Category: Dailies
One Long Inning in Eugene
One long, strange inning, was the difference between a win and a loss for the Boise Hawks, as Eugene evened up the five-game series at Civic Stadium (pictured left) at a game apiece with a 5-1 victory.
After the Hawks took advantage of a lead-off, sun-aided double by Hak-Ju Lee and an RBI single by Brett Jackson to take an early lead – things unraveled in a hurry.
After tossing 14.2 consecutive scoreless innings, starter Tarlandus Mitchell struggled mightily – walking three consecutive hitters with one out, then hitting a batter to tie the score. After a strikeout, another walk gave Eugene the lead – then back to back wild pitches allowed two more runs to score. The final ledger – two-thirds of an inning, five walks, one hit batter, five earned runs, one strikeout. It isn’t often you see five runs on just one hit in an inning.
Kudos, however, to the Hawks pen, which has thrown now 12 consecutive scoreless innings – as Corey Martin had his longest outing of the year, while Yohan Gonzalez and Josh Lansford were both solid.
Jon Berger was outstanding for Eugene, retiring 17 of the final 20 batters he faced, while David Erickson worked out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth, then retired the side in order in the ninth for his sixth save.
THE OLD PARK SHOWING ITS AGE: I had the opportunity to walk the Civic Stadium playing surface prior to batting practice today, and can tell you that the strange weather they have had in the Upper Willamette Valley has done a number on the outfield grass – which is in as bad of shape as I have ever seen it. I did get to get up close and personal with the manual scoreboard (pictured to the right), one of only 18 still operating in the minors (including Everett and Vancouver). The Hawks outfielders were telling me after the game that the kids who were operating the board were playing loud music and seemed a bit tipsy – he said it was comical (maybe that is why the ball/strike count throughout the game was a bit off).
HEADING TO PK PARK: First thing on Saturday morning, I will attempt to get some footage at PK Park (guessing PK stands for Oregon booster and Nike boss Phil Knight), the University of Oregon stadium that looks to be the home of the Eugene Emeralds in 2010. Only a seven-mile walk stands in my way – wish me luck!!!
THE BACON: Logan Watkins and Justin Bour each saw their hitting streaks snapped last night, with Watkins going 0-for-3 with a hit by pitch, closing out a career-high 15-game run. Bour went 0-for-3 with a hit by pitch as well, ending a six-game streak…Jackson has now reached base in all 20 games he has played with the Hawks this year…Lansford has not allowed a run in six of his last seven outings, including six consecutive scoreless frames…following the game, an unknown number of Eugene Emeralds players will be heading to Salt Lake City to join the AAA Portland Beavers for tonight’s Pacific Coast League game – as seven Portland players were hospitalized with what may be the H1N1 flu, forcing the postponement of their game last night in Utah…as a precaution, Hawks trainer Dan Golden gave a speech to the squad on the ride home tonight from the ballpark about washing hands and not sharing towels.
A long night, a long night to Eugene
It was a long, long night in many ways for the Boise Hawks – watching a 5-0 lead evaporate in a 10-8 loss to Salem-Keizer, then having to hop onto a bus for the 438 mile trek to Springfield, Ore., and the Shilo Inn (pictured to the left).
Things looked great through five innings, the Hawks chased Jorge Bucardo – the same pitcher that took a no-hitter into the sixth against Boise in June, with a Justin Bour two-run double (audio highlight –
bour2B.wma)pushing the lead to 5-0. Robert Hernandez was dominant through five, striking out five and allowing just two hits. Unfortunately, the bullpen didn’t cooperate.
Yohan Gonzalez allowed three inherited runs to score in the sixth inning, then could not get an out in the seven – with Corey Martin struggling as well, along with a pair of errors that led to a seven-run outburst, as the Hawks watched the series victory slip through their fingers.
THE TRIP: The trip to Eugene was a little different, as skipper Casey Kopitzke did not travel with the team, instead making the trek with his wife. Joining the club on the trip was Mike Sharp, our HAM insider and editor of (http://sharpfocus.mlblogs.com/) – who will get to see what life is on the road.
