C's bats stall in series opener

It was not a good night for baseball weather wise, and it was not a good outcome for the hometown fans who braved out the rain, and there was a lot of rain, only to see a 2-0 shutout victory for the visitors.

C's RHP Mike Hart was making his debut as a starter, since signing with the A's out of Texas State, and he was effective with all 56 pitches he threw. He gave up one lone hit, and surrendered one walk, while striking out 5 batters in three innings, lowering his season ERA to an astounding 1.59.

Hart struck out Francisco Peguero, Mike Loberg, Mike Ambort, Casey Bond and Caleb Curry, and ended his day with a double play from RF Jeremy Barfield to Dusty Napoleon after Barfield made a catch, before doubling off Skyler Stromsmoe.

Once Hart's day was done, Kenny Smalley came in, and was very effective until the 7th inning. Unfortunately for Smalley, a pair of strikeouts and a ground out didn't allow any runs to score, after the C's had the bases loaded with none out in the bottom half of the 6th.

Then, in the top of 7, Smalley gave up back-to-back doubles to Peguero and Loberg, scoring Peguero on the latter, before Fabian Gomez relieved Smalley who was perfect through 3 innings.

Gomez gave up a single to Jose Flores who advanced his teammate Loberg, before Gomez picked off Flores at first. Michael Ambort singled in Loberg, and kept the threat alive. The bases were loaded with two out, before Skyler 'Tongue Twister' Stromsmoe grounded out to end the inning.

In the 9th, still down by a pair of runs, the C's brought in Rodney Rutherford to bat for Leo Gil, and Rutherford struck out swinging. Then, Napoleon struck out swinging. And then, Mike Lissman grounded out, to end 'the game from hell' where a 3 and a half hour game, filled with pouring rain, a good pitching performance from the C's, and some timely hitting by Jeremy Barfield that was for nothing, finally ended, before fireworks at the Nat.

As I mentioned Barfield had a great game at the dish. He was 2-3 with a double and drew a walk, and struck out once. His other hit was on a bunt single, which was perfectly place, putting him on base.

Dusty Napoleon didn't get a hit, but extended his on-base streak at home to a dozen games.

David Thomas was 2-4 with a double and a walk, while Leo Gil was 0-4 with 4 strikeouts.

Together, Francisco Tirado and Jareck West were 0-7 with 6 strikeouts.

Game 2 goes Friday at 1:05.

Getting to know OF Jeremy Barfield

When scanning a roster of the Vancouver Canadians, one name sticks out. Barfield, Jeremy. Look at the stats, and they're very respectable numbers beside his name, but if you watch him bat, or play in the field, he's playing much better than the stats say.

Take last Thursday afternoon for example. He hit a foul ball out of Nat Bailey Stadium, but it was about 15 feet foul. Jeremy hit his first home-run in Tri-Cities, and is now a threat with the bat, and in the field for the Canadians. I chatted with the slugger during his off-day.

JK: Congrats on your home-run the other day, does it feel good to have the first one out of the way?

JB: Thanks. Yeah it feels great to get the first one out of the way. Hopefully it is the first of many.

JK: Have the first 42 games of your first professional year gone the way you had hoped/planned?

JB: Yeah I expected to be challenged and to have a great time and it helped that I was warned how hard it is to hit at Nat Bailey Stadium. It's been great so far.

JK: Is there any current or former major league player that you model your game after?

JB: Ken Griffey Jr. is a given for me. He's just that good. Also lately I've been watching Pat Burrell, Ryan Ludwick and especially Alex Rios as of late. They are impact corner outfielders in their respective leagues and hopefully I project out to their stature someday.

JK: What's the craziest/funniest thing you've seen a fan do this season home or away, to get a player's autograph?

JB: I had a guy give me an Ichiro rookie card for one of my broken bats on a road trip. Of course I made the deal, it's Ichiro!

JK: You couldn't stop laughing when the San Diego Chicken was in town and he kicked you off as being first base coach. Was it your first time seeing him perform, and more importantly did you enjoy watching him?

JB: Yeah he called me Marco (Luis) so I couldn't stop laughing at that. It was also hilarious to me that the Chicken is just some tiny old man with glasses, yet he's made so much money over the years.

JK: Getting to know a new team, where you know nobody as of Opening Day can be tough, but has the transition been good from a tight-knit JC team to a short-season minor league club been pretty good?

JB: Yeah it's been great. I actually met David Thomas at a Braves workout in early June and then we met again at a Reds workout at Great American Ballpark a week later so I already talked to him before we signed and everything. That was pretty cool and showed me how small this pro baseball circle really is.

JK: Finally, will you know you've made it big in professional baseball when you can play as yourself in a baseball video game?

JB: That will be the day. Somebody said this to my brother though and it made sense.."You know you've made it when they make life size cardboard cutouts & bobbleheads of you. You've made it." Hopefully I get a Fathead vinyl poster someday. That would be awesome.

Thanks a lot to Jeremy for taking time out of his schedule to talk to me, and good luck to him and the C's as Mike Hart takes the mound tomorrow night against first-place Salem-Keizer.

Cougars break world record...in Pillow Fighting!

With all the traveling I've been doing lately, I've been slack on checking my emails, but this one I found today from Rob McGowan is one that really caught my attention.

The Cougars recently held a 'Pillow Fight Night' and now hold the unofficial Guinness World Record for largest pillow fight.

Kane County Cougars fans have unofficially broken the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest pillow fight, eclipsing the previous Guinness record of 3,648 people. Following this evening’s game, 3,872 fans descended upon the Elfstrom Stadium outfield grass and took part in a memorable 90-second pillow fight. The historic try, sponsored by Back to Bed included both young and old fans, families with children and groups of teenagers. Many anxious Cougars faithful arrived to the ballpark with pillows brought from home, some containing pillowcases that were homemade creations featuring the Cougars’ logo and team colors. With the help of Back to Bed, fans were also provided regulation pillows that were used during the attempt.

