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.

First,
a couple of updates to the roster. Christian Vitters, 10th round
draftee and shortstop prospect, is not only with the team, but looks
like he’ll get a start on the next road trip. That’s good, and so is
the addition of RHP Andrew Bailey.

But on the other side of that, as has been previously reported, we lost
Toddric Johnson and Chad Boyd to the upstairs level, and I can also
report the following pitchers have all been sent down to get more work
in:

Pascuel Manzueta
Francisco Pena
Josh McLaughlin
David O’Hagan
Eric Sheridan
Josh Morgan

That’s a lot of pitching talent that is no longer accessible to us - at
least in the short term. Of course, it also means there’s space for new
draftees, but things don’t look so hot on that front, with Michael
Leake electing to go to college, and Daniel Amblin looking like he’ll
do same.

Anyway, update your rosters and get your ass to the ballpark.

TOP OF THE 1ST:
High Stepping Mike Epping grounded one to Greg Dowling (seen right) to open
procedings, which is always a smart play, because the D-Bomb has hands
forged out of stainless steel. He duly dropped it, allowing Epping on
base, which meant Tom King’s double turned into an RBI double. Eugene
lead 1-0. Ugh.

BOTTOM OF THE 1ST:
Larry Cobb has some mighty big shoes to fill as Vancouver’s lead-off
replacement for Hot Toddy Johnson, but he’s building a reputation for
being a quiet Nick Blasi-style #1. He’s bringing a .286 average and a
.375 OBP into today’s game, and his infield single to open this inning
for the C’s is exactly why. Cobb worked the count well, then stick one
through the hole at third that the shortstop had to chase, just failing
to beat Cobb with the throw. A steal followed in which Cobb easily beat
Valverde’s throw, and a wild pitch saw him breeze into 3rd, to be
brought home by another infield single, this one to the J-Train.

And it wasn’t over - Vancouver has their running shoes on, with
Jermaine Mitchell taking a big lead and breaking for 2nd on the first
pitch, easily beating Velveeta’s throw once more. Unfortunately,
Authentic Sulentic couldn’t beat theinfield, so the inning ends with
the scores tied at 1 a piece.

TOP OF THE 2ND:
Deaza is dealing good stuff on the mound, ripping through Eugene in a 3
up/3 down fashion. Nothing to report other than Valdez and Mitchell
have an odd high five going that involves all sorts of moves I can’t
describe without casting aspersions. It looks like they enjoy it,
anyway.

BOTTOM OF THE 2ND:
Amdre Piper-Jordan is fast. He’s really fast. But being fast doesn’t
help you much if you don’t get on base, and that’s ben his main problem
over the last couple of seasons at this level. DJPJ struck out to lead
off the inning for the C’s, and though he’s sitting on the Mendoza Line
right now, he’s yet to earn a walk despite his four K’s. Klug and
Dowling followed and didn’t bother the scorer, so everyone in the press
box instead watched Italy beat the Ukraine like a three-legged dog. It
shoulda been Australia, man… it shoulda been Australia…

TOP OF THE 3RD:
I like the Affronti/Klug 2B/SS combination, at least defensively. With
the bat, Klug’s a bit lost right now, and Affronti (seen left) has fluffed a couple
of plays of late (and will likely be shoved aside when the higher draft
pick Vitters is fit to play), but after the hole at 2nd last season in
Vancouver, it’s nice to have a couple of guys in the middle infield who
can turn a DP, even if the first double play chance of today ended with
only one out. Affronti took a deep dribbler up the middle and flicked
it backhanded to Klug to get one out, but Klug couldn’t make the
mid-air turn’n'throw needed to turn the double, though it was close.

David ‘Deep’ Freese knocked a deep double down the first base line to
score one Eugene runner, the second of the inning to score following a
drive up the middle and a squeaker into the shallow outfield prior to
that. Deaza looks a little shaky all of a sudden whenever there’s
runners on the bags. I’m not sure if he changes his kick to keep them
close to the bag, but he certainly seems to be more hittable with men
on. He worked his way out of the inning, but Eugene now leads 3-1.

