But we still live.

Plans to get back to full-time posting last season were harpooned by an increased workload at the Vancouver Sun, where one of my projects was to set up a Vancouver Canadians baseball page, including all stories written by the recently retired Lyndon Little.

So while Notes From the Nat is paused, at least there’s still somewhere to get C’s news.

That said, Lyndon is officially out of the Sun press lineup now, and who will replace him at the Nat Bailey Stadium press box is still being debated.

Soon as I have information, I’ll share it with you here… especially if it’s me. :)

The earth begins to shift. Dust starts exploding from the ground as a single middle finger rises from the deep.

A hand soon follows – ragged, dirty, flesh falling off as it rises, but a hand nonetheless.

Thankfully, Anderson Cooper is nowhere to be seen.

Yes, NatNotes has returned from the dead, you ungrateful swine. You can’t get rid of us that easily!

2010 beckons and who are we to refuse its siren call?

But why now?

Why not?

Actually, here’s why now – C’s outfielding alum Grant Desme has quit organized ball to become a priest, right after MVPing at Arizona Fall Ball.

The A’s? Not happy.

Billy Beane “was understanding and supportive,” according to Desme, but he added the decision “sort of knocked him off his horse.”

“I was doing well at ball. But I really had to get down to the bottom of things,” the 23-year-old Desme said. “I wasn’t at peace with where I was at.”

A lifelong Catholic, Desme thought about becoming a priest for about a year and a half. He kept his path quiet within the sports world, and his plan to enter a seminary this summer startled the A’s when he told them Thursday night.

The lesson to be learned? Think twice before using a second round draft pick on a religious kid.

“I love the game, but I aspire to higher things,” he said. “I know I have no regrets.”

Derek Tharpe was a C’s pitcher back in ’04-’05 with moderate promise. Nicest guy in the world, but he chose to step away from organized ball to get married and go on a religious mission. When he returned in ’07, he got belted around and gave the game away.

I remember thinking at the time, you can’t fault a kid for putting faith above all else. But at the same time, of everything a person can do in life, seeing how far your pro ball career will take you is the one thing that just can’t be put on hold.

The priesthood? Meh. I reckon they still would have taken Desme in a few years time, and hey, if he’d made it to the majors (he was considered close to a lock), he could have earned a boatload of cash and given it all away to the church.

I’m guessing this is a decision he’ll one day regret. But hey, you’ve gotta follow the road in front of you, I guess.

NatNotes is back – sporadic, but back. And yes, we’re okay with going to hell.

Hey all.
Just wanted to drop in a short post thanking those people who sent kind words to Jeremy and prodded him to keep going with the site. I know he’s appreciated hearing positive things and probably also appreciated the chance to watch some ball without having to take notes.
I can’t speak to whether he’ll be back here, what with school and other things pushing in on his time, but I can speak for myself when I say Notes From The Nat will not die. It will return for season 2010.
What form will it take? Shorter, more to the point, still snarky when snark is required.
I think we all needed a breather to get a little distance and see where things stood.
It’s hard work doing this site the way it should be done, but perhaps it’s better to give it 80% effort and not kill ourselves in the process than 100% effort and end up sleeping under a bridge and calling the men with the white jackets.
Again, thanks for the support. We shall return.
C.

Hey all. So Jeremy is about to hop a plane for Kane County, which is something he does every year, partly to enjoy some ball, partly to catch up with old friends, and partly to report back here about what’s going down with ex-Canadians players up the system.

It’s not a cheap task, and it’s something that takes a lot of his holiday time. But he does it because he takes a lot of pride in helping the Vancouver Canadians family stay in touch with its alumni.

This time around, he’s just going to enjoy some baseball, because I’m shutting the site down for a spell.

There are a few reasons, but the main one is a lack of gratitude for what the kid has been doing this past year from people who should know better.

Jeremy has had ballplayers crash on his couch. Jeremy gets to every game his school schedule will allow. He goes on the road a few times a year to follow the team. And he chases ex-players across places like Kane County and spring training. At the end of all that, he spends upwards of an hour every single night (often more) writing about what went down. He also does this in the off-season, when he tracks down players through a variety of methods to find out what’s new.

He does all of this for you guys – the fans, the families, the players, the random internet stranger. 

But what does he hear when he’s in the stands? People talking crap about this site – and him.

We’re just about the only minor league team-specific blog anywhere that covers a team 7 days a week with detailed game reports. We’re about the only blog that gets to know players and staff to the point where we can bring you true ‘inside baseball’ stuff – which players are moving on, which are having issues off the field, which are destined for greatness, etc.

