Dodgers – Page 2 – Dugout Tales

I am going to be honest; I am a little disappointed with myself this week because I did not fully think through how my plan for the blog this year was going to work. Initially I was planning to write a piece every Monday talking about the River Cats series from the previous week and keep you posted about other things around the league; and while I still plan to do that, I think I must change things up a little. I think focusing on the River Cats while they are out of town simply is too much for me to take on this season with my own personal schedule. Yes, I can regurgitate the nightly re-cap of games, but you too can read a box score, and there simply is not any passion in me to do that. I wrote a book this way, and I love it and hope that you will too, but my goal has always been to grow, and bring you more.

Going forward I will write my posts in the following manner. During the weeks in which the River Cats play in Sacramento, my stories will focus on that series and the players. Yes, there may be a story that comes up that I feel is a more relevant story to write, but in general that is the plan. The weeks in which the River Cats are not in town, I will write a more special interest story in which I try to merge life with baseball, because what is baseball, if not a metaphor for life? Each week I will still try to have updates about the River Cats and other goings on in the Pacific Coast League as the focus of the blog is the Pacific Coast League with a River Cats slant.

The River Cats end their series against the Reno Aces with a record of 7-5 after splitting the six-game series. Game 1 saw the River Cats take a loss in a game that included a controversial grand slam that broke it open for the Aces in the bottom of the fourth. Aces second baseman Camden Duzenak hit a ball that appeared to the umpire to have hit above the yellow line on the outfield wall that constitutes a home run. River Cats manager came out to discuss the call and would end up being ejected from the game. Video replay would later show that the ball did in fact hit below the line, but there was nothing that could be done. 4-0, Aces. Matt Davidson would also hit two home runs in the game for Reno as they beat the River Cats 11-4. Davidson, some of you might recall, is one of only four players to have hit three home runs on Opening Day when he accomplished the feat in 2018 for the Chicago White Sox.

In Game 5 of the series on Saturday night, it was like watching a home run derby as the River Cats unloaded for five of the eight home runs hit on the night. David Villar, and Luis Gonzalez each hit two for the River Cats, and Matt Davidson hit his seventh home run of the season, which is the most in all of baseball at the time of this writing, in a game that ended with a River Cats victory by a score of 18-8. The Cats were 22-50 (.440) at the plate with 18 RBI, five doubles, five home runs, and six walks.

The River Cats could only muster up three hits on Sunday’s series finale after last night’s hit parade and would drop the final game of this series by a score of 1-0 on a home run by Arizona’s #1 prospect Alek Thomas. Thomas has a six-game hitting streak going right now and has hit safely in 10 of 12 games the Aces have played this year. Sunday was also Heliot Ramos’ return to the River Cats lineup after a brief call up to the Giants last week, and he goes 0-4 on the day.

Around the league we see River Cats third baseman David Villar sitting second in the PCL leader board with five homeruns behind Davidson, and third in the Minor Leagues behind Memphis’ Nolan Gorman who has six to lead the International League. Villar’s 16 RBI also lead the PCL but fall second over all in Triple-A behind Worcester’s Franchy Cordero who has 18. Bryce Johnson, who led the PCL in steals in 2021 has five on the season, just one behind the stolen base leaders Bubba Thompson and Forrest Wall. River Cats’ pitcher Matt Carasiti is tied for most wins in the league with a record of 2-0, and Raynel Espinal leads the River Cats with 13 strikeouts in 7.2 innings.

The Dodgers have most of their best prospect talent in the lower levels, but come in to this week’s series against the River Cats with three of their Top 30 on the Oklahoma City roster who are #5 Miguel Vargas, a power hitting corner infielder who is the son of longtime Cuban star Lazaro Vargas, #6 Ryan Pepiot a right handed pitcher whose change up is considered the best in all of the Minor Leagues and is among the leaders in the various pitching categories in the PCL. The Dodgers #11 prospect Andre Jackson, who made his debut with Los Angeles last season will be on the mound to start the series for Oklahoma City on Tuesday and is scheduled to pitch against Sean Hjelle for the River Cats.

