Another nearly (according to Pat Dillon) perfect night for a ballgame - 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky to get in the way of the mountains in the distance or the full moon in the even further distance. And the game matched the weather - an excellent one!
The Aquasox sent out Edlando Seco to start the game. He's having a very good year and Bob noted that he looks like a left handed Felix Hernandez (in his physical features rather than his pitching skills - they are both from Venezuela). Coming into the game opponents were hitting .154 against him and he had a lot of strikeouts and walks. This game was more of the same. He showed a very nice curveball and his fastball was up to 91mph. But he does throw a lot of pitches between the walks and the strikeouts. He lasted 5 innings and had 6 strikeouts and 2 walks. His stats after this game include 23 walks and 37 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings and an opponents' batting average of .142 (.82 ground outs for each air out). He had his 22nd birthday the day before this game.
22 year old Willie Kesler started the 6th inning for the Aquasox and pitched very well for 3 1/3 innings. He has a very nice curveball that he used along with a 90mph fastball to keep the Volcanoes off balance. After coming in and giving up a single to 2B Adam Duvall an error by first baseman Evan Sharpley (he's a quarterback, not a first baseman by trade) on a pickoff throw allowed Duvall to get to second. He was bunted over to third and then with the infield playing in a sharp liner that Aquasox shortstop Terry Serrano caught just off his shoe tops doubled Duvall up at third as he was running on contact. Nice play by Serrano. But back to Kesler - after that double play he struck out he next 5 Volcanoes (three of them looking) thanks to his excellent curveball (and a liberal strike zone by the home plate umpire). We've seen Kesler a few times and he has always pitched well. In 11 games he has a 2.29 ERA and opponents are hitting .206 against him (1.57 ground outs for each air out) - 19 2/3 innings pitched with 20 strikeouts and only 5 walks.
Jason Markovitz (a lefty) came in for the final two outs of the game to get the save (his third of the season).
In a 2-0 game it seems the highlights would mostly be about the pitching - and that was the case here. But on to the hitters...
Kevin Rivers continued his hot start to the season going 2 for 4 with a double off the short wall in right center field. He's currently batting .323 with an impressive .996 OPS.
Jimmy Jacquot (one of 3 catchers on the roster) hit a majestic homer to straight away centerfield to add a very appreciated insurance run in the bottom of the 8th inning. He had a line drive single up the middle on his previous at bat and was 2-4 on the night. He's hitting just .232 in limited playing time.
And Terry Serrano was the other Aquasox to get 2 hits. He went 2-3 and scored the first run of the game in the 7th. He hit a single into centerfield in the 4th with Evan Sharpley on second base. Sharpley, the former Notre Dame quarterback, was waved around third but an excellent one hop throw by the Volcano centerfielder Jose Medina was handled nicely by Volcano catcher Jeff Arnold at the plate and Sharpley was out after a minor collision. That throw was very very good by Medina.
There were some nice defensive plays in the game (other than the ones mentioned above).
In the first inning Hawkins Gebbers made an over the shoulder catch deep behind second base just in front of a charging rightfielder (Kevin Rivers). Gebbers tumbled to the ground but held on to the ball. With the sun in Rivers eyes at the start of the game neither of the players would have had an easy time with that ball.
In the 9th inning centerfielder Robbie Anston ran and made a nice diving catch of a ball in the right-centerfield gap.
And the most unusual play of the game came in the top of the first inning. Hawkins Gebbers was at the plate and hit a ball that the Volcano shortstop Carter Jurica caught on the short hop. He held onto the ball and Gebbers was safe at first. The "official" scorekeeper scored it an error. It went into my scorebook as a hit. And Bob said he would score it a fielder's choice. It was an odd play. I thought Jurica might have been shaken by the umpire who had run out halfway to the pitchers mound and shouted "NO CATCH" and waved his arms in a safe sign. Whatever, Jurica held onto the ball and Gebbers was safe at first.
Overall an excellent evening at the ballpark!
The boxscore is here.
The Everett Herald story is here.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
July 23, 2010 - Everett at Salem Keizer
Bob and I didn't attend the game last night (it was a road game in Oregon...) that went 14 innings with the Aquasox finally winning 2-1. But after looking at the game report the 14th inning last night looked pretty unusual…
Everett Top 14th
Then a squeeze bunt to get him home where the runner was safe.
And around and between bunts in the inning we struck out three times.
Everett Top 14th
- Terry Serrano singles on a bunt ground ball to first baseman Carlos Quintana.
- Anthony Phillips singles on a bunt ground ball to third baseman Kyle Mach. Terry Serrano to 3rd.
