Notes From The Nat

Holy cow, what a game. Sometimes when you’re planning to go to the ballpark, you have a moment of thought as to whether you should bother. "I have so much to do… so many work assignments… my family would like me to pay some attention to them… maybe I’ll just sit this one out…"

Not bloody likely. Because when you sit out a game of baseball at Nat Bailey Stadium, it usually ends up being the kind of ripsnorter affair that goes 13 innings and sees the scores go level four times, with 95MPH pitching and homeruns leaving the park before a winner is declared.

Like tonight, for example.

The game opened as the last one closed - with a Vancouver pitcher chewing through the Everett AquaSox opposition. In this case it was Trey Shields (right), 9th round draft pick and towering righty, enjoying his first outing as starting pitcher the season. His first at bat was a big K, consisting of four nasty 93mph fastballs, all at the corners. That piece of bullying was followed by a grounder and a pop-out to end the inning, and the world was a happy place for The Big Trey.

And it rapidly got happier when team leader and lead-off man, Chalon Tietje, with a full count before him, drilled a perfect low-level liner into center right field for a base hit. Chad ‘Tum-Tum’ Boyd was not about to let Tietje show him up, and he promptly followed suit by drilling another low-level rope into center left for a single. Everett pitcher Robert Fagan was beginning to look worried as everything he threw was being punched back over his head, and his tricky pick-off move was beginning to look, as they say in France, le crap. The umpire noticed this too, and as Fagan tried to spin around to find Tietje off the bag, the ump called a balk on the pitcher.

Rob Fagan = not happy.

So how do you think he was feeling when Jeff ‘Buttah’ Baisley then smacked a hard grounder across the third base bag and into the C’s bullpen, scoring two runs and standing up on second with no outs?

Probably better than he was feeling when the Denver Bronco, Haas Pratt (left), smacked a deep deep deeeeeeeep flyball which came down at the warning track about five feet shy of the 395 foot wall in center? Do you think he cursed as Buttah crossed the plate and Vancouver went up by 3 runs? You bet he did.

Fagan gave up a wild pitch and a walk before he finally convinced a Canadians player to hit into a double play, which I guess could be considered ‘getting yourself out of a jam’, if seeing your team go 3-0 down can be considered getting out of anything.

I watched this inning from the comfort of the roof of Nat Bailey’s stadium - comfort consisting of a plastic patio chair on a bouncy wooden podium on the bouncy roof, beside the window of the C’s radio booth. It’s not a bad spot, at least in terms of the view, but the amenities need a little work. Great spot for catching foul tips, or at least catching up to them as they come down from a great height and get tangled up in the protective netting. I generally go upstairs to the press booth for the first few innings of each game for two reasons. First, I get to avoid having to stand for the national anthems, which is doubly important because both the Canadian and American anthems play at The Nat before a game. and don’t even get started on me about being patriotic - you try listening to 68 national anthems at 34 home games in a three month period and tell me you wouldn’t take off for a while when they’re busting out the opening bars!

The second reason I go up to the roof is that you get to see all the little habits that the players have at the plate. For example, last year, Myron Leslie, who is ripping it up in Kane County this season, would make a small sign of the cross in the dirt next to the batters box before stepping into it. Nic Blasi, also now in Kane County, would kick his foot along the back lines of the batters box until they were just about gone. Landon Powell would sweep his foot along the dirt after every swing so that no sign of his or anyone else’s presence could be seen on the ground where he was standing. Don Sutton would plant his feet, swing a few times in preparation, take a mean stance, strike out, and then mouth the F word so hard you could read his lips all the way upstairs.

This year’s group of hitters? No such habits. Sure, Chalon Tietje still does the not-swing-and-stare-at-the-pitcher-as-the-ball-zips-by thing that he was doing last year, and Isaac Omura has a stance so contorted that I’m sure he has a wooden leg he’s not telling anyone about, but for the most part they just walk up, plant their feet and wait for the pitch. It’s all so boring.

One thing you can see very clearly upstairs is pitch movement, and big Trey Shields had his stuff moving about quite nicely in the first inning. In the second, however, movement was the least of his problems. Ronald Prettyman, who has to have woken up every single day of his life pondering whether he should change his name or not, opened the 2nd with a bunt towards the pitcher that caught the big guy napping. Or maybe he wasn’t napping and it’s just really hard to get a 6′3" 230lb body into high speed over a short area, then bend down to pick up a ball, then turn and throw. Either way, PrettyBoy was on base when the next AquaSox hitter, Brian Schweiger, drilled a double to left.

Actually, it wasn’t a double, it was a routine flyball, but when 7PM hits at Nat Bailey Stadium, the sun is usually setting over in right field foul territory, which makes the left fielder’s job considerably more difficult. As the ball dropped about five feet over Tum-Tum Boyd’s glove, the Canadians faithful let out a giant "ohhhh" as one.

The FlipperKids scored on a ground out, then scored again on a Bryan Sabatella single that threaded the needle between third and short. Shields was being pounded, and luck wasn’t assisting him in any way, shape or form. A deep fly to right got him back into the inning, and when ‘Pipes’ Recker gunned down an attempted steal at second, the C’s held a slender 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the only thing the Canadians managed to hit was a high foul ball that came down on the head of a young blonde woman from about 80 feet up, cracking her right on the back of the noggin. And that, good Canadians fans, is why the team asks you to keep your eyes on the game when balls are flying around.

In the top of the 3rd, Everett again picked on Big Trey, this time with a single and a walk putting a man in scoring position, and then two ground outs moving him to 3rd, then home to tie the scores. Shields continued his shaky outing in the 4th, while the once-drubbed Rob Fagan managed to stave off the relievers warming up in the bullpen by throwing good stuff from the 2nd inning on.

As Bradley Davis, formerly of the Alaska Goldpanners, came in for the wayward Shields in the 5th, Everett lead-off man Casey Craig (who, it must be said, is hitting way below his class in this level of ball) took him for a double to left, but if the assembled Flipper-Kid fans thought that was the start of another good Everett inning, they were mistaken. Davis has heat, and he tossed a considerable amount of it as he struck out Luis Valbuena swinging and then drew Jeff Flaig and Ron Prettyman into weak ground-outs to end the inning.

Against all the odds, Rob (I’m avoiding the obvious nicknames, thank you) Fagan was still on the mound, but as Frank Martinez drew a walk and Chalon Tietje again drove low through the infield for a single, the bullpen was back on their feet. When Tum-Tum Boyd grounded the runners along to 2nd and 3rd, Everett had just about had enough, calling on reliever Jeff Gilmore to get them out of a bad situation.

And that’s what he did, drawing Jeff Baisley into a deep flyball, walking the home run threat Pratt, and then grounding out Jose Garcia with the bases loaded.

On the mound for the C’s, Brad Davis could have cared less about his team’s near misses with the bat - strike out, strike out, fly-out - next!

And that was how it went until the bottom of the 7th, when, with the Rally Crows in full flight, Vancouver’s Frank Martinez again drew a lead-off walk, but this time he went a few steps further, stealing to 2nd, then riding a wild pitch to 3rd before Tum-Tum popped a soft fly off the end of his bat down the left field line, driving in a run and drawing the Vancouver faithful into near delirium. Buttah Baisley then grounded into a double play to end the inning, continuing his medicore game, but Vancouver now had a 4-3 lead going into the 8th and the mood was healthy in V-Town.

At least for a moment. When Jeff Flaig doubled and Vancouver reliever Ronald Madej hit Prettyman with a fastball (I don’t think Prettyman was enjoying it that the stadium DJ kept playing Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman when he was at the plate), Canadians pitching coach Craig Lefferts gave him the hook, bringing in the hard throwing Stephen ‘Bad News’ Bryant.

Bryant (left), a 20th round draftee from the University of Hawaii, came into the game with two men on and one out, then proceeded to throw two wild pitches, the latter scoring the tying run. Bryant, who was throwing a consistent 87 mph with his fastball (touching 89) and dropping as low as 71 mph with his change-up, just didn’t seem able to get any movement on his pitches tonight, and his location was way off. Could the unusually large 4300 crowd have been giving the C’s pitchers a case of the nerves?

Either way, in the bottom of the 8th, the C’s were more than happy to show Everett how it feels to get your pitcher beat up on. With Joe ‘Squirmin’ Woerman in for Jeff Gilmore, the C’s employed the old Oakland ‘on-base’ tactic of refusing to swing until the pitcher forces their hand, and Woerman was simply unable to make them do so, walking two straight batters with 85-89MPH fastballs that went everywhere but where they were supposed to go.

David Asher came in to take over, but he didn’t fare much better, as Pipes Recker sac bunted the runners along, and then a wild pitch scored a run to give the C’s the lead AGAIN - 5-4.

But just as had happened every time the C’s had found a lead in this game, the FlipperKids would not be denied, and so it went that after a Bryan Sabatella triple to deep right center, Michael Saunders sac’ed him home to AGAIN tie the game, 5-5.

In the bottom of the 9th, the C’s needed a tiebreaker, but Asher was not about to surrender one. Asher has a weird tendency to look like he’s throwing really hard, but his pitches come in at about 84-87, with a change-up about 10MPH less than that. Whatever junk he was tossing, it was good enough to get the C’s down, 1-2-3, and we’re into bonus baseball!

Because I like to build up the excitement, I’m going to share a small interlude with you at this point in the game report. This is something I plan to do every time the C’s go into extra innings this season, because there’s a gentleman at Nat Bailey Stadium who I think deserves a little recognition now and then for his services to this team. That man’s name is Budd Kerr, and he calls himself the Nat Bailey Stadium historian. Bud always sits in the same place and has done since this stadium was opened back in the early 50’s, and he has kept a series of scrapbooks about whatever team has played here since well before that time. If Vancouver baseball has been mentioned in the press, Bud has a clipping of that mention in his collection, from the big city dailies to the tiny little suburban rags in places like Yakima and Rainier and Bellingham where the V-Town boys might have at one time passed through and played a game or two.

Bud likes to tell stories, and I like to record them, because no other bastard cares enough to bother. So I make sure to sit by Bud for an inning or two and I’ll turn to him between innings and say, "Bud, tell me a story."

Today’s story was about the day Satchel Paige came to The Nat for a game. Take it away, Bud.

"The first time he came here - he came to Vancouver twice you know, most people don’t know that - the first time he came here was for a Portland team in the 50’s. Don’t remember the exact date, but I can get it for you if you need it, and Paige was playing for Portland, more or less as a publicity thing. He was there to get people in the gate, he was about 50 years old, but you could never really tell exactly how old because he changed his age every time he answered the question."

"Anyway, so he comes out in relief and it’s quite the thing, there he is, tall and lanky, 50 years if he’s a day, and what do you think he threw?"

"Fastballs, curves, sliders?", I answer.

"Absolute junk," says Bud. "He threw everything and anything. Ball went fast, slow, left and right, up, down, none of it unhittable but it was just all over the place. But what made him hard to hit was that he had this stutter-step motion that meant he was basically pitching from a step closer to the plate. Sometimes he stuttered, sometimes he didn’t, and because he was Satchel Paige, nobody complained. But he was balking on every pitch! Absolute junkballer."

So did he manage to get through the side, I ask.

"Oh, he got through them. Couple of strikeouts."

That’s it? No flaming fastballs of death?

"Nope. Just junk and a funky action. And when he came in here in 1963 he was even worse."

