W L Pct GB
Lewiston ..... 29 11 .725 —
Vancouver .... 20 15 .571 6½
Edmonton ..... 20 17 .541 7½
Salem ........ 18 16 .529 8
Yakima ....... 20 18 .526 8
Tri-City ..... 15 24 .385 13½
Wenatchee .... 12 28 .300 17
KENNEWICK [Tri-City Herald, Aug. 12]—Gordy Brunswick, the outfielder who couldn't see any future for himself in outfielding but who thought there might be some hopes for himself in pitching, is convincing a few persons he wasn't fooling when he came to the Tri-Clty Braves.
Brunswick was called upon again Wednesday night to finish up one of those "already lost" games with the Capilanoes. The Caps had scored nine runs off Don Robertson in the first five innings to win 9-1.
Brunswick, who told playing manager Edo Vanni before game time, "I'm good for four innings tonight," was just that. He pitched the four innings, gave up one hit and walked two.
Tonight, it's Herm Besse's turn to take a hand at trying to stop the Caps who have scored 35 runs off Tri-City pitching in the last three games. Besse has a 2-1 record in the brief time he-has been with the Braves.
Game time tonight is 7:30 p.m.
Friday night, when the Yakima Bears come to town, game time will be moved back to 8 p.m. Friday night will be Labor night, and unions in the Tri-Cities have a large list of prizes for "firsts" for the Braves.
In taking the third game of the four-game series, Vancouver not only scored its usual quota of runs but received exceptional pitching from Pete Hernandez, righthander.
Hernandez had a no-hitter going into the seventh. After getting one away, he was onfronted by Tri-City playing manager, Edo Vanni, one character in the league who considers ruining an opposition performance next best to winning all a ball game.
Vanni ruined the possible no-hitter, and the shutout too, all in one blow when he got his second homer of the season over the right field wall.
Hernandez later gave up a sharp single to Bob Moniz and a double to Jess Dobernic. That was the extent of the Tri-City hitting.
Pitcher Dobernic played leftfield for the Braves after Brunswick game into pitch. He made two putouts without an error, much to the delight of the 393 cash customers.
His double went down the right field line and probably would have been caught had a more ambitious player than Neil Sheridan been playing that position because Sheridan didn't have to travel too far to get to the ball.
Needled on that point by Vancouver players, Dobernic countered with the assertion that, "No better than I can hit, Sheridan shouldn't be playing me that deep in the first place."
Tri-City errors figured in the Vancouver nine-run total. After getting two in the first, they picked up five more in the second on two errors two singles and Ken Richardson's home run.
The final two runs were the result of four singles and one error.
[WILfan note: Bob Duretto led Vancouver hitters with three, all singles ... here's a rarity: there were nine runs scored, one each by every member of the Vancouver line-up ... Marv Williams and Sheridan brought in the first two runs, followed by Wellman's RBI in the third before Richardson's three-run clout ... Duretto and Hernandez were credited with the other RBIs for Vancouver ... Only four of the runs given up by Robertson were earned].
Vancouver ..... 250 020 000—9 13 1
Tri-City ......... 000 000 100—1 3 4
Hernandez and Duretto; Robertson, Brunswick (6) and Johnson.
LEWISTON, story unavailable
Wenatchee ..... 011 000 200—4 7 5
Lewiston ........ 100 002 02x—5 9 3
Oubre, Shandor (8) and Self; Kime, Derganc (9) and Cannuli, Garay (9).
EDMONTON [Tri-City Herald, Aug. 12]—Edmonton G.M. John Ducey, Lewiston playing manager Larry Barton, plus some others in the league, should be eating a little crow by now after their assertions that teams such as Tri-City sent "duffers" to the all-star team.
For so far in the current series, the two Tri-City players — Dale Thomason and Artie Wilson — turned in some of the best performances of the lot. And this despite Tri-City being one of the weaker teams in the league from the standpoint of all-around strength coupled with sickness and injuries.
It was Thomason's turn to pitch Wednesday night, and although losing, 5-2, he turned in the best performance for the all-stars so far.
Three all-star errors figured in the scoring.
All-Stars ......... 100 100 000—2 7 3
Edmonton ....... 020 100 00x—3 8 0
Thomason and Holden; Conant and Partee.
SALEM, story unavailable
First Game
Yakima ........ 000 000 0—0 3 0
Salem ......... 003 000 x—3 8 2
Edmunds and Albini; Herrera and D. Luby.
Second Game
Yakima ........ 001 000 100—2 7 3
Salem ......... 000 100 011—3 9 1
Rios and Summers; Briggs and Ogden.
Sports Notes
BY GIL GILMORE
[Tri-City Herald, Aug. 12, 1954]
It's a rare old day in Nick Pesut’s life when he can talk about his team winning a pennant. Yet, after some 14 years of baseball Nick finally is tied in with a top contender.
And Nick figures the Vancouver Capilano outfit can do it without going into a playoff with Lewiston.
“If we are just a couple of games out when we meet them in that final series, we can do it,” Nick said.
What makes you think you will be but two games out?, I asked.
“Well,” Nick said, “Lewiston’s got to play Salem. They beat ‘em before and they will probably take a couple of games.”
It was then pointed out that the Lewiston Salem beat was not the Lewiston playing now.
