Link Report for Mon. 9/8 - Power Open Championship Play in Augusta

[Mass Haas]

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[Mass Haas]

Monday's Daily Menu:

 

West Virginia: RHP R.J. Seidel at Augusta (Giants), 5:55 PM Central Time pre-game, 6:05 PM gametime; Game One of a Best-of-Five

 

Audio link via WSWW, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t525

 

***

 

Box Score / Game Log:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_09_08_wvaafx_augafx_1

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Power thrived under pressure

SAL championship series begins tonight at Augusta

By Mike Whiteford

Charleston Gazette Staff writer

 

In two crucial playoff games in Eastlake, Ohio, during the weekend, the Power seemingly took a liking to postseason pressure, apparently stimulated by the do-or-die predicament.

 

After losing the opening game of the best-of-three playoff series last week, the Power responded with exquisitely played victories on Friday and Saturday to defeat the Lake County Captains and earn a berth in the South Atlantic League's best-of-five championship series.

 

Having won the Northern Division title, the Power will face the Augusta GreenJackets, winners of the Southern Division, at 7:05 tonight and Tuesday in Augusta and, after a travel day on Wednesday, resume the series at Appalachian Power Park at 7:05 Thursday night and, if necessary, Friday and Saturday. (All times 6:05 Central).

 

If the Power plays as it did Friday and Saturday, manager Jeff Isom will be more than pleased.

 

"It was a great team performance by everybody,'' he said. "We got clutch hitting, played excellent defense and the pitching was outstanding. Our starting pitching went deep into games. They were just all-around great team wins.''

 

Helped by a five-run first inning on Friday, the Power won 10-0 and, after rallying for three runs to break a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning Saturday, collected a 4-1 victory in the decisive third game.

 

In the two games, the Power outhit the Captains 21-9 and did not commit an error.

 

"I like how we played up in Lake County,'' said Isom.

 

In the eighth inning Saturday, the Power began its title-winning rally with two out and no one on base. Following a two-out error and a walk, Zelous Wheeler delivered an RBI single for a 2-1 lead, and Curt Rindal followed by hitting an 0-2 pitch for a two-run double.

 

As he awaited the 0-2 pitch, Rindal made an educated guess.

 

"He was looking for a slider,'' said Isom, "and ended up getting it and hit a double in the gap.''

 

The two victories reflected the Power's excellent play in the season's second half, in which it compiled a 45-25 record after finishing 32-37 in the first half.

 

Whatever happens this week, the manager noted, the team has been successful.

 

"There's nothing to lose. We've had a great season,'' he said. "You can't take that away from us. You're not always judged by the playoffs; you're going to be judged by the regular season. The key is to go out there and have fun. There's no reason to play tight. We plan to do the same thing against Augusta.''

 

POWER POINTS: Shortly after Saturday night's game, the Power boarded the bus and made a 13-hour trip to Augusta, arriving at about noon Sunday. "We're going to be getting our sleep right now. It's well-needed at this point in the season,'' Isom said early Sunday afternoon. "It's tough to sleep on those buses.'' ... Augusta pitchers, performing in a pitcher-friendly park, clearly have been the league's best, compiling a 2.95 earned run average compared to the Power's 4.18, which ranked ninth in the 16-team league. Madison Bumgarner, Augusta's 19-year-old left-hander who was 15-3 with a 1.46 ERA, was voted the SAL's most outstanding pitcher. He had 164 strikeouts in 141 innings and allowed just 111 hits. The GreenJackets have not announced their pitching rotation for the series. R.J. Seidel (9-5, 4.51) will start for the Power tonight. ... Power hitters, performing in a hitter-friendly park, led the league with 747 runs and a .276 batting average. ... The GreenJackets, who were 47-22 in the second half, are a Giants affiliate.

[battlekow]

Bumgarner's gonna be tough.

[Brily0204]

Bumgarner's gonna be tough.

If anything, that's an understatement. Bumgarner ran up against Connor Graham, Asheville's ace, in the first round last Wednesday, and won 1-0 on an unearned run. Thankfully, the combination of his being just 19 and the Giants organization being pretty conservative about promoting players has kept him in Augusta all summer.

 

I will probably be at the game tonight and a little torn about who to cheer for. While I want the little Brewers to do well, the GreenJackets have made the summer pretty fun: the team has set attendance records, and a championship might help the drive for a new stadium. Guess I'll just cheer for an exciting baseball game.

