Cubs affiliate pokes fun at LeBron

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

This Thursday, the Peoria Chiefs who are a Cubsā€™ single-A affiliate, will be holding a LeBron James NBA Championship Replica Giveaway night.  ā€œReplica Ringsā€ (in other words, air), will be given out to fans.

The Chiefs said they are "looking into" whether they can skip the fourth inning to poke fun at James, who scored just 18 points during the fourth quarter in six NBA Finals games.

"We aren’t sure if the league will allow it," Peoria president Rocky Vonachen said in a statement. "But if LeBron doesn’t need to show up for the fourth, maybe we won’t either."

All in good fun, I guess. Anything to take their mind off their parent organization.

Cubs minor league pitcher sentenced for brawl incident

Justice moves slow in the minor leagues. Just ask Julio Castillo.

Julio Castillo was the pitcher who was involved in the bench-clearing brawl during the Dayton Dragons-Peoria Chiefs game in Dayton last July.  During the brawl, Castillo threw a ball into the stands and injured a fan.

Well, over a year later, heā€™s finally getting his due.  An Ohio judge sentenced him to 30 days in jail and three yearā€™s probation

Castillo hasnā€™t pitched all year and it looks like heā€™ll have to wait till next year before he throws again. 

Peoria Chiefs No-hit by Burlington hurlers

Things haven’t been going so well for the Cubs’ single-A affiliate Peoria Chiefs.  First they receive national attention by getting involved in a nasty brawl with the Dayton Dragons which got 15 players ejected and multiple fines and suspensions handed down. 

Since then they have been 1-7 with their one win coming at the expense of South Bend August 2. 

To top it all off, last night they were no-hit by the Burlington Bees.  Starter Danny Duffy threw six no-hit innings for the win and reliever Juan Abreu finished the final three innings for the save. 

With the unfortunate loss, the Chiefs find themselves at .500 and in 6th place for the second half of the season. 

Suspensions, fines handed down in bench clearing brawl

Yesterday, the Midwest League has issued their penalties for the "unfortunate bench clearing brawl" that took place between the Peoria Chiefs and the Dayton Dragons a little over a week ago in Dayton. 

The starting pitcher for the Chiefs, Julio Castillo gets the stiffest penalty with a 60-day penalty and a $1,000 fine.  He was also arrested and charged with felonious assault when a ball he threw hit a fan.  Castillo is no longer on the Chiefs’ active roster.

Six other Chief players were fined $150 and suspended three games. 

Carmelo Martinez, the Cubs Latin American Field Coordinator and Field manager in place of Ryne Sandberg who was at the Hall of Fame Ceremonies, was also fined $1,500 and suspended 20 games. 

I got most of this info from the Peoria Chiefs’ website.  I was hoping to get more detailed info on the Dayton Dragons on the Dragons site but no luck.  No news is good news, I guess.

Can you imagine what it might have been like for Ryne Sandberg in Cooperstown that weekend?  Here he is, probably hanging out with his buddies, Schmitty, Ozzie, maybe trying to avoid Morgan. 

Maybe something like this:

Schmitty:  Hey, Ryno!  How’s it goin’ in the sticks?  I hear you’re managing a single-A team?  The Chiefs?  Who’s in control while you’re gone?

Ryno:  Carmelo Martinez

Ozzie:  Who?  Never heard of him.

Ryno:  You remember… Edgar’s cousin.  Hit 21 homers in ’85.

Ozzie and Schmitty:  (nodding and looking at each other)

Ryno:  He’s got things well under control. 

Ozzie:  Uhh, Ryno.  You might want to check out the news on the TV here.  It doesn’t look good.

Schmitty:  Yeah, who’s this kid, Castillo?  He’s got quite an arm.

Ryno:  facepalm1

Peoria Chiefs and Dayton Dragons scuffle

The Cubs single A team, the Peoria Chiefs got into a bit of a scuffle with the Dayton Dragons in Dayton last night.

And that’s putting it mildly.Ā  Judge for yourself.

The conflict started when Dragons Angel Cabrera and Zack Cozart were hit by pitches.Ā  The situation was exacerbated when Cozart was hit in the head.

Cabrera retaliated by sliding with his spikes held high, Ty Cobb-style.Ā  That when the sparks flew and WWIII started between the two teams.

In all, 15 players were ejected.Ā  The men in blue decided to reverse the ejections mostly because of staffing issues.Ā  No one wanted pitchers playing outfield.Ā Ā  Is that an acceptable excuse for reversing the ejections for everyone?Ā  Watch the video and tell me.

After a delay of over an hour, play resumed and the Dayton Dragons defeated the Chiefs 6-5.

Rumor has it that Ryne Sandberg was out of town for the Hall of Fame weekend.

Peoria Chiefs release promo schedule

For those in the area, plan your trip to see the Peoria Chiefs this year.  The Chiefs, who are the Chicago Cubs single A affiliate, have already come out with the promotion schedule including all-you-can-eat hot dog nights (I know a few people who could give them a run for their money), free Joe Girardi t-shirts, and the headliner, in my opinion:

“Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter headlines the special guests at Oā€™Brien Field this season as the VIP guest for the annual Legends at the Ballpark night with IPMR on Saturday June 14. Sutter was a closer for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves amassing 300 saves from 1976-1988 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. He and Chiefs Manager Ryne Sandberg had a memorable matchup in July 1984 when Sandberg tied the game twice with homers off Sutter on national TV at Wrigley Field.”

I think most Cubs fans who were around back then remember that game.

I planned to go see the Chiefs after having team broadcaster Nathan Baliva on our podcast last year but just never got around to it.  I’ll have to make good on that this year.  The Chiefs home season starts April 7 and single game tickets go on sale Monday.