June 26, 2009 - Everett 5 Spokane 1

A fun game on a beautiful night for baseball.

The Aquasox jumped ahead on a two run home run by Hawkins Gebbers in the first inning. Unlike a couple nights ago, the flags were hanging limp so it was an honest line drive over the left field wall. Gebbers continued to hit well - going 3 for 4 (his batting average after the game was .444 and his OPS was 1.109).

In the third inning Mario Martinez, the Aquasox catcher, hit a ball off the scoreboard that careened into right field away from the fielder. It was a sure triple, but our manager, John Tamargo, sent him home and he was easily thrown out by a nice relay throw from Shon Landry. The Spokane catcher, Alberto Puello, did a very nice job of blocking the plate and Martinez never got within 3 feet of it.

The defensive play of the game, and maybe of the season, was by Welington Dotel in right field. He went after a line drive by Edward Martinez in the gap and dived flat out - catching the ball and then crashing to the warning track. An excellent play. Pat Dillon on the radio said Dotel was "like a reincarnated Ron Swaboda..."

Late in the game Andrew Carraway pitched for the Aquasox. He was a 12th round pick this year (2009) and looked very good. His fastball was 90mph and he struck out 4 in two innings - giving up just one hit.

For Spokane, Justin King relieved in the 4th inning and was hitting 92 on the radar gun.

Here's the box score.

June 24, 2009 - Spokane 18 Everett 9

This game started off good with the Aquasox retiring the first three Spokane batters in order and then scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the first. Then bad things started to happen...

With a stiff wind blowing out to left center and the flags standing straight away from their poles when the first inning ended I said to Bob, "We might see 20 runs scored tonight." We did, and then some. And the Aquasox radio announcer in the 4th inning said, "We've already had enough action for two complete games." The score was 11-6 at that point.

Hawkins Gebbers has a haircut and has lost some of his fly away California surfer look.

Some notes from the game:

Gerardo Avila made a very nice pick of a throw in the dirt from the pitcher to end the second inning. He looks pretty comfortable around first base.

Anthony Phillips, a favorite of ours, made three bad errors (two fielding and one when he didn't have his foot on second on a force play...). A very bad night.

Taylor Stanton was the starting pitcher for Everett and hit 89 mph. He gave up 7 runs in 3 2/3 innings with 4 strikeouts and 3 walks.

Wellington Dotel hit the cutoff man with two throws in the same inning - something that we rarely saw him do last year. Maybe he'll be better at this in 2009. We'll see.

For Spokane, Aja Barto, their DH, looks like a good hitter - he had a home run and a single to go with a walk and two strikeouts. And Emmanuel Solis, their third baseman made several very nice plays on hard hit balls at third (though his batting average leaves a lot to be desired - it's around .150).

Here's the Everett Herald story.

June 18, 2009 - Everett Merchants Everett Aquasox

This was a pre-season game and a chance to see this year's team - 9 of whom were Aquasox last year or the season before!

Kalian Sams is back and appeared MUCH bigger than we remembered him. He hit a huge majestic fly ball to left that was in the air forever - eventually hitting high on the wall and allowing Sams to reach third.

Our highest draft pick in the game, Hawkins Gebbers, got a hit in his first at bat and then a double on his fourth trip to the place. He went to college at BIOLA (Bible Institute of Los Angeles) and looks like a California surfer with long blond hair.

In the fifth the Aquasox loaded the bases with no outs and after a infield fly and two strikeouts the threat amounted to nothing.

Wellington Dotel hit two home runs.

The Merchants manager was a hoot. At one point he called over his clean-up hitter (a guy named Short that had 4 hits in 5 at bats). We sit close to the third base dugout and I thought I saw him ask something about a bunt (there was a man on first with no outs). They parted and when the manager got back to the third base coach's box he looked into the Aquasox dugout and said, "I asked him when he last bunted and he thinks it was about 5 years ago..." They let Short hit and he hit a double off the right field fence...

Here's the Everett Herald story.