We watched only one movie, Push, about people with genetic abilities…I really didn’t get into the flick. Nothing was open in Burns, Ore., so we rolled on to Bend, Ore., the old home of the Bend Rockies – where we had a pit stop at 4:15 a.m. The team finally rolled into our digs at the Shilo Inn here in Springfield around 7 a.m.
THE BACON: With the 3-2 series loss to Salem-Keizer, the Hawks have yet to win a series from the Volcanoes since 2002…Brett Jackson reached base in his 18th-straight game, while Bour extended his hitting streak to five with a 2-for-3 game…Logan Watkins went 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, extending his hitting streak to 14 games – the third-longest streak this year in the league…both Richard Jones and Runey Davis ended long hitless droughts – Jones ending an 0-for-19 slump with two singles, and Davis ending a 0-for-9 slump with a bunt single…Jose Valdez wishes that S-K was still in town, as the speedster went 10-for-16 in the series…Hernandez had the longest start of the season for the Hawks, going five and a third innings – the fourth time he has tossed five or more innings this year.
ALUMNI NOTES: Ricky Nolasco pitched a three-hit shutout last night for the Florida Marlins, blanking the San Diego Padres, 5-0, pushing his record to 7-7.
INTERVIEWS INTERVIEWS, INTERVIEWS: I have finally edited the audio files of six more Hawk Talk Player Profile segments – including Logan Watkins (
watkinsHT.wma), Danny Keefe (
KeefeHT.wma), Josh Whitlock (
whitlockHT.wma), Greg Rohan (
rohanHT.wma), Ryan Sontag (
sontagHT.wma), and Robert Whitenack (
whitenackHT.wma).
One play doesn’t cost a game…
Last night when I got home from the ball park, I took advantage of DirecTV’s free weekend of the MLB package to catch the end of the Minnesota-Oakland game, as the A’s rallied from ten runs down to win, 14-13. The final play perplexed me, as Michael Cuddayer was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second base on a Michael Wuertz wild pitch – obviously safe, but ruled out by the umpire (which in turn led to a nice rant today by manager Ron Gardenhire).
Fast forward to tonight, as a similar play happened in the eighth inning of the game, as Salem-Keizer took a 6-5 lead and with one out and the bases loaded, Caleb Curry hit a roller to Greg Rohan at third, who stepped on the bag and fired high across the diamond to Justin Bour, who tagged the runner on the helmet for the final out (which was confirmed by replay from our friends at Fiberpipe) – however, base umpire Aaron Roberts did not see the tag, ruling Curry safe…setting off a frenzy between Bour, George Matheus, pitcher Danny Keefe, and eventually skipper Casey Kopitzke, who was ejected after the confrontation.
What people need to realize is that the one call – whether it was right or not – did not make or break the game. S-K already had the lead when it happened, although it may have been different for Jose Casilla and Drew Bowlin to pitch with a one-run cushion instead of three in the last two frames. However, the Hawks poor base-running in the first three innings were as much of a rally killer than anything late in the game – Jae Hoon Ha getting picked off of second to close the third, and Jose Valdez over-running third base on a Hak-Ju Lee single in the second.
THE BACON: Following the game tonight, pitcher Joe Simokaitis was promoted to Advanced-A Daytona to help in their bullpen…of the 14 hits by the Hawks, the first 13 were singles, followed by a ninth inning double from Brett Jackson…Logan Watkins extended his hit streak to 13 with a first inning single, while Lee extended his hitting streak to eight…
ALUMNI NEWS: Two former Hawks squared off in the big leagues tonight, as Sergio Mitre made his New York Yankees debut against the Orioles Rich Hill…Mitre was the winner, Hill the loser, in a Yankee 6-4 win…at AA, 2008 Hawk Andrew Cashner had his best performance as a professional, allowing just one hit in six innings, striking out five, as Tennessee beat Mississippi, 3-2.
Quality performance by the Hawks
An outstanding job by a trio of pitchers and a pair of clutch two-out hits proved to be the difference for the Boise Hawks in a key 4-3 victory over Salem-Keizer tonight.
Jeff Antigua allowed a Drew Biery solo home run in four and two-thirds innings of work tonight – striking out five batters, with newcomer Eduardo Figueroa tiring late in his two inning stint, allowing a pair of runs. But it was Dionis Nunez (pictured left) who slammed the door – striking out big Chris Dominguez with the tying run at third in the seventh, then setting the side down in order in the eighth and ninth innings for his second save of the season.
