Boise Series, August 8-11, 2013 (including doubleheader on Aug. 11)
Following the Northwest League All-Star Game, the Canadians travelled to Boise, ID, for a five-game series, where they have historically struggled. It was no different in 2013, as the C's dropped four of five to the Hawks.
The series began with 7-5, 5-4, 9-2, and 3-1 victories for Boise, before Vancouver salvaged the finale with a 6-5 win.
In the 9-2 loss for the C's on August 10, LHP Kyle Anderson (4-2, 3.05) had a rare bad outing, as he gave up five runs in the second inning and Vancouver found itself in a deep hole early on, one which the Canadians weren't able to come back from. In the defeat, CF Ian Parmley went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Hawks DH Trevor Gretzky, the son of Wayne Gretzky, went 2-for-4 while SS Carlos Penalver was 3-for-4 with a double, home run, and four RBIs.
After the C's lost the first four contests of this series, they could have given up as Boise raced out to a 5-3 lead after four innings, battering RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski for five runs on 11 hits. Vancouver, however, came storming back with two runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game as 2B David Harris delivered an RBI double and RF Ian Parmley smacked a run-scoring single, before getting the go-ahead run on LF Brenden Kalfus' RBI single in the seventh. Closer RHP Chuck Ghysels pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the victory, getting two strikeouts, as Vancouver salvaged the finale with the 6-5 triumph.
Everett Series, August 13-15, 2013
The Everett AquaSox, who won the first-half pennant in the North Division, did no favours for the Canadians as they came into Scotiabank Field and took two of three from the C's, winning 5-3 and 4-3. Vancouver won the middle game of the series, 10-1 on August 14, with RHP Tom Robson improving to 2-0 on the summer. The Ladner, BC native allowed one run on two hits over five innings for the C's, while Vancouver exploded for six runs in the first three innings en route to the blowout win.
Still, the C's lost the two close games in the series, as in the opening contest the AquaSox got out to a 5-0 lead against LHP Colton Turner (4.2 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs) before the Canadians' late-inning rally fell just short in the 5-3 defeat. In the series finale, it was again Everett jumping out ahead early on, and held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth. The C's cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth when Ian Parmley scored on a wild pitch by AquaSox starter LHP Steven Ewing, and then tied it at 3-3 an inning later on RF Melvin Garcia's RBI double. The AquaSox, though, went on to win the game in the 12th inning on a walk and a pair of errors, and the game finished 4-3 in favour of Everett. It was a slopping game all around for the C's, who committed four errors and collected only five hits (while Everett finished with 13 hits and three errors).
The series loss dropped Vancouver's record to 9-12 in the second half. The C's would go on to lose 7-2 in the opening game of a five-game set against Salem-Keizer at Scotiabank Field on August 16, and fall three games behind the suddenly red-hot Spokane Indians in the North standings. With the Indians' sixth straight win on August 16, Spokane (12-10) had taken over top spot in the North Division standings in the second half, two games ahead of second-place Everett (10-12), with exactly 16 games remaining in the schedule. If Everett, the first-half winner, goes on to win the second half, then it will be the team with the next best overall record that will win the North Division's second-half pennant.
Second-Half Standings on August 16
North Division
Team W-L Pct GB
Spokane 12-10 .545 -
*Everett 10-12 .455 2
Vancouver 9-13 .409 3
Tri-City 7-15 .318 5
*denotes first-half winner
Saturday, 17 August 2013
C's take three out of five from Hops
Hillsboro Series, July 31-August 4, 2013
The Canadians, with a 4-4 record to open the second half, returned home to take on the Hillsboro Hops expecting to return to form against a struggling team that had gone 11-27 in the first half (including 4-15 on the road).
Incredibly, the Hops took the first two games in Vancouver, winning 7-1 and 4-3, as the Canadians saw their second-half record drop to 4-6. The opening contest was particularly heart-breaking for Vancouver, as the C's committed four errors which led to three unearned runs, wasting a strong effort by LHP Alonzo Gonzalez (normally a reliever) in his first start for Vancouver. Gonzalez gave up a run on three walks but did not allow a hit. Three of the C's four errors on the night came in the fifth inning, as Hillsboro took advantage of all of the miscues and scored three runs to break open what had been a 3-1 game.
