NOTES FROM THE NAT: Vancouver Canadians news

A few weeks before Vancouver hitting coach Ben Winslow was due to
arrive in Vancouver, Notes From The Nat had the scoop that he’d not
only been dating former Canadians press honcho Leanne Cass, and had not
only got engaged to her, but had actually just married her in a quiet
rural setting. At the time, it was a giant scoop - we even had
pictures!

But out of respect to Benny, we decided to wait until the news was out
there a little before talking about it in public - after all, a guy’s
private life is his private life.

Well, last night after Vancouver’s loss to Eugene, Benny the Jet talked
to the TEAM 1040 guys and told the entire city the news that a select
few had known previously - he has a Mrs Winslow in tow.

So congratulations to the happy couple - both are tremendous folks,
clearly head over heels for each other, and if any one person in the
A’s organization deserves to find true happiness, it’s a selfless dude
like The Jet.

Thankfully, I’m a pretty fast typer, so I managed to transcribe the
interview on the fly, and though it’s not word for word exact (hey, I’m
not THAT fast), it’s pretty darn close. Enjoy.
Was there anything positive to come out of yesterday’s game?

BW: Well, the good thing about this game was the weather was really
nice, and when you’re in the batter’s box and the girls are out waiting
for you in the stands, and the sun is out, everything’s okay, you know?
(laughs) Actually, it was pretty bad, but we’re not worried about it.
It’s one game.

The C’s have hit a bit of a slump though…

BW: Yeah, we’re not too good right now. We were running hot bats but
right now we have become ice cold. That’s baseball, that’s something
every hitter goes through, ups and downs, cold streaks, but we have
good pitching and are looking forward to the future. I think once a
couple of guys break out of slumps, we’ll start winning a lot of
ballgames.

You lost Chad Boyd and Toddric Johnson to Kane County - how do you feel when you lose a couple of guys like that?

BW: It’s a mixed reaction. There’s three parts of it as a player -
you’re obviously excited for the guy, you’re sad it’s not you, and
you’re sad you’re losing him in the lineup. That’s a bunch of emotions
going on, but it’s really about development here, you know? We’re more
concerned with that guy playing in the majors, than we are about him
winning in Vancouver. That’s the reality.

You’ve got Matt Sulentic, however, to take their place…

BW: Yeah, that guy, I tell ya, he works his tail off and it’s fun to
watch. He’s always pulling coaches and guys into the cage and he’s like
"throw to me", which is awesome. He’s a high school kid, so he has some
serious work to do in the outfield, but as far as hitting, he’s top of
the high schoolers in the country and he’ll be something special.

What about your new lead-off guy, Larry Cobb?

BW: He’s the scrappiest dude you’ll ever find as a lead-off man. I
swear, he was born in a junkyard, he’s all sorts of tough. He just gets
it done, no matter how ugly he might have to get to make it happen, he
gets it done.

And Jermaine Mitchell…

BW: I tell you, you dont wanna blink when Mitchell is in the batter’s
box, he hits the ball, he gets on base, and when he does, he’s one of
the fastest guys I’ve played with - he just flies, so even when his bat
is cold, he’s a chance to get on base and score.

How did you get to become a coach in Vancouver?

BW: I went to college and that didn’t pan out too well, but a little
later I thought I had a chance to play, so I knocked on Oakland’s door,
they let me in to try out, and I spent three seasons running around
like a crazy guy. They gave me a contract and decided I was good enough
to coach, and they’ll probably rethink that seeing how we’re hitting
right now. (laughs)

You were a bit of a utility guy when you played, right?

BW: Oh yeah, I lied my ass off, tole them I played everything. I was
always second baseman in college, but I lied and said, sure, I can play
third. Yeah, I can take first, outfield, pitching… Just play me.
They’re like, ‘We’ve got an injured guy, can you play that position?’
and I’m all ‘Oh yeah, I play that spot, send me out there, coach.’

Rick Magnante: discuss.

BW: He’s an amazing professional, so articulate, so precise, a great
manager, just incredible to be around and learn from. When we get in a
set routine, get the guys used to bus trips and playing every day, you
can bet we’ll have a good season with him running the show.

