W L Pct GB
Vancouver ... 10 5 .667 —
Spokane ...... 9 6 .600 1
Lewiston ..... 9 6 .600 1
Victoria ..... 8 6 .571 1½
Yakima ....... 9 7 .563 1½
Salem ........ 8 8 .500 2½
Edmonton ..... 6 6 .500 2½
Wenatchee .... 6 9 .400 4
Calgary ...... 4 8 .333 4½
Tri-City ..... 4 12 .250 6½
WENATCHEE, May 13 — The Vancouver Capilanos made a clean sweep of their three-game series with the Wenatchee Chiefs here Thursday night by turning back the Chiefs 7-3 behind the eight-hit pitching of George Nicholas.
Among the hits was a solo homer by Tommy Munoz in the third which put Wenatchee ahead 1-0. The Caps tied the game in the fourth and moved ahead with a pair of runs in Marv Williams' triple in the fifth.
Vancouver added two more in the sxth when Nicholas singled. Kenny Richardson homered for Vancouver in the seventh, and the Caps added a single run in the eighth.
The visitors took Wenatchee pitchers Ted Shandor and Frankie De Carolis for 14 hits. Williams had four of them.
The win was the fifth straight for Vancouver.
Vancouver ........ 000 122 110—7 14 0
Wenatchee ....... 001 000 110—3 6 3
Nicholas and Duretto; Shandor, De Carolis (8) and Jenney.
KENNEWICK [Tri-City Herald, May 14]—Tri-City fans may get the answer to one question tonight when the Braves open a four-game series with the Victoria Tyees at Sanders Field.
The question is: Are the Braves that bad or have they just been playing the top of the league all along?
Even the Tyees, generally picked to finish somewhere along in the middle of the league, have beaten the Braves three limes in three games this season, but those Tri-City losses were one and two-run affairs.
Nothing like the defeats handed them by league-leading Vancouver and the 12-2 loss to top-ranked Spokane Thursday night at Sanders Field.
Game time for the Victoria series opener is 7:30 p.m. The two teams will play a single game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. again and a doubleheader Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Pitcher Walt Clough probably will start against the all right handed hitting lineup of Victoria batters tonight. Tri-City playing manager Edo Vanni was not around after the Spokane game Thursday night to name his starters since Edo, for the second time this week, was chased to the showers by ump Mike Runyun.
Like the night before, the ouster came in the top of the ninth inning. The ruckus came about after a two-men-on-third situation.
The argument was one mostly of principle since the Braves were 11 runs behind at the time and a 12-run ninth-inning rally off the pitching of Spokane’s John Anderson didn’t seem very likely.
Spokane’s Anderson, who pitched a six-hit ball to rack up his fourth complete game and win in four starts, had a safe lead from the very start, thanks to homers in the first and second inning by Charlie Ruddock, Spokane shortstop. The blows, the second a bases-loaded smash, came off starting pitcher Bud Guldborg.
Guldborg was taken out after the second one and Dale Thomason look over. Thomason gave up two more runs in the seventh and was taken out for a pinchitter in the bottom of the inning.
Earl Lemieux pitched the final inning. He had the bases loaded and none away when Bob Vossem, batting for Wil Hafey, swatted a short fly to Bob Moniz in right field.
Eddie Murphy, on third base, held but Anderson on second went to third. Vic Buccola took Moniz’ throw from the outfield and trapped the runners on third. Murphy was called out but Tri-City players and Vanni contended Anderson should had been out too.
It was this row that led to Vanni’s ouster.
Anderson had a perfect game going into the fifth but then gave up a double to Sam Kanelos and a single to Len Tran for one run. Tri-City’s ninth inning run came on two walks and a single by pinchhitter Terry Carroll.
- - -
KENNEWICK, May 13 — The big bat of Charley Ruddock powered the Spokane Indians to a 12-2 Western International League victory over the hapless Tri-City Braves here Thursday night.