While the pitching was solid in working around four Hawk errors, key hits helped in the victory. Hak-Ju Lee singled with one out in the fifth, stole second, moved to third on a Logan Watkins groundout, and scored on a Brett Jackson single to give Boise a 2-1 lead. An inning later, Jose Valdez provided the winning runs with a clutch two-run double (listen to the radio call
valdez2B.wma), scoring Jae-Hoon Ha and Greg Rohan.
BACON: Watkins, who was named Northwest League Hitter of the Week earlier in the day, had a single in the third inning, extending his hit streak to 12…Lee had two hits, extending his hit streak to seven, while reaching base in his 26th game in 27 outings…Jackson had two hits and has reached base safely in all 15 games as a Hawk…with a win in one of the final two games of the series, the Hawks can clinch their first series win against S-K since 2002…of the 30 games played by the Hawks this season, 13 have been one-run games (Boise is 9-4 in those contests)…Franklin Font, who skippered the Hawks during the first two series of the season, is back in town in his official capacity – as the Cubs roving infield instructor, along with base-running instructor Bob Dernier, and minor league strength coach Doug Jaros.
LOOKING AHEAD: In the coming days, look for Hawk Talk interviews with our Player of the Games to be posted (including Watkins, Rohan, Danny Keefe, Ryan Sontag, Josh Whitlock, and Robert Whitenack).
An Impressive Player
It was a one-man wrecking crew tonight for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in the form of San Francisco Giants third-round pick Chris Dominguez (pictured left) out of Louisville. The 6-5, 240 pound third baseman clubbed his fourth home run of the season in the fourth inning – a mammoth shot to left field, to get S-K on the board, then walked, stole second, and scored on a Luke Anders single in the sixth to tie the game. He then walked, stole second, and scored on Drew Biery’s RBI single in the eight for the game winning run. Dominguez looks like a big league player – and once he is able to command the strike zone, and probably end up moving to first base in the end, will definitely be a force in the Bay Area in coming years…
Hawks starter Robert Whitenack had his best stuff of the season, at one point retiring ten straight S-K batters, before the Dominguez home run in the fourth. The eighth-round pick had his knuckle-curve working tonight, getting a plethora of ground balls, while striking out three.
On base and hitting streaks continued tonight – Logan Watkins doubling in the first to push his hitting streak to 11, while both Hak-Ju Lee and Brett Jackson reached base, extending their long streaks (Lee has reached in 26 of 27 games, Jackson in all 15 games with the Hawks).
THE BACON: Despite an announced crowd of only 1,975 fans, it was a very vocal and boisterous crowd – voicing their disapproval to multiple calls by the NWL umpire crew (who I thought did a nice job – as we have the luxury of seeing replays in the press box)…Lee stole his 12th base tonight, taking over the NWL lead in that category.
A FUTURE CUBS DRAFT PICK?: You be the judge, as my son tried his hand at T-Ball for the first time today
Walk off magic vs. NWL’s best
To say that the Boise Hawks have struggled recently against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes would be an understatement – which makes tonight’s 3-2 victory in 11 innings that much more sweeter. Since the 2004 season, the Hawks had a 11-44 record against the Giants affiliate, never winning more than four games in a season against S-K during that stretch, while the 2007 team went 0-10 against the Volcanoes.So, when Justin Bour (pictured left) singled home Hak-Ju Lee with the winning run – it got the five-game set off on the right foot, the first time since opening night, 2003, that Boise won Game 1 of a series against S-K.
Boise had to do it late against closer Drew Bowlin, who has blown one save and allowed just three runs all year. The previous blown save was in the Hawks first win of the season in Keizer, as Jae-Hoon Ha’s RBI double in the ninth game the Hawks a 5-4 victory. Fast forward to tonight, as Brett Jackson’s one-out triple (thanks to a dropped ball deep in left-center by Jose Medina) in the 9th set the table for Ha, who legged out an infield single to send the game to extras.
