Opponent: Boise Hawks.
When: 6:15 p.m.
Where: Memorial Stadium, Boise, Idaho.
Radio: KRKO (1380 AM).
Probable starters: Everett right-hander Doug Salinas (0-1, 4.00 earned run average vs. TBA.
Slumpbuster
That breeze felt coming from the home-plate area during the second inning of Everett’s 6-5 victory Saturday night was an enormous sigh of relief.
When Kalian Sams’ drive down the left-field line landed in fair territory, it ended a terrible slump that saw the Everett right fielder go hitless in his previous 31 at bats.
“It was a big relief to see the ball fall in fair territory,” said Sams, whose drive turned into a double.
“It was nice to get out of the slump,” Sams added. “It was a long time without a hit. I tried to relax and just hit the ball, and it worked out.”
Going into Saturday Sams had gone seven games without a hit, and his 0-for-31 included 14 strikeouts.
“I was thinking a lot about my mechanics, pitch counts, what the pitcher was going to pitch me, that kind of stuff instead of just relaxing and hitting the ball,” Sams explained.
But Sams ended the agony early Saturday, then added another hit later in the game to finish 2-for-4.
Not once during the slump did Everett manager Mike Tosar lose faith in Sams.
“I told him I don’t care what he does today, he’s going to be out there again tomorrow,” Tosar said. “He’s got to deal with it, it’s part of the game, it’s part of becoming mentally tough and learning how to deal with situations like this. He came through (Saturday) night, got a couple good hits for us, and hopefully it’ll start carrying over and he’ll start getting his confidence.”
Hargrove shocker: Seattle Mariners manager Mike Hargrove’s shocking resignation Sunday not surprisingly drew the attention of the AquaSox. Before Sunday’s game many of the players and coaches were fixated on the televisions in the clubhouse showing the press conference.
“My reaction was it caught me by surprise,” Tosar said. “I don’t think it was expected. Obviously we’re not in the clubhouse over there, but it caught everybody here by surprise.”
Whiffs: Sams isn’t the only Everett batter who’s had issues with making contact. Although the Sox have been winning, they’ve also been striking out at an alarming pace. Through its first 12 games, Everett struck out a whopping 130 times. That’s an average of nearly 11 a game and was 30 more than any other team in the league. In addition to Sams, Gregory Halman, Joe Dunigan and Kris Sanchez have also been bitten by the bug.
“It’s part of being a young hitter,” Tosar said. “These guys have anxious approaches at the plate. We’re trying to slow the game down and have them really understand what they’re trying to do early in the counts.”
Training table: Everett lost a pair of players to hand injuries Sunday. Shortstop Ogui Diaz was a late scratch because of a hand injury picked up while running the bases in Saturday’s game. Catcher Jeff Dunbar had to leave in the fourth inning after taking a warm-up pitch off his hand. Both were to undergo X-rays.
Nick Patterson, Herald writer
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