When the Outlaws dropped two games to the Flyers in Southern California in a two-game set ending June 18, they managed just five runs. Their 14 hits in the pair of defeats were masked by the 17 runners left on base.
Along with three wins over the Flyers in this weekend's festivities, Chico has posted 24 runs and 35 hits.
The Chico Outlaws picked up their team record 10th straight win in an 11-7 defeat of the Orange County Flyers tonight that saw them put 16 hits and two separate five-run innings on the scoreboard.
Apparently the procedure for preparing to win a 10th straight game calls for lying down in the right-field foul grass area in front of the first-base dugout and doing few a human barrel rolls in the process. That's what Outlaw manager Mark Parent, all 6-foot-7 of him, could be witnessed performing at Nettleton Stadium about 20 minutes ago in some sort of demonstration as his team wrapped up batting practice.
Both teams had their opportune chances to finally break that 5-5 draw over the final five innings. The Flyers will probably rue their biggest of the battle more: with Dave Bacani and Mark Okano on first and second base with only a single out in the seventh inning, Rich Pohle grounded out to shortstop Jesse Kovacs, who began what ended up being an escape-the-threat double play. Thing was, as Pohle crossed first, Jason Van Meetren's effort to retrieve the throw from second appeared to pull him off the bag in the process.
In fairness to base umpire James Lamb, as the play unfolded he appeared to be on top of the call in the position at an angle where he needed to be. No guarantee that's the game right there, but the Flyers are sitting on a two-out, first-and-third situation with Peanut Williams and Scott Goodman, two of the Golden Baseball League's top mashers, next in the order if Pohle's safe. Manager Garry Templeton argued with Lamb afterward and the call stood.
The Outaws improved to 5-1 in one-run games after tonight's theatrics, 3-0 over these past three head-spinning nights. It's easy to forget the harbinger of things to come first came on opening night June 7 -- the 6-5 win in Nevada over the Reno Silver Sox -- and then in a more telling sign three days later in the Nettleton Stadium opener -- that conquest of a 3-0 deficit for the 4-3 victory over Reno.
I asked Outlaw manager Mark Parent what many -- and rightfully so -- might perceive as a weird question following his team's third straight dramatic come-from-behind victory tonight at Nettleton Stadium. Two weeks ago, he seemed skeptical about his offense's ability to climb out of huge holes, which wasn't an issue at the time because the team's pitching staff had been so solid to begin the year.
So a natural query following the 6-5 win in 10 long, long innings over the Orange County Flyers seemed to be if his resurgent lineup had established enough trust yet for him to sit on his hands while weathering a deficit, something Parent has pretty much done on all three occasions in this past trio of nights.
"I trust at this point that they aren't going to throw away at-bats," he said, alluding to the team's overwhelming difficulty to pressure opposing pitching at the outset of the season. "I trust that the pitchers aren't going to hang their head when we're down, that they're going to keep battling to keep us in the game. It has been easy to keep going south in these ballgames, but we're not trying too hard to get back in it in a hurry. (The coaches) have shown our faith and they have pushed it."
Van Meetren just flied out to right field, dropping him to 0-for-3 on this night with two strikeouts. His struggles only continue to compound. He entered the game with a .154 average, easily the low for Outlaw regulars. This was the same guy who appeared to snap out of this snafu last weekend with a grand slam in one of Chico's wins over the St. George Roadrunners during the four-game sweep.
If you're curious why Outlaw hitting coach John Macalutas wasn't overly thrilled about that, read on:
“I almost wish he wouldn’t have hit that home run. That’s probably the worst thing that can happen to a guy in a slump. He’s tried too hard to recreate that one swing. He’s taking four at-bats every time he goes to the plate.
"The tough thing is when he makes real good contact with pitches for outs. Then he tries to adjust when he just had a real nice at-bat. That's where patience comes in and sometimes he runs out.
"He’ll get it. We know he’s going to come around. We like to poke fun with him about it because we know it’s not a permanent deal.
"He's been out at (Mac's Professional Baseball School) working with me every morning, just really attacking things that have gone wrong. I don't have a whole lot to tell him other than to keep taking it one quality at-bat at a time. You can have 10 of those in baseball and still not get a hit. But you can't try to over-think what you're doing. If you trust what you're doing at the plate, you'll notice those outs will turn into hits in time."
