Bees’ pitcher Brad Mills was born and raised in Arizona.

Bees' Pitcher Brad Mills

Mills, like most of his fellow Arizonians, is indifferent about the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. He is a member of the Los Angeles of Anaheim organization so his goal is to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks.

That being said, Mills loves the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns had the opportunity to make the playoffs late in the season, but a 100-88 loss on Tuesday in Utah ensured Phoenix wouldn’t be one of the eight teams in the Western Conference Playoffs.

As a true Phoenix fan, Mills has now lost all enthusiasm for the NBA playoffs.

“(Once they lost) I kind of checked out,” Mills said.  “It was tough, they had a rough start to the season so to even be that close was a good thing.”

A Mesa, AZ native, Mills said he’s now wondering what’s going to happen to one of the staples of the Suns organization.

“I’m waiting to see what (Steve) Nash is going to do,” Mills said. “That’s going to be the biggest question.”

With the requirements of playing professional baseball, Mills was unable to see the Suns in action down the stretch of the season.

“I didn’t watch the last four or five games, I was just checking the scores on my phone,” Mills said. “They ran out of gas, but it was a long season in a short amount of time.”

Mills has plenty of gas on the mound. The 6-foot-0, 185-pound righty is 2-0 in three starts with a 1.42 ERA. He also has 10 strikeouts on the season. Mills makes his next start on Saturday against Reno.

Baseball is not for those who enjoy time away from the office.

Ryan Langerhans has played well for the Salt Lake Bees this season.

The Salt Lake Bees’ season runs from April to early September with only nine days away from the field.

Wednesday was one of those rare days off for the players as they returned from a road trip against Tucson and prepared for a four-game series with Reno.

Veteran Ryan Langerhans has played 15 professional seasons and knows the importance of free time.

“I took it easy and spent time with the family,” Langerhans said. “I played with my son and spent time with my wife then about 10 of us players got together and had a bar-b-que.”

Langerhans has spent time in the big leagues with Atlanta, Washington and Seattle as well as making minor league stops in Syracuse, Tacoma and most recently Reno.

With all the stops around the country, Langerhans said his family is taking nicely to the Wasatch Front.

“This is, big league cities included, one of the most beautiful places I’ve played,” Langerhans said. “Getting to play with the mountains in the background is pretty awesome.”

Salt Lake has been good to Langerhans on the field as he is hitting .309 with 13 RBI and a staggering 20 walks.

There is always a lot of change in minor league baseball.

Steve Klauke behind the mic for his 2,642 game with the Salt Lake Bees.

Since 1994, the Salt Lake Bees have been through hundreds of different players, three name changes, two stadium name changes, but only one broadcaster.

On April 21, Bees announcer Steve Klauke called his 2,642th game, setting the record for most games called with a single team in the state of Utah.

The record had been held by legendary Utah Jazz broadcaster ‘Hot’ Rod Hundley, who called 2,641 games for the Utah Jazz.

Klauke was recognized during a mid-inning presentation during the Friday, April 20 game against Las Vegas, threw out the ceremonial first pitch and led the crowd in the singing of  “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch.

An avid fan of the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” Klauke can be found on road trips enjoying bacon-infused ice cream or some other tasty treat while preparing his detailed notes for the next game.

Now in his 19th season with the club, Klauke’s distinctive voice, unique game-calling ability and encyclopedia-like memory have made him well-known throughout all of professional baseball.

Right-handed pitcher Garrett Richards has been the ace of the Salt Lake Bees pitching staff in 2012.
Richards is 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA in his four starts. He has 27 strikeouts to only six walks.
The 6-foot-3 Richards was a first-round selection of the Angels in 2009, and has worked his way through the organization.
This is his first stop in Salt Lake so here is some inside information on the 23-year-old Richards.

Where do you reside in the offseason?
Oklahoma

What did you do during the offseason?
I played frisbee golf, regular golf, went to movies and spent time traveling.

How old were you when you began playing baseball?
I was around four or five years old when I started.

What was your favorite team growing up?
The San Francisco 49ers.

Which baseball player did you look up to most?
Rollie Fingers.

Name of high school? What schools recruited you?
Edmund Memorial High School in Oklahoma. I was recruited by North Carolina,Texas and USC, but decided to stay close to home and go to the University of Oklahoma.