- Ryan Royster strikes out swinging.
- Robert Anston singles on a bunt ground ball to first baseman Carlos Quintana. Terry Serrano scores. Anthony Phillips to 2nd.
- Kevin Rivers called out on strikes.
- With Evan Sharpley batting, wild pitch by Andrew Romo, Anthony Phillips to 3rd. Robert Anston to 2nd.
- Evan Sharpley strikes out swinging.
Then a squeeze bunt to get him home where the runner was safe.
And around and between bunts in the inning we struck out three times.
So we parlayed three bunts (two of them probably sacrificial but ruled hits) and three strikeouts into a run. Not a single ball hit as far as the edge of the infield grass…
Saturday, July 10, 2010
July 10, 2010 - Spokane 9 - Everett 4
A beautiful night for baseball. Temperature was a balmy 73 degrees on a clear night with the mountains in sharp view over the outfield wall.
We had the reappearance of some familiar faces from last year's team. Ryan Royster was in centerfield and Gebbers was back with the team (though not starting tonight). We also saw a new face at third base - Mickey Wiswall (who was drafted as a first baseman - so his appearance at third made for something to watch).
The game was a tightly played contest until the 5th inning when the Aquasox picked up two runs thanks to an error and a homerun by Wiswall. As the 6th inning started I said to Bob, "This is where we give those runs back..." Unfortunately, I was right...
Our starter Anthony Fernandez had kept the Indians at bay with a variety of off-speed pitches through the first five innings. His fastball reached 89mph but he was throwing an off-speed pitch for every fastball. He had 4 strikeouts and 1 walk through 5 innings while giving up 4 hits - but was also saved by a couple double plays (especially a nifty 1-6-4-3 gem to end the 5th inning with the bases loaded. He seemed in control.
But, as is their pattern this year after getting the lead, the Aquasox suddenly got generous and let the Indians back into the game. Fernandez gave up a double, got an out, and then walked two to load the bases. During those 4 hitters he also gave up a stolen base and uncorked a wild pitch that Steve Baron managed to stop with his throat to keep the runner at third. Bases loaded and 1 out.
Then bad things started to happen. A single to right was misplayed by Kevin Rivers to allow an extra run to score and a runner to advance. Tied game.
A hot ground ball was stopped in a nice diving play by Wiswall at third (to save a sure double down the line) that scored another run. A double steal (with a strong, but poorly aimed, throw by Steve Baron that Wiswall dived to keep from going down the third baseline) and a sacrifice fly scored the Indians 4th run of the inning.
The Aquasox then brought in Ogui Diaz to pitch. Ogui was a shortstop with the Aquasox a few years ago and progressed as far as AA ball before they decided that his bat just wasn't good enough. So he is converting to a pitcher. Ogui had a 12.00 ERA coming into the game and left with a 15.43 ERA - so you get an idea of how things went. He immediately gave up a run (Fernandez is charged with this one) on a single to center and then managed to pick the runner off first to end the inning.
Indians 5 and Aquasox 2.
The Frogs got two runs back in the 6th inning on no hits when they were the beneficiaries of a walk, out, hit batter, another walk, another walk, a ground out to the pitcher and then the inning ended with two runners on when Evan Sharpley struck out swinging. Had Sharpley been a hero like the night before and hit a home run in this spot the Aquasox would have been two runs ahead.
When the Indians came up to bat against Diaz in the top of the 7th more bad things happened. A single, a strike out and a walk followed by a fly out followed by another walk loaded the bases with two outs. Diaz then got two strikes on the Indian's #5 hitter Andrew Clark - one more strike and the Aquasox are out of the inning with no damage. Instead, with the 0-2 count Clark lined a hit into centerfield and the score went to 7-2. A walk lead to the end of Diaz's rough night and when Austin Hudson came in with the bases loaded he promptly gave up a single up the middle to score 2 runs (that counted against Ogui Diaz's total).
Indians 9 - Aquasox 4
Bob and I commented on the swing in fortunes. Had Sharpley gotten the big hit in the 6th and Diaz managed to get the big pitch in the 7th the score could easily have been Aquasox 7 and Indians 4...
Nothing else of note happened and the game ended 9-4.
A few notes on players...
Mickey Wiswall played well at third base and certainly didn't look like a first baseman playing horribly out of position.
Steve Baron did a great job stopping balls in the dirt and saved several wild pitches. His throws were strong, but not especially accurate. At the plate he looked as bad as advertised. He seemed to be lunging at balls and always off balance. He was 0-4 with one strikeout and one hard hit liner that the Indian's shortstop Jurickson Profar caught.
