Victoria Highlanders vs Seals Attendance

Finding exact attendance figures for the Victoria Highlanders of the USL Premier Development League (PDL) is not exactly straight forward. In an earlier post I noted that through their first five home games, the Highlanders drew a total of 8,110 fans or 1,622 fans per game. I scoured the web and noted that their attendance for their last three home games this year was:

• July 5, 2009 - 1,637 (source: Victoria Highlanders web site)
• July 16, 2009 - "close to 2,000" (source: Victoria Times-Colonist)
• July 19, 2009 - 2,205 (source: Victoria Times-Colonist)

For argument's sake, let's assume that attendance on July 16th was 1,900 (it may have been lower). That brings the Highlanders' total attendance for 2009 to 13,852 or 1,732 per game.

By contrast, the Victoria Seals have drawn 58,239 fans through their first 26 home games. That translates to an average of 2,239 fans per game -- second best in the entire Golden Baseball League. If we extrapolate these numbers, the Seals are on pace to draw 91,838 fans.

So there you have it: 13,852 Victorians went out to a state-of-the-art facility to watch a fairly decent team play pro soccer in the summer of 2009 (the Highlanders had a 6-6-2 record). Meanwhile, close to 92,000 fans went out to a 1950's style stadium to watch a last-place team play pro baseball (the Seals had a 22-33 record going into Wednesday's action). Put another way, for every fan who went to watch pro soccer, close to 7 others attended a Victoria Seals game. That bodes well for the Seals in 2010.

Carlos Duncan Leads Caps Over Victoria

Eight days after being traded from Victoria to the Edmonton Capitals, Carlos Duncan returned to Royal Athletic Park on Tuesday night and stuck it to his old team. Duncan hit a homer and a double in five at-bats and knocked in three runs to help the Capitals trounce the Seals 11-4. Luckily for Victoria, the Calgary Vipers lost 3-2 to the Tucson Toros, so the Seals didn't fall any further back out of first place in the second-half standings. Victoria, now 5-9 since the start of the new season, remains five games back of the Vipers.

Seal Blubber Bits

• Good news: the new scoreboard at RAP was up and running on Tuesday!!
• Sergio Pedroza continued his red-hot hitting on Tuesday night. He hit his 11th home run of the year to put him one behind Jamar Hill for the team lead. Over his last 10 games, Pedroza is hitting .429 with 5 homers and 19 RBI. His 41 RBIs on the season puts him into a tie for the team lead with Hill. By the way, Pedroza has a better batting average (.326 vs .280) and slugging percentage (.578 vs .498) than Hill.
• Brian Rios was able to return to action on Tuesday night. His ankle wasn't strong enough to allow him to play third base, but he DH'd and went 1-for-3 on the night. Terry Mermer played third base in Rios' place and he did not have any balls hit his way.
• OF Billy Krause has been riding the pine since his shaky professional debut. He went 0-for-7 with 4 strikeouts in his first two games with the Seals.
• Isaac Hess is expected to take to the mound on Wednesday night in his first RAP start since he was signed by the Red Sox and then returned to the Seals due to medical concerns about his artificial hip.
• On Monday night, ex-Seal Austin Bibens-Dirkx had his most impressive performance since joining the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. Bibens-Dirkx pitched the first 9-inning complete game for the Chiefs since 2006 and raised his record to 2-1 with his new team. He gave up one earned run and only allowed five hits while lowering his ERA to a sparkling 2.39. Bibens-Dirkx didn't walk a batter and struck out seven Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on the night. In spite of the fact that Peoria had 12 hits during the game, it was played in a brisk one hour and fifty-two minutes. One or two more impressive outings like this and Bibens-Dirkx will be promoted to Advanced A (Daytona Cubs) or AA (Tennessee Smokies).

Seals Salvage a Game in Tucson

The Victoria Seals did in fact bounce back from their humiliating loss on Saturday night, knocking off the Toros 5-3 on Sunday to salvage a game from their three-game series.

Terry Mermer redeemed himself after a poor game in the field on Saturday. He went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI on Sunday to help the Seals break their five-game losing streak. Mermer now has 4 homers and 11 RBIs in only 38 at-bats with the Seals. He's batting seventh for the team, but he'll be moved up in the order if he keeps hitting like he has been of late.

Eduardo Baeza (2-7) earned the victory by pitching 1 1/3 innings of perfect baseball. Dane De la Rosa picked up his first save as a Victoria Seal by pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth inning. Starter Javier Garcia had a decent start, giving up only two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings of work. He gave up six hits, walked two and struck out three Toros.

The Seals return to RAP on Tuesday night with a 7:05 game against the Edmonton Capitals. Isaac Hess will be pitching on either Tuesday or Wednesday night, so be sure to come on out and cheer him on.

Seals in Free Fall

Last night's shocking 13-12 loss to the Tucson Toros, their fifth in a row, was a loss for the ages. After scoring 10 runs in the top of the second, the Seals let 10-0 and 12-2 leads go by the boards en route to their most difficult loss of the season. It's pretty difficult to see this team recovering from such a heart-breaking loss. The Seals are now 6 games back of the Calgary Vipers in the second-half standings and a whopping 8 1/2 games behind the Edmontol Capitals on the season. It's going to take a minor miracle for this team to make the playoffs.

The culprit last night was shoddy fielding. Victoria made eight miscues on the night, including three errors by Terry Mermer on only four chances. Mermer is normally an outfielder and first baseman, but he played third base in place of the injured Brian Rios. Backup third baseman Carlos Duncan was traded last week to the Edmonton Capitals, so Mermer has been pressed into service at third for the Tucson series. Let's hope Rios' injured ankle is improving, because the Seals are really missing his glove work. If Mermer's defensive struggles continue, I wouldn't be surprised to see Pedro Montero filling in at third until Rios is ready to return.

Seal Blubber Bits

• Newcomer Dane De la Rosa has got off to a rough start with the Seals. He gave up both walk-off hits in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday and Saturday nights.
• Light-hitting Billy Krause has also struggled in his first couple of games with the team. Krause is 0-for-7 with 4 strikeouts.
• Sergio Pedroza is quietly putting together a solid season offensively for the Seals. After hitting his tenth homer of the year on Saturday night, Pedroza is now batting .330 with 38 RBIs. He also has a .440 on-base percentage and a .575 slugging percentage.
• The team plays a rare Sunday night game to conclude the Tucson series before returning to RAP on Tuesday night to start a three-game set against the Edmonton Capitals. Isaac Hess should receive a heroe's welcome when he starts. It will also be interesting to see how Carlos Duncan plays against the Seals, roughly one week after being traded away.

Riley and Krause Bolster Seals Outfield

With the curious departure of Carlos Duncan, it appears that Sergio Pedroza may be the team's new DH. With Pedroza's right field position open and Chris VanRossum's season-ending injury, that leaves two outfield positions to be filled. Enter the new Seals, Garbriel Riley and Billy Krause.

