PTownFan is off to Colorado to celebrate the Really Big Birthdays of a bunch of special college friends. See ya next week. The Little league AllStar bracket links still work while I'm gone. Magic! :-)

Little League All Stars: Updates

Touch 'Em All Tournament Updates - JULY 8:

Woo... the Junior Division game last night was exciting... PA won 15-8!

Following are links to the Tourney brackets for each age group.  Little League Officials update these brackets as scores come in so this is your direct pipeline to the latest results.  I've limited the links to brackets the three Petaluma Little Leagues compete in.  For a broader view of who they might face in later rounds and how far each age group can go, click here.

9/10 Year Olds: South Area Bracket hosted by Rancho Cotati Little League.  The winner moves on to the District Final Tourney in Healdsburg. Petaluma American eliminated Rancho Cotati with a 25-4 win last night and faces Petaluma Valley in an elimination game tonight. Winner faces Petaluma National tomorrow night for the title.

10/11 Year Olds: South Area Bracket hosted by Petaluma National Little League.  The winner moves on to the District Final Tourney also hosted by Petaluma National. Rancho Cotati is eliminated. Valley edged National last night 7-5. American and Sebastopol play tonight with the winner facing National tomorrow in the battle to survive the losers' bracket and face Valley for the title.

11/12 Year Olds (aka: Major League All-Stars or Little League All-Stars): South Area Bracket hosted by Petaluma Valley Little League.  The winner moves on to the District Final Tourney also hosted by Petaluma Valley. American has two wins and await the victor of the loser's bracket (Valley, National, and Rancho Cotati.  No score posted for last night's Valley/Rancho game).  Casa Grande High School better start prospecting a little further north.

Junior Division (13/14 year olds):  The three Petaluma Junior Division All-Stars first square off in a South Area Playoff Tourney that includes host Rancho Cotati to determine who will advance to the South Area Finals Tourney also hosted by Rancho Cotati.  The winner of the Area Finals moves on to the District Final again hosted by Rancho Cotati off Myrtle Ave by the dog park. Rancho Cotati and Petaluma National are eliminated. Last night, Petaluma American notched a decisive 15-8 win over Petaluma Valley forcing a deciding game tonight. The winner faces Mark West in a one game playoff for the South Area Final tomorrow night. The winner of that game advances to the District Final against either Sebastopol or Fort Bragg next week.   

Senior Division (15/16 year olds):  The number of players at this level drops off to the point that the three leagues combine to field one All-Star Team.  Their first stop is the District Final  hosted by Petaluma at Casa Grande High School.  Petaluma will also host the next round, the Section Tournament that includes winners of three other District Finals.  Play gets underway Saturday.

About Little League All-Stars:
Little League organizes All-Star competition by age group. Although an age group spans two years, teams are commonly referred to by the older year in that group. The older the players, the further they can go geographically as a summer full of tournaments progress. The 11/12 year olds, the Juniors (13/14 years) and the Seniors (15/16 years) can progress all the way to World Series competition. There is also a regional All Star Competition for the AAA minor league level. That tourney wrapped up last weekend with Petaluma Valley as the winner.

CUP O' JO: Wednesday, July 8, 2008

LOUIS OTT (A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
Move over Jonny Gomes.  Sweet Lou gets top billing today with a 5-for-5 three RBI night in an 8-3 win over St. Lucie.  His average is up to .347.  And the team awarded him the floral granny panties as The Most Offensive Player Of The Game. He wears them well on his Facebook page. Way to represent Louis!

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
Another huge night for for a PTown Pro.  4-for-5 with 2 home runs and three RBI boosting his average to .268.  Woo!
JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB):
0-for-3 in last night's 4-3 win over the Phillies.  Good to see them bounce back after Tuesday's 22-1 thrashing.  Some love for Jonno in the local paper today: Link

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization)
0-for-4 night.  He's human.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI in last night's 8-7 win over St. Paul.  Batting .346

SAM BANISTER (IF, Akron Racers Professional Softball)
2-for-3 with two RBIs in last night's 5-4 exhibition loss to Allentown.  Go girl!

