NBA - Seattle Tridents

[DD Martin]

Baseball's New Beginning 1970

Major League baseball had gone through some very hard times in the 60’s fighting with their players over money. The league's owners had total control of the money and they were not sharing it with the players. Well things came to a head in 1966 when players walked off the field in every city in the old Major League. It took 3 years of (haggling) negotiation but finally an agreement was made between the new National Baseball Association (NBA) and the NBAPA (Players Association). Baseball would be brought back and there would be 24 teams including 2 in Canada. The league was starting fresh with new ideas and new beginnings and a 10-year CBA negotiated with the players.

Thus the NBA was born….

The league held an initial player “draft” that based on the information available, was pretty random in nature. The Seattle Tridents had a front office staff in place, but on February 28th, 1970 Tridents owner Aaron Williams cleaned house and fired his general manager. It appears that Williams and his former GM got into a huge argument about what the club's priority should be. Williams, while having understanding patience and a controlling fiscal personality, wanted the club future to include EXTREME WINNING! The former GM didn’t see it that way saying it could take years to build a successful winning organization. The two nearly came to blows and Williams fired the GM.

That is when Williams came to me. I had been in charge of the organizations AAA team in Tacoma, the erstwhile Tacoma Tugs of the Pacific Coast League. Williams came down to my office in Tacoma, talked with Tacoma owner Clay Huntington and brought me up to Seattle. We were just days away from spring training and I had to get familiar quickly with the Tridents players on hand. Williams let me know that we had plenty of room in the budget and if I wanted to attempt to sign up to 3 players during March, I could do that. Williams let me know that he understood this was a first season and we had so little to go on, but that he still expected a 500 season this year. Seems reasonable from a man that wants “extreme winning”.

It was time to sit down and set what sort of hand the Tridents had been dealt.

OOC - This will be a long term (hopefully) solo project and one of the first solo games I have played in the last 3+ years (OOTP 22 was probably the last time). I have been very involved in the Figment Baseball League the last I guess 5+ years, I have lost track of time, but I love the stats only aspect of that league. I have taken that challenge to this solo league, and it will be a stats only solo league. That should make it more challenging in the long run.

As mentioned the league held a random draft but there are some free agents available. The Tridents look pretty lousy on the pitching side at least in the quick reading of some scouting reports. Guess we will see what we have in spring training, but I suspect I will be seeing what I can find in the free agent market.

I purposefully limited myself to just 5 signings during the spring and I might make a few trades, but I really don’t know what I have yet. So we'll take it easy on that front.

Also I am not adjusting the salaries nor the “service times” on the players on rosters. So while the league was shut down, whatever service time appeared for players was part of the negotiation between the owners and the players union. I could have set all service time to zero since this is a start up league, but decided that it would be more fun (or frustration) if we had free agency from the get go and not just 25 players making the minimum for 6 years.

[DD Martin]

The teams of the National Baseball Association

[DD Martin]

Seattle Trident Record Page

1970 Season

OOC - This page is for a continuing track of the Seattle clubs progress over the years with seasonal records, player records, and other history

[DD Martin]

1970 Spring Training

My first priority was to head down to Arizona since that is where all the coaches and players were heading. I needed to meet with my Manager Brian Wilde (35) and also talk with my Scouting Director. At that point that is when I found out that I needed to fill the Scouting Director job as Mr. Williams had also fired him as well.

Our complex was in Tempe and it was basically the site of the Arizona State University baseball stadium. Of course the colleges were starting up now too so we would be sharing the space, which was not ideal, but there was nothing I could do about that so I put it off into the category of a problem for future me. I held a meeting with Manager Brian Wilde who let me know that we were missing a 1B coach and also a bench coach. He also told me we were using the ASU medical staff and students for a team trainer so I might want to find someone for that role before we leave Arizona. Of course I knew it wouldn’t be easy, right? I asked Brian if he had any suggestions to fill out his coaching staff and he gave me some names. He let me know that pitchers and catchers had reported last week and that the position players had reported a few days ago and that he would give me a report of what he saw from workouts prior to the opening game of the spring.

Spring training was 30 games and I won’t bore anyone with the details. We made 3 pitching signings and a couple of position player signings to shore up our big league club. Nobody was really moving any talent but we did trade one player. We traded P Eric Landry (who wouldn’t go down to the minors) who was 27 and was on contract for $16,000. While it wasn’t huge that we just didn’t designate him, we swung a deal to bring in minor league SP in Antonio Beserra (25, T-R) who will go down to AAA-Tacoma. Beserra is working on a minor league contract while we aren’t looking for big things out of him, he will take a chance on him. If nothing else we saved Mr. Williams (owner) $16,000 in salary for a player we didn’t want to keep.

We rounded out the staff and I feel pretty good about where we are at. We shored up some of the coaching positions and strengthened the teaching aspect of our staff. They also will hopefully get along fairly well as I do like harmony in the clubhouse.

We ended the spring with a 15-15 record, which honestly surprised me greatly. We will go over who will make the Opening Day roster tomorrow, but here are our spring stats.

OOC - I screwed up which division we were in when I set the league up. The whole idea was to have us in the same division with Vancouver and Portland. That little mix up moved our season opening games back a week as I had to regenerate the schedule. More time for me to fool around and see if there are any bargains out there. We also have 12 minor league guys to cut loose before the season starts in the minor leagues.

[DD Martin]

Opening Day Rosters and Predictions

And here we are, April 13th, 1970 and we have our first game of the inaugural NBA baseball season on tap. We will travel up north of the border to take on the Vancouver Mounties who are the pre-season pick favorites to win the North American League Western crown.

OOC- I will say that switching our divisions so that we were in with Portland and Vancouver certainly improved our won/loss record based on predictions. Of course we know those mean nothing, especially in this league.

Here is our opening day 25-man roster

SP #1 Wes Somerville (Age 18 T-R $52,000) Spring Record 0-0 3.24 ERA 8.1IP A lot of pressure on this kid and maybe more than we should put on him. He had somehow wormed his way into being a free agent and well our scout and the Baseball America (OSA) loved him.

SP #2 Mike Wynns (Age 24 T-R $47,000) Spring Record 1-0 2.65 ERA 17.0 IP Another of our 3 starting pitcher acquisitions. He wanted more money but nobody was offering so we grabbed him and paid about $13,000 less than his initial request.

SP #3 Jimmy Martin (Age 26 T-L $60,000) Spring Record 0-1 7.00 ERA 9IP The final of our 3 pitching acquisitions in the spring. Martin is a needed lefty but signed late and was rocked in his first outing. Hopefully he will bounce back as he starts game #3 of the season against our other PNW rivals Portland.

SP #4 Ryan Conner (Age 26 T-R $24,000) Spring Record 1-3 5.40 ERA 21.2 IP When I arrived in Tempe for spring training, Conner was at the top of our rotation. Now you see why we were desperate to sign some pitchers.

SP #5 Manny “Schelley” Jiminian (Age 22T-R $22,000) Spring Record 0-3 1.89 ERA 19IP Now despite his record, “Schelley” actually won a spot in the starting five with a stellar spring. The question will be can he keep it up, and if he doesn’t who will start games when we need a 5th SP

Bullpen

CL - Kyle Gorman (Age 28 T-R $25,000) Spring Record 4-0 2 saves 1.61 ERA 22.1IP Gorman looks like a guy we can count on to finish off games, one way or another. Hopefully its the right way.

RP James Smith (Age 30 T-R $24,000) Spring Record 1-2 6.07 ERA 13.1 IP Smith was one of our SP’s in the Spring and as you can see he lost that #5 spot based on his performance. We are hoping he finds his groove in the pen. Positive note he only walked 2 batters in spring ball.

RP Cesar “Campy” Morin (Age 25 T-L $16,000) Spring Record 0-1 1 save 5.14 ERA 2GS 14IP - Let’s just say that Morin didn’t impress and was almost dealt if anyone would offer something more than a cup of coffee for him. But we need a lefty in the pen, so he serves that role as 1 of 2.

RP Damian “Gentle Willie” Cuevas (Age 26 T-L $18,000) Spring Record 0-2 1 save 3.68 ERA 14 IP - Another lefty we kept around despite his 8/14 BB/IP ratio. Hanging on by a thread.