BOTTOM OF THE 3RD:
When your luck is running cold, it’s as if nothing you do can turn out
right, even if it would require superhuman effort for it to be
prevented. That’s what happened to Greg Dowling , leading off the
inning for Vancouver with a curling semi-pop fly that looked fair for
all money - that is, until Tom ‘Stin’ King pushed past his third
baseman and tookan over the shoulder, twisting catch that ended in a
tangle of infielders in shallow left field.

What’s worse - Larry Cobb drilled a double down the third base line
that would have scored Dowling easily, had he been on base - when it
rains, it pours. Fearless Affronti popped out, and The J-Train couldn’t
get Cobb around when he did likewise to left field, and though the C’s
look dangerous, they’re still trailing 3-1.

TOP OF THE 4TH:
Deaza, when nobody is on, is dangerous. And in this inning, nobody got
on as he chewed through the Emeralds lineup quickly. Which gives me a
moment to mention that the C’s decision to cater food for the press is
a hell of a smart move. It’s always hard to get the press out to the
ballpark at the best of times, but the media hounds were licking their
lips today at the food supplied by The Butler Did It Catering, and I
don’t mind giving the company props for doing a geat job (belch).

BOTTOM OF THE 4TH:
A high chopper from Jake The Rake looked like it might result in a base
hit… except that Jake boasts all the speed of Frank Thomas when
getting to 1st. The kid has D, and he can hit on occasion, but you do
not want him to be bsuting out an infield hit… As one media person
was heard to remark, "he runs like he’s transporting buffalo."

Matt Sulentic followed The Rake with a nice double down the left field
line, which almost turned into an out when Sulentic, for some reason,
opted not to slide into second. A shallow liner to left by Piper-Jordan
(maybe he can hit) drove The Authentic One home, and the C’s are back in contention, tailing 2-1.

And, of course, Piper-Jordan stole on the catcher, who throws with all
the accuracy and power of Mike Piazza after a bender at the dance club.
That gave him all the room he needed to get home on Mike Klug’s liner
to left - scores tied!

TOP OF THE 5TH:
Who said the D-Bomb can’t field? Dowling climbed the ladder bringing
down a Mike Epping high chopper that, by rights, should have been an
easy double. The thud heard when he came down with the ball led some
scientists to wonder if ‘the big one’ was imminent. Another quiet
inning for Eugene bats, as a pitching change sees Rolando Valdez (RHP)
coming out to face the C’s in the bottom of the inning.

BOTTOM OF THE 5TH:
Valdez, with a 0-0, 6.35 record on the season to date, walked into a
smack in the chops when he came to the mound, delivered in smooth
fashion by the bat of Larry Cobb (seen right), again finding the hole at third to
get easy passage to first base. A 5-4-3 double play following a shopper
from Mike Affronti nulified the threat (despite a nice slide by Cobb).

But the inning wasn’t over - a deep infield single by the J-Train, and
a hard-hit single to second that ended with an error to Stokes, put men
on 1st and 2nd for the C’s in what looked like a 2-out rally in the
making. Valdez went after Sulentic at the plate, however, giving him
plenty to see and watching the kid swing at two he should have left,
then fouling off another, then chasing anothr outside that saw him off
and ended the inning. The kid can hit, but the kid has to learn some
patience with men on. 3-3 going into the 6th.

TOP OF THE 6TH:
Matt Antonelli opened the inning with a flare to shallow center, which
offers the perfect chance to see whether or not Deaza changes his
approach with men on, and he most definitely does. You expect less of a
leg kick, but he REALLY gets caught up with the runner, looking several
times, throwing pitch-outs, going for pick-offs, and hurrying through
his motion as he throws. He does manage a called strike-out on David
Freeze (which looked outside by about two feet), and his change-up
(which is kind of telegraphed if you watch hhow much he bends his back)
drew another out at first, allowing Antonelli to second with two outs.
And that runner came into play shortly after, as a flare to left center
by Smith saw Antonelli score the go-ahead run for Eugene, in what has
become a back and forth battle of attrition.