Ruddock drove in seven runs with two homers in the first two innings.
Ted Hesse, acquired from Schenectady of the Class A Eastern League, made his bow in right field for the Indians and contributed two singles in the 15-hit attack.
Spokane ....... 440 000 211—12 15 1
Tri-City ........ 000 010 001— 2 6 5
Anderson and Dean; Guldborg, Thomason (2), Lemieux (9) and Warren.
SALEM, May 13 — Lewiston made it three in a row here Thursday night pounding three Salem pitchers for a 10-4 Western International League victory.
Veteran Pacific Coast League pitcher Grumpy Guy Fletcher turned in a six-hitter in his WIL debut for the Broncs.
Lewiston ....... 002 020 212—10 13 0
Salem ........... 000 010 030— 4 6 2
Fletcher and Garay; Peterson, Briggs (1), Borst (6) and Ogden.
YAKIMA [Victoria Colonist, May 14]—Victoria Tyees, whose hitting was as frigid as the near-freezing Yakima temperatures in the first two games of the series, broke loose at the plate last night to smother the Bears, 12-3, and salvage the final game of the series with some timely hitting.
Held to six hits and only one run in the first two games as they wasted good pitching, the Tyees presented a changed line-up and batting order last night and scored enough runs in the first inning to win it.
MAKES CHANGES
Manager Don Pries not only changed his batting order but made three infield switches. He benched second-baseman Ron Jackson, sent third-baseman [Steve Mesner] to the keystone, moved from first base to the hot corner himself and gave Art Seguso his first starting assignment as a first-baseman.
And, adding the last touch to a successful evening, was steady pitching by Bob Drilling, who has been hit hard in his previous starts. It was the third successive game that the Tyees had received top-notch pitching, Bill Bottler and Bill Prior losing to the Bears because Tyees bats were stifled in the first two games.
Following a pre-game meeting, the Tyees went out and scored five runs in the first inning. Dain Clay walked, Mesner singled, Seguso singled, Eddie Lake walked, Joe Joshua singled and Milt Martin singles and the Tyees were ahead to stay.
Three runs in the sixth on two bases on balls, a single and a mighty triple by Tom Perez made it safe and the Tyees wound up with three runs in the ninth.
Perez, with two singles, led the Tyees at the plate. Martin batted in three runs to increase his total to 16 while Perez drove in two teammates.
Tyees move on to Tri-City for a three-game series with the Braves with Hal Flinn almost certain to start in the first game tonight.
Victoria ........ 500 103 003—12 10 1
Yakima ......... 200 000 001— 3 8 2
Drilling and Martin; Schaening. Carter (6) and Summers.
Sports Notes
BY GIL GILMORE
[Tri-City Herald, May 14, 1954]
Releasing Player isn’t Easy
Usually, releasing a ballplayer is one of the more unpleasant tasks for the Braves’ management. It is something akin to firing a man, with one difference. When an employer boots an employee, it’s usually because of something he has done — with a ball club the player is released simply because someone has come along who appears to be able to do the job better.
The recent releases handed Tri-City players didn’t come easy for the management. Take the case of Ray Tran. He was a veteran player, he had done the club a lot of good, but his arm was giving him trouble.
With a 17-man player limit, and losing games the way the Braves were doing, the club could hardly afford to carry him on the roster.
Ray’s Arm Trouble Coming Around
Ray’s arm trouble is primarily the result of shifting from winter work to summer play and normally it works out in time.
Maybe it was a little slower working out this year but Ray was confident it would come around.
Wednesday, he pitched batting practice to his brother Len, and Ray said the arm felt a lot better afterward. The batting practice must have done Len some good, too, because that night the younger Tran hit three for four.
But even though Ray was given his release, he has certain compensations. He isn’t through with this league, by any means, and will be showing up at Sanders one of these days in another uniform.