1963? Satchel Paige pitched off this mound in 1963? He must have been near sixty!

"Somewhere around there," says Bud. "It was an exhibition game of some sort. We lost our team between 1963 and 1964, so they had exhibition games up here, and he played on one of those. Still throwing junk."

Well heck, at age 60, I’m surprised he didn’t fall off the mound. I thanked Bud for today’s extra innings piece of Nat Bailey Stadium history as the teams came out for the 10th inning with the scores tied at 5-5. Stephen Bryant was still out there for Vancouver, but he was pitching differently now. Instead of the 89MPH stuff he was sending down in the 8th and 9th, now he was down around 84MPH, and the ball was on a string as he sat them down 1-2-3.

Vancouver, on the other hand, had a head of steam. Mike Massaro, having been brought in as a pinch-runner in the 8th, would now be called on to do some hitting, and that would be exactly what he’d do with a single that tangled the pitcher up in knots.

Massaro, a 13th rounder out of Colorado State Pueblo (the same school as the recently promoted Shawn Martinez) , was sitting on a .118 average just four games ago, but in the time since he’s managed to go on a mini-rampage, ending tonight’s game on a very respectable .292 and demonstrating that he’s a bona fide speed demon on the basepaths. When Chris Tritle singled to center and Anthony Recker grounded the runners along, it was up to Shawn Callahan to crack the game-winning base hit and bring this crowd to rapturous applause.

Well, Shawn Callahan hit 1-6 today. And that raised his average, if you know what I mean. Suffice to say, the scores stayed level.

In the top of the 11th, Vancouver brought out a surprise package - Jose Corchado, the recently demoted former Kane County Cougar, who had been boasted an 11.81 ERA at Stockton earlier this season, then a 7.32 ERA for the Cougars before the organization ran out of patience with him and sent him to short season ball.

And his opening salvo at this level was nothing if not what one would expect with a season like the above. First batter he faced: walk. Second batter he faced: bunts for a hit. Jose was PISSED.

Some pitchers run on adrenaline, while others get lost when the blood starts to pump. Jose, from first glance, is a very serious, very deliberate, very emotional player. He does a lot of thanking God when things go right, and he does a lot of sneering to himself when they don’t. And, it must also be said, he has UNGODLY stuff when he’s hitting his spots.

91MPH sliders, 94MPH fastballs, 76MPH change-ups - every pitch is doing something, and the only way he seems able to concede runs is when his movement takes him out of the strikezone. In fact, when Corchado really arched his back and let fly with a 95MPH fastball, it whizzed by the batter, the catcher, and hit the stadium netting so hard that the Everett off-day pitchers handling the radar gun duties behind the plate jumped for their lives. I think I’ll hear the fizz of that ball coming toward me for a long time in my nightmares. so too will Everett’s hitters, because when Corchado found the strikezone, he was unhittable.

Michael Saunders: Struck out swinging.
David Hall: Caught stealing third.
Reed Eastley: Struck out swinging.

The 12th saw Corchado get a little wild again, with Jeff Flaig singling, then stealing, then riding a wild one to 3rd before a Ron Pretty Woman single drove him home to give Everett their first lead of the game.

Everett, wanting to stitch up the victory, brought in their closer of choice, the kid with the best baseball name ever: Rollie Gibson.

Gibson (seen left, and nicknamed ‘Chops’ for his penchant for facial hair) was a teammate of Brad Davis with the Alaska Goldpanners last year, so who knows if the Vancouver hurler helped his teammates with a little extra scouting on their opponent. If he did, it came in handy.

Chad ‘Tum-Tum’ Boyd was first up and singled up the middle to lead-off, and quite predictably, manager Juan Navarrete signaled for him to steal second. It was probably the right call to make at that stage of the game, but Everett were ready and threw Tum-Tum down easily for the first out.

The crowd was deflated. Even more than a win, at this stage they just wanted to be able to go home without thinking they’d missed something. Most of the crowd, it must be said, were nowhere near as cautious.

In fact, if 200 people were on hand to see the kid from Land’O'Lakes, Florida, Jeff ‘Buttah’ Baisley, atone for his earlier poor form by then firing off a moonshot on an 84MPH ‘Chops’ Gibson fastball, I’d be very surprised. But more fool them - we stayed, we waited, we rooted for our team, and our man delivered a game-saving homerun blast that went a good 360ft over the Global TV sign in left center. Baisley joins the exclusive club of players who have hit a home run in one of the hardest parks to hit out of in all minor league baseball, and saves the game in the process.

Vancouver 6 - Everett 6.

Jose Corchado is nasty. He demonstrated the latino definition of nasty by striking out the side in the 13th, and this is how he did it.

Pitch #1: 95MPH fastball down the guts.
Pitch #2: 91 MPH slider tempting the hitter to swing for garbage.
Pitch #3: 80MPH change-up down the guts.

He followed this formula three times to the letter, and three times he got the K with his slowest pitch. Outstanding pitching, especially on a day when he’d just arrived in town.

The bottom of the 13th saw Everett’s closer lose his cool under pressure as Shawn Callahan singled on an unexpected bunt, before being pinch-run for by the nimble Justin ‘Spanky’ Sellers. Wilber Perez sacked the kid along before Frank Martinez hit long and deep and down an outfielder’s throat for the first out.

Then came the sign that Everett were frightened… they intentionally walked Chalon Tietje to load up a double play opportunity and get to Tum-Tum.

But Chad Boyd, though he was playing high school ball just a few months ago, is no dumb kid. He can smell the fear and he knows how to play this game called baseball, so as Gibson tried to paint the corners, Boyd just watched. And watched. And watched. And walked.

Bases loaded, and up comes none other than the homerun king of the previous inning, Jeff Baisley (right). He’d saved the game in the 11th, could he now win it in the 13th? Gibson needed a double play, and Baisley needed a bag.

Pitch 1, ball.
Pitch 2, ball, and Gibson is starting to curse.
Pitch 3, ball, and Gibson is REALLY starting to curse.
Pitch 4, strike. Crowd takes a breath.
Pitch 5, strike. Full count.

You just can’t get any more important than a pitch with a full count, bases loaded, and scores level in the bottom of the 13th. If you were a betting person, you’d want to have a tenner on the C’s right about now. but then come the ‘what if’s - what if Baisely swings at a crap ball that otherwise would have won him the ballgame? What if he swings and hits into a DP? What if he swings and misses!

All the pressure in the world sat on two men’s shoulders tonight - one of them had already sensed this pressure and had come out on top. The other was pitching when that first guy came out on top. And that might tell you how this one went.

84MPH fastball, low and inside. Ball four, Baisley walks, Sellers scores - GAME VANCOUVER!

July 13, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 R H E Everett 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 6 13 1 Vancouver 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 7 12 0 wrap | box | logW: J. Corchado (1-0, 3.00); L: R. Gibson (2-1, 3.00);HR: VAN: J. Baisley (2).

Game notes:
* Oh my freaking god, what a ballgame. If nothing else, this game proved that the NWL will this year be decided not by the playoffs between the winners of the western and eastern divisions, but by the season-long battle between Everett and Vancouver. Quite frankly, nobody else in this league is a shot at winning the thing.

* When Corchado had mishandled the first two batters he faced, he seemed nervous and upset, until a quick visit from Lefty Lefferts clamed his nerves and he started spewing flames from his fists. To be honest, I was already writing what I would say about Corchado when he walked his first batter - "Corchado came down today, and he can just about keep on going if this is the sort of crap he wants to bring to the table." It would have been a great line, but the line said to me by a visiting Tampa Bay scout in the 11th is probably even greater… "Where’s my fucking radar gun?" Where, indeed. 6K’s over 3 innings will just about forgive the conceded run.

* Brad Davis was Vancouver’s pitcher of the game, with a line of 2 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3K’s 0 walks. Davis continues, after 6 games played to boast a 0.00 ERA. He has struck out 17 batters and walked just 2. Yowza!

* Tum-Tum Boyd was the hitter of the night, going 3-6 with 1 walk, 1 run, and 1 RBI. He’s gaining in confidence every outing, and starting to feel a little more comfortable with people calling his name. El Camino Real High School should be proud.

* Chalon Tietje (2-6 with 1 walk and 1 run) and Mike Massaro (2-2 with 1 run scored) should be damn proud of their outings tonight. Both needed a few hits to get back into the swing, and they not only got those, they got them at important times in the game. Tietje seems to be hitting for space rather than distance, and that’s helping him a lot, while Massaro has the talent, but he just needed a few balls to fall for him for once. But let’s not forget, he can also pitch if needed, having gone 2-0 with a 2.39 ERA for Joe Newby’s and Shawn Martinez’ old school, CSU Pueblo.

* Jeff Baisley was the game MVP, even though his outing was a failure between innings 1 and 10. 2-6, 2 runs, a double, a homerun, 4 RBIs and a walk make for a pretty darn good night on paper, but it too him some time to warm to the occasion.

* Wes Long is not as healthy as immediate reports in Everett would have had us believe. Long has been flown to Arizona so he can be kept under observation at the A’s medical facility, and though there won’t be any long term damage, the team are taking a cautious approach to his recovery. Best of health, ‘Long Gone’!

* Anthony Recker didn’t have an outstanding night with the bat tonight, but he had a great game with his arm, throwing down four base-stealers, including one at third. Resembling a Hulk-era Lou Ferrigno at times, Recker’s the kind of catcher who seems to instill confidence in his teammates and a little fear in his opponents.

* In Oakland tonight, the A’s just dealt RP Chad Bradford to Boston for OF Jay Payton, and then AAA 2B Omar Quintanilla and OF Eric Byrnes for RP’s Tim Witasick and Joe Kennedy from the Rockies. In essence, the A’s upgraded slightly at CF and significantly in the bullpen. What this may mean, however, is a bit of reorganizing throughout the organization to make room for the new players, and fill gaps left by others. At the bottom end, Jose Orchardo debuted tonight as Joe Scott and Mike Mitchell went to Kane County, while a handful of C’s went down to Rookie Ball. Long story short, we’re going to gain some players and lose some players, so don’t get too attached to that awesome team ERA.

* Everett’s hitting staff are decent, and several of their players are so decent that I doubt they’ll finish the season with them. PrettyBaby is hitting .417 after his 3-5 outing tonight, while Casey Craig is hovering at .357 and Jeff Flaig and Bryan Sabatella are at the .300 level. With those four, you’ve got a great core of a line-up, but nobody hitting .417 is going to stay in short season for long. Expect Everett’s hitting to weaken down the stretch, just as Vancouver’s pitching will probably do the same.

* Huge crowd tonight for a Wednesday night game - 4300 people turned up to give Vancouver’s average attendance a nice boot up the arse. The lesson in this crowd? If you give something away to one person, nobody cares but that person. But give a free baseball cap to 500 kids and you’ll get 1000 parents tagging along… see what I’m saying, Mr Kilgras?

* Vancouver now sits 6 games ahead of second place in the western division with just 22 games played so far this season. Which is entirely nutso.

Pitching probables for the coming two days:
Thursday: VAN Jeff Gray (3-1, 1.00) vs EVE Eric Carter (2-1, 7.24)
Friday: VAN Michael Madsen (2-0, 0.53) vs EVE Nick Allen (3-0, 3.24)

Game 2 in the mini-home series against the Everett FlipperKids commences tomorrow night (Thursday) at 7PM. Turn up and you’re in the running to win a holiday to Las Vegas.