RP Alf Lonnberg (Age 36 T-R $25,000) Spring Record 1-0 0.75 ERA 12 IP Alf wasn’t expected to make it to the opening day roster, but a dominant spring helped him welcome his 36th with a trip to Canada for Opening Day.

Position Players - bold denotes starters


C Adrian Pardo (Age 31 B-R $33,000) Spring Stats 132/281/432 0-3 Pardo made the Opening Day roster because 1.) He’s better than his backup and 2.) We have nobody else in the organization that can catch at the big league level. Pardo needs to impress early because if we are in a playoff battle before the deadline, this will likely be the first position we are looking for.

C Manny Salazar (Age 24 B-R $20,000) Spring Stats 236/271/598 1-7 Based on spring results Salazar should probably be starting, but Manager Wilde likes Pardo. Defense is supposed to be Salazar’s calling card (fingers crossed).

1B Rob Reed (Age 26 B-S $26,000) Spring Stats 306/435/907 1-8 Reed gets the call to start at 1B and bat 4th or 3rd (L) depending on the handiness of the opposing starting pitcher. Reed will be looking over his shoulder at 20 year old prospect Marco Diaz who is starting the season at AAA Tacoma.

2B Rafael Marquez (Age 23 B-L $112,000) Spring Stats 244/392/856 2-8 Marquez was our “big” signing this spring from the free agents. Our scouting director took a look at our positional rankings and screamed we needed to find a 2B.

SS Adam Weber (Age 24 B-R $34,000) Spring Stats 228/274/520 0-3 Not a great bat, but hopefully a glove that earns his place on the starting 9

3B Algelo Pena (Age 19 B-R $122,000) Spring Stats 271/314/689 1-3 The last of our big signings and this one got into a bidding war. The IFA from Puerto Rico was a hotly chased man this spring and filled one of our last “gapping” holes. Again like Somerville in the rotation we are putting a lot of pressure on a teenager.

2B Chris Benoit (Age 25 B-R $16,000) Spring Stats 237/310/862 3-5 While I almost asked him to change his name, Benoit is versatile playing 1B, 3B and RF along with 2B. He showed some power this spring with 3 home runs.

2B Ernesto Guajardo (Age 26 B-S $19,000) Spring Stats 191/255/531 1-2 There is a reason he is on the bench. Again versatile playing SS,3B and RF along with 2B. Switch hitting is a nice factor but not sure he can hit from either side.

LF Carlos Carmona (Age 31 B-R $74,000) Spring Stats 255/328/681 1-5 Apparently Carmona is a “real dirt dog" who is loved by teammates and fans alike. I’ll love him too if he hits!

CF Joe Collins (Age 23 B-L $18,000) Spring Stats 286/470/837 0-3 Collins is someone I am cautiously excited about. His slugging in the spring was helped by 4 doubles in his 14 hits and he also stole 12 bases. He is undoubtedly our leadoff hitter.

RF Mike McDonald (Age 36 B-L $35,000) Spring Stats 265/333/741 1-6 The elder statesman on the team who we are hoping has at least one more good go in him

OF Danny Rivera (Age 32 B-R $32,000) Spring Stats 273/319/751 1-4 Corner OF who can also play 1B which is important because we are starting the season heavy on OF’ers.

OF Pete Weinstock (Age 28 B-L $16,000) Spring Stats none Weinstock is a team captain type who was picked up off the scrap heap in the lead up to opening day. He immediately made an impression in the club house and is our team captain on the first day.

CF Dan Henderson (Age 30 B-S $23,000) Spring Stats 321/393/903 1-4 Our only qualified backup CF who can play all OF spots. #2 pinch hitter against lefties and top pinch runner

RF Carl Jeoffrey (Age 23 B-L $16,000) Spring Stats 321/379/794 1-10 Jeoffrey had an outstanding spring and earned this spot, but truth be told if we can find a better backup utility IF Jeoffrey will likely be in Tacoma. There he could play everyday, but for now he’s our top pinch hitter against right handers

Summary - I am not sure the youth and slop in the pitching staff is what makes a 90+ win team. Baseball America seems to think we are capable of 92 wins. I think with the pitching and holes on the offensive side that we are closer to 81-87 wins. I’ll go with 84. Our owner wants us to play 500 ball so hopefully with the moves we made we can do that for him. His overall goal is “extreme winning”.

We are gambling a lot on youngsters with a #1 SP Wes Sommervile and 3B Angelo Pena both under 20 years old. It is so hard to tell with nothing to really go by.

Fingers crossed

Right Handed Line up
CF Joe Collins, 2B Rafael Marquez, LF Carlos Carmona, 1B Rob Reed, RF Mike McDonald, 3B Angelo Pena, SS Adam Weber, C Adrian Pardo

Left Handed Line up
CF Joe Collins, 2B Rafael Marquez, 1B Rob Reed, 3B Angelo Pena, LF Carlos Carmona, RF Mike McDonald, C Adrian Pardo, SS Adam Weber

[DD Martin]

Opening Day 1970

The season starts with 6 games on the road, venturing up North to pre-season favorite in the NAL West Vancouver Mounties, then heading back down the I-5 Interstate to Portland for 4 games with the Mavericks. Next week we will host the Mounties for 3 and the San Francisco Quakes for 3 games as part of a 9-game home stand.

While we have nothing to compare as far as season, career or league history so far we can take a pretty good look at the Mounties and the biggest thing that jumps out is they have 3 of the best bats in the NBA. RF Adrian Street (26) is their leadoff hitter and the #1 position player by ranking. 2B Jesus Rubio (34) is #4 overall and their C Paul Bostic (22) is #17. We don’t have any position players cracking the top 20. We do have pitcher Wes Somerville who is #15 on the hurlers ledger. The Mounties have no one in the top 20 pitching wise…..thank goodness. Still their pitching staff based on the pre-season “experts” says they will allow 37 total runs less than we do and their collective ERA will be 0.30 lower than ours. Their bullpen has some strength but from a starters standpoint, at least based on scouting, I don’t see it.

Pitching Matchups
Wes Somerville vs Joe Anderson
Mike Wynns vs Chris Sherwood

Game #1
Sea LF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, RF McDonald, 3B Pena, SS Weber, C Pardo, P Wes Somerville
Van RF Seaton, CF McBride, 2B Rubio, C Bostic, LF Gargano, 1B Weigel, 3B Trevino SS Martinez, P Joe Anderson

Seattle’s CF Joe Collins got the first hit in Trident's history when he beat out an infield hit. He then stole 2nd base during Rafael Marquez full count groundout, but couldn’t advance. On the first pitch to LF Carmona, Collins stole 3rd base. Carmona then lofts a full count Sac Fly to RF and Collins easily scores the first run to make it 1-0 Seattle. Vancouver’s RF Adrian Seaton not to be out done, walks on 5 pitches from Somerville, then steals 2nd and 3B on successive pitches without a throw! McBride lines out to 3rd, Rubio and Bostic strike out swinging to end the threat. Seattle goes down quietly in the 2nd and 3rd, but the Mounties get a meaningless 2-out single from Trevino in the 2nd. RF Adrian Seaton is at it again and this time hits a 1-out double, but a lazy infield fly to 3B by McBride and a 6-3 groundout by Rubio ends the threat once again.

Tridents get a walk in the 4th with 1 out from Carmona but can’t do anything but in the bottom of the 4th the Mounties finally break through. Somerville walks Bostic, Gargano singles with the slow footed Bostic moving up to 2nd. Another walk this time to Jason Weigel and the sacks are full with none out. Trevino hits into a 4-6-3 double play, but Bostic rambles home. After an intentional walk to Martinez in the #8 spot, P Joe Anderson strikes out looking to end the 4th tied 1-1.

Top of the 6th, after a lineout to CF by P Somerville, Collins walks and steals 2B and induces a throwing error from C Bostic to advance to 3B. 2B Marquez is intentionally walked and then steals 2B. Runners at 2nd and 3rd, 1 out with 1B Rod Reed up. Reed fouls off 4 pitches before hitting a line drive single to left to score Collins and Marquez (beats the throw). Vancouver got one back on a RBI-single from Trevino to make it 3-2 Tridents after 6. Top of the 9th, SS Adam Weber doubles, Pardo grounds out 4-3 to move Weber to 3rd base. PH Dan Henderson singles to score Weber to make it 4-2. Collins singles but Henderson is caught between 2nd and 3B. Marquez walks and then Carmona singles to drive in Collins from 2nd to make it 5-2.

