If you missed FanFest on Saturday, don’t worry. You can lock in your individual game tickets for the 2011 BlueClaws season online (click here), on the phone (732-901-7000 opt 2) or in person at FirstEnergy Park.

Opening Day is April 7th, just 24 days away and then we have Dollar Weekend (8-9-10) right after that.

Click here for the promotional schedule.

In advance of FanFest on Saturday, we’ve added some new promotions to the schedule. You can view the entire promotional schedule by clicking here or here for a pdf version.

• May 31st: Championship Poster Giveaway thanks to Yellow Book
• June 9th: Tote Bags thanks to New Jersey Natural Gas
• July 5th: Mark Parent SAL Trophy Bobblehead Dolls (third in the set, as shown on the right)
• July 7th: Wing Fling (presented by 105.7 The Hawk), with wing-eating contest
• July 23rd: Team Poster Giveaway thanks to the Asbury Park Press
• July 24th: Meet and Greet With Captain America (THE Captain America)
• 8/16: Premium Giveaway Item TBD thanks to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ
• 8/20: Ryan Howard Commemorative Mini-Jerseys (this is the one year anniversary of the jersey retirement ceremony from last year)

All for now, more later.

We’ve made a few additions to the BlueClaws promotional schedule since we first announced it a few weeks ago. You can view the promo schedule in its entirety by clicking here.

Here are the additions:

• Dollar Weekend: April 8th, 9th and 10th…reserve and general admission tickets are just $1.
• April 9th: as part of Buster’s Birthday celebration, the first 2,000 fans 17 & under will receive a Velcro Wallet courtesy of TD Bank.
• June 23rd: In addition to the Phillie Phanatic, fans can get their picture taken with the Phillies 1980 and 2008 World Series trophies. We’ve had the 2008 trophy here but never the 1980 trophy.
• We’ll give out long-sleeve t-shirts to the first 2,000 fans 18 & older on August 6th, which doubles as Irish Heritage Night and a green jersey auction.

Individual game tickets to on sale at FanFest, the details of which are here.

–

Not sure how many UFC fans there are out there, but you can meet UFC fighter Nick Catone, a former wrestler at Brick Memorial and Rider University.

He’ll fight on the UFC 128 undercard on March 19th at Prudential Center.

One lucky fan will win a pair of tickets to UFC 128 at FanFest next week.

Congratulations go out to Hacksaw Jim Duggan, who last night, it was announced, will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania on April 2nd.

Hacksaw was at FirstEnergy Park in June of 2009 to sign autographs and pose for pictures, such as the one shown on the right (I think you could sneak a fastball buy him on the inside corner, but that’s just me).

He joins a line of wrestlers that have appeared at FirstEnergy Park:

King Kong Bundy
Mick Foley
Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase
Jerry “The King” Lawler
Sergeant Slaughter
George “The Animal” Steele

Those noted in bold are already the Hall of Fame and King Kong Bondy and Mick Foley figure to be certain entries.

This year, we’ll have the Iron Sheik and Nickolai Volkoff on June 11th.

On a side note, here is a hilarious interview given by the Million Dollar Man on the Shore Sports Network last year. And below is Hacksaw’s entrance music.

We had a chance to talk with Phillies Employee Assistance Professional, and former pitcher Dickie Noles (right in photo, talking to Scott Palmer) at last night’s Winter Tour. You can listen to the interview in full by clicking here. Some excerpts below.

(on his current role) I’m the employee assistance professional. I handle players and any work-site and job related, or family, or life related issues. I’m a guy they can go to, a mentor for the minor leaguers, and they can find expert consultation.

(on his transition to his current role) It was not that easy. I remember it like yesterday. When I was being persuaded to do this, we had a wonderful guy who was doing it, Dr. William O’Brien. We never had EAPs when I played. We probably needed them more than anyone though, but we didn’t have them.

My first encounter with an EAP was Sam McDowell with the Texas Rangers. The next guy was an EAP state cop, Jimmy Nestor. I looked at him, he looked like Clint Eastwood, and Sam McDowell was a John Wayne looking guy. My thought was when an EAP walked into a room, you didn’t want to talk to them if you didn’t have to. So I was in that state of mind, but these guys persuaded me to it.

I had traveled with Dr. O’Brien. My role was to talk about drugs and alcohol to the minor league players, as well as pitching inside.

It’s very difficult to seek help for anyone, especially males. Building trust is the easiest way to do that. A lot of guys that come from Williamsport, they’re new. All I’m doing is reading policy and procedure, so they’re looking at me as a cop almost. You have to win their trust. Be there, and let them see you and realize that I’m there to help. What helps me is that I’ve been there, I’ve put the uniform on, and I’ve had some problems that I’ve overcame in my life. That helps a little bit too…They look at me and say “Well he’s played the game” so if they want to come to me it makes it a little easier. But then you have to show them you know what the heck you’re talking about.

