6/12/2005 Stingers 8, Grizzlies 4
This morning I woke up to the sound of HAIL pounding the roof and windows of my house. The rain followed and lasted all morning. As I looked for a family member to be my partner to the Stingers game, I was turned down by all 5 canidates because they said "the game will be cancelled".
"They'll play it" I muttered.
"They'll play it" my wife said in a teasing voice.
I put on a few extra layers of clothing because the temp (for a June day) was well below comfortable for a baseball game. Then I found my old glove, a pencil, and a scorecard. I already had a stack of baseball cards to get autographs with my pens and sharpies.
After loading the Suburban (I live in Utah!), I came in for one more round of looking for a victim, I mean a partner to go with me. My wife and daughter were unable to think of a good excuse, so I hearded them out the door.
By the time we got to the stadium, the clouds had parted and the tarp was being rolled up.
I had great luck getting autographs from Luke Allen, Eric Cyr, Jeff Mathis, (local boy) Zach Sorensen, Dustin Moseley, Nick Gorneault, Ryan Budde, Brian Dallimore, and Brandon Puffer.
Chris Bootcheck started for the Stingers and went 7 full innings, allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits. In this elevation and notoriously high scoring PCL it is almost unbelievable how great this guy is pitching. He improved his record to 3-1, but I just can't see him staying in the minors too much longer. The Angels are currently down one starting pitcher, with Escobar on the 15 day DL, but every article I have read, says that Ervin Santana has the best chance of getting the next call up.
Eric Cyr was a little shakey giving up 2 runs in the 8th inning, the only inning he pitched. Then Dusty Bergman came in and sealed the deal in the ninth, allowing one hit and striking out one.
The highlight of the night was definately Bootcheck, but I also love watching Luke Allen. He hit a two run bomb in the 5th to power the Stingers to their 6th straight victory.
The Stingers currently have a 1 game lead over the Portland Beavers.
For the Fresno Grizzlies, its only fair that I mention the long bomb by Todd Linden in the top of the 7th frame. Although, it seems almost unfair to Bootcheck, because Linden had already taken several pitches in the 6th inning before Mickey Lopez was caught stealing when he wandered off 2nd base. When Linden came up in the 7th, he saw several more pitches before hitting the cover off the ball for the first run of the night for Fresno.
Just one more interesting detail that I wanted to illustrate is in reguards to Nick Gorneault. He went 0-2 on the night with a walk and a sacrifice fly, but he saw a ton of pitches. Tonight I watched as he worked the count to perfection. I didn't see one other Stinger take over 5 total pitches in any at bat all night. Nicks AB's went as follows:
1st inning- 7 pitch walk
3rd inning- 2 pitches (rbi, sac fly)
5th inning- 9 pitch swinging strikeout
7th inning- 6 pitch liner to short.
It's great to see a guy who can work the count. He was very patient, thus jacking the pitch count and allowing the batters behind him to get their timing and see the pitch sequence.
The loudest moment of the night is folling the intential base on balls to Stingers Slugger Luke Allen. Jeff Mathis came to the plate and hammered the first pitch into the corner for a 2 run triple!
The Stingers finished the night with 8 runs on 10 hits, while the Grizzlies scored only 4 runs on 11 hits and one error by Mickey Lopez.
"They'll play it" I muttered.
"They'll play it" my wife said in a teasing voice.
I put on a few extra layers of clothing because the temp (for a June day) was well below comfortable for a baseball game. Then I found my old glove, a pencil, and a scorecard. I already had a stack of baseball cards to get autographs with my pens and sharpies.
After loading the Suburban (I live in Utah!), I came in for one more round of looking for a victim, I mean a partner to go with me. My wife and daughter were unable to think of a good excuse, so I hearded them out the door.
By the time we got to the stadium, the clouds had parted and the tarp was being rolled up.
I had great luck getting autographs from Luke Allen, Eric Cyr, Jeff Mathis, (local boy) Zach Sorensen, Dustin Moseley, Nick Gorneault, Ryan Budde, Brian Dallimore, and Brandon Puffer.
Chris Bootcheck started for the Stingers and went 7 full innings, allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits. In this elevation and notoriously high scoring PCL it is almost unbelievable how great this guy is pitching. He improved his record to 3-1, but I just can't see him staying in the minors too much longer. The Angels are currently down one starting pitcher, with Escobar on the 15 day DL, but every article I have read, says that Ervin Santana has the best chance of getting the next call up.
Eric Cyr was a little shakey giving up 2 runs in the 8th inning, the only inning he pitched. Then Dusty Bergman came in and sealed the deal in the ninth, allowing one hit and striking out one.
The highlight of the night was definately Bootcheck, but I also love watching Luke Allen. He hit a two run bomb in the 5th to power the Stingers to their 6th straight victory.
The Stingers currently have a 1 game lead over the Portland Beavers.
For the Fresno Grizzlies, its only fair that I mention the long bomb by Todd Linden in the top of the 7th frame. Although, it seems almost unfair to Bootcheck, because Linden had already taken several pitches in the 6th inning before Mickey Lopez was caught stealing when he wandered off 2nd base. When Linden came up in the 7th, he saw several more pitches before hitting the cover off the ball for the first run of the night for Fresno.
Just one more interesting detail that I wanted to illustrate is in reguards to Nick Gorneault. He went 0-2 on the night with a walk and a sacrifice fly, but he saw a ton of pitches. Tonight I watched as he worked the count to perfection. I didn't see one other Stinger take over 5 total pitches in any at bat all night. Nicks AB's went as follows:
1st inning- 7 pitch walk
3rd inning- 2 pitches (rbi, sac fly)
5th inning- 9 pitch swinging strikeout
7th inning- 6 pitch liner to short.
It's great to see a guy who can work the count. He was very patient, thus jacking the pitch count and allowing the batters behind him to get their timing and see the pitch sequence.
The loudest moment of the night is folling the intential base on balls to Stingers Slugger Luke Allen. Jeff Mathis came to the plate and hammered the first pitch into the corner for a 2 run triple!
The Stingers finished the night with 8 runs on 10 hits, while the Grizzlies scored only 4 runs on 11 hits and one error by Mickey Lopez.
posted by Uncle Charlie Yakker | 19:06
2 Comments:
very nice writing. I am not a big baseball fan, but your writing kept me going on to the next paragraph, until the end.
Pitch count is the big thing this year for my local baseball broatcasters. Former 20 game winner Mike Krukow is one of one. But, there seems to be more to the game that a straight statistic.
That said there's nothing like a game with a good pace. I love it when the pitcher barely walks away from the rubber to get the return throw and then quickly winds up and throws the next pitch. 2 night's ago the Arizona pitcher was the opposite . The game was past 2 1/2 hours and barely in the sixth inning.
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