[Questdog]

Tuesday, April 3, Year I

Opening Day!

We open on the road with a 3 game series against the Oakland Oaks. They finished only 2 games ahead of us last season, in 5th place with 93 losses. They were the only team in Baseball to score fewer runs than us (2 fewer), though their OPS was almost 40 points higher than ours and they play in the most pitcher friendly ball park in Baseball. They tied for the 2nd fewest runs allowed in the PCL.

Portland Beavers at Oakland Oaks

POR: Ron Wolf (26-R) vs OAK: Ed Alvarado (27-R)

Alvarado is a selfish braggart, but Dave Dafoe has him ranked as one of the top 10 starting pitchers in Baseball. His curveball is one of the best, if not THE best. He had a 2.81 ERA in the Spring.

Have you ever been to the Pioneer Chicken stand down on Alvarado Street?

Lineups: Pos Name (Age-Bats)
PORTLAND
1: CF Perry Templet (22-L) Major League debut
2: C Dennis Webb (24-L)
3: RF Dale Ainsworth (26-L)
4: 1B Jeff Austin (29-R)
5: LF Howard McNeal (30-R) Today is his birthday.
6: 3B Glenn Pearce (38-R)
7: 2B Gary Long (32-R)
8: SS Dave Lesley (26-R)
9: P Ron Wolf (26-R)

OAKLAND
1: SS Henry Rangel (27-R)
2: RF Dave Schoenfeld (28-R)
3: LF Tom Short (29-L)
4: 1B Farley Ross (34-L)
5: 2B Felix Salazar (32-R)
6: CF Roger Crandall (27-L) Major League debut
7: C Don Stokes (39-R)
8: 3B Antonio Mata (26-R)
9: P Ed Alvarado (27-R)

Game Start: 4:05 PM
Ballpark: The Oakland Coliseum
Weather: 60 F, partly cloudy with an 18 MPH wind blowing out to left.
Attendance: 44,653

Top of the First:
Perry Templet, in his first Major League at bat, flies out to center. Dennis Webb lines out to center, Roger Crandall making a fantastic running catch. Dale Ainsworth lines a 3-2 pitch into left for a hit. He tries to steal 2nd, but they have a pitchout called and he is thrown out.

Bottom of the First:
Henry Rangel leads off with a double into the left field corner on a 1-2 pitch... Dave Schoenfeld walks on 4 pitches... Tom Short grounds out to 1st, unassisted and the runners move up. Wild Pitch, run scores... 1 to 0, Oaks. Farley Ross draws a walk. Felix Salazar flies out to shallow center and Schoenfeld tries to score, but Perry Templet throws him out!

Top of the Second:
Jeff Austin leads off with a walk, but tries to steal and they have another pitchout on and he is dead... The next two batters get out.

Bottom of the Second:
Another walk from Ron Wolf and a couple of singles load the bases up with 2 outs. Dave Schoenfeld lines a 2-2 pitch down the right field line for a bases clearing double.... 4 to 0, Oaks. Yeah, they were definitely sniffing airplane glue over there at Baseball America.... Tom Short grounds out to short to end the inning.

Top of the Third:
We go down in order.

Bottom of the Third:
Farley Ross leads off with a 400 foot home run to left center... 5 to 0, Oaks. Bullpen is warming up... Another walk and a hit. The Bullpen is taking too dern long to get ready..... With one out, Antonio Mata homers to left... 8 to 0, Oaks. And still the reliever is not ready... Editor's Note: I accidentally started this game with the Warm Up rules enabled. I usually play by my own rules, where I need to warm a pitcher up for 2 batters before bringing him in. This guy has been tossing in the Bullpen for 4 batters now and is still not ready.... Even though I am tempted to quit and restart the game, I will play on, but I will NOT use OOTP's warm up rules again... After one more batter, the pitcher, who gets out, the reliever is finally ready: RHP Barry Chapman (26-R). He gets a ground out to 3rd to end the inning.

Top of the Fourth:
The top of our order goes down in order....

Bottom of the Fourth:
For the first time in the game, they go down 1-2-3.

Top of the Fifth:
We get a base runner due to a 2-out error, but that is all.

Bottom of the Fifth:
They go down in order.

Top of the Sixth:
We go down in order. Gordon Saunderson (26-L), in his Major League Debut, pinch-hits and flies out to right.

Bottom of the Sixth:
New Pitcher: Don Schmidt (26-R). He gets them out in order.

Top of the Seventh:
We get a lead off walk from Dave Webb and a 2-out infield hit from Howard McNeal, our 2nd hit of the game. Glenn Pearce then singles to left to load the bases up. Gary Long singles to left to score our first run of the season. 8 to 1, Oaks. Dave Lesley singles to right to score 2 more. 8 to 3, Oaks. Pinch Hitter Joe Harrison, our $1.7 million water boy, strikes out to end the inning.

Bottom of the Seventh:
New Pitcher: Lou Hertzberg (29-L) who gets them out in order.

Top of the Eighth:
We get a lead off hit from Perry Templet, the first hit of his career, but that is all.

Bottom of the Eighth:
3 up, 3 down.

Top of the Ninth:
With 1 out, Glenn Pearce gets a hit and they pull Alvarado. New Pitcher: Joe Peck (28-R). He gets the final 2 outs.

Lost - 8 to 3

We had 7 hits and made no errors
Oakland had 7 hits and made 1 error

All 7 of their hits were in the first 3 innings.

Ron Wolf (L 0-1), our "ace", went 2.2 innings, allowed 8 runs, 7 hits, 2 home runs, 4 walks and struck out no one.
RHP Barry Chapman pitched 2.1 perfect innings with 1 strikeout.
RHP Don Schmidt pitched 1 perfect inning with 1 strikeout.
LHP Lou Hertzberg pitched 2 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts.

We retired the final 17 batters of the game.

Ed Alvarado (W 1-0) went 8.1 innings, gave us 3 runs, 7 hits, 2 walks and struck out 4. At bat, he scored a run.

CF Perry Templet, in his Major League debut, had a hit and threw a runner out at the plate. 3B Glenn Pearce had 2 hits and scored a run. SS Dave Lesley had a hit and 2 RBI. PH Gordon Saunderson, in his Major League debut, flew out to right.

For the Oaks, RF Dave Schoenfeld hit a 3-run double and drew a walk. 3B Antonio Mata, their #8 hitter, had 2 hits with a 3-run home run and scored twice.

Other Note: Yesterday, Dave Dafoe's crew signed a 16 year old out of the Dominican Republic: SP Bobby Milan (16-R). By all reports he is a great kid: a hard worker, very smart and easy going. Only problem is his fastball is also very easy-going at 83 MPH...