beek's blog

Stockton 8, Modesto 5 (11 innings)
At Stockton

GAME IN A GRAF – Chris Carter’s three-run homer with two outs gave the Ports their 10th straight victory over the Nuts, a streak that began the night after Modesto won the opening-night matchup. Modesto led 5-3 after a four-run seventh that included three walks, a double steal, a two-run single by Anthony Jackson and an RBI double from Nick Haley. Will Harris gave up two runs in the eighth to tie the game. David Patton took the loss after allowing a two-out double and issuing an intentional walk ahead of Carter’s blast.

OH-FER BUDDY -- The first thing Anthony Jackson did upon stepping into the batters box during Saturday night’s seventh inning was attempt to make eye contact with Branden Dewing.
He knew that if their eyes met, he’d have Dewing laughing within moments.
Dewing apparently also knew it, since the Stockton pitcher focused on his catcher, glanced down at the mound, looked into his glove … anything to avoid connecting with his former high school teammate.
“I knew I couldn’t look at him without busting up,” Dewing said. “I try to stay real serious when I’m on the mound, but I can’t help it when he’s up there.”
Dewing won the battle, staying serious all the way though retiring his fellow Grace Davis High School graduate on a routine fly ball to center.
“I am officially and definitely oh-for-three against Branden,” Jackson said. “I did have a hard-hit foul ball this time when he tried to get a fastball by me.”
Jackson said the other two at-bats came during a tryout camp and during a summer game at Modesto Junior College, so Saturday was the first time they faced each other as professionals.
With his two scoreless innings on Saturday, Dewing has yet to allow an earned run this season in 12 1/3 innings of work between Kane County and Stockton.  He has given up five hits and a walk, and opposing hitters have managed only a .122 batting average against.
Dewing is no stranger to this kind of start to a season. Last year in Kane County he didn’t allow a run in his first 10 outings, a streak that covered 14 2/3 innings. He finished the 2007 season with a 2-6 record a 3.92 ERA.

Stockton 9, Modesto 3
at Stockton

I'm officially finished rooting for Jed Morris. The leukemia survivor and one of the nicest guys ever to pull on a Modesto uniform officially has morphed into pain-in-the-rear status.

Three hits, including a homer, and four RBI on Saturday boosts him to .321-6-26 this season. I think the A's need a catcher in Double-A, and it's time for Morris to catch the Midland Express.

For those not familiar with Morris' story, he was a catcher-DH on the 2004 Modesto A's and was behind the plate for the final two games of the California League championship series in Lancaster. He was one of the players to make the move to Stockton when Oakland pulled out of Modesto the day after winning the title, and his battle with leukemia and a later injury has kept him in Class A. 

The Nuts had nine hits, characteristically spilt into seven singles and two doubles, but the strange thing about this loss was how the usually rock-solid Modesto bullpen let this one get out of hand. Brandon Durden gave up two runs in 1 1/3 innings, then Tommy Baumgardner gave up four runs in two innings, including Morris' three-run homer in the eighth.

Stockton 5, Modesto 3
At Stockton

GAME IN A GRAF -- Trevor Cahill held Modesto hitless for five innings to pick up his third win against the Nuts in as many starts. Modesto, trailing 4-0, scored three runs in the sixth, with Anthony Jackson driving home one with a single and Cole Garner two more on a two-out, 0-2 off-field hit, but the Nuts finished with only five hits and struck out 12 times.

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION -- Just prior to Friday night’s game, the Stockton Ports added some Modesto flavor to its roster with the addition of Grace Davis High School graduate Branden Dewing from Low-A Kane County.
Dewing, a high school teammate of Nuts’ outfielder Anthony Jackson and a San Jose State teammate of outfielder Travis Becktel, spent most of the 2007 season with Stockton, making six starts and 15 relief appearances. Dewing has been perfect this season, going 10 2/3 innings in seven appearances with Kane County, allowing no runs on four hits and a walk.

Modesto 9, Bakersfield 7
at Bakersfield

The Modesto Nuts are hitting .327 as a team in May, averaging nine runs and 12 hits per game.

OK, so it's only a one-game sample, but the Nuts will take it, and so will Simon Ferrer. The knuckleballer earned his first victory of the season by holding the Blaze to two runs on three hits over seven innings, then watched as the  bullpen almost let it slip away.

The Nuts led 7-2 in the eighth, but Bakersfield scored four in the inning, including three off Brandon Durden. Modesto got two runs back in the ninth on Michael McKenry's third homer of the season, and Andrew Johnston made it hold up. He allowed an unearned run in the ninth, retaining his 0.00 ERA, but got his league-best seventh save in as many chances.

Wouldn't it be cool if the Nuts' catcher spelled his last name McHenry? You think the city would let him stay in the mansion? On the other hand, he's been here two seasons and yet reliever David Patton never has made a visit to Central Catholic's David Patton field.