On Friday night, Riley batted sixth and played in right field. The 25-year-old went undrafted after playing baseball for Missouri Valley College, an NAIA school. Riley has one plus seasons of independent ball under his belt, having played for the Chico Outlaws in 2008 and part of this season. He was released by the Outlaws on July 4th after batting .253 with 3 homers and 14 RBIs in 83 at-bats. In 135 at-bats last season, he hit .319 with 3 homers and 23 RBIs. In addition to a good eye at the plate, he has a bit of speed: 10 steals in his 218 at-bats with the Outlaws. He doesn't look like an impact player, but he'll likely be fun to watch play the game. He might even run down a fly ball or two in the cavernous foul territory at Royal Athletic.

Billy Krause batted eighth and played center field for the Seals on Friday night in his professional debut. He's a product of the University of Portland Pilots and a native of Seattle. Krause had a grand total of 307 at-bats in his five seasons on the Pilots, so he is not likely to set the Golden League on fire. His highest batting average was in 2007 when he hit .224. He didn't show much power, speed or plate discipline at the NCAA level, but I'm sure he's a nice fellow. My guess is that he'll show great hustle and be happy to have the opportunity to play pro ball. Then again, maybe he'll shock us all...

Four Players Added to Seals Roster

Darrell Evans must have been racking up the long distance minutes over the last few days, because the Seals added four players to their roster during the "Tijuana break". In addition to Isaac Hess, the three new Seals are outfielders Gabriel Riley and Billy Krause and pitcher Dane De la Rosa.

As was reported by our alert blog reader Terry, the Seals traded away Carlos Duncan to the Edmonton Capitals at the end of last weekend for a player to be named later. To make enough room for the new Seals, the team released the injured Chris Van Rossum (who is out for the rest of the year) and placed third-baseman Brian Rios and pitcher Phil Sobkow on the inactive list.

Let's take a quick look at the Seals' new closer: 26-year-old flame-thrower Dane De la Rosa.

De la Rosa was drafted by the Yankees in the 24th round of the 2002 draft. Back problems limited him to only 45 innings in the Yankees organization from 2002-2004 before he was released. De la Rosa did quite well when he was healthy enough to take the mound, tallying a 3.00 ERA in 2003 and a 2.75 ERA in 2004. Perhaps George Castanza had a hand in the decision to let him go.

De la Rosa struggled in independent baseball in 2005, posting a 6.45 ERA for the Yuma Scorpions. After taking the next season off, he returned to the Golden League with a vengeance in 2007 and 2008. In fact, De la Rosa was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers organization at the end of the 2007 season, but he didn't make any minor-league appearances as a result. He struck out 10.3 batters per nine innings with Long Beach in 2007 and 10.4 batters per nine with league-champion Orange County last season. He also racked up 14 saves and was coached by -- you guessed it -- Seals manager Darrell Evans.

De la Rosa played for the El Paso Diablos of the independent American Association this season but things did not go so well. He was released on July 18th after amassing a 1-4 record with an 8.07 ERA and one save. He struck out 38 in 35 2/3 innings, but control was a bit of an issue (as it has been throughout his career). De la Rosa walked over five batters per nine innings with the Diablos and opponents hit .340 against him. We'll see if a reunion with Darrell Evans will provide another spark for his pitching career. With the recent struggles of Javier Garcia, the Seals sure could use a reliable closer right now.

Seals Alumni Watch

Austin Bibens-Dirkx was roughed up in his fourth outing with the Peoria Chiefs on Wednesday night in the Class 'A' Midwest League. Making his first start in affiliated ball in 2009, Bibens-Dirkx gave up four earned runs in five innings of work. He gave up a pair of homers, including a mammoth 450-foot shot to Mike McDade of the Lansing Lugnuts. On the plus side, Bibens-Dirkx did not walk a batter and struck out four. In his four appearances, he is 1-1 with a 3.12 ERA and 0.98 WHIP.

No word yet on Isaac Hess. You would have thought that the Red Sox would have assigned him to one of their affiliates by now. Let's hope that his artificial hip is not an issue and that he has passed his physical.

UPDATE: Isaac Hess will be rejoining the Seals and will pitch on Friday. See http://www.timescolonist.com/news/take+pass+Seals+star+pitcher/1818182/story.html for details.

Fungos

I think that we all agree that having baseball back in Victoria is a wonderful thing. And with that privilege comes responsibility - a responsibility to be educated on the history of this noble game...or at least some inane facts that we can throw around so it at least looks like we know what we're talking about. Here are 5 quick historical snapshots that you can fold up and put in your pocket for the next time you are at the yard.

Did you know...

1) The song Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond is played before the 8th inning of every home Red Sox games (ask Issac!). As well, you'll hear it again and again at all the bars that you go to after the game...and everyone sings along. Why you ask? While there are many urban myths, the real reason is that the musical director for the Sox - Amy Tobey - started playing it between innings just because she has heard it played at some other events in the mid-late 1990's. Randomly played at first, then only if the Sox were winning after the 7th, and finally when the Sox changed ownership in 2002, the new owners asked that it be played before the 8th inning at every game. Experience it at Fenway some day, pure magic.

2) Shoeless Joe Jackson (a.ka. Joseph Jefferson Jackson) really did earn his nickname by playing in his socks (they were probably Black Sox!). In a minor league game, Joe was trying out a new pair of spikes and they gave him blisters so the next day so he ended up playing without anything but his stockings on his feet.

3) Stirrups came into being in baseball's early days, when players wore knickers and coloured stockings. In those days, textile dyes could run and a player risked blook poisoning if they got spiked and the dye made its way into the wound. In about 1910, because of this, the open-stpye stirrup took prominence and a white undersock - or "sani" was worn beneath the coloured "stirrups" and thus the classic look was started. In the '40's, the stirrup got larger and with colourfast dyes, became irrelevant. With the sani sock no longer needed, it all came down to fashion (ask Manny!).

4) The Mendoza line - usually depicting a .200 batting average - can be attributed to the Kansas City Royals Mario Mendoza. There is some debate on this though and while the popular theory is that George Brett coined the phrase in an interview saying that he didn't want to hit below the "Mendoza Line", it was actually initiated by Tom Paciorek who was a joker and played with Mario every day. But since Brett had the popularity card, when he dropped this phrase in an interview, the media leapt on it. There are some that even think it was named after Chriostobal "Minnie" Mendoza, a .300 minor league hitter in the '60's who only hit .188 with the Twins in 16 games his 1970 debut year. This has a weak premise though so we'll go with Mario who played from mid-70's to mid-80's.

