Reese Kaplan - Up Close and Personal with the Las Vegas 51s

The Las Vegas 51s made their first-ever visit to El Paso tonight to play the brand new franchise, the Chihuahuas.  I'd been hinting, asking and outright begging for press credentials in what I hoped was still a dignified manner but I wasn't getting any replies from the extremely busy Chihuahuas front office.  The opening of the new stadium and the first year of the franchise have exceeded even their wildest expectations and nearly every game thus far has been a sellout.

On opening weekend they had the chance to test the downtown area's preparedness to handle the crowds of 9000 attending the Chihuahua's baseball game while next door on consecutive nights comedians Jerry Seinfeld and George Lopez were appearing.  It all went off without a hitch, parking spots were a little tight, but nothing ever got out of hand and the restaurants and bars are thriving on game days.

I'd already organized a company outing to see the Las Vegas 51s, renting the entire "Fiesta Patio" area for our group of 52 and those tickets sold out to staff in a single day.  Since I hadn't heard from the Chihuahuas about media access, I assumed it would be my first chance to see the ballpark and the 51s on the 30th

Imagine my surprise when today I received a gracious and apologetic note from the front office offering me a press pass for Thursday night’s game!  I scrambled to rearrange a lot of plans but there was no way I was going to let this opportunity pass me by. 

Before the game started there was a brief exchange from the sidewalk with recently demoted Omar Quintanilla who is from El Paso.  His former high school teacher was chatting with him through the fence, so we spent a few moments conversing about being back in his hometown and how he's been thrust into the role of tour guide for all of his new teammates.  Contrary to the circumstances, he was all smiles.

Around the corner I came upon the team of the Budweiser Clydesdales who were there to honor military before the game.  They are indeed impressive looking animals and even bigger in person than you expected them to be.

I arrived early to the ballpark to try to find the press person to thank her for setting up my access.  Unfortunately she was not around so I made my way up to the press box where I found most of the seats already occupied with the paid writers.  The photographers quickly cleared away when I identified myself as a writer as the front seats were reserved for the scribes. 

I confess I felt a little out of my element with the others who did this every day for a living.  However, it very quickly became apparent how to earn my stripes.  The locals knew nothing about the visiting team and I spouted off all kinds of information in response to their questions such as recent transactions, who's hot, who's not, and who's likely to be promoted.  After that they were inviting me to join them at the provided buffet and accepted me as one of their own.

There was a press box veteran named Bernie who not only wrote about the Chihuahuas, but also served as the official scorer.  We all got into a pro and con debate about the merits of instant replay as he'd been called on the carpet by some folks who thought he'd recently blown a critical call.  I positioned myself next to one of the El Paso Times beat writers and we swapped a lot of stories about strange plays (and strange players) we have seen.

While it was a great view of the infield from the box high above the first base dugout, it wasn't positioned particularly well for plays down the right field line which was completely out of view.  The air conditioning inside the glassed-in booth was welcome on the warm evening, but the glare through the glass made it somewhat challenging to see (and doubly difficult to view screens on electronic devices).

The stadium itself is gorgeous, a state-of-the-art facility smack in the middle of the downtown area.  With no dedicated parking lot out front it meant that the nearby buildings were immediately across from the outside fences which gave the place a feel of traditional ballpark like Wrigley or Fenway.  Perhaps for the same reason it felt intimate with the fans very close to the action on the field.

When the Chihuahuas staff dropped off the printed lineups for the game it was obvious that Wally Backman was stacking his lineup with righties against the El Paso lefty starter.  It featured only two left handed batters -- Quintanilla and Kirk Nieuwenhuis.  Josh Satin was at first, Zach Lutz was at 3rd, and Andrew Brown was in right.  It was all very familiar as these players had all spent time with the Mets previously.  Then there were a few new faces, too -- Cesar Puello in left, Danny Muno at second and a last minute substitution of Kai Gronauer behind the plate.  The pitcher thrust into the starting role with the recent promotions of 40% of the 51s' rotation was Giancarlo Alvarado, a veteran of 16 years in organized ball that had him playing all over the globe, including the USA, Mexico, South America and Japan as well as both affiliated and independent leagues in the USA.

 As the game started, Cesar Puello leaned in against former outfielder Jason Lane for the Chihuahuas doing a reverse Rick Ankiel and trying a second career as a pitcher.  The big lefty had surprisingly good control but not a lot of movement.  He got Puello to ground out on a  routine 6-3 play but wow, can he ever fly down the line! 

Alvarado’s first inning he seemed to be laboring a bit, including walking second baseman Jace Peterson for the first of five free passes he would get that evening.  He emerged unscathed and the game continued. 

In the second the 51s managed to load the bases on a Lutz single, a walk to Nieuwenhuis and an infield hit by Danny Muno, but Quintanilla and Alvarado left everyone stranded.

Alvarado pitched in and out of trouble most of the evening.  In the second he hit catcher Adam Moore and walked left fielder Travis Buck before getting a fly out to Nieuwenhuis and a strikeout of Jason Lane to end it.  That’s no cakewalk as the former outfielder is hitting a robust .429!

