June 2009
Focus On: The first winning streak
And that’s what they call small ball.
Might as well get used to it.
This season’s Boise Hawks have about as much power behind the plate as I do in the Cubs organization.
But the Cubs do happen to be a National League team. And as I was told by Oneri Fleita, the Cubs director of player development, the players the Cubs are looking for are the type that play their brand of baseball.
After a solid 3-2 win on Monday that moved the Hawks to 3-7 on the year and gave them the first back-to-back wins of the season, those types of players are becoming more obvious.
I sat with Tampa Bay Rays scout, and former Major League pitcher, Jayson Durocher during the game on Monday and tried to learn about the guys he had his eyes on.
The first name he gave me was Jose Valdez.
His exact quote on him was, “That guy is the fastest player I have ever seen on any level, ever.”
That’s a lot coming from a guy that played against the best.
“The thing about a guy like that, is he forces the defense to be aware of him. He changes the game a little.”
Take the 10th inning of Monday’s game for example.
Valdez came up with runners on first and third, and everyone in the stadium knew he was going to put the ball on the ground. He laid down a perfect bunt and nearly beat out an infield single on what is typically a routine sacrifice. The play moved runners to second and third, and ended up setting up a game-tying, or game-SAVING double.
Casey Kopitzke talked after the game about how a small-ball player like Valdez puts pressure on the pitcher and defense each time he comes up.
“There, they made the play on him,” Kopiztke said, “But it moved the runners to second and third. The next batter scores two runs, and it’s a tie game.”
Durocher was candid about players like Valdez. Pitchers hate the kind of player that adds pressure. If a player can stretch a single into a double, or change the way the defense plays, it pays dividends for the team batting.
As long as the Hawks play their role in the organization, the wins could keep coming. Many have said the team seems to be emotionally rallying behind its coach in a time of need.
But with two wins in a row, and a group of players looking more like a team than any other point this season, Kopitzke gave the credit to the players.
“I think they’re just hitting their stride.”
And if the team’s stride is anything like Valdez, two wins can become three very quickly.
Focus On: This one means an awful lot
The story lines were as obvious as the base lines for this one.
A manager with his team for the first time after a family tragedy, the likes of which nobody would wish to experience.
A team coming off two games of nonsense pitching, attempting to get its first home win of the season.
A first opportunity to see everything work on the field for the Hawks, and the lights stop working in the outfield.
I’ve decided for this blog to take the time to walk around and talk to the fans and assorted personnel as the games go on. I feel like my lack of a bright orange shirt makes me more approachable than those that were doing the chicken dance at last night’s game.
I sat in every section, once with a couple that has owned season tickets for years, an NBADL head coach supporting a local team, and a couple on the third base line enjoying a casual Sunday.
I’m sure each person I sat with will remember me as the annoying guy with a letter-pad that claimed to work for the Hawks.
Casey Kopitzke told me after the game that the win meant “an awful lot”.
Coming to Boise after losing his daughter couldn’t have been easy, but with the fans I talked to, it explains why he calls the team “a big family”.
Marty and Rosie Martinson sat on the first base line in their usual seats, rooting only slightly harder for the Hawks, than they heckled the visiting Yakima Bears.
Marty said the couple would have to be “sick or dead” to miss a game.
It didn’t matter the team is 2-7, after the 3-2 win on Sunday.
Kopitzke said he’s not thinking about the record either. The big game’s out of the way.
While looking at the future could seem uphill, looking at each series seperately changes his outlook.
While I see a 2-7 team, it seems Kopitzke and the fans have the same fresh outlook.
The team’s 1-0, coming off a game with no earned runs, and playing like a different Hawks team.
I’ll withhold my judgment for a two-game winning streak.
Focus On: One of those games
Wow….that was unfortunate.
I mean, really.
What’s the worst possible way to bounce back from your first win?
Lose 11-1 and show every sign of being right back where you were before you got there.
The team’s struggles showed when the Hawks went hitless into the sixth inning. But luckily, Alvaro “Kaiser” Sosa pounded a homer that saved the Hawks from the embarrassment of a no-hitter or a shut-out.
And with a lack of really positive notes to share, I hope this won’t end up jinxing things, but Hak-Ju Lee did continue his hitting streak to seven games.
I try not to talk about hitting streaks, out of respect, but reaching seven to open the year shows a consistency the Hawks definitely need right now.
Robert Hernandez went four innings on the mound, allowing three earned runs, after ONE pitch that ended up going over the wall. Homers definitely hurt a team, but other than that one pitch, Hernandez has been stellar for the Hawks thus far.
