Hope everybody had a safe and happy 4th. We had a good one over here.

Great time at Elsinore Wednesday night. Beautiful evening, some good baseball, a fireworks show. What could be better?

The crowd of 5925 was out to have some fun. A bunch of folks were blowing those horns that Montreal fans blow. In fact, if it weren’t for all the people, I’d have sworn I was at an Expos game. Thank you, I’ll be here all week.

Flamethrowing right-hander Bobby Jenks started for the Quakes. Scouts were out in full force. At least four had their guns on for Jenks’ first-inning warmup tosses. Once the game started, he ran 93-97 with the fastball, which he threw–I’m guessing–about 80% of the time.

Jenks is a very large kid, generously listed at 225 lbs. He’s built kind of like Milwaukee’s Ruben Quevedo. Jenks throws very hard, has no command, and appears to suffer from lapses in concentration. One scout behind me noted that while Thunder, the Storm mascot, was working the crowd into a frenzy, Jenks actually looked up to see what was going on in the stands. I thought he was being facetious, so I watched for myself and he did it again. Right before he looked in to get the sign from his catcher. Did I mention there were 5925 people in attendance?

John Sickels, in his 2002 book, says of Jenks that “he’s the closest thing you’ll find in real life to Nuke LaLoosh, except that Nuke probably threw more strikes.” I hadn’t read this comment prior to the game, but I have to admit, the comparison crossed my mind more than once during the game. I can’t think of a current big-league pitcher Jenks reminds me of. Going back a few years, maybe Eric Plunk.

Jenks’ final line for the night: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 5 SO. There were only a couple of balls hit real hard; most of the hits were grounders that missed infielders. Oh, and one more thing about Jenks: he couldn’t hold runners on base. The Storm stole 7 bases in 10 attempts, and I believe they were 5 for 6 with Jenks in there.

On the Elsinore side, right-hander Mike Bumstead worked six solid innings for the victory. Marcus Nettles singled, drew three walks, and stole a base. He also was caught stealing third with a 6-2 lead in the eighth. One of the scouts behind me couldn’t believe he tried that, but the guy sitting next to him pointed out that this is A-ball and the Pads might be having Nettles run as much as possible so that he can develop into a top-notch leadoff hitter. An interesting angle that I myself had not considered.

To close the game, the Storm brought in two flamethrowers of their own. Right-hander Mike Nicolas worked a perfect eighth, featuring a 94-97 MPH fastball and a breaking ball that looked better than I’d remembered. Then the new closer, southpaw Rusty Tucker, finished the game with a scoreless ninth.

Tucker is an interesting one. The Pads picked him out of the University of Maine in the 21st round of the 2001 draft. The 21-year-old out of Gloucester, Mass., has a live arm: his fastball came in 93-96 MPH, and his slider had some serious tilt to it. Tucker’s stuff and stature (he’s 6-1, 190) call to mind Houston’s Billy Wagner. And talk about coming out of nowhere; how’s this for improvement:

Year  Lvl  IP    H  R ER HR BB SO  ERA
2001   R+  35.1 41 41 28  - 50 43 7.13
2002    A  35.2 19  8  4  2 10 50 1.01

Not what you’d call a blue-chipper at this point, but someone worth watching.

The Storm ended up winning the game, 6-2. Center fielder Todd Donovan collected two hits, including his first double of the season, which scored all the fine folks in section 101 a free Double-Double from In ‘N’ Out. How cool is that?

In other baseball news, do you suppose the White Sox regret trading Josh Fogg and Kip Wells to Pittsburgh for Todd Ritchie?

Name   Age    IP   H  R ER HR BB SO W  L  ERA
Fogg    25 103.2  95 42 41 16 25 54 9  6 3.56
Wells   25 104.0  92 37 34  7 38 68 9  5 2.94
Ritchie 30 106.1 129 77 64 15 36 61 5 10 5.42

Ouch…