Bakersfield 2, Modesto 1
at Bakersfield

For the second straight game, it takes a Blaze error and an uneraned run in the ninth inning for the Nuts to avoid getting blanked. Modesto collected all of five hits as the team batting slump continues.

Last year in Asheville, this same bunch of guys ranked first or second in the league in runs, total bases, on-base percentage and OPS. This year, the Nuts rank last or next to last in the California League in all those categories.

One thing remains consistent. The Tourists led the South Atlantic League in striking out in 2006. The Nuts lead the Cal League in that category by a wide margin, despite striking out "only" seven times on Wednesday.

Aneury Rodriguez continues to pitch well. He allowed two runs on nine hits over 6 2/3 innings, certanly well enough to win. His 2.86 ERA is eighth-best in the league, and he has only a 2-2 mark to show for his efforts.

One more game in Bakersfield, then the Nuts head north for a weekend commuter series at first-place Stockton. 

Bakersfield 3, Modesto 1
at Bakersfield

Here's what I just can't get over about these Nuts. They appear to be on the cusp of breaking loose and becoming a good contact-hitting team at the plate, and then a game like this one happens.

Tommy Hunter had struck out a total of 18 batters in 28 innings over his first five starts of the season, with a high of five at Stockton in his second start. But on Tuesday, he strikes out every starter on the Nuts at least once, and finishes with 12.

Heck, he was two outs away from recording the first complete-game shutout in the California League this season, but was removed with one out in the ninth after Mike Paulk reached on an infield error. Two infield errors later, the Nuts had a run in and the tying runners aboard, but stranded both.

Time to check the old strikeout gauge...that's 245 whiffs in 26 games for Modesto, keeping the Nuts on pace to set an all-time California League season record for carrying bats back to the dugout. 

Game 25 of 140
Modesto 11, Visalia 7

GAME IN A GRAF – Mike Paulk and Michael McKenry both blasted three-run homers and drove in four runs apiece, and Tony Blanco completed his short stay in Modesto with a mammoth homer among his three hits as the Nuts completed a 5-2 homestand. Blanco is on his way to Tulsa to replace the injured Eric Young Jr. In five games with the Nuts, Blanco hit .550 (11-for-20) and had at least one hit in every game. Modesto entered the game having hit only four home runs in its first 24 games, only one of which came at John Thurman Field. 

HOW FAR DID IT FLY? -- I’m not going to say Blanco’s home run Monday night went 500 feet. I don’t believe it’s physically possible for anyone to hit a 500-foot homer during the cool April evenings in Modesto.
So, I’ll let Jerry Weinstein say it.
“It’s 410 feet to the wall, and it was three-quarters of the way up the light pole and rising went it went out,” Weinstein said. “That has to add another 100 feet at least. So there’s your 510-foot home run.”
I’d be willing to say 480 feet without hesitation, which puts Blanco’s blast right up there with the longest ever hit at John Thurman Field since its 1997 renovation.
The others? Jesus Basabe once hit balls over the former scoreboard in back-to-back at bats. The board was 13 feet shorter than the current structure, which stands 405 feet from home plate. Those twin shots had to travel longer than 450 feet.
In 2000, Ryan Ludwick sent a ball screaming over the visitor’s clubhouse in left field that took one hop in the parking lot and a second hop on Neece Ave. before disappearing over the elevated banks of the Tuolumne River. Since we could see both bounces from the press box, I stepped off the yardage the next afternoon and came up with a 475-foot minimum carry.
Mike McKenry, who homered off the scoreboard on Monday (415 feet,) said Blanco’s blast was “at least 500 feet.”
Keith Weiser’s initial estimate was 480 feet, but then, there’s no way a pitcher would be quick to toss around the mythical, McGwirian, Ruthian, Mantleian, Bondsian number that is 500.

THREE PIRATES IN THE LEAGUE -- Aaron Reza of Patterson High and Modesto Junior College was promoted on Saturday from the low Class-A Greenville (S.C.) Drive of the South Atlantic League to Lancaster of the California League, missing playing in his home area by two days.
He joins Nuts centerfielder Anthony Jackson and Inland Empire outfielder Matt Berezay as former MJC players toiling in the California League.
Reza, a 21st-round selection in last year’s draft after two seasons at the University of Oklahoma, was hitting .353 with 18 hits, three homers and seven doubles with Greenville.
A news report over the weekend had Reza going to Triple-A Pawtucket as an injury replacement, but the move the Lancaster will allow Reza to play every day.
Two other former local junior college products are starting to show up in minor league box scores. Pitcher Brodie Downs of Beyer High and MJC is 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA with the West Tennessee Diamond Jax, the Double-A affiliate of Seattle, and former Merced High and Merced College pitcher Curtis Partch is 0-3, 7.11 in three starts with the Dayton Dragons, the Class-A Midwest League affiliate of Cincinnati.
Blake Trinkler of Central Catholic High and MJC signed in August after being drafted in the 32nd round last year by Seattle, but has yet to be assigned to a minor league team.
If you have questions or information about any local players, please leave a comment or email me at bvanderbeek@modbee.com.