X's stay in the chase
By Steven Allspach, Journal sports writer | Posted: Monday, August 06, 2007
Three hits, three runs, 72 pitches from Cameron Cheek and a pre-game meeting with the manager.
That's all it took for the Sioux City Explorers to hand El Paso a Texas-sized whipping that loomed larger than the 3-1 outcome in the American Assocation baseball game Sunday at Lewis and Clark Park.
Cheek, now 4-0, spaced six hits and turned in the best seven-inning stint by a Sioux City pitcher this season.
The side-arming righthander delivered just 72 pitches and left after the seventh with a 2-1 lead. He had no strikeouts and didn't walk a batter while keepingt El Paso batters off-balance.
The former Southern Illinois-Edwardville collegian retired the Diablos in order in the third, fifth and sixth innings. He faced only four batters in the second and seventh. He faced five in the fourth when the South Division first-half champs got two hits.
"My two-seamer (fastball) and changeup were working best,'' confided Cheek. "Shea (catcher Shea Harris) called a great game. We tried to keep them guessing as much as we could.''
The Explorers fell 10-6 Saturday in a game that because of a long rain delay, didn't end until 12:27 a.m. Sunday. Their performance drew the ire of Sioux City Manager Ed Nottle, who read the riot act to his athletes prior to the matinee.
"It was something we all needed and deserved,'' said Cheek of the pre-game confab. "The skipper let us know in no uncertain terms we needed better effort and better attitude than we showed Saturday.
"I know the meeting fired me up.''
"Cameron Cheek was outstanding, but he's been outstanding since the day he put on the uniform,'' said Nottle. "He's a hard worker and willing to work on what it takes to improve.
"Yes, we did have a little meeting. I wasn't at all happy with the way we played Saturday and I just wanted them to realize we've still got a shot at this (second-half pennant flag), but it won't happen with the effort we had in that game."
The win improved Sioux City's record to 17-13 in the North Division. The X's still trail St. Paul by 2.5 games after the Saints outlasted Sioux Falls Sunday, 15-14.
El Paso (16-13) opens a four-game series tonight in St. Paul.
The X's solved El Paso ace Greg Wiltshire for two runs in the second. The wacky inning saw Diablos Manager Butch Henry and pitcher Justin Knoff ejected by plate umpire Tim McCaffrey. The X's added an insurance tally in the eighth.
Wiltshire, the league's winningest pitcher, slipped to 11-5 while giving up just two hits and two runs in six innings. The righthander had gone at least five innings in 16 previous starts and worked six or more innings in 15 of those.
He struck out seven, but walked five after averaging just over two free passes in his previous 111.2 innings.
And, for the second time in three games, the Explorers got the best of two of the most effective pitchers in the league.
In a 6-2 win Friday night, the X's saddled Josh Neitz with his fourth loss in 10 decisions. El Paso, though, hadn't lost in the previous 11 starts for the righthander, who had gone 5-0 with six no-decisions since June 4.
In the second, Sioux City's Jorge Moreno walked and scored when Alex Llanos singled to center and Kory Drew overthrew third. Moreno was awarded home because of the error and Llanos was given third. That touched off Henry.
Llanos then dashed home when the Diablos picked off Paul Weichard between second and third.
"I really didn't say a word to him (McCaffrey) while I was walking off,'' said Henry. "I was arguing that their runner shouldn't have been allowed an extra base when they scored two runs in that inning.
"It happened after that. But, that's baseball. I was defending my guys.''
The X's got their third run in eighth when Moreno walked, stole second and third and scored when a Llanos grounder went through the legs of first baseman Juan Camacho for an error.
A nifty defensive play by Llanos prevented the Diablos from scoring in the seventh.
Cheek retired the first two batters, then Logan Wood doubled into the corner in left.
Llanos fielded a sharp grounder up the middle by Albenis Machado. Llanos whirled to throw to first, but couldn't pull the trigger and alertly fired to third to get Wood who had rounded the bag and couldn't get back in time and was tagged for the third out.
Machado was given an infield single. It was Wood's second double of the game and 14th of the season. Coming into the contest the No. 9 batter in the lineup was hitting .236 with 10 homers and 93 strikeouts.
Two Sioux City errors led to an El Paso unearned run in the first inning.
Machado reached when Llanos booted a routine grounder at second and was sacrificed to second. On a Jorge Alvarez grounder to Ray Navarro at short, Machado was safe at third when Brandon Jones dropped Navarro's throw.
Cheek fielded Camacho's combacker and threw out Machado at home, but Walter Olmstead's lazy grounder up the middle went for a single that scored Alvarez.
Brett Reid worked the eighth for the X's. Matt Wilkinson got his ninth save despite loading the bases on three singles before striking out Drew to end the game.
X'S AND OH'S: The Explorers put all-star shortstop Nick McCoola on the disabled list Sunday and released pitcher Rory James. The 6-foot-9 James was 1-6 with a 6.70 ERA. He appeared in 23 games with five starts and four saves. In 49 2/3 innings he struck out 47 and walked 25....
After El Paso's Henry was ejected in the second, later in the inning McCaffrey also tossed Diablos pitcher Justin Knoff, who was heckling from the dugout. Knoff (3-0) is the scheduled starter tonight when El Paso opens a series at St. Paul. Ryan Medrano, Henry's assistant, took over managing duties. Another Diablo veteran, Australian catcher Matt Kent, was the player-manager at Kalamzoo of the Frontier League a few seasons ago....
Evan Conley, normally El Paso's everyday second baseman, made his second straight start at third base Sunday. Meanwhile, Alvarez started his second straight game at second for the Diablos. Before reaching on a fielder's choice and scoring in the first, Alvarez had collected 10 hits in his previous 20 at-bats.
