[Archelirion]

Game One

JAC: CF Guerrero – SS Ramires – 1B Barrera – LF Fuentes – RF Hadden – 2B Vega – C Shepherd – 3B Watkins (cold) – P Hernandez

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – C Elder – LF Bastyr – CF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Idema – CF Ramos

RHP Celso Hernandez (0-1, 7.20 ERA) v RHP Ted Idema (0-0, 3.38 ERA)

The first innings was scrappy for both sides – a single here, an error there – but emerged scoreless for everyone. Watkins (the cold hitter…) smacked a double up the left in the 2nd but wound up stranded; he was followed by a stupendous double from Osmond, and then a base-hit from SS Meiman pushing the CF up to third. Idema’s groundout was good for Meiman to find second, but then Ramos hit a sac fly for Osmond to careen home… 1-0 Darts! The shortstop then made good on Martinez’s single to double the tally before the innings’ end.

Another two baserunner stranded innings for the Hurricanes was made possible by an error on Winters’ part that thankfully went unpunished. Osmond made our 3rd as well, crushing a (two-out!) triple towards the right field that batted Winters in for run #3 today – and amazingly, we dealt with the opposition in the top of the 4th with three pitches (they turned into three flyouts). Winters batted in #4 after a sequence of base-hits to end the 4th 4-0.

White was becoming an increasing liability with a 0-for-4 record by the bottom of the 6th, but Idema was miraculously holding on to the shutout even as the upper 7th drew to a close – despite he was shattered. In the bottom of the 7th, Jason Elder – JASON ELDER GOES DEEP FOR 414FT – to make it 5-0, before Osmond hit another extra-base hit with a double.

The bottom 8th came around, and it was a second dinger of the day for the mighty Darts as MARTINEZ HIT 422FT OUT CENTRE-RIGHT, making it 6-0 as the game went into the 9th. Idema looked absolutely knackered, but believed he could see the game out. Barrera – flyout, out right. Fuentes – walked, 3-2. Hadden – fly out. Vega, on the 3-2… also walked. Shepherd…

FLYOUUUUUUT! Ted Idema had done it in his first ever major-league start for the Darts! 4 hits, 4 strikeouts and giddy with that kind of tired happiness which is only seen in sport, he seemed to do a victory lap before jumping into the dugout to meet his colleagues. In a poor display of sour grapes, Jonathan Woloshin (J’ville’s manager) told him off for his celebration, at which point I waded in and set the record straight. Or something.

Prominent performers: Butch Martinez (3-from-4, R, 2-RBI, BB, HR), Scott Winters (2-from-5, R, RBI), Jason Elder (2-from-4, R, RBI, HR), Floyd Osmond (3-from-4, R, RBI, 2-2B, 3B), John Meiman (1-from-3, R, BB), Alex Ramos (1-from-3, R, RBI) // Ted Idema (9.0 IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 4BB, 4K, W [1-0])

After the fireworks died down, I decided to make my first lineup change of the season – Bryan Bastyr, batting a miserable 0.129 in 8 showings, would be replaced by Alfredo Olivares in the LF position against righties. Bastyr will remain in the main 25 for the time being, but I’ll be keeping an eye on my AAA lot, the McAllen Rogues. They started their season yesterday with a 5-1 victory over the Chattanooga Cannons – a game notable for SP Dave Robinson’s performance. The sidearm slider fella not only felled 8, kept a clean nose in 7 innings and took the win, but also batted in two (which included a double). Not a bad day out!

As for the other two behind the Mendoza line… we’ll see. John Meiman’s .171 with one RBI and no extra-base hits is pretty poor viewing, but he has scored 5 due to his ridiculous pace so I’m inclined to see if the batting picks up. As for Magallanes, neither he nor Elder have done particularly well at catcher in the batting stakes (the Venezuelan has hit 0.188 in 4 starts, while the New Jerseyite scraped 0.200 with the dinger in the last game from 6) – but I’ll keep an eye on them both.


