The Ongoing Saga Of The Brothers Rasmus: Colby Strikes Back

It’s been five days since we last spoke of the glorious Rasmus Brothers, which always feels like about four days too long.  This time, however, I nearly forgot about it until a trip to Twitter jogged my memory.

Cory Rasmus had a nice night on Thursday: six innings, one run, three hits, one walk, eight strikeouts.  And he picked up the win, which is always nice.

Brother Colby was 0-4 and left a couple runners on base against the Astros.  But he was also the beneficiary of a very special video that was uploaded to YouTube nearly three weeks ago and posted on Deadspin this morning.

That was…amazing.  I’m beyond words.  I wish I’d known about it on August 11, because this video is the only thing with the raw power to counter Cory’s no-hitter.

I just…I think I need to go to sleep now.

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Your Random Rasmus Brothers Update

Because I wait excitedly for the Rasmus Brothers to perform on the same day, I assume that you do too. Here are the results from yesterday:

Colby: 1-4, HR, BB
Cory: 2.2 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 SO

Colby’s hit wasn’t a walk-off this time, but he “wins” this round because Cory had a bad day. The fourteen inning no-hit streak? Gone in the first inning. Both brothers’ teams eventually won, however – the Cardinals topped the Padres, 7-0, and Danville came from behind to beat Greeneville, 5-4, in ten innings.

Circle August 21 On Your Calendars: Round 3 In The Battle Of The Rasmus Brothers

Five days ago, I brought you the story of the Brothers Rasmus: older brother Colby, one of Baseball America’s Top 100 preseason prospects and an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, celebrated his birthday, only to be upstaged by little brother Cory, who pitched a seven-inning no-hitter for the Danville Braves.

Tonight was to be the night Colby got his revenge. The rookie broke a 5-5 ninth inning tie with his twelfth homerun of the season, a two-run walk-off bomb off Padres closer Heath Bell. Score one for Colby in the ol’ sibling rivalry contest, right?

Probably – a walk-off is pretty cool – but let’s look at the facts first. As the fates would have it, Cory also started for Danville tonight, his first outing since the no-hitter, and he did alright for himself: despite control problems (walking four and hitting a batter) that led to a pair of runs, he did not allow a hit for the second straight game. With five hitless innings under his belt tonight, seven in his last start, and two in the start before that, he has now gone fourteen consecutive innings without giving up a hit.

It appears we got ourselves a good old fashioned rivalry brewing between the baseball-playing Rasmus Boys.  I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next.

Happy Birthday To You, Colby Rasmus – Love, Your Brother Cory

Tuesday was Colby Rasmus’s 23rd birthday. His brother Cory, who is fifteen months younger, managed to upstage his brother’s big day: he pitched a no-hitter.

Cory is a pitcher for the Danville Braves of the Appalachian League. On Tuesday, while his brother was going 2-for-5 in a Cardinals loss to the Reds, Cory was shutting down the Princeton Rays. He worked seven innings, walking one and striking out nine to even his record at 2-2.

It officially doesn’t matter if Cory ever makes the majors now, or if he does, for how long. The important thing is that he has something awesome to hold over big brother’s head for the rest of their lives.

Spotlight on A Ball – 3/31/2008

With 300+ minor league teams in these United States, OMDQ and I will need some way to focus our energies, and this is one way we figured to do it. Monday is “A” ball day. That will include Rookie League and every form of A ball. Wednesday we’ll check out the AA clubs, and then on Friday on up to AAA. We’ll also develop a few weekly features to slot in on the other two days in the rotation.

So, for today, here’s the A News:

The Danville Braves of the Appalachian League are preparing to enter 2008 with a new manager. Former coach Mel Roberts passed away on September 1, 2007, just one day after his club finished their season. Roberts was 64 years old, and had coached at every level in the Braves’ minor league organization. The Braves have turned to a familiar face – new coach Paul Runge led the Atlanta affiliate to an Appy League championship in 2006.

In happier news for the Appy League, the Mariners have brought baseball back to Pulaski, VA. The Blue Jays pulled out of Pulaski before the 2007 season, leaving the league with an unbalanced schedule for one year, but the Mariners have filled that void.

The Casper Ghosts (Rockies) of the Pioneer League are offering Glow-in-the-dark caps this season.

The Midwestern League’s Beloit Snappers (Twins) will welcome 7’1″ Dutch prospect Loek Van Mil to their roster this season. The righty moved up from the Rookie League this season to become the tallest player on a pitching staff that boasts exclusively six-footers and above.

The Greensboro Grasshoppers (Marlins) of the South Atlantic League have an impressive new presence on the web. Sports writer and season-ticket holder Will Brinson will be covering his hometown team at the new site GrassBloggers.

The Lancaster JetHawks are ready to fly in 2008. The Red Sox A-Advanced affiliate has a full-size FA-18 outside their stadium, and it’s pointed at the sky.

You have to love a Fan Festival hosted by Warthogs. This will be the Winston-Salem (White Sox) club’s last opening day at Ernie Shore Field, as they look forward to a gleaming new downtown stadium in 2009.

In listing their Ten Names to Know, the A-Advanced Florida State League included the awesomely-named Razor Shines, manager of the Clearwater Threshers (Phillies). Aside from his name, the guy can obviously coach, and we might see him in the bigs someday soon.

The State College Spikes are the Short-Season A affiliate for Pittsburgh. Which explains the excellent motto “The Bucs Start Here”.

And just allow me to close by saying I love the Everett Aquasox (Mariners) frog-based logo. If I had to pick one item to buy via internet, I think it would be, well, the socks.

That’s the news I was able to cull by randomly dropping by the league sites. If you are a fan of a team, and would like to let me know about something great going on in your town, drop me a line or a link at busleagues (at) gmail (dot) com.

Reliving the Summer of Baseball

Last summer I took my son to nearly every minor league ballpark in our home state of Virginia. I called it “The Summer of Baseball”, and published some of my photos on this blog. I ended up writing an article about it for Camperways magazine, which runs destination features for fans of RV travel. At the time we had seven teams active in the area.

Since then, the Atlanta Braves have announced that they will be moving their AAA affiliate from Richmond to the Atlanta suburbs, and the Rookie level Pulaski facility, which had its Blue Jays affiliation yanked before I could visit, is now back in the game as the lowest level of the Mariners organization.

The article was published tabloid-style, so I had trouble scanning single pages – hope you can stand to read the giant .jpgs I made instead.

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I love going to games, and I love to write about it, but I don’t know jack about making readable internet files.

Photos: Elizabethton Twins @ Danville Braves 7/15/07

Danville, VA hosts the Rookie team for the Atlanta Braves. They play in Dan Daniel Stadium, which is part of a very nice complex that includes a park and municipal ball fields. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.

The ticket teepee, concession workers, international dugout, kids run the bases

Hand-written lineups, sno-cones, one on, watching from the dugout.

If you go to a game at Danville, pay the extra couple of bucks to sit under the overhang behind home plate. It gets hot and humid down in tobacco country.