It was 2 a.m. in the morning and I was waiting for a cab in the lobby of the Comfort Suites in Salem – on my way back to the Treasure Valley to take care of my son P.J., flying home on the 25th Anniversary Horizon Air jet.  As long as my day ended up – it mirrored that of the Hawks, as Jorge Bucardo and two relievers limited Boise to just two hits in an 11-1 loss.

Robert Hernandez struck out five in his four-plus innings of work – the most by a Hawks pitcher this year, but allowed a three-run homer in the second to Ryan Lollis that gave S-K the lead for good.  Bucardo took a no-hitter into the sixth, but Alvaro Sosa broke it up with a solo home run to right (Tod Pickett with the call
homerun2.wma).  But that was all the Hawks would get – as the pen allowed seven runs in the final three frames.

A BIG THANK YOU: Special kudos to Tod Pickett for filling in for me tonight and tomorrow, along with Salem-Keizer radio man Mark Gilman for providing equipment for us (including the monitor for me in the booth this week) – both are true professionals and a pair of the nicest guys in the business.

THE BACON: The second hit by the Hawks was a double by Hak-Ju Lee in the sixth, extending his hitting streak to seven games.  At the major league level, former Hawk Randy Wells picked up the victory as the Cubs topped the White Sox, 5-4, with another former Boise player, Geovany Soto, hitting the go-ahead three-run homer…former Hawk, Josh Vitters, was selected to play in this year’s Futures Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, the Sunday before the All-Star Game.

STRANGE BREW: The Hawks were victimized by a pair of weird outs on Friday night, as Alvaro Sosa was called out on a ball that looked as if it hit his foot, however, after the catcher tossed the ball back to the pitcher, all realized that Brett Terry, the plate umpire ruled the ball in play, with the out finally recorded at first…another play saw Jose Valdez called out for stepping on home plate when trying to bunt the ball.