After dropping the first two contests, the C's looked to have an easy win on August 2, scoring four runs in the first inning off Braden Shipley. The C's increased the lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the third, knocking the right-hander out after just 2.2 innings. Though the Hops scored three runs off Jeremy Gabryszwski in his six innings of work, the C's still were in control as they added two more runs in the bottom half of the sixth to take a commanding 8-3 lead. The score stayed that way until the top of the ninth inning, and the C's were juts three outs away from victory. Alas, in the top of the ninth, Chuck Ghysels loaded the bases with none out on a walk, single, and error by 1B Justin Atkinson. A bases-loaded walk to SS Ryan Gebhardt (the Hops' No. 9 hitter) followed, cutting the deficit to 8-4.
Ghysels bounced back and struck out the next two batters, and the C's were one out away from winning. Alas, 1B George Roberts smacked a bases-clearing double, and it was suddenly 8-7. 3B Cesar Carrasco hit a groundball to shortstop that looked like it would end the game, but SS Christian Vazquez booted it, allowing Roberts to score to tie the game.
The game went into extra innings, where Vazquez went from goat to hero as he singled to left field with David Harris on second base, giving the C's a thrilling walk-off 9-8 victory. It was Vazquez's first hit of the afternoon after he'd gone 0-for-4 in his first four at-bats.
The Canadians would not be denied the rest of the series, winning 8-2 and 4-0 in the final two games to take the series 3-2. In the 8-2 contest, Ladner BC's Tom Robson (1-0, 0.77) made his second start for the C's and won his first game, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts in six innings. Then it was Drayton AB's Shane Dawson (1-0, 0.00) who got in the act, pitching five shutout innings with no walks and nine strikeouts, allowing four hits, in the series finale.
The 3-2 homestand allowed the C's to improve to 7-6 in the second half, with the Northwest League All-Star Game set to take place on August 6 in Everett.
The Canadians, with a 4-4 record to open the second half, returned home to take on the Hillsboro Hops expecting to return to form against a struggling team that had gone 11-27 in the first half (including 4-15 on the road).
Incredibly, the Hops took the first two games in Vancouver, winning 7-1 and 4-3, as the Canadians saw their second-half record drop to 4-6. The opening contest was particularly heart-breaking for Vancouver, as the C's committed four errors which led to three unearned runs, wasting a strong effort by LHP Alonzo Gonzalez (normally a reliever) in his first start for Vancouver. Gonzalez gave up a run on three walks but did not allow a hit. Three of the C's four errors on the night came in the fifth inning, as Hillsboro took advantage of all of the miscues and scored three runs to break open what had been a 3-1 game.
After dropping the first two contests, the C's looked to have an easy win on August 2, scoring four runs in the first inning off Braden Shipley. The C's increased the lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the third, knocking the right-hander out after just 2.2 innings. Though the Hops scored three runs off Jeremy Gabryszwski in his six innings of work, the C's still were in control as they added two more runs in the bottom half of the sixth to take a commanding 8-3 lead. The score stayed that way until the top of the ninth inning, and the C's were juts three outs away from victory. Alas, in the top of the ninth, Chuck Ghysels loaded the bases with none out on a walk, single, and error by 1B Justin Atkinson. A bases-loaded walk to SS Ryan Gebhardt (the Hops' No. 9 hitter) followed, cutting the deficit to 8-4.
Ghysels bounced back and struck out the next two batters, and the C's were one out away from winning. Alas, 1B George Roberts smacked a bases-clearing double, and it was suddenly 8-7. 3B Cesar Carrasco hit a groundball to shortstop that looked like it would end the game, but SS Christian Vazquez booted it, allowing Roberts to score to tie the game.
The game went into extra innings, where Vazquez went from goat to hero as he singled to left field with David Harris on second base, giving the C's a thrilling walk-off 9-8 victory. It was Vazquez's first hit of the afternoon after he'd gone 0-for-4 in his first four at-bats.
The Canadians would not be denied the rest of the series, winning 8-2 and 4-0 in the final two games to take the series 3-2. In the 8-2 contest, Ladner BC's Tom Robson (1-0, 0.77) made his second start for the C's and won his first game, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts in six innings. Then it was Drayton AB's Shane Dawson (1-0, 0.00) who got in the act, pitching five shutout innings with no walks and nine strikeouts, allowing four hits, in the series finale.
The 3-2 homestand allowed the C's to improve to 7-6 in the second half, with the Northwest League All-Star Game set to take place on August 6 in Everett.
Canadians go 4-4 on road trip to begin second half with three shutout wins
After falling short in their bid for the first-half pennant in the North Division, the Vancouver Canadians opened the second half with an eight-game road trip which saw them play three in Spokane followed by five in Eugene. Though the Canadians started well, winning three of their first three contests, they proceeded to drop three in a row before needing salvaging the finale to post a .500 record on the trip.
