied around the idea of a premiere youth baseball camp staffed by volunteers of the highest caliber. Kids signed up by the hundreds to learn from the best baseball talent in the region including Petaluma's own MLB star, Jonny Gomes who lost his high school coach to cancer.

Rays Playoff Bubbly In Bubble Wrap One More Night

PTownJr's Back To School Night topped the priority list last night. However, I managed to follow the ebb and flow of the Rays/Twins game on my most awesome and completely indispensable iPhone. Lot's of flow early. Followed by an ugly ebb. Really, it was more of a victory sucking vortex that swallowed the Rays 8-6 lead in the 9th.

Blowing a late lead has been a mighty rare occurrence this season so let's break it down with the return of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.

You owe it to yourself to cue the music for this one. Just click that play button on the right:

THE GOOD:

• A five run first!
• Three long balls for Long-o.
• Pena and Navi went yard.
• Pena and Longo went yard back to back, the 8th B2B set for the Rays this year.
• Some fine defensive plays... or so I hear. The iPhone MLB dudes were pre-occupied with the highly offensive top of the 9th.
• The home debut of David Price, the 1st overall draft pick of the 2007 draft. King David went 2/3 of an inning in relief of a somewhat shaky Shields. Coming in with one out and two on, he K'd two tough lefties after giving up a 2 run single.
• Percy pitched a scoreless 8th! !!!!! !!!!! !
• The Rays could clinch a wildcard spot tonight with a win. But only if the White Sox, Jays and Yankees all lose. I hope all 18 eyeballs are on the game and not the scoreboard tonight.

THE BAD:

• A crowd of only 17,298. People! What gives out there? Are all the Back To School Nights in Florida on September 17th? I don't think so!
• Those three long balls of Longo's tied Jonny's Team Record for most home runs in a game vs. KC in July, 2005. C'mon Evan. You're a stud, but is nothing sacred? You already have my vote for Rookie of the Year without raiding the trophy case.
• The dart board Joe is using to pick the Closer Du Jour needs some grease. Or fairy dust. Or something.

THE UGLY:

• The Twins scored 5 in the top of the 9th sparked by some local kid named Span playing in front of the hometown crowd for the first time.
• Delmon Young was among those that piled on. (Remember him? The Skipper got on him for not running out an infield hit last year so he declared a sick day and got himself traded... for Bartlett and Garza. Neener neener.)
• The Twins used a slug bunt to inflict more damange. Gardenshire credited head coach Paul Maytorena of the Casa Grande High School Gauchos for that move. Thanks Paul. You got some 'splainin to do. From now on, you're limited to one copy of the playbook.

Last But Not Least:

The Pearls have become pretty Rays centric of late, but we need to send some love to Brandon Morrow. His latest outing wasn't so pretty so we won't dwell on it, but just want to send the good vibes to a good kid who has pledged more memorabilia for the silent auction at our 2008 Camp For A Cure. More news on Camp coming soon.