CUP O' JO: Tuesday, July 7, 2008

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB):
Provided the only offense in last night's very offensive loss to the Phillies.  It was a 22-1 rout with PTown's Gomes preventing the ultimate humiliation with one big home run swing.  Worst loss in Reds' franchise history. Ugggghhhh-ly. Thank you Jonny for avoiding the shut out. Gomes is still hitting .329 despite returning to a pinch hitting role... despite his .367 average in the middle of the interleage swing.  Wazzup Dusty?

JOEY GOMES (DH, Edmonton Capitals, Golden League - IND)
3-for-5 with 6 RBIs and a dinger on Sunday. Woo!!! 1-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and a run scored in last night's loss to Victoria.  Batting .291.  Had a great visit with Joey during the Caps series with the Outlaws last week.  He is really enjoying the Caps opportunity and their sleek ride.  The team plane.  If you've ever wondered why the Florida Marlins have more empty seats than fans for an afternoon home game, take in an Outlaws game in Chico.  Words simply can't describe it.  It's a tanning booth, sauna and frying pan all wrapped up in one neat little package.  Good to see so many PTown Fans in the house for Joey despite the miles, the traffic (legendary) and the heat.

LOUIS OTT (A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization) 
0-for-3 in last night's loss breaking up a 5 game hitting streak.  He's still hitting .299 so the regular at bats are working for Louis.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization):
1-for-4 in last night's loss. Batting .341 with a 5 game hitting streak. Starting to hear frequent chatter about Tommy during A's games.  Gonna happen 707 fans. I feel it!

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
Wow!  A double short of hitting for the cycle in last night's loss to High Desert.  Way to go Konrad!

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
1-for-4 with his 4th double in a 4-1 loss to St. Paul last night.  Batting .343.

DJ GENTILE (OF, Matsu Miners, Alaska)
DJ was lighting up the scoreboard with his bat in Matsu, but not getting needed time in the outfield.  The Indians selected him in the draft last month and have been evaluating him as a potential outfielder in their organziation so he had to bust a move.  He's headed to Corvallis OR to play for the Knights. Fishing's still good in Oregon DJ. You won't have to go too far.

CUP O' JO: Wednesday, July 1, 2008

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB):

Struck out in a pinch hit appearance as the Reds produced lackluster offense on an off night for starter Bronson Arroyo.
.

JOEY GOMES (DH, Edmonton Capitals, Golden League - IND)

Joey is happy to be back in NorCal and it showed last night.  An RBI fielders' choice and went yard in the 7th to score two and ice the game for the Caps.  He's batting .273 with 3 home runs in 55 ABs for the Caps. PTownJr and I will be in the house tonight to watch Edmonton go for two in a row. Hopefully Joey saved some hits and some crisp D at 1B for the hometown fans.

LOUIS OTT (A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
1-for-3 with a single, a walk, a sac fly and a K in last night's win over Daytona.  Lou's hitting .283.

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners, MLB):
Threw 98 pitches and went 4.2 innings and left the game with a 3-3 tie.  The usually dependable Seattle bullpen hiccuped in the 7th and 8th and the Yanks won 8-3 with reliever White taking the loss.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization)
2-for-4 with 2 hits including a two out RBI single and a walk in a 5-2 win over Las Vegas.  Everidge is batting .359 and has 14 RBIs in 78 at bats.  He's slugging .590 and has a .419 OBP. You gotta think this is attracting a fair amount of attention in Oakland where they could sure use some power in the lineup.

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
2-for-5 in a 6-4 win over Bakersfield.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
2-for-4 at 1B in a 4-2 win over Sioux City.  Batting .346.

DJ GENTILE (OF, Matsu Miners, Alaska)
3-for-5 with a run scored, a stolen base, a home run and two RBIs in an 11 inning win over The Fire.  Woo!

(Bitter)sweet Redemption

Remember the inning that wasn't in Saturday's Petaluma City Junior Division Little League Championship game? The game ended in a 5.5 inning win* for Brodies (Petaluma Valley Little League).

