It was a series that any team would like to forget, as Vancouver Canadians dropped four out of five games against the Tri-City Dust Devils to open the 2008 NWL season. 

Very strong pitching performances from Pedro Figueroa, Hector Garcia and Carlos Hernandez managed only one win in the series, while poor outings from guys like Ryne Tacker and Inoel Deaza on the hill cost Vancouver a game or two.  

And errors, oh man, the errors.  It was a disaster on Thursday and Friday with the number of errors the C’s committed.  And as someone at the ballpark pointed out tonight, the one good thing from tonight’s performance, despite the loss, was the fact the C’s didn’t commit 6 errors like Thursday night.  

The team was 1-1 to open the year, but fell short three games in a row, and now stand two games back of first place in the NWL Western Division.  Hopefully a road trip will help the team bond, and find their stroke.

Offensively, it’s been a terrible few games, aside from a few select players.  I’m talking about Jason Christian, Jareck West, Marcos Luis, Juan Nunez, JD Pruitt, Jeremy Barfield and Walter Correa.  Even most of these guys have been so-so hitters, but everyone else has just been brutal.

Tonight Vancouver put the following line-up out on the field:

LF JD ‘Beaned’ Pruitt (top)
SS Jason ‘Wings’ Christian
CF Jareck ‘Wild Wild’ West
1B Walter ‘WAAAAAAALT!’ Correa
DH Lorenzo ‘Zorro’ Macias
RF Jeremy ‘Legacy’ Barfield
2B Marcos ‘Luuuuuu’ Luis
3B Carlos ‘Peachy’ Arrieche
C Juan ‘Bullet-time’ Nunez
SP Hector ‘Heavy Heat’ Garcia

In the bottom of the first, with no score, JD Pruitt stepped into the batters box to open the game, nothing special.  Pitch 1, just misses his head.  Pitch 2, beans him in the side of the body.  Yes folks, JD Pruitt was hit for the 35th time in his two-year NWL career.

Jason Christian walked, so the next batter Jareck West stepped in.  Pitch 1, just about creams him.  Pitcher Josh Sullivan wasn’t looking too hot at this point.  But two infield fly’s later, as well as a ground out, got him through the inning, no harm done.

Tri-City had a great 4th inning, with Bo Bowman tripling, before Josh Band brought him into score.  1-0 Dust Devils after four.

In the 5th, more defensive woes for Vancouver.  With runners on first and second, one out, Carlos Arrieche jumped in the air and caught a one-hopper at third base.  Easy, just touch the runner (who was about half-way down the base path) or tag third base.  Not for Peachy.  He decided to throw to second, but his throw was way off the mark, so a run scored, and the hitter stood at 2nd, while another runner was at 3rd.  A sac fly scored Austin Rauch, 3-0 Dust Devils.

It was now the bottom of 7, and with runners on first and second, a throwing error brought Jeremy Barfield to third base, and Marcos Luis to 2nd.  Carlos Arrieche grounded out, but Barfield came home to score, cutting the deficit to two runs.

A wild pitch by the reliever Brad McAtee advanced Luis to 3rd, but Juan Nunez struck out, with the Nat Bailey crowd cheering him on.

In the Top of 9 now, with Brent Lysander in his third inning on the mound, Brent hit Chris Vasami, gave up a single to Chad Lembeck, before Austin Rauch doubled to left, scoring two runners.  A ground out and a double by Leo Reyes scored Rauch, and then a wild pitch brought Reyes to third, before he scored on a Radames Nazario sac fly.  7-1 Dust Devils.

During the bottom of the 9th, Andrew ‘Gravy’ Groves came into pitch for Tri-City, and walked Walter Correa on four straiaght pitches.  Lorenzo Macias struck out, and Jeremy Barfield flew out, leaving Correa on 2nd with two out.  Walter would end the game on a force out at 2nd, on a Marcos Luis ground out.  7-1 Dust Devils, who took the series 4-1.

Game Notes:

JD Pruitt had a productive day at the plate, going 0-2 with a walk and a HBP.  Only 33 more HBP’s to go before he ties his own record from last season.  He’s hitting .231 on the season.

Jason Christian had his best game of this short season, going 2-3 with a walk.  He improved his average to .333.

Jareck West finally had an unproductive day at the plate, going 0-4 with a strikeout.  He’s batting .278. 

Jeremy Barfield was 1-4 with Vancouver’s only run, and has now hit safely in three consecutive games.

Carlos Arrieche was 1-3, with his first hit of the season.  He’s played in all five Canadians games, but had failed to get a hit until tonight.

Juan Nunez had an off-night at the dish, going 0-3 with 3 K’s.  Nunez had been hitting .400 going into the game.

Hector Garcia is sure fun to watch, throwing in the mid-high 90’s on almost every pitch.  He went 6 strong, giving up three hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 3 walks and striking out a pair.

Returning Canadian Brent Lysander threw 3 innings of relief, giving up five hits, four ER (all in the last inning) and hit a batter, in his first appearance of the NWL season.

The C’s now hit the road to Yakima for a 5-game stand, where they hope to improve their bats, and their win-loss record.  Rob Fai has the call of all 76 Canadians games this summer, on canadiansbaseball.com. 

Side note: The C’s received three players today for Phoenix, and they are LHP Trey Barham, 3B Rodney Rutherford and IF Ryne Jernigan.