Bottom of the 9th and closer Kyle Gorman on to pitch. Leadoff back to back singles by Trevino and Zachary Alexis put runners on 1st and 2nd. Gorman then walks pinch hitter Alfonso Amador on 4 straight pitches and the bases are loaded with no outs with the top of the Mounties order coming up and the ever dangerous Adrian Seaton. Seaton grounds out to 2B 4-2 to get the runner at the plate for out #1. Gorman then falls behind 2-0 before coming back to get McBride to fly out to shallow left on a 2-2 pitch. Gorman then gets Jesus Rubio to strike out swinging on a 2-2 pitch to end the game. The Tridents had won their first game ever.
CF Collins 3-5 with 3 SB and 3 runs scored. *P Somerville 8IP 5H, 4BB, 2R 1ER 7K 1-0, SS Weber 3-4 DB, RS, 2B Marquez 1-2 3BB SB RS

We seem to be running fools with 5 stolen bases and 1 caught stealing.

A- 24,087 T 3:03
*POTG - P Wes Somerville

OOC - We will not likely go through games in this detail and will be much more summarized, but for the first ever game I decided to put in the detail.

[DD Martin]

Continuing with week 1

After a successful opening game of the season for the Tridents, they continued on with their week visiting the north and south of the I-5 PNW corridor.

Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, RF McDonald, 3B Pena, SS Weber, C Pardo, P Wynns
Van - RF Seaton, CF McBride, 2B Rubio, C Bostic, LF Gargano, 1B Weigel, 3B Trevino, SS Martinez, P Sherwood

Game 2 - Seattle 3 @ Vancouver 2
Seattle SP Mike Wynns scattered 11 singles in going 8.1IP to pick up the win. Kyle Gorman threw 4 pitches for 2 outs to pick up his 2nd save. CF Joe Collins scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 3rd inning on a Marquez RBI-single. Marquez then scored on a groundout by 1B Rob Reed to make it 3-1.
P M Wynns 8.1 IP 11H, 2R, 1BB 0 K (1-0), CF Collins 2-3 DB, BB 2SB 2RS, LF Carmona 3-4 DB RBI
A-15,245 T - 2:43
POTG P Chris Sherwood Van

Series with Portland
Seattle Tridents (2-0) @ Portland Mavericks (1-2) (Multinomah County Park seats 23,600)

Projected Pitching Matchups
Jimmy Martin vs Andres Luna
Ryan Conner vs Jose Paredes
Wes Sommerville (1-0 1.12 ERA) vs Cesar Linan (0-1 3.86 ERA)
Mike Wynns (1-0 2.16 ERA) vs Willie Garcia (0-1 6.00 ERA)

The Tridents head to the Southern end of the I-5 corridor and go south of the Washington border in Portland to play the Mavericks. This is expected to be a fierce rivalry in the coming years as both fan bases tend to take shots at the other. It’s always been that way so expect raucous crowds just like they get in college football between these two fan bases.

Portland went 1-2 at home against the San Francisco Quakes to open the season. Portland’s best players are C Rafael Gonzales (23), SP Cesar Linan (28) and RF Adam Reese (34).

Game #1 (3)
Lineups
Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, LF Carmona, RF McDonald, C Pardo, SS Weber P Martin
Por - LF Resendez, 2B Klaasen, 1B Vercesi, RF Reese, C Gonzales, 3B Palmere, SS Proctor, CF Gilles, P Luna

Mavericks scored a run in the bottom of the 9th with a walk off single by CF James Gilles of RP James Smith (0-1). For some interesting reason Manager Brian Wilde decided to pinch hit for Joe Collins with Danny Rivera. Now Rivera did single to start off the inning but one would have thought that perhaps you might want to give Collins who is hitting 545 the opportunity with his speed. Maybe it was punishment for Collins getting caught stealing earlier in the game. Collins is a lefty and was going against a lefty reliever, but one would think…..who am I to judge. We tasted defeat for the first time (likely of many) Mavericks 4-3 LF Collins 2-3, 2B Marquez 1-2 2BB RBI, SP J Martin* 7IP 8H 3R 5BB 5K’s WP

A - 13,107 T - 3:12
POTG Jimmy Martin Seattle

Game #2 (4)
Lineups
Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, LF Carmona, RF McDonald, C Pardo, SS Weber, SP Conner
Por - LF Resendez, 2B Klaasen, 1B Vercesi, RF Reese, 3B Palmere, C Gonzales, CF Gilles, SS Proctor, P Paredes

SP Ryan Conner pitched a heck of a game through 8 innings but was being outduelled. We are down 2-0 heading into the top of the 9th. Things looked pretty bleak as we had only managed off Mavericks SP Jose Paredes through the first 8 innings. But then Paredes hit PH Dan Rivera to lead off the 9th. Then he struck out Henderson who had come on in the previous at-bat for Collins (again) but threw a wild pitch to move Rivera to 2B. Chris Benoit hit a pinch hit single to move Rivera to 3rd. Then 1B Rob Reed hit a 1-1 pitch into the LF stands for a 3-run home run and the Portland crowd sat stunned. This was also the first home run ever hit by a Seattle player!! CL Kyle Gorman came on and while hitting a batter pitched a scoreless 9th for his 3rd save in as many chances. Tridents win 3-2
SP R Connor* 8IP 5H 2R 1BB 5K, 1B Reed 1-4 HR 3 RBI

A - 16,538 T 2:31
POTG - Ryan Conner Seattle
My vote would have been Reed for the dramatic game winning 3-run home run

Game 3 (5)
Lineups
Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, RF McDonald, 3B Pena, SS Weber, C Pardo, P Somerville
Por - LF Resendez, SS Proctor, 1B Vercesi, 2B Reese, 3B Palmere, RF Pakpahan, CF Gilles, C Hembree, P Linan

This was a PNW special as it was a cloudy, drizzly sort of cold evening. And the rain would eventually get us. We managed to scrap together a 3 run rally in the 4th to take a 3-2 on 1B Reed’s 2-run single. But SP Wes Somerville wasn’t sharp at all, hopefully it's just the weather and not that he is only 18 years old. Somerville didn’t get out of the 5th giving up 6 runs. Then the rain came and after not scoring in the top of the 7th, the umpire called the game…..Mavericks 6-3
1B Reed 1-3 2 RBI RS

A - 17,499 T - 2:49
POTG - P Cesar Linan Portland
Special Note - Game called in the middle of the 7th inning

Game 4 (6)
Lineups
Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, RF McDonald, SS Weber, C Salazar SP Wynns
Por - LF Resendez, 2B Klaasen, 1B Vercesi, RF Reese, 3B palmere, C Gonzales, CF Pakpahan, SS B Garcia SP W Garcia

Tridents SP Mike Wynns had pitched well through 6 innings but his team was down 2-1, then the bats broke out. In the top of the 7th RF McDonald hit a 1-out double, and then SS Weber followed with a triple scoring McDonald. C Manny Salazar saw his first action of the season and grounded an RBI- single through the hole for to score Weber. With 2 outs and LF Collins battling, Salazar took off and was easily gunned down at 2B for the final out (might have to talk to manager Wilde about his running…). We added 4 insurance runs in the top of the 9th to seal the victory 7-2 and end the first week of the season with a winning record (4-2).
SP Wynns *IP 5H 2R 1BB 5K (W 2-0), 2B Marquez 2-4 DB, 2RBI, R, SS Weber 2-4 TRP, 2R RBI

A - 17,092 T 2:58
POTG - Mike Wynns Seattle

Summary - So a 4-2 on the road to start off our NBA journey, but that was just good enough for 2nd place as San Francisco took 3 out of 4 against Vancouver (not off to a 95 win start) to take the division lead after the first week at 5-2.

Optimistically we had 2 solid starts from SP Mike Wynns and CL Kyle Gorman was a perfect 3-3 in save opportunities. While we had only hit 1 home run during the first week, we had 11 stolen bases, led by LF Joe Collins 7. 1B Rob Reed was only hitting 182 (4-22) with 1 home run, but boy did he make those hits count. With RISP he was 4-11 with that home run and an NBA leading 10 RBI’s. So far he has been pretty clutch.