(on speaking to high school students) I used to do it a lot, I’d like to do more of that. But the way baseball is set up now it’s almost a 365-day a year sort of thing. You have a lot of stuff from the commissioner’s office like steroids and therapeutic use exemptions and that sort of stuff that keeps you tied up. But that’s where my love is. I love kids.

There’s more in there, including some stuff on the 1980 Phillies and his teammate Greg Gross (also at last night’s event), who was a few years older than Noles and who Noles credits for helping to ease the transition into the Major Leagues.

Later on, during the program, Noles was asked as part of the interactive Q&A (in this case by Phillies GM Ruben Amaro) what the defining moment of his career was:

My first game in the big leagues. When I got drafted out of high school, it was rough for me. We didn’t get too many fans [in the minors], so when I got to the big leagues, it was a dream come true. We all want to reach the big leagues, that’s the pinnacle.

I didn’t have to go home to North Carolina and hear a guy ask me “When are you going to make it to the big leagues?”

Noles added that he fell in love with baseball around the time of…the 1969 Mets. “But it was bumpy on the way. The first guy I faced in the big leagues, hit a home run.”

A Happy Birthday to two BlueClaws icons and bobblehead dolls today. Both Gavin Floyd and Mike Zagurski were born on January 27th, 1983.

Floyd was here in 2002, made a cover of Baseball America, and pitched one of three no-hitters in BlueClaws history. However, he lost his, 1-0 to Lexington, making him the first SAL player since 1966 to lose a no-hitter. The BlueClaws made two sixth-inning errors in a loss. (See below for a pic of a pic)

He also pitched the last home game of 2002 and earned the win in front of 13,003, the largest crowd in BlueClaws history.

Zagurski was here for all of 2006 and made BlueClaws history when he debuted with the Phillies on May 25, 2007, becoming the fastest player ever to reach the Phillies after leaving Lakewood.

Both of these players have been bobbled, as you can see. Which means this is the only time when two BlueClaws bobblehead recipients share a birthday, an unimportant but nonetheless useful factoid.

We’re asking for your help! On July 29th, we brought Chunk, aka Jeff Cohen of Goonies fame to the park for Gonnies Night, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1985 classic.

Chunk’s appearance has been nominated for an end-of-season award by our buddies at MILB.com in the category Best Celebrity Appearance. We’re in fourth place right now, with a ways to go. Thanks for your help.

Click here to vote.

Chunk, on the right in the photo, is judging our own Truffle Shuffle Contest. The jersey that he is wearing in the picture with Buster and Josh Zeid was the model the players wore that night, designed after the shirt he wore in the movie.

–

Mildly related, that was the day that Jonathan Villar was traded to Houston as part of the Roy Oswalt deal. He was originally in the lineup, hitting second behind Jiwan James.

So at about 3:00, Villar got called up by Mark Parent, who put Chuck LaMar on the phone and Villar sat in the clubhouse waiting for a call from the Astros.

Fast forward…Lakewood trails 6-1 in the 5th inning, 6-5 going to the bottom of the 9th, when they get a two run double by Keoni DeRenne, who wasn’t in that original lineup, to win the game. Guess who he replaced?

With four regular season games to go, the standings in the Invision Eyeball Race and the Hit 106 Pork Roll, Egg & Cheese race are tightening.

Egg is trying for a sunny-side up kind of finish to the season, and leads cheese by one and pork roll by two as we hit the last weekend.

“It’s been a long year and I’m trying to finish strong. We’ve been a bit scrambled here and there but hope for a boiling finish,” he said.

—

The Invision eyeballs are also batting it out right down to the wire. Blue leads green by one and red by two.

Here is the official race standings page on BlueClaws.com.

Here is the promotional rundown for this week’s eight-game, regular season concluding homestand. A packed week, should be fun (order tickets here)

• Monday: Phillie Phanatic appearance and Kids Eat Free (video from the Phanatic’s last visit)
• Tuesday: Pink tote bag giveaway (click here) for the first 2,000 women 18 & older plus Seniors Eat Free
• Wednesday: Unused Ticket Night (click here), an appearance by the Famous Chicken and Dollar Dog Wednesday
• Thursday: Last Thirsty Thursday of the regular season
• Friday: Post-game fireworks plus a Lady Gaga ticket raffle
• Saturday: Packed night (click here): Buster bobblehead giveaway, bring your dog to the game, and an appearance by Yo Gabba Gabba’s Brobee and Foofa
• Sunday: 7:05 start because of the post-game fireworks, Kids Eat Free and Kids Run the Bases after the game
• Monday: 1:05 start on Labor Day with a post-game photo on the field and a Dollar Blowout of items (click here), meaning each inning we’ll have one thing on sale for one dollar around the park (last year’s items included mini bats, playoff tickets, hot dogs and beers in the WRAT Trap).

