Link Report for Games of Wednesday, July 7th

[BigT48]

It's gotta be tough being a pitcher on this team. If you give up more than a couple of runs, chances are you're gonna get beat. These guys are pitching not to lose rather than trying to win. That's hard.

The top 3rd of the batting order is killing this team.

Why doesn't Kremblas just move them down in the order - take some pressure off them??

I could understand if they were getting on base with some consistency-- but they ain't.

[brewmann04]

could these 2 Guys play any other position than 1st which seemes to be blocked by Overbay and Prince

[MassBrew]

Daily Press High Desert Game Story:

 

Mavs win it the hard way in 10

High Desert's Villanueva, Cruz homer in victory

By TIM HARAN/Staff Writer

 

RANCHO CUCAMONGA ? Nothing ever seems to come easy for the High Desert Mavericks.

 

The team squandered an early two-run lead Wednesday against Rancho Cucamonga. It recaptured a one-run advantage in the top of the ninth. And it promptly surrendered that edge in the bottom of the inning.

 

It's enough to make a manager scratch his head.

 

"We came back, but we shouldn't have had to," High Desert manager Mel Queen said.

 

Entering the ninth with the score tied, Mavs shortstop Enrique Cruz blasted a solo home run over the left field wall to give High Desert a short lived 4-3 lead.

 

In the bottom of the frame, Cruz's counterpart, Quakes shortstop Erick Aybar led off with a solo shot of his own against Mavs reliever Homero Rivera to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

 

But High Desert tallied three runs on four hits in the 10th to defeat Rancho Cucamonga 7-4 at The Epicenter.

 

"Aybar made it interesting," High Desert pitching coach John Curtis said, explaining that Rivera's pitch wasn't a bad one. "That ball he hit was two inches off the ground. (Mavs catcher Froilan Villanueva) said he would have had to block it."

 

For the Mavs in the 10th, Ben Van Iderstine knocked a leadoff double off the right-center field wall and Troy Farnsworth followed with a soft liner to right to put runners on the corners with nobody out.

 

Mario Mendez stroked an RBI single up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run. After Cruz struck out, Kennard Bibbs smacked a single to shallow left that scored Farnsworth and Mendez.

 

Manny Parra started for the Mavs for the first time since suffering his worst outing of the season.

 

"It was huge to go out there and prove that last time was just a fluke and it's going to happen again," Parra said of his 2/3-inning performance on July 1 against San Jose. "The thing I was most disappointed with (against the Giants) was my control and just letting it snowball."

 

Against the Quakes, Parra gave up three runs on seven hits in 5 2-3 innings. But the left-hander, pleased with his pitch location this time out, said Rancho Cucamonga was simply hitting quality pitches.

 

Parra, the Milwaukee Brewers' top pitching prospect, squared off against the Quakes' Steven Shell, who entered the game with a California League-leading 3.34 ERA. Neither pitcher figured in the decision.

 

Other than giving up two first-inning runs, Shell shut down the Mavericks, allowing just five hits while striking out nine. The Mavs totaled five runs against Quakes relievers James Carroll and Rich Thompson.

 

Villanueva put High Desert on top in the first with a two-run homer, his second in his last two games.

 

NOTES: The Mavericks rank third in the California League in home runs with 74. The team has homered in four straight games. ... Travis Hinton picked up his 100th hit of the season with a single in the seventh inning. The first baseman went 4-for-5 with an RBI. ... Third baseman Jeff Eure could return to the Mavs lineup this week after missing nearly two months with a fractured hamate (wrist) bone.

[DHonks]

Nobody is better at this job than DHonks. Let's toss our money in a hat and send him to a game.

 

Thanks Foamboy1, always nice to know that others enjoy my amateur scouting reports.

As for now I'm in Wisconsin for the summer (after vacationing last week), and won't return to AZ until mid August. I don't know when the league's season ends, but if possible, then I'll hit up some games. I can't wait for the Fall League. I have to imagine that some combination of Diggins, Jones, Ford, Parra, De La Rosa, Neugebauer, Weeks, Fielder, Hardy, Krynzel, Nelson, and Palmisano will be there.