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.

CUP O' JO: Wednesday, June 17, 2009

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds, MLB): 
The Reds dropped four in a row after Jonny drove in the game winner early last Thursday morning in a rain delayed extra innings thriller for die hard west coast fans. The teamwide slump had the Reds batting just .192 over the last 11 games with Jonny bucking the trend, drawing a few starts and providing some good at bats during the skid.  Thankfully, the entire Division has been off its game this week and the Reds haven't lost any ground to Milwaukee, remaining 3 games out and just a game back of St. Louis.  The Reds finally won last night, topping Atlanta 7-2 with two rain delays. CF Taveras ended his 0-32 drought, the longest of any Reds position player since 1973.  And not a moment too soon.  Jonny is batting .310 and had a pinch hit K last night.  Next probable leftie is Saturday when the Reds face the White Sox at home for the Civil Rights Game.  Hopefully Dusty will find a way to keep the hot bat in the lineup despite all the RHP coming up.

I bet there's not too much that Jonny misses about Tampa Bay.  Including Joe Maddon's Dress Up Getaway Days.  Look! They got to be cowboys for the Rockie's roadtrip.  Click the pic for a better view of BJ Upton reprising Cleavon Little's Blazing Saddles look.  And a whole lotta critters giving their hide to put Jeff Neimann in chaps.  Matt Garza looks right at home in his off the rack Fresno.  Gabe Gross' American Flag shirt looks a whole lot better on George Straight.  Gotta hand it to Joe though.  Always doing something to pump up the local economy.  One theme at a time.

JOEY GOMES (DH, IND Edmonton Capitals, Golden League)
Off to a good start batting .300 with his new team with 2-for-4 and 1-for-4 games the last two nights in Long Beach.  The Edmonton Capitals are 2.5 games back of the Division leading Calgary Vipers where Santa Rosa's Fehlandt Lentini continues to rake, batting .442.  The Caps are in Chico June30 - July 3rd for a four game series with a delightful 8:05 start time.  Hopefully MrPTown will let me pry PTownJr away from All-Stars practice one night so we can go see the legendary Joe Gomes play. 
LOUIS OTT (DH, A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
Not getting many opportunites and he could use a hit so please focus your Karma Repeater Apparatus in the direction of Jupiter, FL. 

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners, MLB):
Every time try to figure out what's next for Brandon, the story has changed.  Again.  A week ago, Morrow seemed destined for a long stint in Tacoma to become a starter.  Then Bedard and Washburn developed minor issues and Morrow became a spot starter.  It went well enough that he'll get another start Thursday.  Stay tuned to see what happens when everyone back this weekend, if all goes according to plan.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AAA Sacramento River Cats, Oakland Athletics Organization)
Tommy is turning it on after a slow start in Sacramento.  He's now batting .222 with a couple of 2-for-4 games and an RBI for the red hot first place River Cats.  Sacramento opens an eight game homestand tomorrow night against Salt Lake and Colorado.  I see a Saturday road trip shaping up :-) Anyone game?

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
Konrad's playing well, hitting .308 in his last 10 games and .256 on the season.  Konrad had two doubles last night but the team couldn't push him across as they were shut out 7-0 but held onto a one game lead over San Jose.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)

2-for-4 with 3 RBIs in Monday night's 11 inning extravaganza.  But Wichita came up short and the Sioux Falls Canaries took the game.  And the Concession Stand set a new record for Fowl Ball Sales.  Maybe we can get Steve to give us a first hand review of this snack shack delicacy featuring deep fried turkey, er, uh, "parts".  Steve, whatcha got on that?  With or without BBQ sauce?

PTown's Joey Gomes Headed West

PTown Fans who have been hoping to see Joey play a little closer to home are in luck.  Today he accepted a trade to the Edmondon Capitals in the Golden League.  That's Edmonton.  Alberta.  Canada.

Sometimes you have to go north to go south.  Like getting out of the parking lot at Orchard Supply Hardware.  Go right, flip a U-Turn and get home a lot faster. 