Leading off the third inning Cesar Puello launched a no-doubter home run over the left field wall that showed why he put up such gaudy numbers last year.  Nieuwenhuis, Alvarado and Puello again would drive in runs to give the 51s their four spot. 

After 5 innings Wally Backman lifted Alvarado for Erik Goeddel and it was not a great night for him.  He served up a home run to former Met Jeff Francouer as his first batter and then followed that up with a number of hits and walks leading to a second run.  It was reminiscent of the recent outing by Dice-K in which it was obvious to everyone in the ballpark he just didn’t have it yet the manager left him in to take a beating.  Fortunately he was able to strike out .303 hitting Brooks Conrad with the bases loaded to limit the damage to just two runs. 

Recent arrival Zack Thornton came in next and was throwing quite a bit harder than was Goeddel.  In his 1.2 IP he racked up 3 Ks and lowered his ERA to 2.84.  Buddy Carlyle came in to record a quick out as Backman told me he wanted the sinkerballer in to get out of the inning. 

At one point there was what we assumed to be a double down the right field line.  It was not at all visible from the press box and the official scorer just followed along with the umpires indicated.  At another point Jace Peterson made a back-to-the-plate attempt running to CF to try to catch a Texas Leaguer off the bat of Kai Gronauer and he asked us all our opinion as to whether we thought it was a hit or an error.  Although they were all hometown media, the unanimous consensus was hit.  It was kind of cool to be able to help contribute to the outcome of the game that way. 

In the 9^th inning Wally Backman brought in Vic Black to close the game.  Even during his warmup pitches it was clear to everyone that he is at a whole different level than every other pitcher we’d see that night from either team.  He threw an easy 95 and registered as high as 98 (though the radar gun was notoriously finicky).  Yes, he did walk the leadoff batter, but induced a quick 3-6 double play to leave the bases clear.  He got the final out on a comebacker and registered the save.  No one even took a credible swing against him. 

After the game ended we descended the elevator to the locker rooms where the reporters went to get their interviews with the Chihuahuas players.  I asked the escort if he could bring me to the visitor’s clubhouse and he obliged.  I’d hoped first to speak to Josh Satin but they said they couldn’t find him and thought he was in the shower.  Next I tried for Omar Quintanilla but he was showering.  I did make some small talk with Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Vic Black while waiting for the other players to emerge.  Then I asked if I could be taken to see Wally Backman and they brought me to the manager’s office.

When I arrived, it turned out that Josh Satin was there finishing a conversation with Backman.  He was clearly not in a good mood having flied out right twice and struck out his last three times.  Despite starting that impressive double play in the 9^th, he looked pretty dejected, so I instead took the opportunity to talk to Wally.

We started off talking about Satin and how ironically he’s found himself in pretty much the exact same situation in Las Vegas that he had in New York.  Both Alan Dykstra (who is built like Lucas Duda) and Brandon Allen are off to hot starts, play 1B and bat left handed.  Backman said he knows what Josh is capable of doing and knows that the only cure for his hitting woes is to get plenty of at-bats.  Towards that end, he’s planning to play him quite a bit at 2^nd base in order to keep his bat in the lineup. 

Wally went on to say that he knows how rough it is to adjust when guys like Satin, Quintanilla, Nieuwenhuis and Brown get sent down.  Some dwell on their misfortune and it’s his job to get them to play to their fullest capability and have them ready to return to New York when needed.  He cited Andrew Brown as an example.  He’s been on fire since arriving in Las Vegas, hitting over .340 and proving to be what Wally termed a better than average outfielder with a plus arm.  I did see him show off his arm a few times in the game and I’d have to agree. 

On Puello he said that despite the rough start this year there’s no question he has the true five-tool talent set.  He said that in the past few days he’s shown some signs of breaking out of his season-long slump.

He’s very impressed with Thornton and said he’s done terrific work for him.  I asked about the plight of the players not on the 40-man roster who are always seemingly on the outside looking in when others with perhaps less stellar results are promoted ahead of them by virtue of being on the 40-man.  He said it’s an issue but not as big a deal as you might think as there are always players on the 40-man who can be bumped from it.  Towards that end he volunteered that “Soco” (Miguel Socolovich) is an example of someone pitching himself onto the radar.  He leads all bullpen arms in innings pitched and is keeping runners off base. 

We talked a bit about Omar Quintanilla who was cheered as loudly as the El Paso players were and had a long line of media and fans waiting for him to emerge from the locker room.  He said Q is a very professional ballplayer and he’s as puzzled as anyone about the the pattern throughout his career of playing well for 5-6 weeks and then fading.  He said whenever he has him he plays him every day and never sees any deterioration in his game. 

I suggested that with the movement of Wilmer Flores to the majors that it might have started the carousel in motion with a corresponding series of moves up the ladder with a pair of shortstops in AA hitting well over .300.  He winked at me and said, “I’m not gonna say anything about that!” which in itself spoke volumes.  It’s clear Backman is not naturally one to hold back his opinions, but apparently he’s learning to do so.  He did go on to say how good Wilfredo Tovar is with his glove and he would like to see whether or not his bat could play at this level. 

All in all, it was a great and hopefully not just once in a lifetime experience.