[Questdog]

Saturday, June 16, 2001

We needed somebody to start this game to keep Angel Rodriguez from making his major league debut in Coors Field. So LHP Steve Mulder was waived to send to Indianapolis (AAA) and RHP Billy Rueter was called up to be the sacrificial goat. He has been at Indy for 15 days, so that is kosher. Since the two bums from Indy had not been used yesterday they will hang around to be thrown at the wolves today.

Portland Beavers (25-41 .379 17 GB in 7th place in the NL West) at
Colorado Rockies (36-31 .537 6.5 GB in 4th place in the NL West)

Billy Rueter, Por (28 R 0-1 3.09 10.0-1.5-3.9-3.9 H/9-HR/9-BB/9-K/9) vs Greg Douglas, Col (26 R 1-1 12.15 17.6-4.0-6.8-5.4)

This will be the second start for Douglas and his first in Denver. In his first, at Cincinnati, he gave up 5 runs and 9 hits in 4 innings. When I was looking around for trades last weekend, I almost pulled the trigger on a deal with the Rockies that would have included Douglas, so it will be entirely fitting if he were to shut us down today.

Lineups: Pos Name (Age Bats BA-HR-RBI-OPS)
PORTLAND
1: RF Jerry Alston (28 L .351-0-3-.889 in 74 AB)
2: 2B Mike Cavallaro (27 R .125-0-1-.292 in 16 AB)
3: LF Lebron Williams (32 L .310-5-21-.820 in 171 AB)
4: CF Rich Babbin (36 L .283-7-33-.848 in 180 AB)
5: C Ron Charles (30 R .262-2-7-.765 in 42 AB)
6: 1B George Hopkins (29 S .229-2-11-.629 in 144 AB)
7: SS Rick Ferrell (25 R .204-1-7-.499 in 98 AB)
8: 3B Joe Hartin (32 R .262-1-2-.692 in 42 AB)
9: P Billy Rueter (28 R .200-0-1-.400 in 5 AB)

COLORADO
1: SS Tony Kraft (29 R .269-2-29-.642 in 297 AB)
2: 2B Mike Campbell (30 R .317-3-17-.898 in 60 AB)
3: 1B Bobby Manzano (25 L .314-17-51-.975 in 229 AB)
4: CF Julio Chapa (26 R .267-16-57-.814 in 270 AB)
5: RF Jeff Johnson (26 L .355-8-32-.962 in 251 AB)
6: C Max Espinal (28 R .308-7-36-.848 in 211 AB)
7: LF Benton Bedard (31 R .239-12-26-.816 in 201 AB)
8: 3B Melvin Mendoza (31 R .230-12-36-.738 in 222 AB)
9: P Greg Douglas (26 R .500-0-1-1.000 in 2 AB)

Game Start: 2:05 PM
Weather: 75 deg. Clear Skies with an 8 MPH wind blowing in from center.

Jerry Alston strikes out. Mike Cavallaro lines a 3-2 pitch over the second baseman for a hit. Lebron Williams flies out to left, Benton Bedard making a shoestring catch to rob him of a hit. 2 outs. Rich Babbin up. Wild Pitch! Full count and Babbin takes ball four. Ron Charles grounds out to short.

Bottom of the 1st: Tony Kraft leads off with a double to left center. Mike Campbell flies out to center. Bobby Manzano up. Kraft steals 3rd, but it is pointless as Manzano jacks a home run to right. 2 to 0, Rockies. Julio Chapa jerks one down the left field line. If it stays fair it is a home run....it is fair. 3 to 0, Rockies. Jeff Johnson, who leads the NL in runs scored, takes a 3-2 pitch for ball four. Well, all was not wasted in selecting Rueter. He DID get one man out, after all.... Mac Espinal grounds a hit to left. Now, the Rockies get arrogant and try a double steal, but C Ron Charles throws Johnson out at 3rd. 2 down. Benton Bedard hits one to straight away center, over Rich Babbin's head for a triple. 4 to 0, Rockies. Yeah, he is 1 for 7 in getting batters out now.....Melvin Mendoza pops out to 3rd! 2 for 8!

Bottom of the 2nd: P Greg Douglas leads off and hits a 410 ft. home run to right center. 5 to 0, Rockies. P Billy Rueter is staying in for a while.....