Same for Joey. His new team plays up and down the West Coast.  An 1,800 mile swath of the Wild Wild West stretching from Edmondton (north of Calgary where Santa Rosa's Fehlandt Lentini is rocking the leaderboard with a .465 average)  to Yuma, AZ just this side of the Mexican border. Fortunately for all of us PTown fans, the Chico Outlaws are at just about the halfway point and the Capitals play a series there beginning June 30th. 

Fortunately for Joey, the team ride is a plane, not a bus. 

He's movin' on up folks.  A winning team (11-10), an airplane (number of props TBD) and a series just hours away.  Road trip anyone?

Casa Grad DJ Gentile Selected By Indians in 43rd Round of MLB Draft

DJ will be a redshirt junior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next year.  He hit .304 with five home runs and 41 RBIs for the Mustangs in a 2009 season that ended in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Congrats DJ! 

CUP O' JO: Thursday, June 11, 2009

Great week for PTown ballplayers.  Jonny Gomes was the hero in last night's game while no one (else) was watching, Tommy Everidge got another step closer to The Show, Joey Gomes is hitting well fresh off the DL, Konrad Schmidt is on a terror, Matt Nadolski was drafted by the Orioles and the final days of PTownJr's Little League regular season were punctuated with an upset win over the Division leaders.  Oh yeah... and School's Out For The Summer!

PETALUMA  AMERICAN LITTLE LEAGUE - JUNIOR DIVISION: 
With one game left to play in the regular season, Round Table has clinched the Petaluma American Junior Title and second place overall in the combined Junior Interleague division with 11 teams from Petaluma Valley, National, and American Little Leagues.  Round Table knocked off Valley's leader, Brodie's, in a 9-5 slugfest last night.  Timely hitting and solid fielding gave PALL a pretty comfy lead throughout the game.  Kevin George pitched a great game against some lethal hitters. It has been a very sweet Worst To First run for the Round Table team.  Next up:  A double-elimination tourney to determine the overall League Champion. It begins next week.  Other Little League Divisions are also winding down their regular seasons with in house AAA tourneys and the Major Division City Tournament.  All-Stars begin in late June.  Maybe this year, a PTown Team will still be playing Little League baseball when school starts in August. 

Oh... and a big shout out to mi amigo Joey Gomes in Joliet.  He would be so proud of PTownJr's work with the bat this season.  8 million swings at the Coop?  Hangin' with the big dogs in the League.  Priceless.

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds): 
What a night for the PTown underdog.  Fresh off PTownJr's win over Brodie's, I was the only Reds fan in the world happy to find them in a two hour rain delay at midnight in Washington, DC.  Closer Francisco Cordero had taken the mound in search of his 30th consecutive save in a streak dating back to July '08. The skies opened in the bottom of the 9th with a 2-0 lead, the speedy Elijah Dukes on board via a free pass, a 2-2 count on Josh Willingham, and no outs.  Following a rain delay that lasted a little over two hours, Dusty decided to put the ball back in Cordero's hand.  Uh oh.  Within minutes, the game was tied at two, it was midnight plus, and we were headed to extras.  The announcers didn't need to remove any shoes for an accurate count of remaining fans.  Including us online lookers I'm sure. In the 12th, Jay Bruce drew a walk and made it to third with some especially heads up baserunning on the heels of some especially bad Nats' ball handling. With a runner on third, the Reds' catcher grounded to second and got caught in a pickle resulting in a double play with Bruce still at third.  Baker went to Gomes who ripped a 1-1 pitch of the.... ahem... right hander... down the third base line for a two out rbi go ahead double.  Wahoo!  Jerry Hairston drove him in for an insurance run and it was the (g)Nats were the bug, not the windshield on a wet night in DC.  Keep it up Jonny.  And we hope you get a chance to use that new 1B glove.

JOEY GOMES (DH, Joliet Jackhammers, IND)
A one-for-four night for the elder Gomes who has been hitting very well since returning from a brief stint on the DL with a tweaked quad. 

LOUIS OTT (A, Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
Louis is batting .238 in 7 games and 21 ABs as the Hammerheads DH.