THE BACON: S-K is 17-2 this season when leading heading into the 9th – the two losses, against Boise…the Hawks are now 8-3 in one-run games this year and a perfect 3-0 in extra inning games…Tarlandus Mitchell continues to be stellar in a starting role, going four and two-thirds innings of shutout ball tonight, without walking a man…he has now thrown 14.1 consecutive scoreless innings…
Logan Watkins had another multi-hit game, extending his hitting streak to ten games…Jackson has reached safely in all 14 games as a Hawk, while Lee has reached in 25 of 26 games this year…Ryan Sontag tossed two scoreless innings tonight after returning to Boise after he and his wife Amy celebrated the birth of their first child – daughter Emily (pictured with dad)…she weighed seven pounds and was 19 inches in length…Congratulations!!!
NOTES – High temperature in Boise today was 106 degrees, breaking the old record of 103 for today, set in 2003…over the last two games, Hawks opponents have committed six errors – all by outfielders…with Tri-City’s 4-3 loss to Eugene, the Hawks pull within six games of the top spot and at 12-16, it is as close to .500 as they have been all season…Boise has won eight of their last 11 at home.
Bring out the Brooms
Boy has the home cooking at Memorial Stadium fattened up the Boise Hawks offense…Winners of five of their last six at home, the Hawks piled up 29 runs and 44 hits in a three-game sweep of the Yakima Bears, including a 6-0 shutout tonight.
Looking back at the series – the pitching was solid, as Josh Whitlock was dominant on Thursday night, allowing just one hit in four innings of work, Robert Hernandez continued to cruise, allowing just two hits in four innings of work, and Yohan Gonzalez had an encouraging outing, going three innings of shutout ball last night, facing the minimum.
On the attack, the top of the order was nearly unstoppable against Yakima – as Hak-Ju Lee posted multi-hit games in all three wins, Logan Watkins had ten hits in the three games, and Brett Jackson lived on base – drawing seven walks in the three wins.
The power for the Hawks began to show up – with newcomer Justin Bour hitting a long homer on Thursday, with Greg Rohan hitting a two-run shot to left to cap the scoring on Friday. Boise also had a pair of triples and eight doubles during the series.
THE BACON: It has been tough to be the on-field Ram Tough Player of the Game this week – as pranksters in the clubhouse have struck each night with shaving cream pies…Watkins, Bour, and Rohan have all drawn chuckles from the fans. In talking with Whitlock today, he stated that it is Jackson, “Who seems to be in the middle of the shaving cream each night.” Bour’s home run was the first this season at Memorial Stadium for the Hawks – dating all the way back to August 28, 2008, when Ryan Flaherty homered in a 9-4 win over the same Yakima Bears…Watkins’ five-hit game on Thursday was a rarity, as only four players last season recorded five-hit games (including the Hawks Sean Hoorelbeke)…the 20 hits by Boise on Thursday marked the second-straight season on July 16 that the Hawks had 20 or more hits – as last year, they recorded 22 knocks in a 10-4 win over Tri-City.
NOTES – With Spokane’s 12-8 victory over Tri-City tonight, the Hawks move within seven games of the Dust Devils in the NWL East – with Tri-City losing their first game in 12 outings against an East Division opponent…down in Mesa, two Cubs draft picks – Chris Rusin out of Kentucky (4th Round) and Wes Darvill of Canada (5th Round) have reported and played in their first game.
AROUND THE MINORS: Former Hawk Sergio Mitre (’01) is set to be called up by the New York Yankees on Tuesday to start against Baltimore…Mitre has been out of the big leagues since 2007, battling arm injuries…Brian Dopirak (’03), the Eastern League’s leader in home runs (19) and RBI (83) was promoted by the Toronto Blue Jays from the New Hampshire Fisher Cats to the Las Vegas 51’s in the Pacific Coast League…
Movie Reviews and Second Place
The long ride home from Vancouver on Tuesday night allowed for the Hawks to watch three full-length movies – including the first one I have watched completely in Spanish. Up first was Talento de Barrio, featuring Puerto Rican reggaeton star, Daddy Yankee. The Latin players on the bus loved the movie, with pitching coach David Rosario talking throughout about how realistic the movie was – the film featured a leader of a drug ring who was trying to make his name in music. Despite watching the entire movie in subtitles – it was VERY good.