Where it’s sunny.

For the last week, we’ve been saying the same thing, over and over again - Vancouver’s pitching is filthy, but the hitting needs to find its feet. Of course, the risk in going on and on about the pitching being awesome is that eventually it may crack and the team will slump as a result. Of course, the other option would be the opposite side of the coin… that Vancouver’s offense explodes while the defense continues to destroy all before it.And yes, C’s fans, that’s what happened tonight in Eugene. The Vancouver Canadians absolutely obliterated the Emeralds in every way, scoring 11 runs, with two homerun shots going over the wall, and at the same time they conceded just THREE HITS in defense.Here’s how it went down. Chris Tritle (pictured right) opened the game with a double to left. Justin Sellers was then put on base by virtue of being clocked with the ball, and Steve Kleen pushed the runners around with a liner to short center. Big Haas Pratt sac’ed Tritle home with a deep right field flyball, then Jeff Baisley split the middle with an RBI single to center field. In comes ‘Pipes’ Recker with a 2-RBI single up the middle, and the C’s were more runs up in one inning than they’ve been in any game for quite some time. In fact, if the Canadians hitters hadn’t hit another ball for the entire game (as has been the case all too often of late), they would have had enough runs to win it all regardless.But oh no, these boys did not miss today. These boys were ready to turn the knife in Eugene, and boy did they ever deliver on the promise.With Joe Newby (pictured left) on the mound, the C’s had a strong base from which to control this game. Newby continued his great form of the last two weeks, further dropping his ERA from 4.50 to 3.60 (it was 9.00 just three weeks back), throwing five innings of 2-hit ball, with 5K’s and a single walk. In fact, so strong was Newby’s stuff that Eugene only got two men on base one time in his entire outing.On the other end, however, Eugene pitcher Steve Delabar, who came into the game with a 2-0 record and a 1.71 ERA, got rocked in the 5th. Justin Sellers singled to right, then stole second. Squeaky Kleen walked, before a wild pitch saw Sellers sneak to 3rd base. Delabar, for all intents and purposes, was done for the night, so in came Adam Gold to try to work his way out of a jam.Word to the wise in the Eugene dugout - maybe bringing in the 7.60 ERA pitcher with more walks than strikeouts isn’t the wisest move when you’ve got the game on the line.Gold took his spot, then sent a fastball in for the boy from Land’O'Lakes, Florida, Jeff ‘Buttah’ Baisley (pictured right). The 6′3″ 12th round pick from the University of South Florida rocked back on the ball and OWNED it, crashing a three-run shot over the left field wall like it was… well, butter.Gold was hurtin’, but he was about to learn what it feels like to have a half pound of salt poured into a gaping chest wound. Another fastball, another big swing, and the kid with the biggest biceps in the NWL, Anthony Recker, just exploded on the pitch, belting it deep over the center field wall for a back-to-back jack that gave Vancouver the lead 8-0.When you’ve been smashed around like that by your opponent, what you really want in the bottom of the inning is a bit of a rally, maybe a few runs scored, just a sniff of a comeback possibility to keep your teammates peppy. But if you’re playing Vancouver… NO RUNS FOR YOU!Newby was in the zone, throwing great stuff, once again touching the mid-90’s, and not trying to get too deep in the count. Newby throws hittable pitches, you just ain’t going to hit them where you want to. Ground out, fly out, strike out - inning over.Adam Gold came out again to challenge the C’s in the 6th, but it wasn’t long before he was given the hook. Though the first two Canadians hitters he’d face in the inning (Isaac Omura and Mike Massaro) would bring averages of .167 and .118 (respectively) into tonight’s game, both knew that they were on the receiving end of a pitcher’s Christmas. Omura drew a walk, and Massaro did what the C’s had done all night long - drive a single up the middle.At times like this, no matter who you support, you have to sit back and consider the man on the mound. This kid has a family who love him, he probably has a girlfriend, he’s living the dream of playing professional baseball, and these Vancouver players just put enough runs on the board, and runners on base, that his statistics for the season, no matter what he does from here on, will look like a failure. He might have oodles of promise, tons of ability, but when he goes home at season’s end, he’ll have a line that will make his coaches question whether he should be back for another season. Just think about that now… we may well have witnessed the end of a baseball career tonight. We might have just seen a great kid being told that he just doesn’t have it. That he’ll be wanting to think about his future and plan for a new line of work. It’s a sad time. A somber time. A moment for reflection and thinking about the things that are important in life…Ah, to hell with it. Adam Gold just got old. New pitcher!William Ponce, boasting a 2-0 record and a 3.12 ERA was more than happy to jump in Gold’s grave, and as he stood proud on the moung, full of beans and ready to rock the Canadians’ world…Justin Sellers… walked.Haas Pratt… walked.Jeff Baisley… singled to score the lead runner.Pipes Recker… walked to score the lead runner.Thanks for coming out, William, now buh-bye. Vancouver leads 11-0.But there was joy got Eugene in the 6th as new Canadians reliever Jason ‘Death’ Ray came in continuing where he left off the last time he was pitching for the C’s - with a severe case of No-Command. To be sure, Death Ray has a set of guns on him; he hits 94mph with his fastball without any trouble, but coming in to the game he’d walked as many as he’d struck out, and that trend shows no sign of abating. In fact, tonight it got a little worse.Ray walked Kelvin Vazquez, then Nick Hundley, and when The Flyin’ Hawaiian, Isaac Omura, overthrew to first on an attempted double play, the inning got messy with a run scoring.The 7th saw more of the same, as Ray walked Cavanaugh, Jones and Sansoe, before surrendering a run on a sac fly from Vazquez. Two K’s closed the inning out, but Ray’s 5 walks in two innings of work were the only dampener on the entire evening for Vancouver, though that he had enough stuff to concede only a single earned run over those two innings is testimony to his immense talent.With about 750 paying customers bothering to stick around for the end of the game, Steven-Ryder Carter handled the 8th inning with aplomb, and Killer Kilby closed it out with a nice 2K outing in the 9th.Final score: 11-2.

July 11, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Vancouver 4 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 0 11 12 1 Eugene 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 3 0 wrap | box | logW: J. Newby (2-1, 3.60); L: S. Delabar (2-1, 3.55);HR: VAN: J. Baisley (1), A. Recker (1).

Game Notes:* Mike Massaro, who was looking perilously close to earning the nickname Mike No-Hitto with his .118 batting average, found his considerable feet today and looked exactly like the kind of guy that Oakland would draft in the 13th round. Massaro went 3 from 5 to bring the average up over the Mendoza Line to .227, although he was left stranded on base every time he went out.* A handful of C’s hitters are still struggling at the plate, though it must be said that it’s hard to get into a groove when you only play once in three days. Ty Bubalo, Isaac Omura and Jeff Bieker all struggled today (0-1, 0-4, and 0-3 respectively), to continue their poor form at the plate, but the Oakland organization are not known for cutting newly drafted youngsters who are struggling to find form, so all with the exception of Bubalo will sleep easy tonight, and likely get plenty of opportunity to show their stuff in the weeks ahead, come what may. Bubalo is not in real trouble yet, but all eyes are on him as he’s been in the system for four years now. His saving grace is he was a high school draftee, so he’s at the same point that the college draftees are, agewise. We don’t anticipate Bubalo is at risk of being cut, nor being demoted for that matter. The C’s coaches are clearly giving him every chance to find form, and if we know the Boobster, he’ll do exactly that in the weeks ahead.* Jeff Baisley was smooth like buttah tonight, going 3-5, knocking in five RBIs, hitting a home run and crossing the plate twice himself. Baisley has been looking to pop for a while now, so this won’t surprise keen observers, but it sure is nice to get another Canadian over the Mendoza Line, and it’s doubly nice to see a new draftee click into high gear with the bat.* Anthony ‘Pipes’ Recker had the kind of night tonight that, if not for Baisley’s outing, would have been something to really write home about. He went 2-5 with 4RBI, a solo shot over the center field wall, a walk and a run, consolidating his average to a healthy .250 and putting forth the case that he should be the Canadians starting catcher. Recker has a few things to work on before they can start yelling “yippee” in Oakland, but he’s getting there, and he’s getting there quickly.* Justin Sellers, the man with the Barbie Girl theme song, produced one hell of an unassuming solid game tonight. The kid straight out of high school is butting heads with the big guys and winning, scoring a 1-3 night with the bat tonight. Though a 1-3 night isn’t explosive, it’s the details that make it worth mentioning. He managed a walk, got hit by a pitch, and crossed the plate three times, which in itself was enough to win the ballgame. We’re liking what Sellers brings to the table a lot at Notes From The Nat, and it boggles the mind to think that he won’t be 20 until next February.* With the exception of Jason Ray, who was ‘get the F out’ quick while enjoying questionable command of his strikezone, the ‘Couver pen was once again ridiculous. In fact, if you played the Vancouver bullpen drinking game (where you take a drink whenever there’s a strikeout), you’d have been wasted by the 9th. Big props should go to Steven-Ryder Carter, who is bouncing back after last year’s horror season to prove himself one of the shining lights in a very bright, shiny, well-lit bullpen.Tonight’s slaughter line:Newby - 5 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 4 K’s, 1 walk.Carter - 1 inning, no hits, no runs, 1 K, no walks.Kilby - 1 inning, 1 hit, no runs, 2 K’s, no walks.* The Vancouver team ERA now sits at an astonishing 2.30The Canadians are on a bus, heading home to Vancouver as I write these words, and they’ll be turning out on Wednesday night at The Nat, at 7PM, where they take on the slowly heating up Everett Aquasox. It’s also ‘cap night’, so the first 500 kids in the gate will get a free Oakland Athletics caps - a great excuse to drag the kids out to a ballgame!

Right now, the Vancouver Canadians are in the kind of form, at least defensively, where you honestly go into each game expecting them to win. This afternoon’s traveling pitching clinic was run by Jimmy Shull and Brad Davis, who were some kind of dominant at Eugene Oregon’s Empire Stadium as the Eugene Emeralds tried to knock over Northwest League frontrunners, the mighty C’s.The game opened beautifully for the visitors, as Chalon Tietje opened with a walk and Chad ‘Tum-Tum’ Boyd knocked him along with a single. Squeaky Kleen grounded them both into scoring position, which was all the encouragement Wes ‘Long-Gone’ Long then needed to crack a 2-run double down the left field line. The Emeralds hadn’t even had a chance to swing yet, and already they were in trouble.Or at least they should have been, but for the most part, that was all the C’s had in them for the next four innings, a fact made easier to deal with by the presence of Jimmy Shull (pictured right) on the mound. Over the first four innings of the game, Shull absolutely owned the Eugene offense, sending down a whopping 8 strikeouts while conceding only four hits. When he left the game in the 5th, the Eugene crowd was ecstatic to see him go, having witnessed a superb pitching display that had the home team guessing from the outset, but if the Oregonians thought they were going to face a softballer in Shull’s place, they were dead wrong. Though Brad Davis was a little wild, giving up a single, a wild pitch, and a walk in his opening inning, he also managed to strike out the subsequent two hitters to end the inning clean.At the other end, the 5th brought the Canadians a little offensive relief, as Wes Long (pictured left) again doubled down the left field line (for the third time in three trips to the plate), before catcher Ty Bubalo, mired in a dire hitting slump and with his father, a former minor-league coach, in attendance, drilled a base hit up the middle to give Vancouver a 3-0 cushion.In the top of the 7th the offense continued, with Sellers and Omura making their way to base with no outs, but just when you think these Canadians are about to explode with the bat, they have a real tendency to crumble instead. With only a deep fly needed to score a run, Tietje struck out, then Boyd did likewise, and Kleen grounded out to leave two men stranded in scoring position. These are the kinds of innings that can turn slim leads into slim losses, and if not for the ungodly pitching staff that inhabits the Vancouver Canadians locker room right now, this game might have turned on the visitors.Indeed, Eugene scored a run in the 8th on a Daryl Jones double and a Kelvin Vazquez single, but with Michael ‘Mr Blonde’ Madsen coming in to throw 4 precarious innings of late relief, the Emeralds simply didn’t have the pop to stop the C’s from extending their road-trip dominance to nine straight away victories. Madsen gets the win and extends the Canadians’ NWL lead to five games, which is quite incredible considering they’ve only played 20 games in the season to this point.

