This week in River Cats baseball has been more diverse than the starting lineup for the Toronto Raptors. It’s been a bit like “Slumdog Millionaire” in the sense that each of the four games provided a distinct lesson about the team.
Monday: Jerome Williams has struggled all season. His numbers in nine relief appearances are abysmal. He allowed at least one run in five of those nine short appearances and his has ERA hovered dangerously close to low flying planes. I mean, Jerome Williams’ batting average-against is higher that Eric Patterson’s batting average.
So when Jerome Willimas took the mound in the series opener against the Fresno Grizzlies for his first start of the season manager Tony DeFrancesco probably had the same feeling in his stomach that the Priest in “Gran Torino” had when Clint Eastwood walked out of the church near the end of the movie.
“This will end badly.”
And it did- in a shelling similar to the one at the end of the movie. Williams surrendered six runs in five innings, putting the Cats on a 0-5 hole that would be just a twinge too deep to dig out of. Despite a valiant effort, Sacramento fell short 5-6.
It is sad to see what has become of Jerome Williams. Sad irony envelops the fact that his first start of the season would come against Fresno, the team he so successfully pitched for half a decade ago that he was quickly called up to San Francisco at the age of 22. Williams experienced mild but promising success with the giants in ’03 and ’04. In those two years he was a fixture in the Giants’ rotation, starting in all 43 of his appearances and posting 17-12 record. I remember Williams flourishing for me in MVP Baseball 2004, piloting a youthful rotation that featured names such as Noah Lowry and Jesse Foppert. That trio of 22 year olds was the future of the Giants. At least in my franchise mode. And then, of course, Cain came along, then Lincecum, and now Sanchez. But I’ll never forget the Williams, Lowry, Foppert group- and neither will the hapless virtual hitters they overwhelmed in MVP ’04. Jerome Williams will always have a special place in my heart and it is painful to see his present struggles.
Tuesday: The River Cats win thanks to timely hitting. I know I say it on a near columnly basis but it needed to be reiterated once more. Eric Patterson’s sac fly in the tenth inning of Sacramento 8-7 win in Fresno led to the Cats’ tenth extra inning win in 13 chances. 10-3 in extra innings! That, my friends, is timely hitting.
But the exciting win should not completely overshadow the fact that Sacramento’s bullpen nearly blew another game. In a remarkable display of ineptitude the Cats’ bullpen blew a rare two save opportunities- in the eighth inning up 5-3, and then in the ninth up 7-5. The Cats’ late game timely hitting was matched run for run by the Cats’ late game bullpen choke-jobs . The possibility for late game collapse will be haunting in September if the bullpen shortcomings are not rectified.
Wednesday: For the second time two weeks the River Cats dropped a 19 spot on the road. And this time it was against a pretty decent pitching ball club. Sacramento hit eight home runs in the game and every batter got a hit. Poor Steve Hammond gave up 12 runs in 4 innings. Ouch. That will hurt the ERA. Hope he’s not on your fantasy team.
But hopefully Eric Patterson is. Corey's younger brother went 5 for 6 with two dingers, three RBIs, and scored three runs. He has no doubt established himself as the River Cats’ most consistent hitter all season. The 19-3 evisceration capped the 2-1 series win over Fresno.
The Cats have somewhat exploded offensively as of late. In the ten games following their first 19 run effort, they never scored more than six runs in game. Suddenly in their last three games- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday- the Cats scored 8, 19, and 9 runs, respectively.
Thursday: The nine run output against Salt Lake (a result of the eight run surge in the seventh and eighth innings), while otherwise impressive, comically pales in comparison to the previous night’s eruption. The offensive performance was also overshadowed by the pitching. Another Jovial Gem by Giovany A. Gonzalez. We’ve seen this episode before: 5.1 innings, 10 K’s, 1 walk, 4 hits.
Gio has an 18 to 2 K to BB ratio over his last two starts. Over the course of his last three outings he has punched out 27 in 17.1 innings. He’s only given up one run in his last five starts. That’s one run in 30.1 innings!
I will continue to flaunt Jovial Gio’s stats as his hot streak progresses. He has noticeably improved throughout this run of dominance, thus begging the question of how soon he should be called up. I still maintain that Gonzalez needs close to a full season of dominance in order to ensure that he is mentally prepared for the Bigs, that his confidence in his ability will allow him to overcome any potential letdowns. But with that being said, physically, he is as ready as ever.
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