On a cloudy yet warm night in Vancouver, the 5-1 Northwest League leading Vancouver Canadians sent out their second stringers against a Tri-City Dust Devils team aching for some revenge after last night’s squeaker loss against the home team C’s. New faces abounded, and for much of the game, the fans were treated to another pitcher’s duel, but unfortunately something had to give, and that something would be better known as Shawn Martinez.

Martinez was drafted by the Oakland Athletics last year in the 25th round, after registering the second most wins in his Colorado State/Pueblo’s history. His college year ended with a 12-1 record and an ERA of 2.89, during which he fanned 95 hitters while walking only 25, and was named co-pitcher of the year for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Granted, his school wasn’t playing competition that is generally considered A-list material, but you can’t do much better than 12-1, so Martinez was drafted for the A’s.

Then came his horror season. His weight was a background issue for much of the season (he tops the scales at 235, which isn’t horrendous for a man of 6′3″) which earned him the unwanted nickname of The Mac, and towards the halfway stage of the season, a quiet night out with the lads turned into a career-hampering occasion when a drunken stranger walked up to him outside The Roxy nightclub on Granville St and planted a right hook on the big pitcher, knocking him down and out. When Martinez showed up to weight training the next day with a big black eye, Martinez told management exactly what happened - few drinks, punch from out of nowhere, woke up at home on the couch, no idea what happened.

That left the Athletics with two options - they could risk it and believe Martinez’s story, or they could take the safe road and send him to alcohol counseling, so that if there was indeed a problem, it would be seen to. Much to the pitcher’s annoyance, they chose the latter option, which earned big Shawn special attention from the coaches, plenty of long talks about his future, and the dubious honor of being known as a ‘troubled’ player in the organization, despite his pleas of innocence and support from teammates who stated he was the most sober guy of the bunch on the night in question.

To his credit, Martinez worked harder, lost weight, refused to bitch about his situation, and turned it into the spur to come back in 2005 leaner, stronger, and better. “I have a daughter,” Martinez told me last season, “and I can’t spend the rest of my life just floating around the minors. I have to work hard and make it, because when I’m here, I’m not with her, and I can only do that if I’m giving it everything I have.”

Tonight, as the starting pitchers - Vancouver’s Joe Piekarz (pictured right) and Tri-City’s Shane Lindsay - battled it out, Martinez waited in the wings, knowing he would likely come in at a moment’s notice if Piekarz repeated his last outing against Yakima, where he gave up 5 runs over 4.2 innings. This night, however, Piekarz was up for the challenge, throwing a strong opening five innings, complete with only 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks and six big strikeouts. In fact, the 6′2″ 180lb lefty out of North Illinois University looked positively at home in this, only his second time in front of the Vancouver crowd (he got a one-game call-up from the Arizona training leagues late last season).

On the mound for Tri-City, Shane Lindsay matched Piekarz every step of the way, smoking through the first six innings with nearly the same stats as his opponent - only better; 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, and a whopping ten strikeouts. Lindsay had gone a step better in his previous outing this season, throwing 11 K’s and conceding only one run in six innings against the Salem-Kaizer Volcanoes, and tonight he stayed true to that dominant form, indicating he won’t be held back at this level for long.

So with five innings of scoreless ball down (making this the 13th inning out of the last 14 where the Canadians have failed to score a run), C’s pitching coach Craig Lefferts decided it was time to solidify the outing, bringing in his senior returnee from last season - the aforementioned Shawn “The Mac” Martinez.

Sadly, even when the crowd is behind you, the coaches have faith in you, and the table has been set for you, sometimes even the best pitcher comes into a game with nothing in the tank, and tonight against the Dust Devils, The Mac never looked like he felt in control. After an easy first at bat, Tri-City DH James Sweeney just tattooed one over the left field wall, giving his team a 1-0 lead. Trouble followed as Martinez struggled further, walking three batters to load the bases before regaining his composure and striking out Tri-City 2B Pedro Strop to get out of a massive jam.

It had been a bad situation, but the hitter sure weren’t doing anything to help their pitchers out, and when the C’s took the lumber out for the bottom of the 6th, Haas Pratt managed to crank out a single (his second of the night), but everyone around him struck out, giving the Vancouver faithful a severe case of “I spent $9 on this?”

In the 7th, Martinez showed his steel and worked his confidence back into the game, despite a lead-off base hit from Tri-City shortstop Jason Van Kooten (who would go 4 from 5 on the night). A sac bunt moved Van Kooten along, but then a woeful pick-off attempt by catcher Anthony Recker saw the runner score on the error, a play that must have given a kick in the junk to Martinez just when he needed support most.

But Vancouver are not known as the cardiac kids for nothing, and just as they had come back late in the game last night, the final third of tonight’s game saw the C’s guts out some much needed runs. Sixth round draftee Justin Sellers (yes, that’d be the kid of Joe Sellers of Boston Red Sox fame - pictured right) drew a walk with one out, then Frank Martinez knocked him along to third with a nice base hit to right field, before another botched pick-off attempt saw the Vancouver runner score, and a Chaz Boyd sacrifice fly leveled the scores at two a piece.

Here it was - the comeback! Could the C’s go 6-1 and take a clear lead in the NWL?

Alas no. It’s all well and good to want to show a kid you have confidence in him, but Martinez’s confidence had been rocked in the earlier two innings, which (with the wisdom of hindsight) should have seen him pulled for a fresh pitcher. But Lefty Lefferts clearly wanted Martinez to ‘guts’ his way to a win, so the coach left him in for a third inning… at least until he started putting people on base.