As you know, the Famous Chicken will be at the ballpark next Wednesday (September 1st) to entertain as he always does. We posted this video (see below) on Facebook earlier and one of the fans had a comment that I thought was great and wanted to share…

I umpired in the minor leagues in the 1980’s and The Chicken always sent the umpires a gift certificate at XMAS for helping with his act. Thought that was a real nice thing for Ted G to do.

That’s pretty cool. You have to love The Chicken.

Now the Phanatic wants revenge (well not really but enjoy this video). The Phanatic will be at the park next Monday night.

This Thursday (our 2nd to last Thirsty Thursday of the year) is Ladies Night at the park, a jam-packed night of fun for women of all ages. All the details below…

• Drink specials and a ClawsCove discount for our female friends
• Vendors including all girls’ martial arts, salons, boutiques, financial information, beauty schools, and modeling agencies
• Fans can win tickets to see Love Loss on Stage, an off-Broadway show. The collection of stories by Nora Ephron is performed by a rotating cast of stars.
• Starting in the second inning there will be a Shoe Fashion Show courtesy of The Shoe Society. Female fans are encouraged to wear their hottest shoes! The winner will get a free night stay and dinner at the Borgata in Atlantic City. (Call Casey at 732-901-7000 ext 168 for more information)
• There will be a Diamond Dig thanks to Bentley Diamond. The dig will be open to the first 250 women to sign up at the Bentley Diamond table on the concourse. After the game, registered participants will be escorted onto the field where they can dig for the diamond.

And…

• Antonella Barba, former American Idol contestant and Point Pleasant native will be at the game to promote her new single Jersey Girl. Antonella will be on the concourse signing autographs and she’ll throw out a ceremonial first pitch.

See you Thursday.

As you know, the BlueClaws have partnered with Surf Taco in a unique promotion: the Surf Taco Sod Squad. Every time the BlueClaws score seven runs and win, anyone can bring their GA (aka Sod Squad) ticket into a local Surf Taco for a free taco!

Last night was one such night, with the BlueClaws winning 10-0. The deal came into play in May and has already been valid 10 times.

You have a week after the game to get your free taco. If you have an undated Grass Pass or Thirsty Thursday Club membership, then you just mention the game with your ticket.

Happy tacos!

—-

This caught my eye earlier today in Dave Murphy’s High Cheese blog on Philly.com:

Despite the caution expressed by the Phillies about their star slugger, Ryan Howard sounded optimistic Friday night that he would be ready to return from his sprained ankle early next week. Howard hit in the batting cage for the second straight day, and after Friday night’s loss to the Mets said a return by Tuesday is a definite possibility.

“As long as the swelling can continue to go down, I think I’ll be able to play with the pain or whatever,” Howard said. “When I come off (the DL), we’ll take it day by day and see how it is.”

So a rehab assignment coming up here in the next few days seems possible.

Here is the full promo rundown for the BlueClaws upcoming homestand, running August 12th through 20th.

• Thursday: BlueClaws hat giveaway, courtesy of Investors Savings Bank…MAN Night (with Madden Tournament and men’s expo) as part of Thirsty Thursday (just three left by the way).
• Friday: Post-game fireworks courtesy of Toyota/Scion World of Lakewood
• Saturday: BlueClaws logo baseball giveaway courtesy of AJ Perri, Irish Heritage Night (with green jerseys, Irish music, pipe bands and much more).
• Sunday (5:05): Nine Innings for Nature, a full expo with inflatable rides, Go Green vendors and free ice cream beginning at 2:30…All Kids Club members can throw out a ceremonial first pitch…Post-game jersey auction to benefit the American Cancer Society.
• Monday: ZOOperstars appearance and Kids Eat Free
• Tuesday: We’ll give out team card sets (thanks to TD Bank) plus Seniors Eat Free
• Wednesday: BlueClaws Notebook Giveaway (courtesy of the NJEA) plus Dollar Dog Wednesday
• Thursday: As packed as possible…Thirsty Thursday…Ladies Night (with vendors, drink specials and ClawsCove discounts for women, a shoe fashion show, and much much more)…Diamond Dig (dig on the field for a diamond after the game)…Antonella Barba appearance (she’ll sign autographs and throw out a first pitch promoting her new single, Jersey Girl).
• Friday: Post-game fireworks to close it out.

Hope to see you out at the park!