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners):

The blogs are buzzing with news that Morrow will soon be on his way to Tacoma for an extended stay as he makes another bid for the Mariners' starting  rotation.  I hope they let him stick around in Seattle for his own Bobblehead Night on Friday, June 19th.  Good thing I didn't buy those tickets afterall.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AA Midland Rockhounds, Oakland Athletics Organization)
Well it's about time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Tommy's hot hitting in Midland finally earned him a AAA call-up Monday night!  This move was set in motion by the A's Ryan Sweeney (OF) finding himself on the DL after crashing into the wall and spraining his knee.  Daric Barton has improved his average to .245 in Sacto and got the call to replace Sweeney and share time with Giambi at 1B. Everidge's debut with the River Cats didn't go the way anyone hoped with an 0-for-5 night that included 3K's and a fly out to end the game with the tying run on board.  But now he's got that out of the way and we know he's gonna rock it in Sacto. 

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
Konrad has cemented his role as the team's regular catcher and is 8-for-17 in his last 4 games.  He's batting .259 with a .687 OPS on the season.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
Batting .337 for Wichita.  Next post I won't be so lazy ;-)

MATT NADOLSKI (Sonoma County League MVP, Casa Grande High School)
Matt was the 956th player selected in the 2009 MLB Draft.  He was a 32nd round pick.  Matt's headed for San Diego State University in the fall, otherwise, I'm sure he'd have gone much higher.  The old "signability factor" ?

CUP O' JO: Sunday, May 31st

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. 

 A few of PTowns ballplayers drove through a locust storm yesterday.  Sam Banister's University of Arizona Wildcat Softball team, the nation's most potent offense was blown out 14-0 by Georgia in an elimination game.  And the season is over for DJ Gentile's Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mustangs.  They were also defeated in a close game by Kent State.  Jonny Gomes finally got a pinch hit appearance in a miserable game versus the Milwaukee Brewers.  And he flew out.  Surprised I heard the call.  Last night's game was a steady stream of tornado warnings punctuated with intermittent baseball.  Hope everyone in Ohio is OK.

Rather than second guess Dusty's moves (believe me, there's plenty of that going on), I thought I would lighten things up with this pearlacious recap of Tommy Everidge's Thursday game.  Originally written in French by a blogger and Royals fan named Dan Cortez, the delightful Reverse Googlator gives us a unique perspective. I have only paraphrased here. If you have a few minutes to read the entire blog, you'll enjoy a bonus chuckle or two as Dan shares his flu riddled trek to his daughter's softball game.

AA - NW Arkansas: Midland 12, Naturals 8 (Thu.):
Both teams pounded completely 11 hits but a glue Naturals errors helped the RockHounds victory and home up a understandable about at a 3-game flexure. Jordan Parraz collide a 2-out RBI fasten on in the 3rd to frame it 2-0 but Kniginyzky ran into exert oneself in the 4th. DH Tommy Everidge went crave, while, by despite his 7th of the edible to clear the fashion bad the 5th bad Nicoll and frame it 4-2 Midland. He allowed 3 runs on a 2-run triple and RBI imitation to descend pulled by despite Chris Nicoll, who got completely of the inning without more distant rile. A Kurt Mertins sac coast in the 5th motivation the clear the fashion distant to 1 but Nicoll was pulled by despite Aaron Hartsock to frame his ‘09 AA first night with the bases overloaded and 0 completely in at bottom the 7th. The RockHounds scored 3 runs in the inning without a collide bad Hartsock as a unrestrained erect, run-scoring fallacious and sac coast made it 7-3. Corey Smith took a bases-loaded pony in the 7th to motivation it to 7-4 but the Naturals anarchist the bases directly. Chris McConnell collide an RBI fasten on and with the bases overloaded and 2 completely in the 8th, Parraz came by with a bases-clearing triple to motivation the clear the fashion to 10-8. Midland responded with 3 runs in the 8th bad Hartsock and Dan Cevette to frame it 10-4 but the Naturals weren’t directly in time to come. Midland picked up 2 surety runs in the 9th, to whatever amenities, and the Naturals stranded 1 in the 9th as RP Sam Demel picked up his 8th come to someone’s rescue. Starter Carlos Hernandez got the victory with 3 ER allowed on 6 hits and 4 walks with 2 Ks during the course of 6 IP to amend to 2-0 with a 4.09 ERA. Four ‘Hounds had 2 hits and 1B Chris Carter drove in 3 runs (38) and collide his 18th imitation. Everidge was 2-5 with his HR, 43rd RBI, a pony, K and 2 RS to move away to at bottom .306.