I mentioned how yesterday marked the first "Thirsty Thursday" of the year at Nettleton Stadium. The final turnout — 1,121 in attendance — wasn't flashy, but I'd say the increase in spirit was pretty palpable. I don't want to pass judgmement based on one night, especially the first, but I'd say the Outlaws will have their hands full in trying to draw away from the always-cherished downtown farmers market.
Whether you've read about it here, heard it talked about by play-by-play man Rory Miller on Outlaws radio or perceived it to be what was really the twinge of excitement at midweek in anticipation of payday this morning, the hype surrounding the current series with the Orange County Flyers lived up to its billing in last night's opener. Lead changes, four-run innings by both teams and a game that went right down to the wire ended in the Outlaws' favor.
Tonight figures to be more of the same, with Nick Singleton and the Flyers' Reed Dickert — two of the Golden Baseball League's more overpowering pitchers this season — locking up in a rematch of last week's 3-1 contest in Fullerton in which Orange County prevailed.
If you think you're a true Outlaw fan and you're not thinking about attending a game against the Orange County Flyers at Nettleton Stadium this weekend like David Kaval is tonight, you might reconsider when seeing what kind of matchup you're team is in for:
Specifically, the matchup between Flyer hitting and Outlaw pitching will be a study in the push-and-shove between solid offense and staunch defense.
The Flyers came into tonight’s series opener in first-place with the top hitting attack in the GBL.
Their .297 average inched just above the Yuma Scorpions’ .295, and the 199 hits (nearly 10 per game) they belted out still fell below Yuma’s total of 211. The Flyers, however, are clearly the league’s top producers at the moment considering they have scored at least six runs in nine of their last 11 games.
It should be enough of an arsenal to test an Outlaw pitching staff supreme statistically to the rest of the league. The team’s 3.66 earned-run average, eight hits and three walks per game were all far and away GBL lows entering this series. Outlaw pitchers also hadn’t allowed more than four runs in their past five outings.
Golden Baseball League Chief Executive Officer David Kaval is expected to attend tonight's game between the second-place Outlaws and first-place Flyers. It's his first visit of the season to Nettleton Stadium — probably easily the longest in the league's three-year history he has held off on making his initial trip to Chico.
Right now there's a Bud Light van rolled up to the main concession area at Nettleton Stadium unloading kegs. Tonight is the first of six "Thirsty Thursday" promotional installments the Outlaws are putting on this season. Beer will be sold for $2 off the regular price (and soft drinks $1 for that matter.)
While in Fullerton last week, I was told a similar promotion put on by the Orange County Flyers was experiencing limited success. We'll soon see what Chicoans make of it.
And Jason Van Meetren had his own opinion of Yuma manager Mike Marshall's decision being mulled heavily in Arizona this morning to pull the indomitable White in favor of Stephens to shut the door on the Outlaws in the ninth inning. Van Meetren, those who were there or listening will remember, crushed a double off Stephens to begin the three-run rally delivering the 3-2 win.
Van Meetren, who was hitless against low-velocity White before getting on against Stephens, said this in response when asked if the same results would have been delivered had White been left in:
"Absolutely, that was our inning. It wouldn't have been any different if (White) was still in. The game was over either way. There was no stopping us at that point."
Mark Parent did spend 20 seasons in the minor and major leagues combined, so maybe the Outlaw manager's take on last night's dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Yuma Scorpions is worth pondering, even if he was half-joking. In reference to Yuma starter and Corning native Evan White's hometown cheering section at Nettleton Stadium jeering Scorpions closer Amad Stephens in the ninth inning, Parent had this to say:
"I could hear them yelling out, 'Hey (Stephens), don't blow it out there.' You just can't do that, you're messing with the baseball gods at that point. The last thing you want to do is (tick) off the baseball gods.
"I mean, I know they were happy for (White) and wanted to see him get the win at home, but you just don't do that. When you mess with the baseball gods, that's bound to happen. It's almost like you're asking for something bad to happen when you bring it up like that."