BOTTOM OF THE 6TH:
With Branden Dewing warming up in the ‘pen for the C’s, Exxon Valdez
flew out in an attempt to go long, Piper-Jordan chased junk to go down
swinging with a K, and The Keg drilled a deep grounder to short that
hurried the defense and saw the first baseman pulled off the bag -
SAFE!

With two outs, The Keg decided to test the catcher’s arm (usually a saf
bet with this guy), but Velveeta Velarde finally got one out of the
glove fast enough to throw down a runner. Nice job, Piazza.

TOP OF THE 7TH:
Branden ‘ Howya’ Dewing looks strong on the mound, painting corners and
sending genuine heat, and drawing Emeralds hitters into easy
ground-outs, but a tough grounder from Mike Epping through the hole at
1st sees him give up his first base runner at Nat Bailey Stadium - and
only just as Klug chases it down and fires to first on the turn. He
didn’t stay on base long, however, as a 1-3-4 pick-off ended the inning
in style. Eugene still leading, 4-3.

BOTTOM OF THE 7TH:
The D-Bomb is starting to warm up, working a nice single over the
second baseman, and though Larry Cobb popped up a bunt for the first
out of the frame, Fearless Affronti took a pitch to the shoulder to put
men on 1st and 2nd and build the threat. With Rolando Valdez looking
shaky, Mitchell chopped one high to second, and though Affronti was
well out at 2nd, he put in a five-star slide that didn’t just take out
second baseman Ray Stokes, he absolutely drilled him and left him
landing on his ear.

With Cobb prowling at 3rd and the J-Train on 1st with 2 outs, Jake
Smith put on his patient hat, giving the pitcher every chance to throw
a wild pitch as Mitchell stole second standing up. With the count full
and first base open, with Sulentic on deck, Valdez pitched to the
hitter, who fouled one off before drawing ball four and loading the
bases.

Sulentic was in high school a few months back, so it stands to reason
that he hasn’t figured out the Oakland Way of not swiging at the first
pitch - especially when the pitcher is shaky. But that’s what he did,
and the inning thus ended without additions to the score.

TOP OF THE 8TH:
Exxon Valdez has a very casual stride when he’s out on the field. he
slumps his way through the game, occasionally busting out a stupendous
stop, but he always, always, always, takes his sweet time doing the
simple things. Case in point, David Freese dribbles one straight to
Valdez to lead off the frame, and rather than scoop it in and gun it
across to a guy he knows is a litle leaden with the glove, Exxon takes
a few steps and casually tosses it, dropping short and drawing a bobble
out of Dowling that sees the runner through safely with two away.
Thankfully, Branden Dewing is nasty enough to draw a K to shut Eugene
down, and with the C’s due up and six outs remaining, the good guys
trail by 1.

BOTTOM OF THE 8TH:
Alex Valdez can swing, but he really does seem to believe he’s a home
run hitter. He leads off the inning with an opposite field drive down
the 1st base line, but there’s just enough height on it to see it
reeled in by Crawfish Crafort. Piper-Jordan followed that with a
curling liner into left field, keeping the pressure on new Emeralds
reliever Andrew Underwood (0-0, 0.00).

That brought the D-Bomb, Greg Dowling, to the plate, and he promptly
tocked one to right field that had the Crawfish stumbling to deal with
it. One thing you don’t want to give Piper-Jordan is enough room to
turn third at full speed. As Crafort looked around for the ball, DJPJ
ripped around to tie the scores, and the slow-moving Dowling even
managed to get to second standing up. Sadly, due to the Crawfish losing
the bounce, Dowling didn’t get the RBI, buy you take the bad with the
great, huh?

Scores tied - 4-4.

