Enjoy.

These jerseys will be auctioned off during the game (silent auctions) on Thursday night at Soccer Night.

More details from Soccer Night

Members of the Red Bulls will be signing autographs on the concourse during the game after participating in ceremonial first “kicks.” Red Bulls players will also take part in several between-innings promotions at that night’s game.

Sky Blue FC will offer a pre-game clinic for local teams in front of the ballpark beginning at 5 pm. The clinic is open to teams that come out to the game as a group.

All soccer teams that come on this night will get to take part in a pre-game parade on the field and will receive special BlueClaws Soccer Patches that will only be given out at this game.

Tasha Kai and Danielle Johnson will represent Sky Blue FC at the game and will each throw out a ceremonial first pitch. Kai, a forward, scored the game-winning goal in the 2009 Women’s Pro Soccer Championship for Sky Blue FC and is a member of the Women’s National Team. Johnson, a defensive back, was a 4th round pick from Ole Miss in 2010.

We will also have, for the first time, a live painter on the concourse. Craig Mahoney (on Twitter) will be painting live and we will have the picture available to benefit BlueClaws Charities soon. Should be very cool.

That’s right folks. The BlueClaws will reenact the 136th Kentucky Derby at our May 4th game. It will be between innings, and we’ll have silks on the “riders” plus pre-race festivities in the paddock (Kids Zone).

This will be awesome. You will not want to miss it. More information here.

It will also be the first time the BlueClaws have ever reenacted a sporting event.

Because of this, you will want to keep up with the latest Kentucky Derby news and notes, and you can do so here. Note today that Eskenderya, the horse who would have been a substantial favorite in the race, has been withdrawn.

Finally, at that game, Tuesday May 4th, the first 2,000 kids 17 & under receive a Horse Webkinz thanks to Monmouth Park. Hope to see you there.

That’s all we do here, bring in Hall of Famers. Last night, for those of you that missed WWE’s Monday Night Raw, Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, was announced as a part of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2010. He will be inducted at Wrestlemania (March 27th in Phoenix).

BlueClaws connection: The Million Dollar Man will be joining us here at FirstEnergy Park on June 19th for a special autograph signing.

Of course, as we’ve noted here before, Andre Dawson, who will be inducted this summer into the Baseball Hall of Fame, will also be joining us here at FirstEnergy Park. That’s 2-2. Anyone else looking to make their Hall of Fame? Give us a ring.

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Hall of Fame tally…on the baseball side, we’ve brought in the following: Steve Carlton, Bob Feller, Goose Gossage, Jim Rice.

And on the wrestling side, the following Hall of Famers have been at BlueClaws games: Sgt Slaughter, George “The Animal” Steele, and now the Million Dollar Man.

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Enjoy the Million Dollar Man theme song:

Hopefully we get another one of these tonight. BlueClaws Blog prediction: Colts 34-24. Enjoy the game.

UPDATE: Might have been off on this one

Sort of off-topic here for a minute…much of the talk in the sports world the last few weeks has surrounded the Indianapolis Colts and their decision to tank the end of the season, resting players to get ready for the post-season, which for them begins tomorrow night against Baltimore.

They took a lot of heat from their fans for pulling the starters in the Jets game (Week 16) and then again for playing some in a blizzard to pad their stats in Week 17.

Which brings us back to the BlueClaws getting ready for the playoffs.

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That’s right folks…the BlueClaws have started a Dance Team. The full release…

LAKEWOOD, NJ – The BlueClaws are starting a dance team! For the first time, the baseball team will have a dance team perform at BlueClaws games throughout the season, plus at select community appearances.

The BlueClaws Dance Team is open to girls ages 8-18, and anyone that wants to sign up can participate.

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This just came over to blog headquarters…The BlueClaws will host a free lacrosse clinic on 2010 Lacrosse Night (May 20th). T3 Lacrosse, which provides instruction and programs for boys and girls throughout New Jersey, will put on the clinic.

Basically, from 5 – 6 pm, we’ll have the clinic out in front of FirstEnergy Park. There will be three different levels (Minilaxers, Beginners, and Intermediate), and the clinic will emphasize catching, throwing, ground balls, stick skills, defense, and more.

To sign up, call Ryan at 732-901-7000 ext 162 or email him at rstrzalka@blueclaws.com. You must have a ticket to the game to participate in the clinic.

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Random lacrosse facts…

• Youth participation in the sport has grown 500% since 1999
• A relative of the modern game used to be played between sides of around 1,000 on fields as long as 15 miles as a preparation for war
• Best lacrosse player of all time? Jim Brown. Here’s a great article from the AP.

• “Lacrosse was his best sport,” said 92-year-old Ed Walsh, Brown’s football coach in high school. “He had all the skills, and his skills were better than all the opponents.

  “I had a college lacrosse coach who came to watch him play when he was a junior in the big game against Garden City,” Walsh said. “I took this coach to the sidelines and stayed with him so he could do anything he wanted to. All he did was write notes, and when the game was over, I said, ‘Any way you could sum up what you wrote and tell me?’

  “He said, ‘Jim Brown is better than anybody on our college team and better than anybody we coached against.”’

