The Sacramento River Cats sought revenge Thursday from the Fresno Grizzlies, who pummeled the Cats four games in a row a week ago, but fell short, losing 3-2. “They threw the ball well,” said Cats shortstop Eric Sogard. “The pitcher was hitting their spots well. They had a few errors, but we couldn’t really capitalize on them.” “We made a few ourselves, and they capitalized on them. So you know, it was a close game, a battle. They got this one,” Sogard said. With less than half the season remaining, the River Cats lead the Pacific Southern Division with 54 wins and 36 losses, while Fresno trails Sacramento by 15.5 games. The cool 73-degree weather Thursday night attracted a crowd of 10

Even though half of the River Cats starting lineup began their season with Oakland, it was a former River Cat that helped make the difference in the game. Steve Tolleson and the other top three hitters in the batting order in the Tucson Padres lineup collected 12 of their 18 hits in a 12-7 win over the River Cats on Thursday evening at Raley Field. Tolleson’s not sure about the Padres plans for him. Whether he gets the call or not, he’s just happy to be playing everyday. “I don’t really know too much,” said the 27-year old from Spartanburg, South Carolina. “At the time of the trade, they were struggling up there as a team with their utility players, but I’m just here having a good time

Continued from Part 1.  Click here to read. It's one thing to gaze from afar and laud your personal heroes from your seat in the stadium. But to get a chance to not only speak with but spend 45 minutes alone with the greatest base-stealer of all-time was one of the highlights of my writing career. The Oakland A's were my favorite baseball team when i was a kid. My first sports idol was Reggie Jackson. My second was Rickey Henderson. For part one of this story, click here. In this second segment of a three part story, Henderson talks about playing for the his hometown Oakland A's, the 1989 earthquake-interrupted World Series, his 1990 MVP season and playing with Mark McGwire and Jose Ca

Lenny DiNardo knows what it takes to be in the bigs again. He just has to try and adjust. You see, usually by 31 years of age, a pitcher will start losing something off his fastball and may even need to retool himself to stay in the game he loves so much. This is that precise moment in time DiNardo is in, and River Cats pitching coach Scott Emerson is helping him down that bumpy road. “He’s a different pitcher than he was 10 years ago,” Coach Emo said. “The velocity is a lot less, so he’s got to learn a different type of style. That style is throwing a bunch of strikes at the bottom of the zone and changing speeds.” On Thursday evening at Raley Field, DiNardo was not able to keep the ba

Scott Emerson has a philosophy. Let’s call it more of an idea what the Sacramento River Cats pitching coach is looking for out of his pitching staff. “You want your starter to go six or seven innings and then that cuts down on the usage of the bullpen,” said Emerson after the game. “As an organization, we do have a pitch count for guys to be able to pitch the next day, if they go over a certain number, we can’t use them the next day.” Considering that Cats starter Bobby Cramer had reached that pitch total well ahead of schedule, it was refreshing to see all three Sacramento relievers combine to hold the Salt Lake Bees to only two more hits in the game. That allowed their timely hitting a

After a slow and grueling game, the Sacramento River Cats lost 4-3 in the first of the four-game home series against the Salt Lake City Bees. There were more balls than strikes and more outs than runs for the River Cats, who didn’t make it on the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth inning. The game started off with a walk for the Bees, as River Cats starting pitcher Marti Yadel threw consecutive balls, surprising because usually he is successful on the mound with a 4.86 ERA. A bystander in the crowd shouted “There goes the perfect game.” The game was far from perfect. The loss for the River Cats, who had a first place standing in the league, watched their record drop to 19-11. The

The Sacramento River Cats played a memorable game Thursday night at Raley Field with two home runs and no runs from the New Orleans Zephyrs until the fifth inning. Despite losing the first game of the series against the Zephyrs on May 23, it was the third win for the River Cats this week. Michael Taylor (LF) scored his first home run of the season during the second inning and Josh Donaldson (C) hit one in the bottom of the seventh. With 6,111 people in attendance, the crowd had high energy and enthusiasm, with children yelling “Dinger! Dinger!” and KISS fans singing “I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night.” There were several mistakes made by the Zephyrs that kept the River Cats in the lead t

Wes Timmons just wants to play ball. That is, with God’s blessing, of course. Timmons had a conversation with his wife before Sunday’s Mother’s Day contest at Raley Field and thinks he may have figured it out. After Saturday night’s game Timmons felt horrible. He told his wife Jennifer that he feels like he hasn’t been in the batter’s box for a year rather than the three weeks it’s been. She then told him what he already knew. “You need to check yourself and get back in the word and trust in God,” said Jennifer. So, after his pre-game one-on-one with the man upstairs, a rejuvenated Timmons promptly hit the field and went 3-4 with an RBI, helping the Sacramento River Cats beat the hot-hi

This time around, a slightly re-tooled Graham Godfrey was ready. Ready to show that the changes he made in the offseason were paying off. Ready to pop the glove with the hard stuff. And after striking out the side in the first inning, he knew that he couldn’t let this great start go to waste. “It sets the tone for the rest of the game,” said Godfrey. “I think the guys playing behind me picked up on that and they feed off that. It’s a good way to start things off.” On a sunny and warm Thursday evening at Raley Field, the sombreros were out and the margaritas were flowing as the fans in attendance this Cinco de Mayo witnessed a great pitching performance as the Cats cruised to a 7-1 vict