Talk about the transition for these guys to wooden bats.

BW: well, nowadays most colleges are using wood through their seasons,
taking batting practice, summer ball, etc, so there’s a change, but
it’s not as big a change as it once was. to be sure, you’ve gotta take
a better swing with wood.

What do you think of talk that the C’s might bring in the outfield wall?

BW: I think it would ruin it. (laughs) Not ruin it, the atmosphere here
is amazing for baseball, but that’s part of the aura of this place, the
big outfield. It’s almost mythical in how far you have to hit a ball.

Should they just bring in the center field maybe, so people might hit the occasional home run to center?

BW: Oh, center field happened when I was here. But I hit it from second
base. (laughs) They should keep it how it is, maybe clean up the wall a
little, shoot down some of those birds so there’s less poop out there
to roll around in. But it’s fine as it is, I think.

This is your first time in the press box, right? have you been here before?

BW: No, I haven’t, I love it up here. My wife used to watch me from up
here, she used to watch me play. Well, I didn’t play much but she
watched me. My behind looks really good from up here, I guess.

That’d be Ms Cass?

BW: Ms Winslow now. Yeah.

You’re still pretty young, right?

BW: Yeah, I’m not much older than the guys I’m coaching, and I actually
played with a couple of these guys. Obviously I was their father figure
and still am, so it feels good to feed them knowledge and… No, I’m
goofing off, but I did play with some of the guys down there, and
they’re pretty respectful, despite that.

What’s behind the C’s hitting slump of late?

BW: Well, I’ve always said that hitting as a team is indicative of the
coaching, and I struck out a ton when I was playing, so clearly they’re
learning plenty from me. What are ya gonna do?

The errors aren’t helping…

BW: Again, I made a lot of errors too. Blame me. It’s all my fault. (laughs)

Thanks Benny.

2004 Vancouver Canadians
starting pitcher Jason Windsor had a big old time in AAA ball last
night, striking out ten hitters in just (get this) 5.2 innings of work.
He gave up one earned run on four hits with three walks, and admittedly
he threw a lot of pitches to get through that 5.2 innings (110, to be
exact), but when you consider that 3.1 of those innings were K’s,
that’s pretty amazing stuff.

Windsor isn’t being rushed to the majors by the A’s, who still no doubt
want to ensure that his tired arm troubles of the last few seasons are
far behind him, and the big club will have little interest in starting
Windsor’s clock before they have to, wanting to get the best possible
use out of him for league minimum pay - but man, you’d have to think
he’s close.

And that’s why you should go to today’s Nooner at The Nat - because the
guys you see swinging and pitching in Vancouver red and blue today,
will be turning out in Oakland green and gold tomorrow.

If I told you the weather was outstanding at Nat Bailey Stadium right
now, chances are you’d think the phrase redundant, for I think I’ve
said those words for every single game I’ve seen in the NWL so far this
season. When I moved up to Vancouver, having lived all over the US,
Japan, and Australia, friends thought I was insane.

"Canada?! But it’s freezing up there!" they’d yell. Oh, if only they knew…

So today the Vancouver Canadians
will be looking for vengeance against the usually crap but suddenly
dominant Eugene Emeralds, the San Diego Padres affilliate that has
notched 29 runs in just the past two games played - one of them against
the C’s, in which they beat us 12-6.

Will the Canadians turn it around, having lost Don Sutton to injury and
Toddric Johnson and Chad Boyd to Low-A promotion? Sure, I’ll be a homer
and say ‘yes’, but the truth of the matter is they’ll need a few
players to bust out of slumps for it to happen.

On the mound for Eugene stands pitcher Orlando Lara, who has only
managed to stay in for 6 innings total over the two games he’s started
this season, and has racked up a record of 0-0, 6.00 while he was at
it. In comparison, C’s starter Inoel Deaza has a 2-0 record with a 2.25
ERA, striking out 7 and walking only 2.

On paper, that puts the C’s in good shape, but Vancouver bats have been
hurting of late, and the Eugene hitters have been en fuego.

Best way to see what’s about to go down? Come to the ballpark. Tickets
start at $8, the beer is cold, and every seat is a guaranteed suntan.