TOP OF THE 9TH:
Howya Dewing, Branden Dewing? Dewing just fine, thanks very much, as he
chewed through another, giving up one walk but never threatened on the
scoresheet. Here comes the big finish…

BOTTOM OF THE 9TH:
Wow, we nearly went all Nostradamus there, as Jermaine Mitchell drilled
a dep shot down the 1st base line that neeeeeeearly went over but just
crept foul. Sadly, that was the highlight of the inning, as the meat of
the C’s order couldn’t get to base. BONUS BASEBALL!

TOP OF THE 10TH:
New pitcher for the C’s is Keith Eusebio (1-0, 0.00), a hard throwing
righthander who comes off the left edge of the rubber with plenty of
effort and plenty of result. God knows how hard this kid would throw if
his mechanics were smooth, but right now he’s pitching hard enough to
keep Eugene’s bats quiet. That is, he was until he got to Matt
Antonelli, who sent a high chopper to Affronti that the shortstop
whipped into first, seemingly in time to get the out, but the NWL umps
do like to be a factor and thus, Fonzarelli Antonelli stands at 1st. A
base hit to Freese puts a man into scoring position, and with the count
full to Chad ‘Felicity’ Huffman, the game is on the line…

Eusebio sets to throw, the crowd goes quiet, the runners break and a fastballinside is fouled off tothe back netting.

3-2 the count, tied at 4, runners on 1st and 2nd, another fastball inside is fought off by Huffman to stay alive yet again.

Eusebio, looking at the runners, checking the batter, looking again…
walks off the mound. Geez, talk about building the pressure… he sets
again, the runners set themselves then break as Eusebio unleashes… a
weak outside fastball and falls over on his keister.

Bases loaded, and pitching coach Craig Lefferts walks out to talk to
his charge. All he needs is one out against a guy who has only had 15
professional at bats.

First pitch: Foul tip.
Second pitch: Outside.
Third pitch: Inside.
Fourth pitch: Inside.
Fifth pitch: Ahem… inside.

5-4 to Eugene, and Keith Eusebio is on the hook for the loss.

As Crawfish Crafort comes up to the plate, a strike from the pitcher
draws an ironic cheer from the crowd. Another draws a less ironic
cheer, and a third over he outside of the plate removes all irony from
the air as the hitter is struck out looking to end the inning.

BOTTOM OF THE 10TH:
C’s need a run BADLY as the Emeralds bring in Ernesto Frieri to close
the game for the visitors. Frieri has a 0-1 record with a 3.24 ERA and
1 save on the season so far, a 6′2" Colombian kid who was a non-drafted
free agent pick-up in 2003. That means nothing to Matt Sulentic as he
drills the lead-off pitch through the hole at third into left field.
With Valdez showing a bunt, Sulentic broke hard for second and was gone
for all money, except that Eugene shortstop Tom King put out a weeeeeak
tag attempt that Sulentic got around easily.

Man on 2nd, no outs. 3-1 is the count, as Valdez again shows bunt, but
pullsit back as Frieri’s pitch wanders outside for ball four.

Men on 1st and 2nd, and the C’s are ready to save the game with DJPJ at
the plate. Piper-Jordan, however, isn’t exactly a bunter, as he shows
on the first two pitches and misses on both. 0-2 and nobody is going
home as Frieri sends a fastball in and Piper-Jordan swings hard at
fresh air for a K.

Michael Klug isn’t hitting well right now, but he’s a gamer, and so as
he swings at the first pitch and grounds to third, the defense guns it
to second, where Valdez slides hard and seemingly sees the 2nd baseman
jump over the bag entirely. The ump sees it differently, giving the out
at 2nd, but the DP couldn’t be turned, leaving men on the corners with
the D-Bomb at the plate.

But not until BOTH managers get in the ump’s ear about getting the all wrong. Go figure.

First pitch: Foul tip.
Second pitch: THE D-BOMB SINGLES TO LEFT FIELD to bring in the runner - scores tied!