Turns out the inning really wasn't played after all.  The manager of the Petaluma Valley team emailed that upon reviewing their book, an inning was "jumped" and he apologized for the confusion. 

So we'll never know if the PALL team had a come-from-behind win in them Saturday and another win on Sunday to end the season 3-0 against Brodies and take home the flag. Likely ? Perhaps not. But these are 13 and 14 year old kids and trust me, ANYthing can happen over the course of a complete game.

There's a saying that "the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little extra".  The Umpire is the only one paid to be there.  And likely, one of the few without a personal stake in the game. If it's not part of their job to keep track of the number of innings played on that little card they record substituions on, then here's another suggestion. Next year, perhaps the Leagues will take the extra step of providing an official scorekeeper for the Championship Game(s).  Or at least a scorekeeper table where the home and visitor books sit together and cross check little things as the game progresses. So the little things don't become big things that can impact the outcome.  We volunteers all make mistakes. Let's make it easier to catch 'em before it's too late.

CUP O' JO: Monday, June 29, 2009

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB):
1-for-4 with a 2 run home run in yesterday's 8-1 win over Cleveland to take the Governor's Cup and close to within 2.5 games of Milwaukee and St. Louis who are tied for the Division lead.  I tell you what, these Reds' fans are a tough crowd.  With Jonny hitting .343 and slugging .600 (.529 vs. RHP) they are not exactly singing his praises.  Now that interleague action is over, they're already predicting a big cooldown as he returns to a platoon role despite his recent success versus RHP.  He went 11-for-29 as the DH during the recent interleague stretch and is batting .063 points higher than the next best hitting outfielder.  I'd love to the output of a Bill James equation that looks at all those inputs to see how good another OF's defense needs to be to overcome the edge that Gomes has offensively.  If the Reds' starting pitchers continue to struggle and wins hinge on run production, I don't know how they can afford to keep Jonny out of the lineup.  Dickerson in CF and Gomes in LF is more potent than Taveras (.237) in center and a platoon in left with either Nix (.259) or Dickerson (.279) and saving Jonny's hot bat only for lefties. But what do I know.

JOEY GOMES (DH, Edmonton Capitals, Golden League - IND)
2-for-5 with an RBI single in last night's 11-3 win over Victoria to regain second place.  If you can work a mid-week game in Chico into your schedule, Joey's team opens their 4 game series against the Outlaws tomorrow night.  Click here for ticket info and here for directions. The gates open at 6:00 and the Caps take infield during BP which usually begins around 5:30.  But the nice gal in the Outlaws front office said it shouldn't be a problem if a few PTown fans show up and want to get in early to send some love Joey's way.  And get this week's edition of Sports Illustrated signed.  BYOS (Bring Your Own Sharpie).

LOUIS OTT (A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
0-for-3 last night at second base as the Threshers won the sharkfight 5-4 over Louis' Hammerheads.
BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners, MLB):
Next start:  tomorrow night in NY vs. Joba.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization)
3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI in a 6-3 loss to Las Vegas last night.  Batting .357. Man!

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
0-for-4 in last night's loss to Bakersfield.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
2-for-3 with an RBI in a 2-1 win over St. Paul last night.  And our beat reporter Not So Anonymous reports that he is planning a trip to Sioux Falls, in part, to report back on those Fowl Balls.  Take a video cam NSA... we gotta see these things to believe 'em. 

DJ GENTILE (OF, Matsu Miners, Alaska)
2-for-4 with two doubles in last night's 5-4 win over The Fire.  Batting .344 with 4 extra base hits in 9 games played.  DJ is working on his outfielding skills in hopes of inking a deal with the Cleveland Indians who selected him in the draft earlier this summer. So far, so good as far as fielding stats go.

PTown's Joey Gomes Makes Sports Illustrated

Joey went yard against former MLB pitcher Jose Lima, who is trying to make a comeback via the Golden League, and Sports Illustrated gave it some ink.  Look for an article titled, "Somewhere, it's Lima Time" in this week's edition with Joe Mauer on the cover.  Or read it here.

