Published: Wednesday, August 24, 2011
AquaSox again have trouble with the Bears
EVERETT -- The play on the diamond at Everett Memorial Stadium Wednesday night showed the difference between a team that looked ready for the playoffs and one that looked like it might fall short.
Unfortunately for AquaSox fans, the team that looked ready for prime time was not the home team as Yakima overcame deficits of 3-1 and 4-2 to take the five-game series opener 10-6.
On paper, it was Everett that should have schooled the Bears. The AquaSox (34-33 overall, 18-11 second half) are currently in first place in the Northwest League's West division, in part thanks to a 12-4 home record. Yakima (27-40, 14-15) carries the Northwest League's worst overall record and, entering Wednesday's game, was just 1-10 in road contests in the season's second half.
However, "on paper" doesn't matter, Everett manager Scott Steinmann said.
"They haven't done good during the season, but they've played us tough," Steinmann said of the Bears, who improved to 4-2 against Everett this season. "The baseball gods know why, but that's about it. You just go out and play. You don't worry about a team's record when you play them."
The Bears sent a rookie starter to the mound in Blake Perry (0-0), who looked overwhelmed as his team fell behind 3-1 after the first inning. Perry escaped a two-on, one-out situation by coaxing a strikeout and an inning-ending double play.
"We had an opportunity to really blow it open and we didn't," Steinmann said about the first inning.
Mario Yepez had a nice game at the plate, collecting three hits, scoring a run and driving one in. What he did at the plate contrasted with what he did in the field, where he allowed a run-scoring error in right field in the top of the fourth. Nathan Melendres and Jabari Blash also recorded two hits for the Frogs.
The Bears jumped on the scoreboard first when Westley Moss hit Joe DiRocco's (1-2) second pitch of the night off the wall in right center field for a double. After a sacrifice bunt by Daniel Pulfer, Jimmy Comerota grounded out to third, scoring Moss to give the Bears a 1-0 edge.
DiRocco's third career start did not go nearly as well as his first two when he allowed only one run in each game. After navigating the first three innings relatively unscathed Wednesday, DiRocco fell apart in the fourth.
DiRocco yielded hits to the first three batters in the fourth. Then he threw a wild pitch and gave up a sacrifice fly, single and a walk. Steinmann went to the bullpen with the Sox trailing 5-4, but DiRocco's replacement, Jeroen De Hass, didn't fare much better on the mound.
De Hass, a 6-foot-6 righty submariner from the Netherlands, served up a single to Comerota that ended up scoring two runs when Yepez let the ball slip past him and head toward the wall.
Comerota rounded third base and headed for home, but was thrown out at the plate. The play at home ended the inning, but by then the Bears had scored five runs and taken a 7-4 lead.
DiRocco's final stats on the night read 32/3 innings pitched with eight hits, seven runs, six earned, a walk and three strikeouts.
Perry looked fairly shaky in his first Northwest League start for Yakima. He gave up four runs in four innings on six hits, but struck out six and left the game with the lead. His replacement on the other hand, Teo Gutierrez (4-3), tossed five innings of two-hit balland stymied the Sox attack until a brief resurgence in the ninth that was too late.
"We had a lot of game left to come back and score and we just didn't," Steinmann said.
The Bears added a run in the fifth and two more in the top of the ninth to get to 10-4 before Yepez rapped an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth and Blash followed with a run-scoring single to make the final score 10-6.
Steinmann isn't worried about the playoff implications of the loss paired with Eugene's 7-3 win Wednesday night over Spokane. Everett still leads the Emeralds for the second-half crown by two games.
"Everybody else thinks about the playoffs, we think about winning the day," Steinmann said.
Everett gets another chance to win at 7:05 p.m. in the series' second game. AquaSox ace Jose Campos (5-3) is scheduled to pitch.
Unfortunately for AquaSox fans, the team that looked ready for prime time was not the home team as Yakima overcame deficits of 3-1 and 4-2 to take the five-game series opener 10-6.
On paper, it was Everett that should have schooled the Bears. The AquaSox (34-33 overall, 18-11 second half) are currently in first place in the Northwest League's West division, in part thanks to a 12-4 home record. Yakima (27-40, 14-15) carries the Northwest League's worst overall record and, entering Wednesday's game, was just 1-10 in road contests in the season's second half.
However, "on paper" doesn't matter, Everett manager Scott Steinmann said.
"They haven't done good during the season, but they've played us tough," Steinmann said of the Bears, who improved to 4-2 against Everett this season. "The baseball gods know why, but that's about it. You just go out and play. You don't worry about a team's record when you play them."
The Bears sent a rookie starter to the mound in Blake Perry (0-0), who looked overwhelmed as his team fell behind 3-1 after the first inning. Perry escaped a two-on, one-out situation by coaxing a strikeout and an inning-ending double play.
"We had an opportunity to really blow it open and we didn't," Steinmann said about the first inning.
Mario Yepez had a nice game at the plate, collecting three hits, scoring a run and driving one in. What he did at the plate contrasted with what he did in the field, where he allowed a run-scoring error in right field in the top of the fourth. Nathan Melendres and Jabari Blash also recorded two hits for the Frogs.
The Bears jumped on the scoreboard first when Westley Moss hit Joe DiRocco's (1-2) second pitch of the night off the wall in right center field for a double. After a sacrifice bunt by Daniel Pulfer, Jimmy Comerota grounded out to third, scoring Moss to give the Bears a 1-0 edge.
DiRocco's third career start did not go nearly as well as his first two when he allowed only one run in each game. After navigating the first three innings relatively unscathed Wednesday, DiRocco fell apart in the fourth.
DiRocco yielded hits to the first three batters in the fourth. Then he threw a wild pitch and gave up a sacrifice fly, single and a walk. Steinmann went to the bullpen with the Sox trailing 5-4, but DiRocco's replacement, Jeroen De Hass, didn't fare much better on the mound.
De Hass, a 6-foot-6 righty submariner from the Netherlands, served up a single to Comerota that ended up scoring two runs when Yepez let the ball slip past him and head toward the wall.
Comerota rounded third base and headed for home, but was thrown out at the plate. The play at home ended the inning, but by then the Bears had scored five runs and taken a 7-4 lead.
DiRocco's final stats on the night read 32/3 innings pitched with eight hits, seven runs, six earned, a walk and three strikeouts.
Perry looked fairly shaky in his first Northwest League start for Yakima. He gave up four runs in four innings on six hits, but struck out six and left the game with the lead. His replacement on the other hand, Teo Gutierrez (4-3), tossed five innings of two-hit balland stymied the Sox attack until a brief resurgence in the ninth that was too late.
"We had a lot of game left to come back and score and we just didn't," Steinmann said.
The Bears added a run in the fifth and two more in the top of the ninth to get to 10-4 before Yepez rapped an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth and Blash followed with a run-scoring single to make the final score 10-6.
Steinmann isn't worried about the playoff implications of the loss paired with Eugene's 7-3 win Wednesday night over Spokane. Everett still leads the Emeralds for the second-half crown by two games.
"Everybody else thinks about the playoffs, we think about winning the day," Steinmann said.
Everett gets another chance to win at 7:05 p.m. in the series' second game. AquaSox ace Jose Campos (5-3) is scheduled to pitch.
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