 

I'll post later if I see anything worth noting!

[bretsky07]

Thankfully, the combination of his being just 19 and the Giants organization being pretty conservative about promoting players has kept him in Augusta all summer.

 

Conor Gillaspie begs to differ.

[Brily0204]

Conor Gillaspie begs to differ.

 

Indeed, though my hunch is Brian Sabean did that just to show up Buster Posey for taking so long to sign.

[Mass Haas]

MiLB.com's series preview

[Minigoon]

RJ Seidel appears to have hit the wall. 6 runs allowed in the 1st and 3 more charged to him in the 2nd. Power down 9-2 after 6.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Augusta (Giants) 9, West Virginia 3

 

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

 

POWER FALL BEHIND EARLY IN 9-3 LOSS TO AUGUSTA

 

The West Virginia Power dropped game one of the 2008 South Atlantic League Championship at Lake Olmstead Stadium on Monday night, as the Augusta GreenJackets scored six times in the first inning and never looked back, taking the first game of the best of five series with a 9-3 victory.

 

The GreenJackets sent ten batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning and scored six times on six hits. Juan Ciriaco followed back-to-back singles from Shane Jordan and Nick Noonan with a three-run homer to start the scoring. James Simmons belted a two-run single and Dom Duggan singled in the final run of the inning.

 

Angel Villalona's RBI single in the bottom of the second gave the GreenJackets a 7-0 lead. Garrett Baker's sacrifice fly scored Ciriaco and Dayton Buller scored the final run of the inning on Simmons's groundout. Zelous Wheeler, Curt Rindal and Matt Cline recorded three straight hits to start the fifth inning. Wheeler scored after Shane Jordan's fielding error on Rindal's base hit. Rindal scored later in the inning on Eric Farris' sacrifice fly. The Power scored the final run of the game on Cline's run scoring single in the ninth inning.

 

Craig Clark (1-0) allowed a pair of runs on six hits and struck out eight batters over six innings of work to get the victory. R.J. Seidel (0-2) was not able to get out of the second inning. He allowed nine runs on seven hits over an inning of work and was tagged with the loss. Jose Garcia, Reed Dickert, Curtis Pasma and Corey Frerichs combined to toss seven scoreless innings of relief.

 

The GreenJackets now have a 1-0 lead in the best of five game series. The franchise has now lost ten straight games in the Championship Round, a stretch that goes all the way back to 1991. Eric Fryer, Wheeler, Rindal and Cline all turned in multi-hit games for the Power.

 

The Power will continue the best of five game Championship Series against the Augusta GreenJackets at Lake Olmstead Stadium on Tuesday night. Left hander Dan Merklinger (7-9, 5.75) will start for the Power and GreenJackets will counter with left hander Madison Bumgarner (15-3, 1.46). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

The Power can't throw R.J. Seidel if this gets to Game Five, can they? Jose Garcia couldn't prevent three inherited runners from scoring with none out in the 2nd, but cruised after that, but he's not really a Game Five option, either; Erik Komatsu got his feet wet with a pinch-hit walk...

 

West Virginia Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Ugh - Bumgarner tonight.

 

Nothing particularly Power-related in the MiLB or local Augusta coverage of the game.

[wvpowerblkwel]

I see Erik Komatsu has joined the Power...too bad Helena didn't have a couple POWER arms to send along with him!

[Brily0204]

I was at the game last night, which slightly decreased the horror of the Brewers' ending. Seidel was pretty bad, getting behind most hitters and giving up a handful of loud hits. It takes quite a poke to knock one out of Lake Olmstead Stadium, and the home run he yielded was not close. But he was not quite as bad as his line. A few of the hits were pretty cheap, and he was hurt by some weak defense. He made Angel Villalona, one of the Giants' top prospects, look really bad on some offspeed stuff, but Villalona reached anyway when Wilson couldn't catch a throw from Fryer, and things unravelled after that. Otherwise he might get out of the first down only 3-0. The relievers did well, though!

 

Not much more positive to say about the Power, so I'll just add that the atmosphere of minor league playoff games is just weird. They hung red, white, and blue bunting all over the stadium to add some festivity, but it felt considerably less festive than any regular-season game. With it being a school night in September and with no promotions going on, there were almost no kids there, and the only people who show up are pretty intense fans. So while it was loud at the start, it soon settled into a more library-like quiet, and by the end of the game, there weren't more than a few hundred people left