After watching the Yuma Scorpions' middle-order hitters take batting practice this afternoon, it's plain for me to see why the team has 14 home runs compared to the five pieced together by the Outlaws 18 games into the year. The group, particularly outfielder Maikel Jova, absolutely crushes the ball on each pitch. The difference in sound off their bats and the ones of harder Outlaw hitters is palpable.
No joke, as I was just writing that, Yuma's Yosvany Almario drove a Phil Springman offering well past the left-field fence to give the Scorpions a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Many people went gaga over the way the Yuma Scorpions started their season with an offensive rampage (117 runs in their first ten games), but now that they have been pulled down to earth by injuries and general slumps by top hitters, the mantle as top Golden Baseball League scoring attack has been passed.
Sorry Outlaw fans, one big series against lowly St. George pitching and a 15-0 win over Yuma on Monday were certainly satisfying, but no team is consistently producing as well at the moment than the Orange County Flyers, who have scored at least six runs in eight of their last 10 outings. That has helped put the Flyers (13-6) at top of the GBL standings ahead of the Outlaws (12-6) going into tonight's action.
I'm no maker of miracles, but I did manage to get Jason Van Meetren to (semi) admit he has been affected by the quad injury he sustained at the tail end of the Outlaws' last homestand over a week and a half ago.
Van Meetren went into the six-game road swing through Orange County and St. George with that slight pain in the upper part of his right leg and, not counting a 2-for-6, six-RBI outburst (bolstered by a grand slam home run) against the Roadrunners last Thursday, finished out the week 3-for-19 with a lone RBI and a pair of walks.
Van Meetren has punched his ticket in Chico these past three seasons as being the ultimate gamer and a clubhouse leader not interested in making excuses for any lack of sucess, so it's not surprising he downplayed the impact of the injury on his hitting woes.
"(The injury) was there and I did feel it at times but in no way was it a reason for not being able to hit the ball," he said before the Outlaws' 4-1 win over Yuma last night. "I had one good day and a few bad ones, and that's just how it goes when you're on the road sometimes."
"At the moment, I'm pretty much 100 percent and ready to go out there and play normally."
Van Meetren ended up going 0-for-4 last night and is currently batting .156, making the reigning Golden Baseball League All-Star MVP the only player in last night's Chico starting lineup batting under .200.
Tyler Pearson was dazzling in his 78-pitch, complete-game shutout in Monday’s series opener against the Yuma Scorpions, but there is potential for such outings to become more routine for the 22-year-old right-hander. Since being signed during the team’s first homestand, Pearson has worked his way from the bullpen into the starting rotation by showing off a quality fastball clocked regularly in the low 90 mph range.
“The fastball was hitting the right locations and that’s big for me,” Pearson said earlier tonight when describing Monday’s sparkling starting debut. “It’s great when it’s working, but it can just as easily be a 500-foot home run the other way if you don’t get it where it needs to be.”
Pearson's combination of velocity and control had the Outlaws' front office extremely enthused upon his arrival. There was the feeling right away he could mirror the emergence last season of Phil Springman, who like Pearson was signed right after the Golden Baseball League season began, started out in the Outlaw bullpen and was inserted into the starting mix after proving impressive out of the gate.
Though he is fresh off wrapping up his college career at Northern Colorado, Pearson (2-1, 0.56 ERA) is more seasoned than most of his peers in dealing with experienced hitters using wood bats because of his involvement in the Horizon Air Summer Series in Marysville with the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox.
“That’s been real big in helping me be ready for opportunities like this,” he said.
A link to the feature story on Daniel Nava in today's Enterprise-Record:
http://www.chicoer.com/sports/ci_6221134
That Outlaws hitting positively dormant at the beginning of the week is batting .373 in the current St. George series. You can't rule out poor St.George pitching, but at least Chico is taking advantage. That wasn't the case last week when the Roadrunners nearly tripled the Outlaws' total hit output during a surprising 2-1 series win.
This may sound silly since the season began just a little over two weeks ago, but the Outlaws are entering what is essentially the most crucial part of the first-half schedule. About to open a seven-game homestand with the Yuma Scorpions and the Orange County Flyers, the other two other Golden Baseball League teams appearing serious about going for the first half trophy, the Outlaws can do wonders for their chances by completing a sweep of the St. George Roadrunners tonight before attempting another 5-2 sprint through a week in Chico -- the team's record on its last home swing.
