He’s had a hell of a rough time staying in the game this season, but
Deadly Don Sutton (left) came back into the world of the healthy today, and
announced his presence with a monster shot to right field that saved
the game for the Vancouver Canadians against a resurgent Eugene Emeralds outfit.


Having suffered a shot-out against the C’s yesterday, the Em’s found
themselves swinging at fresh air for five innings as TJ Franco dazzled
them with 1-hit ball, as a Matt Sulentic double, a Jake Smith single,
and a Casey Myers ground-out helped Mike Affronti and sulentic score in
the 3rd, and Wilber Perez brought home Alex Valdez with an RBI-double
in the 4th.

But all was not happy for the C’s in the 6th, as newly promoted 2005
high draftee Kevin Bunch came in to relieve Franco, making his
short-season debut after a season in rookie ball, and promptly gave up
four runs on four hits and an intentional walk, helping the Emeralds
back into a 4-3 lead.

That’s how it sat until the 8th, when Don Sutton showed the world he’s
healthy enough to beat the living crap out of a fastball, knocking one
over the wall in right to level the scores, and nearly repeating the
dose in the 10th, as another big swing ended just short, dropping into
a defender’s glove at the left field warning track.

It was an Alex Valdez shot to center that got the C’s started in the
extra frame, when the 3rd baseman busted a base hit into a sneaky
double. An Andre Piper-Jordan ground-out moved him along to 3rd, which
was good enough to see Valdez home on a subsequent passed ball.

Pat Currin closed it out despite giving up a lead off single, K’ing two
and luring big-hitting DH Chad Huffman into a deep left field fly-out.

GAME NOTES:
* The big guns of the night for Vancouver were Franco and Matt
Sulentic, who went 4-5 with a double and a run scored, to bring his
batting average out to the "you’ve got to be kidding me" level of .366
- this kid is the real deal, and to think he’s only 18… well, that’s
nuts.

*Jake The Rake smith and Alex Valdez both had multi-hit games for the
C’s, with Valdez hitting two doubles and scoring twice, and Smith
driving in a run. But perhaps the biggest smile-inducer for the day was
Don Sutton, who really needs a couple of good outings to get back into
the swing of things after two injuries, and made every swing count
today, driving one over the fence.

* Casey Myers played his first full game in some time, getting his
rehab stint back on schedule at last. He’s hitting .167. Jermaine
Mitchell continues to sit out with a bruise foot, courtesy of Spokane’s
predilection for plunking, while Andre Piper-Jordan is back in the
lineup following a few days out with a sore lower back. He’s hitting a
decent .268.

* Kevin "Brady" Bunch goes back to the team hotel tonight with the ERA
of 36.00 - welcome to low-A. At the other end of the spectrum, TJ
Franco goes back to Kane County to help bolster their playoff hopes. He
leaves the Canadians with a 1-0, 3.33 record, having also picked up 2
saves. We’ll miss ya, TJ.

* The C’s sit one game out of first place, with both they and the
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes having opened a six-game gap between them and
the 3rd and 4th place teams that may well be unassailable on present
form. The coming C’s/Volcs series may well decide the season.
 

July 23, 2006
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E Vancouver 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 12 2 Eugene 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 8 2 box | log W: P. Currin (2-3, 6.57); L: R. Rodriguez (1-1, 0.00); SV: S. Moore (4) HR: VAN: D. Sutton III (3).