It was a lovely day in Vancouver today… well, not lovely weatherwise, but it was looking distinctly lovely for Vancouver Canadians
fans from the very first at-bat for their team today against the Eugene
Emeralds, as the opening play of the game for the C’s drew an error by
Eugene 1st baseman, Casey Smith, which allowed Justin Sellers to get on
base.

And from there it just got ugly for the Ems.

With Sellers on base, Steve Kleen came to the plate, fresh from a
week that saw him finally break out of his two-week slump by hitting
homeruns, doubles, and wielding the lumber like a hitter possessed.
Kleen wasted no time, singling to move Sellers to 2nd, before three
Vancouver doubles, from Jose Garcia, Anthony Recker and Ty Bubalo, made
it a 4-run opening inning for the C’s.

So how did the Emeralds respond? By being blanked for six innings
straight by Vancouver starting pitcher Jeff Gray (left), who conceded just 2
hits, no walks, no runs, and struck out one hitter to see Vancouver
into the 6th inning, where Justin Sellers sac’ed home Wilber Perez to
stretch the V-Town lead to 5.

Of course, to expect it to be bump-free would just be altogether too
much, especially with Curveball Corchado called in to relieve Gray in
the 7th. Corchado worked his way through one inning of ball without too
much problem, and after Perez singled with the bases loaded in the 7th,
driving in Baisley and Garcia to make the score 7-0 Van City, Curveball
went on his usual routine of pitching incredible stuff, then pitching
weak, non-breaking, erratic garbage allowed a run to score on a wild
pitch, then walked the bases loaded before Long John Herrera was called
in to get the C’s out of the inning.

Long John is a decent pitcher who has had a string of poor outings of
late, but he got to work pretty well, getting two outs with conceding a
run before giving up a 2-out, 2-RBI single that saw the Emeralds come
back to 7-4 before the inning ended.

Herrera stayed in for the 9th and closed the game down well, but the
real pity is that the C’s let the Emeralds off the hook from a shut-out.

September 4, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Eugene 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 6 1 Vancouver 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 X 7 14 4 wrap | box | log W: J. Gray (4-2, 2.51); L: F. Jimenez Angulo (1-3, 2.22); HR: None.

GAME NOTES:
* All hail Steve Kleen. Despite being the butt of many jokes over the
last month as he crumbled in the face of a nasty slump that saw him
picked off bases, struck out, and dropping balls aplenty in the field,
Kleen has delivered the requisite comeback to form, and then gone
beyond good form into MVP status. At a time when Vancouver REALLY
needed someone to take the wheel and help get some runs on the board,
efforts like Kleen’s 4-5 outing today will go a long way to wards
explaining the late season resurgence of the Canadians in the face of
Salem-Kaizer’s week-long winning streak. Nice work, Squeaky. Now bring
us home.

* Jose Garcia, who likes to swing at anything he sees coming at him,
has showed a little plate patience over the past few games that is
coming in REALLY helpful for the C’s as he slots into the clean-up
spot. Garcia went 2-4 today, with both hits being doubles, and he also
drove in 2 and scored 2 himself. That’s a great productive performance
for a guy who, until recently, could be counted on to give up an out
more often than not. If Garcia learns to lay off bad pitches, he’s
total Moneyball material – big, strong, athletic, fast (for his size)
and capable of a good long hit over the outfielders.

* Anthony Recker’s resurgence continues like a freight train. After
hitting a Nat Bailey home run last night (not an easy task), Recker
knocked out 2-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Ty Bubalo is
matching Recker, hit for hit, right now, and he too notched 2 hits on
the night, going 2-3 before making way for the recently promoted Andre
Piper-Jordan in a defensive substitution in left field. Wilber Perez
matched Recker’s stats on the night, only he drove in 2 RBIs instead of
1, in a fine piece of back-of-the-order hitting.

* Jeff Gray, you’d have to assume, is very much healthy right now. I’ll
be the first to say that his long rehab spell was frustrating, pushing
the C’s into more than a few games with a deficit on the scoreboard,
but a healthy Jeff Gray is every bit as good as a healthy Michael
Madsen, and nothing is better than a healthy Michael Madsen.

So now we wait…