Josh Lansford rebounded from his last bullpen performance by going two scoreless innings in relief, followed by Andres Quezada allowing five earned runs, and two more errors not helping the cause.
I don’t want to get too “newspaper-y” on you, so I’ll just share my opinion, as a guy that’s seen the Hawks and the athletes on the team.
It’s easy to see the 1-6 record and get upset about it. It almost takes work to be five games under .500 at this point. But, tonight they go out and have a chance at finishing the road trip 2-3. If they can do that, it shows a rebounding capability and strength that I didn’t see in them at home.
If they lose tonight, then they start another series against Yakima tomorrow.
It’s baseball. It’s all about series. I heard it said once that no matter how good you are, you will lose 30 percent of your games. No matter how bad you are, you’ll win 30 percent. The question is the other third.
Sounds like the Hawks are due a win.
Focus On: Typical baseball propaganda
This is where I’m supposed to say, “It’s the start of a new season”, right?
I sure hope not.
What it was, however, is the end of a run to start the season that had to be getting to the guys that were hitting the field.
I can create a pretty simple syllogism for you.
Discomfort leads to mistakes. Mistakes lead to opposing runs. Opposing runs lead to losses. Losses lead to more discomfort.
Winning erases that problem.
So, maybe it’s not the beginning of a new season, but it’s the end of a terrible cycle.
The Hawks are now 1-5. They’re the last team in the NWL to get that first win, and tied for last place in overall record.
They’re also one of four teams in the NWL with a winning streak.
They’ve allowed 14, 12, 7, 6, 5 and 4 runs in succession.
At the very least, those are two trends the Hawks can build off of.
And now Brett Jackson and manager Casey Kopitzke are on their way to add their skills to the efforts of winning.
Baseball is a mental game. Superstition and strategy have just as much of an influence as any other element in the game.
You can’t tell me the Hawks aren’t more excited now than they were a day ago. Things are looking up.
It’s the beginning of a new season. Wait…did I just say that?
Focus On: The first nickel
It’s hard to look at the record of the Boise Hawks and be positive.
I mean, at face value, after the Hawks lost 5-3 at Salem-Keizer on Wednesday, they’re sitting at an 0-5 record and still searching for their first win of the 2009 season.
And if you’ve read my blogs, I definitely pointed out the weak points in the early games.
However, I really think you must watch the progress of a team to truly see where they are.
Their pitching has allowed, in succession, 14, 12, 7, 6 and 5 runs.
The bullpen is still an obvious weakness, as Dionis Nunez allowed two runs in his 3 2/3 innings pitched, hardly something to make the guy out to be the antagonist of this story.
The best news was having draft pick Robert Whitenack come into the game and walk away without giving up a run, followed by Yohan Gonzalez pitching an inning of no-run baseball. You may remember his last time on the mound hardly left a positive taste in the mouth of those watching. He allowed four runs against Tri-City in just 1 1/3 innings.
As you see the losses start piling up, it’s important not to immediately count the Hawks out. It wasn’t too many years ago they started the season 0-9 and made a run at the end of the season, finishing a game out of the championship series.
If there’s one thing the Hawks of years past have proven, it’s a resilience and an ability to bounce back.
Different players, different year.
Same organization.
If nothing I said settles in as positive for you, I’ll give you something else. Cubs first-round pick Brett Jackson has signed with the organization, and is expected to be sent to Boise. The downside?
Outfielders rarely help the bullpen.
Focus On: The first game on the road
Well, at least the bullpen didn’t get the loss this time.
Had the Hawks put forth the same offensive effort they had over the homestand before they went to Salem, it may have been the best game yet.
The fact is, I see a lot more positive from the 6-1 loss to Salem-Keizer on Tuesday than any game I’ve seen so far this year.
One bullpen arm allowed four runs, and then Ryan Sontag and Mike Perconte pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball to finish the game.
That’s a big deal for them to get back on the right track.
And the biggest note to show the progress of the 0-4 Hawks was the final digit of the line score.
The Hawks had ZERO errors.
After 12 errors in three games to start the season, it seems that problem has at least been solved for one day, and I have high hopes they’re going to keep that sound defensive play going.
My point is, when a relief pitcher allows four runs in his time on the mound, it’s going to make it hard for a team to walk away with a “W”. But as long as the Hawks continue to improve in the facets of the game I’ve mentioned, it will be even harder to keep losing.
Focus On: The wrong kind of consistency
You know that scene in “Groundhog Day” when Bill Murray’s character first starts to realize that his life is repeating over and over and over?
That’s how I feel.
