Inside The Shell -- It's all over

Stockton 12, Modesto 3. Game Three of North Division mini-series.

GAME IN A GRAF – The Ports scored four runs in the third after the Nuts failed to turn a double play and added five more in the fourth to take control early, finishing with 17 hits to end Modesto’s season. Jason Van Kooten tripled and homered and scored two of the three runs, but this game was over when Aneury Rodriguez got only eight outs and reliever Chris Malone was roughed up for five runs on six hits in the fourth.

TWO TYPES OF PLAYERS – Standing around the batting cage prior to Friday’s game, chatting with Jerry Weinstein. I ask if he thinks the team’s ready to go after the previous night’s tough loss, and he offered an interesting answer.

“This has been a resilient bunch all season, but I would assume for a few players this is a bittersweet moment,” he said.

I asked if he meant there may be players on the team who wouldn’t mind the season being over, and he said that was exactly the case.

“On every team there are guys who get into this situation who would rather be home instead of helping their team win a championship,” he said. “I always have one word of advice for those people: find another line of employment because they’re not long for baseball.”

LOOKING AHEAD – At least to what’s ahead for Stockton when it opens tonight in San Jose. The Giants on Thursday assigned first-round draft pick Buster Posey to San Jose. Posey, a catcher, hit .385 in seven games in Arizona Rookie League, then finished the season going three-for-11 in three games with rookie league Salem-Keizer.