Keep Them Caissons Rolling
Pitching Continues to Astound Everyone
by Caitlen Sullivan
Vancouver Sun Sports Reporter
August 11, 2005
With sincere apologies to the US Army, the Mounties Keep Rolling Along. The local franchise posted up eight more wins out of nine games. That makes them 17-3 over the last twenty. Their 83-30 (.739) tally is tops in the league.
The division lead over California has skyrocketed to a slightly unbelievable 22.5 games despite the fact that the Crusaders record is good enough to be leading the Johnson League Atlantic Division. In the Frick League the Crusaders would within a game or two of the lead in either the Midwest or Atlantic Divisions and a leading contender for a wild card berth. The California front office has apparently conceded the Wild Card to Omaha and begun a rebuilding campaign. Three of the Crusader starters, including superstar Steve Taub (who began his professional career in the Vancouver system before being traded to California in the deal that brought Matt Brunson to the Mounties), have been dealt off to other teams as part of a strategy to rebuild the farm system.
At the risk of repeating ourselves ad infinitum, we have to say the Mountie pitching continues to be little short of spectacular as Shane Wookey, Robbie Sargent, and Christian Nichols all won two games in the past ten days. All three have a good shot at winning twenty: Sargent is 19-2, Wookey 18-3, and Nichols 16-2. Sargent and Wookey have ERAs in the 2.10’s. And then there is Jason Egan. He racked up five more saves, bringing his total to 42 (in 43 attempts) and brought his ERA down to 0.98. His WHIP is 0.75 and his ERA+ is 425, both extraordinarily high numbers. The league record for saves in a year is 52. But wait! Egan’s set-up man, Pete Bedford, has an ERA of 0.89 and an ERA+ of 467. Between them Egan and Bedford have pitched 95 innings and each has allowed exactly one home run. Together they have allowed 52 hits and struck out 110.
Arturo Gutiérrez has the hottest hand at the plate. In the most recent eight games he has hit .423 and hit two home runs. So, after a dismal start, he has raised his batting average to .308. He’s currently playing first base while Brock Lee is on the DL but will return to third when Brock comes back in another week. The other hitter that has been steadily improving his stats as the season rolls along is Jeremy Finch. Like Gutierrez, he has his average up to .308, and at his current pace he could top 100 RBIs for the year. And he has raised his on-base percentage up over .400.
The Mounties’ front office announced that pitcher Gary Jones would be promoted from Victoria before the game tomorrow night. The 24-year-old has slowly worked his way up the organization, and this year is 10-5 (2.86 ERA) with the Canucks. This will be his first time in a big league uniform. A starter by trade, he will start out in the bullpen with the Mounties and possibly get some starts in September. Temporarily he will be filling Brock Lee’s roster spot. When Lee returns next week, someone will have to go. Speculation is that the team will release 38-year-old Juan Sevilla (which would involve buying out his contract for next year ($800,000).
