SUZUKI HEADED TO ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE:
2004 Vancouver Canadians catcher Kurt Suzuki has been selected as one of five Oakland Athletics
prospects worthy of a spot on the 2005 Arizona Fall League ‘Phoenix
Desert Dogs’. Suzuki will be playing alongside established prospects
Daric Barton, Stephen Bondurant, Shane Komine, and Andre Ethier in what
is considered by many to be one of the ultimate tributes to a minor
league player’s potential.

HERRERA NAMED MIDWEST LEAGUE FULL SEASON ALL-STAR:
2004 Vancouver outfielder, Javier Herrera, has been named to the
Midwest League’s 2005 All-Star team - the only Kane County Cougar to
win the honor. While both he and Myron Leslie appeared in the
mid-season All-Star game, the full-season All-Star team honors the best
players of both divisions.

MIGHTY JOE SCOTT COMES CLOSE TO A NO-NO:
Recent Vancouver graduate, Mighty Joe Scott, started the 2005 season
with the Kane County Cougars as a reliever. He was sent down to
Vancouver at the start of the short-season with a view to converting
him to a starter, and since being promoted back up to Class-A ball,
he’s got a few people talking.

In fact, more than just talking, people
are actively pushing Scott now for a potential push upwards to
Stockton, after he threw 7 innings of no-hit ball
on Monday night. Scott struck out five and walked three, before being
taken out of the game when his pitch count hit his Oakland-set quota.
Trent Peterson took over from Scott and promptly gave up a pair of soft
singles while maintaining the shut-out. The game was won 8-0 by Kane
County.

KANE COUNTY SUSPECTED OF GRAND THEFT BASEBALL
The traditional Oakland way over the years has been to get men on base
and hit homers to get them across the plate. This, over the years, has
frustrated many hitters who like to play a little small ball - bunt,
steal, stretch a single to a double, etc. But the Kane County Cougars
are stealing up a storm this season, with over 100 stolen bases thus
far, getting themselves caught just over 30 times.

Scout.com’s Oakland Clubhouse
published a Kane County Notebook just today in which Cougars manager
Dave Joppie explained the change in style thusly, "As a manager, I have
to adapt to the roster we have. Last year, we could stand around and
wait for the three-run homer. This year we have guys like Javier
Herrera, Nick Blasi and Cliff Pennington who are good base-stealers so
the roster lends itself to running more. [...] Herrera steals most of
his bases on speed alone,” Joppie said. “While Pennington and Blasi
study the pitchers more. They both have good instincts for when to go
and they don’t force things.”

“I pay close attention to the percentages (of successful steals to
number of attempts). A lot of teams run out of big innings, but we are
careful not to do that. The guys have the green light to steal, but
they know when it is a good time to go. I have a lot of confidence in
my guys to make those decisions,” Joppie said.

MISCELLANEOUS ARIZONA LEAGUE STUFF
Clay ‘Pigeons’ Tichota, the Vancouver starting pitcher who starred in
2004, but saw himself fall back through the system as injury and poor
form bit, is slowly steadying himself in rookie ball. Tich got himself
tagged on a couple of outings, but has managed to get himself a few
wins in middle relief, notching up a 2-0, 4.85 record.

Wes Long continues to show good form with the bat after his orbital
socket surgery just a few weeks ago. He’s now hitting .310 in the
rooks, going 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI on the 23rd against the
Royals Rookies. The night before, against the AZL Brewers, he went 2-3
with 3 walks (I guess his eyes are working alright!), with a home run,
an RBI and 3 runs scored. Yowzer!

In that same game, 2004 Vancouver starting pitcher Steven Sharpe took
the win, going three scoreless innings and taking his record to 5-0
with a 2.49 ERA, indicating Sharpe will begin his climb back up through
the system shortly… Could we see Sharpie back in Vancouver red during
the NWL play-offs?

Frank Martinez, who had started the 2005 season with Vancouver,
continues to struggle in the rookie league, with an average of .216,
which says to me that he’s exactly where he should be.

BEST ROOKIE NAME EVER? Alexis Bastardo,
from the Venezuela Summer League’s Red Sox/Padres. I honestly don’t
care that he sucks, I want Bastardo to make the Majors just so I can
hear Joe Morgan say his name over.. and over.. and over.