[DD Martin]

Monday May 4th through Sunday May 10th 1970

In an odd bit of scheduling the team flies from Houston after Sunday’s game, back home to Seattle for a 3-game series against the Cincinnati Kings. Then an off day Thursday to fly back to St. Louis, then Montreal and then back to Texas to face Dallas. I hadn’t accompanied the team to Houston as I was working on some trades. I had made the decision that we would call up minor 2B Kurt Regan sometime this week and that was going to force a move. We had a glut of outfielders and by the probable move of 2B Rafael Marquez to the outfield only added to the glut. We are mostly a very young team so we had two 30 something outfielders on the club. One at least a part time starter RF Mike McDonald (36) and backup corner outfield Danny Rivera (32). McDonald hadn’t shown anything so far hitting 132 on the season and the odds of retaining him next year were basically zilch. So he was the primary guy we hoped to ship off and perhaps get something for. Rivera wasn’t as big an issue but we looked into moving him as well in case we picked up another outfield along the way.

Early Monday morning (west coast time), we struck a deal to ship McDonald to Boston (Patriot League East) along with some other spare parts. We elected to retain half of McDonald’s salary of $35,000 for the 1970 season. We also sent Tacoma OF Scott Casey (23) and 1B Ricardo Flores (19 in Class low A). In return we received SS Joesph Herrera (27) who is an immediate depth infield upgrade. We also received LF Jaime Holloway (24) and RHSP Allen Rosso (24).

We likely were not done, but nothing else would get done before the first game of the series with the Kings.

Cincinnati Kings (8-10) vs Seattle Tridents (9-9)

The Kings came to town with a losing record and a lackluster offense, which felt like a good spot to give P Manny Jiminian a start in the opening game of the series. Not that the rotation necessarily needed the rest, but an extra day couldn’t hurt (or maybe it can). The King’s best player appeared to be 3B Angel Juarez 232/337/666 1-10 and 1B Chad Burgess 239/282/655 2-11.

Probable Starting Pitchers
Manny Jiminian 0-0 0.00 vs Ruben Gutierrez 0-3 5.13
Jimmy Martin 1-2 4.05 vs Jim Holley 2-0 1.22
Ryan Conner 1-0 4.85 vs Marcos Sanchez 0-2 5.28

Game #1 (19)

Cin - 2B M Vecchio, SS V Clifford, 3B A Juarez, 1B C Burgess, RF B Nealon, CF T Pac, LF M Little, C N Whitten, P R Gutierrez

Sea - CF J Collins, 2B R Marquez, 1B R Reed, 3B A Pena, LF C Carmona, RF D Henderson, C A Pardo, SS A Weber P M Jiminian

The Tridents jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 1 inning and added 3 more in the 3rd to control the game 6-0. Jiminian went through the first 4 innings giving up just 1 hit. Trouble started for Jiminian in the 5th when he came up 2 runs on 2 walks and 2 singles. Still the Tridents led 6-2 after 5 innings. Trouble continued in the 6th when LF Mike LIttle smashed (and I do mean smashed) a 2-run home run to make it 6-4. Still after 6 innings in his first start that wasn’t a terrible game, except Manager Wilde left him in the game to come out for the 7th. A single, double and another single produced 2 more runs and suddenly we were tied at 6. It was like the air was let out of the entire stadium after that managerial decision.

The Tridents clawed back a run in the bottom of 8th on a leadoff walk to Carlos Carmona, who stole 2nd and then was sacrificed to 3rd by Dan Henderson. Catcher Adrian Pardo then hit a sac fly to CF and Carmona easily scored and the team felt pretty good about their situation heading into the 9th inning. Closer Kyle Gorman came on but on his 3rd pitch to Vinny Clifford, the SS launched a solo home run to tie the game. The mighty Gorman had just blown his 2nd save of the season. We headed to extra innings, where a very unlikely and unnamed hero emerged for the Tridents. 2B Chris Benoit stroked an RBI-single scored C Adrian Paro who led off the inning with a double. Tridents win 9-8 in 10 innings.


PH C Benoit 1-1 RBI, LF C Carmona 3-4 HR BB, 3R 3 RBI, SB, C A Pardo 1-4 DB RBI R 3B A Pena 1-2 BB 2R, RP C Morin W 2-0 1IP 1H 1BB

A - 16,271 T 3:23
POTG - Seattle Carlos Carmona (3)

Trade Interlude - On Tuesday morning, we had swung another deal, this time trading OF Danny Rivera and 2B Ferdie Brekelmans (17) to Detroit for a trio of pitchers. LHSP Flynn Harlow (24), RHP Jayden Wilkerson (21) and RHP Christopher French (18). The 3 pitchers when they arrive will be assigned spots in the minor leagues, but Harlow joins yesterday’s acquisition Rosso in the top 3 of Tacoma’s starting rotation.