Well done Tommy.  I think.

LOUIS OTT (DH, A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
Off to a great start with 4 hits in two games, batting .500.
STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
A 3-for-3 game on Friday propelled Pearson onto the League Leader Board with a .377 average. 

CUP O' JO: Friday, May 29, 2009

JONNY GOMES (OF,Cincinnati Reds):
Day off yesterday for the Reds who aim to overtake second place Milwaukee in a head to head battle on the road.  This 7 game roadtrip ends with 4 against Division leading St. Louis before returning home to face the Cubs.  The next week could really unknot the NL Central.  St. Louis, a team weakened by injuries and a few slumping players, is in San Francisco this weekend. Come on Giants, soften 'em up some more.  For those wondering when Jonny might patrol the outfield in AT&T Park, it won't happen until August 7, 8, and 9.  It's part of my Half-Centurian Celebration as I celebrate a Really Big Birthday that week. 

JOEY GOMES (DH, Joliet Jackhammers, IND)
Joey had a 2-for-3 night with an RBI Triple Wednesday as the Kansas City T-Bones edged the Jackhammers 5-4 in KC.  Gomes pulled a quad sliding hard into third and will miss a few more games.  At least it happened in KC where there's plenty of good food to help pass the time.   He's batting .209.

LOUIS OTT (DH, A Jupiter Hammerheads, Florida Marlins Organization)
Louis signed with the Jupiter Hammerheads where he was 1-for-2 at DH Wednesday night in a 3-0 win over his former team, the Lakeland Flying Tigers.  Drought ending bad weather in Florida suspended play yesterday and it looks like more of the same today.  The team is in third place in the Florida State League South Division, 7 games out.  Attaboy Louis.  Good to see you back!

TOMMY EVERIDGE (3B, AA Midland Rockhounds, Oakland Athletics Organization)
1-for-5 Wednesday and 2-for-5 with a home run yesterday in a pair of wins for Midland.  They are now 2 games ahead of Frisco.  Tommy continues to lead the team in home runs, hits, and total bases as he transitions to 3B defensively.  With injuries continuing to plague Oakland infielders (Garciapara back to the DL... first an ankle, now recurring calf tightness) maybe things will start to shake loose in Sacramento so Tommy can have a shot.

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
1-for-3 with a double in Wednesdays 3-1 win over San Jose. 0-for-3 last night in a 6 hit squeaker of a 2-1 win.  The Rawhide lead the Division by a two game margin.  Konrad is batting .255.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
2-for-4 hitting in last night's 5-2 win over St. Paul.  Wichita is off to a red hot start with an 11-2 record and a five game lead in the Division.  Steve is batting .362, just a few points shy of the league Leader Board.

SAM BANISTER (1B, Senior, Arizona Wildcats Softball)
The top seeded Florida Gators shut out the nations' top scoring offense 3-0 last night in the opening round of the Women's Softball College World Series, limiting Arizona to just two hits in a dominant appearance by pitcher Stacy Nelson. The Cats got something going in the first with back-to-back hits, but a strikeout and a pop out by PTown's Banister ended the Wildcats only rally. PHS Grad, Samantha Banister had seven put outs at first base on the night.  Arizona will face Alabama in an elimination game for the second straight season on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT .  Whew.  PTownJr's game will be in the books by then!

DJ GENTILE (DH, Sophomore,  Cal Poly Mustangs)
What a season for Casa Grad, DJ Gentile.  For the first time at the Division I level, the Mustangs, ranked 26th nationally, have earned an NCAA Playoff berth.  They face Oral Roberts University today at 2pm in the West Regional:  Bracket  DJ is batting .311 in 49 games with 16 extra base hits including 5 home runs and two triples.  He leads the team with 11 sac flies.  Earlier this week, DJ was awarded All-Conference Honorable Mention honors.

CHAD KRIST  (C, Freshman, University of California Golden Bears)
PHS Grad and Valley Vista Elementary Alum, Chad Krist, saw a lot of action as a Freshman, with 16 starts in 27 appearances.  He batted .197 with 12 hits including 4 doubles and two home runs. Defensively, he had a .993 fielding percentage with 115 put outs, 22 assists and only 1 error in his first college season.

