Notes From The Nat

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