I mean, I’ve been to three Boise Hawks games this season, and each time I have seen a collapse eerily reminiscent of a September game in New York City.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
I stood down next to the clubhouse after the Hawks lost a tough one 7-5 to Tri-City to get swept in their opening series, and really had to think about how to approach an interim manager with one hell of a starting rotation…and one bullpen from hell.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s going to stay this way. Baseball is a very fickle game, but I can’t ignore a bullpen allowing 25 earned runs in 15 innings pitched. If I have my calculations correct, that’s a 15.00 ERA. It’s also the biggest reason the Hawks sit at 0-3.
Here’s where I finally give some Hawks a big pat on the back.
The three starters so far, Jon Nagel, Robert Hernandez and Su-Min Jung, have combined for 2 earned runs in 12 innings, or simply put, a stellar 1.50 ERA.
That’s astounding.
It’s almost too sad that I had to show you Mr. Hyde in order for the Dr. Jekyll to really be appreciated.
These guys deserve a ton of credit. They’ve kept a team in games that has tried in EVERY way to lose games. Errant throws, errant pitches, beaned batters, walks, missed plays in the outfield, missed plays in the infield and a balk.
But manager Franklin Font was positive with me. He knows these guys are ball players and they will find their stride. The hitting is solid, and the starting pitching is spectacular.
Pitching coach David Rosario told me he’s certain the new arms he’s expecting to get will remedy many of the problems.
I sure hope so. Because frankly, I don’t know how much longer it’s fair to watch a team with such upside let its one downside dictate the final score .
Focus On: Watch out for the mailbox
My first question to Franklin Font after a rain-soaked 12-7 loss to the Tri-City Dust Devils on Sunday was definitely rooted in my own selfish desires.
“So…do you wish the game had been called in the 7th?”
Hell, I would have taken the fifth, the sixth or the seventh. And I’m sure, since his team left each of those innings with a lead, he would have rather had that situation too.
The Dust Devils scored nine runs in the final two frames, erasing what had been a spectacular five-inning pitching performance by Robert Hernandez, who allowed one earned run in his time on the mound.
Obviously minor league ball is played by different rules when it comes to pulling a pitcher. But, why not leave Hernandez in for six or seven if he’s dominating?
“You’re dealing with a young arm,” Font said. “This is a young staff. You have to keep development in your mind. It would have been good to leave him in for two more. But he’s 20 years old.”
Predictable answer, and a legitimate one. Font doesn’t make those decisions himself. They’re passed down by the big league club in Chicago.
But even if they had left Hernandez in for seven, the nine runs in the eighth and ninth came from two pitchers (Mike Perconte and Yohan Gonzalez).
Is there a rule that says you have to leave a guy on the mound if he’s looking like Rick Ankiel from the 2000 playoffs?
“It’s definitely frustrating to see that,” pitching coach David Rosario said. “But it still comes back to development for them too. Part of development is about confidence and trusting yourself when things start going wrong.”
Rosario then gave me the solution to the struggles on the mound.
“You have to focus on your plan. You just hope it starts going to your side. You have to let your defense handle it. But if you start to force things, then suddenly everything starts to help the other side score.”
I didn’t ask him, but I assumed “helping the other side score” isn’t something the Cubs want involved with their property’s “development”.
What Rosario was telling me is that the Chicago Cubs organization is using the same method of development as my dad used when he taught me to ride a bike.
Let them go by themselves for a while, scrape their knees, hit some mailboxes, and hope they eventually find their balance.
Hopefully for Mike Perconte and Yohan Gonzalez, that confidence will come before they get to an intersection.
(DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN FOLLOW MIKE SHARP ON TWITTER? FOLLOW HIM @SHARPFOCUSBLOG)
Focus On: I’m happy that happened early
Among the sold-out crowd at Memorial Stadium on Saturday was an unwelcome guest.
Some call it the first game jitters, but after a seven-error defensive performance that resulted in a 14-8 loss to Tri-City, it was more of a first-game seizure.
“I’m happy that happened early,” was what manager Franklin Font told me.
“For us, tonight was good. We saw some emotion. It was a poor defensive effort at times, as you could see in the final score. But they battled. This was their first time in front of 3,000 people. But for sure, we’re going to be all right.”
But my question is, how much does a crowd really play into it? Pitcher Jon Nagel had told me he thought the crowd was, “supportive and behind you the whole way. It was fun to pitch in front of them.”
But Font said it was more than just the attitude of the fans that may have encouraged some lax defense, it was the elements that come with pro baseball.
“You can’t always tell from the stands, but the game is coming at you real fast. But this is a smart group. They’re good players. They’ve never had seven errors in a game, and they will be good tomorrow. They were excited to see the fans, and had that excited rush. This is a different level.”
