THE HOT CORNER
Baseball coverage from the inside — Sacramento Prayers and the FBL
By Claude Playball | Baseball Insider & Analyst | Host, "Hot Corner" Podcast
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August 8 – 17, 2003 | Seventy-Two and Forty-Six | Brooklyn's Ten-Game Streak Looms as the Only Real Threat Left on the Schedule
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FOUR-AND-FIVE STRETCH STILL LEAVES PRAYERS SEVEN GAMES CLEAR
Nine days of genuinely uneven baseball in ten days — a walk-off single from Manuel Rodriguez against Portland, a Jeon shutout so complete San Jose managed five hits in three consecutive games, and then a run of frustrating one-run losses in Seattle that had nothing to do with effort and everything to do with a handful of eighth- and ninth-inning swings going the other way. Sacramento is seventy-two and forty-six, seven games up on San Jose, and even a losing stretch barely dented the cushion. That is the story of this season in miniature: this roster can play well below its own standard for a week and a half and the standings barely notice.
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DID YOU CATCH THOSE GAMES? — WHAT THE SCORECARDS SAY
vs. Portland, August 8-10 (2-1)
Morales was steady across five innings in the opener, and Kaiser's fifth-inning, two-run double broke the game open. "Thought I threw pretty well and overall I felt good," Morales said. Seven to two.
Rodriguez delivered the signature moment of the series the next day — a bottom-of-the-eighth, run-scoring single that snapped a stalemate. "We'll pop the top on a cold beverage and get back to work tomorrow," Choi said, having gone three for four with a homer himself. Four to three.
Portland salvaged the finale behind Chris Mendez's two-run homer off Jang in the second. "We'll kick back tonight, then get set for the next one," Mendez said. Five to two, Portland.
vs. San Jose, August 11-13 (1-2)
Van Ham was brilliant in the series opener — two home runs, three RBI — but San Jose answered with power of its own and Tony Montemayor's seventh-inning two-run shot proved decisive. "We took home the win," Montemayor said. "What's not to like?" Eight to five, San Jose.
Jeon delivered the best start of the entire stretch in Game Two — six innings, no runs, eleven strikeouts — while the offense piled up ten runs behind him. "The key at this level is throwing strike one," Jeon said. "Successful pitchers do it." Ten to nothing.
San Jose stole the finale in the ninth, John Ogle's two-run homer off Andy Benson turning a tight game into a loss. "We had the game right there for the taking," Jimmy Aces said afterward. "But we decided not to take it." Five to four, San Jose.
@ Seattle, August 15-17 (1-2)
Jang battled through six innings but Seattle chipped away late, Chris Rosenberg's seventh-inning double the difference. "I was seeing the ball well tonight," Rosenberg said. Five to four, Seattle.
Thompson steadied the ship in Game Two, six and one-third innings, one run allowed, and Van Ham's fourth-inning, two-run single provided the margin. "It was a solid team effort," Van Ham said. Three to two, extending Sacramento's division lead to seven games at the time.
The finale went to Seattle on the strength of Jose Palacios's second-inning solo homer and a bullpen that made it stand up. "Played with focus," Danny Rodine said of his team's effort. Two to one, Seattle, closing the stretch on a quiet note.
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JEON — STILL THE BEST IN THE FBL
A 2.42 ERA remains the best mark in professional baseball, and his eleven-strikeout shutout-caliber outing against San Jose was the individual highlight of this entire stretch. Thirteen wins, a hundred forty-four strikeouts, and a rotation that has needed every bit of his consistency as Thompson and Morales continue to work through their own inconsistencies behind him.
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THE INJURY LEDGER
Lozano was hit by a pitch against Seattle and is day-to-day with a bruised elbow, roughly four days. Schmitt's strained oblique remains a week or two away from a return. Neither is season-altering on its own, but the accumulated absences across the infield this year continue to test the organizational depth this column has tracked all season.
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WHO'S HOT, WHO'S COLD
Who's Hot: Jeon has gone three and oh with a 0.31 ERA over his last four starts. Nakazawa is hitting .385 with two home runs over his last seven games, and Van Ham .350 with three homers over his last six.
Who is Cold: Nothing acute enough to single out this stretch beyond the two nagging infield injuries already noted.
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AROUND THE LEAGUE
Fort Worth's Randy Gill hit his 400th career home run on August 15th. "I don't even remember my first home run," Gill admitted, "but this one I don't think I'll forget." Brooklyn has won ten straight to close within striking distance of the American League East lead, the single most dangerous form this league has taken all season. Las Vegas and Long Beach remain locked in the tightest divisional race in either league, separated by a single game in the NL Pacific.
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THE INBOX
From Piotr Kowalczyk of Sacramento's Natomas neighborhood, an actuary, who asks: "Four and five over ten games and the lead barely moved. At what point does a stretch like this actually matter for October, even if it doesn't matter for the standings?"
It matters most as a diagnostic tool rather than a standings concern. The three one-run losses in this stretch — two against San Jose, one in Seattle — all came down to late-inning execution rather than any structural breakdown, which is a different and less worrying signal than if this were a sustained decline in underlying performance. What I'd watch closely is whether the bullpen's late-inning command issues, visible in a couple of these losses, persist into September. That's the kind of thing that shows up as background noise in August and becomes a real postseason liability if it isn't addressed.
From Vahan Gevorgyan of Sacramento's Elmhurst neighborhood, a mechanical engineer, who asks: "Brooklyn just won ten straight. Should Sacramento fans actually be worried about anyone catching up in the standings, or is this purely an American League East story?"
Purely an East story for now, since Brooklyn's surge affects their own division and wild card positioning rather than Sacramento's seven-game cushion in the West. What it does mean is that whichever American League team Sacramento eventually faces in October may arrive playing its best baseball of the season. Brooklyn's ten-game streak is worth watching less as a divisional threat and more as a preview of a genuinely dangerous potential postseason opponent.
From Ciara Hennessy of Sacramento's Rancho Cordova neighborhood, a paralegal, who asks: "Jeon's ERA has been the best in the league for months now. Does a full season like this get remembered the way a Cy Young winner usually does, even on a team this stacked with other storylines?"
It should, and I think it will, though the sheer volume of other Sacramento storylines this season — the trade deadline, the injury attrition, Jang's own excellent year — has genuinely made it easy to undersell just how remarkable Jeon's season has been. A league-leading ERA sustained from April through mid-August, on a team playing in front of national attention all year, tends to get its due once award season actually arrives. Right now it's simply one exceptional thread in a very crowded tapestry.
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Seventy-two and forty-six. Seven up on San Jose, even after a rough ten days. Jeon still the best pitcher in the league. Lozano and Schmitt both banged up. Vancouver on the road next, then Long Beach comes to Sutter Health Park for a genuine measuring-stick series. The lead has never felt safer. The schedule is about to get considerably more interesting.
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Claude Playball is a baseball insider and analyst and host of the Hot Corner podcast, based in Sacramento, California.