I’ve given Isaac Omura (pictured left) no end of heck this season, truth be told. It’s nothing personal, he seems like a genuine good guy, very happy, a positive influence around the clubhouse, but his form so far this season has been dire at best, terrible at worst.
That’s no newsflash - I’m sure nobody knows these things more than The Windjammer himself, but it’s got to be hard for a guy when you’re doing poorly and trying to remain anonymous you work things out, and some douchebag is writing about how you blew it again, night after night.
Well, the Flyin’ Hawaiian had two options when it comes to the negative press he’d been recieving this season - he could take it all on his back, internalize it and make it worse, or he could ‘guts’ it out, start hitting some balls, add a little nasty to each step and show the naysayers exactly why he was drafted.
And so it goes that last night, Isaac Omura, the Windjammer, the Flyin’ Hawaiian, the Hawaiian Stallion - whatever you wanna call him - rocked Boise’s world, and not in a nice way.
The game started, as most games seem to start these days, with a Mike Massaro single. Nothing came of that, because although most games start with Michiro on the bags, they then seem to continue in ‘leave him there’ mode as the Canadians fall over in quick succession.
Boise? Not having these problems so much, as Elvin Puello jumped on a Joe Piekarz pitch inside and smooshed it to center field - not just over the wall, but about 2/3 of the way up the scoreboard that stands 30 feet over the wall. Boise up by one, and we’re not even into the 2nd inning… it’s beginning to seem a lot like deja vu for Vancouver fans at this point.
But if you’ve been paying attention at all, then you know exactly what happens after Vancouver concedes a run - come on, now, they’ve been doing it all season - what do they do?
They hit you back, that’s what they do.
Haas Pratt single to center, Jose Garcia takes a walk, and Zeke Parraz doubles down the left field line to score a run.
Now, Zeke Parraz (pictured left) is a new addition to the Vancouver infield, having come up from rookie ball in Arizona after going .284 with a couple of dingers, and though he took a little time to click, he’s starting to really give the C’s an option up the middle.
Which is good, because the next batter, second baseman Isaac Omura, has been so… (thwack!) uh… Omura singles to left? Runner scores? What the…?
During the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings, the pitchers took over, with Piekarz throing some nice fire, and managing some smart strikeouts along with plentiful groundballs.
In fact, Vancouver would only allow 6 flyballs all night long, which places a real premium on infield defense.. thankfully, the Canadians’ infield defense tonight was ROCK solid.
Haas Pratt took a beautiful diving snare down the 1st base line to save runs, while Chad Boyd took a long, full-stretch, full speed diving catch in left field that could have, if he’d missed it, score three runs. Parraz and Omura? Golden - every grounder to glove, every ball hitting its mark. Truly this was the Vancouver D that we’d come to know and love earlier in the year.
But the offense is still having trouble getting people around the bases. Vancouver runners made it to first base in five of the first six innings, but only in the 2nd did anyone actually cross the plate.
A pitching change in the 7th, however, gave the C’s a moment of weakness upon which to pounce. Kyle Holden, a middling reliever having a 2-1, 6.32 year, came in ready for action, but the bottom of the C’s line-up was lying in wait.
Zeke Parraz started the ball rolling with a single to left, and up came the terrible, awful, hopeless Isaac Omura who… (THWACK!) uh… slams an inside pitch deep over the wall in right center?
You’ve gotta be kidding me!
A two-run shot for the Windjammer didn’t just push the C’s to a 4-1 lead, it practically broke my brain. Omura’s 5′9" - outfielders come IN when he’s at bat. He’s been hitting in the .140’s. He’s shown nothing remotely close to pop, but this day, this hour, Isaac Omura was a giant of baseball, clanging the walls with deep line-driven shots that would not be stopped.
Omura, a panther in the field, a mammoth with the bat, was en fuego. This day, the Flyin’ Hawaiian, long the subject of ridicule by boneheads like me, simply would not be denied any longer.
Jose ‘Curveball’ Corchado came in for the bottom of the 7th to throw his ‘cliff-dropper’ breaking pitches, and though the Hawks were having trouble keeping up with his ungodly moving stuff, when the ball stays straight it tends to get moved around.
