THE HOT CORNER
Baseball coverage from the inside — Sacramento Prayers and the FBL
By Claude Playball | Baseball Insider & Analyst | Host, "Hot Corner" Podcast
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September 19 – 28, 2003 | Ninety-Six and Sixty | Two Walk-Offs in Four Days | The West Belongs to Sacramento
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THE FINISH LINE IS IN SIGHT, AND SACRAMENTO OWNS IT
There's a particular quiet that settles over a clubhouse once the biggest question of the season has finally been answered. Sacramento found that quiet sometime between a Sunday afternoon in San Jose and the box score landing in the paper the next morning — the American League West, officially, is the Prayers' division. Not just a playoff berth this time, not a wild card safety net. The whole thing.
It didn't come easy. Philadelphia, riding the hottest streak in the league, took the first two games of this stretch and made it look uncomfortably simple, six-run and six-run wins that dropped Sacramento's record to 90-60 and had the Padres celebrating their tenth straight victory in Sacramento's own visitors' clubhouse. What followed was the kind of response that separates a division champion from a team just playing out the string. Six wins in the next seven games. Two walk-offs against Brooklyn in the span of two days. Ha-joon Choi's thirtieth home run. And a division title that, with games still left on the schedule, is no longer a question anyone in Sacramento needs to ask.
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DID YOU CATCH THOSE GAMES? — WHAT THE SCORECARDS SAY
@ Philadelphia, September 19-21 (1-2)
Friday's opener set an uncomfortable tone. Carlos Martinez singled home two in the first, Frank Mayor cruised through six and a third, and Jang never found his rhythm in a 6-2 loss that extended Philadelphia's win streak to nine. Saturday was worse in a different way — Porter Langdon's two-run homer got things started in the third, and by the time Tim Thompson exited after allowing three home runs in three innings, the Padres had already won their tenth straight. Six to two again.
Sunday flipped the script entirely. Julio Vasquez put together the loudest game of his season, two home runs and a double, ten total bases, four RBI. Kyle Snyder added a two-run shot of his own in the second, and Sacramento's bats never let up, piling up fourteen hits in a 10-5 win that finally stopped Philadelphia's streak and salvaged the series split.
vs. Brooklyn, September 22-24 (3-0)
Monday's game turned into pure theater. Brooklyn scored eight runs in a wild second inning off Jeon, and Sacramento spent the rest of the night clawing back — a Dave Schmitt homer, a Ha-joon Choi homer, both in the same second-inning response, then a two-run rally in the ninth to tie it before Tim Van Ham delivered a walk-off single that sent Sutter Health Park into a frenzy. Nine to eight, and Brooklyn's manager could only credit the effort on both sides.
Tuesday needed extra innings and a whole lot of patience. Ivan Morales was brilliant across six shutout innings, Andy Benson worked around trouble to keep it tied, and in the bottom of the tenth, Ed Kaiser delivered the game-winning single that made it back-to-back walk-off wins. Three to two.
Wednesday was simply a rout. Choi went 3-for-3 with two runs and a pair of doubles, Van Ham's three-run homer blew the game open in the third, and Jang cruised to his fifteenth win of the season. Ten to seven, Sacramento's fourth straight victory.
@ San Jose, September 26-28 (2-1)
Friday's series opener in San Jose came down to the eighth inning, when Daniel Lozano's three-run homer off a shaky San Jose bullpen turned a tight game into a comfortable one. Choi's own three-hit night, capped by his thirtieth home run of the season, set the stage. Six to three, Sacramento's fifth straight win.
Saturday belonged to San Jose. Andres Ortega went 3-for-4 with two RBI, Dong-yeop Kim held Sacramento's offense to two runs across six innings, and Vince Brooks closed it out for his forty-first save. Three to two, San Jose, snapping the Prayers' winning streak.
Sunday brought the division home. Alejandro Navarro went 4-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored, Shikato Nakazawa drove in four, and Sacramento's offense simply overwhelmed San Jose's pitching staff in a 10-5 win that closed out the series and, with it, closed the book on the American League West race.
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DIVISION CHAMPIONS — NO ASTERISK NEEDED
There's a meaningful difference between backing into a division title and taking it the way Sacramento just did — answering back-to-back beatdowns in Philadelphia with six wins in the next seven games, two of them decided in walk-off fashion against a Brooklyn club that had won ninety games of its own. The Prayers didn't limp across the finish line. They sprinted the final stretch of it.