With Herrera arriving in the deal from Monday in time for Tuesday’s game, I had to do something that really wasn’t fun. Last night's hero with the game winning single in the 10th Chris Benoit was optioned down the road to AAA Tacoma. Not the best way for the kid to celebrate his first career big league RBI. But the hope was that he would get more playing time in Tacoma instead of sitting on the bench in Seattle (Not happening as AAA Tacoma manager isn’t starting him).

Game #2 (20)

Cin - M Vecchio, LF B Nealon, SS A Juarez, RF J Bejarano, CF T Pace, 1B P Hunt, C T Norris, 3B T Isidro, P J Holley

Sea - CF J Collins, RF R Marquez, 1B R Reed, LF C Jeoffrey, 2B K Regan, SS A Weber, C A Pardo, 3B J Herrera, P J Martin

In a game where the Kings committed 3 errors, the Tridents only managed 3 hits. Still after 7 innings the Tridents were leading 2-0. Seattle SP Jimmy Martin was cruising on a 1-hitter through 7 innings. There was a 15-minute rain delay after the 7th inning, but Martin came back out. In the 8th he gave up 2 hits, but it was the 2nd hit of the inning that was the big blow as SS Vinny Clifford hit his 2nd home run in as many days to tie the game at 2 after 8. Now Martins had pitched a whale of a game through 8 and still hadn’t reached 100 pitches for the night so I can understand leaving him in. Unfortunately the 9th inning repeated the 8th for Martins as he gave up 2 hits and the big blow was a 2-run Home Run to CF Ted Pace to put the Kings up 4-2 and that was it as Martin’s took the complete game loss. Kings win 4-2
P J Martin 9IP 5H 4R,2BB 2K’s, 2HRA L (1-3)

A - 13,509 T 2:51
POTG - SP Jim Holley Cincinnati

Game #3 (21)

Cin - LF B Nealon, SS V Clifford, 1B C Burgess, RF J Bejarano, 2B P Hunt, 3B T Isidro, C T Norris, CF R Moravec, P M Sanchez

Sea - CF J Collins, 2B R Marquez, 1B R Reed, LF C Carmona, 3B A Pena, SS A Weber, RF J Holloway, C A Pardo, SP R Conner

The rubber game of this 3-game set was dominated by pitching. Seattle SP Ryan Conner pitched his game of the season going 9 innings of 5-hit ball giving up 3 walks while striking out 4 and allowing just 1 run. Unfortunately for Conner and the Tridents he was pretty well matched by King’s SP Marcos Sanchez (7IP 6H, 1R, 3BB 6K’s). The Tridents tried to win the game in regulation scattering 3 hits over the last 2 innings but couldn’t find that clutch hit to win the game. So marsh on into the 10th inning and we trot out our closer Kyle Gorman who had a rough 2 nights ago. Unfortunately for Gorman the struggles of late continue as Bill Nealon reached base on an error by 2B Marquez and he then gave up a double to Seattle Killer SS Vinny Crawford (hope we don't’ see him again for while). He intentionally walked 1B Burgess to put runners to load the bases with no outs. PH Mike LIttle hit a fly ball that scored Nealon and that was the game. The Tridents don’t muster anything in the bottom of the 10th and lose the game and series and fall below 500 (10-11). Kings win 2-1 in 10 innings.

SP R Conner 9IP 5H 1R 3BB 4k, CF J Collins 1-3 2BB, 3SB,1R, 2B R Marquez 1-5 RBI and 1 BIG ERROR

A - 15,698 T - #:15
POTG - SP Ryan Conner Seattle

Frustrations - Why on earth was Marquez at 2B when we had just brought up Regan? Marquez could have been in the OF but instead Manager Wilde had started Carl Joeffrey. Conner deserved so much better and while it is early I am starting to struggle with some of the decisions (pitcher hooks, and lineup issues) with our manager. No I am not going to fire him, but we have an off-day tomorrow and you can bet I will be talking to him before the club boards the plane to St. Louis.

Seattle Tridents (10-11) @ St. Louis Reds (15-7)

That’s right we head back east to St. Louis after a forgettable brief 3-game series at home against Cincinnati. St. Louis has the best record in all of baseball at 15-7 and is on a 4-game winning streak. They also have the top rotation in the North American League (oh joy). Their first two pitchers we face both have ERA’s below 1.00 on the season confidence is not high that we leave St. Louis with a 500 record.