Minor League Notes - Things weren’t looking so good for our minor league system. The AAA Tacoma Tugs and AA El Paso Borderites were both still looking for their 1st wins of the season (both 0-6) Class A Fresno Fire managed to go 3-3. The two key players we had our eyes on were both in Tacoma with 1B Marco Diaz (20) hitting 375/444/861 but not much to show for it with just 1 extra base hit (DB) and 1 run scored and 1 RBI. The other player we are closely watching is 2B Kurt Regan who has started the season hitting 375/464/923 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI’s and 2 runs scored. Regan has started all 6 games at SS as we look to see if he can handle that position in the future.

Tacoma has scored just 13 runs in its first 6 games (2.1 rpg) and has a bullpen that looks like a dumpster fire with a 6.75 ERA.

[DD Martin]

Week 2 Monday April 20th through Sunday April 26th 1970

We return from our 6 game tour of the PNW to head home to our dilapidated stadium in Seattle. The crews are still trying to get the old park ready for the home opener and it was a good thing we had Monday off. The city of Seattle is working hard to overcome all the stumbling blocks in getting the stadium built. The goal is still to have it ready by opening day in April 1972. Two years at this place is going to be rough and could cause a lot of players in the off-season to not want to sign with us in free agency or even sign existing players to contracts. But that will be a tale for another day. With the off-day on Monday we will face the Vancouver Mounties (1-5) for 3 games starting Tuesday and then welcome in the San Francisco Quakes (5-2) for 3 games over the weekend.

Vancouver Mounties (1-5) vs Seattle Tridents (4-2)

So the Mounties come in liking their wounds after struggling in the Bay City losing 3 of 4. They will be looking to rebound but come in with the 23rd rated offense and 19th rated pitching staff (defense is pretty bad too at 23rd) but it is early. They have only scored 13 runs in 7 games (worse than Tacoma!). They are 1-3 on the road this season and have lost the first two games to the Tridents last week.

Probably Pitching Matchups
James Martin (0-0 3.86 ERA) vs Julian Brown (0-0 0.00 ERA)
Ryan Conner (1-0 2.25 ERA) vs Wil Acevedo (0-0 4.50 ERA)
Wes Somerwille (1-1 4.97 ERA) vs Alberto Villa (0-1 2.57 ERA)

Game 1 (7)
Starting Lineups
Van - RF Seaton, CF McBride, 1B Trevino, 2B Rubio, LF Gargano, 3B Gutierrez, C Davis, SS Martinez, P Acevedo
Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, RF Jeoffrey, SS Weber, C Pardo, P Martin

So the tricky Mounties pulled a fast one and with the day off moved Acevedo into the starting for our home opener. We jumped out to a 2-0 in the bottom of the first sending the 24,738 at Sick Stadium into a frenzy. It was the only highlight of the night. Vancouver got 1 back each of the 3rd and 4th innings to tied the game at 2-2. In the top of the 7th Mounties SS Martinez hit a 2-run homer into the flickering night stadium lights and it was basically over. Cesar Morin pitched the last 2 innings for us and gave up 3 hits and 2 unearned runs. Mounties 6-2
Collins 2-5 R SB Martin &IP 6H 4R 3BB 2K 1HRA

A - 24,738 T - 2:51
POTG - SP Will Acevedo Vancouver

Game 2 (8)
Lineups
Van - RF Seaton, CF McBride, 2B Rubio, C Bostic, LF Gargano, 3B Trevino, 1B de Alejandro, SS Martinez, P Villa
Sea - CF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, RF McDonald, SS Weber, C Pardo, P Conner

We started off fast again and scored 2 in the 1st inning on Collins leading off with a walk, stole 2B, Marquez walked. Carmona moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd on a sacrifice bunt. Mr. Clutch 1B Rob Reed stepped up to the plate and promptly struck out, but never fear Angelo Pena picked up the mantle and stroked a 2-RBI single. We led 3-0 heading into the top of the 8th when the wheels fell off for SP Rob Conner. Conner gave up 5 runs on 6 hits including a grand slam to 2B Jesus Rubio and the Mounties took a 5-3 lead. 2B Rafeal Marquez then drilled the 2nd pitch he saw to start off the 8th with a solo home run. Then Rob Reed hit a 1-out double and then back to back singles by PH Carl Jeoffrey and RF Mike McDonald tied the game at 5-5.

For some reason Trident Manager Brian Wilde left Conner in the game after the rough 8th inning and he gave the team 10 innings (139 pitches). Seattle then saw Dan Henderson coax a full count (8 pitch) walk and LF Carlos Carmona hit a double with Henderson holding at 3rd. An intentional walk to 1B Mr Clutch Reed then brought up Danny Rivera with the bases loaded. Then the most dramatic thing happened. Before RP Caleb Ragan threw a pitch to Rivera, he was called for a balk then forced in Henderson and the Tridents win 6-5 in 11 innings.
2B Marquez 2-3 DB, HR 2R RBI, 3B Pena 2-3 2RBI, SP Conner 10IP 10H 5R 1BB 4K, P Gorman 1IP 0H 0BB 0K W 1-0

A - 16,212 T - #;33
Player of the Game - Rafael Marquez Seattle

Who would toe the rubber for Vancouver in the rubber game of the series? Brown who was skipped or #1 SP Joe Anderson who was 0-2 4.15 ERA. The answer much to our chagrin was Joe Anderson…..

Game 3 (9)
Lineups
Van - RF Seaton, CF McBride, 2B Rubio, C Bostic, LF Gargano, 1B Weigel, 3B Trevino, SS Martinez, P Anderson
Sea - CF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, RF Jeoffrey, SS Weber, C Salazar, P Somerville

SP Wes Somerville didn’t pitch poorly going 7IP, but he gave up 2 runs including C Paul Bostic’s 2nd home run of the season in the 6th inning. The Tridents offered little resistance as they mustered 7 hits off Anderson and Mounties RP Mike Yellen cleaned up the last 2 outs of the game. 2-0 Mounties as we leave the ballpark with our tail between our legs losing our first series of the season. P Somerwille 7IP 8H 2R L 1-2

A- 20,272 T - 2:51
Player of the Game - SP Joe Anderson Vancouver



San Francisco Quakes (7-4) vs Seattle Tridents (5-4)

It’s a battle of the early going teams at the top of the NAL West as the Quakes invade taking on the local nine for a weekend series. For the Quakes they are led by their NAL leading offense with the top club batting average in the circuit at 288. The also have a solid group of starting pitchers that so far have a 2.68 ERA which is ranked 3rd compared to Seattle’s 8th place ranking of 3.57. But if the game goes to the bullpens the Seattle firemen have a 0.79 ERA compared to the Quakes 3.18. The Quakes are led by LF Luis Garcia (378/440/1062 2-5), and the slow starting RF Jorge Osorio (216/216/513 0-2). Quakes closer Joe Woodley has 3 saves so far this season matching Seattle’s top reliever Kyle Gorman.

This is the first ever meeting between the clubs and San Francisco’s road record stands at 2-1 on the season, while Seattle is 1-2 at venerab…vulnerable Sick Stadium.

Probably Pitching Matchups
Mike Wynns (2-0 2.20) vs Chris Jimenez (2-0 0.52)
Jimmy Martin (0-1 4.50) vs Jerry Battaglino (0-2 6.92)
Ryan Conner (1-0 3.50) vs Chris Burke (1-0 3.86)

Game 1 (10)
Lineups
SF - LF Garcia, 1B Malpica, 2B Sanchez, RF Osorio, 3B Pederson, CF Sander, SS Garcia, C Hinojosa, SP Jimenez
Sea - CF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, RF McDonald, SS Weber, C Pardo, SP Wynns

What looked like a good pitching matchup didn’t materialize as Seattle SP Mike Wynns was rocked in his 4.1 innings worked giving up 12 hits and 7 runs and allowing 2 home runs. Quakes SP Chris Jimenez (3-0) wasn’t at his best but turned in a solid 7 inning of 7 hit 3 run ball to pick up the win. Seattle LF Carlos Carmona hit his 1st home run of the season. With the loss Seattle drops to 5-5 on the season and is now 2 games behind the Quakes in the Western Division. Quakes win 7-3
CF Collins 1-3 2BB SB (12), Carmona 1-4 HR, SS Weber 2-4, C Pardo 2-4

