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Game Notes for 6/20 vs. Eugene

After an eight run bus ride back to Boise (got to Memorial Stadium at 8 a.m.), it’s a quick turnaround for the Boise Hawks, opening a five-game series with the Eugene Emeralds.

(Click Here for Tonight’s Game Notes)

Prior to the game, all three Boise TV affiliates (ABC, CBS, NBC) did live shots at the park for their evening news – expecting a nice crowd on a gorgeous night for baseball.

Game Notes – 6/19/12

Big win last night for the Hawks – and a REALLY late night for the team (most of the players got to Denny’s in Salem at 12:15 AM last night).

Entire game recap (including great nights from Justin Marra and Rafael Diplan) available in tonight’s game notes (Click Here to Read Game Notes from 6/19/12)

The Hawks will return home following tonight’s game (Willengton Cruz goes for Boise against S-K’s Mario Rodriguez) at 6:35 p.m. (PT)

Tomorrow night – make sure to tune into Hawkstown Tonight at 6 p.m., as we’ll have our first Go Cubs Go segment of the season, chatting with the other broadcasters from the Cubs affiliates.

Life in Oregon’s Capital

Thought we would take a quick look at the stuff off the diamond during the trip to Salem-Keizer, the first road swing of the year for the Boise Hawks.

HOTEL – the team stays at the Comfort Suites, a very nice hotel with clean comfortable rooms (pictured left) – great continental breakfast, and cookies at night.  Definitely in the top tier of hotels in the league.  Unfortunately, the location is a boon for players looking for places to eat after the game.

FOOD – as mentioned above, not many options – as a 1/2 mile down the road is a Denny’s (which following last nights win, was slammed at 12:15 AM when the team arrived – taking nearly 90 minutes to get food).  Players can walk a mile to a Walmart, Subway, or Panda Express for lunch.  Our team driver has made it a ritual to take the guys to Applebee’s (when they are open) for a postgame meal.  Two other great options if one has a car – the Ram Restaurant and Brewery (same as in Boise), which has a great Sunday happy hour, and the Golden Dragon, which has ridiculously good food.

BALLPARK – most of you know how critical I have been over the years on the Salem-Keizer franchise, but believe it or not, I do have friends within the organization.  PA Announcer Michael Trevino does a really good job (there are some fabulous PA guys in the league) and is hillarious – plus you know where to get gum if you need it at the park.  Giants video coordinator Norm Ordaz his a riot and always has a wealth of knowledge, and Operations Manager Rick Nelson is always prompt (and has me the attendance count in the 7th inning every night, which is outstanding).  I have never been a fan of the radio booth and never will – and despite all of Jerry Howard’s pestering of fans, they always find a way to get into the crowd mike (AKA the Drunk Guy on Friday).  A thumbs down in the clubhouse this year, where the coaching staff did not receive a postgame meal during the entire series – the first time in eight years I’ve ever seen that.

CONDIMENT BAR: My Best of the Northwest League in 2012 will feature the Condiment Bar at each of the eight stadiums – starting at Volcanoes Stadium.  S-K has improved their selection over the years, with thick cut pickles, diced onions, sauerkraut, and jalapenos for the fans, along with the typical ketchup and mustard.  However, kudos to the Volcanoes for their relish – a really dilly relish that is OUTSTANDING.  Maybe the best relish in the league (I’ll have to wait till we get to Vancouver to see – the relish at the Nat is pretty good too)

News and Notes – 6/18

Last night was a tough pill to swallow for the Hawks, squandering a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning, losing on a walk-off single for the second time in three games, falling 4-3 to Salem-Keizer.

(Click Here for 6/18 Game Notes)

THE GOOD: An outstanding debut for the young South African, Tayler Scott, who tossed five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out four.  He commanded the strike zone for the most part and worked out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning.  Gioskar Amaya had an RBI single and added a pair of highlight reel plays at second base to stop S-K rallies, while Jeimer Candelario added two RBI.

THE BAD: The bullpen struggled with its command, allowing four walks and six hits over the final two innings alone.  After retiring six of the first seven men he faced, Hayden Simpson failed to get an out in the eighth, as Pete Levitt allowed two inherited runs to score.  In the ninth, back to back one out singles got S-K in position against Levitt, with Bryce Shafer allowed two RBI singles with two outs to end the game.

NOTES: Shawon Dunston Jr. had two hits in the game, including his first professional base hit…the Hawks have scored nine runs this season, but have not scored more than one run in an inning…Salem-Keizer used 14 position players in the win, while the Hawks have just 11 position players on their roster.