The BlueClaws may or may not win the John H. Moss Cup this year for winning the South Atlantic League title. But they’ve certainly had their share of fun with trophies, specifically the US Open trophy. It’s following them around.

The trophy was in Lakewood back in June (see here), and now I’m sitting in Greenville watching a ceremony honoring Lucas Glover, Greenville native, the 2009 US Open Champion. (Camera phone photo)

Tonight shortly after 6:00, they will run the 135th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. BlueClaws pitcher and U of L grad BJ Rosenberg is ready to go by the way. The question: who should you root for…what is the connection between the race and the BlueClaws? Simple…

Riding #14 Atomic Rain (50-1) is none other than “Jersey Joe,” Joe Bravo, the winningest rider in New Jersey history and native of Long Branch, New Jersey. Joe will be at FirstEnergy Park on Tuesday for Monmouth Park’s annual “Haskell Prize Package” giveaway night with the BlueClaws, and we would love for a Kentucky Derby winning rider to be a part of the festivities.

Joe rode rabbit Spanish Chestnut in the 2005 Kentucky Derby, won by longshot Giacomo. Spanish Chestnut faded to to 16th.

So root for Atomic Rain and their Jersey-based connections, trainer Kelly Breen of Farmingdale, owners George and Lori Hall of Rumson, and of course, “Jersey Joe,” so we can bring a Derby winning rider to the ballpark on Tuesday.

Update: Oops…forgot to add #3 Mr. Hot Stuff (30-1), ridden by John Velasquez…no relation to but a similar name to BlueClaws RHP Jon Velasquez.

Former BlueClaw (2006-07) CJ Henry, who the Phillies acquired in a 2006 trade for Bobby Abreu, will transfer from Memphis to Kansas to play basketball with his brother. The news was reported earlier today on ESPN.com. Xavier (pronounced ZAHV-ee-ay) Henry is one of the top five high school basketball seniors in the country, and plays on the wing. CJ is expected to be a backup point guard for the Jayhawks next season.

The wonderful game of bocce, a personal favorite of your blogmaster. This Tuesday, after the 11:05 am game against Lake County, everyone at the ballpark will be invited down to play bocce on the field, the first time we’ve ever done that in Lakewood. Who knows, it’s probably one of the first times it’s been done in Minor League Baseball too. I mean raelly, is there a better bbq, summer game than bocce? Think not.

The history of the game dates back in some form to the Egyptians from 5,000 BC, and in it’s current form, bocce traces to the Roman Emperor. The first bocce leagues were formed in 1947. Here is a full history.

And here are the rules of the game summed up quickly for those unfamiliar.  

So that’s on Tuesday, and by the way, there will also be a post-game stroll of the bases for our Senior friends, whom will eat for free at the game, thanks to TD Bank. Tuesday, 11:05 am, see you then.

As we’ve noted here before, both future NFL RBs Donald Brown and Knowshon Moreno, both from the Jersey Shore, will be appearing at FirstEnergy Park next week, Brown on Monday and Moreno on Wednesday (both games at 6:35 pm). I was scrolling through some mock drafts earlier today and came across this one, from Don Banks of SI.com, notable because it has both Moreno and Brown going in the first round.

Moreno, per Banks, goes 21st overall to the Eagles, whom he visited last week. Brown goes 31st overall to the Cardinals.

So two running backs. Both in the first round? It’s a possibility.

Brown (Monday, 6:35 game) went to Red Bank Catholic before the University of Connecticut. Moreno (Wednesday, also 6:35) went to Middletown South before heading off to the University of Georgia.

Donald Brown on Monday…Knowshon Moreno on Wednesday. We announced earlier today that Knowshon Moreno, from Middletown South HS and the University of Georgia, will be at FirstEnergy Park on Wednesday night to throw out a first pitch before the BlueClaws’ 6:35 game against Lake County.

Moreno is expected to be a first-round pick in next weekend’s NFL Draft and marks the second running back to appear at the ballpark in a 48-hour period. You can find the full story from the homepage here.

“This is pretty exciting for us,” said BlueClaws General Manager Geoff Brown. “To get two future NFL running backs at our park in a 48 hour period is going to be great for our fans.”

Moreno had more than 2,700 yards and scored 30 touchdowns in two years with the Bulldogs.

Tickets here or at 732-901-7000, option 2.

We mentioned for the first time a few weeks ago the news that former Red Bank Catholic running back Donald Brown will be coming out to FirstEnergy Park on Monday, April 20th to throw out a first pitch as part of the Donald Brown Leadership Conference. Brown, who played his college ball at UConn, led the nation in rushing last year and will be selected fairly high up in next weekend’s NFL Draft.

Brown organized a leadership conference in which football players from each of the Shore Conference’s 43 schools had a chance to write an essay about a leader in their lives, as well as how and why they were inspired. Two winners were chosen from each school (click here to see the list of winners), and they will all be at FirstEnergy Park on Monday, when Brown will throw out a first pitch.

I am told that Brown has already started to practice and might even warm up a bit beforehand, like Tom Seaver did last night before his first pitch at Citi Field.