A - 22,038 T 2:57
POTG - RF Jorge Osorio San Francisco (3-5 HR 2R 2 RBI)

Game 2 (11)
Lineups
SF - 2B Sanchez, LF Garcia, SS Garcia, 3B Pederson, 1B Kearbey, RF Pollack, C Edgar, CF Sander, SP Battaglino
Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, LF Carmona, RF Henderson, C Pardo, SS Weber, P Martin

Seattle needed a stable pitching night and that is what they got from SP Jimmy Martin. He held the high octane Quakes offense in check over 7 innings despite giving up 10 hits. Kyle Gorman pitched the 9th for his 4th save of the season and James Smith pitched a scoreless 8th. Seattle C Adrian Pardo hit his 1st home run of the season, a 2-run shot in the 2nd inning to give the Tritents a 2-1 lead. They made it 4-2 after 3 innings when 3B Pena hit a 2-run double. Tridents win 5-3 to improve to 6-5 on the season.
P Martin 7IP 10H 3R 2ER 0BB 4K, SS Weber 2-4 R, 3B Pena 1-3 DB 2 RBI, C Pardo 1-4 HR 2RBI

A - 19,942 T - 2:54
POTG - SP Jimmy Martin Seattle

Game 3 (12)
Lineups
SF - LF Garcia, 1B Malpica, 2B Sanchez, RF Osorio, 3B Pederson, CF Sander, SS Garcia, C Edgar, SP Burke
Sea - LF Collins, 2B Marquez, LF Carmona, 1B Reed, 3B Pena, RF Jeoffrey, SS Weber, C Salazar, SP Conner

The rubber game of the series started off with a bang as SF 2B Leo Sanchez hit a 2-run home run of SP Ryan Conner. The Tridents came back in the bottom half of the 1st inning with their own 2-run shot as 1B Rob Reed hit his 2nd of the season. That’s all of the scoring in the first 6 innings, but things got interesting again in the 7th inning. Conner got 2 quick outs and then things unraveled as he gave up a single to Luis Garcia, then walked Curtis Malpica. On an 0-2 pitch Leo Sanchez singled and as the throw wasn’t cut off it also wasn’t in time to get Garcia at the plate. The runners moved up to 2nd and 3rd on the throw home. Jorge Osorio was intentionally walked to load the bases. Then Byran Pederson forced a full count walk to drive in another run to make it 4-2 Quakes. CF Sander flyed out to LF to end the inning but the damage was done. Could Seattle copy the first inning and find a couple of runs for themselves? The answer was a resounding YES! Carl Jeoffrey walked and then out of nowhere SS Adam Weber smashed a 2-run home run to once again tie the game 4-4. The game went to extra innings and the Quakes got a runner aboard on an error by RP Cesar Morin, but didn’t do anything with it. Bottom of the 10th with one out, LF Carlos Carmona became a Seattle legend as he hit a home run of the evening to walk off a 5-4 Tridents win in 10 innings.
LF Carmona 2-4 2HR 2R RBI, SS Weber 1-4 HR 2 RBI, 1B Reed 2-4 HR 2 RBI,

A - 19,698 T - 3:07
POTG - Leo Sanchez San Francisco

Weekly Summary
Well a 3-3 week at home isn’t what we had hoped for, and we had to rally for 2 straight to get to that mark. With the win we are effectively tied for 1st with the Quakes in the West, but have played 2 less games so we have the percentage point edge YAY!!!

1B Rod Reed seems to like hitting at home (maybe he will re-sign) going 8-22, but he only drove in 2 RBI’s with that lone home run. LF Carmona was 8-24 333 and had 2 doubles and 2 home runs to go along with 4 RBI’s and 3 runs scored. SS Adam Weber who we still have concerns about his bat, also went 8-24 and blasted a home run along with a double.

On the pitching side of things, Kyle Gorman has appeared in 6 games on the season and has yet to be scored upon. He is also a perfect 4-4 in save opportunities.

Minor leagues - All 3 minor league teams picked up 3 wins this week which was a sign of delight after watching Tacoma and El Paso combine to go 0-12 last week.

Next week we end the month with our first series against a team outside of the NAL Western Division as the Kansas City Greyhounds (3-10) come to town on Tuesday. The latter half of the week sees us venture off the West Coast as we head to Houston to take on the Oilers (7-5).

[DD Martin]

Monday April 27th through Sunday May 3rd 1970

With Monday we have an off-day before we continue our 10-game homestand with the last 3 games. The off-day keeps our pitching staff able to use a 4-man staff for now, but we will watch closely as we have 9 straight games. So far our pitchers have shown great stamina (love that about games before 2005 or so).

We are still looking for ways to improve our team but right now, no team is really in the market to do much. Of course Kansas City who is coming to town has the worst record in all of baseball so we will take a good hard look at their team while they are knocking around the mausoleum known as Sick(s) Stadium.

Kansas City Greyhounds (3-10) vs Seattle Tridents (7-5)

The Greyhounds have been brutal in the first 2 weeks of the season scoring the fewest runs (32) and giving up the most runs (66) in the North American League. They rank pretty much last in all categories and are 2-4 away from home. They are led by 1B Eric Kyger (24) who is hitting a respectable 298/370/732 on the season with 0 home runs and 6 RBI’s. Ancient RF Doug Weaver (39) is considered their next best player, which doesn’t bode well for the future. CF Grant McKenna (22) 262/347/752 checks in next. They look to have a great closer in Rodney Williams (24) but he hasn’t gotten a lot of work but did manage to save a game. We will see their outstanding pitcher Bobby Quezada on Thursday in game 3 of the series.

Probably Starting Pitching Matchups

Will Somerville (1-2 4.12 ERA) vs Tony Ballou (0-1 6.55 ERA)
Mike Wynns (2–1 4.79 ERA) vs Micah Garner (1-1 2.57 ERA)
Jimmy Martin (1-1 3.86 ERA) vs Bobby Quezada (1-0 2.14 ERA)

KC - SS J Kelleher, RF D Weaver, 1B E Kyger, CF G McKenna, 3B D Orejel, 2B S Eyring, LF G Ramirez, C M Marple, P M Garner

Sea - CF J Collins, 2B R Marquez, LF C Carmona, 1B R Reed, RF M McDonald, SS A Weber, C A Pardo, P W Somerville

Game 1 (13)

LF Carlos Carmona is quickly becoming a fan favorite here at Sicks Stadium, as with 2 outs in a tie game at 3, Carmona smashed a 3-run home run to give the Tridents a lead they would not lose. For Carmona it was his 3rd home run of the season while also driving in 4 RBI’s to give him a share of the team led with 12. Carmona’s blast made a winner out of young starting pitcher Will Somerville who went 8 solid if unspectacular innings giving up 8 hits and 3 runs. Somerville was victimized 2 home runs that allowed all the Greyhounds runs. Closer Kyle Gorman notched his 5th save of the season after only 13 games. 2B Marquez set a league record with 4 walks in a game. Seattle wins 6-3

LF C Carmona 3-5 1R, HR, 4 RBI’s SB, CF J Collins 2-4, 2DB, BB RBI, R, 2B R Marquez 0-1 4BB 2R, CL K Gorman 1IP 1H 0R S-5

A - 16,252, T - 2:54
POTG - Carlos Carmona, Seattle

KC has decided to mix up their rotation tonight and moves up game 3 SP Bobby Quezada to start tonight's contest. The question now will be who will start the final game of this series for Kansas City.

KC - SS J Kelleher, RF D Weaver, 1B E Keyger, CF G McKenna, 3B D Orejel, 2B S Eyring, LF S Rodgers, C M Marple, SP B Quezada

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

Game #2 (14)

Bad weather was around all night, but the really bad stuff came a bit to late for the Tridents. On what is best described as a poster for why Seattle needs a domed stadium, Wednesday night had it all. The game was played through a constant drizzle, but Seattle managed to lead 2-0 through 6 innings. The Greyhounds had hit only 2 home runs in their first 13 games, but managed their 3rd home run in 2 games in Seattle. The deciding blast was hit by SS Joe Kelleher who smacked his 3rd home run of the season, this one a 3-run shot that put the visitors ahead for good in the game that was called with 2 outs in the top of the 8th inning. Seattle SP Mike Wynns was not especially sharp giving up 4 walks to go along with 4 hits, but despite giving up the game losing home run, he was called the player of the game…..uh huh….My vote went to Kelleher of KC or even Quezada for the winning team. Kansas City wins 3-2 (top of 8th)

RF C Jeoffrey 2-2 BB, J Collins 1-3 HR R


A - 17,538 T - 3:23
POTG - SP Mike Wynns Seattle (2)

The answer to who will start this game for Kansas City was answered as the Greyhounds decided to skip Micah Garner altogether and Jon Lozoya (22) in the rubber match. Lozoya comes into the game with a 0-3 record and a 5.03 ERA.