Single, strike-out, steal, walk, and Martinez was taking an early shower in favor of Steven-Ryder Carter with two left on base.

Ryder-Carter has his own unique horror story from last season. No, nobody punched him in the face, and he had no weight problems to be concerned about, but he did have visa issues, thanks to the post-9/11 security changes of President Geroge W Bush. Those rules affected a lot of potential draftees, because when the college draft came around, the annual quota of work visas for foreigners to come into the US had already been used up due to a huge reduction in numbers. This meant most foreign draftees and non-draft free agents simply couldn’t be used by major league franchises because they wouldn’t be allowed to work until a year later, and so they were ignored in the draft.

For Oakland, one of the few teams around with a Canadian minor league affiliate, this presented less of a problem, so they grabbed Canadian-born Carter in the late rounds knowing nobody else could use him, and they then sent him to Vancouver where he could at least play home games without a visa. The catch? Carter wasn’t allowed to play, train or travel with the team on road trips in the USA, and would instead stay home and throw a ball against a wall.

Unfortunately for Carter, the A’s system has a rule that says every pitcher must throw off the mound five times in practice in front of the pitching coach before they can take the mound in a game, which meant Carter had to ‘restart’ his preparation every time the C’s ended a road trip and the pitching coach returned to Nat Bailey Stadium, which meant he could only actually pitch an inning in a game if that game fell at the end of a long homestand. Hardly the ideal way to spend your first year in professional ball, and perhaps unsurprising that Carter ended the year with a 20+ ERA on only a handful of innings.

But the A’s stuck with him for another season, and he came into his first few games of this season like a man possessed, conceding only two hits over five innings in his first 2 games of the season. As his name was announced, a cheer went up throughout Nat Bailey Stadium. And then Pedro Strop hit a two-run triple to put Tri-City 4-2 up, and the cheering subsided.

It would be easy to blame one guy or another for the loss against the Dust Devils tonight. Martinez blew up and Carter did likewise, despite both of them being ‘veterans’ of Nat Bailey from last season. You could say Lefferts blew it leaving Martinez in too long when he was out of sorts, or you could fault him for bringing in Carter in a two-on situation… but the reality is far simpler; this was a weak Canadians line-up with a few fresh faces, and those hitters combined to give up 14 strikeouts over nine innings, while managing only four hits.

Simpy put, you can’t win ballgames if you’re only getting four hits. Okay, maybe the C’s somehow managed to win one last night on four hits, but two in a row? Never. It’s time these minor leaguers learned that getting on base matters more than getting over the wall.

Final score: Vancouver 2 - Tri-City 5

Game notes:
* Tri-City shortstop Jason Van Kooten took his average from a woeful .211 to an impressive .333 in tonight’s game, going 4 from 5, driving in a run and scoring one himself. JVK impresses in the field also, indicating he might be one to watch in the weeks and months (perhaps even years) ahead.

* Only three Canadians hitters managed to credit themselves with a hit, and only Haas Pratt, who has to be the C’s MVP so far this season, managed two. Pratt’s got himself a .370 average over 27 ABs, and has knocked over three homeruns in the first seven games, which is a big step up from his form last season i the rookie leagues.

* Chris Tritle, who racked up 52 K’s in 102 AB’s earlier this season in Kane County, continued his depressing patience at the plate with 3 K’s from 4 times up at the plate tonight. His average, so far, is strong (.333 with one homerun), but if he drifts back into the habits of Kane County, he can expect a shaky season.

* Yesterday I suggested that catcher Ty Bubalo might have to start looking over his shoulder if he didn’t find his rhythm with the bat, but Anthony Recker’s outing tonight would have given Bubalo a big sigh of relief. Recker was 0 for 3 with the bat, racking up 3 strikeouts along the way, and gave up a run with a bad attempted pick-off. Sure, he’s young and these leagues are the place where you’re supposed to get those plays out of your system, but on nights like these, you could sure use Bubalo’s leadership behind the plate.

* 12th round draft pick Jeff Baisley got his first start of the year tonight at 3B in place of Wesley Long, but did precious little with it. Still, you can’t say much about that when so many were hitting so poorly.

* 11th rounder Steve Kleen got his fourth start of the season and… well, he did nothing with it either. 1 from 4 tonight, but he seems to be a player with low K’s, low walks, low power and generally decent skill. Time will tell if he’s just laying low, finding his feet before showing us what he’s got, but until now he’s been fairly anonymous.

* 15th rounder Jeff Bieker got his first start tonight, taking Chalon Tietje’s place in left field, and he… (sigh)… Yeah, he did nothing much either. 0 from 3 with a walk. Will take a few more games before we can assess his impact.

* Justin Sellers, the 6th rounder out of Marina High School and son of former Boston player Joe Sellers managed to account for himself pretty well tonight. Despite going 0 from 2, he managed a walk and a run scored, which has to be a thrill for a kid who was tossing the ball at a high school ballfield in Huntingon Beach California up until a few weeks ago. The great thing about him is he’s got YEARS to play at this level before there’ll be any pressure on him to be a superstar, and that’s probably a good thing since he weighs in at only (oh, give me a break) 155lbs. And yes, I’m entirely serious.

The C’s play again tomorrow against the Dev’s at 7PM, and you can hear the game right here.