5) The origin of the DH began officially on Jan 11, 1973 when the American League owners diverged from the Senior loop owners and decided to go forward with a designated pinch-hitter for the pitchers (typically the weak hitters of the team). As early as 1906, Connie Mack suggested this and it was reviewed several times throughout history and shot down every time until the AL - who trailed the NL in run production and attendance - decided their game needed a little more offense. This was the biggest rule change since 1903 when it was decided that foul balls were considered strikes. Originally a 3 year experiment, it has now been adopted by most minor league and amateur teams (like the GBL!) as well. For the record, the first DH was Ron Blomberg of the NY Yankees and he was walked by Luis Tiant.

RAP Improvements Continue

The base and framework for the new video screen have been erected and it looks like it will be operational in the near future. I'd be surprised if it isn't ready for the July 28-30 series versus (you guessed it) the Edmonton Capitals. As you can see from the photo below, it dwarfs the old scoreboard.

The other small change I noticed at the ballyard is that there are signs on the home run fence indicating the distances to left, centre and right field. According to the signs, it's only 317 feet down the left field line, a respectable 400 feet to straight-away centre and an above average 330 feet down the right field line. I always suspected that the left field fence was significantly closer than the right field one and the signs confirm it. Unfortunately for guys like Jamar Hill who hit most of their homers to left field, their home run totals don't seem quite as impressive as before.

The organization also added screens along the first and third base lines a few weeks ago. I normally sit in section 8 or 9, and the early-season games were a bit nerve-wracking when players swung late or had a check swing that rocketed a line drive into the stands. Kudos to the Seals organization for doing the little things to make the old ballyard seem as cozy as possible.

Seal Blubber Bits

• Losing Isaac Hess and Austin Bibens-Dirkx to the big leagues was a big blow to the Seals' second-half chances. On Saturday night, the team took another hit when injuries to Chris VanRossum and Brian Rios occurred. VanRossum suffered a broken wrist and was seen sporting a cast on his right arm at the ballpark on Sunday. Rios was more fortunate and only suffered a sprained ankle. Sergio Pedroza moved over to VanRossum's centre field spot on Sunday and Terry Mermer started in right field. Mermer will see lots of playing time while VanRossum mends his broken wrist. The team will definitely miss Rios' fielding at the hot corner.
• Brett Flowers continued his hot hitting on Sunday, going 4-for-5 with 2 homers and 5 RBIs. On Thursday night, he went 3-for-4 with a homer and 7 RBIs. Flowers is now third on the team in RBIs with 30.
• Walter Young of the Edmonton Capitals made his debut with the team this past weekend at RAP. He DH'd for the first three games, but played first base on Sunday afternoon. Young, who played briefly with the Baltimore Orioles in 2005, is best known for being the heaviest player in Major League Baseball history. He's generously listed at 6' 5" and 290 pounds.
• The Seals' next game is Friday night in Tucson.

Seal Blubber Bits for July 16th

Here is the first installment of Seal Blubber Bits for the second half:

• The preparatory work at the base of the new scoreboard at RAP was completed by Daktronics during the All Star break. The new video screen should be fully installed by the end of this month. If it's not ready for the July 28-30 series versus Edmonton then it will likely be set to go for the August 7-9 series against the Chico Outlaws. The board will greatly improve the fan experience at the ol' ballyard.
• Even though it was a sunny evening on Thursday, there was a short "rain" delay at RAP. The sprinklers went on briefly in the top of the 8th inning to everyone's surprise.
• Josh Arhart hit in the cleanup position on Thursday night. Let's hope this change is permanent: going into the game, Arhart had a .600 slugging percentage as opposed to Jamar Hill's .540 mark. Arhart was also MVP of the final round of the Golden League playoffs last year, so he's a clutch performer.
• The scheduled starters for the Seals on Friday and Saturday night are Roberto Sotolongo (2-1, 2.41 ERA) and Chris Bodishbaugh (2-0, 6.46 ERA), respectively. Bodishbaugh got his first start of the season last Friday in Edmonton and gave up 4 earned runs in his 5 2/3 innings.
• Sunday's starter for Victoria has not been determined. Could it be that the best local prospect at Saturday's tryout camp will get the start? Not likely, but it's fun to speculate.
• Austin Bibens-Dirkx had his third consecutive strong outing on Wednesday night for the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. The ex-Seal pitched 3 innings of relief and gave up 1 earned run on 3 hits, 0 walks and 3 strikeouts. His ERA "rose" to 1.46 in his 12 1/3 innings pitched since he signed with the Chicago Cubs organization.

Breaking News -- Isaac Hess a Red Sox

As predicted in my July 4th post "Bibens-Dirkx Signed by Chicago Cubs" (and contrary to opinions expressed in the T-C), Isaac Hess was the second Seals player to be signed by an MLB team this year. Hess was signed by the Boston Red Sox during last night's Golden League All Star Game.

This is a big blow to the team's chances in the second half. With their top two starters now signed by big-league organizations, Roberto Sotolongo is the only reliable starter currently on the Seals roster. Who knows, maybe Saturday's tryout camp in Victoria will unearth some local pitching talent.

James Garcia Joins Seals Rotation

The Seals signed 29-year-old righty James Garcia last Thursday and have added him to their starting rotation in place of the struggling Eduardo Baeza. The signing gives the Seals two J. Garcia's on their pitching staff -- the other of course being closer Javier Garcia.

James Garcia is a strikeout pitcher who has played the last couple of seasons in independent ball after spending parts of three seasons at the 'AAA' level. He put up some impressive strikeout numbers early in his career, especially at lower levels of affiliated baseball. Garcia has struggled in independent ball, posting a 6.55 ERA with two teams in the Atlantic and Northern Leagues in 2007. Last year with the Yuma Scorpions, he had a 6.14 ERA and 12 saves as a closer.

The problem for James Garcia throughout his career (aside from giving up too many hits) has been walks. Last year with Yuma he struck out 10.2 batters per nine innings, but gave up 4.9 walks per nine innings. In his first start with the Seals on Thursday, Garcia gave up three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and only walked one.

Bibens-Dirkx Continues to Roll for Peoria

Austin Bibens-Dirkx had a second consecutive strong outing for the Class 'A' Peoria Chiefs on Friday night. The ex-Seals pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball and only gave up three hits. He walked none and struck out two to lower his ERA to 0.96 in his two relief outings.

If Bibens-Dirkx keeps this up, he'll be in 'AA' ball by the beginning of August at the latest. He is old for the Midwest League, but the Cubs were smart to put him at a level where he would have initial success to allow him to build confidence in affiliated professional baseball. In an interview before he left Victoria to join the Chiefs, Bibens-Dirkx noted that he was trying to get out of 'A' ball as quickly as possible. That just might happen.

Thirsty Thursday - Tacoma Style

Well we survived Tacoma's version of Thirsty Thursday: $2 beers, $1 hot dogs and about 8 Hooters girls on the party deck. Needless to say, it was an interesting evening. Victoria sure could use a little excitement like this on those warm Thursday summer evenings...