Game Two

JAC: CF Guerrero – SS Ramires (cold) – 1B Barrera – LF Fuentes – RF Hadden – 2B Vega – C Shepherd – 3B Watkins – P Gonzalez

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – CF Ramos – LF Olivares – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Guymon – C Magallanes

RHP Ricardo Gonzalez (0-1, 10.13 ERA) v RHP Caleb Guymon (1-1, 0.66 ERA)

Super windy today. From Idema’s unexpected heroics to a man already etching a little place for himself, big things were expected today… and a clean 1-2-3 start was exactly what the doctor ordered for Guymon. Martinez started our batting game off with a 4-0 walk, which was followed by at double slogged at the wall from White – 2nd and 3rd were now loaded. Gonzalez then loaded the bases 4-2 (Winters advanced to first)… but as Ramos attempted the sac fly, Martinez was tagged at home and we had two out. No problem though, as Alfredo Olivares launched a howitzer out right to score two runs and earn himself a double! 2-0 Darts!

Then, a rebuttal, as Fuentes hits a double and Hadden a dinger out right to tie up the game instantly. The following innings, it started to get uglier, as two base-hits, a double and a couple of walks surged Jacksonville up 5-2 – we stranded two in the lower 3rd to ensure the score remained the same at the end.

The 4th saw Guymon get his act together again and strike out the side, but we went down in order too. The pitcher saw his K count get to 8 by the end of the 5th, but his time was up – tired and with 5 runs to his name already, there was no case to keep him on, so on came Tye Guthrie.

We got one back in the 6th, as Meiman’s impressive double saw Olivera surged round from 1st to cross the plate – but on the very first pitch in the 7th, Guerrero cracked a 373ft shot out right to make the difference three again. Martinez thumped a mighty triple in the bottom of that innings which thankfully was converted by a White base-hit (so 6-4) and then… Olivera gave us the mighty goods. Ramos base-hit, Olivera double, and White/Ramos both made it home to equalise. Come oooon! Bastyr was doubtless looking on, thinking ‘I’m never getting back into the side at this rate.’

I decided to bring Macias on for Guthrie at the start of the 8th, with the view of giving him an innings and then passing it to Sardis for the close. Macias played his part well, but with us going 1-2-3 out in the bottom of the innings, I figured it wasn’t time to bring Sardis on just yet. Boy did the Dominican deliver, with a groundball and two K’s ending the Hurricanes’ inning before it started. Sadly… we went 1-2-3 again too, and we were in extra innings.

Sardis came on for the 10th, and despite giving away two walks did what he needed to do and kept the ‘Canes quiet. For the 3rd inning on the bounce, however, we went 1-2-3 (uuuugh). Sardis made it through the 11th, but AGAIN we were out in order. Etzler replace Sardis, and after a walk and a single from Barrera, I started to wonder if this was… it. And it sure looked like it. With one already over the plate (7-6 now) a horrific error from 3rd Winters meant that we had a bases-loaded, one-out situation to deal with. Mercifully, Shepherd was punched out and Watkins groundout, but we were now playing catchup.

An early base-hit from Martinez at least meant we weren’t 1-2-3ing again (I might have cried), and a follow up single from White meant that 1st and 2nd were loaded with no outs. Winters struck out (cheers fella), and Ramos came ridiculously close to a GDIP. Two outs, 1st and 3rd occupied. Olivares to bat. He flew out. Game over. 12 innings and we lose 7-6.

Prominent players: Butch Martinez (2-from-5, R, BB, 3B), Steve White (3-from-5, 2R, RBI, BB, 2B), Scott Winters (1-from-5, R, BB, 2B), Alex Ramos (1-from-6, R, BB), Alfredo Olivares (3-from-6, R, 4-RBI, 2-2B), John Meiman (1-from-5, RBI, 2B) // Devin Etzler (1.0 IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, K, L [1-1])

Kyle Hadden made POTG going 2-from-3 with a run, as well as a 2-RBI double and a 2-RBI dinger.