In the good old days, I had the time (as a freelancer) to hit every home game and really work the connections. And the team was okay with that. The players, staff and coaches would talk to me before and after games – sometimes during – and they were happy to reveal nicknames, road trip stories, problems they had with team decisions, things they were working on, chatter on the field… Heck, I nearly got on the team bus for a road series once.

It was good. They were the salad days.

But this past year, it seems the gates are shutting on NatNotes. The coaches are off-limits, the staff are bereft of insider info, and the players are keeping their mouths shut. It’s been a noticeable shift from "hey, we love the site, keep up the good work," to "I’m a little busy, can we talk later?" 

Sure, Jeremy and I have both gone over the line a few times in recent years, revealing things that players and staff have lost their heads about, rightly or wrongly. And we’ve probably both written things about the team that, in hindsight, we were wrong to write. I know I definitely have (quiet nod to Rick Magnante).

But that’s what you get when you’re writing something worth reading. If you’re pushing up against that line often enough, eventually you’ll fall over it. 

Our view on that was always, better to screw up once in a while and give people truly solid coverage the other 99% of the time, than to just play it simple and blurt out a two paragraph game recap and knock off early.

But those we used to rely on for an inside view aren’t helping anymore, and those we used to enjoy sharing that view with aren’t respecting it when it comes.

So, okay then. NatNotes needs a redesign anyway and with Jeremy out of town for a while, seems like a good moment to shut the door and retool things. 

It’s a sad day, because The Nat has long been a huge part of my life. Heck, I met my wife at the ballpark, way back when. We envisioned this site going on forever, giving a team that has scant media coverage a means of building a relationship with the fans, while giving the players a good solid yell from the rooftops when they deserve it most.

But if the team, players, and readers aren’t down with that – so be it.

If you have a comment for what you’d like NatNotes to be, leave it below and we’ll consider all opinions as we reformulate the site. Maybe we’ll update less often, but with more insight. Maybe it’ll be smaller updates daily. Maybe we’ll go dry journo-style, and leave all the inside stuff out. Maybe we’ll go completely hammy and be damned for stats and figures.

But the one thing I know is the old Notes From The Nat ends here. NatNotes v3.0 begins next week. Maybe.

Nat Notes has been running a daily feature for the ‘Player of the Game’ for each hitter and pitcher that we feel did the best on a given night for the Canadians, based on the stats, and judging by how we saw them play.  At the end of each month we’ll add up that respective month’s totals, and this is what we got for June:

Hitter: Conner Crumbliss, Kent Walton, Nino Leyja (2)

Pitcher: Chad Lee, Nathan Long (2)

So, Leyja, Walton and Crumbliss each had two, while Lee and Long had a pair on the pitcher side of things.

Stay tuned to find out what will happen for the winner of each category at the end of the year.

Now, onto the Canadians as a whole:

There isn’t much to be said, more than the 5-7 record that accompanies this team, because that’s how they’ve played.  They’ve won 5 games, and they’ve lost 7.  Most of the 7 they haven’t lost, they’ve given up.

One problem with short-season ball is the hitters are straight out of college or the Arizona League, and struggle at Nat Bailey, due to no ball being carried out, or the fact the walls are deep and high.

Something every player should keep in mind, is that they don’t necessarily look at your stats to judge how you’ve been doing, it’s more important to grow as a player, as well as a person.

There’s’ no better example than Jeremy Barfield last year, who after July 1st was hitting .205 for the Canadians.  Right now, there are 7 players for Vancouver hitting under that mark.  There is no one more comparable to Barfield than Rashun Dixon, who is batting .213 at the moment, as an 18 year old.

Dixon should keep in mind that Barfield batted .303 over his next 8 games, raising his average considerably.  July 2nd is the stepping stone for a player to change how they’re hitting.

Last year’s SS Jason Christian is another example, batting .256 heading into July 2nd, before going .436 into July 11th.  

You tend to pick favourites as the season progresses, whether it be because they’re playing great, or making phenomenal plays on defense.  This year, there is a player hitting below .200 who always looks upset after his at-bats, and doesn’t get as much credit as his teammates hitting above .300.

Conner Crumbliss is batting .172 this year, second-last on the team for players with the minimum plate appearances per game.  Here’s the thing: Crumbliss leads Vancouver in on-base percentage, and is 13th in the league, in addition to leading the Northwest League in walks (12).

Crumbliss is the best example for average means nothing, because in my opinion, he is one of only a few Canadians who are playing well this season.  All of the outfielders have done well, and Anthony Aliotti and Nino Leyja are also impressing fans as the season is just getting underway.  