Speaking of Jurickson Profar, he's only 17 years old and looks like an excellent defensive shortstop. He also hit a double down the line (while going 1-4) and is a switch hitter (though the program says he bats right handed). At 17 in this league he's probably one to watch.
Another Spokane Indian to watch is 18 year old Jacob Skole who was a 15th pick overall in the 2010 draft. He hasn't been doing too well in his first 28 at bats hitting just .138.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
July 3, 2010 Aquasox 6 - Volcanos 5 (11 innings)
The great thing about baseball is that you're always seeing the unexpected. Take tonight's game for instance... Last night Fred Bello hit an inside-the-park home run (the first in 11 years for an Aquasox player). So you figure it's going to be 11 more years until you might get a chance to see another one. Wrong. Fred hit an inside-the-park home run in tonight's game again! Two in two consecutive games!
It was a great night for baseball. Sunny and warm when we arrived (eventually dark and cold when we left) and a very entertaining extra inning game against the once powerful Salem-Keizer Volcanos (who the Aquasox are 6-0 against after this game).
Everett again jumped out to an early lead, something they've been doing all year so far, and were ahead 4-1 at the end of the 3rd inning. But like Bob and I noted - no lead is safe in the Northwest League and sure enough by Seventh Inning Stretch the score was 5-5...
The Everett starter, 21 year old Yoervis Medina, pitched 6 innings and left with a 5-4 lead. He had a 92mpg fastball and managed to pitch out of danger after giving up lead off base hits in each of the first 4 innings. He struck out 5, walked 1 and gave up 10 hits in his 6 innings.
He was followed by Austin Hudson who gave up a home run in his 3 innings of pitching and showed an 89 mph fastball.
Fray Martinez finished out the game with a 94 mph fastball and got the win for his 2 innings of shutout pitching.
On the hitting side, the Aquasox were very efficient. After 5 innings they had 3 hits vs. the Volcano's 9 hits but had a 4-3 lead and had only left one runner on base vs. the Volcano's 6 men left on base. Not a way to consistently win, but it was working for the Sox.
Dwight Britton came back from a game and a half off (due to unspecified reasons - not injury related) to have two hits including a home run to center and a walk. He looked solid in centerfield.
Kevin Rivers has come back to earth and was 0-4 tonight with two strikeouts (both looking). The undrafted free agent that was the player of the week last week might be in for a cool stretch.
There were no real hitting stars. The final play of the game was probably the most remarkable from a hitting aspect. Robbie Anston had lead off the 11th with a single through the hole on the left side. When Kevin Mailloux got to a 3-2 count (after failing twice to get the sacrifice bunt down) Robbie was running with the pitch on two fouls and then when Mailloux connected on a hard ground ball to the hole where the shortstop had vacated to cover second. Anston rounded second and was waved home while the two outfielders (who had been playing very deep) headed for the ball. They ended up not getting the ball to the plate in time to catch Anston and the game was over. A strange "double" on a ground ball hit directly at the shortstop position.
And on the Salem Keizer side, they have a pitcher named Jake Dunning that has 17 strikeouts and 3 walks in 10 innings of pitching this year. And he's only given up one fly ball. The amazing thing about him is that last year he was a shortstop and is converting over to pitching. Amazing.
The Herald story is here
The box score is here
It was a great night for baseball. Sunny and warm when we arrived (eventually dark and cold when we left) and a very entertaining extra inning game against the once powerful Salem-Keizer Volcanos (who the Aquasox are 6-0 against after this game).
Everett again jumped out to an early lead, something they've been doing all year so far, and were ahead 4-1 at the end of the 3rd inning. But like Bob and I noted - no lead is safe in the Northwest League and sure enough by Seventh Inning Stretch the score was 5-5...
The Everett starter, 21 year old Yoervis Medina, pitched 6 innings and left with a 5-4 lead. He had a 92mpg fastball and managed to pitch out of danger after giving up lead off base hits in each of the first 4 innings. He struck out 5, walked 1 and gave up 10 hits in his 6 innings.
He was followed by Austin Hudson who gave up a home run in his 3 innings of pitching and showed an 89 mph fastball.
Fray Martinez finished out the game with a 94 mph fastball and got the win for his 2 innings of shutout pitching.
On the hitting side, the Aquasox were very efficient. After 5 innings they had 3 hits vs. the Volcano's 9 hits but had a 4-3 lead and had only left one runner on base vs. the Volcano's 6 men left on base. Not a way to consistently win, but it was working for the Sox.