Probable Pitching Matchups
Will Somerville (2-3 4.96) vs Luis Mena (0-2 0.69)
Mike Wynns (3-2 3.22) vs Edwin Torres (3-0 0.92)
Jimmy Martin(1-3 4.04) vs Ryan Kilgore (1-2 4.46)

Game #1 (22)

Sea - CF J Collins, 2B K Regan, 1B R Reed, RF C Carmona, 3B A Pena, C A Pardo, LF J Holloway, SS A Weber, P W Somerville

STL - LF G Lowe, 3B F Armendariz, RF R Cruz, CF C Baker, 1B C Watkins, 2B K Poolman, SS A Arrequin, C Martinez, P E Torres

For some reason, the Reds keep skipping their #5 Mena and they did so again today. Mena has only pitched 13 innings so maybe his numbers weren’t so scary, but SP Edwin Torres numbers were. A funny thing happened, we lit up Torres through 4 innings and C Adrian Pardo has the game of his career. Pardo was 4-5 with a home run, 2 doubles and drove in 6 RBI’s as the Tridents blasted the best team in baseball to even their record at 11-11. SP Will Somerville (3-3) pitched 8 solid innings of 2 run, 6-hit ball. Tridents win 10-2
C A Pardo 4-5 HR, 2DB, 2R 6 RBI’s, 2B K Regan 3-6 DB, TP 1R, LF J Holloway 2-4 2 RBI BB, CF J Collins 1-3 BB 2SB (21) P Somerville 8IP 6H 2R 4BB 3K’s Win 3-3

A - 21,156 T - 2:58
POTG - C Adrian Pardo Seattle

Game #2 (23)

Sea - CF Collins, LF Marquez, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, 2B Regan, SS Weber, C Pardo, SP Wynns

STL - LF Lowe, 3B Armendariz, RF Cruz, CF Baker, 1B Watkins, 2B Poolman, SS Arrequin, C Martinez, P Mena

Well the Reds didn’t skip Luis Mena and based on his ERA in the early going this was going to be a tough game. The game was tied heading into the 8th inning at 1-1. Mena gave up a leadoff single to RF Carl Jeoffery and that was the end of the night for Mena. St. Louis brought in RP Sean Griffin (3-1 3.54 ERA 6 saves). After an out, Seattle got back to back singles by Marquez and Reed that scored Jeoffry. Then early season MVP (who I should probably lock up sooner rather than later to an extension) LF Carlos Carmona hit a double that scored both Reed and Marquez. CL Kyle Gorman pitched 2 solid innings to notch his 7th save of the season and the Tridents had shocked the Reds for the 2nd straight day Seattle wins 4-1

SP M Wynns (W4-2) 7IP 5H, 1R, 1BB, 1K C Carmona 2-4 DB 2RBI, 2B Regan 2-4 R RBI, SS Weber 1-4 2B RBI

A - 19,623 T - 2:50
POTG - SP Mike Wynns Seattle

Seattle took the first two games against St. Louis and now we had a chance at a very improbable sweep.

Game 3 (24)

Sea - CF Collins, 2B Regan, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, C Pardo, LF Holloway, SS Weber, P Martin

STL - LF Lowe, 3B Armendariz, RF Cruz, 1B Bernhard, SS Watkins, 2B Arrequin, CF Harrelson, C Craig, P Kilgore

St. Louis scored 2 early runs in the first inning to put the Tridents and SP Jimmy Martins in a hole. But we picked up a run in the 3rd of St. Louis SP Kilgore and then he did it again. LF Carlos Carmona blasted a 2-run home run, his 5th of the season and suddenly we were up 3-2 and hope springing up in the Seattle dugout of that sweep. It stayed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the 7th after the singing of take me out to the ballgame so crazy Seattle fan jumped up on the dugout and started waving a broom in a sweeping motion. Well the Reds players saw this and what someone thought was funny, the Reds didn’t take it that way. SP Martins was set up for a brutal beating and the Reds responded with 4 runs to take a 6-3 lead. Both teams scored meaningless runs and the final was St. Louis 7-4.
LF C Carmona 2-3 HR DB BB, 2 RBI, 2R, SB, K Regan 1-5 DB, A Weber 1-3 DB, BB, R

A - 20,493 T - 2:40

POTG - St Louis Ramon Cruz 3-4 2RBI, 2R

The week in review

We went 3-3 with a couple of losses to the Kings at home and then blew the sweep thanks to a dingy fan riling up the Reds. Carlos Carmona continues to be the MVP hitting 382/423/1108 with 5 home runs, 26 RBI’s, 8 DB’s, 2TP’s 7 SB and 17 runs scored. 1B Rob Reed is 2nd in RBI’s with 15 but hit 10 in the first week, so the run producing has cooled off. Our biggest struggles are starting pitching where we are ranked 11th with a 4.04 ERA, but our bullpen has been a pleasant surprise coming in 2nd with a 1.23 ERA. The Tridents are +6 in run differential but 12-12 on the season and struggling with a 5-7 record at home (7-5 away).

Not much we can do, but we are always looking and evaluating talent both in the organization and what scraps are in the free agent pool.