[Questdog]

Thursday, April 5, Year I

Portland Beavers (0-2 .000 2 GB tied for 5th place (last) in the PCL West) at
Oakland Oaks (2-0 1.000 tied for 1st place in the PCL West)

POR: Dave Cole (25-R) vs OAK: Lou Infinger (33-R)

We are now to the rookie portion of our starting rotation. Cole will be making his Major League debut today.

Infinger is a has been clown slacker and if we cannot score any runs today, it is going to be a loooong season.

Lineups: Pos Name (Age-Bats BA-AB-HR-RBI-OPS)
PORTLAND
1: CF Perry Templet (22-L .125-8-0-0-.250) Rookie
2: C Dennis Webb (24-L .000-5-0-0-.375)
3: RF Dale Ainsworth (26-L .375-8-0-0-.750)
4: 1B Jeff Austin (29-R .000-7-0-0-.125)
5: LF Howard McNeal (30-R .375-8-0-1-.750)
6: 3B Glenn Pearce (38-R .571-7-0-1-1.071)
7: 2B Gary Long (32-R .125-8-0-1-.250)
8: SS Dave Lesley (26-R .143-7-0-2-.286)
9: P Dave Cole (25-L) Major League debut

OAKLAND
1: SS Henry Rangel (27-R .250-8-0-0-.625)
2: RF Dave Schoenfeld (28-R .571-7-0-3-1.339)
3: LF Tom Short (29-L .125-8-0-0-.250)
4: 2B Felix Salazar (32-R .167-6-1-2-.952)
5: 1B Farley Ross (34-L .143-7-1-1-.821)
6: C Don Stokes (39-R .333-6-1-1-1.262)
7: CF Roger Crandall (27-L .000-6-0-0-.143) Rookie
8: 3B Antonio Mata (26-R .333-6-1-3-1.167)
9: P Lou Infinger (33-R) Season debut

Game Start: 7:05 PM
Ballpark: The Oakland Coliseum
Weather: 60 F, partly cloudy with an 11 MPH wind blowing in from right.
Attendance: 28,524

Top of the First:
Perry Templet swings at the first pitch, as he is wont to do, and mashed one to right field, but into the teeth of the wind and it is caught at the warning track. Dennis Webb flies out to center. Dale Ainsworth flies out to shallow left... It is going to be a long, dry summer....

Bottom of the First:
Dave Cole takes the first batter he ever faces in the Major Leagues to a full count, but then Henry Rangel taps one back to the mound for an easy out. Dave Schoenfeld grounds one to short, but Dave Lesley boots it. Tom Short strikes out looking! Felix Salazar lines one hard down the left field line, hooking foul, but Howard McNeal makes a fine running catch!

Top of the Third:
Remember how I maligned Lou Infinger as a person and a pitcher? Well, we got our first hit this inning and it was by our pitcher, Dave Cole... And that was all we got.

Bottom of the Third:
With 1 out, Henry Rangel gets a hit, steals 2nd and scores on a single by Dave Schoenfeld. 1 to 0, Oaks. Tom Short then grounds one to 3rd and Glenn Pearce boots it. Felix Salazar then grounds one to 2nd and it is turned into a 4-6-3 double play!

Top of the Fifth:
With 1 out, Gary Long and Dave Lesley get back-to-back hits, the first by a non-pitcher for us. After P Dave Cole bunts them up, Perry Templet bloops a 2-out hit to left and Longs scores to tie the game at 1. Dave Webb follows with a hit to right and Lesley scores! 2 to 1, Beavers! Dale Ainsworth lines a single to center and Templet scores! 3 to 1, Beavers! Jeff Austin keeps the party going with a grounder to right for a hit and Webb scores! 4 to 1, Beavers! Howard McNeal grounds yet another hit up the middle and Ainsworth scores! 5 to 1, Beavers! 5 straight 2 out singles! Infinger hits the showers. New Pitcher: Joe Peck (28-R). After throwing a wild pitch, he gets Glenn Pearce to bounce one back to the mound to end the inning. We scored as many runs after there were 2 outs in this inning than we did in the first 2 games combined.

Bottom of the Sixth:
Felix Salazar lines one to right into the teeth of the wind, but it carries the fence anyway. 5 to 2, Beavers. That is his second home run of the series.

Top of the Seventh:
New Pitcher: Vern Genkins (34-R). With 2 outs, Dale Ainsworth grounds a hit to right. Jeff Austin then absolutely mashes one to right center. Into the wind and it still went 420 feet! 7 to 2, Beavers! Our first home run of the season! Heck, that is our first extra base hit of the season!

Bottom of the Seventh:
A pair of singles and a 2 out double down the left field line by Tom Short give the Oaks a run. 7 to 3, Beavers.

Top of the Eighth:
Gary Long leads off with a single and Dave Lesley follows with a double. With 1 out, Perry Templet beats out an infield hit and Long scores. 8 to 3, Beavers. Dennis Webb grounds into a force at 2nd, 3-6, and Lesley scores. 9 to 3, Beavers! Dale Ainsworth and Jeff Austin then hit back-to-back 2 out singles and Webb scores to make it 10 to 3, Beavers! That sends Genkins to the showers.

Won - 10 to 3

We had 17 hits and made 2 errors
Oakland had 11 hits and made no errors

Dave Cole (W 1-0), in his Major League debut, went 7 innings, allowed 3 runs, 10 hits, 1 home run, no walks and struck out 3. At bat, he had a hit.
LHP Jerry Wilhelm, in his season debut, pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowed 1 hit and struck out 1. He is wild and though he took 3 batters to a full count, he did not walk anyone.

Lou Infinger (L 0-1) went 4.2 innings, gave us 5 runs, 8 hits, no walks, 1 HBP and struck out 1.

CF Perry Templet had 2 hits, scored a run and had 2 RBI. C Dennis Webb had a hit, scored 2 runs and had 2 RBI. RF Dale Ainsworth had 3 hits, scored 2 runs and had an RBI. 1B Jeff Austin had 3 hits with the first Beaver home run of the season and had 4 RBI. LF Howard McNeal had 2 hits with an RBI. 2B Gary Long had 2 hits and scored 2 runs. SS Dave Lesley had 3 hits with a double and scored 2 runs.

For the Oaks, RF/CF Dick Schoenfeld had 3 hits and an RBI. He was 7 for 12 in the series.

Extra Notes: Dave Dafoe's crew has signed another youngster south of the border: P Bernie Meza (16-R). When I found out his fastball was 82 MPH and his mouth was 100 MPH, I nixed the contract....

Down on the Farm: The minor leagues, AAA down to C level, all opened their seasons today. The Visalia Oaks of the California League (A) were our only affiliate in action, though. They won at home, 12 to 8, over the Modesto Reds, who happen to be the affiliate of the Oakland Oaks. 1B Mike Spiegel (24-R) had 2 hits with a home run, scored twice and had 4 RBI.