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thehatfield · 11-18-2006, 05:04 PM

Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Toronto

We come into Toronto with them sitting in second place in the American League Eastern Division with an 11-8 record, 3½ games behind the division-leading Boston Red Sox who were 15-5. The Jays had won four of their last five games including a 2-game series sweep of the 5-15 New York Yankees in the middle of last week. 28-year old right fielder Harry Pitzer came into the series hitting .429 and 25-year old rookie shortstop Bobby Hartshorn led the team with 18 RBI. From the reports filed by Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga it seemed like we had more power than the Blue Jays but they had a deeper lineup in terms of professional hitters from top to bottom. Unfortunately for us it looked like we’d be facing the top three pitchers in Toronto’s rotation – 32-year old righty Jin-song Hung (2-0, 1.88 ERA), 24-year old righty Zach Stohlberg (2-2 3.82 ERA), and 31-year old Cuban lefty Roberto Aguilar (3-1, 3.62 ERA). This was a bit of an educational series for us as we didn’t really know the Blue Jays or the American League East very well at all but overall I had a feeling that we were a better club than Toronto. The Blue Jays were, of course, the team from which we had acquired starting pitcher Bandit Nakamura in exchange for reliever Emesto Salgardo and third baseman Jacob Cumberford, both of whom were on the Jays’ 25-man roster.

If we were able to take 2-of-3 from Toronto we’d be able to get to 10-games over .500 before the end of April, certainly a much stronger start than anyone following baseball had expected. I requested an end-of-month meeting with Jeff Hance, Herb Watson, and Gaspar to take an in-depth look at the 1st month of Major League Baseball action at the conclusion of the Kansas City series on May 1. It would mean working Saturday night on the flight down to Texas but what else did we have to do while stuck on an airplane? I also had Herb in the process of tracking down the transcript of my latest appearance on the Frank and the Water Buffalo radio show to share here.

In other news, the World Series Champion New York Mets got richer as they acquired 27-year old third baseman Bill Cake from the San Diego Padres for their former third baseman Miguel “Dinnerplate” Izaguirre and 21-year old blue-chip first base prospect Newton Fell. Cake had just signed a 2-year contract extension with the Padres in the off-season so this deal comes as a bit of a surprise to baseball insiders. Cake, who can also play first base, is coming into his prime and had the best year of his young career last year with the Padres last year. Cake’s older brother Fred Cake, a 32-year old long reliever and spot starter, had just been released by the Dodgers and so we offered him a contract as a sort of political play meant to eventually help lure Bill Cake to us. It was also a clear message to struggling starter Rick Stanely that he’d better produce in his next start or else a stint with Sacramento was in his immediate future.

Monday, April 26, 2021
Game 20 at Toronto Blue Jays
12-4 Loss; 15,726 in attendance
W: Hung (3-0) L: Stanely (0-2)

Recap: We took a 4-0 lead through a 2-run Teddy Revelez home run, his 4th of the season, and a 2-run triple by catcher Cornelius McInally after the first 2 innings but those 4 runs came on 2 hits and that would be all she wrote for the Oakland offense against Toronto ace Jin-song Hung for the rest of the game. Hung went on to strike out 12 through 8 innings, giving up just those 2 hits along with 3 walks while reliever Tadd Delancey pitched a perfect 9th to finish off the game. Our starter Rick Stanely was out of the game after surrendering 8 earned runs, 9 hits and 4 walks in 3.1 innings. Josh Frank took one for the team in relief, throwing 65 pitches and 3.2 innings during which he struck out 6 but gave up 2 home runs. Toronto’s Player of the Game Bobby Hartshorn went 3-for-5 (with homers off both Stanely and Frank) with 5 RBI to lead Toronto’s 17-hit attack. Blue Jays right fielder Jose Rojasacusta, catcher Alex Dawson, and third baseman Rick Musial also had 3 hits for Toronto.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Game 21 at Toronto Blue Jays
8-1 Win; 15,391 in attendance
W: Knisley (3-1) L: Stohlberg (2-3)