CASA GRANDE HIGH SCHOOL GAUCHOS
Uggghhh.  Clayton Valley got an early lead and never looked back Wednesday night.  I'll let Gauchos Beat Writer John Jackson tell you all about it: Bad Beginning Ends Casa Grande Baseball Season

Pre-Game: Casa @ Clayton Valley - NCS Div II Semi-Final

Casa Grande High School is two wins from its 5th North Coast Section Title in 6 years.  Its 7th in 11 years.  Tonight the  Gauchos travel to Concord to face Clayton Valley. The winner advances to the NCS Division II Final at the Oakland Coliseum Saturday afternoon at 4pm.

The Final Three's Road To The NCS:

Clayton Valley amassed a impressive 22-3 record this season.  They were undefeated in league play, losing only to top seeded Alameda, Monte Vista (a larger Div I school) and Div II Concord. MaxPreps currently ranks Clayton Valley #4 among all NCS schools regardless of size, taking stength of schedule and league record into account. 

Casa Grande is ranked #8 by MaxPreps.  The Gauchos won the Sonoma County League losing only to cross town rival, Petaluma High.  They were 9-4 in non-league play with key wins against Central Coast Section powerhouse Bellarmine (#5) and a close game against CSS top ranked Serra. Casa's other three losses were to Dublin, Ukiah and Analy.

Tonight's winner will face top seeded Alameda on Saturday, ranked 19th with a 21-4 record.  Their only league loss was to El Cerrito and non-league losses were to Irvington (Fremont), Newark, Antioch. Alameda's win over Clayton Valley loomed large in tournament seeding.

Scouting Report on The Clayton Valley Eagles... they'll need to do their own homework on our Gauchos ;-)

Offensively:

CV's offense is powered by Senior Vince Bruno, batting .548, slugging .881 and boasting a .581 OBP. He leads the Diablo Valley League in Average and has hit safely in all but one game this season. Bruno leads the team in hits (46) and RBIs (34).  Other hitters batting north of .400 include Darrel Matthews (.442 with 9 doubles and 7 triples), Cody Stephens (.407 with  33 hits and 34 runs scored), Julian Thornton (.407 with 7 doubles and 23 RBIs), and Wesley Darrow (.405 with 30 hits and 25 RBIs).  Clayton Valley holds the 2-5 positions on the league leader board for Home Runs with Andrew Lassen (5), Vince Bruno (3), Johnny Bekakis (2) and Julian Thornton (2).  The team also dominates the leader board for Slugging and RBIs.  Bruno and Matthews are base stealing threats with 15 and 10 respectively.

From the mound:

Clayton Valley's staff is anchored by Chaz Meadows with 8 wins, no losses, and a 3.05 ERA in 11 appearances.  Brandon Weller is 6-1 with 4 saves and a 1.91 ERA in 16 appearances. Ricky Dunley is 2-1 with a 4.31ERA in 11 appearances.  Peter Stoiber and Antonio Acosta have also piched 8 innings this season with 2.52 and 2.42 ERAs respectively.  Looking at CV's stats, it would appear that the team has only given up one extra base hit all season, a double. Gulp. But my network of stats cross-checkers believe some pitching stats to be "under reported" thereby making CV look more formidable than they actually are. Polly Anna is goin' with that explanation.

Gametime weather:

Looks like 85 and sunny this afternoon in Concord. Nice night for baseball.

Let's go Gauchos. Get it done and lead the parade to the Oakland-Alameda County McAfee Coliseum this Saturday.  PTown is behind you all the way!

Another 707 Grad Back In The Show

Every once in a while, someone asks me if I know what's happened to 1993 Cardinal Newman grad, Joe Dillon. He surfaced today as an infield replacement for injured Tampa Bay Rays Aki Iwamura (2B) and Jason Bartlett (SS). 

Joe hit a school record 33 home runs at Texas Tech in 1997 and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.  Tampa Bay is Dillon's 6th MLB organization.  He had a few brief stints in The Show with the Marlins and the Brewers.  He had a spring training invite from the A's this year, started out well, and was later traded to the Tampa Bay Rays as part of the Adam Kennedy deal. He also played on the 2005 Caribbean World Series Champion Mazatlan Venados... with PTowner Jonny Gomes.   Haven't met Joe, but I've always wondered if his Dad is the Joe Dillon I worked for at Fireman's Fund a little over ten years ago. 