“Ah, it’s just about the same,” Nick said, “You’ll see.”
But just between you and me, Vancouver’s chance of winning the second half and the pennant without a playoff are about as good as Tri-City’s chance of winning the second half. With the lineup Lewiston has now, it would and probably will take three of four in every series played.
And the Capilanoes are going to have a tough time beating them in the playoff.
* * *
Nick Has Broken Finger
Nick, by the way, is nursing a “broken” finger as the result of his catching chore the other night. I use that “broken” with reservation because I could be wrong.
It’s understandable enough that Nick could break a finger catching Bossman Bill Brenner’s flutterball.
“You don’t know where that thing’s goin’,” Nick said. “It’s just like a butterfly hopping around on some flowers. It may jump up here or down here or over there. Heck, I no sooner caught him over at Yakima than I wound up with a split finger.”
In the game Tuesday, a couple of Brenner's pitches bounced off the end of Nick’s glove, which is something rare for the former Tri-City catcher. And so it's possible that one of the dipsydoodle balls may have broken a digit.
Yet at the same time, league president Bob Abel has been hot after Brenner to send another player to the “all-stars.” First Abel wanted Frank [sic] Duretto, the other Vancouver catcher, but Brenner doesn't want to let him go. Now if Nick has a broken finger, and Duretto has to catch, that ought to settle the matter.
Latest reports are, though, that Abel is trying a new approach. He wants Brenner himself to report to the all-stars. That one is hanging fire.
* * *
Brenner Oughta Have 20-1
Nick, by the way, thinks Brenner ought to have about a 20-1 record this season.
“Heck, in some of those games, we couldn’t even find the bases,” Nick said. “We really threw ‘em away.”
* * *
No Young Players
Tri-City playing manager Edo Vanni makes this observation about the Vancouver team which has a working agreement with Seattle and therefore is supposedly developing young ballplayers for the Rainiers:
“When Seattle wanted to recall young players, where did they get them? From Vancouver? Heck, no. They called in Joe Joshua from Victoria, Frank Buckowatz [sic]from Salem, and Lloyd Jenny [sic] from Wenatchee. All of them are players Vancouver didn’t want. Developing young players? Huh!”
* * *
Should Be Interesting
When Vancouver meets Lewiston in the playoff (and I’m saying it without fear of contradiction now) it should prove to be a good one and if anything turns the fans out, that series should. Those two teams are equally matched and so far outclass the rest of the league, only such a playoff between the two could be interesting.
And Nick figures the Vancouver Capilano outfit can do it without going into a playoff with Lewiston.
“If we are just a couple of games out when we meet them in that final series, we can do it,” Nick said.
What makes you think you will be but two games out?, I asked.
“Well,” Nick said, “Lewiston’s got to play Salem. They beat ‘em before and they will probably take a couple of games.”
It was then pointed out that the Lewiston Salem beat was not the Lewiston playing now.
“Ah, it’s just about the same,” Nick said, “You’ll see.”
But just between you and me, Vancouver’s chance of winning the second half and the pennant without a playoff are about as good as Tri-City’s chance of winning the second half. With the lineup Lewiston has now, it would and probably will take three of four in every series played.
And the Capilanoes are going to have a tough time beating them in the playoff.
* * *
Nick Has Broken Finger
Nick, by the way, is nursing a “broken” finger as the result of his catching chore the other night. I use that “broken” with reservation because I could be wrong.
It’s understandable enough that Nick could break a finger catching Bossman Bill Brenner’s flutterball.
“You don’t know where that thing’s goin’,” Nick said. “It’s just like a butterfly hopping around on some flowers. It may jump up here or down here or over there. Heck, I no sooner caught him over at Yakima than I wound up with a split finger.”
In the game Tuesday, a couple of Brenner's pitches bounced off the end of Nick’s glove, which is something rare for the former Tri-City catcher. And so it's possible that one of the dipsydoodle balls may have broken a digit.
Yet at the same time, league president Bob Abel has been hot after Brenner to send another player to the “all-stars.” First Abel wanted Frank [sic] Duretto, the other Vancouver catcher, but Brenner doesn't want to let him go. Now if Nick has a broken finger, and Duretto has to catch, that ought to settle the matter.
Latest reports are, though, that Abel is trying a new approach. He wants Brenner himself to report to the all-stars. That one is hanging fire.
* * *
Brenner Oughta Have 20-1
Nick, by the way, thinks Brenner ought to have about a 20-1 record this season.
“Heck, in some of those games, we couldn’t even find the bases,” Nick said. “We really threw ‘em away.”
* * *
No Young Players
Tri-City playing manager Edo Vanni makes this observation about the Vancouver team which has a working agreement with Seattle and therefore is supposedly developing young ballplayers for the Rainiers:
“When Seattle wanted to recall young players, where did they get them? From Vancouver? Heck, no. They called in Joe Joshua from Victoria, Frank Buckowatz [sic]from Salem, and Lloyd Jenny [sic] from Wenatchee. All of them are players Vancouver didn’t want. Developing young players? Huh!”
* * *
Should Be Interesting
When Vancouver meets Lewiston in the playoff (and I’m saying it without fear of contradiction now) it should prove to be a good one and if anything turns the fans out, that series should. Those two teams are equally matched and so far outclass the rest of the league, only such a playoff between the two could be interesting.
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