DJ enjoys a damn fine beer

The party deck at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma

On Hiatus

The four musketeers will be attending Baseball Extravaganza XIII this weekend, so you will most likely not see any blog posts relating to the Victoria Seals until Monday.

BBE XIII will be held in Seattle (for the first time) from Friday to Sunday and we'll squeeze in a side trip to see the Tacoma Rainiers on Thursday for a Thirsty Thursday promotion ($2 beers!!). Believe it or not, that's not the cheapest beer for a Thirsty Thursday. The Asheville Tourists (Asheville, NC) offer $1 drafts on Thirsty Thursdays. With the possible exception of Fireworks Night, Thirsty Thursday is the most popular promotion in minor-league baseball. Too bad the members of the temperance movement at Victoria City Hall will most likely never allow a Thirsty Thursday in our fair city.

(Right) An advertisement for Binghamton New York's Thirsty Thursday promotion. (Below) Thirsty Thursday at PGE Park in Portland. Nobody is watching the game, but they are all having a great time!

Did You Know...

• Carlos Duncan is tied for 5th in the league in errors with 11?
• Bret LeVier is tied for 2nd in the league in hitting into double plays with 8?
• Wilver Perez is tied for 4th in the league in doubles with 14?
• Wilver Perez is 7th in the league in stolen bases with 12?
• Wilver Perez is tied for 8th in the league in hits with 52?
• Jamar Hill and Sergio Pedroza are 2nd and 3rd in the league in walks with 30 and 27, respectively?
• Jamar Hill is tied for 3rd in the league in striking out with 39?
• Jamar Hill is 6th in the league in RBIs with 36?
• Jamar Hill is 7th in the league in runs scored with 35?
• Eduardo Baeza leads the league in earned runs with 46, a full 7 runs ahead of the pitcher who has surrendered the 2nd most?
• Eduardo Baeza leads the league in giving up home runs with 12 -- 33% more than the pitcher who has served up the 2nd most?
• Eduardo Baeza is 6th in the league in giving up hits with 63?
• Austin Bibens-Dirkx was the only Seal to pitch a complete game in the first half of the season?
• Isaac Hess is third in the league in innings pitched with 56 1/3 innings?
• Rain-outs cause bloggers to look up rather mundane statistics?

Bibens-Dirkx Wins Debut for Peoria Chiefs

Seals alumnus Austin Bibens-Dirkx was the winning pitcher on Monday night in his debut for the Peoria Chiefs, the class "A" affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. He pitched in relief and threw four innings in which he gave up one earned run, four hits, one walk and one strikeout.

The biggest stat that jumps out at you is the one strikeout -- quite low for a pitcher who was leading the Golden League in K's. Bibens-Dirkx is the oldest player on the Peoria team, so he will have to step it up if he is to advance to "AA" in 2009. Given the blur that his life has been in the last four days, it's reasonable to expect that he'll have a more dominant showing his next time out on the mound for the Chiefs. On behalf of all Victoria baseball fans: Go Austin!!

The Newest Seal: Terry Mermer

On Sunday, the Seals released Trevor Davidson and signed outfielder and first baseman Terry Mermer. Davidson had been locked in a fight for playing time in center field with Chris VanRossum, but Davidson's release means that VanRossum's job is safe for now.

Mermer is a 25-year-old slugger who was released by the Calgary Vipers on June 8th. He was hitting .256 with 1 homer and 8 RBIs in 10 games. He also struck out 13 times in 39 at-bats. Mermer is in his second year of professional baseball after having played for Orange County last season. He hit .235 with 5 homers and 15 RBIs in only 51 at-bats. Projected out onto a full season, his 21 strikeouts in those 51 at-bats would even make Rob Deer blush.

Mermer played baseball for the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes, a Division II team (Trevor Davidson played Division III baseball). He obviously has a lot of power when he does make contact and it appears that he may share playing time in RF with Sergio Pedroza or act as a pinch hitter in key late-game situations. Mermer got his first start of the season on Monday afternoon and he went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Seal Blubber Bits

• Josh Arhart, Javier Garcia, Isaac Hess, Jamar Hill and Wilver Perez will represent the Seals at the Golden Baseball League All Star Game on July 14th in St George, Utah. Details are here.
• Carlos Duncan was replaced by Pedro Montero at 3B on Monday after Duncan committed his 10th and 11th errors of the season on Sunday. Montero went 2-for-4 with a run scored and raised his average to .140.
• The first half of the season officially ended on Monday. The Calgary Vipers and St George Roadrunners clinched playoff spots by winning their respective divisions.
• The Seals finished the first half with a 17-24 record, finishing 9 games back of the Vipers, 6 games back of the Edmonton Capitals and 4 games back of the Chico Outlaws. If the Vipers win the second half, then the team with the best combined record in the North Division will face them in the first round of the playoffs.
• If you take away the disastrous 1-7 road trip to start the season, Victoria was 16-17 the rest of the way.

Seals Thumped 17-9; Baeza Lit Up Again

Victoria was hammered 17-9 on Sunday by the Edmonton Capitals at Royal Athletic Park. Both shoddy pitching and erratic defense were the culprit, as the Seals made three errors that resulted in six unearned runs. The Victoria starter, Eduardo Baeza, was lit up in a major way in his third consecutive outing. Over his last three starts, Baeza has given up 23 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. His record is now 1-7 with a 9.20 ERA. You have to wonder how much longer manager Darrell Evans will keep trotting Baeza out there.

Both Wilver Perez and Brian Rios had 4 RBIs in the game. Perez hit a pair of homers and Rios also clubbed a round-tripper. Matt Kavanaugh had a rough go of it behind the plate as the Capitals ran on him at will and stole a whopping 8 bases in 8 attempts. Kavanaugh also had a passed ball that led to an unearned run in the second inning.

Carlos Duncan struggled once again at third base as he committed a pair of errors. Brian Rios, whose groin injury must not be fully healed, was the DH on Sunday. Hopefully Rios will be healthy enough to play third base in the near future.

After a tough Sunday at the ballyard, the Seals can take solace in the fact that they will be tied for first place on Tuesday morning. The first half of the season ends on Monday, so all teams will have their records reset at 0-0. After closing out the first half on Monday against the Capitals, the Seals will open the second half with a three-game set against the Yuma Scorpions at RAP.

Seals Beat Caps in Extras

After blowing 4-0 and 6-4 leads, the Victoria Seals hung on and won in 10 innings on Saturday night with a 7-6 victory over the Edmonton Capitals. Trevor Davidson, who pinch-ran for Josh Arhart, scored the winning run on an infield grounder by Chris VanRossum. Arhart started the inning by getting hit by a pitch, the 8th time he has done so this season. Talk about taking one for the team...