Make the most of the opportunity Joe. 

8 RBI Memorial Day Weekend For Everidge

Wow!  Tommy was seeing the ball well this weekend.  In 19 At Bats, he notched 9 hits, including a home run and 4 doubles.  He scored 7 runs, walked once and not a single K.  Way to go Tommy.  Hope we see you in Sacto soon.  You've earned it.  A few times over.

Gomes Cleans Up Pretty Good

Jonny did PTown proud today.  3-for-4 batting clean-up with 3 RBIs. He worked a bases loaded walk out of an 0-2 count. Off a RHP. Sweet.  But the highlight of the game was his defense.  Yep, you read that right.  He made a sliding catch with two out and two on to end the 9th with the Astros threatening.  Take a look.  That's two days in a row that the guy who "can't play defense" was the defensive talk of the town. 

Pearlacious... Potentially

Huge irrigation project to conquer in the back 40 today so the Cup O' Jo is just a sip today. 

Gotta lead off with this one.  Jonny Gomes almost had the defensive play of his season... maybe his career... yesterday, gunning Grady Sizemore at the plate after a heads up back up of an errant relay throw.  But an interference call on the Reds' 3B bumped Jonny's awesome play from Web Gem to simply whooped up on the Reds Website and Phront Page Pheature in PTown's Pearls of Wisdom.  You really do have to see it to appreciate it so here ya go: Obstruction Call Affects Indians Reds Reds Robbed.  Nevertheless, if there are any Little Leaguer's watching, this is why the Skipper is always reminding you to back up the throw.  Good things could happen. Jonny's had a hit in each of his appearances and the Reds already seem like a more energetic team.

Thanks to Anonymous for Commenting In a first hand report of Steve Pearson's weekend.  Looks like another PTown Product is off to a good start for the Wichita Wingnuts batting .343 in 35 ABs early in the season.

Joey Gomes is finding his groove with a handful of weekend hits and a pair of RBIs.  He's had two stolen bases so far. The Jackhammers are having a tough time stringing together some wins.  But it's early.

Tommy Everidge continues to hit north of .300 for the Midland Rockhounds.  He's got 12 doubles and leads the team with 39 RBIs. Already.  Yo... Billy...  let's see what he can do in Sacto? Whaddayasay?

Konrad Schmidt is batting .270 for the Visalia Rawhide, sharing time at Catcher with the recently promoted Jhoan Pimentel. He's got 6 doubles and 11 rbis so far this season.

And how 'bout those Casa Grande Gauchos!  They topped Brentwood's Heritage High School Saturday by a score of 4-1 to advance to the semi-finals of the Division II Northern California Section Championship Tourney.  They play Clayton Valley Wednesday in Concord at 5pm. Go Gauchos!

2000 feet of irrigation tubing awaits.  Ugghhh.  At least there are a lot of ballgames to pipe into the outdoor speakers today :-)

Gomes Puts A Charge In His First At Bat For The Reds

Scorched a double on his first pitch as a Red in an 8th inning pinch hit appearance in a tied game.  Dusty inserted speedy Chris Dickerson as a pinch runner who became the go ahead run when rookie infielder busted an 0-14 streak, driving in the run with a double of his own. 

Way to light a fire under 'em Jonny!

He's b-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-c-c-c-c-k-k-k-k!

In the show.  Jonny Gomes was just called up to Cincinnati to replace Darnell McDonald who was designated for assignment.  Just in time for interleague play against the Tribe this weekend.  Jonny's swinging a mean stick, batting .282 and killin' lefties.  He's likely to platoon with Nix in LF. Good night for dinner at Beyond The Glory to see the game on TV :-)

Show 'em what you've got Jonny. Cincinnati, get ready to have some fun!

SCL Champs Casa Grande Take On Heritage in NCS Play Saturday

Details here: http://www.eteamz.com/CasaGrandeBaseball/news/index.cfm?cat=0&subsite=4584308

Go Gauchos!