ROSTER MOVE: The Hawks added a pitcher earlier today, as right-hander Felix Pena has been added from Peoria.  Pena had a 0-0 record and a 4.50 ERA in six appearances with the Chiefs, tossing 10 innings. (Click to see Hawks Roster as of 6/18/12)

TODAY: Ian Dickson makes his professional debut for the Hawks, meeting NWL veteran Kendry Flores.  Game time is 6:35 p.m. (PT).

Second Verse, Same as the First

Game 2 of the season was a lot like the season opener, an early lead, a mid-game breakdown, but this time, Salem-Keizer used a big seventh inning to put the game away in a 7-4 win.

THE GOOD: The Hawks made a couple solid defensive plays in a tough seventh inning, as Jeimer Candelario made a tough backhanded stab of a line drive for the first out with the bases loaded, then Eduardo Gonzalez made a sliding catch with the sacks full to end the inning.  Rock Shoulders and Willson Contreras each hit home runs – both solo shots.  Starter James Pugliese picked off a runner at first with a stellar third-to-first move that thwarted a rally.

THE BAD: Amaury Paulino was erratic at times in his two innings of work – allowing a run after two outs in the sixth, then hitting a man, walking two, and hurling a wild pitch in the three-run seventh inning that put the game away.  Shawon Dunston Jr. was picked off of first in the eighth inning – with the tying run at the plate.

NOTES: The home run by Shoulders went a long, long, ways – over the right field wall and beyond a 35 foot high protective net, finding its way onto the heavily traveled Interstate 5.   It marked his first professional home run after 14 homers in junior college in 2011.  The Hawks are in both first and last place in the East Division – as S-K, Eugene, Everett, and Vancouver have all improved to 2-0 on the season.

DRAFT NOTES: The Cubs announced the signing of 15 players from the 2012 First-Year Players Draft, including supplemental first-round pick, Paul Blackburn, a high school pitcher from California.  College players that may end up in Boise include pitchers Michael Heesch (8th Round), Corbin Hoffner (14th Round),  and Stephen Perkaslis (21st Round), infielders Stephen Bruno (7th Round), Tim Saunders (32nd Round), Ben Carhart (35th Round), and Jake Rogers (40th Round), catchers Chadd Kirst (9th Round), Carlos Escobar (15th Round, and Lance Rymel (28th Round), and outfielder Izaac Garsez (30th Round) – from The College of Idaho.

AROUND THE MINORS: Josh Vitters went 4-for-4 in Iowa’s 9-1 loss to Albuquerque on Saturday, while Rebel Ridling hit the go-ahead solo homer in the eighth in Tennessee’s 2-1 win over Birmingham, helping the Smokies above the .500 mark.  Austin Kirk got the start for the Northern Division team in the Florida State All-Star Game, tossing a scoreless inning in a 6-3 loss.

It’s a 76-Game Season

Opening Night in the Northwest League came and went like it has in past years – with all four teams in the West Division earning wins (two by walk-off fashion, another by recording just two hits), leaving the Boise Hawks in a four-way tie for first.

Last night was a frustrating loss for the squad – as Boise hit just 1-for-12 with runners-in-scoring-position and had the leadoff man aboard in each of the first five innings.

THE GOOD – It starts with starting pitcher Jose Arias, who tossed five shutout innings, allowing just three singles and striking out two.  Arias did not allow a runner to reach second base.  According to pitching coach David Rosario, his velocity was not what it has been (sat at 92-93 mph), but he threw his fastball where he wanted to all night.  Rosario also gave kudos to reliever Rafael Diplan, who was the stopper late in the game, throwing 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief, getting out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth, and out of a first-and-second, no out jam in the eighth.  Bryce Shafer also have an impressive outing, retiring 6-of-7 men he faced – after having a rough spring with the Peoria Chiefs.  Shafer looked like the guy who saved 12 games for the Hawks in 2011.

THE BAD – Despite getting a pair of hits, including the single that plated the tying run in the ninth inning, Marco Hernandez struggled in his Boise debut.  The shortstop came up on a pair of ground balls early – one in the first, one in the sixth inning, the second one prolonging the rally for S-K.  He then failed to cleanly pick the chopper in the 12th (albeit a tough play) that allowed the winning run to score.  I wasn’t going to harp on it this year, but the S-K staff, who failed to bring the Hawks staff in the clubhouse a postgame meal following the game (which forced the coaches to hit an Applebee’s at midnight, hoping they were still open before they could get their computer reports completed).

