Rattler Radio

If I had any Photoshop skills, Snappy D. Turtle would take the place of the kid in the above picture. Why?

Here's why.

To use a baseball metaphor, the Beloit Snappers stadium project has men on base and is looking for a way to drive in the winning run.

The Class A minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins has a site for a new stadium, has architectural renderings and has hired two firms to study the feasibility of building a multi-use facility.

“There’s no point in starting to get (building) permits ... if we don’t know how much (money) we can raise,” Snappers General Manager Jeff Vohs said. “This is the next step to know what we could debt service ... and what we could raise privately.”

The Snappers contracted with the Lieb Group of Mequon to study how much revenue a new stadium will generate over a five-year period. The firm has conducted similar studies for the Snappers — in 2002, before a stadium site was found, and in 2006, when a potential site at the Interstate-90/Avalon Road interchange between Beloit and Janesville had been considered. The latest study will focus on a 15-acre site in Beloit’s Gateway Business Park just east of I-90 at Gateway Boulevard and Apex Drive.

The other study, by the Abbey Group of Milwaukee, will determine how much money can be raised from private sector sources.

I like the Snappers. I really do. Please get this done. I would like to write something about the construction of your new stadium at some point.

Technically, it's the Twins who are the quick moving entities. They have named the coaching staff for the Beloit Snappers.

Taking the reigns for the Snappers in 2010 will be third year skipper Nelson Prada. Prada in his first two seasons with the club has accumulated a record of 128-150.

Gary Lucas is back as the pitching coach and the new hitting coach is Tommy Watkins. Lucas has been a Twins minor league pitching coach for a long time. Watkins played in the Twins organization and was in the Midwest League with the Quad City River Bandits in 2001.

Here is one blogger's guess of what the Beloit Snappers may look like in 2009.

I won't give away the whole thing, but here is the possible starting rotation.

1. Carlos Gutierrez
2. Shooter Hunt
3. Dan Osterbrock
4. Bobby Lanigan
5. Brad Tippett

Shooter's back? Maybe?

For those of you who haven't read last night's game story at the main Rattler site here is the important part for this post.

The rain fell harder during the break between the top of the fifth and the bottom of the fifth. Home plate umpire Max Guyll called for the tarp as the rain pelted down after a 1-0 pitch from Meyer to Chris Parmelee.

The Beloit grounds crew needed help to get the tarp all the way on the field. Both umpires and Timber Rattler manager Terry Pollreisz started to assist, but only after the rest of the Timber Rattler team charged from the dugout to help did the tarp get unstuck and pulled completely over the infield.

Where does pizza fit into this?

The Beloit front office was appreciative enough of the efforts by the Rattlers that they sprang for pizzas for the whole team after the game was called.

See. Beloit isn't that bad.