July 10, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Vancouver 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 7 1 Eugene 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 1 wrap | box | logW: M. Madsen (2-0, 0.53); L: B. Krosschell (1-3, 5.23);HR: None.

Game notes:* Wes Long had a blinder of a game today, going 3 from 3 with 3 doubles, 2 RBIs and a run scored, but he nearly blinded himself in the top of the 7th when his own foul tip caught him flush in the face. Long was taken from the field with blood gushing from a facial wound, but the Vancouver trainer said, “He’s going to have a hell of a scar, but he’ll be fine.” Long will be taken for a precautionary x-ray tonight, but all indications suggest he’ll be back at the plate in a few days.* So who or what is Jimmy Shull? In an effort to educate C’s fans as to exactly what The Shullacker brings to the table, here’s the MLB scouting report from a year ago.

LARGE, ATHLETIC FRAME. LEAN & SLENDER THROUGHOUT. BROAD, SLOPING SHOULDERS. FLAT, TAPERS TO TRIM WAIST. EXCELLENT STRENGTH POTENTIAL. NO WINDUP, 3/4 DELIVERY. ATHLETIC RHP W/ YOUNG ARM. FB 87-89 W/ ARM SIDE RUN & SINK OUT OF ZONE, RIDING LIFE UP. TRUE SLIDER, HARD W/ LATE, TIGHT BITE. DEVELOPED SPLIT, OTHER PITCH, OCCASIONAL LATE DROP W/ DEPTH, DECEPTION. ARM W/ GOOD ATHLETIC ABILITY & APTITUDE. USES BOTH SIDES OF PLATE W/ FB. KEEPS HITTERS OFF BALANCE. SLIDER MISSES BATS, SPLIT CATCHES OFF GUARD. FUTURE 3-PITCH MIX.

That’s not a bad rap, and he’s only got better in the years since. Oh, and he can hit too, having hit .300 as a freshman in college.* When a 1 from 4 performance gives you cause to celebrate, you know you’re in ahard slump, but there wouldn’t have been a wider smile anywhere in Empire Stadium tonight than that of Ty Bubalo as he stood on first base having driven in Vancouver’s third run of the evening. Bubalo’s average has been horrendous all year, and though that hit only takes his average up to .158 from the .147 he started tonight’s game with, an RBI in a close situation is nothing to be sneezed at. All Ty needs is two or three good games and he’s back in strong stat country, so be sure to cheer hard for him when the C’s come back to The Nat on Wednesday.* We say it over and over again, but Vancouver’s pitching rotation is insanely filthy. The team ERA has now dropped to 2.36 after tonight’s one-run outing, and it’s now starting to draw attention from further afield. Oakland Athletics blogs have been rife with talk of the ’six-headed monster’ in Vancouver, but truth be told, there’s about nine heads to this hard-throwing hydra, each of them nastier than the first. Of course, when you’re staff are throwing like this, it gives the opposition real confidence nightmares, which only makes the pitching harder to hit, so if the C’s don’t get cocky (and if their hitting improves), we could be seeing the start of something nutso.* Today at the All-Star Futures game, 2004 Vancouver Canadian Javier Herrera went 1 from 1, with a walk and an RBI, which is a great performance from a guy in single-A ball against the best of AA. The Dallas News described Herrera as “a blur of a center fielder.”* 2004 Vancouver Canadians pitcher Steve Sharpe has been sent down from Kane County to the rookie leagues in Arizona to sort out his form. In his first game, Sharpe threw six innings for no runs scored. If all goes well (for Vancouver fans and Sharpe), we might see Sharpe (who is a genuinely nice guy) back at The Nat soon. In other alumni news, Shawn Martinez threw two scoreless innings for Kane County yesterday after his recent promotion. Git ‘em, Big Mac.* According to The Midland Reporter, 2004 Vancouver Canadian “Dallas Braden notched his 13th victory of the season Friday [for the Midland Rockhounds], giving him the most wins of any pitcher in minor league baseball. Braden, whose total also includes six at Single-A Stockton, was tied with Zach Duke for the lead. Duke was recently promoted to the Pittsburgh Pirates.”Stay tuned to this space tomorrow for game 3 of the Eugene series. If you can’t be there, you can listen to the webcast call at CanadiansBaseball.com.

The traveling Vancouver Canadians pitching clinic made a stop today in Eugene Oregon, where Jeff Gray showed that his early season form for the C’s was no fluke, as he ran roughshod over an Emeralds lineup that simply had no answer for his control and concsistency on the mound.From the opening inning, Gray was simply breathtaking, retiring 18 of the 20 batters he faced over 7 innings, giving up just one hit and a solitary walk alongside 5 strikeouts. No matter what the home crowd tried, Eugene’s hitters had no answer for The Missouri Monster’s stuff.At the other end, Vancouver’s hitters launched into action with two outs in the second inning, when ‘Squeaky’ Kleen singled to right field, and then Shawn Callahan drove a groundball at short that saw Kleen hustle around to 3rd.They call Juan Navarrete “Mr Showtime” at Nat Bailey, because you can almost always bet he’ll call the unexepected play, and with runners on the corners and two outs down, Navarrete did exactly that, sending Callahan on a steal that caught Eugene completely unaware. With Eugene pitcher Brenton Carter looking over his shoulder, Canadians second baseman Wilber Perez smacked a liner up the center to score both the runners, and all of a sudden the Canadians were holding all the cards.But two runs is not a huge lead, and in most games, you’d want to have a much bigger cushion if you expect to carry out the win. Thankfully, this Canadians team is no ordinary baseball team, and their pitching is, quite simply, lights out.As a large Eugene crowd willed their boys forward, Gray threw and threw and threw, bamboozling the Emeralds with superior command, getting ahead in the count early, and drawing outs on minimal pitches. By the time the 7th rolled around, Gray was not tiring - in fact, he was getting nastier, drawing two K’s and a comebacker out at what should have been his weakest point.In the bottom of the 8th, Stephen Bryant (pictured right) entered the fray to take over from Gray, and though he was a little shakier on the mound, he worked his way back beautifully with two men on and one out, striking out the next two batters with aplomb to get out of a jam.With Vancouver’s hitters providing scant shelter for their pitching staff, it was up to Michael Mitchell to close the game out, and though he did his job by striking out Mike Sansoe swinging, catcher Callahan failed to get a handle on the ball, and the hapless hitter found his way to first base on a ‘get out of jail free’ card. Mitchell then drew Chase Headley into a groundball to second, which should have been an easy out, but Perez’s throw was off target, giving Eugene yet another free out and putting the lead runner on third.By this point, Mitchell must have been wondering what he has to do to make an out, but as he tried to paint the corners on the next hitter, he instead walked Nicholas Hundley, loading the bases with no outs down.All of which posed a bit of a problem for Vancouver - a base hit ties the game, so Mitchell’s strategy was clear - concede a run if necessary, but only one run. On the subsequent pitch, he drew Seth Johnston into a ground out to second, which scored a run, but notched up an out with .302-hitting Brian Cavanuagh at the plate. Mitchell confered with his catcher, then threw a ball. And another. And another. And another still. An intentional walk to load the bases.The crowd was loud, the Canadians nervous, the scoreline 2-1, as Mitchell reared back and hurled in a beauty. Santiago Guerrero swung hard, but only got a piece of the pitch, sending the ball high up into the infield for a routine out at second. Two outs down, no run scores!Daryl Jones must be happy that he’s a professional baseball player, but as he strode up to the plate with bat in hand and 3500 people yelled his name, hoping for a miracle, he must have wondered if the pay-off was worth the potential downside of failure. His .211 average couldn’t have given him much confidence, and though Mitchell was in the jam of jams, he was surely confident of winning this personal battle.The pitcher stood tall and nodded to his catcher. His arm rocked back, his leg raised and planted, the ball screamed out of his fist and Jones gritted his teeth. The pitch - a fastball. The swing - perfectly timed and aimed. The two connected and the bat struck the ball flush. It rocketed up the middle, exactly where Jones would have wanted it, only the middle was occupied by one Michael Mitchell, and a nice fat glove.Line out, no run scores - game over.Vancouver wins a squeaker, again - by a score of 2-1.

	July 9, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Vancouver 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 1 Eugene 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 wrap | box | logW: J. Gray (3-1, 1.00); L: B. Carter (1-2, 2.61); SV: M. Mitchell (5)HR: None.

Game Notes:* Vancouver’s pitching staff is ridiculous right now, with a combined ERA of just 2.43. The bullpen has managed 10 saves, a league leading tally, they’ve thrown more innings than any other team in the league, while surrendering less homeruns than anyone else and 20 less hits than the next best rotation. In-sane.* Mike Mitchell, with 5 saves on the year and despite having a run score on him tonight, maintains a 0.00 ERA. Would anyone dare suggest he’ll be in Vancouver for longer than the next couple of weeks if he keeps that form up?* Vancouver’s hitters slumped back into their old habits, managing only 5 singles all day. If not for Navarrete’s daring steal decision in the 2nd, even pitching of this high standard might have resulted in a loss.Tomorrow’s game (Vancouver @ Eugene) starts at 4PM. Listen to the call at CanadiansBaseball.com

It’s a sad state of affairs for Vancouver, but just about the only place you can see good fireworks in this city is the handful of times a year that the Vancouver Canadians put on a sparkly show for the fans. In fact, so hard up for fireworks are the people of this city, that hundreds, even thousands, sit around the outside of the stadium on fireworks night, looking to get a free show.But the real show was enjoyed by the people who paid for a ticket, as the first explosion of the night came from the bat of Haas Pratt, who drove a frozen rope over the left field wall in the bottom of the 2nd to set the Canadians on their way to a big 5-0 victory.In honor of the Hoss-man, and courtesy of our own Notes From The Nat snapster, Chris Hall, we bring you these pictures from last night’s game.The Nat at night - quite the attractive ballpark, huh? Lookit that sky!Pratt crosses the plate behind a wall of enthusiastic Canadians fans as the sun drops over the horizon.The Vancouver ‘rally crows’ take flight, spurring the C’s into a fifth inning three-run burst.Catch a foul ball, win $100!With the game planted in the win column for Vancouver, and the sun finally out of sight, the other fireworks begin!In a word… boom.The C’s return to Nat Bailey Stadium next Wednesday, and though there won’t be fireworks that night, if you get there early enough and you bring a kid, you’ll get a FREE Oakland Athletics ball-cap.Now, who do I know who has a kid…?