What advice would you give kids who want to grow up and play baseball? 
I would say stick with it, but know there will be plenty of ups and downs.

What is your greatest personal sports moment?
It was when I was first called up to the big leagues in 2011. (Richards went 0-2 with the Angels with a 5.79 ERA in seven games).

What is your favorite food?
I like Mexican.

The first pitch is pressure.

No, not the one the pitcher throws, but the ceremonial first pitch where all eyes are on the thrower waiting for the ball to fly off in the wrong direction or the thrower to slip or throw it over the catcher’s head.

It’s pressure for someone who doesn’t want to end up as the next YouTube sensation.

Friday night, before the Bees took on the Las Vegas 51s, Utah Jazz forward Josh Howard threw out the first pitch.

The pitch from the 6-foot-7 forward was a strike, literally and figuratively, to fellow big man 7-foot-1 Bees pitcher Loek Van Mil. “Baseball was my first love,” Howard said.  “But once I started getting tall, I saw myself in the baseball pants and knew I had to keep with basketball.”

Howard has experience with first pitches as he threw out a first pitch at a Texas Rangers game during his rookie season in 2003. He said it was a strike that time, and he was happy to improve his personal count to 0-2, zero balls and two strikes.

“Throwing a baseball is much harder than shooting a free throw,” Howard said.

Howard is the first Jazz player to throw out a pitch since Jazz center Al Jefferson appeared on the mound at Spring Mobile Ballpark in 2010.

Minor league baseball players get a certain question posed to them maybe more than any other: What’s your favorite baseball movie?

The most common answer is probably the 1988 Kevin Costner film “Bull Durham.”

Bull Durham is about a veteran catcher and an up-and-coming pitcher and a woman that comes between them. The movie is full of baseball jokes that before the movie were seen as inside-baseball jokes. Something about the movie tends to resonate with baseball players.

Salt Lake Bees Pitcher Garrett Richards said it’s one of his favorites because it’s probably the most realistic to life in the baseball.

One reason for that is the minor leagues is full of Crash Davis’ and Nuke LaLoosh’s. Each team is an interesting mix of players in their early and mid-20s still trying to figure out life, and players in their late 20s and early 30s who have families and kids.

The science for every manager is finding the right combination of personalities to produce a winner.

So far this season, the Bees have the right mix with a 10-4 record after 14 games.

That being said, here is a list of other baseball movies that aren’t traditionally listed as minor leaguer’s favorites. These are real movies:

The Catcher: The story of a catcher who finds out his contract isn’t getting renewed so starts the murder of several players who have decided to stay in the stadium for one reason or another after the game. That should teach players to stay in the stadium after games for one reason or another.

Comrades of Summer: Sparky Smith is a baseball coach with a future in the game-behind him. Now Sparky’ll work for anyone who’ll hire him and that just happens to be a Russian baseball team who barely know their way around a diamond. Baseball is about as popular in Russia as соля’нка is in America. 

Ed: The sluggish comedy about a monkey that joins a professional baseball team. Apparently baseball is so easy a monkey can play it.  

Fireman, Save My Child: Joe Grant is an inventor, fireman and baseball player in his small home town. He gets an offer to play for a big team, he hopes to get more money for inventions. But he is invited to present his invention to a fire-extinguisher company at the same time when he is supposed to play. Will be able to show the effectiveness of his invention and win the game? The movie for those who love stories about entrepreneurs who can’t decide between playing baseball and business meetings.

Night Game: A serial killer strikes only during the Houston Astros’ night games, and a cop tries to find out who and why. Probably why the Astros haven’t been too successful lately.

Rhubarb: A stray cat that is taken in by an eccentric millionaire and named Rhubarb. After the man dies, Rhubarb inherits the bulk of his estate, including a cellar-dwelling pro baseball team, the Brooklyn Loons. But when the Loons star winning under their feline owner, some local gangsters plot to steal the kitty. What does this movie say about owning a team?

Speedy: Speedy loses his job as a soda-jerk, then spends the day with his girl at Coney Island. He then becomes a cab driver and delivers Babe Ruth to Yankee Stadium, where he stays to see the game. Real exciting movie, Speedy also thought about ordering a box of Cracker Jacks at the game, but decided against it.