Recap: J.D. Knisley took home Player of the Game honors with a 125-pitch complete game 5-hitter that saw him strike out 10 Blue Jays while walking 3. Toronto starter Zack “Mustang” Stohlberg came out of the game after giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs through 6.2 innings. Dome Guevaro hit his 4th homer of the season and the 350th of his career off Stohlberg in the 1st inning to give us a lead we would never surrender. Teddy Revelez hit his 5th of the season off our former reliever Emesto Salgardo in the 9th and after Salgardo was lifted Mumbles Yamasita hit one off Felipe Veces before the end of the game. Both Guevaro and Yamasita had 3 RBI for Oakland and Travis Byers went 3-for-4 with a walk. Toronto shortstop Cole Grendon had 2 hits.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Game 22 at Toronto Blue Jays
8-3 Win; 16,899 in attendance
W: Dickson (5-0) L: Aguilar (3-2) SV: Mathis (9)

Recap: Rowley Dickson improved to 5-0 on the season but it was far from easy. He labored through 7 innings throwing 122 pitches and allowing 7 hits but he struck out 8 and didn’t walk anyone. Toronto starter Roberto Aguilar took a no hitter into the 5th inning but that’s when it all came apart for the Cuban as he allowed 5 hits and 5 earned runs including an RBI triple for Cornelius McInally, his second in three games, and a 2-run homer off the bat of Mumbles Yamasita. Travis Byers hit his 1st home run of the season in the 7th inning off reliever Emesto Salgardo. Our reliever Terry Rogers got in trouble in the bottom of the 9th inning, allowing a 2-run rally and loading the bases before closer Crunchy Mathis came in and popped up the last two batters for his 9th save of the season. McInally finished the game at 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored but it was Dickson who was named Player of the Game.

Current Oakland Record: 16-6

Another solid pitching performance from the top of our rotation and another stinker from Rick Stanely at the bottom. Fred Cake let us know he’d sign a minor league contract so we brought him into the organization, demoted 25-year old Stanely to AAA Sacramento and activated the 32-year old Cake to come up to the big club and take over the #5 slot in our pitching rotation for now.

A 2-1 start to the road trip left us 10-games over .500 for the first time this year as we headed off into the night for a 3-game set with Kansas City.