Vancouver first baseman, Haas Pratt, exploded onto the 2005 season, unloading three home runs on Yakima in the first series of the season, helping the Canadians to a big lead in the Northwest League. When he came to Vancouver for his first home series, however, Pratt lost his touch, going into a semi-slump as his power left him and his contact began to wane.But that was yesterday? tonight, Haas Pratt was loaded for bear.With 2004 non-draft free agent Joe Scott throwing thunderbolts from the mound for the Canadians, the C?s hitters were fired up for a big one. And front and foremost amongst them was Haas, who strode to the plate in the bottom of the 2nd and took the stance of a Colossus as he sneered at the man on the mound.Yakima pitcher, Angel Rocha (0-2, 10.80) perhaps remembering what Pratt did to his teammates at the beginning of the season, looked uneasy on the hill as his catcher gave him the signal for a fastball. But he nodded regardless, as pitchers tend to do, and reared back with all his might to fire in what he thought would be a sure-fire strike.And it would have been, if Haas Pratt hadn?t belted the thing deep into left on a frozen rope, clearing the 350 foot section of wall over the Global TV sign for one of the biggest hits seen at this park in 2005. As the 2500-strong crowd stood and applauded wildly, the BC Ford Dealers? June Player of the Month allowed himself a smile as he crossed the plate to give the C?s an early lead, but if the crowd thought he was happy crossing the plate just once, they were very much mistaken.Bottom of the 4th and Pratt is back at the plate with no outs and a very shaky pitcher facing him down. Pratt licked his lips as Rocha tossed another softball, duly dispatching it to left field for a handy lead-off double. Rocha was in trouble and he knew it, so when Ty Bubalo got ahead of him, Rocha opted to put the 6?3? DH on base and look for a double play opportunity, rather than test fate.Coming in behind Bubalo was catcher Shawn Callahan, who had the measly average of .100 on the year. That information should have seen Rocha grow a set of stones and go after the rookie backstop, but when everything is going wrong for you, this game has a tendency to stick the knife in and twist? Rocha sent in a fastball, and Callahan wore it right on the arm. Bases loaded.Up comes Jeff Bieker with everything set up for him ? bases chocked, rattled pitcher, small lead. Ball? ball? ball? ball. Bieker walks, the runner scores, and Vancouver is up by two ? both of them scored by The Denver Bronco, Haas Pratt.The next time the C’s picked up the wood, Rocha was gone, and with Wilber Perez and Wes Long both having singled to left to open the inning, Pratt found himself once again coming out to face a worried pitcher, this time in the form of 3.24 ERA-boasting Garret Bauer. Pratt stood tall at the plate, flexed a ?cep, and Bauer proceeded to throw everywhere except the strikezone to walk the big slugger and load the bases yet again. Jose Garcia came in to hit deep for a sac fly RBI, and as the dust settled and the crowd took a contented breath, Pratt took off for second on a steal. Liberally rubbing salt into Yakima?s weeping wounds, he slid into second safely, the crowd was amped, and the Bears were grizzly.By this point, Bauer?s self esteem was as low as his ERA was getting high. With an opening at first, batter Shawn Callahan (pictured right) knew the pitcher would be looking taking no chances, and so the big catcher just sat back and watched the pitcher unintentionally walk him. Bases loaded ? again.Bauer wiped sweat from his brow and looked to the pen, but the Yakima relief was far from ready. This is the minors, kid ? you dig the hole, you sit in it. And so Jeff Bieker walked up to the plate and waited for a good pitch, knowing the chances were solid that he wasn?t going to get one. And sure enough, he didn?t. Another runner walks home and the Yakima manager could be heard quietly crying “why me?!?” in the dugout.But relief was surely in sight in the form of Vancouver’s Michael Massaro, an outfielder with one of the lowest batting averages in the NWL ? just .077 ? surely he?d offer the pitcher an easy way out of the inning? Surely he’d pop up or strike out or ground into a double play?Wouldn?t he?No, he wouldn?t. Single to left, Haas Pratt scores another run (his third of the evening), the Canadians lead 5-0 and Bauer is done for the evening, his ERA blown out to 5.79 and his teammates mumbling curses under their breath.Meanwhile, Mighty Joe Scott was throwing a competent shut-out for Vancouver, despite getting himself in more than a couple of jams. Scott had conceded a lead-off single in each of the first three innings, then two singles in the 4th, then hit the first batter in the 5th, all while that was going on, catcher Shawn Callahan had twice thrown the ball into centerfield on steal attempts. But instead of crumbling on each of these setbacks, Scott bore down and worked his way out of trouble every time. To go 6 innings and allow 7 hits without conceding a run is a fine achievement, and if anything contributed to that scoreline, it was Scott?s control ? he threw 4 K?s this night and conceded not a single walk on the outing.Ronald Madej contributed a good scoreless inning in relief, his second scoreless outing of the season, which meant all that was left was to close out the game, and so in came John Herrera. Two clean innings later, and with his ERA down from 13.50 to 5.60, the win was Vancouver?s and the fireworks were crackling over head.Another beautiful night in Vancouver, another great win for the C?s, and the mini-slump looks to have been finally exorcized ? hopefully for good.

July 8, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Yakima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 Vancouver 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 X 5 5 2 wrap | box | logW: J. Scott (2-0, 2.45); L: A. Rocha (0-3, 9.00);HR: VAN: H. Pratt (4).

Game notes:* Perennial Yakima bleacher bum target, Ricardo Sosa (pictured left), got ridiculed into a horiffic slump in this series, adding another 0 for 2 with a K tonight before being yanked by his manager. That makes it 0 for 14 since the Vancouver crowd got on Sosa’s case, with 5 K’s to rub it in, and his average now sits at a much smaller total than it was when he came to town - .230 instead of .298. Why was he being picked on? Why, because he plays third base, of course, and that’s where the bleacher bums congregate!* Haas Pratt was a runaway MVP of the evening, scoring 3 of Vancouver’s 5 runs, hitting 2 from 3 with a dinger, a double, a walk and an RBI. If he can hold that form into the coming Everett road series, Vancouver stands a good chance of sweeping it.* Mike Massaro broke the half-Mendoza line tonight, with his 1 from 4 performance driving in a run and raising his average to .118 - we know Massaro has better than that in him (just watch him belt the ball around in batting practice for confirmation of that), but it’ll do him good to get a hit on the board. Nobody likes to have an average starting with a ‘0′.* Frank Martinez, having started the season strongly, has fallen into a death spiral slump. He went 0 from 4 tonight, striking out twice, and he made some odd mistakes in defense. Perhaps Martinez isn’t long for this level, if only the C’s can find a middle infielder in their benchful of corner men…* Ty Bubalo is having a real horror show out there at the moment, and for the first time since he was drafted out of high school, he’s starting to feel the pressure to perform or lose his gig. Anthony Recker did Bubalo no favors by having a game-winning evening last night, and though Shawn Callahan made some errors in defense tonight, he was okay with the bat, drawing a pair of walks on a 0 from 1 night. Bubalo’s performance as DH in contrast? 0 from 3, with 3 K’s and a walk. Ouch.* Mighty Joe Scott battled all night to keep his shut-out going, and though he was shaky at times, his control never waned. He’s earned his starting place in a tough rotation to stay in, but he’ll want to get his shut-outs a little easier than he got this one in the future. His bullpen sould be commended for their help in maintaining the scoreless game. Neither Madej nor Herrera are considered the stars of this pen, but both handled the job tonight like true aces.* The Vancouver team ERA is now at a ridiculous 2.56! Are you freaking kidding me? That’s unholy.Vancouver heads out on a road trip to Eugene tomorrow, so stay tuned to the Canadians webcast for all the play-by-play.

When I used to coach high school soccer teams, there was one rule that I always drummed in to the kids from day one; anticipate the error. Always anticipate the error. Even if your opposite number only makes one mistake per game, if you?re anticipating that mistake, you can turn that single slip-up into a victory.Anticipating the error works in baseball too ? when you?re watching an easy grounder headed towards the shortstop, giving that sprint to first base your all probably won?t help you get there safely, at least 99% of the time, but some day that shortstop will be panicked by your effort and throw wide, or high, and by sprinting your way to first as hard as you can, that inevitable error turns into an easy trot to second, or even third. If you play hard enough, you manufacture those errors? you inspire them in the opposition.Today, the Canadians anticipated Yakima would make errors, and errors they did make. Important errors. Errors that allowed the C?s back into a game that they desperately needed to win.The game opened with a flourish, with Vancouver?s version of the Big Unit, Trey Shields, throwing off the mound. Shields started roughly, surrendering a walk and a pair of singles to concede first blood to Yakima. To his credit, ?Phaser? responded by striking out the hapless Ricardo Sosa, and then drew Josh Ford into a groundball double play to end the inning with minimal damage. The 2nd inning turned out substantially better for the big righty, as he sat Derek Bruce and Leyson Septimo swinging, and then caught Jaen Senteno looking.That little confidence boost served the Canadians well as first baseman Steve ?Squeaky? Kleen (pictured right) ran hard on a routine two-out ground-out to short, panicking his opposite number into dropping the throw as he steamed in to the bag. That began an unlikely rally that brought the C?s level when catcher Anthony ?Guns? Recker singled to right, and Spanky Sellers drove a liner at Yakima pitcher Chris Kemlo that brought in the run without conceding an out.With the teams level at 1-1, both pitchers settled in and carried the game until the top of the 5th, when Joe Piekarz came in for Shields and promptly lost his handle on the ball. Jaen Centeno, Juan Olivares and Chris Rahl got a hold of Piekarz?s fastball and punched it around to score two for Yakima as the big rookie struggled. But if the 6?3? D-III non-draft free agent signing wanted help from his bullpen, he wasn?t about to get it ? the pen was dry after the double header yesterday, so pitching coach Craig Lefferts was treating Piekarz?s relief as a defacto start ? he would be expected to last until the end, come what may.With Piekarz in trouble, Vancouver could have laid down and let Yakima run roughshod over them, especially after having not scored more than a run in the last three games, but these C?s are not about to let themselves be known as a weak offensive line-up. Instead, they tightened their fingers around the lumber and started playing hard baseball ? Piekarz included.Bottom of the fifth, one out, and center fielder Mike Massaro laid down a bunt that caught Bears pitcher Chris Kemlo napping. As Kemlo struggled, Massaro powered his way to first for the base hit, and the Yakima side started to look a little shaky.Chalon Tietje likes coming to the plate when the other team is nervous, as is evidenced by the sweet double to left he hit off a Kemlo hanging curve. Massaro zipped around the bases to score, and when Kemlo threw a two-out wild pitch, Teitje stole around to third to really put the wind up the Bears.Wes ?Long Gone? Long (pictured left) is a real gamer ? a teeth-gritting, sweat and fury kinda player who likes the mental game, so as Tietje tantalized the pitcher by coming off the bag at third, Long jumped on his fastball for a single to first baseman Trey Hendricks that he just couldn?t bring in.Bam! Vancouver 3 - Yakima 3, headed into the 6th, and on the mound, Joe Piekarz was beginning to heat up. Ground out, strike out, strike out ? next!Squeaky Kleen and Guns Recker combined to get two men on base for Vancouver in the 6th, and Spanky Sellers sac-bunted them into scoring position with one out gone, giving Mike Massaro a shot at driving in a couple of runs? alas, K.Chalon Tietje took his stance, determined to pick up where Massaro left off? alas, K. Ah, baseball, you can be such a harsh mistress.Bottom of the 8th, Vancouver back at the plate, looking for something to spark a result. Jose Garcia up at bat, sends a flare out to right field, Yakima RF Chris Rahl gave serious chase and sprawled for the catch but jusssssst couldn?t bring it in. Lead-off base hit to Vancouver!Up next was Squeaky Kleen, and the big one-bagger performed exactly as required ? a sacrifice bunt to get Garcia along to second. On the mound, a clearly agitated Yakima reliever was starting to lose control. As Guns Recker waited at the plate, the pitcher spun around to attempt a pick-off at second, only to watch the ball squeak past his shortstop. Man on 3rd, one out.Anthony Recker (pictured right) has not been in awesome form with the bat early this season, but it takes a while to get used to wooden bats, not to mention platooning your position with two other guys. But yesterday, Recker began to look good at the plate. Tonight? He looked amazing. Fastball inside, dispatched into center field. Garcia scores, Recker stands proudly at the bag, and the Canadians lead 4-3 going into the 9th. Could the slump be over?The job of defending that lead fell to the all-business closer, Mike Mitchell, who has struck out 5 in four innings of work this season, in which he?s also racked up 3 saves for an ERA of 0.00. Mitchell goes about his game the way you?d expect a Major Leaguer to go about his game ? no frills, no wasted energy, all fire.First batter up ? .281 hitting switch-hitter first baseman Trey Hendricks. Pop-up to short.Second batter up ? Catcher Josh Ford. Ground out to short.Third batter up - .161 hitting, recently demoted, DH Derek Bruce. Grounder to short, Spanky Sellers makes a tough throw on the run, and the game, good baseball fans, is OVER.