Game #3 (15)
KC - SS J Kelleher, RF D Weaver, 1B E Kyger, CF G McKenna, 3B D Orejel, C M Marple, LF T Watson, 2B S Eyring, SP J Lozoya

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 J Martin

A shocking thing happened on this night, and no it wasn’t that it didn’t rain on the last day of April in Seattle. The shocking thing was Kansas City’s anemic offense erupted for 7 runs over the course of the 4th and 5th innings off SP Jimmy Martins and the unthinkable happened. Kansas City embarrassed Seattle 7-5 and took 2 of the 3 games of this series. LF Carlos Carmona tried to keep the Tridents in this game going 3-3 scoring 2 runs and driving in 2 more (14), but it was not enough for the hometown club who went 4-5 on this 9 game homestand. Not really much more to say as the team heads out of town with an 8-7 in a virtual 3-way tie with Portland (ugh) and San Francisco at the top of the NAL Western Division. Greyhounds win 7-5

LF C Carmona 3-3 2R 2 RBI

A - 16,955 T - 3:01
POTG - Carlos Carmona Seattle (2)


Seattle Tridents 8-7 @ Houston Oilers 9-6

We start the month of May on the road going down to Houston to take on the Oilers. The 9-6 Oilers are in 2nd place in the NAL Central division trailing 1st place St. Louis by ½ game. The Oilers are a +8 in run differential this season scoring the 3rd most runs in the NAL while giving up the 5th fewest 54. By contrast Seattle has scored 58, given up 58 for a 0 run differential and their 8-7 record appears justified. This series will have a battle of two of the best bullpens in the NAL with Houston coming in at #3 and Seattle at #1 (at least we are doing something well). Houston on the season has yet to taste defeat at home but has only played 2 games at home. Hopefully we can tag a few losses on that home ledger.

Probably Pitching Matchups

Ryan Conner 1-0 3.71 vs Antonio Solis 0-1 4.15
Will Somerville 2-2 3.90 vs Robert Padilla 0-0 0.00 (first start but has 5 scoreless relief IP)
Mike Wynns 2-2 4.13 vs David Paeth 1-1 4.82

Game #1 (16)
Sea - CF J Collins, 2B R Marquez, LF G Carmona, 1B R Reed, 3B A Pena, RF C Jeoffrey, SS A Weber, C M Salazar, SP R Conner

Hous - CF M Stahl, RF S Strate, LF J Bellard, SS J Hobock, 1B P Hoveling, 3B J Parker, C C Alleshouse, 2B N Bremer, P A Solis

Neither SP was sharp and neither got through 4 innings of work. Seattle SP Ryan Conner departed trailing 6-4 after 3 innings of misery, but he was not to be outdone by his Houston counterpart. Oilers SP Antonio Solis managed to get into the 4th, but also managed to only get 2 more out and trailing upon his exit 7-6. Once the starters got out of the way, the game settled down and eventually went into extra innings. The Tridents who banged out 18 hits in the ballgame lead by CF Joe Collins settling a league record with 5 hits in a game (5-6), also managed to strand 18 runners left on base. That eventually proved to be their downfall. But in the top of the 11th Seattle as LF Carlos Carmona hit a sac fly to score C Pardo and the Tridents had a 8-7 lead and handed the game to closer Kyle Gorman. It looked good, but Gorman for whatever reason tonight didn’t have it. Gorman gave up leadoff back to back doubles to tie the game and then gave up a game ending single to Justin Parker with 1 out to end the game. Oilers win 9-8 in 11 innings

CF J Collins 5-6 DB 2R 2 SB, 2B Marquez 1-4 3BB R RBI, 3B A Pena 3-6, C Pardo 2-4 DB, R

A - 15,306 T - 3:50
POTG - Houston SS John Hobock

Game #2 (17)

Sea - CF J Collins, 2B R Marquez, LF C Carmona, 1B R Reed, 3B A Pena, RF M McDonald, SS A Weber, C Pardo, SP W Somerville

Hous - CF M Stahl, RF S Strate, LF J Bellard, SS J Hobock, 1B P Hoveling, 3B J Parker, C A Alleshouse, 2B N Bremer, P R Padilla

Houston continued its winning ways at home as they improved their home record to 4-0, while Seattle dropped its 4th straight game and manager Brian Wilde appears to be searching for answers. Seattle led 2-1 through 4 ½ innings of play, but then a familiar issue came up. A Seattle starting pitcher gave up a big inning. Rookie Wes Somerville (2-3 4.96 ERA) coughed up 5 runs, including giving up a 2-run homer to LF Justin Bellard. The Tridents fought back in the 6th with 3 runs but didn’t manage anymore and fell to the Oilers by a score of 6-5. For the first time this season, Seattle has a losing record 8-9 trailing Portland and San Francisco by 1 game.

RF M McDonald 2-4 2R, CF J Collins 1-2 2BB 2CS, A Weber 1-4 DB 2 RBI

A - 17,798 T 2:38
POTG - Houston LF Justin Bellard

Game #3 (18)

Sea - CF J Collins, 2B R Marquez, LF C Carmona, 1B R Reed, 3B A Pena, RF C Jeoffry, SS A Weber, C M Salazar, P M Wynns

Hous - CF M Stahl, RF S Strate, SS J Hobock, 1B P Hoveling, 3B J Parker, LF A Ferrel, C G Simkin, 2B N Bremer, P D Paeth

What the Tridents needed was a great start from SP Mike Wynns. What did Seattle get? A fabulous outing from Mike Wynns. Wynns went 8 innings giving up just 6 hits and 1 walk and left the game with Seattle clinging to a 2-0 lead courtesy an RBI by 3 Pena, and a single by SS Weber. Manager Wilde handed the ball to closer Kyle Gorman who had saved his first 5 games of the season before blowing the extra inning lead in game 1. It wasn’t easy for Gorman, giving up a walk and two singles, but he managed to hold on and close the game out. Seattle breaks its 4-game losing streak to climb back to 500 on the season with a 2-0 Seattle win.

SP M Wynns 8IP 6H 0R 1BB 3K W (3-2 3.22), SS Weber 3-4 RBI, BB, SB 1B A Reed 2-4 R, RF C Joeffrey 2-4
A 15,903 T 2:43
POTG SP Mike Wynns Seattle 3


Comments - A very disappointing week. Knew the series in Houston would be rough but what was so difficult was losing that series at home against Kansas City. That is definitely the low point of the season so far.

Right now as we figured at the start of the season, starting pitching is our biggest challenge, well that and finding a catcher that could hit water if falling out of a boat. Our starting rotation is currently 10th in the NAL with a 4.24 ERA. Spring signing Mike Wynns has been the best of that group going 3-2 with a 3.22 ERA. Wynns is the only starter with a sub 4.00 ERA. We have high hopes for the future for Wes Somerville but he is only 18 years old and is having the sort of ups and downs one would expect from a teenager facing major league hitters. We haven’t needed a 5th starter yet, but we are carrying Manny Jiminian on the roster and he isn’t getting much work. I am tempted to talk to Manager Brian Wilde and discuss if we should give him a start at home against soft hitting Cincinnati this week.

I know I am complaining about our catching but to be honest Adrian Pardo (31) is doing a very good job defensively early on and has managed a 236 batting average. He only has 1 extra base hit out of his 13 hits and he doesn’t walk. As in he hasn’t walked yet this season in 17 games (13 starts). We will definitely have an eye on catching in the draft along with pitching. Honestly we are in need of young talent at all positions, but pitching, catching and surprisingly the entire outfield seems to be our highest needs.

1B Rob Reed has only driven in 3 RBI’s since the 10 he posted in week 1. His average is up to the mid-200’s and his on-base % is 388 so I shouldn’t be complaining. To be fair Carlos Carmona has been driving in everyone in front of him with a team leading 19 RBI’s.


