Sunday, August 24, 2008

August 22, 2008 Salem Keizer 4 Everett 3

This Friday night game was quite popular (Everett Clinic Night - that always brings in a crowd) and we had 3,991 fans in the ballpark.

Everett had lost the previous two games to first place Salem Keizer by just one run each night (and both when our relief pitching lost a lead late in the game - a recurring theme this season). Tonight would be no different.

One item that both Bob and I noted was that the homeplate umpire, Javier Cantu, looks like an umpire. One who would know all of the best pasta joints in all of the towns in the Northwest League. We hope he makes it to the majors.

The game was unusual because we saw a pitcher from AAA Tacoma on a rehab assignment get the start. Chris Jakubauskas has a very nice curveball and seemed to have the Northwest League players totally overmatched. He struck out 7 of the 9 players he faced. One hitter (Flores) got a bloop double down the leftfield line when he stuck his bat out and the ball managed to hit it. The other out was a routine flyball to left field. I'd think more of Jakubauskas except for the fact that he's one of those Independent League finds and is 29 years old. Probably not a hot prospect.

When Jakubauskas left Walter Suriel took over and eventually 11 of the first 13 outs in the game were strikeouts!

Notable items from the game included:

Jharmidy DeJesus walked for the first time this season - 17 games and 50 at bats.

Manelik Pimentel is the only Everett player to ever have 200+ at bats for the team three years in a row. Of course this isn't really a Good Thing(tm).

Switch hitter Anthony Phillips is batting .250 right handed and .160 left handed.

Caleb Curry hit a home run in the 5th inning to break a scoreless tie. It was only his 6th extra base hit in more than 200 at bats. The other 5 had been doubles.

Doug Salinas showed a nice changeup (his fastball was around 87 mph and the change was 75mph).

Third baseman Jose Flores made a very nice diving play to get Fleming Baez (not the fastest runner in the world) at first.

Here is the boxscore: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_08_22_skvasx_eveasx_1&cid=403&t=g_box

Here is the Everett Herald story: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080822/SPORTS/46000409/1006/SPORTS03#AquaSox.lose.4-3

Saturday, August 9, 2008

August 8, 2008 Everett 6 Tri City 1

BUHNER BUZZ NIGHT - Jay Buhner's autograph is on the Aquasox page of the scorebook

What an amazing game baseball can be. You just never know what you're going to see when you go out to the ballpark. Take this Friday night game for instance. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th (the Aquasox last at bat) the Frogs were leading 4-1 and the Aquasox had left 12 men on base during the game. Not really that remarkable until you notice that they also only had 1 hit in the game. ONE hit and TWELVE men left on base! YOW!

Not really much to report on the game other than that peculiarity.

The game started off with Scott Robinson hitting a lead-off home run for the Dust Devils - it was to be the only run that they scored in the game and one of only 3 hits.

Anthony Phillips lead off the bottom of the first inning with a single to left and then was immediately caught trying to steal second. Bradley McAtee, the starting pitcher for Tri City, had a walk, a strikeout, and hit a batter in the first inning. Then things fell apart for him. At the start of the second he walked Nunez on 4 pitches. Then he walked Tenbrink on 4 pitches. Then he walked Dotel on 4 pitches. Then between the 4 balls he threw to Gillies to walk him, he threw 2 wild pitches to score two runs. Then he walked Phillips on 5 pitches (he got a called strike on the second pitch of the at bat) - but he also added another wild pitch to let a third run score. Mercifully, he was replaced by Murphy after throwing 21 pitches in the second inning - 20 of them balls and only 1 strike.

There was only one hit by both teams combined in the second through seventh innings. The Dust Devils didn't have a hit after a gift single in the second when Kenn Kasparek, the Aquasox starter, was slow covering first to allow Derek Kinzler to beat him to the bag.

In the end the Dust Devil pitchers walked 14 batters and hit 2 others. They did strike out 14 Aquasox hitters. The Frogs had 3 hits after getting a couple in the 8th inning to score twice.

The Aquasox pitchers struck out 11, walked 4 and gave up 3 hits.

A pretty bizarre game...

The Everett Herald story: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080809/SPORTS/570021877/1006/SPORTS03#AquaSox.walk.past.Tri-City.for.6-1.win

The Box Score: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_08_08_triasx_eveasx_1&cid=403&t=g_box

August 4, 2008 Everett 6 Vancouver 4

A Monday night game against Vancouver on a warm clear night made for a perfect evening of baseball - even better when the Aquasox came out on the good side of a 6-4 decision.

Nolan Gallagher pitched for the Aquasox and threw 77 pitches (the Everett pitchers are on a 75 pitch limit) through 5 2/3 innings. He has a very nice overhand curveball that he can throw for strikes. He struck out 4 and walked 2 and left with the score tied 1-1.

Pedro Figueroa pitched for Vancouver and showed a good fastball in the low 90s (best I saw was 94). He looked good and struck out 5 while walking just 1 in 5 1/3 innings (he left with the bases loaded and the Aquasox scored 34 runs after his departure).

Notes on the scoresheet related to this game included:

Jeremy Barfield, the Vancouver right fielder, is the son of Jesse Barfield (and brother of Josh Barfield).

Wellington Dotel doesn't wear batting gloves.

There was some good and bad fielding by both teams (not unexpected at this level)...

The good includes Anthony Phillips, the Aquasox shortstop, who has a nifty glove and seems to enjoy backhanding the ball. He's a very smooth fielder. Francisco Tirado, the Vancouver third baseman made a very nice play on a bunt by Tyson Gillies to get him at first. Gillies is very fast and it was a very nice bunt - but Tirado was up to the task.

The bad includes Tyson Gillies overthrowing the cut-off man (not an unusual occurance for Tyson) on a play at third base. He has an excellent arm and likes to show it off. Vancouver first baseman Dusty Napoleon made three errors in the second inning - one on a ground ball, another on a ground ball by the next hitter and then the third when he retrieved that ball and threw wildly past the pitcher covering first base. A pretty bad inning for him... Jeremy Barfield threw to second base instead of to the cut-off man that would have had a play at the plate. And to add a base running blunder, it appears that Manilek Pimentel lost track of the 2-2 count and thought it was 3-2 with 2 outs - he took off leisurely for second and was an easy out to end the fourth inning.

The Everett Herald article: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080804/SPORTS/839978733/1006/SPORTS03#AquaSox.beat.Canadians..6-4

The Box Score: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_08_04_vanasx_eveasx_1&cid=403&t=g_box