	July 7, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Yakima 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 7 3 Vancouver 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 X 4 11 0 wrap | box | logW: B. Davis (2-1, 0.00); L: M. Torra (0-1, 3.00); SV: M. Mitchell (4)HR: None.

Game notes:* Anthony Recker had a humungous game tonight, going 3 from 4 with an RBI to bring his average up to a decent .250 - Recker, the owner of the officially recognized “biggest biceps on the team” (17 inches around) was not only productive, but his hits were generally at times when the C’s really needed to keep the inning alive. With three catchers fighting for position in the team at present, this outing will push Recker into contention for the regular starting gig.* After a huge start to the year, June Player of the Month, Haas Pratt, has looked like a shadow of his former self at the plate of late. His average has lost about a hundred points, now sitting at .268, and his much vaunted early season power is missing in action. That said, it must be remembered that Pratt only hit one dinger all last season in rookie ball, so perhaps an early bluster of power has put a little too much pressure on a guy who isn’t expected to dominate.* Squeaky Kleen has been quietly effective all season, and with today’s 2 from 3 outing, he raises his average to a substantial .333 - could he soon force Pratt out of the number one first baseman’s position?* Spanky Sellers may only be a kid, having just graduated high school, but he’s also starting to show why he was drafted so high. Playing in short, Sellers has been decent in defense, but it’s his slowly climbing .286 average that is getting most notice. Tonight’s 2 from 3 performance won’t hurt that at all.* He’s not making many waves, but Wes Long has quietly built a nice average as well, with his 1 from 3 night with a walk and an RBI bringing his stats to a decent .311 - now if he can just steer clear of those strike-outs.* Mike Massaro went 1 from 4 tonight, but his average isn’t even threatening .100 at the moment. He gave up two K’s tonight in potential run-scoring situations, which may give management pause for thought. That said, he’s not exactly getting a lot of quality starts, so perhaps he should be given a run in games as a starter, and not a pinch-runner, once in a while.* Trey Shields looked good on the mound for most of his outing tonight. Not great, but good. He’ll come around with a few more starts, I’m sure. Brad Davis and Mike Mitchell, however? Money.* Perennial Bleacher Bums target, Ricardo Sosa, continued his nosedive since the Vancouver locals decided to ride him every time he stepped out on the field. Sosa’s average was a very decent .298 before Wednesday’s double header. Since then he’s gone 0-12 with 4K’s, to bring his average down to .237 - that’s a 61 point drop in just two days! Nice work, Vancouver fans. Be sure to get out there and have your “foooooorty fourrrrr” chants ready again so we can keep Yakima’s #3 hitter in his dire slump.Final game of the current homestand tomorrow night at 7PM - fireworks are thrown in with the deal, so get your tickets early and bring the kids!

Since this blog began, all of two weeks ago, traffic on the site has steadily increased to a crazy extent. First day it was up we got 31 people to come look. Second day it was 60. Third day - 158. It took six days to get to 1000 users, and just today we cracked the 2000 mark.Many of these people are coming here looking for information on Oakland’s latest line of draftees, but many more seem to have come to look at the pictures that we’ve been posting from games we’ve attended.Our good friend Poan Kang sent in some more pics from last week’s Tri-City Dust Devils series, and we’re more than happy to get them out there to anyone who wants to know what the current crop of C’s looks like.Left fielder Chalon Tietje slides in to break up a potential double play.

Shortstop Frank Martinez demonstrates the textbook groundball pick-up.

Player ‘I have no idea who’ readies himself for a big inning.

Frank Martinez slides past the Tri-City shortstop in an effort to break up the DP… alas, too late.Outfielder Chad Boyd readies himself to take the plate in extra innings. The C’s would unfortunately drop this long game in the 13th inning.Thanks to all those who have posted comments or sent emails letting us know how much you’re enjoying the blog, and yes, we’re more than happy to bring more writers in if you get out to C’s games and would like to throw together a match report or two. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be interviewing players and coaches, keeping up with last year’s Canadians as they move through the system, and hopefully watching that traffic keep on rolling up past the 2000-person a day mark really soon.Go C’s!

Could there be anythig worse for a pitching staff than when you combine to concede only one single run over nine innings, and you still get beaten? Well, I guess conceding 18 runs would suck more, or breaking a hip bending down to pick up a rudimentary groundball. Finding out your grandmother died during the seventh inning stretch would really blow, and discovering that the girl you picked up from The Roxy last night was actually a guy would send many a young man into convulsions… so okay, I guess we can safely say that losing 1-0 is not the worst thing that can happen in baseball. But it’s not a lot of fun, let me tell ya.I’ll keep the play by play short because, well, there wasn’t much of it. Suffice to say, Jeff Gray went 7 innings conceding only 6 hits and one earned run, while Yakima’s Adam Howard threw the game of his season so far, also surrending only 6 hits, but watching his team run the basepaths well enough to score the game-winning run out of that.At this point in the NWL standings, no team has been caught stealing more often than Vancouver, with the team having registered 20 steals, but having been thrown down 12 times in the meantime. As a means of demonstrating how poor the C’s baserunning has been, Everett (who we just swept in a half-series) have stolen more than us, been cuaght less than us, and scored more runs than us as a team - yet they’ve only won six games all season! Last night, the C’s attempted five steals in total, with only two of them actually succeeding. The night before, they attempted two steals and were thrown out both times. The night before that - 3 attempts, only one succeeded.To be sure, this is not the way the Oakland franchise brings their kids around. Oakland has a long history of in fact refusing to steal when stealing might have been appropriate, preferring instead to ‘not give up unproductive outs’. Now, maybe this way of thinking has changed in the big club now that the Athletics are short of homerun hitting power, but 3 steals on 10 attempts over 3 days is not going to be doing anyone any favors, least of all C’s home fans.Of course, this statement is tempered by the fact that the Canadians have won five of their last six games, but when your team has a combined ERA of just 3.00 over 129 innings of ball, that will make up for a whole lot of bad baserunning… most of the time. Last night it didn’t.Bottom of the 5th, Vancouver manages two singles with one out, putting men on 1st and 2nd. Now, maybe lead-runner Shawn Callahan is a total speed demon (though, if he is, why’d he get pinch-run for in the game last night?), but calling a double steal with a man in scoring position is the kind of gamble that either pays off huge (which isn’t necessary when you’re 1-0 down), or hurts you big time (which is what happened when Callahan was thrown out).Bottom of the 6th, Vancouver again gets men on 1st and 2nd, this time with two outs, and what does Juan Navarrete call? A steal. This one came off, but it was a pointless act - if the man at the plate gets a base hit, the runner at second, in all likelihood, scores anyway. So why risk an inning-ending out with a man ready to come home?Bottom of the 9th, man on 1st with no outs, and Chris Tritle is sent on a steal. He comes up short. The next hitter draws a walk which, instead of putting a man in scoring position with no outs, puts a man on 1st with one out. Two batters later, the game was over.Now, I’m not saying Juan Navarrete doesn’t know his stuff (because he does). I’m not saying he coaches a losing team (because he doesn’t). I’m not saying the C’s can’t run the bases (they can). I’m just saying that the other teams know Navarrete is looking to steal - every time - no matter the situation - and they’re waiting for it to happen. Last night, Yakima rode that knowledge to a good win. As for Vancouver, it was a case of going back to the drawing board and figuring out the basics again.

July 4, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Yakima 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 Vancouver 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 3 wrap | box | logW: A. Howard (1-1, 2.25); L: J. Gray (2-1, 1.35); SV: E. Duran (1)HR: None.

Game notes:* Despite the loss, Jeff Gray brings his ERA down to 1.35. One or two more games like this, and you can expect Gray to move up to Kane County, where they’re in great need of nasty pitching.* Steven Bryant pitched another two innings of scoreless ball, to go along with the 4 clean innings he’s thrown this season so far. That 0.00 ERA is a thing of beauty.* Chalon Tietje continues his recent return to form with a 2 from 4 effort last night, which brought with it a steal. Tietje’s average now sits on .238, up significantly from the start of the C’s season.* Canadians webcast caller Matt Baker is determined to ensure that Isaac Omura’s nickname this season is the Hawaiian Stallion, and nothing I say is going to change that. I emailed Matt and reminded him that: A) There are no stallions (that I’m aware of) in Hawaii, B) Omura is barely 5′9″, which isn’t exactly stallion-esque. My own nickname for the guy? ‘The Flyin’ Hawaiian”.Alas, this is the email I just got from Matt:

I met Isacc Omura’s family last night. They happen to like the Stallion nickname. They even presented me with a box of Hawaiian Macadamia nut cookies as a token of their appreciation. [GM] Delany Dunn likes the nickname as well.Thanks for your comments- Matt

Well, of COURSE his parents like him being called a stallion. You could call him Isaac “The Totally Awesome Baseball Player” Omura and his family would think it was the ginchiest thing since sliced pineapple - but that’s hardly the point. A good nickname sticks forever because it’s clever, funny or both. Oddly, Omura reportedly calls himself The Windjammer… there just HAS to be a story behind that.Hey! Now THAT’S a good nickname!