Not to take anything away from Lima and his inspirational attitude, but Joey got the ink by making a two run jack out of a Jose Lima fastball. Yah, Joe Gomes :-)

And MrPTown assures me the "SI Jinx" only applies to the guy on the cover.  Poor Joe Mauer's .400 season is in trouble...

CUP O' JO: Sunday, June 28, 2009

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB):
1-for-5 yesterday with an RBI single to ice the Reds 7-3 win over Cleveland.

JOEY GOMES (DH, Edmonton Capitals, Golden League - IND)
1-for-4 yesterday in a 14-1 loss to Victoria. Joe Gomes is playing some 1B for the Caps and batting .267 after a dry spell this week. The Caps are in third place three games back of Calgary.  The upcoming series in Chico this week could break things open.    Roadtrip Wednesday to watch the 8:05 game!

LOUIS OTT (A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
Louis is have a great few days.  3-for-5 yesterday, 1-for-3 Friday and 3-for-4 Thursday.  Three runs and two doubles during that stretch.  And regular ABs.  Yah Lou!

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners, MLB):
It's Morrow v. Joba Chamberlain Tuesday in New York.  Seattle has won 7 of their last 10 and is closing the gap in the AL West.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization)
Nice piece on Tommy in the Sacramento Bee: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/story/1981495.html  Tommy was 1-for-5 in yesterday's 11-5 win over Vegas.  Batting .338.

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
2-for-3 with a double in yesterdays squeaker of a loss to Modesto.  Batting .255

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
1-for-4 yesterday. Batting .335.

DJ GENTILE (OF, Matsu Miners, Alaska)
Batting .321.  Box scores still a challenge to find.  And I gotta get to work...

WILLY SULLIVAN (OF, Petaluma American Round Table Pizza)
2-for 2 with an RBI double in yesterday's win* by Petaluma's Valley Brodies team.  Finished the season at .400.  On to All Stars which begin Saturday, July 4th in Cotati.

My Name Is PTownFan And I Have A Problem

It sucks to be competitive at my age.  It really does. 

The Valley Little League Brodie's Team was crowned Petaluma Junior Division Champions* today. I tip my cap to them.  Well pitched, well played.  The Blue Crew called a good game and we had opportunities to make it much closer, if not get ahead early.  It was 90 something degrees by gametime and 99 by the time the final pitch was thrown with Brodies up 8-3*.  Even with the hard hitting top of our order due up, the speech bubbles on the speechless young faces were saying, "Please let this be over." I guess I can't blame them.  They'd played 5 games in 5 days, it would take a 6th to win the flag, and it was bloody hot.

But I had the 2004 Boston Red Sox in my head. Remember them?  Losing 4-3 in the 9th and down zero games to three the best-of-seven American League Championship Series, the #8 Sox hitter outfoxed the great Mariano Rivera to force extra innings and win the game. And ultimately the series. The top of our Round Table order had rallied with two outs in the 5th to score a couple of runs.  They were due up again in the 7th. My glass was half full.  Lotta baseball left.  But the Baseball Gods intervened and gave the boys a pass on the rest of the game.

"What'chu talkin' about, Willis?"

Yep, the Baseball Gods inserted a phantom scoreless inning in the other team's scorebook, leading them to believe the game was over when our #9 batter grounded out. As I was busy totalling out my T6 half inning, boxes of trophies were appearing on the field.  I jumped up in amazement as the congratulatory end of game hand slapping was taking place, and waved my lovely orange, but very unofficial Visitor Team scorebook at the ump, shouting "it's only the 6th inning!!!"  I keep a good book, but I'm not perfect so I did a hurry up double check. Had I scored two innings in one column? Nope... Passed out briefly in the heat and missed an inning? Nope... Earlier in the game I had picked up the wrong leadoff batter and got off track for a few hitters. That quick fix had long since been made, but it was enough to rattle my confidence. So I asked a couple of travel ball dads for a quick double-check.  Still short an inning, we appealed to the Blue Crew. Their response? "Home Book says we've played seven innings so we're done."