Ray has been dealing with four clubs, all of which have made offers, and he frankly is selling his services to the highest bidder. There are clubs that can use Ray, and financially, he may be belter off by getting his release here.
Hockaday Tougher Situation
The release of Ernie Hockaday is a tougher situation. Ernie was never a ballplayer to complain, or dog it, and always put out the best he had. Unfortunately, in every position, he lacked some one essential ingredient. That is probably the reason why he was shifted around so much — playing managers liked his willingness and tried him everywhere in an effort to find a spot for him.
He hit well enough to be an outfielder but lacked the punch to hit the long ball, he hit better than you could expect from an infielder but had trouble fielding the position, and he didn’t quite have the stuff to make a pitcher.
* * *
Cassidy Didn’t Want To Go Down
The release of Bob Cassidy was partly his own decision; partly the club’s. Cassidy, the management felt, had all the makings of a good infielder but wasn't ready for Class A ball. The club wanted to option him to a lower league for a year but Cassidy was reluctant to go down.
Eventually, the matter reached a state of immobility and the club decided to let him take care of himself.
Sometimes a ball club gives a player a release and it’s the player who is happy to get it. One recent case was that of Charlie Beers, a pitcher the Braves bought on a look basis. He never reported so Eddie Taylor sent his contract back to Charleston and they wired back to release him.
Taylor did, but expects the pitcher to show up in the AA Texas league before the season is over.
BY GIL GILMORE
[Tri-City Herald, May 14, 1954]
Releasing Player isn’t Easy
Usually, releasing a ballplayer is one of the more unpleasant tasks for the Braves’ management. It is something akin to firing a man, with one difference. When an employer boots an employee, it’s usually because of something he has done — with a ball club the player is released simply because someone has come along who appears to be able to do the job better.
The recent releases handed Tri-City players didn’t come easy for the management. Take the case of Ray Tran. He was a veteran player, he had done the club a lot of good, but his arm was giving him trouble.
With a 17-man player limit, and losing games the way the Braves were doing, the club could hardly afford to carry him on the roster.
Ray’s Arm Trouble Coming Around
Ray’s arm trouble is primarily the result of shifting from winter work to summer play and normally it works out in time.
Maybe it was a little slower working out this year but Ray was confident it would come around.
Wednesday, he pitched batting practice to his brother Len, and Ray said the arm felt a lot better afterward. The batting practice must have done Len some good, too, because that night the younger Tran hit three for four.
But even though Ray was given his release, he has certain compensations. He isn’t through with this league, by any means, and will be showing up at Sanders one of these days in another uniform.
Ray has been dealing with four clubs, all of which have made offers, and he frankly is selling his services to the highest bidder. There are clubs that can use Ray, and financially, he may be belter off by getting his release here.
Hockaday Tougher Situation
The release of Ernie Hockaday is a tougher situation. Ernie was never a ballplayer to complain, or dog it, and always put out the best he had. Unfortunately, in every position, he lacked some one essential ingredient. That is probably the reason why he was shifted around so much — playing managers liked his willingness and tried him everywhere in an effort to find a spot for him.
He hit well enough to be an outfielder but lacked the punch to hit the long ball, he hit better than you could expect from an infielder but had trouble fielding the position, and he didn’t quite have the stuff to make a pitcher.
* * *
Cassidy Didn’t Want To Go Down
The release of Bob Cassidy was partly his own decision; partly the club’s. Cassidy, the management felt, had all the makings of a good infielder but wasn't ready for Class A ball. The club wanted to option him to a lower league for a year but Cassidy was reluctant to go down.
Eventually, the matter reached a state of immobility and the club decided to let him take care of himself.
Sometimes a ball club gives a player a release and it’s the player who is happy to get it. One recent case was that of Charlie Beers, a pitcher the Braves bought on a look basis. He never reported so Eddie Taylor sent his contract back to Charleston and they wired back to release him.
Taylor did, but expects the pitcher to show up in the AA Texas league before the season is over.
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