Plenty of reasons to be cheerful out there if you’re a fan of the Canadians, with several of last year’s alumni making moves up the system towards the big leagues.Jason Windsor: After a solid start in Advanced A-Stockton and an even better start in AA Midland, Jason Windsor has recovered from an arm injury and came back into the Rockhounds line-up with a flurry of heat. He threw five innings of no-hit ball, striking out 6, walking 1 and giving up no runs in a 10-0 drubbing of Corpus Christi July 2nd, giving every indication that not only is he over the injury, but he’s still in devastating form.Dallas Braden: After a mercurial rise from Vancouver last season to Kane County, Stockton, and now AA Midland, in which he threw strikeouts like they were going out of fashion, 2004 late round draft pick Dallas Braden is starting to get tagged in the higher stuff. After a big start in Midland where he was at one stage 6-0, he’s been hit around over his last four games and is now sporting a 6-3 record. The K’s have dried up, the screwball is not kicking like it used to, and Dallas is reportedly having to rely on his fastball, which just isn’t fast enough to rely on in a slump. Still, the A’s are not an impatient lot, and if Dallas ends the season in AA ball, he’ll still be considered an outrageous success to this point.Kevin Melillo: Last year’s big name second base draft pick has been hitting for average strongly at high-A Kane County and has just been pushed up to Advanced-A Stockton where he went 2-4 with a homerun in his first outing. Melillo has been platooning with Ryan Ruiz at second since last season, with the lower-rated Ruiz hitting well enough in limited time to keep his foot in the door.Ryan Ruiz: With Melillo now a level up, Ruiz still isn’t getting the every day spot - 2005 1st round draftee Cliff Pennington has a lock on the SS spot with the Cougars, which moves long term infield project Gregorio Petit along to second base. Last season the understated Ruiz hinted that he wasn’t sure if he had it in him for a multi-year minor league run, stating that he was lured by the chance to get into the forensic science world back in his home town Las Vegas if baseball didn’t look like it was going to pan out. To be sure, the A’s system would be the loser if he did run out of patience with being a bench player, because last year’s C’s fans will remember he was the king of clutch all year long. Currently he’s hitting .254 as a DH, with 6 homeruns on the season in limited action.Tommy “T-Mobile” Everidge: After a slow start to the year, ‘Mario’ Everidge has lit up the Midwest League, drilling 7 homeruns and moving his average out of the cellar to a handy .289. If T-Mobile can keep the average moving upwards, it’ll be good for his career, because Vancouver is top heavy with first basemen, and some of them are in form good enough to warrant elevation.Pitching: Last year’s four horsemen of the mound for the Canadians - Steven Sharpe, Ryan Ford, Michael Rogers and Derek Tharpe, are struggling in the Midwest League with Kane County. All four have ERAs that are hurting (5.85, 4.80, 4.40 and 5.59 respectively), and Sharpe has been moved out of the rotation for the last month. That said, a contact I have within the organization tells me that none of the boys are in dire danger of being cut, though there’s a good chance that one or two may end up back in Vancouver if the C’s rotation continues looking unstoppable. Bad news for the lads perhaps, but good news for Vancouver fans, as all four are quality guys and very talented players.Benny “The Jet” Winslow: Clay “Pigeons” Tichota confirmed to me last week that Benny Winslow, the man who drew the loudest cheers of all last season in Vancouver, even when he wasn’t playing, is being groomed for a coaching position in the A’s organization. The Jet has played sparingly in Advanced-A Stockton this season, mostly as an outfield utility, and has slowly been working his batting average towards a respectable point (which is tough to do when you get one at bat every four or five games), but he’s at no risk of being cut by the organization because Oakland fully value his contributions to the organization and want to make him a cornerstone of their future coaching community. Smart move by Oakland - if every player had the pluck and spirit of Benny Winslow, this game would be a lot more fun to watch.Billy Beane: The Athletics Nation blog is an invaluable source for all info Oakland-related, and the blog owner, Blez, has been posting a good long interview with Oakland GM Billy Beane in piecemeal form over the past week. Of particular relevance to C’s fans will be these passages, which you can see in their entirety right here.

Blez: What do you think of the quality of this year’s A’s draft?

Beane: We’re very happy with it. But all 30 of us are usually after the draft. Time will tell. We were happy at the end of the day to be able to get what we got. Pennington, he’s a leadoff guy. And we can use that type of player. A leadoff guy who runs well and a guy who has succeeded at the highest level. We were lucky he was there. Travis Buck, who kind of fits our profile, and we think he’s a corner guy who will hit for power. The younger guys, we’ll see. But they’re all very talented guys in these points in their careers. I think when you look at a draft you almost have to ask that question in another year. Because you go back and look at last year’s draft and we’re very happy with it despite one of our first rounders blowing out his knee, Landon Powell. Going through that draft, you’ve got Danny Putnam, Kurt Suzuki, Huston Street and Richie Robnett is just starting to get going. I’m very, very excited about what’s going on there. You’re not always going to get a hit, and the draft is something you’re never going to nail down.

Blez: Was there any name, maybe a surprise name that was taken deeper in the draft, that people should pay attention to?

Beane: Oh, Dallas Braden. […] Braden is a great one. That was one I was going to go back to. Dallas was someone we drafted in the 15th or so round and he’s only 21-years-old and he’s already at Double-A. He won again last night. He’s a low-round pick who is just flying through the system. Windsor, the kid we took from Fullerton last year, is already at Double-A. And again, I’m eliminating guys that people already probably know about, you know the Herrera’s of the world and Putnam. But the first one to come to mind is Braden. To be that young and already pitching at Double-A is a pretty rapid rise AND he’s pitching well there.

Blez: What do you attribute it to?

Beane: If we were that smart, we would’ve taken him a lot higher. I always love the Rich Harden, who was what, our 16th or 17th rounder that year? And people say, great job, if that was your 17th, what do the first 16th look like? There’s a significant amount to luck. It’s an imperfect system. That’s why the job is so difficult with scouts. When a guy like Hudson comes out in the sixth round or Harden comes out in the 17th round or Piazza comes out of the 50th round or wherever he came from, it shows you the risk that’s in there and that no one has really nailed it down. There’s a lot of luck and miscalculation involved.

That’s all for today - catch you at tonight’s game against the Yakima Bears, at 7PM at The Nat.

The mark of a great team is when skilled opponents play well, your team plays like crap, and the other guys still get their asses handed to them. That’s been the tale of the tape for the Vancouver Canadians this past week, as they’ve squeaked out wins in the most unlikely of places. They beat Tri-City twice on only four hits. They won yesterday’s game after giving up several leads. They’ve been caught stealing on plays that only a bonehead would steal on, they’ve given up errors where it would have been easier to simply make a play, they’ve changed their entire line-up every single game, and somehow they’ve come out of it all with a solid lead in the Northwest League, and a four-game winning streak.Well, let’s make that a five-game win streak, because tonight in Everett Washington, the NWL-leading Vancouver Canadians turned on the afterburners to suck the life out of the AquaSox with a final inning run flurry.The fun started in the second inning, where the boy from Land’O'Lakes Florida, Jeff “Buttah” Baisley, opened proceedings with a double to left field. Everett starter Eric Carter than plonked C’s catcher Shawn Callahan with a pitch, and a wild pitch and a walk to Justin Sellers duly loaded the bases with no outs.Now, in previous games, you could half expect C’s coach Juan Navarrete to do something flamboyant, like call a triple steal or a hit’n'run with a double pike and a half twist. But not today. Not this day. Instead, Michael Massaro hit a deep fly to center that sac’ed home a run, then Chalon Tietje repeated the dose with a single up the guts. Vancouver 2, Everett 0.At the other end, Vancouver pitcher Joe “Great” Scott was smoking AquaSox hitters, working through the first two innings facing only seven hitters, while Carter struggled with every at bat. In the 3rd inning, Jose Garcia drew a canny walk, then Buttah Baisley did likewise, then Garcia stole third and came home on a Shawn Callahan sac fly - the third sac’ed run of the game so far and we’re only in the 3rd inning.Long time readers may be asking, what’s up with Juan Navarrete? It’s not like him to go to the simple, tried and tested method of bringing home easy runs when you can call a showtime play with high risk and minimal reward - the whole small-ball deal is just too… normal… to be seen coming from the 2005 Canadians!But hey, I’m not going to complain. Say what you will about Navarrete’s propensity toward exotic plays, but the guy has a team of kids working hard to win ballgames - and they’re pulling it off. If some of us have to bite our fingernails down to the knuckles getting there, at least we can’t complain that we’re not getting there.In the bottom of the 3rd, Joe Scott got a little wild, walking one, being stolen on from there, getting the runner pushed around to 3rd, and then seeing a wild pitch concede a harsh run to Everett. He walked another two in the 4th, but managed to glide out of the jam, and in the 5th he repeated his escape act when Everett left a man on third.In the 7th, Scott was replaced by John “Don’t call me Javier” Herrera (pictured right), and he dove right in with the big K’s, striking out the side in the 6th, before getting a distinct case of the “oo-er”s in the 7th. Single, wild pitch, walk, sac bunt, outta here. Bradley Davis entered the fray with two men in scoring position, and promptly struck out the dangerous Casey Craig before Luis Valbuena singled in two runs.The scores were level, a phrase we’ve repeated with monotonous egularity this series, and with proceedings at three runs a piece, fans stuck around expecting extra innings… They should be so lucky.After Brad Davis struck out the side for Vancouver in the bottom the 8th, the 9th inning saw Justin Sellers and Michael Massaro on base for Vancouver with two outs and Wilber Perez at the plate. Perez gripped the bat, took in a deep breath, and dispatched a fastball deep into right center, clearing the wall for a three run shot that could well be still rolling.Michael Mitchell was brought in to close out the final inning, which he eventually did without incident, and Vancouver boards the bus for the border with a five-game win streak, a much better team batting average, and a two-game lead over the next best team in the league with only 13 games played.Game notes:* Chalon Tietje broke the Mendoza Line tonight with a 2 from 5 performance leaving his average looking much better at .211. It’s still a long way from where he wants it, but if anyone has a shot at clawing his way back to Kane County this season, it’s Tietje. The guy is a clutch hero, and a definite fighter. Jeff Baisley also passed Mr Mendoza tonight, bringing his average up to the same as Tietje’s - .211.* Wilber Perez is coming along at a .364 clip after going 2 from 4 today with a homer, a walk and 3 RBIs. Perez has to battle Isaac Omura for the 2B slot, but both players are looking really solid there right now.* Sparky Sellers is impressing, especially for a high school draftee, hitting .308. He went 1 from 3 with a walk and a run scored tonight, further repaying the trust shown in him by the A’s organization.* On the mound, Joe Scott looked strong most of the time, but did get shaky. Brad Davis, on the other hand, looked mostly godly. One hit over 1.2 innings pitched, with 4 strike-outs? Dang.The Canadians come home tonight and prepare for a game Monday night against the Yaskima Bears. The Bears will be out for blood after the C’s took the series from them at the start of the season, but the Canadians are looking tough right now, both with the bat and the ball. Catch the action at http://www.canadiansbaseball.com

