Buck up, C’s fans.
Short game report tonight because, well, not a lot happened that requires my standard over-extended play-by-play treatment that goes on for eighteen pages per pitch.
Today, the C’s found it difficult to score runs. In the past, this was okay, because the Canadians pitching was lethal, keeping other teams to a single run per game or less. But it’s a long season, and you can’t pitch that tight forever - eventually you just have to sit back and let your hitters hit.
Today, the pitching strayed, and the hitters sputtered. And Boise won by a whisker.
The game started much as yesterday’s game ended - with the C’s leaving men on the bags. In the 1st, Justin Sellers got on base, was grounded along, and then stole 3rd, only to be left on Jeff Baisley grounded out. In the 2nd, Haas Pratt singled but was then caught in a double play by Anthony Callahan, before Anthony Recker walked, Jose Garcia doubled, and Isaac Omura grounded out to end the inning.
Not often you can get a single, a double, and a walk and not score, but there you have it - the C’s can do anything!
Boise, on the other hand, wasn’t having any such issues. In the bottom of the 3rd, Jose Rios singled, then Trey Shields threw a wild pitch, and then threw the ball away while trying to put out a sac bunter at 1st. And when I say Shields threw it away, he REALLY threw it away, allowing the runner to score, and the bunter to go from all the way to 3rd.
Next batter - single. Run scores. Boise leads 2-0.
Generally, the most dangerous time for an opponent of the Vancouver Canadians is immediately after they’ve conceded a run, because they’ll almost always get annoyed and come back hard at you. Case in point, Jeff Baisley, leading off the 4th, sees a nice fat pitch and takes it yard. His 4th of the season, Baisley has overtaken Haas Pratt as the Canadians’ slugger of note, but when the double-catcher pairing of Shawn Callahan and Anthony Recker both struck out looking (it’s nice that they do things together, isn’t it?), any resurgence was well and truly halted.
Top of the 5th, Vancouver leaves another two on base after Massaro and Sellers draw back to back walks, and once again, Boise showed them how it was done by hitting Shields for singles on four of the first five batters he faced, as well as a steal and a walk. Miraculously, Shields picked off the lead runner at 3rd to end the inning, killing a Boise rally that could have put the game out of reach.
Boise leads 4-1 before Jeff Baisley once again took his one-man run-creating machine out of the shed and set it to "mash".
Baisley doubled to lead off, then rode a ground out to 3rd before Shawn Callahan sacrificed him home on a flyball, and the C’s were back in it again. Anthony Recker drew a 2-out walk to keep things going, only to stray too far off the bag and be picked off by pitcher Roger Evenson.
Fundamentals…
But Boise screw up just as many fundamentals as Vancouver did tonight - a Jose Rios double in the bottom of the 6th looked promising for the Hawkmen, but when Davy Gregg pop-bunted to 3rd, Jeff Baisley had no trouble doubling up Rios at 2nd base. Just as well too, because the next batter doubled off ‘MayDay’ Madej’s pitching, and a wild pitch saw him to 3rd before the inning was killed. Without that double play.. yikes.
Top of the 7th, and the tail finally decided to wag for Vancouver, with Jose Garcia and the much maligned Isaac Omura singling to open the inning. Garcia scored shortly thereafter on a balk by pitcher Scott Koerber, but a fly-out and two ground-outs saw Omura stranded at 3rd, at a time when it would have almost been easier to get him home than not.
Jason ‘Death’ Ray came in to relieve MayDay on the mound for Vancouver in the next inning, striking out two batters on his way to a genuinely filthy ‘clean’ inning, and in the top of the 8th, Haas Praat singled to center, then got around to 2nd on a ground-out, before again being left on the bags when Anthony Recker struck out.
Seeing a trend emerging here?
Stephen ‘Bad News’ Bryant came in to shut down Boise in the bottom of the 8th, and going into the final inning for Vancouver, they found themselves 4-3 down with only three outs in hand.
And it started well for them too (relatively speaking), when Jose ‘Can You See’ Garcia was smacked with a pitch, earning him a free pass to first. Canadians coach Juan Navarrete sent in a pinch-runner in Zeke Parraz for Garcia, and then, showing he reads Notes From The Nat religiously, he sent Chalon Tietje in to pinch-hit for the slumping Isaac Omura.
Me? I’m stoked. I’m sitting here yelling at the speakers of my PC, "YEAH! Now we’re playing to win! Sweet Chal O’ Mine! Whoo!"
…And then Tietje grounds out.
Navarrete, deciding that a big hit might be more beneficial than a slaphit, decided to then have Steve ‘Squeaky’ Kleen pinch-hit for Mike Massaro (don’t know that I would have made that call, with Massaro being in such hot form, but so be it…) - and Kleen popped up to 2nd.
Final out of the inning, Justin ‘Spanky’ Sellers up to bat, and the recent high school graduate… well, you know what happens next. Hell, I gave it away in the headline!
Sellers grounds out, game over, C’s lose their fifth in a row on the road by a score of 4-3.
And the freaking streaming video was down the whole game.
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Game notes:
* Vancouver left 8 runners on base tonight. Boise left 9. Which doesn’t mean Vancouver was more efficient than the Hawks on the bases - rather, it means that they got six more hits than we did, allowing them to suck on the bags and still beat us.
* Jeff Baisley, who is to RBIs as Rickey Henderson was to steals, continued his resurgence as the heart of the Vancouver line-up this game. Going 2-4 with 2 runs scored, a double, an RBI, and a dinger, he accounted for just about all the offensive threat of the Canadians this day. Haas Pratt, coming in behind him in the order, was similarly good, but received no support from Callahan and Recker behind him, stranding him every time he got to first.
* Jose Garcia, who has been all but ignored as Travis Buck burst into the Canadians line-up and caused a six-way logjam for outfield spots, showed again why he was such an early season favorite by going 2-3 with a double and a run scored - not to mention a pitch taken on the noggin. Travis Buck didn’t play today, not even when a pinch-hitter was required, whch will lead the conspiracy theorists amongst us to, once again, assume he’s been sent to Kane County. Whether or not he has, I couldn’t say. But I’ll find out. Just gimme time, that’s all I ask.
*And Mike Safford Jr? Still a jackass.
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