This is a nine-game cushion built over five months, the product of a rotation anchored by Jung-keun Jang and Ji-hoon Jeon, a lineup that has found a different hero seemingly every night — Vasquez one Sunday, Van Ham the next, Kaiser walking it off two days later — and a bullpen that, when healthy, has been as reliable as any in the league. The playoff berth clinched two weeks ago answered one question. This answers the bigger one: Sacramento didn't just qualify for October. It's arriving there as the best team the American League West had to offer, with home-field advantage now locked in for as long as this roster keeps playing.
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CHOI'S THIRTIETH, AND A CASE THAT KEEPS BUILDING
Thirty home runs is a real number for a player who spent parts of his career known more for his glove and his legs than his bat. Ha-joon Choi got there Friday in San Jose, a milestone that arrived almost quietly in the middle of a three-hit night, tucked between a leadoff double and a stolen base — the kind of unassuming superstar performance that's defined his whole season. Add in a .265 average, thirty stolen bases within reach, and a defensive reputation that hasn't slipped an inch, and Choi's case for a spot among the league's most complete players is no longer a quiet one, even if he still seems content to let the numbers do the talking.
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WHO'S HOT, WHO'S COLD
Who's Hot: Choi has been outstanding over his last seven games, .458 with two home runs, right on schedule for his milestone night. Alejandro Navarro is hitting .600 with a home run over his last eight. Kyle Gassman continues to be one of the most reliable arms in the bullpen, a 0.89 ERA over his last twelve outings.
Who is Cold: Daniel Lozano is day-to-day with knee soreness after getting hurt on the bases in San Jose, expected to miss about a week. Jordan Rubalcava is dealing with a sore elbow that's kept him out indefinitely, a concerning development for a bullpen that will need him healthy in October. Both Jang and Jeon cooled off across their most recent starts, a reminder that even the best arms hit rough patches at the wrong time.
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AROUND THE LEAGUE
St. Louis clinched its first-ever playoff berth as an expansion franchise, sending fans into the streets in a celebration city officials called the largest in recent memory. Brooklyn and San Jose have both clinched their own playoff spots as well, setting up a crowded American League postseason field. Fort Worth and Las Vegas remain the class of the National League, with Las Vegas's 103 wins the best mark in the sport.
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THE INBOX
From Armen Sarkisian of Sacramento's Arden-Arcade neighborhood, a veterinarian, who asks: "Now that the division is officially clinched, how much does that actually change compared to just having a playoff spot?"
More than people might assume. A wild card berth gets you into October, but the division title determines the entire shape of the postseason from there — home-field advantage, a more favorable seeding, potentially an easier first-round matchup. There's also something to be said for the psychological difference between backing into the playoffs and winning the thing outright, especially after this club had to answer a couple of ugly losses in Philadelphia to get there. This team earned the title, and I think that matters heading into October, even if it's hard to quantify exactly how much.
From Liora Bennhaim of Sacramento's Midtown neighborhood, an electrician, who asks: "Ha-joon Choi hit his 30th home run this week almost without anyone talking about it. Does he deserve more MVP buzz than he's getting?"
I think he does, honestly. Thirty home runs paired with elite defense and speed on the bases is a rare combination, and Choi has quietly put together one of the most well-rounded seasons on this roster, if not in the league. He doesn't have the gaudy batting average of a Shinohara or the RBI totals of a Kaiser, and that probably costs him some recognition in a crowded field. But total value, not just one number, is what MVP voting should reward, and by that measure, Choi belongs squarely in the conversation.
From Desmond Achterberg of Sacramento's Carmichael neighborhood, a barista, who asks: "With Lozano and Rubalcava both banged up, should fans be worried heading into the postseason?"
Cautiously attentive is probably the right level of concern, rather than worried. Lozano's knee soreness sounds like the kind of thing a few days of rest handles, especially with the division now clinched and no urgent reason to rush him back. Rubalcava's elbow is the one I'd keep a closer eye on — "indefinite" is a word that carries more weight for a bullpen arm this close to October. Neither issue looks catastrophic today. But this is exactly the stretch where a team wants its full roster healthy, and Sacramento doesn't have a lot of season left to sort it out.
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Six wins in nine games, two walk-offs against Brooklyn, Choi's thirtieth home run, and — the headline of it all — the American League West title, clinched outright. Sacramento sits at 96-60 with the finish line finally in view, a handful of games left to set the rotation and get healthy before October begins in earnest. Seattle awaits on the road, then Portland closes out the regular season schedule.
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Claude Playball is a baseball insider and analyst and host of the Hot Corner podcast, based in Sacramento, California.