The line-ups:

VANCOUVER CANADIANS
Larry ‘Corny’ Cobb DH
Mike ‘Fearless’ Affronti SS
Jermaine ‘J-Train’ Mitchell CF
Jake ‘The Rake’ Smith C
Matt ‘Authentic’ Sulentic RF
Alex ‘Exxon’ Valdez 3B
Andre ‘DJPJ’ Piper-Jordan LF
Mike ‘The Keg’ Klug 2B
Greg ‘The D-Bomb’ Dowling 1B
Inoel ‘Vowels’ Deaza RHP

EUGENE EMERALDS
Mike Epping CF .350
Tom ‘Stin’ King SS .146
Matt Antonelli 3B .281
David ‘Deep’ Freese DH .343
Chad ‘Felicity’ Huffman LF .389
Casey Smith 1B .333
Willy ‘Crawfish’ Crafort RF .300
Kody ‘Velveeta’ Valverde C .273
Ray ‘Choke’ Stokes 2B .154
Orlando Lara LHP 0-0, 6.00

As the game continues, we’ll be doing updates every inning, telling you
exactly what’s going on at the ballpark. In the meantime, if you want
to listen to the webcast call, click here.
(more…)

You might have noticed a new name appeared on the Vancouver roster recently - that’s Jason Fernandez,
an 11th round draft pick for the Oakland A’s out of the University of
Louisiana, Lafayette, who made a name for himself as a shortstop before
a summer league coach suggested he put his rocket-like arm to work as a
pitcher.

His only season for the Ragin’ Cajuns was a 9-2, 2.86 year which saw
him named to the All-Louisiana second team after holding opponents to a
.233 average, and his final game of the year saw his victory earn ULL a
regular season conference title.

Oakland has elected to draft several players over the past few seasons
who had only one season in their chosen position, and Fernandez seems
to be one of the latest. Following the Moneyball ethos of finding value
in underappreciated areas of the market, Jason ‘Death’ Ray was selected
as a pitcher last year, having less than a full season under his belt
in that position after converting from the outfield, and his progress
has been fast through the A’s system as he has come to terms with the
nuances of the role.

Grabbing Fernandez so early in the draft is indicative of the fact that
the A’s see promise far beyond the pitcher’s current stat line, and
realize that a few years of honing as a professional will likely see
the 6′2", 180lb hurler improve exponentially, though the fact that he
was a Roger Clemens Award finalist, and ranked 39th in the NCAA for
ERA may have helped his cause.

That the A’s were able to agree terms with a kid who could easily have
simply returned to college and likely been drafted higher in a year’s
time is testament to their reputation as a great system for pitching
prospects.

“[Signing] was a trying decision for him,” Fernandez’s father Mike told
the Louisiana Advocate on Wednesday. “It really beat him up for 2 or 3
weeks, but he knew Oakland was too good an organization to pass up and
decided to take the offer,” - an offer that includes college tuition
during the off-season so he can finish his degree in sports management.

“We found out that Oakland was one of the better organizations to be
with if you’re a pitcher," Fernandez continued, "[which] had a bearing
on his decision [...] Like all kids, Jason had a lifelong dream to play
pro baseball and has a chance to fulfill that dream.”

When your luck runs out in baseball, it really runs out, and right now it seems like the Vancouver Canadians
have used up their 2006 quota of luck in a fairly major way. After a
road series that saw them lose three games to a team that scored 1 run,
3 runs and 2 runs to beat them, the C’s came home after a long bus ride
and were told they wouldn’t have to worry about taking batting practice
(hurray!), and oh yeah, their lead-off hitter and #3 (Todd Johnson and
chad Boyd) had been shipped off to Kane County.

Greeeat. That’s what you really need when your bats have run cold - two of your best hitters booted upstairs.

So with no BP on the day, you might have expected that the C’s would
take a few innings to hit. You’d be wrong, as the C’s finally started
swinging like they had against Yakima in the opening series of the
year, but that burst of lumber enthusiasm unfortunately coincided with
the pitching finally falling into a hole the size of Surrey.