The OKC Dodgers also have players who River Cats/Giants fans will be aware of starting with outfielder Kevin Pillar, pitcher Reyes Moronta, and coach Emmanuel Burriss who played for the Giants from 2008-2012. While there are other players of note on the team, U.C. Davis alum and Olympian from Team Israel baseball, Ty Kelly has come out of retirement and is playing for OKC, as well as Eddy Alvarez, Olympic silver medal winner in both speed skating and baseball has been leading off for OKC this season. Alvarez is only the sixth person ever, and third American to medal in both the Winter (2014) and Summer (2020/1) Olympics in different sports. This will no doubt be an exciting week of baseball in Sacramento as the Giants and Dodgers affiliates face off against each other accompanied by the same intensity and rivalry by their fans at any level of the game.

I think we all remember our first no hitter; mine was June 29, 1990. I was 15 years old sitting in my room going through baseball cards as I always did during games and watching the Oakland Athletics play the Toronto Blue Jays at the Skydome. Dave Stewart got the ball for Oakland, and I never expected that he would throw a no hitter that night, so the game was on more for the background noise. It wasn’t until the 8th inning or so that I noticed what was happening and stayed glued to the TV until that final out. I was focused in on the game to watch Tony Fernandez pop out to Dave Henderson who skipped over a few feet and caught the ball with his trademark smile to end the game. Baseball fans were blessed on that night as later that evening Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers threw a no hitter against the Cardinals becoming the first Mexican born player to accomplish the feat. Fernando-mania was long dead, but the memories remained and his greatness shined bright one more time.

I had been aware of other no-hitters. I recall Juan Nieves’ game in 1987, and Tom Browning’s perfect game in 1988, but I never actually watched a no-hitter until Stew’s. It would be 22 years later before I saw my first no hitter in person. I was at a summer college league game watching the Marysville Gold Sox. I don’t remember anyone who played that day except for Gold Sox pitcher Nick Hudson who threw the gem. In 2013 I also witnessed my kid throw a no hitter in a losing effort. Going into the final frame leading 1-0, The Kid gave up a couple of walks, followed by back-to-back errors by our shortstop and they lost in a walk off. I was still proud of The Kid, celebrated their performance, and kept the ball but man was that a tough one.

I started to cover the Sacramento River Cats in 2018, but long before that I had always been a fan going back to their inaugural season in 2000. I was still living in Boise on May 1, 2001, when Micah Bowie would throw the first no-hitter in River Cats history as he threw a 7-inning no hitter against the Tacoma Rainiers at Cheney Park in Tacoma. Since then, there have been two no-hitters thrown at Sutter Health Park, formerly known as Raley Field, but unfortunately none were thrown by the River Cats. In 2006, three Portland Beavers teamed up to no-hit the River Cats at Raley Field on June 9, 2006, in game two of a double header. Three years later, Sean O’Sullivan threw the first 9-inning no-hitter at Raley Field for the Salt Lake Bees. The closest game that I’ve ever seen come to a no-hitter for the River Cats was back in 2003 when Erik Hiljus took a no-no into the 9th. I don’t remember why the decision was made but after facing the first batter in the 9th, manager Bob Geren pulled Hiljus and brought in one of the A’s top prospects Joe Valentine who had recently been acquired in a deal with the White Sox. My heart sank. Valentine, in my mind, was not the reliable closer that he was hyped up to be, but here we were and there it went as Valentine gave up a hit to the first batter he faced. Its been 20 years since Bowie throw his no-hitter for the River Cats, but this past Friday night, September 4, 2021, that streak came to an end as four River Cats pitchers, Norwith Gudino, Conner Menez, Tyler Cyr, and Trevor Gott, combined to throw the first 9-inning no-hitter in River Cats history.

The game was special right from the start when I noticed that Norwith Gudino had struck out 7 of 9 through the first three innings, and he would end the night with a career high 9 in four. This had me so hyped up that I quickly picked up the only 5 baseball cards of his I could find. Menez, Cyr, and Gott would combine for an additional 6 strikeouts to give the River Cats 15 on the night. Gott would finish off the game by getting Bees second baseman Michael Stefanic to ground out 6-3, as Mauricio Dubon played it cleanly and tossed it to Jason Krizan to end the game. The River Cats will be on the road after this Labor Day series wraps up, and although I highly doubt there will be another no-hitter thrown before they get back to Sacramento in 10 days, can we try not to wait another 20 years?

Claws Up!

Tag: Dodgers

Launch Codes Activated

It Started with Some Smoke…