A Catchers ability to steal bases isn’t traditionally what gets them professional baseball contracts. With that, it doesn’t mean they won’t occasionally light up the base paths.

Tuesday night against Las Vegas, Bees’ catcher Hank Conger stole a base in the third inning. It was the first base Conger had stolen since 2009.

“It was pretty exciting because I don’t swipe too many,” Conger said. “(Coach Keith Johnson) gave me the green light and I tried to pick a good spot.”

Conger now has 16 career stolen bases in 25 attempts. Conger’s career high came in 2007 during his second season in professional baseball with Single-A Cedar Rapids. Conger said it was a good year when he had nine, but he doesn’t consider himself too dangerous on the base paths.

“I can pick my spot but for the most part I try to just be safe,” Conger said. “Otherwise you look like an idiot.”

Matt Shoemaker is turning out to be a great value for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Shoemaker signed with the Angels as an undrafted free-agent in August 2008. Since that time, he’s won 27 games in the minor leagues and is coming off an award-winning 2011 season.

Last season, Shoemaker had a Double-A Texas League low 2.48 ERA and a 12-5 record with the Arkansas Travelers. He was named the Texas League pitcher of the year, and awarded the Angels organization Howie Gershberg Minor League Pitcher of Year.

The Bees prepare for the series opener with Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon at Spring Mobile Ballpark.

For 2012, Shoemaker is in his third stint with the Salt Lake Bees, and is getting stronger every outing.

Shoemaker went six strong innings in his debut against Tacoma on April 6, but didn’t earn the win as the bullpen gave up the lead following his departure.

In his second start, Shoemaker pitched five and one-third innings against Reno giving up two runs on six hits in an 11-3 Bees win.

His first home start was Monday night in the series finale against Tucson and pitched eight innings giving up two runs on six hits in a Bees 6-2 victory.

Shoemaker’s currently posting a 3.26 ERA with 13 strikeouts to only five walks. The 6-foot-4 righty said being a part of a competitive pitching staff helps fuel him.

“We feed off each other,” Shoemaker said following his second win of the season. “It’s a great group of guys and we know each other well and try to compete with each other every game.”

Salt Lake has enjoyed the sun.

With the Bees 5-4 win Sunday against Tucson, Salt Lake moved to 2-0 on day games in 2012.

Bees pitcher Eric Hurley helps with batting practice before the Bees series finale against Tucson.

The Bees earned the first day game win of the season on April 8 with an 8-2 victory over Tacoma.

Salt Lake’s offense has been on display with the sun out as the Bees have 22 hits, 11 RBI and three home runs in the two day games.

Bees infielder Ed Lucas has hit .400 in the Bees two day games.

“Usually I play better during the day, but I don’t think players see the ball any better,” Lucas said. “I just seem to do better during the day, maybe it’s just being under the sun, but I really don’t know why.”

Lucas added that player tend to enjoy day games because despite having to arrive at the ball park earlier they get to clock out earlier.

“It’s more of a traditional nine-to-five day,” Lucas said. “We usually get to go out after the game and have a good dinner and experience life while things are still open.”

The Bees next day game is April 22 at Tucson.

The first victory of the season at Spring Mobile Ball Park goes to reliever Loek Van Mil.

The 7-foot-1 right-handed pitcher threw scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth to hold a Bees 4-2 lead. Van Mil replaced starting pitcher David Pauley, who pitched four strong innings allowing two runs on three hits.

The Bees prepare for the second game against Tucson.

Van Mil didn’t have the best outing to open the season against Tacoma allowing four runs and four hits on April 6 in an inning that ended up costing the Bees the game. Two nights later, he allowed a run in a game against the Rainiers.

The Netherlands native responded since that point throwing a scoreless inning against Reno on April 11 then having his best performance of the season Friday night against Tucson.

Van Mil gave up two hits but had three strikeouts to earn the win against the Padres.

Van Mil hasn’t had many opportunities for wins since he hasn’t started full time his first year in professional baseball in 2006.

“As a bullpen guy you don’t care much about wins and losses because you win as a team,” Van Mil said. “You aren’t going to look back at the end of the year and look at wins and losses, it’s going to be holds and saves, but it’s always better to have more wins than losses.”