Vogelsong Finishes Strong, Beats Rockies

Ryan Vogelsong pitched the last game of his 2011 storybook comeback season Monday night by beating the Colorado Rockies 3-1 in front of a sold out stadium in San Francisco .

Vogelsong not only wanted to thank the home town fans for their support, but wanted to prove to himself and his distractors that this season was anything but a fluke.

Prove it he did.  The 34-year-old Octorara grad threw seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and no walks while striking out four batters finishing with a 13-7 record for the year.

The performance capped what many are saying is the most remarkable comeback performance of the year. 

The money quote:

"I've kind of tried to play start to start throughout the whole season and tried not to dwell too much on the start before or everything else.  I had a little bit of time during the All-Star Game. I kind of kicked back for a couple days and could think about it. But once I get home and melt down a little bit from the season, there's going to be a lot of good thoughts. I'm probably going to realize how amazing it all is." 

 Read the entire story and watch a video of Ryan's performance on MLB's home page here.

Ryan Vogelsong . . . Continued

Octorara alumni and SF Giants right-hander Ryan Vogelson signs autographs and is interviewed at a sports memorabilia show in Santa Clara, California.

Money quote:

"It feels good that people actually want something with your name on it.  It lets you know you're playing pretty well.  One of these days people aren't going to want it anymore so I try to get it out as much as I can,"

The Honors Keep Rolling In For Vogelsong

This from MLB.com writer Chris Haft:

Ryan Vogelsong's saga transcended baseball, which made him the obvious choice for this year's Willie Mac Award.

Vogelsong was honored in a ceremony before Friday night's series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The right-hander earned the distinction by winning a vote conducted primarily by players, coaches and the athletic training staff, who annually bestow the award upon the Giant best embodying the competitive and inspirational spirit of Hall of Fame first baseman Willie McCovey, who also gets a vote.

"It's named after one of the greatest Giants ever, one of the best players in Major League Baseball history," Vogelsong said, articulating the thrill he received with the award. "Just to have my name involved with his and some of the other guys who won the award is really neat for me. Because I enjoy being a Giant so much."

Watch a 10 minute video of Friday night's award ceremony here (the award portion starts at the 5 minute mark) or the entire article from MLB.com here.

Updated - Ryan Vogelsong, In His Own Words

 

In this age of pampered professional athletes with zillion dollar contracts, its refreshing to listen to an athlete, especially one of our own, be so real.

Whether you go to church every week, twice a year at Christmas and Easter, or don't go at all, you'll be touched by this video of Octorara grad and San Francisco pitcher Ryan Vogelsong telling his story about getting cut by the Phillies last summer.

For the first time in his adult life he found himself sitting at home in the middle of the summer, 32 years old and seemingly at the end of his career.

Ryan was picked up a week later by the Anaheim Angels who sent him to Salt Lake City for the rest of the Summer.  Over the winter the a Giant scout saw him playing winter ball and invited him to their Spring training.

When one the Giant's starting pitchers got injured in April, Ryan was called up from the minors to fill in.  He pitched so well the Giants gave the right-hander a spot in their rotation and a chance to pitch every 5 days.

A 7-1 record led to Ryan being named to the National League All Star team in July.  While August was a tough month for Vogelsong and the Giants both, no one will ever be able to take away what has been as storybook 2011 season for Ryan and his family.

What you don't know is . . . well, I'll let Ryan tell his own story. He tells it so much better than I ever could.

Just to set the stage, the video was made after Saturday evening's game, a contest the Giants lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, their division rivals.

Local Newspapers Notice Vogelsong

LancasterOnline takes notice of Octorara's Ryan Vogelsong who is enjoying a stellar season with the San Francisco Giants. 

"Octorara's Vogelsong revives career as key member of Giants' pitching staff"

So reads the headline on LancasterOnline's sport page this morning.

The money quote:

"Beat the bushes for the past five years as Octorara grad Ryan Vogelsong has done, spend more than a few of the 1,760 days you're out of the big leagues questioning yourself and your future, and you learn what's important."

Read the entire article here.

And in the Daily Local News this morning a wonderful article by sports writer Andy Edwards detailing Vogelsong's long and winding road from playing infield for Sonny Skiles' Octorara High School squad, becoming a full time pitcher at Kutztown, being drafted by the Giants, then traded to the Pirates, then to Japan, then being cut by the Phillies last Summer and finally signing with the Giants this year.

The Daily Local News article is full of great money quotes.  Here are a few:

Expressing the pain he felt when he was cut by the Phillies in 2010:

"Obviously, being a Philly guy and growing up in the area, they were always my team.  It hurt when I got released, but more so because a dream of mine to be a Phillie died that day. It happens to a lot of people but when it's a team that you really want to play for, and you've always dreamed of playing for them, it hurts, man. At the same time, it took that kind of incident to reevaluate my career and what I was doing to get me to that point."