Conner hit .397 in college this year, and may not like his performance to date because if you see a .172 average besides your name, it’s not the happiest thing in the world.  However, he has the best record of getting on base on the Canadians (415 times out of 1000), and even threw out a runner tagging up yesterday, before a balk called off the play.  Crumbliss is this year’s JD Pruitt.

Short-season ball is not for average, it’s for improvement.  Ryne Jernigan knows that, he is batting .400 this year after hitting .111 last year in Canada.  Jernigan had a 3-hit performance on Monday night, and with runners in scoring position he is 4-5 with a walk.

Michael Gilmartin was 0-7 to start his pro career, before two multi-hit nights in three games put him back on the map.  Going 1-1 with two walks yesterday, Gilmartin is now hitting .250 at Nat Bailey, as he looks to bring his average in that range for the season in the upcoming days.

Anthony Aliotti is batting .571 in 4 games at Nat Bailey, with a hit in each one, after starting out 2-12 on the road.  The Boise native is heating up, as the C’s permanent first baseman, and Aliotti is trying to make a name for himself with the Nat Bailey faithful.

Nino Leyja and Kent Walton are both playing very well, with Leyja cranking two doubles off of the LF wall, and Walton having three doubles on the year (most on the team), to combing for an average of .293 with 5 doubles and 11 RBI.

Jose Crisotomo should be hitting higher than .250, but he’s been robbed by base umps, blinded by his speed.  Rashun Dixon has been unlucky thanks to great catches by the defense, and his .213 average is no indication of how well he’s played, impressing fans.  Dixon may pull a Jeremy Barfield, and bring his average up considerably in the next couple of weeks.

Crumbliss, Dixon and Crisotomo is the best OF corps I have seen in years, with all three making an impact night in, night out.  Rodney Rutherford and Ryan Ortiz are both struggling to find hits, but both are great baseball players so I know they can make the necessary adjustments.  

On the hill, there’s not much to be said for Chad Lee, Hector Garcia and Julio Ramos who are the Top 3 on the mound, and if Joselito Adames and Ricardo Penalba can just have a good start or two, it’ll be a staff to be reckoned with.

The bullpen has been impressive, giving up 23 runs over 56.2 innings, but more importantly 6 pitchers have a WHIP at or under 1.00.

If starting pitchers limit the runs they give up, and the bullpen can stay clutch, the hitting just needs to come through early and often, and then the Canadians can go after their first NWL title.

Ah yes, the curse of the crowd as it has been known to C’s fans, that whenever a game has a big crowd, the Canadians almost always lose.  

Such was the case Tuesday and Wednesday, as neither Joselito Adames or Ricardo Penalba could do much against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, of NWL dominance.

The #1 and #2 starters, respectively for Vancouver were great in the Opening Series, before struggling in Tri-City.  Both couldn’t do much against the Volcanoes, who are just too strong this year, headed by 6’4 CJ Ziegler, who weighs a little more than his posted 225 pounds.

Tuesday:

RF Conner ‘Walker’ Crumbliss, 3B Ryne ‘Journey’ Jernigan, 2B Nino ‘Lay Out’ Leyja, DH Kent ‘Wheels’ Walton (left), LF Rashun ‘Bullet Train’ Dixon, 1B Anthony ‘All-Star’ Aliotti, C Ryan ‘Lil Papi’ Ortiz, SS Leo Gil, CF Tyreace ‘Dream’ House, SP Joselito ‘Famillia’ Adames.

Vancouver got rid of the ’0′ in their run column early, with Ryne Jernigan believing (again, Journey pun) he could score on Kent Walton’s single to right, giving the C’s their first lead of the ballgame, and scoring their 15th unanswered run against Salem.

The Volcanoes got it back, and added to their run totals, scoring four in the second, on the back of Eliezer Zambrano’s 3-RBI triple with one out.  4-1 Salem.

As if they didn’t do enough damage an inning earlier, the Volcano bats were firing again in the 3rd, scoring two more, bringing their lead to 5.  Adames was pulled with one out, in favour of Jonathan Joseph, a highly touted pitcher who was in Arizona last year.

Recent addition Skyler Stromsmoe came across during the 4th for the visitors, 7-1.

Vancouver scored once in the 6th, cutting the lead, but the Volcanoes were still hungry for more.

Joseph pitched all the way through to the 6th, when Jorge Arrioja pitched a hitless inning of relief, but gave up a run in the 7th.

After the bottom of the 7th, it was looking like things were going Vancouver’s way finally, with Tyreace House stealing second, before getting thrown out stealing third.  Ryne Jernigan and Nino Leyja both scored in the inning, 8-4 was now the score.

That would be the final, when all was said and done, a difference from the 14-0 drubbing a night earlier.

