Dinger by Jachdeja on Flickr

Coaches and players from the AAA Champion River Cats will be making some public appearances this weekend to sign autographs and share the love.

Members of the 2008 Triple-A and Pacific Coast League Champion Sacramento River Cats will say “thank you” to the Sacramento community for their passionate support during the team’s championship run with the River Cats Championship Caravan, Oct. 16-18. River Cats players and coaches, including manager Todd Steverson, team MVP Casey Rogowski and team home run leader Brooks Conrad, and Voice of the River Cats Johnny Doskow, will visit River Cats fans throughout the community and will be available to all media outlets for interview throughout the three days.

The first event is this evening from 5:30-6:30 pm at Raley’s in Natomas (4650 Natomas Blvd.) Autographs, raffle and free cupcakes! Then tonight at 7 pm join players and coaches at Palm Street Pub & Grill in Carmichael (6416 Fair Oaks Blvd) to watch the Red Sox take on the Rays in game 5 of the ALCS.

Continue reading “River Cats Championship Caravan coming” »

Dan Meyer, Chris Denorfia

Don’t forget, the PCL Champion River Cats’ season is not over yet. Today Sacramento will play the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (cool team name!) in Oklahoma City for the unofficial AAA championship game, pitting the International League and PCL champions against each other in a one-game “Bricktown showdown.” The River Cats won this game last year, the second year it was played. Because they are the best minor league franchise EVAH.

The game will be on at 5:00 pm on ESPN2. GO CATS!!! Update: Champions!!!

Here’s to the boys in white and black and maroon, who brought in their second Pacific Coast League title in a row. Congratulations go out as well to Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Denorfia who were named co-MVPs of the series.

What makes this feat even more impressive is that this team bears almost no relation to last year’s PCL title team. Because of the A’s penchant for bringing up players to fill the spots of traded-away stars, the ‘Cats roster is almost totally overhauled from last year. Which, of course, means that everyone who runs the team, from the scouts to the coaches to the manager, really deserve the accolades for not only putting together a great group of guys, but also getting the most out of them.

Thank you, Rivercats, for giving us something to cheer about.

Six-time gold glover Eric Chavez, the Oakland Athletics’ third baseman who has not suited up this year after offseason back surgery, will be making his first appearance in Sacramento wearing River Cats maroon this week. Chavez will take the field in the homestand that starts tomorrow night at 7:05 against the hated Salt Lake Bees. The Cats are tops in their division in this young season, with the second best record in the PCL next to the Bees’ insane .789 winning percentage. The river crew have won 5 out of their last 6. Come on out and cool off with a Dinger costume head sweet freeze!*

*Not available in reality

Dinger will be an even cooler cat with the Rivercats’ acquisition of the Merlino’s Freeze empire.

Given this new business development, what new flavors do you propose for a frosty treat?

Tonight at 7:05 the River Cats take the field of Raley for the 2008 season home opener against the hated Las Vegas 51s. The Cats have won 3 straight behind solid hitting, and Dan Meyer looks to get a win in his first start tonight. I’ll be there and will post photos. There is a scheduled non-virtual meetup with Nick Miller who is doing gonzo blogging at River Chat and wrote this great feature on the Cats for SNR.

In preparation you should check the roster because it’s quite different from last year’s. Go Cats!

Just got the press release that Tony DeFrancesco, River Cats manager the last 5 seasons, will be reporting to Oaklandtown to be the new A’s third base coach. With 3 PCL titles and a Triple-A championship, it was a great run and he’ll be missed.

Who’s got River Cats championship fever? I know I do, and the rash is killing me. Hooray for Jorge (call him George) Piedra and AA callup Brant Colamarino, and for the great pitching by Michael Madsen, Jeremy Blevins and Brad Ziegler. Madsen really cut the ears off the Zephyrs hitters for 6 strong innings! (Sorry.)

The Cats are now up 2 games over the Zephyrs in this PCL championship series. Stay tuned to River Chat for all your River Cats blogging needs.

Beloved River Cat Kurt Suzuki is getting a permanent spot in the bigs as a result of yesterday’s trade sending Jason Kendall to the Cubbies. He’ll be behind the plate for Oakland, with Mike Piazza as his backup. Piazza will also resuming his DH duties when he is through with his stint in Sacramento.

Having had a recent pet emergency (lilies are toxic to kitties, as are many other plants and flowers, so get your fluffball urgent care, and keep flowers out of the house — out of reach is not enough, I learned), I thought I’d give a run-down on my experience with some of the region’s veterinarians.

Our beloved feline is fine, thanks to the fine folks at VCA Sacramento Veterinary Referral Center. We were referred to VCA from another VCA clinic (on Manzanita, south of Madison), and we were referred to them by the Banfield inside of Petsmart on Watt Avenue.

Here’s my take on some of the vet clinics I’ve encountered over the years:

Continue reading “Support Your Vets” »