Roberto Sotolongo pitched another great game for the Seals, giving up only three hits with no walks in six scoreless innings. He lowered his ERA to a team-best 1.99. Sotolongo left with a 4-0 lead, but it disappeared five batters later. Travis Wade came in and gave up a single, two walks and then a grand slam to tie the game. He walked another batter before he was pulled by Darrell Evans. Wade did not retire a batter on the night.

Jamar Hill hit his league-leading 12th home run and extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Jammer's power surge of late has raised his slugging percentage to an impressive .605 mark.

Javier Garcia got the win after blowing his first save attempt of the season. He gave up a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Bibens-Dirkx Signed by Chicago Cubs

Seals starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx was signed by the Chicago Cubs on Friday and will be assigned to their Peoria (Ill.) Chiefs farm team in the Class A Midwest League. He'll be a teammate of major leaguers Aramis Ramirez and Reed Johnson in a matter of hours, as both Cubs will be on a rehab assignment in Peoria this weekend. Bibens-Dirkx had only 8 appearances with the Seals, but he caught the eye of more than one major-league scout. He was 2-2 with a 3.70 ERA and was leading the Golden League in strikeouts with 54 in 48 2/3 innings.

Our post on June 3rd ("M's May Have Given Up Too Early on Bibens-Dirkx") was perhaps right on the mark. The Seals will definitely miss Bibens-Dirkx, but it's great to see him get another shot at making the big leagues. Best of luck, Austin!

Taking Bibens-Dirkx's roster spot was Eziequiel Ruvalcaba, who was re-signed after being released on June 20th. Ruvalcaba was 0-1 with a 12.60 ERA in 9 relief appearances. Apparently, he has been working on his mechanics and his velocity is back up into the low 90's.

The other most likely Seal to get signed by a major-league organization would be Isaac Hess, but a big-league team's legal and medical departments will have to sign off on that one before it can happen. Hess was signed by the Padres for a few hours this spring until the medical report on his artificial hip was delivered to the team. Hess has plenty of talent to get signed and hopefully it will happen for him. Until that time, be sure to get out and see him pitch while we are lucky enough to have him take to the hill at Royal Athletic Park.

Pure Magic at RAP

Jamar Hill had a great week at the plate on Thursday night: 4/5 with 4 consecutive homers and 8 RBIs. He had a shot at smacking his fifth in a row in the eighth inning, but he hit into a fielder's choice in his final at-bat of the night.

It was truly something to behold on this warm Victoria evening. Personally, I found his third homer to be the most impressive even though it was not the longest. He didn't seem to even take a full cut at the Lorenzo Barcelo offering; he just flicked his wrists and the ball sailed effortlessly over the fence. None of his homers were wind-aided either; it was an unusually still evening at Royal Athletic Park.

Unfortunately, there were only 1,205 fans in attendance to witness Hill's amazing feat. After he thrilled the crowd with his fourth consecutive round-tripper, someone in the Seals dugout passed a batting helmet to Darrell Evans' wife and she revived an old baseball tradition by passing the hat for "money for Jamar's homers".

Passing the hat for Jamar

This tradition dates back to the 19th century -- I even found a reference to a 13-year-old "Shoeless" Joe Jackson receiving money for his homers in this manner when he played for a local team in South Carolina (this would have been in 1901). At the height of minor-league baseball's popularity in the 1940's and 1950's passing the hat for a player's home run was apparently a regular occurrence.

Counting up the collection

Jamar settles in for his 5th plate appearance

On this night, the appreciative crowd chipped in close to $300 for Jamar's efforts. Jamar, you earned every penny and then some. Congratulations!

Post-game interview with the A Channel

In case you are wondering, the major-league record for home runs in a game is four. In the entire history of the major leagues, only 15 players have done it:

• Bobby Lowe, Boston, 05/30/1894
• Ed Delahanty, Philadelphia, 07/13/1896
• Lou Gehrig, New York, 06/03/1932
• Chuck Klein, Philadelphia, 07/10/1936
• Pat Seerey, Chicago, 07/18/1948
• Gil Hodgers, Brooklyn, 08/31/1950
• Joe Adcock, Milwaukee, 07/31/1954
• Rocky Colavito, Cleveland, 06/10/1959
• Willie Mays, San Francisco, 04/30/1961
• Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia, 04/17/1976
• Bob Horner, Atlanta, 07/06/1986
• Mark Whiten, St. Louis, 09/07/1993
• Mike Cameron, Seattle, 05/02/2002
• Shawn Green, Los Angeles, 05/23/2002
• Carlos Delgado, Toronto, 09/25/2003

Victoria's Game: Baseball or Soccer?

Everyone knows that soccer is more popular than baseball in Victoria, right? That's the conventional wisdom, but it may not be entirely accurate. Let's look at some objective numbers to shed some light on the subject.

Victoria's pro soccer team, the Victoria Highlanders, has played 5 of their 8 regular-season home games this season (as of July 1, 2009) in their brand-new state-of-the-art facility ("City Center Stadium"). In those five home dates, they have averaged 1,622 fans per game. In total, their attendance for 63% of their entire home schedule is 8,110 fans. That's right, a total of 8,110 fans.

By comparison, the Victoria Seals have played 14 of their 41 home games this summer in a quaint ballyard that hasn't been described as state-of-the-art since the 1950's. In those 14 games they have averaged 2,229 fans per game. In total, their attendance for only 34% of their entire home schedule is 31,212 fans.

If we extrapolate these numbers, the Highlanders will draw a total of approximately 12,976 fans in 2009, while the Seals will draw an impressive total of roughly 91,407 fans. For every fan who attends a pro soccer game in Victoria this summer, another seven will have gone to see a professional baseball game. So the next time somebody asks what the most popular summer sport is in Victoria, you'll be able to accurately answer: BASEBALL!!

Chris VanRossum lays down a perfect bunt single in the seventh inning on Canada Day. He eventually scored Victoria's only run in a 2-1 loss before 3,521 rabid baseball fans.

Probable pitchers for the remainder of the Tucson series at Royal Athletic Park:

• Thursday @ 7:05 PM: Isaac Hess (5-0, 2.46 ERA) vs. Lorenzo Barcelo (4-3, 3.33 ERA)
• Friday @ 7:05 PM: Eduardo Baeza (1-6, 8.37 ERA) vs Dan Knox (2-0, 4.11 ERA)

Second Consecutive Walk-off Win at RAP

To put it mildly, the Victoria Seals sure have a flair for the dramatic. On Tuesday night they scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 5-4 over the Tucson Toros, thanks to a Brett LeVier 3-run homer. LeVier, currently batting .181, hit his first round-tripper of the season to knot the score at 4-4 with none out in the final frame. The winning run scored later in the inning on a throwing error by Tucson second baseman Skip "Patch" Adams.