The second movie was a classic bus movie, Wedding Crashers – with the team staying pretty quiet until Will Farrell’s character Chazz shows up near the end, trying to offer up his mom’s meatloaf. Closing out was the horror movie, Mirrors, with Kiefer Sutherland as an ex-cop trying to figure out why mirrors are causing murders. It was weird seeing Sutherland in a role that wasn’t 24’s Jack Bauer.
After the long night – the Hawks offense woke up against Yakima, setting a season high with 14 hits in the come-from-behind 9-8 win over Yakima. Leading the charge was the resurgent Logan Watkins, who recorded his fourth-straight multi-hit game, going 4-for-5 with the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Danny Keefe picked up his second save of the season, getting a key line-out, throw-out double play in the eighth, then starting a 1-6-3 twin killing in the ninth to help notch the victory. With the win, coupled with a Spokane loss to Tri-City, the Hawks moved into a tie for second in the NWL East – their highest position all season, despite with a 9-16 record.
ROSTER MOVES: The Cubs made six roster moves yesterday – three players up from Mesa, three players down. Headed to Arizona are infielder Jordan Petraitis, catcher Alvaro Sosa, and pitcher Miguel Sierra, while first-baseman Justin Bour, catcher Richard Jones, and pitcher Eduardo Figueroa head to Boise. Bour, a 6-4 250 pounder, hit 46 career home runs at George Mason, while Jones led the AZL with seven homers so far this year.
The Luck of the Ninja?
Maybe it is the good luck from Haru, Chris Farley’s character in the 1997 movie, Beverly Hills Ninja, that has helped the Boise Hawks – as the squad recorded their second-straight victory over Vancouver tonight, winning 6-3.
Why Haru? Following the tough 9-0 loss on Saturday, skipper Casey Kopitzke thought the team needed to loosen up on the bus heading back to the hotel, so he had trainer Dan Golden put the movie in. Everywhere the team has gone – to the field, to the gym, Beverly Hills Ninja has been on. And the team is 2-0.
Tonight, the Hawks took advantage of three Vancouver errors, as five of the six runs tallied were unearned. Pitching was solid, as Boise did not allow an earned run, with three pitchers combining to throw four shutout innings to close out the game.
AT THE NAT: A couple things I really like at Nat Bailey Stadium are the concourses underneath the stadium (pictured to the right), where all of the concession stands are, along with tons of memorabilia on the walls – dating back to the Western International League days. Also today, I had the opportunity to head down to the kids park and test out the C’s mini-golf course, something I mastered – but only after the camera’s stopped rolling (special thanks to the C’s media interns for their help).
THE BACON: Tarlandus Mitchell continued to impress as a starter, tossing three shutout innings, allowing just one hit…Mitchell has not allowed a run in his three starts, spanning 9.2 innings…the win for Larry Suarez was his first since 2007…Joe Simokaitis tossed two scoreless innings – his longest outing of the year, while Ryan Sontag notched his second career save, both in Vancouver…Brett Jackson had an RBI single (video of Jackson taking BP today), as he has hit safely in 8-of-9 games with the Hawks…Jose Valdez extended his hit streak to six, Logan Watkins to five games…Greg Rohan ended an 0-for-19 slump with an eighth inning single.
NOTES: Game time temperature in Vancouver was 62 degrees, Wednesday’s high in Boise for Game 1 of the Yakima series is expected at 102 degrees…with Eugene’s sweep of a doubleheader of Spokane, the Hawks moved just one-half game out of second-place in the NWL East heading into tomorrow’s series finale.
Alumni Report
Was trying to find the old pre-Cubs era logo to add to the post, but couldn’t. Short morning blog today, as a new story has been posted on boisehawks.com about former Hawks players in the majors, the minors, and independent baseball. The following document (
AlumniReport7-10-09.doc) is a complete list of former Hawks from AA, AAA, MLB, and the Independent Leagues.
Also of note this morning – Josh Vitters went 0-for-1 with a walk at the MLB Futures Game in St. Louis, and Sergio Mitre (’01) was named International League Pitcher of the Week for the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees.
On the Mike 