On the farm - All the in action minor league teams are struggling for wins. Tacoma (AAA) and El Paso (AA) are both 6-13, while Fresno (A) are not much better at 7-12. We are keeping our eyes on several players at Tacoma right now. 2B Kurt Regan could be working his way into position to be called up. If he came up he would take over 2B over Rafael Marquez who while slashing 250/455/812 is struggling some in the field. But Marquez would probably stay in the lineup and get a shot in LF to replace struggling RF Mike McDonald (36) who is hitting under my wife’s weight at 132.

NAL Player of the Month (April) C Caleb Hamill Montreal 347/407/1060 4HR 18RBI 8 runs

NAL Pitcher of the Month - Chris Jimenez San Francisco 4-0 1.39 ERA 6BB 18K 32.1 IP

NAL Rookie of the Month -2B Leo Sanchez San Francisco 333/408/984 22-66 3DB, 2T, 3HR, 8 RBI, 13 R, 9BB

PL Player of the Month Chicago SS Jesus Morales 388/426/977 1HR 3DB T 12 RBI 9R

PL Pitcher of the Month SP Josh Travis (40) Cleveland 2-0 0.00 ERA 1.04 WHIP

PL Rookie of the Month Phoenix CF Adan Garcia 283/316/787 3HR 8 RBI, 6 RS

Seattle Players of the month
Player of the Month - LF Carlos Carmona 393/431/1091 3HR 14 RBI’s 8 R
Pitcher of the Month - CL Kyle Gorman 1-0 5 saves 0.00 ERA
Rookie of the Month - 3B Angelo Pena 240/333/613 0HR 4 RBI’s 3R

[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.

[DD Martin]

May 11th - May 17th 1970

The road trip continues as we fly to Canada and take on the Montreal Legends (10-15) before then turning the plane around to go back to the South and take on the Dallas Renegades (11-13). We do have an off-day on Thursday between the Montreal and Dallas series. Next week we will head east and fly into Atlanta to take on the Flames (12-13).

We are also preparing for something the NBA is calling a scouting combine. This will be a place where top amateur talent will gather in Florida for a huge showcase. Most of our front office (myself, AGM Shane Lowry, and Scouting Director Josh McDaniel will be going along with our rookie league skipper Dan Faught and other various scouts under McDaniel’s leadership. That trip will be next week so first we deal with the Legends.

As the team prepared to leave for Montreal, I called up OF Carlos Carmona’s agent and we started negotiating a deal. Carmona (31) had won the NAL player of the week award going 9-20 with 2 HR’s, 7 RBI’s and 8 runs scored. Pittsburgh had locked up their LF Houston Murphy (27) to a 4 year deal worth $780,000. The deal was Murphy was not putting up the numbers that Carmona had so far. Carmona’s agent started the conversation at 5 years $950,000 and we went 4 year’s $750,000 and added a vesting option for the 5th with 500 plate appearances to take the total to $925,000. The whole vesting option wasn’t working and before things got sideways we gave in on the 5 years, and ended up with just a straight $172,000 for each year for a 5 year $860,000 deal. The agent said he would talk with Carlos while the club was in Montreal and I made sure to get a hold of him as well. Hopefully in a few days we can have this contract wrapped up.

We would have other deals to look at as we had 21 out of our 36 players on the 40-man roster out of contract next season and potential free agents. Most of the league was in the same position and the extension offers to Houston and Carmona were the first ones that I could tell were in discussion.

Seattle Tridents (12-12) @ Montreal Legends (10-15)

The Legends have been anything but so far but because the entire Eastern Division is under 500 they are only 2 games out despite being 4th (last) in the division. They have lost 5 of their last 7 including 3 straight. We are finding the one team that has a worse starting rotation than we do by the numbers (ERA) as the Legends starters are giving up an ERA of 4.21. Their bullpen is even worse with a 5.64 ERA, so we should have an advantage if we can keep the game close.

The Legends do have a couple of solid hitters with 3B Milt Overstreet (294 5-14) and C Caleb Hamill (325 6-24). We will see their best starting pitcher in this series who is Jose Ramirez (1-3 3.53 ERA). Legend closer Angel Blanco has managed 1 save this year while sporting a 10.12 ERA.

The Legends have 2 pitchers on the DL in CL Ruben Lopez who they are sorely missing, he won’t be back until late July at best. They also have on the DL SP William Murillo who will miss the entire season with a torn UCL.

Probable Starting Pitchers
Ryan Conner 1-0 3.96 ERA vs Jose Ramirez 1-3 3.53 ERA
Wes Somervile 3-3 4.43 ERA vs Karl Anderson 2-2 4.06 ERA
Mike Wynns 4-2 2.91 ErA vs Jake Packingham 2-2 4.24 ERA

Seattle @ Montreal game 1 (25)

Sea - CF Collins, LF Jeoffrey, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, 2B Regan, SS Weber, C Salazar, P Conner

Mont - LF B Hayes, CF K Addison, 1B J del Angel, 3B M Overstreet, SS J Hank, C C Hamill, RF D Juarez, 2B M Kaprielian, P J Ramirez

The Seattle club came out swinging today smacking 16 hits and gave SP Ryan Conner the support he needed to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Conner went 8.2 IP giving up 8 hits and no runs as the Tridents bashed the Legends. 2B Kurt Regan went 4-5 with a run scored and an RBI as he raised his batting average to 417 on the season. LF Carl Jeoffrey went 3-5 with a run scored. 15 of the Tridents 16 hits were singles, and they also 3 walks off Legends pitching. Seattle wins 5-0
SP Ryan Conner 8.2IP 8H 0R 2BB 4K (W 2-0 3.23) 2B K Regan 4-5 RBI, R, SB, C Jeoffrey 3-5 R, 1B Reed 2-5 2 RBI, SS A Weber 3-5 RBI, C Sanchez 2-4 BB RBI

A - 12,133 T - 3:25
POTG - Seattle SP Ryan Conner

After the game I got word from Carmona’s agent that Carlos was very pleased with the offer and we can get the paperwork ready. Carlos also thanked me as well when I spoke to him. Buoyed by the success of the Carmona extension being received so well, I made plans to contact 2 of our other pending free agents in the next couple of days. You can bet that young SP Ryan Conner is one of them.

Seattle @ Montreal game 2 (26)

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

Mon - LF B Hayes, CF K Addison, 1B J del Angel, 3B M OVerstreet, SS J Hank, C C Hamil, RF D Juarez, 2B Kaprielian, SP K Anderson

As exciting as yesterday’s game was, todays game was a complete letdown and right now the media (rightfully so) are blaming or skipper Brian Wilde. In yesterday’s game, closer Kyle Gorman came in to pitch to 1 out to close out the game. With a 5-0 lead, maybe we could have used RP’s Morin or Lonnberg. Well Gorman (1-3 BS 3 3.38 ERA) paid the price for that 5 pitch outing as he was asked to go 2 full innings to close out this game with a 2-1 lead. The 8th went well, but in the 9th, with 1 out after Jason Hank singled, and PH Jack Hurst doubled, the game was tied. Carmona threw home and didn’t nail Hank at the plate and Hurst advanced to 3rd on the throw. With Juarez hitting a towering sac fly to end the game. Wasted a great out by Somerville who deserved a better fate. As well as Somerville pitched, Montreal’s SP was pretty solid too, going 7IP and giving up just 3 hits and 2 runs. Legends 3-2
SP W Somerville 7IP 6H 1R 2BB 3K, R Reed 2-4 R

A - 12,412 T - 2:29
POTG - Montreal SP Karl Anderson

As depressing as that game was, there was an interesting release from Vancouver that hit the free agent list. C Caleb Nowak who was hitting 333 in Calgary had been jettisoned for some reason. Vancouver did have 3 catchers on its 25 man roster and had lefty Paul Bostic who had started 21 of 28 games for them this season hitting 316/406/870. We on the other hand had a backup catcher starting in Pardo and Manny Salazar who probably wasn’t even that backing him up. The options at AAA Tacoma were Michael Douglas who was hitting 215 in Tacoma and was very unhappy (so were we) and the inept Willie Portuguez who if we sign Nowak will be DFA. The only reason Portuguez was in Tacoma is we didn’t feel we had anyone else at this time to bring up. So we offered Nowak a 40-man roster spot and a $25,000 salary. He understood he would start out at Tacoma, but he had a very good opportunity to be called up in the near future.