Victorian Graham Campbell (1-1, 6.26 ERA) got the win after pitching a perfect top of the ninth. Starter Roberto Sotolongo was handed a no-decision after pitching a gem of a game. He held the Toros to one run and one hit in six innings of work. He struck out four and did not walk a batter to lower lower his ERA to an impressive 2.70. Only Isaac Hess has a lower ERA on the team (2.46)

Seal Blubber Bits:

• Josh Arhart returned to action last night after missing five games with an injury. He walked three times in his four at-bats.
• Travis Wade has lost his spot in the rotation to Roberto Sotolongo. Wade pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief on Tuesday night.
• Jamar Hill hit his sixth homer of the season to tie Carlos Duncan for the team lead.

Tucson-Victoria Series Preview

With the Tucson Toros and Victoria Seals set to start a four-game series at Royal Athletic Park on Tuesday night, here's a preview of what we might see from these two teams.

Both teams sit in fourth place in their respective divisions and neither team has been playing particularly well of late. The Toros have a 10-15 record and are currently mired in a 4-game losing streak after being swept by the powerful Calgary Vipers. The Seals have lost four of their last five games to lower their record to 13-21.

Tucson brings a bunch of aggressive hitters into RAP who are clearly not afraid to swing the bat. They trail only Calgary in team batting average with an impressive .327 mark. In contrast, the Seals are last in the league with a .271 average. The Toros also have 5 of the top 19 batters in the league on their squad, lead by DH Jim Rushford. Rushford is second overall in hitting with a sparkling .398 batting average.

The Toros don't walk or strikeout much, so you can expect them to put the ball in play. And when they do put it in play, they tend to do it with authority. The Toros are 3rd in the league with a .579 slugging percentage, while the Seals are 7th best with a .486 mark. Second baseman Skip "Patch" Adams leads the Toros in power numbers with an impressive .650 slugging percentage, which includes 5 homers, 9 doubles and 2 triples.

On the pitching side of things, Tucson has struggled almost as much as the Seals. Tucson is 7th in the league with a 5.62 ERA, while Victoria sports an unsightly 6.02 mark. The Tucson pitching staff gives up the fewest walks in the league, so the patient hitters on the Victoria side would be well advised to swing the sticks a little more aggressively over the next four games than they normally do.

One area where Victoria likely holds an advantage is in the bullpen. Stud closer Javier Garcia is seven-for-seven in save opportunities for the Seals this season and opponents are batting .114 against him. In addition, relievers Roberto Sotolongo, Phil Sobkow, Graham Campbell and Ethan Katz have been part of a much-improved Seals bullpen of late. On the other hand, the Toros don't have a real closer on their team. Tom Wilhelmson leads Tucson with two saves, but he holds a sky-high 9.45 ERA and is currently on the Inactive List. The majority of the hurlers in the Toros bullpen have struggled mightily this season, so we could see the Seals score a few runs before Tucson leaves town.

Injury Notes:

• Seals third baseman Brian Rios was pulled from Saturday’s game after suffering a minor groin pull. He sat out Sunday’s game as a precaution and is expected to return this week.
• Catcher Josh Arhart, who has not played since June 23rd, is also due back in the Tucson series. Matt Kavanaugh filled in admirably in his absence. Kavanaugh hit .333 with 5 RBIs in five starts behind the plate to raise his batting average to .237 on the year.

Seal Blubber Bits for June 28

Here are an assortment of Seal Blubber Bits to gnaw on as we wait for our boys to return home to start a 10-game homestand on Tuesday:

• Sunday's 11-3 thrashing at the hands of the Edmonton Capitals means that the Seals went a disappointing 2-4 on their road trip to Alberta. A lack of pitching was again the culprit, as Victoria gave up 39 runs in the six games. Eduardo Baeza was knocked around in both of his starts and gave up a whopping 17 earned runs in his 6 1/3 innings of work.


• Victorian Graham Campbell was one of the few bright spots for the Seals on Sunday. He held the Capitals to only one run on six hits in 5 2/3 innings of relief. It wouldn't be a shock to see Campbell eventually work his way into the starting rotation.
  
• Saskatchewan native Phil Sobkow has been pitching well since joining the Seals. In his four relief appearances, he has struck out six and given up only one earned run in three innings.
  
• The Seals remain third in Golden League attendance with an average of exactly 2,000 fans per game. Although Victoria led the Canadian Baseball League in attendance in 2003, only about 1,700 fans per game came out to Royal Athletic Park during that abbreviated season.


• The Tucson Toros are in town for a four-game series starting on Tuesday night. The Toros have a 10-15 record and are fourth in the South Division.


• Incidentally, the Toros lead the league in attendance with 4,182 fans per game. Tucson is a strong baseball market and has a long history of supporting AAA baseball. Their home park, Hi Corbett Field, is also the spring training home of the Colorado Rockies.


• Tucson is managed by former Toronto Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson. Hard-core Blue Jays fans will remember that Johnson was fired in spring training in 1999, largely because he was caught lying about his service in the Vietnam War. According to Wikipedia, "He said he'd lied because he felt guilty about going to spring training with the Dodgers while many of his friends fought in the war. He entered therapy, and called several of his players to apologize for lying."


• The Golden Baseball League has a channel on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/goldenbaseballleague. It's worth checking out just to see Theo Fleury play pro baseball for the Calgary Vipers in August of last year.

Pick the Seals Cleanup Hitter

Which player do you think would make the best cleanup hitter, based on year-to-date stats?

• Player A - .319 batting average (BA), .398 on-base percentage (OBP), .495 slugging percentage (SLG)
• Player B - .267 BA, .382 OBP, .433 SLG
• Player C - .279 BA, .347 BA, .529 SLG

I'd be tempted to answer Player C or Player A. Player C has the highest slugging percentage of the three and the second-highest batting average. His OBP is the lowest of the three, but you don't need a high OBP from the cleanup hitter -- he needs to drive in the runs. It's close, but I'd take Player C out of this group.

If you are Darrell Evans, the answer seems to be Player B. Yes, player B is Jamar Hill. A better choice for cleanup hitter, however, would be Player C - Carlos Duncan. I'd also settle for Player A - Josh Arhart.

For some strange reason, Duncan has been batting 8th for the Seals. After racking my brain, the only possible reason for Evans to waste Duncan in the eight-hole is that Bret LeVier has had such a rough time of it at the plate batting ninth that Evans thinks that Duncan better clear the bases or else any remaining baserunners will be stranded. It's as if Evans has placed Duncan into the "second cleanup" role, if that role even exists in baseball (it sounds like a Victoria slo-pitch concept).

In my humble opinion, putting a player with the fifth highest slugging percentage on the team into the cleanup position is questionable. Slotting a player with the highest slugging percentage on the team into the eight-hole is even more so, especially if your defensive-specialist catcher (Matt Kavanaugh) is batting seventh with a .192 batting average.

Sotolongo Providing Bullpen Stability

The Seals lost to the Vipers on Thursday 7-5 and fell to 12-19 on the season. Starting pitcher Travis Wade struggled again, giving up seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. His ERA ballooned to 6.88, while his record is now a dismal 1-5.

