Rain Rain,Go away and...

A few different quickie notes,which normally would cover a cleaning of the inbox,but with rain in today's forecast,I'm busy rooting for it to stay in order to see tonight's SAL Game Three of their championship series.
As the series is currently tied at a game apiece,I'm guaranteed of two more trips to the Muni,if not three.
I not only want to see tonight's contest,a rainout would make a potential game five on Sunday-that puts it dead against the Browns vs the Saints.
I know which I will choose,but that doesn't mean that I hope it turns out that way!

Pulaski VA. looked to be in trouble for keeping their Appalachian League after the Seattle Mariners decided to leave town.
New owners bought Calfee Park and intend to put some money into the field as well as a housing complex for the players,which was a badly addition from what I hear.
However.the Mariners leaving placed the 2015 season in jeopardy as the Appalachian League level teams can be filled with complex teams in Arizona or Florida.
But the New York Yankees came to the rescue and will be placing a team in Pulaski!
The Yankees are not a team with a recent Appalachian history,but will be welcomed in a town that small time baseball is truly a part of the community.
Thanks to the ever faithful Big Don for the link.

Today is the day for teams to notify affiliates that they intend to shop around.
Most of the teams on this circuit have already announced extensions,but here are the teams that have not as of yet.
SAL:Augusta (Giants),Savannah (Mets)
Carolina: Carolina (Indians),Lynchburg (Braves),Myrtle Beach (Rangers)
Eastern:Erie (Tigers),New Britain (Twins)

That doesn't mean those teams would be leaving those cities or even the league as sometimes things shuffle inside the league,just those teams have deals that have not been extended
There are other teams at that level that could come in,but I doubt that would happen in many of those cases.


We wrap up with word from our friend Lefty Koch of the passing of Richard Kiel.
Kiel was famous for the hulking character Jaws in the James Bond films,Voltaire in the TV series The Wild Wild West and Mr.Larson in Happy Gilmore.
The 7'1 Kiel was a great choice  for roles that needed size because he could do verbal roles without being difficult to understand like Andre the Giant for an example.
Kiel was 74 years old