The Outlaws aren't about to dwell on a defensive issue after last night's offensive revival -- Extra! Extra! Eleven runs in ONE game! -- but it's kind of funny how pitcher Derrick Loop has the team's best record while being arguably its most inconsistent starter.
He's 3-1 now with a 5.06 earned-run average but just hasn't been needed to dazzle because he's been leaving all these games around the fifth inning with either a decent-sized lead or one just enough for a tidy bullpen to protect. He also picked up a win in a relief appearance in which he just had to record a single out. It just goes to show that those who are adamant the "W" stat in baseball is one of the most overated in sports have a rather solid case.
The Golden Baseball League has awarded its first players of the week for the 2007 season. Who's shocked they're both members of the (10-1 and first-place) Yuma Scorpions? More on that below, but a heads up for those wrapped up in Yuma's rocket start to the season: A five-game series this weekend against the Orange County Flyers (7-5), who have proven to be a respectable group at the very least, should provide a nice little test for Yuma and its spry offense.
From the GBL home office in Walnut Creek:
OF Maikel Jova of the Yuma Scorpions was selected as the Spalding Player of the Week during the first week of the 2007 GBL season. The Cuban outfielder, who played with the Toronto Blue Jays AAA farm team in Syracuse last season, destroyed GBL pitchers as he led the league with a .468 batting average as he racked up a league leading 22 hits, was second in runs scored, and in the top five in most offensive categories. He hit safely in nine of his team's eleven games and collected 4 hits in three of those contests.
RHP Steve Soja of the Yuma Scorpions took home the Spalding Pitcher of the Week award during the first week. The 26 year old righty, out of Coastal Carolina College, is in his fifth year of pro baseball after spending the last four seasons in the independent Frontier League. He was one of four GBL pitchers to post a record of 2-0 during the first week, but his league-leading E.R.A. of 0.64 and his 10 strikeouts and only a single walk in 14 innings pitched earns him the award.
Maybe the Outlaws are just a poor road team 12 games into the season. Because their first two trips away from home this season sandwiched a seven-game homestand, it's easy to forget they haven't won in an opposing stadium since opening night at Peccole Park in Reno on June 7. In addition to finding out where exactly they stand generally, the four-game series in Utah against the St. George Roadrunners beginning tonight should reveal quite a bit about this team's mettle outside of Nettleton Stadium.
Outlaws manager Mark Parent reiterated after his team's 8-2 loss to the Orange County Flyers the organization is on the verge of a dip into the free agent market. Look for, at the very least, a power hitter to arrive for next week's homestand with Golden Baseball League leader Yuma and second-place Orange County.
Normally clean-shaven, Outlaw pitcher Steve Jones was hassled by a friend last night for showing the makings of a stubble on his face. Jones' explanation was simple.
"Just watch, it will be gone (Tuesday) night," he said. "I always wait for my starts to get rid of it."
Yes, Jones will take the mound tonight in the capper of this brief two-game series against the Orange County Flyers and look to thwart the Outlaws' current three-game slide. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound right-hander out of Elk Grove has been steady overall in his first season of professional baseball after lighting it up during spring training. He is yet to record his first victory after two starts, but his 2.31 earned-run average is tops among Outlaw starters.
Whenever the Outlaws travel to Southern California to play the Long Beach Scorpions or the Orange County Flyers in Fullerton, as they are at the moment, there is quite a family atmosphere since so many players are from around the area. Last night, second baseman Eric Pringle (Inglewood) tied the team's stolen base record while his father, Tom, sat behind the Chico dugout. Shortstop David Pierson (West Covina) was batting in the leadoff spot for just the third time this year in front of his father, Anthony, and mother, Akiko. First baseman Scott Dragicevich (Westlake), pitcher Phil Springman (San Clemente) and reliever Todd Gelatka (Lake Elsinore) also had family and friends present that they visited with after the game.
Outlaw manager Mark Parent had a lot to say last night about his team's most recent offensive debacle. Outlaw hitters were sent down on strikes 13 times in the 3-1 loss to Orange County and it was no coincidence they stranded runners on base consistently (for the record, nine ended up being LOB, though it seemed liked quite a bit more if you watched the game.) As you'll see below, Parent's biggest concern is that his hitters are going to the plate with too much of an agenda to worry about.