JERSEY ISSUE: The Hawks did not wear their typical road grey uniforms for the opener – after the sleeves of Arias’ jersey did not fit properly (I watched in the clubhouse where he could barely get the uniform on). So the squad wore the new alternate red “Main Street Mile” jerseys for the opener – which looked sharp.

TIDBITS – If you were listening to the game last night, you probably heard some strange comments in the latter innings, as a group of fans decided to camp out under my crowd microphone – fans that had 3-or-4 too many alcoholic beverages.  It made for good radio (at least there wasn’t any FCC violations from their talk)…kudos to the S-K grounds crew, as the Volcanoes Stadium surface is as good as I have seen it in my nearly decade with the Hawks…Xavier Batista leads the NWL with two doubles after Game 1…the Hawks had two players report yesterday – catcher Justin Marra arrived at 3 p.m. from Mesa (15th Round pick in 2011) to give the team a back-up, while pitcher Hayden Simpson arrived at the ballpark at 8 p.m….in looking at the other NWL rosters, the Hawks are the lone team in the league without a 2012 Draft Pick on their roster.

FUNNY: Humorous moment of the night happened in both the 1st and 2nd innings – as after Shawon Dunston Jr. was caught stealing, bench coach Gary Van Tol, who was coaching at first ran off the field (thinking it was the 3rd out, when it was only the 2nd).  In the next inning, S-K first baseman Brian Nicholson rolled the ball back to the mound after a double play (though there were only two outs).  Both got a chuckle, and will probably get razzed by their respective Kangaroo Courts.

Tonight’s matchup – James Pugliese (0-0) vs. Joan Gregorio (0-0), 8:05 p.m. (MT) 1350 KTIK-AM

Season Opener Eve…

Media Day is over, the long bus ride from Boise to the Willamette Valley is over, and in less than 24 hours, the 2012 Northwest League season will be underway.

Talking with manager Mark Johnson about Media Day, he said it resembled something you would see in the Big Leagues.  A large media pool talked with Johnson for a good 15 minutes, then waited to talk with hitting coach Bill Buckner for another 15 minutes – spending at least a half hour getting as much information from the players that they could.

One thing that the team noticed (that is, the four players who have been to Boise before), were the new alternate jerseys the team will wear on Friday night.

Today, it was a 10 a.m. departure from Boise – with an early stop in La Grande, Ore., for a pit-stop, which got Johnson talking about the days when his father was Chief of Police in the Grande Ronde Valley.  Unlike a typical trip – there was no timetable to arrive, so the team took their time – as stop at Bonneville Dam to check out their Sturgeon Center, with Buckner wishing he had his fly rod, as the trout were huge (dwarfed by the sturgeon).  Then it was a hike at Multnomah Falls (picture/video below), with the players enamored by the beauty of the towering waterfall just outside of Portland.  The view in the Columbia River Gorge of Mount Hood (pictured) was amazing.

After battling traffic in Portland and arriving in Salem, the final pregame dinner this year was the choice of pitching coach David Rosario – at Chang’s Mongolian Grill, one of my favorite restaurants in Oregon.  It was a fruitful dinner – as I was able to learn a lot about the team.

Tomorrow’s starter, Jose Arias (pictured right), has the potential to be something special.  The big righty sits 92-96 with his fastball, but Rosario feels that he will be able to hit 97 or 98 by the end of the summer.  He is comparitive to Jose Rosario, who had an outstanding second half of the season last year in Boise.  He mentioned that all five starters have the potential to be very good and is excited for the youthful line-up – Marco Hernandez will someday be a Big Leaguer, and Shawon Dunston Jr. played really, really, hard – just like his father did.

What I was even more impressed with was his talk about former Hawk, Javier Baez, who was promoted to Peoria a few weeks back and has had a great start to his Midwest League career.  “Rosy” said that Baez hit 10 homers in Extended and had amazing power and arm strength – he is the real deal and won’t just be a Big Leaguer, he will be a Superstar.  It will be exciting to have he and Starlin Castro – who’d play short, or who will move to either third or second.

Tentative Salem-Keizer Series Rotation

With 12 men on the pitching staff, the Hawks have tentatively set their rotation for the opening series at Salem-Keizer. Hard-throwing right-hander Jose Arias will get the start Friday, followed by righties James Pugliese and Tayler Scott. Lefty Willengton Cruz gets the ball on Monday, followed by rookie Ian Dickson.

NOTE – Friday’s game will be carried live on KTIK’s FM signal, 93.1 FM, while the remainder of the series will be on the Hawks flagship station, 1350 KTIK-AM. Hawkstown Tonight will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday nights.