By this point, the boys had their trophies and the other team's photo op with the Championship Banner was underway.  And the Sports Editor of the local paper and two other parents keeping score approached with confused looks also wondering what happened to B6 and T7. Four scorekeepers showed a 5.5 inning game.  Only the home team's book showed the additional inning. The inning that wasn't. The win with an asterisk.

I hate it when the game is taken out of the players' hands.  I just think it's too bad it ended with something clearly amiss and the losing team having a chance. We're not talking about an Umpire's strike zone.  This was a discrepancy that could have been cross checked. I have a newfound appreciation for all the rules and regulations of sanctioned Little League Tournaments. Especially the roped off Official Scorekeepers' Table under a "cone of silence" so pitch counts, scores and innings are all accounted for and verified by Tournament Officials.  The Championship game of the City Tourney deserves the same.

All that said, the second place finishers didn't seem to mind. They were cooked.  A longshot win today would have forced another game at high noon tomorrow.  On another 100 degree day.  The coaches thought we'd have a mutiny if we pushed the point.  So we conceded the loss*.  With the top of our order coming up to bat against a team we beat earlier this season.  The Baseball Gods can make things right during the upcoming All-Star Tournament and get us through the South Area Finals to the District Tourney. And beyond ;-)

Your final, PVLL Brodie's 8.  PALL Round Table 3*

Like I said, it sucks to be competitive at my age.  It really does.  They're kids, not the 2004 Red Sox. I need to let that asterisk go.

Thanks for listening.

PETALUMA AMERICAN'S HENRIS ROOFING WINS TOC

2009 TOC Champs

Photo: Greg Gardea

Henris Roofing won the District 35 Tournament Of Champions Friday night topping Fort Bragg by a score of 16-0.  Pearlacious!! Hosted by Mark West Springs Little League, the tourney included the top North Coast Major Division teams from Petaluma to the Oregon border.  A tip of the cap to proud poppa Greg Gardea for the this recap:

Brendan Jackson pitched 5 solid shutout innings for the win. At the plate, the Dynamic duo was at it again. Drew Busse and Miles Gardea started things off with back to back doubles and then followed with back to back homeruns the next inning. Busses had a double and 3 homeruns on the night including a grand slam.   Gardea had two doubles, a triple and a homerun. Busse and Gardea combined for 12 RBI's and Brendan Jackson added four more.  He went 3-for-4 with two singles and a double.  (Ed:  YOWZA... a slam in a TOC. Now THAT is a memory maker).

Pitching strategy is key in the 5 day single elimination tournament where teams play every day. Henris finished the year with a record of 29-4 and were coached by Tom Busse and Chuck Mcphearson. The roster includes Drew Busse, Armand Carcelan, Max Cerini, Justin Chapman, Thomas Cramer, Brad Freitas, Austin Garatti, Miles Gardea, Jackson Hill, Brendan Jackson, Emmett Schrader, and Alberto Valdez.

Petaluma was represented in the TOC by Henris Roofing from the Petaluma American, Athletic Edge from the Petaluma Valley and Pinky’s Pizza from the Petaluma National.  Other Leagues sending champions to the Tournament were Cloverdale, Coast Youth, Rincon Valley, Rancho Cotati, El Molino, South Ukiah, Healdsburg, Medocino-Coast, North Ukiah, Fort Bragg, Willits, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa American, Westside and Mark West.  Here's some video from earlier in the week on the Youth Sports Network: http://ysn365.com/

Way to represent!  Congrats boys, coaches and parents.

Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive

Whew!  Petaluma American Little League's scrappy Jr. Division Round Table team is hangin' tough.  A 4-2 win tonight over Petaluma National's Anderson Team has put them in the championship round.  Three loser's bracket wins in three nights. Gutsy. Kevin George pitched a beautiful game and Anthony Garatti closed it out to preserve the win.  The PALL boys will try to knock off Brodies' tomorrow to force a Championship game on Sunday.  Come on out to Petaluma National's big diamond tomorrow at noon and enjoy the 100 degree heat with us.  If there's any sort of a breeze, you'll get a complimentary dermabrasion facial with your heat wrap.  That Sonoma-Marin Fair kids up a lotta dust :-)

Oh, by the way...  Jonny was 2-for-3 with an RBI single tonight and his average is now .367.  Too bad the Reds lost.  Again.  If Jonny can inspire a sustained winning streak and keep his bat going, I  predict a MLBCBPOTY at the end of the season.  C'mon Redlegs.  Get your poop in a group and win some would ya!

