Day In the LIfe of Indians Manager Trent Jewitt

IndyIndians.com

The Indianapolis Indians' website has posted an article from AtBat Magazine that details a day in the life of Indians manager Trent Jewitt. It's very informative and a great read for any baseball fans.

As usual, the link is at the top of the post.

Interview with Indianapolis Indians' Hensley Meulens

IndyIndians.com

Use that link to read a good interview with the Indianapolis Indians' Hitting Coach, Hensley Meulens. Great interview that talks about his experience with the majors, the diversity you'll find in the dugout, along with baseball experiences in other countries.

Use the link at the beginning of the post to read the interview.

Herb Simon acknowledges changes are needed; Indy Sports Update welcomes Herb to two years ago

IndyStar Sports

So by now, everyone is on the same bandwagon. We need to gut the Pacers so that in 2-3 years they'll be 50-60 game winners again and we can start going back to the games and keep telling everyone we love basketball because we live in Indiana. We can't lie to ourselves: we don't care if the team is full of thugs or not, as long as we're winning. Artest and Jackson didn't magically turn into madmen just in time for The Brawl, they had been crazy for a long time before that game... we just didn't care because the Pacers won games. Now that they aren't winning and us Indiana basketball lovers need a good reason to give outsiders as to why we have the lowest attendance in the league, we tell them "because the players are thugs."

Well no matter the reason, I've already given the Simons, Walsh, and Larry Legend Step 1 in rebuilding the franchise, and I'd be more than happy to help them with Step 2 if they need it. By the way, wouldn't Conseco Fieldhouse be a better place if it were full of these?

Sioux Falls drop Ice second straight night,

Box Score

The Sioux Falls stampede paid back the Ice (and then some) for a defeat at the hands of the Ice in South Dakota last week by getting a 4-3 win tonight in Indy. Robbie Vrolyk led the Stampede with 2 of their 4 goals while T.J. Syner, Ron Cramer and Paul Carey scored for the Ice.

The Ice lost to the Stampede last night as well, obviously due to my not being able to make either of the games because of road conditions. I'll try to serve my team better in the future.

Ice drop game to Sioux Falls Stampede

Box Score

The Indiana Ice went scoreless for the first time this season on a loss to the Sioux Falls Stampede, who scored 4 goals in the first of two games to be played in Indy this weekend against the Stampede. Apparently the Stampede were more excited for 1972 night than the Ice or their fans.

Interview with Pittsburgh Pirates' Farm Director

A preseason chat with Farm Director Kyle Stark

Here's a good interview with Kyle Stark, the Pirates' new Farm Director. Kyle comes to the Pirates from the Cleveland Indians and is a graduate of Ball State. The interview covers the Indians, Victory Field, and goes on to cover other aspects of Kyle's new job. Read up!

It's 1972! (At Pepsi Coliseum, anyways)

Flashback Friday 1972

Who? Sioux Falls Stampede vs Indiana Ice
Where? Pepsi Coliseum - Indianapolis, IN
When? 3-7-08 - 7:05pm


Friday night, when the Ice host the Sioux Falls Stampede at Pepsi Coliseum, the Ice will be having a special "Flashback Friday 1972" theme consisting of music from that year as well as trivia based on television shows and movies from 1972.

The Ice, coming off of a 5-1 win over Sioux City where T.J. Syner scored a hat trick, are playing a Sioux Falls team they beat only 8 days ago by a score of 2-1. John Kemp still leads the team in points with 58, followed by Gregory Squires with 57 and Paul Carey with 52.

Pacers-Rockets recap? Pacers-Spurs recap? No thanks.

I'm not going to post a recap of the Pacers-Rockets or Pacers-Spurs games because I'm still mad. Every time the Pacers win two-three games in a row, everyone gets excited and thinks that the Pacers are finally coming together only to get blown out and prove they were just pretending to be a real NBA team. I realize that Tinsley and O'Neal are hurt so you can't expect a lot, but the same thing happened last year to force Carlisle out and things have not changed with a new coach.

So if it's not the coach's fault, whose fault is it? The players' faults? It's easy to blame them because they're making millions of dollars and not winning, but I think the blame starts with Bird and Walsh. For the past few years we've been promised improvement through off-season and in-season trades, but it just hasn't happened. Maybe they just don't know where to start?