That's all it took for the Sioux City Explorers to hand El Paso a Texas-sized whipping that loomed larger than the 3-1 outcome in the American Assocation baseball game Sunday at Lewis and Clark Park.
Cheek, now 4-0, spaced six hits and turned in the best seven-inning stint by a Sioux City pitcher this season.
The side-arming righthander delivered just 72 pitches and left after the seventh with a 2-1 lead. He had no strikeouts and didn't walk a batter while keepingt El Paso batters off-balance.
The former Southern Illinois-Edwardville collegian retired the Diablos in order in the third, fifth and sixth innings. He faced only four batters in the second and seventh. He faced five in the fourth when the South Division first-half champs got two hits.
"My two-seamer (fastball) and changeup were working best,'' confided Cheek. "Shea (catcher Shea Harris) called a great game. We tried to keep them guessing as much as we could.''
The Explorers fell 10-6 Saturday in a game that because of a long rain delay, didn't end until 12:27 a.m. Sunday. Their performance drew the ire of Sioux City Manager Ed Nottle, who read the riot act to his athletes prior to the matinee.
"It was something we all needed and deserved,'' said Cheek of the pre-game confab. "The skipper let us know in no uncertain terms we needed better effort and better attitude than we showed Saturday.
"I know the meeting fired me up.''
"Cameron Cheek was outstanding, but he's been outstanding since the day he put on the uniform,'' said Nottle. "He's a hard worker and willing to work on what it takes to improve.
"Yes, we did have a little meeting. I wasn't at all happy with the way we played Saturday and I just wanted them to realize we've still got a shot at this (second-half pennant flag), but it won't happen with the effort we had in that game."
The win improved Sioux City's record to 17-13 in the North Division. The X's still trail St. Paul by 2.5 games after the Saints outlasted Sioux Falls Sunday, 15-14.
El Paso (16-13) opens a four-game series tonight in St. Paul.
The X's solved El Paso ace Greg Wiltshire for two runs in the second. The wacky inning saw Diablos Manager Butch Henry and pitcher Justin Knoff ejected by plate umpire Tim McCaffrey. The X's added an insurance tally in the eighth.
Wiltshire, the league's winningest pitcher, slipped to 11-5 while giving up just two hits and two runs in six innings. The righthander had gone at least five innings in 16 previous starts and worked six or more innings in 15 of those.
He struck out seven, but walked five after averaging just over two free passes in his previous 111.2 innings.
And, for the second time in three games, the Explorers got the best of two of the most effective pitchers in the league.
In a 6-2 win Friday night, the X's saddled Josh Neitz with his fourth loss in 10 decisions. El Paso, though, hadn't lost in the previous 11 starts for the righthander, who had gone 5-0 with six no-decisions since June 4.
In the second, Sioux City's Jorge Moreno walked and scored when Alex Llanos singled to center and Kory Drew overthrew third. Moreno was awarded home because of the error and Llanos was given third. That touched off Henry.
Llanos then dashed home when the Diablos picked off Paul Weichard between second and third.
"I really didn't say a word to him (McCaffrey) while I was walking off,'' said Henry. "I was arguing that their runner shouldn't have been allowed an extra base when they scored two runs in that inning.
"It happened after that. But, that's baseball. I was defending my guys.''
The X's got their third run in eighth when Moreno walked, stole second and third and scored when a Llanos grounder went through the legs of first baseman Juan Camacho for an error.
A nifty defensive play by Llanos prevented the Diablos from scoring in the seventh.
Cheek retired the first two batters, then Logan Wood doubled into the corner in left.
Llanos fielded a sharp grounder up the middle by Albenis Machado. Llanos whirled to throw to first, but couldn't pull the trigger and alertly fired to third to get Wood who had rounded the bag and couldn't get back in time and was tagged for the third out.
Machado was given an infield single. It was Wood's second double of the game and 14th of the season. Coming into the contest the No. 9 batter in the lineup was hitting .236 with 10 homers and 93 strikeouts.
Two Sioux City errors led to an El Paso unearned run in the first inning.
Machado reached when Llanos booted a routine grounder at second and was sacrificed to second. On a Jorge Alvarez grounder to Ray Navarro at short, Machado was safe at third when Brandon Jones dropped Navarro's throw.
Cheek fielded Camacho's combacker and threw out Machado at home, but Walter Olmstead's lazy grounder up the middle went for a single that scored Alvarez.
Brett Reid worked the eighth for the X's. Matt Wilkinson got his ninth save despite loading the bases on three singles before striking out Drew to end the game.
X'S AND OH'S: The Explorers put all-star shortstop Nick McCoola on the disabled list Sunday and released pitcher Rory James. The 6-foot-9 James was 1-6 with a 6.70 ERA. He appeared in 23 games with five starts and four saves. In 49 2/3 innings he struck out 47 and walked 25....
After El Paso's Henry was ejected in the second, later in the inning McCaffrey also tossed Diablos pitcher Justin Knoff, who was heckling from the dugout. Knoff (3-0) is the scheduled starter tonight when El Paso opens a series at St. Paul. Ryan Medrano, Henry's assistant, took over managing duties. Another Diablo veteran, Australian catcher Matt Kent, was the player-manager at Kalamzoo of the Frontier League a few seasons ago....
Evan Conley, normally El Paso's everyday second baseman, made his second straight start at third base Sunday. Meanwhile, Alvarez started his second straight game at second for the Diablos. Before reaching on a fielder's choice and scoring in the first, Alvarez had collected 10 hits in his previous 20 at-bats.
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