Larry Cobb up at the plate, men on 1st and 2nd, a solid base hit can
win it all. Cobb works it to a full count and Frieri looks shaky, but a
fastball well inside ses Corny go around, and the swinging K ends the
inning with scores once again tied.

TOP OF THE 11TH:
Anthony Rea was called on to sub for Eusebio, and did what Eus’
couldn’t do - finish an inning without surrendering runs. Rea worked a
perfect three and the C’s are back at the plate with it all to win.

BOTTOM OF THE 11TH:
Fearless Affronti opened the inning for the C’s as it needed to be
opened - with a drive through the hole at 3rd, and a wild pitch gifted
him 2nd with the J-Train at the plate shaping to bunt. If I were the
Emeralds manager, i would have walked Mitchell, being as he’s the
monster of the lineup. But they threw at him instead, and rather than
work an 0-2 count to a walk, Mitchell’s eyes got big and he hit a liner
that the first baseman had to leap for to pull down. With Smith batting
Affronti around to 3rd, it was one again down to Sulentic to make the
big at bat if the game was going to be won.

And to his credit, Sulentic turned hard on one, breaking a bat as the ball jusssst went foul. 0-1 with a man on 3rd.

Next pitch, Sulentic watches one way outside. And another to bring it to 3-1.

Next pitch, coms inhard and Sulentic drills it hard, high, long and
large to center field, way over Epping’s head, and Affronti trots home
for the extra innings victory.

C’s win, C’s win!

GAME NOTES:
* I said at the very outset of this piece that the C’s needed to have
several players bust out of slumps for this game to be a victory, and
that’s exactly what seemed to happen. Greg Dowling has been Neifi
Perezing it so far into the season, but today’s bottom of the lineup
3-5 effort was pivotal to the side staying in the game, and being in a
position to win it. Admittedly, Dowling’s glove had failed the team
early, so he had something to make up for, but he was undoubtedly the
player of the game from that point on.

* Matt Sulentic also busted out of the gates today with an
authoritative display of hitting that would have been far more
devastating if the kid had more baseball knowledge than he does
presently. It’s an open secret that Sulentic has a ton to learn in
defense, and his baserunning has several holes that have seen him turn
base hits into outs of late. But he’s young, he’s talented (no question
about it), and he has a lot of years to learn the intricacies of the
game that will turn him from prospect into powerlord. For now,
opposition pitchers take him lightly at their peril, because the kid
can crank.

* Hands up anyone who realized that Larry Cobb is hitting .324 -
anyone? Anyone? Well, he is, and his .375 OBP is nothing to sneeze at
either. Losing Toddric Johnson is a tough thing to have to deal with
this early in the season, especially as he’s a Rickey Henderson in the
making (you heard it here first). But Corny Cobb has stepped up from
the moment he was brought in to replace Hot Toddy, and though he
doesn’t have Johnson’s speed, and he’s yet to show he can manufacture a
walk, when you’re hitting .324, you don’t really need much else as a
lead-off man.

* Andre Piper-Jordan kicked the crap out of Mendoza today, bursting
through the .200 average line with a 2-5 showing that brings his
average up to .267, and the two runs he scored didn’t hurt either. But
even though DJPJ has his bat working for him and can run the bases
well, he’s very prone to swinging at fresh air. If Piper-Jordan can
learn to pick a breaking ball from a fastball, he’ll go far, but
getting that batting average up into everyday starter territory is a
great first step.

* Branden Dewing - awesome. Most dominant pitcher of the day. He really
rips his body into every pitch, and when he sends those fastballs in,
they paint corners like nobody’s business. Granted, the pitchers were
getting a nice big strike zone from the NWL umps today (too big,
especially outside to the right handers), but Dewing looked a different
level.

Final game of the homestand is Saturday night - be sure to get there
early and stake out your seat, as it’s Canada Day fireworks night!

Note:

	June 30, 2006
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E Eugene 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 9 3 Vancouver 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 6 15 1 wrap | box | log W: A. Rea (1-0, 5.06); L: E. Frieri (0-2, 4.50) HR: None.