Well, first let's decide who we would keep. Granger for sure. Young, talented, and even though I would never try to build a team around him he would be able to fit into any plans for rebuilding the team. Who else? If we can sign him to a reasonable contract, Kareem Rush. Sure he jacks up a lot of 3s, but that's the only way the Pacers can stay in games and he hits them 42% of the time. It's a contract year for him and he'll undoubtably want more than the $700k a year he's pulling down now, but if we can sign him for 4-5 years at a fair price we should keep him.

Everyone else? Get rid of them. Blow the team up. Do whatever it takes to get Mike Conley from the Grizzlies (who don't seem to mind trading away their stars) and try to get as many 1st and 2nd round picks out of the other guys as you can. Tell Pacers fans the truth: It will probably be a few years before we are playing like it's 2003, but we're committed to building a young team who will come out and play their hardest for you. Come out and watch Mike Conley play in Conseco again! Who better to build your team around than a guy who grew up in Indiana and is going to sell tons of jerseys? And you won't have the problem of him getting bored of Indiana and wanting to start shooting people, because he grew up here and is already used to it.

So you have Mike Conley, Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy, and Kareem Rush before the draft even happens. What Pacers fan isn't excited about this core already? What season ticket holder is going to give up his tickets and risk not having good seats 2-3 years from now when this team is running by everyone in the league? This team will be instantly fun to watch and will be a team Pacers fans can be proud of and grow to love.

Ok, so who do we draft? I say a guy who has proven to be a defensive stopper. We need a guy who can lock down the other team's best guard or forward. We'll probably never have someone as good as what Artest was in terms of the range of sizes he could defend, but we need to find someone who can take the other team's star out of the game.

So there's Step 1 Larry Legend. Go make this happen. I'll go order my Mike Conley Pacers jersey, now.

Pacers vs Rockets Preview

The Pacers head to Texas tonight as they begin their three game road trip in the West. The first team the Pacers will face is the very focused Houston Rockets.

The Houston Rockets have been playing some of the best basketball in the league. Even with the loss of their All-Star center Yao Ming, they are still playing with high intensity every night. Houston has won their last 15 games in a row including their last three without Yao.

The Pacers have won two games in a row against the 76ers and Raptors, and have looked very well offensiviely during those games. Their only downfall is their defense, averaging 108.5 points given up in those two games.

To win tonights game the Pacers will have to find away to slow down Tracey McGrady and Rafer Alston. With Yao being out, they won't have to focus as much on scoring down low, but Dikembe Mutumbo is a big force defensively. Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy are both going to have to score above their average, and the bench is going to have to contribute as well. If Travis Diener and new acquisition "Flip" Murray can run an offensive that opens up shots for other players, the Pacers can keep it close. Now it just depends on how they want to play defensively to decide whether they win or lose.

Update: Tyler Brayton signs with Panthers

Despite what is being posted on other Colts blogs, Tyler Brayton has signed a 2-year agreement with the Panthers, who offer him a better chance to start this coming season, according to Scout.com.

Although Polian has a history of drafting great defensive talent, recent pickups from free agency such as Corey Simon and Simeon Rice lead me to believe we aren't missing much by not signing Brayton.

Indianapolis Indians Spring Training Player Update

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 1-4 in Spring Training through March 4th, hopefully paving way for Indians players to step in. Top Prospect Andrew McCutchen has played in all five of the Pirates games totalling 11 at-bats. McCutchen is batting a little below average, but I believe he could still be on the Pirates 25-man roster this season.

Indians roster players Spring Training stats:
(Alphabetically)

PITCHING
#71 T.J. Beam - 1 IP 1 R 1 BB 9.00 ERA
#61 Sean Burnett - 2 IP 1 R 1 SO 4.50 ERA
#69 Jessee Chavez - 1 IP 1 SO 0 ERA
#18 Masumi Kuwata - 1 IP 1 BB 0 ERA
#39 Brian Rogers - 1 IP 0 ERA
#70 Marino Salas - 0.2 IP 2 R 1 SO 27.00 ERA
#76 Josh Sharpless - 0.1 IP 2 R 1 BB 54.00 ERA

HITTING
#72 Carlos Maldonado C 1 AB .000 AVG
#74 Andrew McCutchen OF 11 AB 3 H 3 R 1 2B .273 AVG
#77 Neil Walker C 4 AB 1 H 1 R .250 AVG

Indy Indians' back with another Opening Night Weather Guarantee

The Indians are having another "Opening Night Weather Guarantee", which promises every fan in attendance for Opening Night on April 11th a free ticket to another April home game if the temperature is under 60 degrees at the game's start.


