THE BULLPEN BLOG
Red Wings All-Star Closer Bobby Korecky takes you along to the Triple-A All-Star Game in Albuquerque, NM.

Thursday July 12
Much better travel day today than Monday, had to keep reminding ourselves we had a game to play tonight. Overall the All-Star Game experience exceeded any expectations I had.

Wednesday July 11
Had a great time today. The All-Star Luncheon featured Tommy Lasorda and Steve Garvey talking, other than playing in the All-Star Game itself the Luncheon was the high point for me. It was almost like a stand-up comedy act, Lasorda was hilarious. I had heard that Lasorda was quite a motivator, and it was pretty cool to hear him speak.

I was told that I would throw later in the game, so I made sure I was prepared to pitch either in the eighth or ninth depending on the game. I came in with the 7-5 lead, and faced Val Pascucci, a big guy with a lot of power. I got him to ground out to third base for the first out, and you may have seen me shaking my head on camera after getting the out - I had two strikes on him and the pitch I threw him, I wasn't planning on him being able to swing at it - I had wanted it to be a ball being ahead 0-2 on him. The pitch kinda ran back in across the plate and he hit it into the ground to third. I was shaking my head because I had not planned on him even swinging at it. I put a couple of guys on with hits, then got the strikeout of Robert Andino to get out of the inning. I would have preferred a 1-2-3 inning of course, but given the situation in the game it was kinda neat to end it with a strikeout.

The post-game party was great, the Sandia Resort was ridiculously nice. The party was by the pool, but no one actually went in the pool. It was set up really nice with food and drink stations all over. Some guys had early flights the next morning so it wasn't an all-night type of thing.

Tuesday July 10
Very eventful day today. Had breakfast and left the hotel around 12:30 to go to the ballpark for our "All-Star Duties." Team pictures in our game uniforms in right field. Timo Perez was in our team picture wearing his batting helmet, he had forgotten his hat. Timo's a really funny guy, he kept the mood light the whole afternoon. Our team broke up into groups that alternated signing autographs, and being available for ESPN and local media. Then our club hit. There was a team meeting scheduled but we didn't have it. Great ballpark - check it out for yourself here.

Headed back to the Sandia and got ready for the gala, and it was awesome. Great food, lots of seafood - a shrimp station, crab station., a salmon station, all the food was pretty much delicious. The gala was at a great location - The Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque's Old Town. Found out Old Town celebrated its 300-year anniversary last April. Big screen TV's all over the place showing the Major League All-Star Game, which came on around 6:50 pm local time - a lot more convenient than the 8:50 Eastern time start. Stan, Matt, Jose and I just sat around and enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. There were buses running constantly from the Museum to the hotel so it eas really convenient for people to leave whenever they wanted to leave.

We came back to the Sandia and walked around the casino, then headed back to our rooms to get some sleep. Big day with the game and post-game party at the hotel Wednesday, then a 9:15 am flight out Thursday morning. Back in Rochester around 4:30 Thursday and straight to the ballpark for the game against Indianapolis that night.

Monday July 9
I arrived at the Rochester airport this morning at 5:15 am with Stan Cliburn and Jose Morales, and you wouldn't expect there to be a lot of people traveling out of here at that time on a Monday morning. I was wrong.

There were tons of people in line, a problem with getting some of our bags checked on properly, and suddenly it was 6:10 am, our flight was leaving at 6:19 am, and we hadn't been through the security check yet. Somehow they held the plane for us at the gate and we were jogging through the airport to the gate.

We had a three-hour layover in Minneapolis. The thought crossed my mind that some day I might have the chance to fly here to play for the Twins.

Finally got to Albuquerque around 1:15 pm Mountain Time ( 3:15 pm Eastern Time). The Sandia Resort is really a first class hotel, casino, resort - we're going to really like staying here. One of the coolest things I saw was the lobby decorated with the logos of all of the Triple-A teams, the hotel staff was wearing jersey tops of all of the teams. I walked in with Buffalo's Ryan Mulhern, and we talked about how great it was and it really made us happy to be part of such a big honor.

The forecast for this week: 97° Tuesday (low 69°), high 89° on Wednesday. Big difference in humidity, though; around 20% in the afternoon according to the forecast. Rochester's humidity is at least twice that, and usually around 50% humidity at noon.

With the long travel day Stan, Jose and I each went to our own rooms and got some rest. Going to watch the Major League Home Run Derby tonight somewhere; the Triple-A Derby is taking place tonight at the ballpark here. I have not touched a baseball today, and given how much I've pitched lately, I'd rather not even touch a baseball ideally until warming up to come into the game Wednesday night; but I'm sure I'll play a little catch at the ballpark on Tuesday.

We've got a few choices for things to do on Tuesday morning, like a winery tour, Old Town tour, golf...not sure if I'll participate in any of those, or just hang out and rest up. The buses leave here for the ballpark at 12:30 pm Tuesday; team pictures, a team meeting, batting practice, and a gala Tuesday night are all part of the schedule.

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Local coverage of the Triple-A All-Star Game:
AlbuquerqueJournal.com Sports | AlbuquerqueTribune.com Sports | Albuquerque Isotopes team web site

Albuquerque Weather at AlbuquerqueTribune.com


MiLB.com Triple-A All-Star Game coverage

Bobby's RedWingsBaseball.com player page | Bobby's MiLB.com Season Stats page