Everett Aqua Sox 0 Vancouver Canadians 5
I had a good time at the Vancouver game tonight, likely a better time that most had watching the Jays lose.
Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium is a really pretty ballpark. They say it seats 5132, but the announced attendance tonight was 4,833 and it looked to me like It was about 3/4 full. Like many minor league parks, most of the people sitting around me were more interested in socializing than the baseball game, there wasn't all that much notice of the game going on in front of them.
I really liked the park, lots of good choices for food. Good beers from the Granview Island Brewing Company and Whistler Brewers, much better choices than just some generic national brands. Lots of food choices too, normal ball park fare, peanuts and popcorn (the popcorn was really good, very fresh) to things like sushi and more.
The manual scoreboard is a nice touch and they had a good size 'JumboTron' to show replays and used it a lot, which I appreciated when I missed something on my scorecard.. Foul ground is pretty narrow, so you get to sit pretty close to the action.
In the game itself, the Canadians scored 4 runs, batting around, in the first inning. Singles by Ian Parmley, Kellen Sweeney, Jorge Flores, Balbino Fuenmayor and Dan Klein, and a double by Matt Newman was more than enough offence for the win. They got one more run in the 8, Balbino Fuenmayor walked (Balbino is hitting .271 with a .453 SA, maybe he'll fight his way back to being looked at as a prospect again), Matt Newman beat out a bunt single then Dwight Smith singled home Balbino. The Candians had 10 hits and 1 walk. 2 each for Sweeney and Newman.
I was all set to complain about Art Charles, he struck out his first two times up, and didn't look good doing it, but then his 3rd at bat, he hit a double off the base of the center field wall, 385 feet away, the hardest hit of the night. He popped in his last at bat.
They also struck out 9 times, but I think the sun going down had some to do with that. Neither team did much offensively in the middle innings, when it seemed to take a bit for the light to take effect.
Javier Avendano looked good, going 6 innings, getting the start. 4 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. His fastball seemed to stay in the 90-92 range according to the scoreboard. He was helped out by 4 double plays, in the 6 innings. One was really nice, 2 out, no outs in the 6th, a line drive that Fuenmayor made a nice catch on, going back towards the bag, easily doubling off the runner there, then throwing to 2nd, just missed the triple play by a hair.
Colton Turner pitched the 7th and 8th, striking out the side around a single in the 8th. Dominic Leone struck out the side in the 9th. Again, lighting may have had something to do with the 22 total strikeouts between the 2 teams. The last 6 outs for Everett were on strikeouts.
As well as some nice double plays, Dwight Smith, Jr made a good catch coming in a ball in LF in the 7th, showing good range.
The Canadians are 15-9, good for 1st place in the Northwest League West division's second half race. They came in 3rd in the first half.