With the River Cats’ (16-11) good times seemingly rolling along — winners of six of their last seven — a midday contest against the stumbling Salt Lake Bees — losers of the first two games of this match-up — should have been just what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately for the Cats, the house call wasn’t made and no medicine could have helped them, as Sacramento was their own worst enemy by making four errors en route to an 8-1 loss to the Bees on Wednesday afternoon at Raley Field. After a quick 1-2-3 first inning by both teams, the Bees headed to the plate in the second and struck first. With two outs, left fielder Chris Pettit reached first on an error by Cat right fielder Adam Heethe

Considering that the Sacramento River Cats have been on a roll lately – winners of eight of their last ten - you would hope that, along with all the kids finding prizes in the plastic eggs that were scattered across the grass in the Kinder BBQ area, the Cats would find a way to scatter enough hits to keep the good times rolling along. The visiting Tucson Padres cut the good times short by providing solid starting pitching and timely hitting to best Sacramento 7-5 on Easter Sunday, despite comeback attempts in each of the final four innings by the River Cats. A weakness of the Cats early this season has been allowing the opposing team to put up multiple runs in the opening frame. Falling

If you follow the River Cats even the slightest bit, you know that they’re known for putting up runs on the board in bunches, especially in their wins. The final game in the season-opening series with the Tacoma Rainiers was no different. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Sacramento, Cat right fielder Jai (pronounced Jay) Miller found his groove. Even though Miller is in Triple A working on fixing the holes in his swing, a lot is expected of the big man - known for either ripping the cover off of the ball and sending it screaming over the wall for all to cheer, or tying himself in knots trying. Miller’s strong arms and powerful swing helped him go 2-for-3 with two walks and five RBI inc

It’s that time again! Spring is in the air and the tri-tip is cookin’ at Raley Field. The Sacramento River Cats kick off their 2011 season Thursday at home against the Tacoma Rainiers at 7:05pm and SacramentoPress.com has you covered. This season, the Press will have some of our most enthusiastic writers and photographers covering the action. Writers include Lindol French, Mark Needham and a few interns. Working the cameras for some great action shots will be Steven Chea, Ron Nabity and some of the other great shot-takers on our roster. For the Cats, a new manager and several new faces fill out the roster. They hit the field with renewed vigor in pursuit of another Pacific Coast League

With the River Cats’ win over the Iowa Cubs Wednesday night, Sacramento was able to move within one game of first place. While Sacramento handled business at Raley Field Wednesday night, the division-leading Fresno Grizzlies fell to Omaha. After his short stint in Oakland, Chris Carter was able to join the Cats to start the series against Iowa. While he was gone, the River Cats went 3-4, scoring two or less runs in three of those games. On Tuesday, Carter hit his 28th homer of the season, putting him in third place for home runs, third in RBIs, and tied for third in runs scored. Carter is also fourth in strikeouts with 126, and that part of his game is what brought him back to Sacrament

 When you think of the River Cats, dogs may be the last thing on your mind. But for their fourth annual "Bark in the Ballpark" event on Sunday afternoon, it was the first thing on the minds of many dog owners. By paying for an extra dog ticket, they were able to bring their favorite pooches into the lawn area for the game. “It’s just an event we wanted to offer to our fans and dog lovers,” media relations director Rebecca Brutlag said.   Before the game, owners were able to parade their dogs on the field as part of the costume contest. While the aerobics instructor dog got a lot of attention on the lawn, the bumble bee pup won the goodie bag, complete with tickets to a future River Cats

The Sacramento River Cats have continued to struggle this year but looked to break out of their funk to close their series against the Memphis Redbirds. Their 9-0 loss last night makes it the fifth game this season in which the River Cats have been shut out. The River Cats have been outscored 43-7 in the last five games. The River Cats broke the streak and made up for some of the difference for the 43-7 run ratio, beating the Redbirds 14-3on Sunday, making them 8-14 in the month of May and 18-26 overall. The Redbirds got on the board first, adding two runs in the second, one of them coming off of a double by Ruben Gotay. The River Cats matched the Redbirds in the second inning, adding tw

As we look forward to summer and the end of the rain, the baseball season draws near. While most teams in the area fail to attain success, the Sacramento River Cats have been successful from the start. They first came to Sacramento in 2000. The Sacramento River Cats are the minor league affiliate for the Oakland Athletics. In the past decade, they have won four Triple-A Championships and eight Pacific Division Championships. They have also sent a long list of players to the major league including Barry Zito, Erik Byrnes, Nick Swisher and others. As the franchise continues to produce, the list of players that make it to the pros through the Sacramento River Cats will continue to grow.

 The Sacramento River Cats return home for the final home stanza of the regular season after an amazing road trip in which they went 7-1. The homestand begins Saturday night with a four-game series with the Portland Beavers. The River Cats will be honoring three local heroes in Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker and Chicago Cubs first baseman Derek Lee. The first 1,500 people in attendance will get to choose from the three bobbleheads. The person whose bobblehead runs out first will be named the 2009 River Cats High School Hero. The fans in attendance should be excited to see Dana Eveland (8-4, 4.94) take the mound for Sacramento against Wade LeBlanc (3-9

 The Sacramento River Cats are back home beginning tonight for the start of an eight-game home stand. They begin their four-game series with the Salt Lake Bees tonight as former River Cat and now Oakland A’s second baseman Mark Ellis returns to Sacramento as a River Cat for a rehab assignment. The Bees have suddenly exploded as one of the top-tier teams in the PCL. Sacramento has a much-needed day off Monday before they finish their home stand with another big four-game series with another squad from the PCL Pacific North Division, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Sacramento split their last four-game series with Colorado Springs just two weeks ago. The River Cats finished up a quick three-