CUP O' JO: Friday, May 22nd

JONNY GOMES (OF, AAA Louisville Bats, Cincinnati Reds Organization):
1-for-3 with a double and a run scored in yesterday's loss to Syracuse as the Bats continue their skid.  They play again this afternoon at 4:05 PTown time.  Let's tune in and send some mojo across the airwaves to the Bats.  It's worked before ;-)  Good news for Cincy fans.  Joey Votto's dizziness has been diagnosed as a tricky inner ear infection that should clear up within a few days.

JOEY GOMES (DH, Joliet Jackhammers, IND)
Joey's had a hit in each of the last three games at DH.  Joliet has a 3-3 record in their weekold season.

LOUIS OTT (Florida Marlins Organization)
Haven't seen him assigned to a roster yet.

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners):
Good game for Brandon last night out of the bullpen.  Fanned 6 in a row: Some Positives But Not Enough Results For The Mariners

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AA Midland Rockhounds, Oakland Athletics Organization)
Midland's bats are cooling off, but they're holding onto a 1 game Division lead.  Tommy continues at 3B.  Here's a first hand report from a blogger that spent some time in Midland recently: 5/16 Athletics

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
1-for-4 with a single against Modesto on Wednesday. Visalia has a 1 game lead.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
2-for-4 in yesterday's 4-0 loss to Sioux Falls as the teams' 5 game win streak came to an end.  Steve is batting .391 in 7 games with a double and 4 rbis.  Maybe Anonymous will Twitter us some udpates from Sioux City when the Wingnuts come to town.

Gomes Tries To Prevent Bats From Caving

Aye yae yae.  Or however you spell it.  The AAA Louisville Bats have lost seven straight and dropped from a cushy Division lead to 1.5 games out.  Through it all, Jonny Gomes is on fire.  Again.  Absolutely killin' left handed pitching.  He's hitting .387 vs lefties and a respectable .247 vs righties.  His .935 OPS (1.403 vs LHP) is 7th in the league and his .578 SLG is 5th in the International League. Gomes leads the Bats in hits (36), HR (9), RBI(27), total bases (74) and one other category we won't mention cuz you surely know what it is and I don't wanna talk about it.

With Cincinnati dropping to 4.5 games out in the NL Central, the "Free Jonny Gomes" chants have begun in earnest.  And Alice In Chains' "The Rooster" is high on everyone's play list.  While Cincinnati's Tavaras and Nix have gotten it done in the outfield but lack power for the Reds, Dickerson, McDonald and Hairston have been rather underwhelming.  The only one hitting well against lefties is McDonald (.300) but he's only .059 vs RHP. No power and no stolen bases.  This trio isn't making up for it with defense either, combining for 5 errors. 1B Joey Votto has missed several games with undiagnosed dizziness forcing Rosales to slide over. The team may need someone that can play an occasional 1B off the bench until we know what's up with Votto whose production is sorely missed.

Time to get back in this thing.  Free Jonny Gomes.

CUP O' JO - Sunday, May 17th, 2009

JONNY GOMES (OF, AAA Louisville Bats, Cincinnati Reds Organization):
Not a good night for the Bats Saturday, who dropped their fourth straight. Jonny was 1-for-3 with a single and his fourth stolen base.  And no K's :-)

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AA Midland Rockhounds, Oakland Athletics Organization)
Tommy was 1-for-3 with a single Friday in a crummy 3-1 loss that featured more errors for the team than hits. They won yesterday to split the series with the Missions and hold onto the Division lead.  Everidge had a two out rbi single and is batting .308.

JOEY GOMES (DH, Joliet Jackhammers, IND)
Friday's Opener was rained out in Joliet and the Jackhammers dropped yesterday's game against Schaumberg to the Flyers by a score of 6-1.  Several errors and a lack of much offense.  Freddie Thon scored the only Joliet run with a 6th inning home run.  Joey was 0-4 on the night with two Ks.  You can listen to Jackhammer baseball from the team website: http://www.jackhammerbaseball.com/

LOUIS OTT (Florida Marlins Organization)
Heard from Louis who signed last week with the Marlins Organization.  He's at extended spring training waiting out an assignment.  Happy to hear Louis gets to take another bite at the apple. 