Strike out, double, ground-out, single, run scores, line-out - end of inning.
It didn’t help that the single shot hit the corner of the 3rd base bag, ricocheting away from the waiting Jeff Baisley, but if Corchado’s bag was any more of a mix, you’d think it was Halloween.
Vancouver leading 4-2, but they weren’t prepared to rely on defense… or rather, the bottom of the order wasn’t prepared to rely on defense, because the top of the order had done not a lot with the bat for most of the game.
The Bubalo/Recker combo in clean-up is just not working right now, and though they can hit the long bombs at times, when hitters 2 through 7 can only manage 2 hits between them, you’re going to struggle for runs.
But tonight, what the meat of the order was up to was of no consequence, because the battlers were in charge.
The bottom of the line-up - Zeke Parraz and Isaac Omura - were in total control and they were about to make certain of this win in strong style.
Parraz at the plate, refuses to swing for garbage and draws a lead-off walk. Omura up behind him, giving pitchers the heeby jeebies after his big knock earlier in the game, was likewise walked. A pick-off attempt by Jake Muyco on Parraz at 2nd missed the bag by a country mile, allowing the lead-runner to scurry to 3rd, and suddenly there was trouble in the Hawks nest… because the 155lb Mike Massaro LOVES to slap-hit.
Pitch comes in, Massaro flails a bat at it and runs like mad as it plops out to left field, scoring Parraz to make the score 5-2, and the little guys are taking care of business.
And it was catching - Chad Boyd, who hasn’t managed a hit since July 21st, drew a confident walk, then stole 2nd, and when Jeff Baisley was put on with another walk, the bases were chocked with only one out. Credit Jeff ‘Tee-Ball’ Teasley with pulling the Hawks out of the fire, as he induced a grounder from Haas Pratt that saw Omura just caught crossing home plate, before Ty Bubalo was struck out swinging with a grand slam on the horizon.
Final three outs for Boise, and who is on the mound but C’s closer, Brad ‘Killer’ Kilby - fuhgetaboudit.
Though The Killer (pictured right) did give up a walk, then a wild pitch, and then a run-scoring double, indicating his best stuff was left in the hotel room this day, he still shut down any scent of a Hawks resurgence, striking out Boise’s big-bat pinch-hitter, Brandon Taylor, swinging to end the game.
Vancouver takes it 5-3, and how about three cheers for the underdogs in the 8 and 9 spots who managed, nearly single-handedly, to keep the Canadians score total ticking over.
You have my respect, Mr Omura. Today you showed that the ability to say "I shall not lose" and mean it comes from a place deep within, that rarely shows up on a stat line or a scouting report.
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Game notes:
* 3/4 of Vancouver’s hits tonight came from the 8- 9-1 combination of Parraz, Omura and Massaro. For a group of guys who were all, without exception, hitting about halfway to Mendoza just a few weeks ago, this is a really positive eventuality. Omura’s got his average up to .172 now, Parraz is hitting a strong .294 and looking better every outing, and Massaro is hitting .312 with an OBP of .416, which is just outstanding for a lead-off guy - especially one who had to inch his way up from .118 a few weeks back.
* Ty Bubalo and Anthony Recker, with 6 strikeouts between them and not one hit to their name, really need to start thinking about whether they’re going to rely on long bombs to get them up to the next level, or if they’re going to start hitting for situations. The pitchers Boise put up last night were not meat-axe strike-out men, they were journeyman standard at best, and Recker and Bubalo should have been able to tag them a time or two - or at least come close. Instead, they whiffed and watched and whiffed some more, which doesn’t help anyone. Most telling of all - five of the six K’s were swinging.
* All the pitchers gave up earned runs tonight, but one of them pitched beautifully regardless. Joe Piekarz, considered by some to be the ‘non-prospect’ end of the rotation, delivered six innings of 2-hit ball, striking out 5, walking 2 and giving up a 1-run dinger. Pikey has good stuff, and though he’s been oft-overshadowed by the K-machines around him, a 2-1, 5.01 record with 16 BB’s and 29 K’s is decent stuff at this level. If he can stretch another 1-2 MPH out of his fastball and get a little more movement going on, Pikey could turn out to be a worthwhile keeper.
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