On playing in Japan:

"It's tough, but it is what you make it.  You can go over there and shelter yourself and not experience Japanese culture, you can go over there and lock yourself in your apartment and do nothing but go to the field, which I saw people do, and those guys didn't really play too well. It's important to try, at least for me and my wife, to live as close to a normal life as we were living in the states. I think trying to live a normal life helped me play better on the field."

About his wife Nicole whom he met while playing in Pittsburgh:

"We balance each other out well.  She's an optimist, I'm a realist, and when I think things are going down the drain she always tells me they're going to be all right. She's been great. I definitely wouldn't be where I'm at without her. Everything I've been through, she's been through with me."

Read the entire Daily Local News article here.

Wife and Grandmother Discuss Vogelsong's Journey To This Year's All-star Game

Octorara alum and Giants' Ryan Vogelsong and his wife Nicole talk about the ups and downs endured during Ryan's career, including losing Nicole's father to a heart attack.

Money quote comes from Vogelsong's All-star wife, Nicole:

"I don't think he would have appreciated pitching the way he is now five years ago in Pittsburgh.  I think it took all the years of struggle and not doing well and wondering why, and then all the years out of America to come back and realize how amazing and great this is."

More on Nicole Vogelsong in this morning's Cumberland County The Sentinel newspaper.

Vogelsong knows what it means to be a journeyman. The Giants sent him to the Pirates organization in 2001, where he stayed through 2006. Vogelsong's grandmother jokes that the best thing he found in Pittsburgh was his wife, Nicole.  "She's a big part of his life," Janice Flury said. "She handles everything so he can play ball. We all laugh about how the only thing he got from Pittsburgh was this beautiful, wonderful girl."

Read the entire Sentinal article here.

Vogelsong, An All-Star and Inspiration

By this point you all know Octorara alum Ryan Vogelsong made this year's National League All-Star team.

Over the next several weeks leading up to the game on July 12th, Parkesburg Today will post snippets of his inspirational story with links to the longer article.

I've been nudging The Daily Local News in West Chester for the last several weeks to write about Ryan's story.

Here's their first article from this morning's paper.

Money quote:

"There's never been a time in my career when this seemed like even a realistic possibility," Vogelsong said. "A year ago, almost to the day, I got released and didn't know if I would ever pitch again."

"I did tell my wife, obviously, and my parents," Vogelsong said. "I told them not to tell anyone because things spread so fast on Twitter and Facebook. My parents don't know what Facebook is, though. Or Twitter."

Vogelsong On NL All Star Team

 

When Major League Baseball announced their All-Star rosters this afternoon, Octorara's own Ryan Vogelsong joined 12 other national league pitchers atop the National League All Star lineup.

Vogelsong, a 1995 Octoara grad, is sporting a 6-1 record and a 2.05 ERA this year pitching for the World Champion Giants.  This will be his first All-star appearance.

The national league pitchers joining Vogelsong include three Phillies and four Giants are as follows:

Ryan Vogelsong, San Francisco Giants, Lefthander

Jonny Venters, Atlanta Braves, Righthander

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers, Lefthander

Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies, Lefthander

Jair Jurrjens, Atlanta Braves, Lefthander

Joel Hanrahan, Pittsburgh Pirates, Righthander

Heath Bell, San Diego Padres, Righthander

Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants, Lefthander

Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies, Lefthander

Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants, Lefthander

Brian Wilson, San Francisco Giants, Righthander

Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies, Lefthander

Tyler Clippard, Washington Nationals, Righthander

Here's a quick story of how Vogelsong learned of his selection to the team this afternoon:

It's quite fitting that the World Series champs will be represented by four pitchers at the All-Star Game. This team is built on pitching, and Bochy had no qualms about using three of his nine discretionary picks on his guys.

"I'd have liked to have a position player there, to be honest, but we've got four on there. We're well-represented."

Wilson, Lincecum and Cain speak for themselves. The real story here is Vogelsong, who is being rewarded for a great comeback tale. Bochy had to be careful with the timing of telling Vogelsong, because he is pitching today. He did it a few hours before game time.

"When I told him it was an emotional time," Bochy said. "There are special moments in this game. This is one of the best."

Money quote:

"He's deserving. I know he's only had 12 starts, but he's seven innings away from qualifying for the ERA lead. He gave us a shot in the arm. He helped save us. He's a big reason we're in first place. No. 2, he's a great story, the perseverance he's shown in this game, being in Japan for five years, the minor-leagues, the rollercoaster he's been on."