<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>The tandem of Shuster and Christoph already has American Association teams in two Texas<\/strong> <\/strong>cities, El Paso<\/strong> <\/strong>and Grand Prairie<\/strong>, and will deliver new stadiums, Shuster promises, in two more Lone Star State areas, Montgomery<\/strong> County <\/strong>and Laredo<\/strong>, in 2012.\u00c2\u00a0 Laredo currently plays in the United League, <\/strong>but Ventura won the RFP (request for proposal) rights.<\/p>\n In some ways, Montgomery County and Laredo are just a new starting point for the Ventura people. \u00c2\u00a0The group also is developing in the Kansas<\/strong> <\/strong>capitol of Topeka<\/strong>, which Shuster expects to have ready \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in 2012 or 2013\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Now get this.\u00c2\u00a0 Shuster proclaims Ventura has \u00e2\u20ac\u0153four or five others in various stages\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which could be known in \u00e2\u20ac\u015330 days to six months.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE <\/strong><\/p>\n Go to www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> or www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n Can-Am Trio Provided Tune-up for Daisuke<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Three Brockton (MA) Rox <\/strong>players got a thrill recently they will not soon forget.<\/p>\n Boston Red Sox <\/strong>Advance Scouting Coordinator Jared Porter <\/strong>recruited Chris Valencia, Keith Brachold <\/strong>and Melvin Falu<\/strong> to face Daisuke Matsuzaka <\/strong>in the simulated game at Fenway Park <\/strong>to get him ready for his start in Colorado <\/strong>tonight (Thursday).<\/p>\n T-Bones Count on Perez to Replace James as Closer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Most everyone says it is very difficult these days finding pitchers when a contract has been purchased by a major league organization or someone is injured, but the Kansas City (KS) T-Bones<\/strong>, who are chasing Fargo, ND <\/strong>for the Northern League <\/strong>lead, believe they have found a capable replacement after Oakland <\/strong>purchased closer Jason James <\/strong>(6-for-6 in saves, 1.69).<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>The replacement is Dominican <\/strong>right-hander Franklin Perez. <\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He comes in with veteran experience, and has big shoes to fill with James leaving,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Manager Tim Doherty. <\/strong>Perez was with four different teams in the Atlantic League<\/strong> last season with his best showing a 3.00 ERA and six saves (0-2) in 27 games for Camden<\/strong>, NJ<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Instant Scores, Stats Now Available on Mobile Devices<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Another innovative step was announced by the new Independent Baseball statistical house, Pointstreak<\/strong>, Thursday, whereby fans may access games in real time on mobile devices.\u00c2\u00a0 Pointstreak already was providing immediate pitch-by-pitch accounts and in-game box scores for seven of the eight leagues, but its site of m.pointstreak.com now makes it possible to get such features as daily schedules, league standings and individual statistics at any time of day or night.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a>, or comment<\/strong> to RWirz@aol.com<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 The author <\/strong>has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A solid community builds and thrives around a minor league baseball team.\u00c2\u00a0 And when that team has its own stadium there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost no end of opportunities to get people together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This is the opening paragraph on the Ventura Sports Group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s web site, and while it probably could be echoed by any of several aggressive developmental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4746],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/indylogo.png\" 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<\/a>Heck, it seems likely Ventura Sports, led by the partnership between Mark Shuster <\/strong>and Roger Christoph<\/strong>, is somewhat single-handedly going to deliver expansion to the already sprawling American Association<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Ventura might have a hand in bringing new franchises into other leagues, too, although Shuster does not deny favoritism to the 10-team league which currently stretches the seemingly unwieldy distance from the Upper Midwest <\/strong>city of St. Paul<\/strong>, MN <\/strong>to the Florida Panhandle <\/strong>community of Pensacola<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n