Frustrating day out. We could look at the dodgy 3rd that Guymon had, but frankly, going 3 innings 1-2-3 when looking for a winner is straight-up unacceptable. Shoutout to Floyd Osmond who may as well have not been there today, but a more sincere commiserations to Olivares, who really, really deserved more than he got.


Game Three

A temporary shuffle-about was in order today, as both Winters and Ramos looked like they needed a rest. Malachi Webb comes in for Winters, and the outgoing Bastyr is now ingoing again, replacing Ramos for the game.

JAC: CF Guerrero – SS Ramires – 1B Barrera – LF Ojeda – RF Hadden – 2B Vega – 3B Watkins – C Rhodes – P Larios

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – SS Meiman – 3B Webb – LF Olivares – RF Bastyr – CF Osmond – P Quintero – C Magallanes

LHP Roberto Larios (0-1, 3.46 ERA) v RHP Edwin Quintero (2-0, 5.23 ERA)

Having 5 pitches is all well and good, but the sheer volume of 3-2 pitches Quintero was generating was concerning in the early stages. Still, the first actual talking point came in the bottom of the 3rd from Jonathan Magallanes, who gave fans of offence something to look at with a one-out double. Martinez then moved the bases along one after taking advantage of a Watkins error, and then White finished the job off with a base-hit down centre. 1-0 Grand Rapids!

The bases were loaded in the 4th by the unlikely batting trio of Bastyr (single), pitcher Quintero (single) and Magallanes (walked), following which Martinez did the nasty with a 2-RBI single to push us up 3-0. With the bases reloaded by Meiman drawing a walk, it fell to Webb to either do some damage or strand three – and damage he did, clobbering a 3-RBI double to boost us up to 6!

With Quintero’s K-count up to 6 we were still 6-0 up in the mid-8th, base hits from Quintero, Magallanes (a smidge lucky, granted) and Martinez meant we loaded them up with no outs. Steve White steps up – AND CATCHES THE FASTBALL DEAD-ON! 457-FT GRAND SLAM! 10-0! YOU ABSOLUTE BEAUTY! And so, all we had to do was see if Quintero could get our 3rd shutout of the year. The 9th begin with Ojeda singling, but then being forced out on Hadden’s base-hit. Benito Vega swung on a 3-2 going WAY out the strike zone… and so, all that separated Quintero from a 4-hit shutout was cold-hitting 3B Rob Watkins. Hit infield… GROUND OUT. QUINTERO DOES IT! TWICE IN A SERIES! 10-0 Darts!

Prominent performers: Butch Martinez (2-from-5, 2R, 2-RBI), Steve White (2-from-5, R, 5-RBI, HR), John Meiman (0-from-3, R, 2-BB), Malachi Webb (2-from-4, 3-RBI, 2B), Bryan Bastyr (2-from-4, R), Jonathan Magallanes (2-from-4, 2R) // Edwin Quintero (9.0 IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 7-K, W [3-0])

Week Two’s done, and we’ve somehow matched our first-week fortunes to continue with a 0.500 record!

Having one solo shutout in a week is cool but having two is downright greedy… not that I particularly care about that. It does, however, present us with something to think about. This week, our defensive efficiency has crashed to .731, down around 0.090 if memory serves from last week. While I understand the differences will be more pronounced in the early stages, how can we be so horrifically weak fielding on one day (see the 12-2 defeat to the Gators on the 8th) and then solid enough to earn two pitchers a shutout mere days after?

I gave our game plan a bit of a shufty about following the 1-2 defeat, and having scored 22 in 3 games, I think – think – it’s working, though we’ll have to play a team that isn’t Jacksonville to properly judge that. Magallanes and Martinez are both batting +0.400 this week so far, and I’m tempted to leave Webb in the team following yesterday’s performance… but maybe a rest is what Winters needed? Who knows. Maybe I’ll leave it.