Nat Notes Hitter of the Game: Nino Leyja, 2-5, 2 2B, RBI, Run.  Leyja could’ve easily had two homeruns, but instead both of his doubles bounced off the top of the Nat Bailey LF wall, and they were line drives, to say the least.

Nat Notes Pitcher of the Game: Nathan Long 2 IP, H, 3 SO.  Long was the only Canadians pitcher not to give up a run, and he had more strikeouts in two innings than Adames, Joseph and Arrioja had over 7 innings (1).

Game Notes:

- Leyja and Kent Walton each had multi-hit nights, with Walton going 3-4 with a double.

- The Outfield was just 1-13, while the infielding corps of Aliotti (left), Leyja, Jernigan and Gil was 5-14.

- This was Adames’ worst start, having allowed five runs over 9 innings going into Tuesday’s game, and didn’t strikeout a batter for the first time all season (in Stockton and Vancouver).

- Arrioja has been fantastic out of the bullpen, giving up two hits and one run over 5 innings (a hit and a run were surrendered in this game).

- Nathan Long has yet to give up a run in three appearances, totaling 5.2 innings, where he has given up four hits and struck out 5.

- House’s bunt single was his first hit in 7 games, dating back to June 21st vs Everett.

- Jernigan is 5 for his last 11, with 2 RBI since June 26th, and is making a push for a promotion, seeing as how the 24-year-old mashed the AZL last year (.333) and is thriving at a pitchers park in Nat Bailey, batting .417 at home this season.

Wednesday:

Canada Day was another loss, and I don’t remember the last time Vancouver won on Canada Day to tell you the truth.  It seems like they’ve lost every time.

RF Jose ‘El Rey’ Crisotomo (I’ve seen his name spelt two different ways but this is how it’s pronounced so I’m going with that), CF Conner ‘Walker’ Crumbliss, 2B Nino ‘Lay Out’ Leyja, DH Kent ‘Wheels’ Walton, LF Rashun ‘Bullet Train’ Dixon, 1B Anthony ‘All-Star’ Aliotti, C Rodney Rutherford, SS Michael ‘Smooth’ Gilmartin, 3B Wilfredo ‘Sammy’ Sosa, SP Ricardo ‘Precision’ Penalba.

Another sellout crowd, another disappointing game.  There’s not much to be said about this one, so I’ll go off the boxscore because I don’t remember a single highlight.

Ricardo Penalba balked twice, and a third that wasn’t called, hit a batter, walked four, gave up two hits, allowed four runs, struck out one, and picked up the loss all over 3 and a third innings.

Bo Schultz and Pedro Vidal gave up three runs over the next four innings, before Juston Street and Jose Guzman shut the door on any more runs.

The C’s offense?  That was limited to four hits, two by Anthony Aliotti, one by Crumbliss and another from Gilmartin (left) who was 1-1 with two walks.  7-0 was the score.

Nat Notes Hitter of the Game: Anthony Aliotti 2-4, 2B, SO.  There’s not much else to be said, Aliotti was one of three players to get a hit, and he had half of Vancouver’s hits.

Nat Notes Pitcher of the Game: Juston Street 0.1 IP.  Street faced only one batter, but he shut the door with two out in the 8th, with a runner on 2nd, replacing Pedro Vidal.

Game Notes:

- Too many balks, the umpires can’t call Jose Crisotomo safe on anything (he is almost always safe), and Crisotomo is getting pissed out there.  I can’t blame him, he is our best hitter at the moment and getting screwed.

- Starting Pitchers need to do better, because the team isn’t hitting when they know they’re already down by 7 runs.

- The C’s need to win both of the remaining games in order to split the series (3-1 Salem at this point).

- Hector Garcia is one of the best pitchers on the team, and goes Thursday night at The Nat. 

- Special hello to Ryne Jernigan’s in-laws who are reading the blog.  They should be proud, as Jernigan is hitting a team-high .400. 

One night after losing 5-0 to the dreaded Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the boys of summer came back and shellacked the opposition, 14-0.  No typo.

So how big of a beating was that?  Well to give you an example of how unlikely it was, the biggest margin of defeat last year was 8 runs, in the back half of a doubleheader against Everett, 10-2 was the score.

The last drubbing Salem and the C’s had, which is the biggest margin of defeat in club history, was a 19-3 beating on August 29th, 2006, by the Volcanoes over Vancouver.

A shutout on Canada Day in 2007 against the same Salem club, was 9-0, and is the biggest shutout defeat Vancouver has played in until Monday.

This was the biggest defeat for Vancouver since September 3rd, 2006 when they clobbered Everett 20-7.  