Gomes Batting .351 And Round Table Still Winning

Jonny Gomes had another big night while the Cardiac Kids (PALL Round Table Pizza) battled back through the loser's bracket with a nail biter of a win in the Petaluma Little League Junior Division City Championship Tourney.

Gomes went 2-for-4 with his 6th double, a first inning RBI that scored Joey Votto who went on to become the hero of the night in a real feel good story.   Things are looking up for Willy Taveras who got his bat back after losing it earlier this season. Gomes rounded out his night with a walk and a single off former Rays teammate... and RHP... Sean Camp bumping his average to .351 and his rightie split to .300.  Wow.  It's probably too early to start talking about MLBCBPOTY so I'll just think it for now.  If you've followed Gomes the last few years, you know which post-season thingie I'm thinkin' about. I don't want to violate one of The Unwritten Rules Of Baseball that I might not know about yet.  Better play it safe.  Pretty good book by the way. Reading it on my iPhone via the Kindle App.  A great way to make the cardio time fly at the gym.

PTownJunior's Round Table Pizza team eeked out a 3-2 win over Shotwell's last night.  Trevor Shine had a two hitter going in the sixth before hitting the 95 pitch limit.  Steely nerved Ryan Scherer took the mound and gunned the tying run with a wicked pick off move to second base to end the inning.  The heart of the Round Table order couldn't put insurance runs on the board in the top of the 7th so it came down to good pitching and defense in the bottom of the final inning with the top of the Shotwell's order due up.  The leadoff hitter reached on an error and Scherer fanned the #2 batter.  Shotwell's next hitter flied to right advancing the lead runner to third.  Ryan waivered a bit, walking the next batter but Shotwell's starting pitcher smacked a routine grounder to the sure gloved Kevin George at 1B and kept the Number Two seeded team alive in the double elimination tourney.  Zac Overzet and Kevin George each had two hits for Round Table, and Willy Sullivan (PTownJr) drove in the winning run in the third.

Tonight, Round Table meets Petaluma National's Anderson team for a rematch of Tuesday night's 7-4 loss that sent the American League Champs to the loser's bracket and the rubbermatch of season long competition.  Gametime is 5:30pm at Petaluma National's Aparicio Field next to the Fairgrounds.  Stay to drag the field after the game and you can listen to The Charlie Daniels Concert for free :-)

Top seeded Brodies' (Petaluma Valley LL) will take on tonight's loser's bracket winner tomorrow at noon for the Championship. Unless the losers bracket winner wins again, forcing a Championship game on Sunday.  Wouldn't that be awesome?

CUP O' JO: Thursday, June 25, 2009

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB):
Good week for Jonny, hitting .333 in his last ten games.  In Saturday's Civil Rights Game, he gave the Reds a 5-0 lead with a 2 run dinger.  But Cueto gave up a truckload of hits and the Reds lost a game they shoulda won. 2-for-3 with his 5th double against the White Sox Sunday.  2-for-4 with his third homerun last night. A combo of lotsa probable LHP for the opposing teams and Jonny's hot bat have made it easier for Dusty to massage the lineup, inserting Dickerson for the struggling CF Willy Taveras the last few days.  Jonny Gomes is leading the team with a .333 average excluding 1B Joey Votto (.346) who is fresh off the DL with stress related issues following his Dad's death.  The Reds have sorely missed Votto's bat. Let's hope it's all good with Joey and that this new lineup grinds out some wins, not just hits.   BTW, Gomes is .391 v LHP and .286 v RHP.

JOEY GOMES (DH, Edmonton Capitals, Golden League - IND)
Joey has really cranked up the Caps' offense.  In just 8 games, he's had 7 extra base hits including 5 doubles, 2 homeruns and 7RBIs. 

LOUIS OTT (A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
Big game for Sweet Lou last night.  3-for-4 with a double and 2 runs scored. Yah!