Click here for more details!

Interview with the Indians' Chris Herndon

Here's a great interview with the Indianapolis Indians' Chris Herndon, who is the director of marketing for the Indians. It covers Chris' favorite parts about Victory Field as well as his favorite on-field moments.

Click here for the interview.

TE Utecht making visits to the Bengals and Jets

Restricted free agent Ben Utecht, to whom the Colts offered a one-year, $927,000 tender on February 29th, will be visiting Cincinnati and New York in the coming week hoping to impress the management of those teams enough that they give him an offer sheet. If the Colts do not match an offer made to Utecht, then Utecht is able to leave the Colts and since Utecht was an undrafted free agent the Colts will receive no compensation.

My opinion on the Dallas Clark/Ben Utecht situation has already been discussed, and I hope we are able to keep Utecht on the roster as a more than suitable backup for Clark. I can see one of these teams putting tricky wording into the offer sheet like the Vikings and Seahawks did to each other in 2006. Stating on the offer sheet that Utecht will be the highest paid tight end at signing (which would be easy for the Jets and Bengals but impossible for the Colts) could be an easy way to 'steal' Utecht from the Colts.

Colts flirting with DE Tyler Brayton

IndyStar Sports

The Colts (along with the Panthers) are attempting to sign former Oakland Raiders DE Tyler Brayton, who voided the final year of his contract to become a free agent.

Although Dwight Freeney (in only 9 games), Robenrt Mathis, Jeff Charleston (in only 13 games), and Keyunta Dawson all had better 2007 seasons than Brayton (who has only 6 sacks in his career and none in the last two seasons), the Colts are hoping Brayton will be an improved option as a backup DE than what we had available last year. If the Colts do end up signing him, I'm hoping having better teammates around him than he had at Oakland will improve his ability to get to the QB and stop the run.

Two Ice players highly ranked on NHL.com's 2008 Mid-Term Rankings

NHL.com's 2008 Mid-Term Rankings





John Carlson is ranked 19th amongst Domestic Skaters according to Central Scouting Services' 2008 Mid-Term Rankings. Carlson currently is 5th in overall points for the Ice and most recently had an assist against the Sioux City Musketeers in the Ice's 5-1 win.









Matt Hoyle is ranked 16th amongst goalies according to the Central Scouting Services' 2008 Mid-Term Rankings. Hoyle has a record of 10-3 with 443 saves in just 17 games. Hoyle's most recent win was against Sioux Falls where he had 40 saves and allowed only one goal.





Remember, the best way to keep up on these great players is to go to the games. The second best way is to keep coming back to Indy Sports Update!

Keeping Johnson, letting Crap go

IndyStar Sports

The Colts gave DT Ed Johnson a a one-year, $370,000 contract Saturday but did not offer a contract to Craphonso Thorpe. Thorpe is now a free agent, but he could be back with the Colts on the practice squad if he isn't picked up by another team.

Pacers Make a Roster Move?

Yesterday, the Pacers reported signing veteran Ronald "Flip" Murrary to a contract through the end of the season. Murray payed in 19 games this year with Detroit before being waved on February 22. This season he is averaging 7.5 points, 3.4 assists, and 1.9 rebounds. Murray will play Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

"This late in the season, we're fortunate to be able to pick up someone who can contribute to our run for a playoff spot," said Pacers Coach Jim O'Brien. "He's a welcome addition to the Indiana Pacers."

Ice dominate Sioux City Musketeers; T.J. Syner gets hat trick!

The Ice outscored Sioux City 5-1 tonight with some help from Paul Carey and Rom Cramer who had a goal a piece and from T.J. Syner who had a hat trick (one goal in the first period, two more in the third.) That means the Ice went 2-0 on their road trip and get to rest until March 7th when they host Sioux Falls at home, then host the Stampede again the next night. Scott Darling had 27 saves for the Ice.

The Ice are currently on a 4 game win streak. Their longest win streak this season was 7 games.