Last night, nothing went right for the Boise Hawks – tonight, with Cubs Vice President of Player Personnel, Oneri Fleita, on hand, the squad put together a solid effort to stop Salem-Keizer, 10-7, evening the series at two games apiece.

Standing out to me was the defensive work by the Hawks – no fewer than five outstanding plays to key the win.  Young centerfielder Kyung-Min Na (pictured right) threw out Carlos Quintana at home plate in the second inning, then added a head-first diving catch to rob a S-K hitter of a hit in the fourth.  Alvaro Ramirez had a sliding catch in the third inning, while Arismendy Alcantara started a key 4-6-3 double play to get out of the eighth inning.  Capping the defensive prowess was a fabulous diving catch made by Wes Darvill on the infield to close out the win.

Offensively, Ramirez had the big blow in a five-run first with a two-run double, with Brandon May hitting his second homer of the season, a three-run shot in the second, to build an 8-1 lead.  The Hawks would squander most of the lead, until Corey Martin came in from the pen to record the final five outs for his third save.

LOOKING TO TOMORROW: The Hawks will gun for their first series win against the Volcanoes since the 2002 season on Friday, sending Joe Zeller to the mound against lefty Esky Escobar.  It will be a challenge for the Hawks against Escobar, as Boise has been non-existant against south-paws this season, combining for a 2-for-30 batting average against them.

LONG NIGHT TO FOLLOW: After the fireworks show tomorrow night, the Hawks will hop aboard their chartered bus around 11:30 p.m. for the 450 mile trek to Eugene, Ore.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the ball game on Wednesay night, except for the fact that sinker-baller Taylor Rogers had the Hawks number, retiring the final 15 men he faced in his six inning stint in an 11-0 rout of Boise.  It marked the second-straight season that the Hawks have been two-hit, as Yakima held them to just two singles during the 2009 season.

All wasn’t lost, however, as many different things occurred away from the field of play that possibly overshadowed the dismal outing on the diamond.

CALL UP: The Hawks added another player in the Big Leagues, as Joel Peralta (pictured left) had his contract purchased by the Washington Nationals on Monday.  The right-hander, who pitched in Boise in 2000, was having an outstanding season with the Syracuse Chiefs, going 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA and 20 saves – where he was a teammate of former Hawk, Jamie Burke and phenom Stephen Strasburg.  Peralta has previously pitched in the majors with the Royals and Rockies.

A RETURN TO ESPN: It isn’t the first time that the Boise Hawks have been featured on ESPN, but it has been a while.  One of the legendary blooper highlights was skipper Mal Fitchman donning Humphrey’s outfit after he was ejected from a game and went back out on the field to argue later in the game.  Last night, it was a great play by pitcher John Mincone that landed the Hawks on the Top-10 plays of the night.  The lefty snagged a comebacker to the mound with a behind-the-back stab with the glove – earning the No. 9 nod of the night (watch the ESPN highlight reel).  It marks the first time since the 2005 season that the Hawks found their way on ESPN – that year, the squad turned a rare triple-play in a loss to Everett at Memorial Stadium, which ended up the No. 1 play of the night on Sportscenter (watch the Triple Play – notice the older uniforms)

2009 HAWKS TO PLAY ON ESPN: Major League Baseball announced the 50-man roster for the 2010 All-Star Futures Game, to be played the Sunday before the All-Star game at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, Calif. – with two former Hawks on the list.  Shortstop Hak-Ju Lee, who earned Northwest League All-Star honors last year and was a Midwest League All-Star this season, will play for the international team, while outfielder Brett Jackson, who was recently named to the Florida State League All-Star team, will play for the United States squad.  The game will be televised live on ESPN.

BIG NIGHT IN THE BIG LEAGUES: No fewer than four former Hawk pitchers got starts last night – but only Ricky Nolasco of the Marlins was able to notch a win, as Florida defeated Baltimore, 7-5, helping the ’02 Boise alum to his sixth win.  Dontrelle Willis and John Lackey each got no-decisions as the Diamondbacks lost in extra innings to the Yankees, and the Red Sox lost to the Rockies.  Randy Wells contrinued his struggles with the Cubs, losing to Cliff Lee and the Mariners, 8-1 – however, the lone run for Chicago came on Tyler Colvin’s ninth homer of the season.