Dwight Britton came back from a game and a half off (due to unspecified reasons - not injury related) to have two hits including a home run to center and a walk. He looked solid in centerfield.
Kevin Rivers has come back to earth and was 0-4 tonight with two strikeouts (both looking). The undrafted free agent that was the player of the week last week might be in for a cool stretch.
There were no real hitting stars. The final play of the game was probably the most remarkable from a hitting aspect. Robbie Anston had lead off the 11th with a single through the hole on the left side. When Kevin Mailloux got to a 3-2 count (after failing twice to get the sacrifice bunt down) Robbie was running with the pitch on two fouls and then when Mailloux connected on a hard ground ball to the hole where the shortstop had vacated to cover second. Anston rounded second and was waved home while the two outfielders (who had been playing very deep) headed for the ball. They ended up not getting the ball to the plate in time to catch Anston and the game was over. A strange "double" on a ground ball hit directly at the shortstop position.
And on the Salem Keizer side, they have a pitcher named Jake Dunning that has 17 strikeouts and 3 walks in 10 innings of pitching this year. And he's only given up one fly ball. The amazing thing about him is that last year he was a shortstop and is converting over to pitching. Amazing.
The Herald story is here
The box score is here
Thursday, July 1, 2010
July 1, 2010 - Everett 6 - Salem Keizer 4
The most notable feature of tonight's game was Kevin Rivers - he hit a 2 run homer in the first and a 3 run homer in the 3rd. Both of them no-doubt line-drives over the scoreboard in right center. He was the Northwest League's player of the week last week and is still very hot. Interestingly, he was an undrafted free agent that the Mariners signed in 2009. We'll see if he can continue to hit.
We ran into Steve Smith at the game - always nice to see Steve - and he has the same ticket package as we do, so hopefully we'll see him more often. Also ran into Denny and Dick from the WWDXC ham radio club. And this on a night when there were only 1,678 fans in attendance!
But back to the game...
The starting pitcher for the Aquasox was Chris Sorce who we saw in the pre-season game against the Everett Merchants. He was the starter there and went two innings giving up a run on two hits and a walk while striking out three (two of them in the first inning).
In tonight's game against Salem Keizer he also started the game off with 2 strike outs and ended up pitching 6 innings with a fastball at 90mph.
The problem inning for Sorce came in the second. The Aquasox scored two runs in the first (Kevin Rivers' home run, remember?) and when Sorce came out for the top of the second with this nice 2-0 lead he promptly walked the leadoff hitter on 4 pitches. Then he walked the next batter. And then the next to load the bases. ARGH! A fly ball to shallow left field then led to a run when the throw from Robbie Anston bounced several times on it's slow path to the plate. I wrote "Anson - no arm" on my scorecard... (Jay Yencich from ussmariner.com described Anson as "a poor man's Johnny Damon" and remembering how poor Damon's arm is, I guess he was more right than he might have imagined).
A fly out to right followed by a sharply hit single up the middle by Julio Izturis of the Volcanoes meant we had a tied game. Sorce's control came back and as it turned out those three walks were the only ones he gave up during his six innings. Strange.
Sorce was followed by Jonathan Arias who pitched 2 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits. Fastball at 89mph.
Arias was victimized by some poor defensive play by the Aquasox. After giving up a single in the 7th a passed ball moved the runner up to second and a single to right scored him. Unfortunately, the throw from Kevin Rivers in right field was a strong one, but our catcher Jimmy Jacquot played it poorly and was out of position to make the tag. We also noted that Jacquot has a tough time catching throws to him.
In the 8th inning a one out single was followed by a double over the head of left fielder Robbie Anson. Anson's throw to second was a very weak arc in the general direction of second (another note about Anson's poor arm went onto my scorecard). The throw got away from the infielders and the runner who had stopped at third ended up scoring.
Speaking of defense... After the Aquasox appearing to know their way around the cutoff man and generally playing competently in the previous game we attended, this game was a lot sloppier. There was a play where the center fielder threw to second with everyone lined up for a throw to third (the ball went through the infield and caused no harm). There was also a play to end the eighth inning on a ball between the pitcher and first baseman where no one was covering first. Fortunately for the Aquasox, the batter had tied himself up some much in the swing that he didn't get out of the batter's box well and Arias was able to take the ball to first to get the putout unassisted. Overall, the defensive look of this team isn't impressive right now. I suppose this is probably also a good point to mention Anthony Phillips rounding first base too far on a single to right and getting easily picked off in the 4th inning for the third out. Not sure what he was thinking (there was a man on first and maybe he thought they would throw through to third is the only thing I could guess). Work needs to be done both defensively and on the basepaths.