The silver lining in this latest cloud was the performance of the Victoria bullpen. Even though Calgary put up six runs in the bottom of the second and one in the fourth to pull ahead 7-0, the Seals bullpen shut the door through the final 4 2/3 innings and gave the team a chance to come back. Unfortunately, the rally fell a little short and Seals-killer and ex-Mariner Mac Suzuki picked up his first save of the season.

Havana native Roberto Sotolongo pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit baseball to register his best outing of the season. He also struck out three batters. Sotolongo started in his first two appearances of the season and gave up 9 hits and three walks in a total of four innings. However, he has now pitched 6 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball since moving into the bullpen. The Seals have been searching for a bridge between their starters and closer extraordinaire Javier Garcia all season long, so Sotolongo's emergence is an extremely positive development. Let's hope he can keep it up.

Victoria's starting rotation continues to be a case of "Bibens-Dirkx, Hess and Forget the Rest". Here are the stats for Victoria's four regular starters:

• Isaac Hess 4-0, 2.84 ERA
• Austin Bibens-Dirkx 2-1, 3.67 ERA
• Eduardo Baeza 1-5, 6.59 ERA
• Travis Wade 1-5, 6.88 ERA

Needless to say, the team could really use a third reliable starter. Unfortunately, those don't exactly grow on trees, especially in the Golden League.

Seal Blubber Bits

• Wilver Perez had his worst offensive game of the season on Thursday night, as he picked up the Golden Sombrero (4 strikeouts) on his way to an 0-5.
• Chris VanRossum started in CF and led off, while Trevor Davidson spent the game riding the pine. VanRossum went 2-5 on the night. Advantage VanRossum.
• Seals' play-by-play man Mike Walker quipped that VanRossum is playing so well right now that he should be called Chris Van Awesome.
• Victoria pitchers Isaac Hess and Austin Bibens-Dirkx took turns doing colour commentary for Walker on Wednesday night. The change of pace added a nice bit of spice to the broadcast.
• Given the Golden League's shortage of quality pitchers, it makes one wonder why they use a DH. It's not like the league needs the offense with many games providing football-style final scores.

Vipers Take a Bite Out of Seals

The beleaguered Victoria Seals pitching staff continued its struggles on Wednesday night as the team dropped an 11-7 decision to the Calgary Vipers. Eduardo Baeza took the loss to drop to 1-5. He gave up 7 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and saw his ERA rise to 6.59.

The Seals rallied three times to overcome 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 deficits. However, the Seals gave up a total of 10 runs in innings four through six and could not stage any late-game heroics.

Chris VanRossum returned to the lineup after a four-game absence. He played RF, while the regular right fielder Sergio Pedroza replaced Carlos Duncan as the DH. Van Rossum went 3-5 on the night and was a home run short of hitting for the cycle after clubbing a single, double and a triple. His average now sits at .270. The competition for the regular CF job and leadoff spot appears to be well underway. Rookie challenger Trevor Davidson played center field on Wednesday and went 0-4 at the plate to drop his average to .278.

Sergio Pedroza hit his fourth homer of the season in the fourth inning to tie Carlos Duncan and Jamar Hill for the team lead.

Veteran hurler Travis Wade (1-4, 5.58 ERA) starts for Victoria on Thursday night in the series finale. Then the Seals bus it to Edmonton for a three-game weekend set against the Capitals.

Victoria pulls within 5 games of division lead

The Seals defeated the Calgary Vipers 7-4 on Tuesday night and have won four of their last five games. Victoria has now pulled to within five games of the division-leading Vipers.

Isaac Hess earned the win and improved his record to a perfect 4-0. His ERA now sits at 2.84. Closer Javier Garcia record his seventh save in seven attempts by shutting the door in the last 1 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the season.

If the Seals can win the last two games of this series, they'll put themselves right in the thick of the race for the first-half division title. I really like the moxie on this squad. Given the momentum they currently have, anything is possible.

Seal Blubber Bits:

• The scoreboard at RAP will not be installed until mid-July at the earliest. The initial three-week installation estimate has been revised now that those involved have taken into account the fact that Vancouver Island is rather rocky. Turns out, a bit of drilling will be required.


• Trevor Davidson's two hits on Tuesday night raised his average to .313. Meanwhile, Chris VanRossum sits patiently on the bench.


• Calgary's Fehlandt Lentini had three more hits on Tuesday night to raise his average to a sparkling .426. He also stole a pair of bases.


• I heard an interesting assessment of the calibre of play in Golden League from an ex-Rotisserie League opponent on the weekend. He said "The Golden League has double-A hitting and single-A pitching." So true.

One final thought: I know you're out there. A fair number of people read this blog, based on the hit counts. However, very few of you have been leaving comments. I'd appreciate a bit of feedback, so please leave a comment and let us know your opinion on our posts or anything related to the Victoria Seals. Thanks for reading!

Vipers-Seals Redux

The Calgary Vipers must be getting a little tired of playing Victoria. After the two teams played six games against one another in as many days (June 12th-17th), the Seals came home to face the Edmonton Capitals this past weekend. The Vipers on the other hand, have had five days off since losing 6-5 to the Seals last Wednesday in Calgary. The two teams are set to start another three-game series in the Snake Pit this evening, which means that Calgary will be playing nine consecutive games against Victoria. There appears to be no love loss between these two clubs, so the rivalry will only continue to build.

A quick look at the individual statistics for the Seals shows that Wilver Perez is quietly putting together an outstanding season. The Dominican Republic native is in his first season of independent baseball after spending three years in the Kansas City Royals organization. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that Perez, along with Isaac Hess, are early leaders for team MVP consideration.

Here are the team batting leaders for the Seals:

• Batting Average: Wilver Perez - .352
• On Base Percentage: Sergio Pedroza and Wilver Perez - .421
• Slugging Percentage: Carlos Duncan .571
• Home Runs: Carlos Duncan and Jamar Hill - 4
• RBIs: Wilver Perez and Jamar Hill - 16
• Stolen Bases: Wilver Perez - 7
• Runs Scored: Wilver Perez - 20

The team pitching leaders are:

• ERA: Isaac Hess - 2.39
• Opposition Batting Average: Javier Garcia - .114
• Wins: Isaac Hess - 3
• Strikeouts: Austin Bibens-Dirkx - 44 *
• Saves: Javier Garcia - 6

* = league leader

Cardiac Kids Strike Again

Wow, it appears that no lead is safe for opponents of the Victoria Seals. Their six runs in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday afternoon turned a 2-0 loss into a 6-2 win. This team just doesn't give up. With the roster changes since their disastrous 1-7 road trip to start the season, the Seals appear to be rounding into a pretty good team. Thanks to the Golden League's split schedule, they'll likely be contenders for the second-half title.