ROTATION SWITCH: Pitching coach Jeff Fassero has made a change to the Hawks rotation, as Joe Zeller will earn the starting nod on Friday night in the series finale against Salem-Keizer.  Yao-Lin Wang, who started last Sunday’s game against Yakima, will work from the bullpen.

Last season, the Hawks did not hit their first home run of the season at home until July – and only had two games with more than one homer (they hit two at Everett in early August, and two at home vs. Everett in mid-August).  Tonight against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the Hawks went deep twice – Richard Jones a solo shot in the third and Alvaro Ramirez a two-run bomb in the fifth, as Boise topped S-K, 6-2. (Watch the highlights of the night,thanks to the Boise Hawks YouTube Package)

Audio Highlights – May RBI double (
May2B6-22.wma), Vigurs RBI single (
Vigurs1B6-22.wma), Jones homer (
JonesHR6-22.wma), Ramirez homer (
RamirezHR6-22.wma)

The win for the Hawks moved the club a game above the .500 mark for the second time this season – alone in second-place in the NWL East, behind front-running Tri-City.

Jones and Ramirez each had two hits in the win, with rookie Jeff Vigurs logging a 3-for-4 game – the first three-hit game by a Boise player this season.

Tarlandus Mitchell was wildly effective in his 2010 debut, throwing four shutout innings, allowing just one hit – but walking four men along the way.  The righty worked out of a pair of jams – getting ground ball outs with two men in scoring position in both the second and fourth to end the frame.

Marcos Perez got the win, tossing four innings of four-hit ball, fanning four – using a good change up and curveball.

Tomorrow marks the second time through the rotation, as  John Mincone looks to rebound after a rocky start in Yakima – taking the ball at 7:15 p.m.

Great opening day crowd for tonight’s game – over 3,400 fans on a Monday night, which rarely happens in Boise.  Although the game started 13 minutes late (no one failed to tell the broadcasters about the delay – which led to myself and Matt Pedersen of S-K to banter about nothing for the added time), the crowd was treated to a classic game (some errors, a couple home runs, and solid pitching).

Unfortunately for the Hawks, it seemed like it was last Friday all over again – the club seemed a bit tense in front of the home crowd and took a few innings to get themselves composed.

LONG BALL – The long home run hit by Volcanoes designated hitter Jesse Shriner brought back memories of a couple homers hit years ago at Memorial Stadium.  Shriner’s blast hit three-quarters of the way up the scoreboard in left, just above the message center – with fans remembering the bombs Brian Dopirak (2003) and Ryan Harvey (2004) hit at the ball park.

ERRORS – Young shortstop Arismendy Alcantara is learning the rigors of the Northwest League quickly, as it is his first season of baseball away from Dominica.  He has recorded an error in three of the first four games – each resulting in at least one unearned run.  As a team, the Hawks have committed eight errors – tied for the most miscues in the league.

LOVE THE ORANGE – The Hawks debuted their alternate jersey for the 2010 season, an orange top with red numerals, trimmed in green – that looked sharp with the green socks (if only the Cubs would let them wear non-blue spikes).  The tops will be auctioned off at the end of the season, with proceeds going to the Main Street Mile as the Hawks “Bat for Men’s Health”

FIRST ROSTER MOVE OF THE SEASON: Following the game, the Cubs announced that right-handed pitcher, Jesse Ginley, will join the team from Extended Spring Training – prior to the start of the Arizona Rookie League season on Tuesday.  Ginley, a 2008 Cubs draft pick out of high school in Florida, will work out of the Hawks bullpen.

POSSIBLE NEW HAWKS?: Baseball America reported (although Cubs.com does not have them listed) that the Chicago Cubs have signed ten more players from the 2010 draft, including top pick Hayden Simpson (who received a 1.06 million dollar signing bonus).  Others down at Fitch Park going through preliminary workouts include 4th round pick Hunter Ackerman, 8th round pick Cam Greathouse, 10th round pick Aaron Kurcz, 14th round pick Colin Richardson, 19th round pick Dustin Fitzgerald, 20th round pick Ryan Cuneo, 23rd round pick Matt Loosen, 32nd round pick Brent Ebinger, and 34th round pick Dustin Harrington.