11-18-2006, 05:04 PM	#36
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Toronto We come into Toronto with them sitting in second place in the American League Eastern Division with an 11-8 record, 3½ games behind the division-leading Boston Red Sox who were 15-5. The Jays had won four of their last five games including a 2-game series sweep of the 5-15 New York Yankees in the middle of last week. 28-year old right fielder Harry Pitzer came into the series hitting .429 and 25-year old rookie shortstop Bobby Hartshorn led the team with 18 RBI. From the reports filed by Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga it seemed like we had more power than the Blue Jays but they had a deeper lineup in terms of professional hitters from top to bottom. Unfortunately for us it looked like we’d be facing the top three pitchers in Toronto’s rotation – 32-year old righty Jin-song Hung (2-0, 1.88 ERA), 24-year old righty Zach Stohlberg (2-2 3.82 ERA), and 31-year old Cuban lefty Roberto Aguilar (3-1, 3.62 ERA). This was a bit of an educational series for us as we didn’t really know the Blue Jays or the American League East very well at all but overall I had a feeling that we were a better club than Toronto. The Blue Jays were, of course, the team from which we had acquired starting pitcher Bandit Nakamura in exchange for reliever Emesto Salgardo and third baseman Jacob Cumberford, both of whom were on the Jays’ 25-man roster. If we were able to take 2-of-3 from Toronto we’d be able to get to 10-games over .500 before the end of April, certainly a much stronger start than anyone following baseball had expected. I requested an end-of-month meeting with Jeff Hance, Herb Watson, and Gaspar to take an in-depth look at the 1st month of Major League Baseball action at the conclusion of the Kansas City series on May 1. It would mean working Saturday night on the flight down to Texas but what else did we have to do while stuck on an airplane? I also had Herb in the process of tracking down the transcript of my latest appearance on the Frank and the Water Buffalo radio show to share here. In other news, the World Series Champion New York Mets got richer as they acquired 27-year old third baseman Bill Cake from the San Diego Padres for their former third baseman Miguel “Dinnerplate” Izaguirre and 21-year old blue-chip first base prospect Newton Fell. Cake had just signed a 2-year contract extension with the Padres in the off-season so this deal comes as a bit of a surprise to baseball insiders. Cake, who can also play first base, is coming into his prime and had the best year of his young career last year with the Padres last year. Cake’s older brother Fred Cake, a 32-year old long reliever and spot starter, had just been released by the Dodgers and so we offered him a contract as a sort of political play meant to eventually help lure Bill Cake to us. It was also a clear message to struggling starter Rick Stanely that he’d better produce in his next start or else a stint with Sacramento was in his immediate future. Monday, April 26, 2021 Game 20 at Toronto Blue Jays 12-4 Loss; 15,726 in attendance W: Hung (3-0) L: Stanely (0-2) Recap: We took a 4-0 lead through a 2-run Teddy Revelez home run, his 4th of the season, and a 2-run triple by catcher Cornelius McInally after the first 2 innings but those 4 runs came on 2 hits and that would be all she wrote for the Oakland offense against Toronto ace Jin-song Hung for the rest of the game. Hung went on to strike out 12 through 8 innings, giving up just those 2 hits along with 3 walks while reliever Tadd Delancey pitched a perfect 9th to finish off the game. Our starter Rick Stanely was out of the game after surrendering 8 earned runs, 9 hits and 4 walks in 3.1 innings. Josh Frank took one for the team in relief, throwing 65 pitches and 3.2 innings during which he struck out 6 but gave up 2 home runs. Toronto’s Player of the Game Bobby Hartshorn went 3-for-5 (with homers off both Stanely and Frank) with 5 RBI to lead Toronto’s 17-hit attack. Blue Jays right fielder Jose Rojasacusta, catcher Alex Dawson, and third baseman Rick Musial also had 3 hits for Toronto. Tuesday, April 27, 2021 Game 21 at Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 Win; 15,391 in attendance W: Knisley (3-1) L: Stohlberg (2-3) Recap: J.D. Knisley took home Player of the Game honors with a 125-pitch complete game 5-hitter that saw him strike out 10 Blue Jays while walking 3. Toronto starter Zack “Mustang” Stohlberg came out of the game after giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs through 6.2 innings. Dome Guevaro hit his 4th homer of the season and the 350th of his career off Stohlberg in the 1st inning to give us a lead we would never surrender. Teddy Revelez hit his 5th of the season off our former reliever Emesto Salgardo in the 9th and after Salgardo was lifted Mumbles Yamasita hit one off Felipe Veces before the end of the game. Both Guevaro and Yamasita had 3 RBI for Oakland and Travis Byers went 3-for-4 with a walk. Toronto shortstop Cole Grendon had 2 hits. Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Game 22 at Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 Win; 16,899 in attendance W: Dickson (5-0) L: Aguilar (3-2) SV: Mathis (9) Recap: Rowley Dickson improved to 5-0 on the season but it was far from easy. He labored through 7 innings throwing 122 pitches and allowing 7 hits but he struck out 8 and didn’t walk anyone. Toronto starter Roberto Aguilar took a no hitter into the 5th inning but that’s when it all came apart for the Cuban as he allowed 5 hits and 5 earned runs including an RBI triple for Cornelius McInally, his second in three games, and a 2-run homer off the bat of Mumbles Yamasita. Travis Byers hit his 1st home run of the season in the 7th inning off reliever Emesto Salgardo. Our reliever Terry Rogers got in trouble in the bottom of the 9th inning, allowing a 2-run rally and loading the bases before closer Crunchy Mathis came in and popped up the last two batters for his 9th save of the season. McInally finished the game at 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored but it was Dickson who was named Player of the Game. Current Oakland Record: 16-6 Another solid pitching performance from the top of our rotation and another stinker from Rick Stanely at the bottom. Fred Cake let us know he’d sign a minor league contract so we brought him into the organization, demoted 25-year old Stanely to AAA Sacramento and activated the 32-year old Cake to come up to the big club and take over the #5 slot in our pitching rotation for now. A 2-1 start to the road trip left us 10-games over .500 for the first time this year as we headed off into the night for a 3-game set with Kansas City. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-18-2006 at 06:39 PM.