This part really makes me laugh:

Throughout tonight’s pillow fight, fans were seen erupting in uncontrollable laughter as they swung their pillows. Just seconds into the fight, spectators observed a thick blanket of white feathers that were strewn across the right field grass in the designated “red zone”. Cougars staff divided the outfield grass into three “levels of aggression” – a green zone for families with small children, a yellow zone for families of teenagers, and a red zone for adults.

So if you're really competitive, you could head over to the 'Red Zone' and kill everyone in sight with a pillow. Now that would be fun. So please Vancouver Canadians, if you have 3,873 people on the field after a game hitting each other with pillows, we'll be world record holders, and bruised baseball fans.

JD Pruitt knocked out

No the title is not mis-leading.

Pruitt was hit in the left side of the head, half-helmet, half-head, and was knocked unconscious for several minutes at home plate. He's been taken to a local hospital and all anyone can do is hope the concussion was the extent of the injury.

Thanks to Hans Havas for the heads-up. More as it comes in.

C's fall to Dust Devils; Pruitt alright

Tonight's game was more than a baseball game for the Canadians, it was for a teammate, JD Pruitt who was beaned in the head with a ball in the 3rd inning. Pruitt is alright, and last I heard from Rob Fai, he's been released from hospital, but he dodged a bullet.

JD went down for minutes, apparently out cold, down on home plate. The former NWL HBP king was hit, but wasn't getting up. Pruitt was taken to a local hospital, where he has since been released, reportedly.

Pruitt was 1-1 with the HBP when he went out of the game.

Tri-City managed three runs off of Shawn Haviland in the 5th, and 2 more in the 7th off of Hector Garcia. Mike Hart came into the game with none out and the bases loaded in the 7th, but failed to give up a hit, or a run. Vancouver fought back, scoring three runs in the 8th, but two strikeouts and a line out ended the game in the 9th.

And you know what, I can't blame them. When a teammate goes down, or even an opponent, early on in the game, it's not about a baseball game. In the back of your head, for every pitch, every swing, and every out, you are always wondering about the guy who went down.

And it's not fun. I've played when kids have broken their bones, gone out cold, and had to finish a game. It is not fun. And that's little league. These guys travel together, spend all day together, and to see a friend go down? It's hard enough to step back into the batters box after someone gets hit but to manage a comeback? I know it sounds amateurish of me to say this, but they did one hell of a great job.

Jason Christian was exceptional tonight, going 2-2 with 2 walks, and a double. He also stole a base. Jeremy Barfield was 1-3, and Leo Gil was 1-4 with a double.

Edgar Tejeda pitched a scoreless 8th, 5-3 was the final in favour of the Dust Devils. My thoughts are with JD tonight, hope he can recover as soon as possible.

Come-backs: A thing of beauty

You know what, this team is really making me excited. In the midst of a 7-2 breakout week and a bit, the Canadians are finally beginning to look like a team that can contend. Jeremy Barfield absolutely killed two foul balls today, one leaving the ballpark, just going a bit foul, the other was a high foul that went into the Nat Bailey parking lot.

Mike Hart pitched excellent in relief, as did Kenny Smalley. Fabian Gomez was excellent on the hill. Dusty Napoleon was superb at the dish, as was Mike Lissman who is becoming a fan favourite in Vancouver, after crushing his third home-run of the short NWL season. Francisco Tirado turned on the jets and sped home make it a 4-2 game early on, coming within about 10 feet of his teammate ahead of him at home plate.

And the best part? The fans were into it. I'm beginning to have a whole lot of faith and excitement when I get to the ballpark, something I haven't had in the last few years when the team was struggling. This is the best part of the year for a team to start winning, and now, Vancouver is only 1.5 games back of Salem-Keizer for first place. A 5-game rendez-vous against Tri-City starting tomorrow could be the difference between first place at the end of July, and having to wait to get first place after a 8-game roadtrip through Washington State.

Trailing 2-0 after the first inning, Yakima managed two runs in the 5th before Vancouver answered back with two more in the later half of the inning. Both runs came in on a Dusty Napoleon double, scoring Jareck West and Francisco Tirado. West was on 2nd base, and Tirado on first, but at home plate, Tirado came within just feet of West, making it look like the runners came from the same base. Tirado really has jets when he uses them correctly. Big thumbs up to that.

The 8th inning is where Vancouver took command, and never looked back. Dante Love walked, before an error put Rodney Rutherford on base. Jareck West had a sac bunt with a full count, advancing the runners, before David Thomas flew out. Francisco Tirado singled, and scored both Dante Love and Rodney Rutherford. Dusty Napoleon singled, scoring Tirado (who had advanced to 2nd on an error) before the inning was capped off with a two-run blast by Mike Lissman scoring two runs.

A new pitcher in Daniel Vasquez walked Jason Christian, before Jeremy Barfield hit a bomb to left field, just going to the left of the foul pole. He struck out to end the inning, but man it got the crowd going. I haven't seen Barfield's power until today. And props to him.

The 9th saw Jose Guzman come in for the save, and with one out, he gave up a double to Alfredo Marte, who has been on base more than a few times this series. Andrew Fie advanced him to third, but a low strike pitched by Guzman to Ramon Castillo ended the game. 7-4 the final score.

But there were two things that really stood out to me in this game.

Dudes wanted it bad.

The other, the fans want it bad.

This season may end up being one of the best finishes in C's history, if both parties do their parts. The players doing what they're doing now, and the fans cheering like they are.

Jeremy