Different level for sure.
The day before, they were playing a team without matching jerseys, and they were the ones that looked defensively sound.
Nagel gave me his perspective, which was closer to the field than mine, and much more rooted in a knowledge of the guys he’s playing with.
“As a pitcher you just want to make pitches and let them handle the ball. You want to get in a groove and hope they’re staying on their toes. I mean, it’s about trust all the time. You can’t go out there and think you need to get everyone out at the plate. I know the guys behind me, and they’re all good. The only reason I’ll look good is if I trust everyone else.”
When your job is a nine-inning baseball game, and you have 75 more coming up, it makes sense to close the book after the game and start working on the next one.
I’m the lucky guy that starts his real work when the book closes, so those small notes become a lot bigger on the screen.
But the fact is, the Hawks are playing the Dust Devils for at least 27 innings this series, and after nine, the stats book have reset.
The seven errors are gone when they hit the field on Sunday, and a team without an excuse of jitters will be filling the lineup card.
“Four days ago these guys were not up here,” Font said. “Even I was somewhere else, and some of my guys were managing elsewhere. But it’s baseball. We’ll be ready tomorrow. We’re playing the same guys as we did tonight. Only, it’s going to be a different game.”
Focus On: It all depends on your perspective
I can deal with tune-up games.
But when you play six innings and you finish with a 21-2 win, the game looks less like a tune-up and more like the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals.
The question is, have the Washinton Generals ever been leading after one frame?
When the Boise Hawks took on a team of Treasure Valley “All-Stars” to open their season, that’s how it started. A team of 25 and up (mostly up) led after the first inning.
It’s never a good sign when it’s pouring outside, and the rain is taking second place to what’s happening on the field in dampening the moods of the fans.
So maybe I was just approaching the game in the wrong way. Maybe assuming the linescore is the most important aspect of the final product of a game is a mistake.
When I saw Friday’s game I saw a drubbing, I saw rain allowing for a small group of dedicated fans, and I had to find out how the athletes saw it. This could not have been good for the guys.
“This was good for the guys,” Hawks hitting coach Ricardo Medina said.
Won’t be the last time I swing and miss.
“Where we come from, we were playing all day games. These guys need to know the feels of the game, the adrenaline. This was like opening day. I think this was more than enough to get us ready. I mean, look at the fans that were there. In Mesa we were playing for a scorekeeper and three or four fans.”
If the guys playing in Friday’s game thought the 50-something fans that showed up were a big group, I can’t wait to see their reaction on Saturday’s opener.
So I took the time to talk to a couple fans, a player from both sides, a wife of an “All-Star” and found something very interesting.
Not one person I talked to was seeing the same thing from the game.
The fan saw the 21 runs, and worried about how it would affect the losing players. The wife was so giddy about her husband playing against professional athletes, I’m not sure she even noticed the game was going on outside her camera’s lens.
Honestly, I won’t mention his name, (Mike Blackham), but if you see someone add a 650-picture folder on their facebook profile this weekend, it was this guy’s wife. And I think it was the most charming thing I could have seen at the game, just edging out the great potato race, of course.
With 21 runs on the board, one hit for her husband’s team, and seven errors (although I’m fairly certain they stopped counting them in the second), all she could think was how proud she was that he was playing.
So what did the athletes see on the board?
Every player I talked to told me the same thing. They saw the errors.
Apparently it doesn’t matter what level of an athlete you are, the fundamentals will stick out.
But instead of sharing my opinion of the team thus far (you’ll get plenty of that as the season progresses), I’ll turn to Blackham and his thoughts of the Hawks.
“They’re just baseball players,” he said. “They’re just twice as fast. And I don’t mean just the pitchers or the running. I mean, the insticts and the discipline.
These guys would hit a blooper, and you turn around and you see them on second and think, ‘What the hell?’”
It’s easy to sit at a game with rain, and watch the pro baseball players go down in the first inning and think it’s going to be a long year.
Thanks to Blackham and his wife for reminding me that baseball isn’t just a sport.
It’s a game.
And every person in the park on any given day will take something different from it.
All it took was a wife and her athlete to remind me that the players in Boise are something special.
They may be young, but there’s a reason they’re among the select thousands of baseball players that can be called true professionals.
Today those “All Stars” are waking up in their lives as a civil engineer, or teacher, or writer.
They’ve played their season.
The Boise Hawks haven’t even played their first real game. On Saturday their players start or continue their careers in a very special tradition handed down every year in baseball.
And they call it, opening day.
mlblogssharpfocus1
Recent Comments