We also saw a potential player that elected free agency after he was not called up by Kansas City. 3B/2B Bobby Preciado (20) was signed to a minor league contract with a $3,800 bonus. He quickly signed the deal and we were glad to have him. He was hitting 283/366/871 with KC”s AAA farm club with 6 home runs and 14 RBI’s. He was immediately going to be sent to Tacoma and start playing.

Seattle @ Montreal
Game 3 (27)

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

Mon - LF B Hayes, CF K Addison, 1B J del Angel, 3B M Overstreet, SS J Hank, C C Hamil, RF D Juarez, 2B M Kaprielian, SP J Packingham

Seattle SP Michael Wynns went the short distance, but it was not a quality start by any means. Going 8 innings giving up 7 hits along with 6 walks is not going to get the job done on many dates, even against Montreal. We have a fully rested bullpen (besides Gorman’s 14) that has appeared only 19 times between them. And yet we don’t seem to use them, not even a little. Wynns gave up 2 runs in the 6th to make it 5-1 and honestly he should have called it a day then. We managed to score 3 runs in the last 2 innings to scare the fans in Montreal, but Blanco picked up his 2nd save of the season. Trident 3B Angelo Pena hit a home run and a double in the defeat. Montreal 5-4
3B A Pena 2-4 HR, DB 2RBI R

A - 11,873 T - 2:39

POTG - SP Jake Packingham Montreal

The club had an off day to lick its wounds and fly to Dallas. We had 6 more games on the road and honestly we needed at least a split to stay within a game of 500.

With the off-day I spent the day making phone calls. I called the agents for both SP Ryan Conner (26) and closer Kyle Gorman (28) despite the loss in Montreal. We set to work getting these guys extended as the trend was slowly picking up in the league. My thoughts were that so many teams will have lots of money to spend in the off-season that these guys could cost a lot more in the off-season. While it was early to start extending unproven pitchers I also realized that pitching was probably our achilles heel and we needed to lock up anyone who could be a solid contributor. Conner’s contract negotiation was fairly simple, and we went 5 years and $440,000 over those 5 seasons. Gorman was a little tougher but we ended up at 4 years and $430,000 total. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have these contracts signed along with the dry ink on Carlos Carmona’s deal which became official.

Seattle Tridents (13-14) @ Dallas Renegades (12-15)

A couple of 3rd place teams in the West and Central doing battle. Dallas was a mirror opposite team as they had strong pitching (2nd) and a poor offense (11th). The woeful Renegade offense was led by 35 year old 2B Nick Hurlbut who was hitting 352/419/876 on the season. Switch hitting 3B Edwin Corona and managed to hit 5 home runs, but was hitting 200 and only had 11 RBI’s. The only other hitter in the lineup that was close to Hurlbut, was LF Jared Provost who was also a switch hitter and batting 4th. Not exactly your typical clean up hitter with zero home runs and only 11 RBI’s, but he was hitting 333 on the year. Dallas’s strength was in its starting rotation and of course we’d see the top 3 in that rotation. Only #2SP Josh Doskocil was looking like he would fit in nicely with his 4.72 ERA on our rotation. Actually #3-5 had the best ERA’s.

Dallas had two on the DL with SP Carlos Garza (21) out another 4 months after having bone chips removed from his elbow. Also injured but not on the DL was RF Mike Fleckner with an unknown recovery.

Probable Starting Pitchers
J Martin 1-4 4.25 ERA vs D Gutierrez 3-3 3.59 ERA
R Conner 2-0 3.23 ERA vs J Doskocil 204 4.72 ERA
W Somerville 3-3 3.97 ERA vs S Sloan 1-0 2.57 ERA


Seattle @ Dallas
Game 1 (28)

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

Dal - LF J Provost, CF M Fleckner, 1B Hurlbut, 3B E Corona, 2B A de Luna, RF Ulloa, C D Garcia, SS B Morrow, SP D Guttierrez

The Tridents scored 3 early in the first and managed to bang out 22 hits against Dallas pitching. Leading the way was 1B Rob Reed who went 4-6 to raise his batting average on the season to 292. He also contributed 3 RBI’s (20 on the season) and scored 2 runs. RF Carlos Carmona who 2 doubles after a quiet Montreal series and scored 3 times. The beneficiary of all this offense was SP Jimmy Martin (2-4) who put together 7 decent innings giving up 4 runs (only 2 earned) on 6 hits. With the win the Tridents evened their season record at 14-14 but are trailing 1st place Portland by 4 games. Tridents win 13-5
1B Reed 4-6 3 RBI 2R, RF Carmona 3-5 2DB 3R 1RBI, 3B Pena 3-5 DB 2RBI R, SS Weber 3-4 2R 3 RBI’s SF, C Pardo 3-5 TP RBI R

A - 17,633 T - 3:25
POTG - Seattle 1B Rob Reed

Seattle @ Dallas
Game 2 (29)

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

Dal - RF M Fleckner, 3B E Corona, 2B N Hurlbut, LF J Provost, 1B J Ulloa, C D Garcia, SS B Morrow, CF P Willis , P J Doskocil

While yesterday saw Seattle bang out 22 hits, today saw both teams combine for just 14 with 4 doubles and a home run. Fortunately for Seattle they hit the home run a home run in the 1st (2) put the Tridents up 1-0 and Carlos Carmona hit a sac fly in the 7th to give Seattle a 2-1. SP Ryan Conner (who favors his contract extension offer) might want to ask for more money as he pitched his 3rd straight gem. In his last 3 starts he has been the POTG pitching 24.2IP18H 2R 7BB 13 K’s. He improves his record to 3-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.98. Trident Manager Brian Wilde was ecstatic after the game “That’s how you’re going to be successful in this league, it starts with pitching and it will always be pitching”. Seattle wins 2-1
SP R Conner (W 3-0) 7IP 5H 1R 2BB 5K, LF R Marquez 103 HR RBI R BB, Carmona 1-3 RBI, DB, Sac Fly

A - 16,835 T - 2:39
POTG - Seattle SP Ryan Conner

Seattle decided to give the entire rotation an extra days rest. We have been pushing with a 4 man unit and we have an awfully young couple of starters in that mix. So we went with Manny Jiminian (0-0 5.79 ERA) who had started only 1 game this season, and it wasn’t the best result. But having taken the first 2 games of the series, we decided to be more cautious.

Seattle @ Dallas
Game 3 (30)

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

Dal - RF M Fleckner, 3B E Corona, 2B N Hurlbut, LF J Provost, C D Garcia, 1B A de Luna, SS B Morrow, CF P Willis, P J Nelson

Clearly we are going to have to find a better #5 SP Manny struggled through 6 laborious innings giving up 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 runs (4 ER) and we got waffled. In Jiminian’s defense our defense was awful in this game with 3 errors and we were probably lucky it wasn’t much worse. Not much to say, the Tridents wasted 2 doubles from Carmona who didn’t score or drive in a run. 2B Kurt Regan hit his first career home run for Seattle……Dallas 7-1 C Carmona 2-4 2DB (14), K Regan 1-4 HR, RBI R E


A - 14,623 T - 2:58
POTG - Dallas CF Paul Willis

The week that was

Still no final papers signed. As mentioned SP Ryan Conner favors his deal, but closer Kyle Gorman hasn’t said a word yet. His agent assures me all is well. We did get the Carmona contract signed, sealed and delivered and picked up a couple of young players as free agents who are in Tacoma. A 3-3 week on the road, but it feels like it should have been at least 4-2 and maybe even 5-1. Only the last game played in Dallas was a definite loss.

We are looking for a 5th starter to plug into the club so that we are not wearing out our young arms constantly. Our top pitching prospect has been falling down the rankings (now 197). SP Dimitri Tillman (23) is 1-3 with a 2.98 ERA in 7 starts. He has been tremendous against right hand hitters, limiting them to an ERA 1.16 and a 1.16 WHIP as well. Lefties have been another story. He isn’t exactly happy in Tacoma as the Tugs are struggling with an 11-21 record having never really turned around the ship after a horrid start of the season. We will watch him closely but right now I’d prefer a veteran LHSP to compliment our rotation. We have our eyes on a few for various price points.