Starting pitcher James ‘Doogie’ Heuser had started the season with
flair, rippping through two early season starts with great numbers, but
the Eugene Emeralds came out of the gate swinging hard, and Doogie
ended up getting beaten like a fat kid’s pinata before the Canadians
even had a chance to swing a bat.

Full report follows.
(more…)

C|Net, the high technology website that has a budget that could buy and
sell this blog a million times over, has spent a little time in the
Pacific Northwest of late, and the resulting articles have made pretty
interesting reading. the first, last week, discussed how the Vancouver Canadians have embraced wireless technology, offering free wi-fi to fans at the ballpark who might, for whatever reason, need access to the internet.

I have to admit, I love this eventuality. While the access is
admittedly slow, and you have to put up with ads every few clicks (hey,
they’ve gotta pay for the service somehow), it allows me to take my
laptop to the ballpark and answer email, run my business, and most
importantly, live-blog the game itself. This is mondo cool.

So C|Net takes things further this week, going into the clubhouse
itself to see how hitting coach Benny Winslow uses technology to track
player performances, communicate with the A’s, and how the media office
lacks the technology required to submit scoring details online, and
must phone it in between innings instead.

It’s a great piece. Go look.

As a pitcher, you know your team has let you down when you concede only
one hit for the entire game, and end up losing 2-1. And tonight, as
with much of the last series, the C’s offense and defense left the
pitchers hanging. Admittedly they were facing a rehabbing AA pitcher
(who inexplicably stayed in for seven innings - some rehab!), but
still, to end up with the same number of hits as you have errors is
just not on.

Pascuel ‘El Gigante’ Manzueta was godlike on the mound tonight,
throwing a no-hitter into the 5th, when a 2-out walk to Joshua
‘Elastic’ Banda was driven in by an uncharacteristic Geoff ‘Propane’ Strickland triple.

Manzueta was relieved at that point by Scott ‘please sir, can I have
some’ Moore, who threw two great innings of scoreless relief, striking
out four and giving up no hits or runs, and when ‘Fearless’ Affronti
drove in DJPJ to level the scores in the 8th, it appeared as though
another C’s last minute comeback was in the offing. Alas, with two me
in scoring position, the J-Train, Jermaine Mitchell, struck out
swinging to end the inning.

But hey, at least the scores were level… I mean, that’s a good base to work from, right?

Sure. Unless you have a Greg Dowling to let one runner on base, then an
Exxon Valdez error at third to let another runner on base, and then two
walks by reliever ‘My name is’ Earl Oakes, to allow Tri-City to take a
2-1 lead.

In the top of the 9th, needing a big inning to get back into the game,
Exxon Valdez struck out looking, then broke his bat on the ground in
protest, earning himself an ejection by the ump. Matt Sulentic followed
suit (albeit without the histrionics) by watching a strike three of his
own, and while Mike’ The Keg’ Klug got on base by virtue of a throwing
error, last year’s rube of the night, Tri-City closer George Delgado,
kept his cool on this occasion and got Greg Dowling to fly-out to end
it.

All told, miserable stuff with the wood, excellent stuff with the ball.
To think that the C’s lost this game 2-1 to a team that managed just
one hit is diabolical. When you realize they’ve lost 3 of 5 to a team
that has scored 1 run, 3 runs, 1 run, 5 runs and 2 runs, is enough to
make you want to go out and stab puppies in the eye.

The C’s started this season playing insanely good small ball, mixed in
with fabulous long ball, but right now it seems as if everyone on the
team has decided to start gunning for the fences.

People, get it together - low, hard, line drives. Deep singles. Keep
the base runners moving. Come on, you’re pros, you know this stuff.
Give the pitchers some breathing room, damn it.

Next home stand starts Thursday night, 7:05pm at Nat Bailey Stadium,
against the Eugene Emeralds. It’s a three-game affair, with Canada Day
fireworks on Saturday night and a nooner on Friday.

Must-see baseball from top to bottom!

Note:

	June 28, 2006
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Vancouver 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 3 Tri-City 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 X 2 1 2 box | log W: J. Freeman (1-1, 4.50); L: E. Oakes (0-1, 0.00); SV: G. Delgado (2) HR: None.