BRANDON MORROW (P, Seattle Mariners):
Following a 1-7 road trip, the Mariners have decided to move Morrow to middle relief until he can find the zone again.  He missed much of Spring Training with forearm soreness and a recurring, but brief bout of biceps stiffness returned a few weeks ago putting him on the DL for about 10 days.  Brandon's ERA ballooned to over 9.00 on this roadtrip and the Mariners who started off so well, were forced to make a change to stay in the hunt.

KONRAD SCHMIDT (C, High A Visalia Rawhide, Arizona Diamondbacks Organization)
Konrad hasn't played in about 10 days, but no mention of the DL in the League Transactions.  The Rawhide promoted another catcher to AA Mobile a few days back and brought up a replacement that got the last two starts.  If anyone knows Konrad's status, shoot me an email.

STEVE PEARSON (1B, Wichita WingNuts, IND)
Off to a good start hitting .365 for Wichita in 3 games.

CUP O' JO: Thursday, May 14th

Two PTown Area Pros have big night:

JONNY GOMES (OF, AAA Louisville Bats, Cincinnati Reds Organization):

Gomes received his American League Championship ring from Rays President Stuart Steinberg last night and went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored in a 4-3 loss to his old club, the Durham Bulls.  People sometimes ask if Joe Dillon, a 1990 something Cardinal Newman grad, is still around.  He was recently traded by the A's to the Rays and is playing 3B for the Durham Bulls.  I've always wondered if his dad is the Joe Dillon I worked for at Firemans Fund a decade ago.

TOMMY EVERIDGE (IF, AA Midland Rockhounds, Oakland Athletics Organization)
Tommy blasted a 3 run homer off the left field foul pole in the 4th last night to give the Rockhounds a lead they held onto the rest of the night.  Another hit in the 5th drove in two more runs for a 5 rbi night.  Here's the complete story: Everidge's Three Run Homer The Difference.


 13 Inning Marathon On 5/13 Unlucky For The Gauchos

What a game. 13 innings and a tough loss for the Gauchos after a hard fought pitchers' duel. Fortunately, one that shouldn't matter too much in the scheme of things as the SCL Tourney really only influences seeding for the Northern California Section playoffs.  PollyAnna chooses to think that a one run 13 inning game can't hurt the Gauchos' position much, if at all. 

The Dragons fire breathing pitcher, Ben Graff, went 11 innings last night giving up 6 hits and notching 15 strikeouts before Nate Swanson took the mound for the final three innings.  Graff retrieved his arm from somewhere in Sonoma Plaza after throwing just under 150 pitches.  Pretty efficient, but woo... That's a herculean hurlin' effort.

Scott Harkin went 9 innings.  He gave up 4 hits, but a few of those may go down officially as something else ;-)  He fanned 8 batters and walked 3.  Spencer Finkbohner took the mound for the final 4 innings and cruised through the 10th and 11th with 5 strikeouts before Sonoma, the visiting team, finally pushed one across in the top of the 13th. Steven Filippi, who led the league with a .482 average this season, got on base for the second time with a one out drive to center.  Graff struck out for the second out and Rose, the Sonoma catcher, laced an 0-2 pitch up the middle moving Fillippi into scoring position.  On a steal attempt, Rose was caught in a rundown and Filippi scored from third on a play that many will rewind several times to see if it was a run scored or actually the third out.

The bottom third of the order was due up for the Gauchos in the 13th, but the crowd had witnessed lead off hitter RJ Busse, a freshman call-up from the JV team, lace a sharp two strike gounder into the left center gap to start the 11th as a pinch hitter.  The shot sparked a rally and Busse nearly beat out a two out ground out by Sean Purtell which would have won the game. In the 13th, Busse worked a full count for a walk.  Cardona struck out, but Matt Gallo drove a ball to right for his third hit of the night to put runners at the corners.  Coach Maytorena sent Busse but the throw beat him by inches.  Beaudry tried to get it going again with two outs and one on, but couldn't push Gallo across, striking out to end the marathon game.

On the bright side, the Pearls of Wisdom live blog worked out pretty well.  Looks like the iPhone can Twitter about 20 innings if need be during the NCS Playoffs.  God forbid.

Let's go Gauchos.  Bring the Bling.