The third, and final, pitcher for the Aquasox was Willy Kesler the blond fireplug. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the save. His fastball was 91mph.
On the hitting side (other than the aforementioned Kevin Rivers) Kevin Mailloux has cooled off a bit but was 1-3 tonight with a walk.
Noodle armed Robbie Anston walked and had a nice double the other way down the third base line. He also stole two bases (once on the front of a double steal).
First round pick in 2010 (#33 overall) Steve Baron was the DH for this game (he was catching the other night and showed some excellent skills). He's ended the game batting .178 after going 0-4 with 4 swinging strikeouts. He doesn't look very good at the plate at all.
Nothing else remarkable to report.
The Herald article is here
The Boxscore is here
We ran into Steve Smith at the game - always nice to see Steve - and he has the same ticket package as we do, so hopefully we'll see him more often. Also ran into Denny and Dick from the WWDXC ham radio club. And this on a night when there were only 1,678 fans in attendance!
But back to the game...
The starting pitcher for the Aquasox was Chris Sorce who we saw in the pre-season game against the Everett Merchants. He was the starter there and went two innings giving up a run on two hits and a walk while striking out three (two of them in the first inning).
In tonight's game against Salem Keizer he also started the game off with 2 strike outs and ended up pitching 6 innings with a fastball at 90mph.
The problem inning for Sorce came in the second. The Aquasox scored two runs in the first (Kevin Rivers' home run, remember?) and when Sorce came out for the top of the second with this nice 2-0 lead he promptly walked the leadoff hitter on 4 pitches. Then he walked the next batter. And then the next to load the bases. ARGH! A fly ball to shallow left field then led to a run when the throw from Robbie Anston bounced several times on it's slow path to the plate. I wrote "Anson - no arm" on my scorecard... (Jay Yencich from ussmariner.com described Anson as "a poor man's Johnny Damon" and remembering how poor Damon's arm is, I guess he was more right than he might have imagined).
A fly out to right followed by a sharply hit single up the middle by Julio Izturis of the Volcanoes meant we had a tied game. Sorce's control came back and as it turned out those three walks were the only ones he gave up during his six innings. Strange.
Sorce was followed by Jonathan Arias who pitched 2 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits. Fastball at 89mph.
Arias was victimized by some poor defensive play by the Aquasox. After giving up a single in the 7th a passed ball moved the runner up to second and a single to right scored him. Unfortunately, the throw from Kevin Rivers in right field was a strong one, but our catcher Jimmy Jacquot played it poorly and was out of position to make the tag. We also noted that Jacquot has a tough time catching throws to him.
In the 8th inning a one out single was followed by a double over the head of left fielder Robbie Anson. Anson's throw to second was a very weak arc in the general direction of second (another note about Anson's poor arm went onto my scorecard). The throw got away from the infielders and the runner who had stopped at third ended up scoring.
Speaking of defense... After the Aquasox appearing to know their way around the cutoff man and generally playing competently in the previous game we attended, this game was a lot sloppier. There was a play where the center fielder threw to second with everyone lined up for a throw to third (the ball went through the infield and caused no harm). There was also a play to end the eighth inning on a ball between the pitcher and first baseman where no one was covering first. Fortunately for the Aquasox, the batter had tied himself up some much in the swing that he didn't get out of the batter's box well and Arias was able to take the ball to first to get the putout unassisted. Overall, the defensive look of this team isn't impressive right now. I suppose this is probably also a good point to mention Anthony Phillips rounding first base too far on a single to right and getting easily picked off in the 4th inning for the third out. Not sure what he was thinking (there was a man on first and maybe he thought they would throw through to third is the only thing I could guess). Work needs to be done both defensively and on the basepaths.
The third, and final, pitcher for the Aquasox was Willy Kesler the blond fireplug. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the save. His fastball was 91mph.
On the hitting side (other than the aforementioned Kevin Rivers) Kevin Mailloux has cooled off a bit but was 1-3 tonight with a walk.
Noodle armed Robbie Anston walked and had a nice double the other way down the third base line. He also stole two bases (once on the front of a double steal).
First round pick in 2010 (#33 overall) Steve Baron was the DH for this game (he was catching the other night and showed some excellent skills). He's ended the game batting .178 after going 0-4 with 4 swinging strikeouts. He doesn't look very good at the plate at all.
Nothing else remarkable to report.
The Herald article is here
The Boxscore is here
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