"Guys are going up there thinking too much about what's happening around them," he said. "It's like they're taking two or three at-bats in one. They need to simplify their approach and make something happen with the bat.
"They're putting a little too much into each one. They're up there thinking about what happened last time. You know, it's like (forget) what happened last time. It shouldn't matter going into each at-bat whether you're 10 for your last 10, or 0-for-10 with 10 strikeouts. The guys I played with (in the major leagues) who were successful looked it at that way. You look at Bary Bonds, he's that way. It doesn't matter whether he homered or struck out, each at-bat is a new one."
Probably the single biggest goal of this blog right now is to post various live updates from Outlaws games being covered by the Enterprise-Record. I am in Fullerton right now preparing to head to Goodwin Stadium to cover tonight's Chico-Flyers series opener but may not have live posting capabilities just yet. One live update I can give is that it's barely 80 degrees and sunny gorgeous here in Southern California. Outlaw players, who boarded a bus for a nine-hour trip down Interstate 5 just 30 minutes after their loss to the St. George Roadrunners at Nettleton Stadium last night, can at least enjoy the fact they aren't taking batting practice in 100-degree temperatures. That was the case last week when Northern California's first major heat wave of the summer pummeled Chico.
The contest is going to be a particularly big one for Outlaw starting pitcher Nick Singleton. The 24-year-old righty entered this year slated to be the team's top arm after a 7-6 season in 2006 that many times bordered on brilliant. So far to start 2007, he's 0-0 in two starts with a 5.76 ERA (a far cry from last season's 2.79.) It's not like he's been awful -- with 15 strikeouts, he's second only to his opponent tonight, Reed Dickert, who has 16.
In his last start, he had a nightmarish trip out of the gate and found himself down 3-0 before he could even record a second out after Reno cleanup hitter J.J. Johnson tagged him for a three-run home run. Singleton settled to finish out his six-inning appearance with 11 strikeouts and only one additional earned run.
Talking to him the next day, I was made aware he had aleady diagnosed his problem in the rough opening inning: The lack of a fluid windup due to being a bit charged up for his first home start of the year at Nettleton Stadium. He said his lower body was a good step ahead of his throwing motion and affected his velocity/movement considerably.
So it will be worth focusing on how Singleton begins things tonight against the Flyers. My guess is it'll be much easier to hone in on hitters without the distractions large home crowds at Nettleton can bring. Singleton's biggest problem will likely be finding enough offensive support from Outlaws hitting that brings a .230 season average against Dickert (1-1, 8.38 ERA), who has a chance to be the latest pitcher to feast on punchless Chico hitting that has been all kinds of inconsistent.
With six teams slugging it out over the course of a 75-game season all summer, the Golden Baseball League has become a haven for natural rivalries developing on the fly. Tonight's first meeting of the young GBL year between the Outlaws and the Orange County Flyers is no exception.
All of you back in Chico (a hearty hello from Fulerton, site of tonight's game) probably don't need to be reminded why. The Outlaws were a dead lock to win the league's second half championship going into August and picked by many in the know to move over first half victor Reno for the GBL title afterward.
That was before Orange County (then the Fullerton Flyers) flipped the script in a big way. Manager Gary Templeton's scrappy group positioned itself right behind the Outlaws at the top of the standings, played some of its best baseball of the season in the final week and moved past its NorCal counterpart after the Outlaws dropped four of their final five games to the Reno Silver Sox.
It also doesn't hurt that both organizations are two of the GBL's original franchises and have swapped several players from eachother via free agency.
What's up gang? Patrick Kinmartin, sports writer at the Chico Enterprise-Record, fancy meeting you, too. Whether you're an Outlaw fan treating your sunburn at the office on this fine summer Monday afternoon after partaking in last week's seven-game Golden Baseball League homestand at Nettleton Stadium, an independent league baseball enthusiast amazed we in Northern California don't shun what many view to simply be Major League Baseball's underworld or just someone making this today's pit stop during another journey through the blogospheric universe, you're in the right place.
Plenty more details to follow as we roll along...