Here are a few observations from Sunday's game:

• Brian Rios, who started at 3B on Sunday, took over at SS when Carlos Duncan pinch hit for Pedro Montero. In the top of the 8th, Rios started one of the nicest double plays this season when he dove for a ball to his left and flipped it to Wilver Perez who relayed the throw to Brett Flowers. Rios also handled his other chance at shortstop flawlessly.
• The two teams almost got into a bench-clearing brawl when Edmonton starter Louis Pote took exception to Wilver Perez's attempt to steal second after Pote had injured himself and time had been called. Perez had hit a ground ball to Edmonton first baseman Norm Hutchins, but Hutchins' throw caused Pote to fall awkwardly at first and miss the bag. After the play, Perez noticed that second was unoccupied as the Edmonton infielders approached Pote to find out if he was OK. Once Perez reached second, Pote had a heated exchange with Perez and the two walked towards one another. A number of players on each bench came out onto the field, but cooler heads prevailed.
• Austin "Powers" Bibens-Dirkx striking out the side with the bases loaded in the 6th inning was even more impressive when you consider that his last pitch was his 111th of the game. Bibens-Dirkx was immediately removed from the game afterwards -- a wise move by Darrell Evans.
• The 3,515 fans in attendance were as vocal as they have been since opening night. A significant portion of the crowd gave Bibens-Dirkx a standing ovation at the end of the 6th inning and the fans also did the wave later in the game. An enormous cheer erupted when Jamar Hill crushed his walk-off grand slam onto Pembroke Street in the bottom of the ninth.
• Hill had been 1 for 8 with 5 strikeouts on Saturday and Sunday before he launched his thrilling game-winning homer.
• Catchers Josh Arhart and Matt Kavanaugh, along with the pitching and coaching staffs, did a great job of neutralizing the speed of the Edmonton Capitals on the weekend. The Capitals were only 2 for 4 in stolen base attempts in the first two games and nobody challenged Kavanaugh in Sunday's game. Matt showed off his arm by throwing an absolute laser beam to Brett Flowers at first on a Capitals bunt attempt.

Seal Blubber Bits - Summer Solstice Edition

It's the longest day of the year, so you'll need lots of sustenance. Here are some Seal Blubber Bits to gnaw on:

• The Seals showed great resilience in yesterday's game. They got out to a quick 3-0 lead, but Edmonton scored one in the fourth and four in the fifth to jump out in front 5-3. After Friday's heart-breaking 11-inning loss, I was half expecting the Seals to pack it in. But they showed just how emotionally tough they are by coming right back and scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the sixth to pull away.


• The Seals released pitchers Mike Reeves and Ezekiel Ruvalcaba yesterday. Reeves had a 10.66 ERA, while Ruvalcaba's was 12.60. Both pitchers had significant struggles last season in the Golden League as well.


• Victoria activated offensive spark plug Sergio Pedroza from the Inactive List. He batted third yesterday and got on base in four of his five plate appearances.


• The Seals have also signed right-handed pitcher and Saskatchewan native Phil Sobkow. Sobkow is the second Canadian on the team, along with Victorian Graham Campbell. Sobkow had an ERA last season of 8.56 with two teams in the Golden League. In 2007, his ERA with two squads in the independent Northern League was 6.83.


• Trevor Davidson remained on the active list following the activation of Pedroza. He played CF in place of Chris VanRossum yesterday, so a battle for playing time in center field appears to be underway.


• I'm not sure why Carlos Duncan was batting eighth in Saturday's lineup, but the slugger responded with a two-run homer, a single and two runs scored.


• Brian Rios went back to third base after Duncan committed his seventh and eighth errors of the season on Friday night. As Bubba so accurately pointed out in his Wednesday post ("Errors In Judgement"), the team is better served with Rios at 3B and Duncan at DH.

Capitals in the Capital

The Seals allowed a 6-2 lead to go by the boards on Friday night and lost a 10-7 heart breaker in 11 innings to the Edmonton Capitals. The cause of their demise was a faulty bullpen that gave up six runs in the last four innings of the ballgame. Former Asheville Tourist Ethan Katz let his first save attempt get away from him by giving up two runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Our hometown boy, Graham Campbell, took the loss after giving up three runs in his one inning of work. Carlos Duncan continued his defensive struggles and committed a pair of errors, bringing his fielding percentage down to an unimpressive .789. Luckily neither error led to an Edmonton run.

The Seals can still take the series by winning a pair of afternoon games at RAP this weekend. If you can only make one of the games, be sure to come out on Sunday afternoon to see the Seals' Austin "Powers" Bibens-Dirkx (2-1, 3.81 ERA) face off against a good Canadian kid, Louis Pote. Pote leads the Golden League in ERA with a 1.64 mark.

The team will also be giving away 100 gift certificates to Painter's Lodge in beautiful Campbell River as part of their Father's Day celebration.

Edmonton Capitals 101

With the Edmonton Capitals coming for their first ever visit to the Garden City, I thought we'd take a look at this club to see what we might expect from them. Edmonton has a 14-11 record, while the Seals are sitting at 9-16.

The Caps are obviously a very different ball club from the slugging Calgary Vipers. Edmonton's hitting is below average for the league, although still better than the offensive output from the Seals to this point in the season. Their team batting average is marginally better than Victoria's by Golden League standards (.277 vs .261). Likewise their team slugging percentage (.409 versus .375).

On the offensive side of things, the biggest difference between the Capitals and Seals is speed on the basepaths. Edmonton is 2nd in the league in stolen bases with 39, as compared to the pedestrian Victoria squad, which only has 17. The Capitals' outfield is chock full of speedsters. LF Marcus Nettles is second in the league with 10 steals, RF Darryl ("Don't Call Me David") Brinkley has 9 and CF Jorge Cortes has swiped 7 bags. Needless to say, Seals catcher Josh Arhart is in for a real test this weekend.

But the biggest differentiator between these two clubs is pitching. The Capitals have a league-leading team ERA of 3.76. On the other hand, the Seals are 8th (out of 9 teams) with a massive 6.10 ERA. Capitals starter Louis Pote leads the league (min. 20 IP) with a 1.64 ERA and reliever Jason Pearson is second with a 1.85 ERA and three saves. A key reason for the ERA difference between the two pitching staffs is gopher balls: Victoria has allowed 28 homers this season, while Edmonton has limited opponents to a mere 13 round-trippers in 25 games. Let's hope the Seals hitters can do some damage to this particular statistic and send a few balls out onto Pembroke Street.

Seal Blubber Bits:

• Sergio Pedroza was left behind in Victoria during the team's trip to Calgary with a mild calf strain. He is expected to be back in action on Friday night at RAP.
• The red-hot Josh Arhart has 9 hits and 5 RBIs in his last 14 at-bats. He'd be a good candidate to take over the cleanup role from Jamar Hill (.256 BA, .411 slugging). Arhart is hitting .338 with a robust .527 slugging percentage.