On that note thankfully, we have a rest day before our next four series – Meiman, Martinez and Osmond all look like they need one. The two we’re playing next? We’ve got a road trip out west; firstly, we play the 5-7 Las Vegas Blue Hawks (3rd in the RL West) before hoping the Albuquerque Destroyers (4th in the RL West) are still having a horrible time. They’re currently on 2-10, sitting on a hideous 0.167 batting average and scoring only 2.25 runs a game.


ELSEWHERE
7th April: Only 7 days into the new season, Pete Brown of the Greenville Foresters (Blue League Southeast Division, 2-5) decided to make very public his frustrations at losing, following a 4-2 home defeat at the hands of the Sacramento Flames. He decided to take it out on Giovanni Williamson – the #5 pitcher, no less – who had admittedly had a poor game on the 5th (5 earned runs in 4 innings, to lose 5-2 to Oklahoma City) but didn’t exactly deserve his ire that day. Press were quick to point out that Brown was only batting 0.138 in 7 starts, giving him an OPS+ of 52.

9th April: The first ever NCL Player-of-the-Week Awards were dished out today, and first base came out well. For the Blue League, the award went to 1B Chad Supinger of the Honolulu Volcanoes, who went 11-from-28 with 4 dingers, 4 doubles and 6 RBIs for the Hawaiian side. In the Red League it was picked up by 1B Juan Aguillon of the Raleigh Rampage, who pulled out an astonishing 16-from-28 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 8 RBIs and 4 scored for himself.



CF Jose Guerrero for the Jacksonville Hurricanes went 5-for-5 today with 5 singles, but this display of amazing contact hitting still wasn’t enough to prevent the Floridians getting pumped 10-4 by the Louisville Wheelers. Guerrero is currently batting 0.243 this season, his numbers certainly pumped by today’s display.

10th April: You wait for a solo shutout and two come along at once – Idema’s magnificent effort, and Jordan Fuselier’s 3-hit, 5-K shutout for the Raleigh Rampage during their 7-0 victory over the Albuquerque Destroyers. The 28-year-old cutter fan from Savage-Guilford, Maryland, now has a 2-0 record with an ERA of 1.28.

11th April: RP Kevin Latimer’s season is well-and-truly over with the Rochester Cascades, following a torn flexor tendon which will keep him out at least until the midpoint of NEXT season… and on $387,000 with a contract which ends at the end of 2018, his return may not be in New York state. The injury occurred during the Cascades’ 7-3 defeat to Tucson – he finishes his season with a 1.50 ERA, played over 6 innings.

Star pitcher for the Greenville Foresters, J. T. German, also got placed on the DL today following spraining an ankle in the Foresters’ 0-10 hammering to the San Antonio Sun Kings. Currently with an ERA/WHIP/BABIP of 2.81/1.00/.243 over three starts he’s played well so far, but will be out until the end of May at the earliest.

12th April: A certain Edwin Quintero got a shutout today, making it the third of the year for the Grand Rapids Darts. Betcha didn’t see that coming!

Fresno Mechanics closer Josh Peterson has only just started wrangling his season under control (dropping his ERA from 18.00 on the 3rd to 7.94 on the 9th, and finding 3 saves), but it emerged yesterday that his house had been robbed last night. Originally from Towson, Maryland, he had recently purchased a home in the prestigious Van Ness Extension in order to be available to play for the Mechanics.

After 16 years in the sport, Orlando Owls 2B Tony Holt is calling it a day. Originally from Miami, the 41-year-old had lived for the last 22 years in Orlando and said in his press statement “to play for a professional team in Orlando is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m so, so grateful to have had the opportunity. But anyone who’s seen me play this past few games will probably understand [laughs].” Indeed, he has failed to hit in 5 games, striking out 3 times.

Juan Aguillon may be attracting a lot of the attention in Raleigh right now, but Russ Eastman’s 5-for-5, including a 4th-innings grand slam and a 2-RBI double in the 8th, has earned the 29-year-old Utahn some recognition of his own. His efforts went some way to earning the Rampage their 8th win of the season, going 12-6 against the struggling Albuquerque Destroyers.