While the Quakes were holding on to win in Lancaster, 8-7 on Friday night, the 66ers’ comeback came up short at High Desert, falling 15-12 to the Mavericks.
The Quakes improved to 3-6 in the second half, while the Sixers dropped to 2-7.
The game had a playoff feel, with 3,275 fans in attendance on a Monday night.
The Quakes held the early 5-2 lead, but couldn’t hold it, despite a 5 for 5 performance by C.J. Retherford.
Poor pitching and poor defense led to six runs in the fifth and sixth inning and the High Desert Mavericks downed the Quakes 8-5.
The win gave the Mavericks the first-half South Division title in the game that served as a one-game tiebreaker with the Quakes.
Brad Miller’s single in the sixth inning tied the score 5-5, and John Hicks followed with a two-run single to give the Mavericks the lead for good.
The Mavericks scored six runs in the fifth and sixth, thanks to nine hits, one hit batter, two wild pitches, one error (and another hit that should’ve been an error) and a missed cutoff man.
The Quakes’ best chance to rally came in the eighth when Austin Gallagher and Bobby Coyle drew leadoff walks.
But Scott Wingo and pinch-hitter Chris Jacobs struck out and Leon Landry hit into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
Needing a win in 1 of their last 2 games of the first half to clinch the first-half title, the Quakes came up short in their first chance, losing 9-7 in 11 innings at High Desert on Friday night.
The Quakes lead the Mavericks by 1 game in the South Division first half with 1 to play. Should the Mavericks win on Saturday night in Adelanto, they would tie the Quakes for the first-half title. The teams would then have a 1-game playoff in the next scheduled meeting of the second half. That game is Monday, June 25 at High Desert.
Lancaster and Lake Elsinore are also 1 game back of the Quakes with one to play. But those two teams lose any tiebreaker scenarios and cannot win the first half.
I try not to criticize managerial moves, but I will in this case with Quakes manager Juan Bustabad.
Last year, the Quakes seemed destined from the first-half title from pretty early in the season.
This year, they weren’t on the first-half title radar until the last couple of weeks. Funny how a 10-1 stretch can change things.
Now, after Thursday’s 5-3 come-from-behind win at High Desert, the Quakes are 1 win away from a first-half South Division title for the second year in a row.
The Quakes (37-31) lead High Desert, Lake Elsinore (which lost to Bakersfield late Thursday) and Lancaster (all 35-33) all by two games with two to play.
As I understand it, even though all 4 of those teams, or 3 of those teams could finish the first half in a tie, only the Quakes and High Desert can win the first-half title. That’s because Lake Elsinore and Lancaster both lose on any tiebreaker scenarios, whether they are involved in a 3-way or 4-way tie.
So, if High Desert wins the next two games, the Quakes and High Desert would have a one-game playoff in the first game in the second half between the teams. That game is June 25 at High Desert. Of course, the Quakes can eliminate any tiebreaker scenarios just by winning Friday or Saturday at High Desert.
The Cal League season opens next Thursday. Usually, it’s several days after the big leaguers start, but this time the Cal League actually opens before some big league teams, like the Angels, who open on Friday. The 66ers open at the Quakes on April 5.
No rosters are out yet but Here are some possibilities of players it would be interesting to see:
Alex Freedman, who had been the Mavericks broadcaster for the last several seasons, will not be broadcasting games for the 2011 season for the team.
The new owners of the Mavericks have apparently changed the position, effictively eliminating a fulltime broadcaster.
Freedman had originally served as the Mavericks’ No. 2 broadcaster under Jon Rosen beginning in the 2007 season, then succeeded Rosen when Rosen left for other opportunities I believe for the 2008 season.
Freedman writes that William Calvert, who had broadcast games for Bakersfield and Lancaster in the last couple of years, will broadcast weekend Mavericks home and commuter games on the internet for the 2011 season.
The Quakes didn’t need to win Wednesday. They had already clinched a playoff spot earlier in the evening, thanks to Lancaster’s loss to Lake Elsinore.
But they didn’t lay down, either. Trailing the Mavericks 8-2 in the fifth inning the Quakes scored two runs in the fifth, two in the seventh, one in the eighth and two in the ninth to win 9-8 at the Epicenter on Mike Trout’s four-pitch walk-off walk with two outs. Gabe Jacobo’s team-leading 21st homer of the season leading off the inning had tied the score.
It was the second time this season the Quakes rallied to win after trailing by as many as six runs. On July 12, also at home and also against the Mavericks, the Quakes trailed 7-1 in the sixth before rallying to win 8-7 on Clay Fuller’s RBI single with one out in the ninth.
The offense will get much of the credit for Wednesday’s win, and deservedly so. Trout had two hits, including a home run, and drove in three. Jacobo was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Angel Castillo hit his 20th homer, a two-run shot, in the comeback.
But the bullpen was just as important. Michael Piazza and Matt Meyer (1-0) combined to pitch 4 1/3 hitless innings of relief after starter Orangel Arenas couldn’t make it through the fifth.
After building the 8-2 lead, the Mavericks managed only one baserunner over the final four innings, a two-out walk by Jake Shaffer in the sixth. Piazza and Meyer then retired the final 10 Mavericks they faced.
The regular season ends on Monday and the Quakes and Mavericks will face each other in the first round beginning Wednesday. It remains to be determined which team will host the best-of-three first round series.
After an off-day Wednesday (the last of the first half), both the Quakes and 66ers return home from road trips on Thursday. The Quakes went 5-2 on a seven game road trip to Visalia and San Jose and will play host to Lancaster for a four-game series that starts Thursday.
The 66ers went 2-1 on a brief trip to Lancaster, and return home to host High Desert on Thursday.
In that game, the Sixers are expected to have two Dodgers pitchers making rehabiliation assignments: left-hander George Sherrill and right-hander Vicente Padilla.
Padilla, who hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers since April 22, has been on the disabled list with nerve irritation in his throwing arm. He is expected to start Thursday’s game for the 66ers. Sherrill (back), who made his first appearance for the Sixers on Tuesday, allowing one run in one inning, is expected to follow Padilla in Thursday’s game.
Since the six month waiver for Brett Sports to sell the High Desert Mavericks expired almost two weeks ago, the question has been, what next?
The Bretts announced their intention to sell the Mavericks last spring when they announced they were buying the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. That was required by California League and Minor League Baseball rules; one owner cannot own two teams in the same league.
Both Minor League Baseball and the California League have granted extensions to the Bretts to sell the team.
“Bobby has been trying diligently to sell the team,” California League president Charlie Blaney said.
Blaney would not comment on how long the extension is for, or how the league vote went, but “the league is very supportive of Bobby.” Blaney said that since the Bretts took control of the Quakes in August, no teams have been sold in minor league baseball.
There have been situations in the past where the league would take control of a league franchise, including I believe, Bakersfield with the California League a few years ago. But Blaney said this is not one of those situations.
“It would be a possibility, if they couldn’t pay their bills or were having trouble financially, but that’s not applicable here,” Blaney said.
