{"id":7343,"date":"2010-08-12T15:34:31","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T22:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=7343"},"modified":"2010-08-12T15:34:31","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T22:34:31","slug":"gibbons-makes-another-statement-for-indy-leagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/12\/gibbons-makes-another-statement-for-indy-leagues\/","title":{"rendered":"Gibbons Makes Another Statement for Indy Leagues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay Gibbons <\/strong>has struck another harmonious chord for Independent Baseball with his splashy re-entrance into the major leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A longtime Baltimore Orioles <\/strong>outfielder (2001-2007), the left-handed Gibbons erged from a brush with being named in the infamous Mitchell Report<\/strong> to start \"\"<\/a>cleansing his reputation with the Long Island (NY) Ducks <\/strong>in the Atlantic League <\/strong>in \u00e2\u20ac\u212208, and did all of his playing in \u00e2\u20ac\u212209 with the Newark (NJ) Bears<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Then, after auditioning his still-potent batting skills in winter ball and at Triple-A Albuquerque <\/strong>(.347-19-83), he made an impressive National League <\/strong>debut with a run-scoring pinch single on Sunday, the day he joined the Dodgers.\u00c2\u00a0 After a day off and a cross-country flight, the 33-year-old broke out with a three-RBI game (homer and two singles in four at-bats plus an outstanding catch) as LA swamped Philadelphia<\/strong>, 15-9.\u00c2\u00a0 He only played the first 5 \u00c2\u00bd innings.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Right now, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about winning games,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dodgers Manager Joe Torre <\/strong>told MLB.com <\/em>when he kept Gibbons in the lineup the next night over regular Matt Kemp.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To have the game he (Gibbons) had last night, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ride that as far as we can.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Gibbons went 0-for-4, but the entire team was blanked by Roy Oswalt <\/strong>and the Phils\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong>bullpen.\u00c2\u00a0 He is 4-for-9 for his first three games.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Six Indy Alums Get to Majors This Season<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jay Gibbons <\/strong>is the sixth player to take the Independent Baseball route who has gotten back to the major leagues this season, and the 144th<\/sup> overall since the Indy startup in \u00e2\u20ac\u212293, according to the exclusive records maintained by the Independent Baseball Insider.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>Mark Prior Fans Five in a Row<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It is way too early to start predicting former National League <\/strong>all-star Mark Prior <\/strong>is on his way back to the majors, but there seems reason for encouragement after two appearances in the Golden League.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>Prior got into a bases loaded, one-out jam in his first relief inning for Orange County (Fullerton, CA)<\/strong> Wednesday night, then struck out the last five Tijuana <\/strong>hitters he faced.\u00c2\u00a0 Still only 29, the right-hander has allowed only one hit (no runs) while fanning six in his three innings.<\/p>\n

Pena, Swindle Could Get Into Pennant Races<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two Independent grads it would not be shocking to see in major league pennant races yet this season are R. J. Swindle<\/strong>, who Tampa Bay <\/strong>could call on to get key left-handed hitters out, and Wily Mo Pena<\/strong>, who may become at least an extra bat for San Diego.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0*<\/strong> * * *<\/p>\n

www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/a> ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

Pecos League Plans to Launch Next Season<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess it was even before the Continental League <\/strong>closed up shop when another low cost Independent league started taking form.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, the Pecos League <\/strong>says it has six teams ready to play next summer although some probably will not have a permanent home.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is a rookie league for players not drafted,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Founder Andrew Dunn, <\/strong>who is in the real estate world in Houston <\/strong>and has had various amateur baseball involvements.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dunn identified the first six teams as former Continental members Las Cruces, NM, <\/strong>which he owns, <\/strong>and Alpine (TX) County <\/strong>(formerly called Big Bend) <\/strong>along with Del Rio, TX, Roswell, NM<\/strong> and El Paso, TX<\/strong>, where the American Association <\/strong>is established with the Diablos.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>He indicated El Paso probably will not have a full home schedule, and a road team called Coastal Kingfish <\/strong>may play.\u00c2\u00a0 The other possibilities at this time, he said, are Pueblo, CO, Bisbee, AZ <\/strong>and Abilene, TX.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans may subscribe at <\/em><\/a>www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blogs, <\/em>www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>www.IndyBaseballChatter.com<\/em><\/a>, or comment to <\/em>RWirz@aol.com<\/em><\/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

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay Gibbons has struck another harmonious chord for Independent Baseball with his splashy re-entrance into the major leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers.\u00c2\u00a0 A longtime Baltimore Orioles outfielder (2001-2007), the left-handed Gibbons erged from a brush with being named in the infamous Mitchell Report to start cleansing his reputation with the Long Island (NY) Ducks […]<\/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":[1764,537,9812,338,9813,6157,493,6158,4634,1954,60,3619,8579,3627,9810,5210,3242,9811,1843,7582],"class_list":["post-7343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-indy-baseball-insider","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baseball-insider","tag-country-flight","tag-entire-team","tag-fullerton-ca","tag-gibbons","tag-independent-baseball","tag-jay-gibbons","tag-joe-torre","tag-league-debut","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-manager-joe-torre","tag-mark-prior","tag-matt-kemp","tag-mitchell-report","tag-newark-nj","tag-roy-oswalt","tag-star-mark","tag-three-games","tag-winter-ball"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7343","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=7343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}