LOOKING AHEAD TO TUESDAY: Tarlandus Mitchell will make his 2010 debut on Tuesday night, coming off an arm injury that sidelined him for the second half of last year.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

 

Rain could not wash away the Boise-Yakima game on Sunday night and after over three hours and 30 minutes, the Hawks used a hustle play from Alvaro Ramirez to score on a Wes Darvill infield single to defeat the Bears, 7-6.

It marks the first time since September of 2008 that the Hawks have been above the .500 mark, sitting a half-game out of first in the East Division (Spokane and Tri-City were rained out tonight).

Brandon May had a monster night, going 3-for-4 with a homer, double, and four RBI – while Jesus Morelli has hit safely in each of the first three games.

SOUND BYTES – Here are the highlights from last night’s game – Brandon May’s HR in the first puts the Hawks up 2-0 (
MayHR6-20.wma); Jesus Morelli’s two-run single in the fifth ties the game at 4-4 (
Morelli2Rsingle6-20.wma); May ropes a two-run double in the fifth to give Boise a 6-4 lead (
May2R2B6-20.wma), Wes Darvill’s infield single puts the Hawks up 7-6 in the 11th (
DarvillGW1B6-20.wma), Corey Martin slams the door for the win (
finalout6-20.wma)

COMING UP: Salem-Keizer comes to town for a five-game series, a Volcanoes team that has started 2010 with an 0-3 record…S-K has had the Hawks number since 2004, winning 47 of the last 60 match-ups between the sides…lefty Austin Kirk will get the call on the mound for Boise in the home opener at 7:15 p.m.

Closing out the opening road trip of the 2010 season, we will say goodbye to Yakima until the final three games of the first half of the season.  It hasn’t been the typical trip to Central Washington – as usually, there is bountiful sunshine and hot temperatures (video of it raining outside right now), but on this trip, temperatures haven’t reached 75 degrees and it has rained each of the three days.

The staff at the Best Western Ahtanum Inn is as always, outstanding – which I always tell friends that they have the friendliest staff of the seven road hotels we stay at each summer.

This morning, I had the chance to head to the Yakima River Greenbelt (pictured left) – reminding me a ton of the Boise River Greenbelt back home.  What surprised me on the trail was every now and then, a golf cart would come by, asking if I had enough water.

Since it is getaway day, the team was forced into their late-checkout rooms at 11 a.m. – with the pitchers and treatment players heading to the yard at 1:15 p.m. 
Skipper Jody Davis and pitching coach Jeff Fassero held a team meeting (pictured right) with the group to discuss the first two days results and to discuss the Yakima batters for tonight.

One of the new things that they have done to improve the fan experience in Yakima was the addition of a Gold Club (pictured left) for fans.  The all-inclusive club has a big screen TV and food and beverage available before the game – located adjacent to the Hawks dugout, which makes it interesting (view video of the Gold Club).

The bus-ride home tonight will be interesting – since we have already watched three of the five movies that A.J. Larsen brought (The Italian Job, Bad News Bears, and Last Samaurai).  Hopefully we get to Boise before the sun comes up.

Boy does 24 hours change things for the Boise Hawks – instead of committing four errors in a loss to Yakima, the squad took advantage of a pair of untimely errors by the Bears first baseman Yazy Arbelo to plate five unearned runs – leading to a 5-3 victory.

Jesus Morelli had two hits, including a first inning double.  Brandon May added two more hits – including an RBI single and a long single off the right field wall (nearly a homer).

On the mound, Marcus Hatley was sharp, getting five ground ball outs and a punch out in the seven men he faced.  Juan Serrano got the win, allowing two runs in four innings.  Andres Quezada worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh, while Alvaro Sosa and Corey Martin tossed scoreless frames to close out Yakima.

RADIO NOTES: Tomorrow’s rubber game of the series may or may not be heard in its entirety in the Treasure Valley.  Flagship station KTIK will be carrying ESPN coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament and if it is a close battle in the waning holes, they will stay with golf coverage, turning it over to the Hawks in progress (probably around the 2nd or 3rd inning)…if golf is a blowout, baseball will be on around 6:20 p.m. (MT)

CLUBHOUSE NOTES: Following the game, the team split up for the postgame meal, half of the team heading to Applebee’s to take advantage of the half-price appetizers for their late Happy Hour, while half snuck into the Outback Steakhouse adjacent to the hotel with minutes to spare.