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners, MLB):
Morrow pitched 5+ in a Mariner's victory last night.  Didn't get the win, but continues to solidify his spot in the rotation throwing 87 pitches, 57 for strikes. Attaboy Brandon.  Keep hummin'.  Brandon's bobblehead sure got a workout in the Seattle Pressbox last Friday night.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization)
Tommy's on fire.  His average reached .347 Tuesday before a brief dip in the cool 0-for-4 water last night.  In just 14 games, he's racked up 11 runs on 17 hits with 3 doubles, 3 home runs and 9 RBIs.  Awesome.

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
Batting .246 through this week's All Star Break.  Games resume tonight with the Rawhide hosting Modesto.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
Steve's great season continues. He's batting .329 with 9 doubles, 2 home runs, and 20 RBIs. 4-for-5 last night. A tip of the cap to reader Not So Anonymous for his eye witness reporting from the Sioux City Explorers' where the Nuts no-hit the X's Tuesday night.  For the first time ever.

DJ GENTILE (OF, Matsu Miners, Alaska)
Man these box scores are hard to find.  Batting .333 in 5 games played. No fishing report yet.

PETALUMA AMERICAN JR. DIVISION ROUND TABLE PIZZA:
After an first round bye and a second round win, Round Table dropped one to Petaluma National's Anderson team Tuesday night.  Charlie Parnow pitched out of his socks for Anderson and Round Table was flat as a cheese pizza with no toppings.  Fortunately, Round Table rallied and topped Petaluma National's North Bay Construction by a score of 10-0 in six innings last night as they try to battle back through the loser's bracket.  That means baseball every night through Sunday.  I'm up for that :-)  All-Stars begin on July 4th.  What's more All-American than that?

CUP O' JO: Friday, June 19, 2009

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB):
The Reds bats were a bust yesterday afternoon in Atlanta so no sweep.  Jonny struck out in his pinch hit appearance.  CF Willy Taveras' troubles continued with another 0-for-5 day at the plate.  Gomes has the highest average of any outfielder by .50 points but Dusty is bound and determined not to do any wholesale juggling, lest he hurt Tavera$' feeling$.  Now only a 1/2 game out of 4th place, maybe someone will decide to let Jonny have a go on a daily basis for awhile.  Ya think?

JOEY GOMES (DH, Edmonton Capitals, Golden League - IND)
Off to a great start with a double and a home run among the hits wrapped up in his .294 average as the team's DH.  The Caps are working their way back to Edmonton with a three game series in Victoria beginning tonight.  Gotta say, the scenery in the Golden League can't be beat.

LOUIS OTT (A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
0-for-3 with a run scored and a walk at second base Wednesday night.   Batting .185 and looking for more ABs.

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners, MLB):
Morrow got another start last night and it wasn't bad.  In fact, after a shaky first inning, he settled in and threw well going 4 innings before reaching his pitch limit.  He struck out 6 and walked only one while giving up 5 hits and 2 earned runs.  The M's went on to lose the game to San Diego in extras.  It's sounding more and more like Morrow will stay with the Major League Club during his transition to starter getting to a 100 pitch limit sometime next month.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization)

Tommy with a couple of Valley of the Moon Little Leaguers from his hometown. I think Jack swings with Joey at The Coop. 

(Photo by Nancy Murray via the Sonoma Sun.)

Tommy helped make River Cats history as the they hit a team high 8 home runs Wednesday night. Tommy had a dinger and two doubles in his 4-for-5 night at the plate.  Last night he was 0-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored.  Now batting a very sweet .294 and playing every day.  The Cats are still dominating the Division with wins both nights.

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
0-for-3 Wednesday night in a loss to the San Jose Giants.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
0-for-3 in Wednesday's 7-5 loss to Sioux Falls.  No word on whether BBQ sauce is the way to go with Fowl Balls.

DJ GENTILE (OF, Matsu Miners, Alaska)
Off to a hot start in Alaska with a single, a double and a home run in two games.  I hear he might do a little fishing with the local celebrities as well.