June 30, 2007

AquaSox Notebook

Everett AquaSox manager Mike Tosar deemed Everett's first road trip of the season a success.

Everett went 3-2 in its recent five-game trip to Tri-City, and despite losing the final two, Tosar was happy with what he saw.

"The effort was there in all five games," Tosar said. "We competed very well. They were all good ballgames and fundamentally we played solid. We just couldn't get the hit when we needed it the last two games."

The series was characterized by close games, as four of the five were either tied or one-run games in the eighth inning.

The big difference between the first three games and the final two was clutch hitting. In the first three, the Sox got the hits when they needed them late in the game, scoring 10 runs in the final two innings. Twice that resulted in late comeback victories.

However, those late-inning heroics dried up in the final two games as Everett never scored after the fifth inning in either contest.

"We got off to a great start, taking the first three games," Tosar said. "We had three things going: We got pitching, defense and offense the first three games.

"The last couple days, offensively we couldn't really get anything going," Tosar continued. "We had some opportunities to score, but couldn't come up with the hit and had trouble putting the ball in play (28 strikeouts in the final two games). That's what we were focusing on (Friday), fundamentals and attacking our two-strike approach."

Roster shuffle: Two pitchers out, one pitcher in.

Everett lost a pair of hurlers during their trip to Tri-City when right-handers Shawn Kelley and Keith Renaud were promoted to Wisconsin of the full-season single-A Midwest League. However, the Sox received a replacement Friday in the form of right-hander Bryan Harris.

Neither Kelley nor Renaud was around long enough to make much of an impression. Kelley appeared in three games with Everett, giving up one run in three innings. Renaud only appeared once for the Sox, surrendering three runs in 11/3 innings.

The 23-year-old Harris was the Seattle Mariners' 22nd-round pick in this year's draft out of Cal State Fullerton. As a senior this spring, the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder from Tustin, Calif., appeared in 18 games (one start), going 2-3 with a 2.65 ERA and three saves.

Short hops: Going into Friday night's game, Everett center fielder Gregory Halman had hit safely in all 10 of the Sox's games. ... Right fielder Kalian Sams is mired in a horrific slump. Going into Friday, Sams was hitless in his last 28 at bats. ... The Sox committed two errors in Thursday's game at Tri-City, snapping a streak of seven straight errorless games. ... Based on early returns it appears the strength is in the west this season. Through Friday every team in the West Division had a winning record and every team in the East Division had a losing record.

Nick Patterson, Herald writer