WEATHER:  Yakima nearly had their second rain out in the last eight years today, as nearly two inches of rain fell in the area between Midnight at 4 p.m.  Luckily, the grounds crew did a fabulous job getting the surface ready for play – which limited the teams from taking batting practice on the field…the other rain out was in 2005 – not really a rain out, as the field was flooded from a clogged drain when the Hawks were in town, forcing the postponement despite a 100 degree day.

After two workouts at Memorial Stadium and a six-hour bus ride to Yakima, the 2010 version of the Boise Hawks made their 2010 Northwest League debut and it was one they’d most likely forget – dropping a 7-0 decision to the Yakima Bears at County Stadium.

It was a lethargic outing for the Hawks – committing four errors – with a couple other calls that might have been ruled errors, while mustering just five singles, with no runner reaching third base.

All the while, former Duke Blue Devil Andrew Wolcott, who began 2010 in the Advanced-A California League, rolled through seven and two-thirds innings of shutout ball – handing the Hawks their fourth season opening loss in five years.

HAWK TALK – The Hawks had the lead-off man aboard in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, but hit into a trio of rally-killing double plays…the squad also saw the umpire crew overturn an out call in the second inning on a come-backer to starter John Mincone, leading to a Yakima run…only Wes Darvill managed a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 in his Northwest League debut…Marcos Perez, Chris Huseby, and Rogelino Carmona each logged a scoreless inning of relief.

ON THE ROAD: On the trip back to the hotel, rain began to fall in the Yakima Valley – which isn’t a great thing for both the Hawks and Bears, as County Stadium is one of the few NWL facilities without an infield tarp…skipper Jody Davis was kidding around trainer A.J. Larson after the game, trying to break a long slump – as the squad has yet to win a road game (going 0-for on the road in extended spring training)

TOMORROW: Marcus Hatley will return to the mound for the first time since being sidelined last season due to Tommy John Surgery…he will pitch two innings, with Juan Serrano making his U.S. debut in the piggy-back start.

In the final installment of our Best of the Decade series, we polled radio broadcasters, media relations directors, and front office staff for each of the eight Northwest League clubs – voting on the Top-10 Northwest League players from 2000-09 that have gone on to big Major League careers. (Click here:
Top-10NWL.pdf for the complete list)

Running away with the top spot was San Francisco Giants ace, Tim Lincecum, who pitched for Salem-Keizer in 2006.  Also big names on the list include the Mariners Felix Hernandez and the Dodgers Andre Either.  Only one former Boise Hawk was in the Top-10, D-Backs hurler, Dontrelle Willis, at No. 9.

Others that received votes in the poll, but were outside the Top-10 included Mark Reynolds (Yakima 2004), Nelson Cruz (Vancouver 2002), Adam Jones (Everett 2003), Brad Hawpe (Portland 2000), Francisco Liriano (Salem-Keizer 2005), Kurt Suzuki (Vancouver 2004), Andrew Bailey (Vancouver 2007), Garrett Atkins (Portland 2000), and Nick Swisher (Vancouver 2002).

 

 

The Muleriders?

 That has to be one of the more unique collegiate mascots in all of the NCAA.  But it was the home of Chicago Cubs first-round draft pick, Hayden Simpson – the right-hander that Tim Wilken shocked the baseball world by picking with the 16th-overall pick.  A 13-1 overall record at the Division II school is solid, but will it transfer over to the Northwest League – where he’ll probably see his first tutorial this summer as part of piggyback starts (since he threw 99 innings in college this spring).

It was a pitcher heavy draft, as 31 of the 50 selections were pitchers – with the squad not selecting a true third-baseman (guessing the hot corner will be manned by someone from Extended Spring Training).  Many of the position players were also high-schoolers – who won’t see Boise till the final week of the season, so for those in EST, a ticket out of Mesa seems inevitable.  One interesting name was Benito Santiago Jr. – son of former Padres Rookie of the Year, Benito Santiago.

Click Here (
2010DraftRoster.pdf) for the Roster of Cubs Selections through Round 50.

Click Here (
2010DraftBios.pdf) for Bios of Cubs Selections through Round 50.