Back to tonight’s game, starting lineup:

RF Jose ‘Gifted’ Crisostomo, CF Conner ‘Crumbler’ Crumbliss, 2B Nino ‘Lay Out’ Leyja, DH Kent ‘Wheels’ Walton, LF Rashun ‘Bullet Train’ Dixon, C Ryan ‘Lil Papi’ Ortiz (right), 1B Anthony ‘Alliteration’ Aliotti, 3B Ryne ‘Journey’ Jernigan, SS Leo Gil, SP Chad ‘Unstoppable’ Lee.

First off, let me say this game would’ve been much more high scoring if the umps can watch the play.  A night after Rashun Dixon was called ‘out’ on a stolen base attempt where the ball never touched him (clearly viewable from the stands), Jose Crisostomo beat out an infield hit, only to be called out by Shaun Lampe.  Crisostomo had stopped running past first because he had beat out the play, yet was called out.  

I don’t like to criticize umps because they’re trying their best, but this was absolute BS.  Considering they’ve been in charge of both homestands, they need to get their acts together, this was Spencer-Flynn-like.

This game was legitimately a boring game, despite a no-hitter and what was to follow, until maybe the 4th inning, with Vancouver already up 1-0.

Two walks opened the inning (Dixon, Ortiz), and a wild pitch advanced them each a base, before Dixon scored on a groundout, advancing Ortiz.

Ryne Jernigan doubled him home, then Journey stole 3rd, and was one of two Canadians to score on an error by Juan Martinez.  5-0.

In the 6th, Chad Lee (bottom) departed with a five inning no-no, and Ronny Morla kept it up, not allowing a hit in his part of the 6th.

Conner Crumbliss scored in the 6th for the C’s, 6-0.

Dan Cook broke up the no hitter with one gone in the 7th, as he had an infield single, that Leo Gil and Nino Leyja almost caught.  Had I been scorekeeping, it would’ve been an error but then again that’s cause I have never seen a no-hitter. ;)

The C’s exploded in the 7th, scoring 5 runs while all 9 hitters came up to bat.  Ryan Ortiz, Anthony Aliotti, Ryne Jernigan, Leo Gil and Nino Leyja all scored, 11-0 Vancouver.

Dan Straily gave up two hits in the 8th, so it didn’t really matter about the one hit anymore, but he got out of a jam and pitched well, striking out a pair.

Vancouver piled on 3 more in their half, with Leo Gil hitting a 2-RBI triple, and Marcos Luis hitting a pinch-hit single.

It capped off 3-RBI, 2-Run, 2-Hit performance for Leo, who had just one hit going into the night.  Luis’ pinch-hit was his first at-bat since June 24th, and appeared in only his third game of the year.

Juston Street closed it out for Vancouver, pitching a scoreless inning on the mound, 14-0 Vancouver.

Nat Notes Hitter of the Game: Ryne Jernigan 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 Runs. It could’ve been anyone based on tonight,  but Jernigan had a great 3-hit performance, and raised his average to .455 as he excels during his second year in Vancouver.  Anthony Aliotti was definitely considered.

Nat Notes Pitcher of the Game: Chad Lee, 5 IP, 2 BB, 5 SO, Win.  It has been a rough four years for Chad Lee, who pitched well in 2006 here in Vancouver, before returning in ’08, and then getting injured again, forcing him to return in 2009.  He made the most of his opportunity tonight, piggy-backing on his one-hit start 5 days before.  Kane County should be waiting for him.

Game Notes:

- Vancouver only gave up four hits in this one, striking out 8 over the 9 innings.

- Ronny Morla pitched his second scoreless appeared in as many chances, as he looks to improve from a bad Opening Night.

- Straily and Street (right) gave up 3 hits, striking out two, over two innings.

- Umping was dreadful, and I don’t like to speak out against it, but that was a joke.  Jose Crisostomo had at least one, maybe two base hits that he was rejected on by Shaun Lampe.

- 5 errors were committed by the Volcanoes, including two by LF, Dan Cook.

- Everyone on the Canadians reached base tonight, via a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch.

- Aliotti, Jernigan and Gil were a combined 9-13, and if you include Nino Leyja, the infield was 10-19.  Phenomenal stuff.

- After going 1-7 in his last two games, DH Kent Walton picked up two hits and 2 RBI, raising his average to .308.

- Rashun Dixon’s two hit performance gives him four multi-hit games this year, as he is hitting .400 at The Nat.

- 3,462 saw this one, and I’ll hold back my thoughts on the extra attendance, in dogs, that were present.

Great effort by the Canadians, Fireworks tonight.