Picture it - you’re fresh out of high school and you’ve been drafted by the Oakland Athletics. You’re stoked, ready to do battle with the big guys and prove you have good stuff. You’re sent to Vancouver, where you sleep in an old woman’s basement by night, and train, train, train and play by day. You’re paid about $300 a week in wages, for about 110 hours of work. But you don’t mind, because you’re doing okay. You’re getting along. You’ve managed a few hits and you’re feeling good about yourself…And then you get off a bus in Everett, Washington, and you’re told who the starting pitcher for tonight will be… Seattle Mariners reliever Rafael Soriano. Gulp.Soriano, rehabbing after Tommy John surgery last August, wasn’t exactly the level of pitcher expected by the Vancouver Canadians when they showed up tonight, but when the unexpected happens, a smart manager will adapt in a hurry. And that’s exactly what Juan Navarette did when he wrote up his line-up for tonight’s game. Tietje, Martinez, Long, Tritle - it’s no coincidence that the first four hitters in the line-up were players who have been in the system for a year or more.Team leader Chalon “Freedom Fries” Tietje may not have faced a whole lot of major league pitching in his time, but he’s been facing good pitching for long enough to be able to play the mind game with a big leaguer expecting fear and respect.So when Tietje lined up for the first pitch of the ballgame, he wasn’t about to chase. Rather, he watched the pitcher without moving a muscle as the ball hit a corner for a strike, continuing the stare-down as the catcher sent the ball back. Tietje wasn’t afraid. Tietje wasn’t worried. Tietje was in charge.Soriano should know enough to laugh that kind of attitude off, but the 25-year-old big leaguer surely wasn’t expecting to have his next pitch sent back over his head into left field. Tietje on first, no outs, and the game within the game had just begun.As Soriano bore down on the #2 hitter, Frank “Stringbean” Martinez, Tietje inched off first. Then he inched a little more. Then he started shifting his feet. Soriano, distracted by the runner, sent a weak toss to first so he could bring Tietje back. But as the big right-hander readied himself again, Tietje was once more at it, inching, inching, shuffling, dancing, and this time Soriano put some oomph in the attempted pick-off, to no avail.Tietje’s thinking had two purposes. First, he wanted Soriano worried he was going to be stolen on. But second, he knew the Major Leaguer was on a limited pitch count, and as long as he was tossing to first and not to the batter, his value for the Flipper-Kids would be rapidly declining. Keep him tossing to first, and he’ll be out of the game sooner than he would if he were tossing to home plate.Martinez’s mental game wasn’t quite at that standard as he chased outside pitches and a couple of wicked curveballs, eventually finding his way back to the dugout with a K next to his name, but the next hitter, Wes “Long Gone” Long, has exactly the kind of fire you need to give a guy like Soriano trouble.With the nuggety third baseman growling a frown at the man on the mound, and Tietje giving the big guy the heebie jeebies over at first, Soriano set himself to pitch, then better of it, then decided to go through with it, then thought about it again… BALK!If we’d had the satellites of NASA turned towards Dust Devil Stadium this night, they surely would have picked up Chalon Tietje’s big-toothed grin as he trotted slowly to second, cockahoop that he’d psyched out a big leaguer. At the plate, Wes Long was paying plenty of attention, and when Soriano sent a very hittable 90mph fastball in, Long leaned on it, sent it into short left field, and suddenly the two fastest baserunners in the Vancouver lineup were on base as Soriano kicked the dirt in frustration.If these stories were written by Hollywood movie executives, Chris Tritle would have walked up and hit a deep three-run shot over the fence so hard that the lights around the stadium would have exploded in showers of sparks. But these stories aren’t written by Hollywood movie executives, they’re written by fate, and thus Tritle could only watch as Soriano regathered his composure and hit the corner three times for a solid strikeout. A pop to second from “Hanging” Chad Boyd ended the inning, and with it Soriano’s involvement in the game, but for the C’s it was a proud time. They had faced a big league pro and they had worried him. They had bothered him. They had beaten him on a personal level. Even if Tietje and Long are sent home tomorrow and told to go work in the Tire Barn for the rest of their lives, they’ll be able to tell the story of the day they rattled a millionaire Mariner.Meanwhile, there was a game to win, and with Joe “Total” Newby on the mound for the C’s, the pitching end of the Vancouver equation looked in solid hands. Newby throws strong stuff and has a really fiery attitude, much in the same vein as Dallas Braden, who played here last season and has ridden his nasty screwball all the way up to the AA level in the year since. Replacing Soriano was Robert Rohrbaugh, and he had to have been concerned that he was walking into a dragon’s lair.If not, he should have been.First baseman Steve “Squeaky” Kleen has a reputation for competence, having been drafted by Oakland in the 11th round and managing to rack up a .313 average coming in to this game. As Rohrbaugh sent in an 86mph fastball, Kleen didn’t crank it at the fences, and nor did he slap at it - he just located the pitch, drove from the torso and dispatched the ball cleanly into left field for a perfectly placed single. Kleen reportedly rates Barry Bonds as his favorite player and calls himself a lifelong Giants fan, which means he better keep hitting those perfect singles if he doesn’t want his batting helmet to get keyed.An 18th round pick-up at catcher, Anthony “Pipes” Recker isn’t expected to push aside the Kurt Suzuki’s of the organization, but when he struck out with a man on first, you could hear the faint sound of an Alvernia College coach rolling across the Washington hillsides, yelling, “Lay off the junk, Recker!”Isaac Omura’s college coach, on the other hand, must sleep well at night, because Omura is, as they say in the parlance of the times, “the shit.” Omura plays like a man half a foot taller, half a bicep stronger, and several years more experienced than what he actually is. He oozes confidence and athleticism, so as a worried Rohrbaugh sent in another mid-80’s hanger, Omura did exactly as he’d been taught to do and grounded it hard through the hole at short for a single.Justin “Time Share” Sellers (oh come on, haven’t you ever been harassed by a time share seller? Well geez, why don’t YOU come up with a good nickname then?) was hitting pitching in the California high school system six months ago, but with Rohrbaugh sweating, you’d have thought Sellers was 32 years old and hitting in the six slot for the Athletics as he punched the next fastball into right field, scoring Squeaky from second.Manager Juan Navarrete is not your usual Oakland system manager. He’s not a ‘draw the walk and wait for the homerun’ kind of bossman, and when he announced pre-season that the C’s would be a running team, most of us had no idea what he was really saying. Here we are in the second inning, with men on first and third, and only one out, and what does Navarrete signal for? The sac fly? Nope.The hit’n'run. Well, you sure as heck can’t say Navarrete is predictable. You also can’t say he gets it right every time, especially as Tietje missed with his swing and Sellers was easily thrown out at second, turning a sac fly situation into a two-out hit’n'hope.Thankfully, passed balls happen. Thankfully, they happen to Everett. Thankfully, “Windjammer” Omura is pretty darn quick when they happen to Everett. As Tietje struck out swinging, Vancouver went in to the bottom of the second leading 2-0.C’s pitcher Newby, meanwhile, was smoking through the Aquasox. In fact, going into the bottom the fourth, ‘Total’ had yet to concede a hit against the mini-Mariners, but a walk and two subsequent singles sent a Sox runner home to bring the Vancouver lead back to one. Newby got out of the inning okay, but he would get the hook an inning later, making way for Jason “Death” Ray, who would strike out the side in the 6th in a display of “don’t even think about it” aggression the likes of which we haven’t seen since Judge Judy played for the Brooklyn Legal Eagles in the New York Metropolitan Sunday Softball League. In 1910.On the other end of the pitching story, Marwin “Vincent” Vega (pictured left) had come in to replace the shaky Rohrbaugh, but his contribution to the game would be a whole lot of balls pitched for not a lot of strikes. Recker was hit by one pitch, Omura drew then a walk, Sellers did likewise, and the table was well and truly set for something big with bases loaded and no outs.But give credit to Vega - he was not about to serve up a Royale with Cheese without a fight. He struck out Freedom Fries swinging, then conjured up a double play from Stringbean Martinez to get himself out of a horrific jam with pure baseball talent.It was a nice display of steel will and hard work, but it wouldn’t continue through the 8th inning, as “Long Gone” Long led off with a single to left, a wild pitch then got him to second, and a big double over the center fielder’s head from “Hanging” Chad Boyd scored the runner. AquaSox coach Gideon stuck with his guy as long as he could, but another wild pitch and a walk drawn by Squeaky Kleen saw Vega given the hook for the classicly named Rollie Gibson, who promptly served up another two wild pitches, scoring another runner before finding his feet and ending the inning with the Canadians leading 4-1.The bottom of the 8th saw Brad “Killer” Kilby (pictured right) enter the fray and serve up a dinger to Everett’s Jeff Flaig, but all that did was make the 3200 Everett fans already headed towards the exits, stop, turn around, and mutter “what’d I miss” to the person next to them, before continuing their journey to the parking lot. Which is good, because they avoided the pain of watching new AquaSox pitcher Edgar Guaramato give up a double to Sellers, who was then sac’ed home by Stringbean Martinez to make the final score 5-2 to the Canadians.You know, when you come to the park with high school players and the other team has a major leaguer on the mound, and the rain is coming down, and you’re away from home, you really do expect to get creamed. That these C’s saw the big leaguer off and then showed superior offense, defense and pitching throughout all nine innings is a testimony to the talent that they so clearly have at their disposal, and the drafting skills of the Oakland organization.To be sure, the Vancouver Canadians are still a long way from proving that their hitters are major league material, but any questions that could have asked about their pitching are rapidly being shoved aside by clinical starting, solid middle relief, and just plain nasty closing from just about everyone on staff.GAME NOTES:* Wes Long had an absolute blinder out there today, hitting 4 from 5 with 2 doubles and a run scored to bring his average up to .316. This was, without doubt, his best game of both this season and the last season, and though he has some work to do to secure the third base spot for himself, especially in this infield-heavy roster at present, if he can draw on the confidence he’ll get from tonight’s outing, he may turn out to be the surprise packet of the season.* “Squeaky” Kleen and “Storm” Sellers both racked up 2 from 3 at the plate tonight, adding a healthy boost to both their batting averages (.368 and .300 respectively). Both also managed to draw a walk, which will help the On Base Percentage some, and will continue to put pressure on their platooning infield teammates to keep up, or be shipped off to ‘Zona.* On the AquaSox side of the gig, only first baseman Jeff Flaig really broke a sweat on the scoresheet, hitting 1 from 2 (a home run) and drawing two walks for two runs scored. Flaig looked a different class out there tonight, but you need more than one guy to win a ballgame. Aside from Flaig, the entire Everett team only managed three hits all night. Ouch!* On the mound, Joe Newby gets to brag that he took the win in a start against a Major League pitcher, and his stats from the night don’t look too foul either. 5 inning pitched, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and 4 K’s give him an ERA of 6.43, which looks atrocious, but if you take away his first outing of the season (in which he got rocked for 8 earned runs over 3 innings), his ERA drops to a seriously fantastic 1.63.* 8th round draft pick, Jason ‘Death’ Ray (pictured left) was clinical in relief, coming in for two innings, walking two batters and striking out four. Not a bad outing for your professional debut.* Mike Mitchell registered his second save of the season, and in 6.1 innings of ball this year, he’s yet to concede a run. Opponents have manged just 3 hits, 1 walk, and have been fanned 4 times. Mitchell has been in the organization since 2003, so he’ll want to keep this going for as long as he can in an effort to earn a bullpen slot in Kane County.The Canadians take on the Flipper-Kids again tomorrow at 7Pm, aiming to continue their streak to four games in a row. You can hear the call right here, and I have to say, it’s worth tuning in to the call. Long time Nat Bailey beer-guy, Rob McGowan, is giving the color commentary gig a shot this season, and in my own personal opinion, the guy is a comedy genius.Me? Not so much. Leave a comment below and tell us how you’re enjoying the blog. It’s a lot of work to put together, but so far the reaction has been beyond our wildest expectations.