Top of the 3rd: Jerry Alston leads off with a hit and with 1 out, Lebron Williams doubles to right center to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. Rich Babbin grounds out to short and Alston scores. 5 to 1, Rockies. Ron Charles grounds a hit up the middle to score Williams. 5 to 2, Rockies.

Bottom of the 4th: Melvin Mendoza leads off with a hit and P Greg Douglas tries to bunt him over, but he bunts one right back to P Bully Rueter, who fumbles it, losing the chance for the force at 2nd and then rushes the throw to first and throws it away for a 2-base error. 2nd and 3rd with no one out. Get one of those bums from Indy up in the pen! Tony Kraft lines a hit to left and 1 run scores. 6 to 2, Rockies. With 1 out, Bobby Manzano lines a hit up the middle, scoring another run. 7 to 2, Rockies. With 2 outs, Jeff Johnson beats out an infield hit to load the bases up and then Max Espinal doubles to empty them. 10 to 2, Rockies. Dang! I left the Sudoku book at the hotel.... Maybe they have one here in the gift shop....

Lost - 10 to 4

The "two bums from Indy" finished up the game without allowing the Rockies to score any more runs. 4.1 innings and only 1 hit, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. It was the Major League Debut for each of them. I am at a loss to explain this, except that maybe the Rockies were just tuckered out from all the base running already. Their combined line at Indianapolis: 5.04 ERA .308 Opp. BA. 50 IP 66 H 5 HR 27 BB 28 SO.

We had 9 hits and made 1 error.
The Rockies had 13 hits and made no errors.

Billy Rueter (L 0-2) went 3.2 innings, allowed 10 runs (6 earned, but his own error), 12 hits, 3 home runs, 1 walk and struck out 2.
RHP Jesus Cordova, in his Major League Debut at age 28, went 1.1 hitless innings, walked 2 and struck out 1.
RHP Steve Plummer, in his Major League Debut at age 26, went 3 innings, allowed 1 hit, 1 walk and struck out 2. That might end up being his complete major league career! He will at least have something to brag about to his grand kids!

Greg Douglas (W 2-1) went 5.1 innings, gave us 4 runs, 7 hits, 2 walks and struck out 5. He threw a WP. At bat, he hit a home run and drew a walk and scored 2 runs.

LF Lebron Williams hit a double and scored a run. George Hopkins hit a double, drew a walk and scored a run. 3B Joe Hartin had 2 hits and an RBI.

For the Rockies, 1B Bobby Manzano had 3 hits with his 18th home run of the season, drew a walk, scored 2 runs and had 3 RBIs. CF Julio Chapa hit his 17th home run of the year. He now has 6 against the Beavers; no one else has more than 2. C Max Espinal had 2 hits with a double, scored a run and had 3 RBIs.

Down on the Farm: The Southern League and the California League both had their All-Star Games today.

In the Southern League (AA), the following Jacksonville Suns were selected for the game: SP Gary Gay (27 R), SP Willie Quiroz (27 R), 1B Danny Hernandez (22 L), 2B Taylor Cohen (26 R) and CF Sal Ramos (31 R). They all played. Neither Gay nor Quiroz allowed a run in their brief outings. Hernandez, the only prospect in the bunch, and Cohen started the game. Hernandez was 0 for 4, but Cohen hit a home run. Ramos struck out pinch-hitting. The South Division (our division) lost, 9 to 4. Taylor Cohen's not a prospect, but he might be the best 2nd baseman in our organization now and could conceivably end up in Portland before the season is through.

In the California League (A+), the following Stockton Ports were selected to participate: SP Danny Roberson (26 L), RP Mike Nichols (25 R) and C Richie Chapman (27 S), not a single prospect to be found. Roberson pitched and suffered the loss, allowing 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Nichols pinned the loss on Roberson by giving up the hits that scored the runners Roberson put on base. Now, THAT's teamwork! Chapman got to pinch-hit, but made an out. The North Division (our division ) lost, 7 to 6.

Elsewhere: CF Scott Setta started his first game for the Giants and hit a 2-run home run and drew a walk. The Giants beat the Dodgers at home, 3 to 1.