Spokane Series, July 23-25, 2013
The Canadians opened the second half with back-to-back 2-0 shutout wins over the Spokane Indians, with RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski and LHP Colton Turner tossing gems for Vancouver. First, it was Gabryszwski (4-1, 0.99) pitching six innings of one-hit ball with no walks and two strikeouts, along with 1B L.B. Dantzler's fourth home run of the summer, giving the C's the opening-game victory. RHP Chuck Ghysels also pitched in by tossing a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save of the season. Next up, it was Turner (3-3, 2.22) with six shutout innings in the second game, allowing four hits with a walk and two strikeouts, leading the C's to a second straight 2-0 triumph. Though the Canadians hitters struck out 11 times on the night--including RF Ian Parmley and LF Brenden Kalfus with three apiece--Vancouver finally ended a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning on 2B Andy Fermin's sacrifice fly (scoring DH Dickie Thon from third base) and C Michael Reeves' RBI single (scoring L.B. Dantzler from third). RHP Matt Johnson worked the ninth inning for his first save.
In the series finale, the C's pitching again came through, as staff ace RHP Eric Brown allowed only two runs (one earned) on five hits over six strong innings. However, the C's managed only one run on three hits off Indians starter Kyle Castro and were shut out over the final four innings by the Spokane bullpen, as Vancouver fell 2-1. It was Brown's first loss of the season, dropping him to 5-1 with a 1.37 ERA. It was also Brown's final appearance for the Canadians, as the Thunder Bay (ON) native and former UBC Thunderbirds ace was called up shortly after to Lansing of the Midwest League.
In honour of Brown's call-up to Lansing, here's a vintage video of him and Zack Breault (who had retired earlier this year) in a fun Trivia Tuesday segment.
In honour of Brown's call-up to Lansing, here's a vintage video of him and Zack Breault (who had retired earlier this year) in a fun Trivia Tuesday segment.
Eugene Series, July 26-July 30, 2013
In Eugene, the Canadians opened the series with a 4-3 victory on Friday, July 26, improving their second-half record to 3-1. However, they proceeded to drop the next three games by scores of 5-2, 9-8, and 5-3, including the heart-breaking defeat on July 28 which saw Jeremy Gabryszwski get knocked around for six runs before Vancouver rallied to take the lead only to see Matt Johnson cough it up in the eighth inning.
In that contest, the Canadians took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before Eugene rallied for two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take a commanding 6-1 advantage. Remarkably, the C's struck for seven runs in the top of the sixth inning--highlighted by L.B. Dantzler's sixth home run, Brenden Kalfus' two-run double, Ian Parmley's run-scoring single, and an RBI single by Dantzler (batting for the second time in the inning--and Vancouver had an 8-6 lead. The Emeralds, however, cut the deficit to 8-7 in the bottom half of the sixth before RF Hunter Renfroe smacked a two-run home run two innings later off Johnson (with 2B Michael Bass on first base via a one-out walk). In the loss, Dantzler went 2-for-5 to raise his batting average to .313, while 1B Dan Arcila also went 2-for-4 with a double, RBI, and run scored.
In the series finale on July 30, the C's scored seven runs but there was no comeback by the Emeralds this time around, as LHP Shane Dawson (from Drayton Valley, Alberta) made his Canadians debut and tossed four shutout innings of one-hit ball with two walks and six strikeouts in Vancouver's 7-0 victory. Matt Dermody (3-1) picked up the win in relief, pitching two innings of one-hit ball with no walks and four strikeouts. Though Eugene's Erik Cabrera pitched well (two earned runs on five hits over four innings with four strikeouts), he was still tagged with the loss to fall to 0-6 on the summer. Dan Arcilia (his first), Brenden Kalfus (his first), and L.B. Dantzler (his seventh) all homered for the C's. But the story of the game was Dawson, who gave the C's four spectacular innings after being promoted to Vancouver from Bluefield (Appalachian League).
With Everett having won the first-half pennant, Vancouver would need to either 1) outright win the second half or 2) finish with a better record than division rivals Spokane and Tri-City should Everett win the second half again, in order to make the playoffs. With the 7-0 victory in the finale against Eugene, the C's finished their road trip 4-4 and now head home to take on Hillsboro for five games at Scotiabank Field.
With Everett having won the first-half pennant, Vancouver would need to either 1) outright win the second half or 2) finish with a better record than division rivals Spokane and Tri-City should Everett win the second half again, in order to make the playoffs. With the 7-0 victory in the finale against Eugene, the C's finished their road trip 4-4 and now head home to take on Hillsboro for five games at Scotiabank Field.
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