MLB: Padres, hoo-boy

By Ed Piper, Jr.

Boy, am I glad I'm a Dodgers fan.

As a baseball fan who cares, and a San Diego resident who grew up in the greater L.A. area, I watched yesterday's Padre-Dodger season opener on TV with increasing disdain. Disgust.

For the Padres. After an early 6-1 deficit, the game increasingly became laughable as the local contingent flailed, flustered, and generally looked like the minor league unit that they are, falling 14-3.

Let me explain.

After moving to this area in mid-1993, I attended Padres games for $4 at what would be named Qualcomm Stadium.

Dianna, my future wife, had never seen a baseball game when we met. Then, I got her to 22 Padres games a season for a few seasons.

We parked in the dirt lot where IKEA is now located, walked down the hill to the stadium parking lot, and bought cheap seats. You could buy 'em then.

Then, after a few or trio of years, Dianna started bringing a novel to games. Then, after a year or two more, she said, "Honey, would you like to go to the game alone?"

I knew the honeymoon (for baseball-attending) was over.

So, I had my time with the Padres. It was a family thing. You get attached to something--or a baseball team--because of the person or people you follow the team with.

With that spousal baseball connection gone, I slowly drifted back to my childhood Dodgers.

Big, brash. The Giant to the North looks so different to people down here than when I grew up and lived in Dodger territory among Dodger fans.

But the love affair with the Padres was waning. As I said in starting out, I'm a baseball fan, so if you've read my Spring Training posts, you know that I visit all the parks, view many of the teams, ingratiate myself with Brewers fans--though I'm amazed there are any traveling to Phoenix for Spring Training--Indians fans, you name it.

Fast-forward to yesterday, April 3. Last week, I bought my first baseball jersey. It's being shipped. I haven't worn once since I played first base at Camarillo High School 46 years ago. Clayton Kershaw's is the one I ordered. I tried to find a Koufax, but they had a Kershaw one in 3XLT, more my present (enlarged) size.

That kind of says it all, where my allegiances lie now.

But, like I keep repeating, I'm still a baseball fan in general. I grew up reading the box scores for the Dodgers, as well as the hated Giants, Pirates (who had tons of stars then--Clemente, Stargell), and all the rest, in the Long Beach Independent-Press Telegram. The sports section in that paper was where I practiced a lot of my reading.

And I typed up mock sports newspapers, using my mom's carbon paper to make copies, on my mom's Smith-Corona electric typewriter, which she gave me permission to use. (And here I thought I came with my whole interest in writing. She played a major part.)

At one point later, in my adult life before moving to San Diego, I scored the Padres game on radio on KFMB simultaneously with the Dodger game on 570 radio in L.A. They were National League, just like my childhood Dodgers, so they carried a bit of credence that way.

So, having the Dodger background while still having given the Padres, my local team since 1993, a lot of my attention, I feel strongly: Padres fans, your franchise has never treated you right! Yesterday's blowout was Exhibit A. The owners' plea to you is to understand their plan to rebuild, having jettisoned any established major leaguers other than Wil Myers, who hit--what?--.258 last year, their centerpiece.

But the scandal is, while fielding this team that could well lose 120 games this year, they're still going to charge you Major League prices to attend games!

After a night's reflection of how much I enjoyed Spring Training at the end of February, how energizing the World Baseball Classic was in mid-March (I attended Team USA's games against the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico at Petco Park), and how much baseball means to me, I broke down the next day and bought a $34 ticket to the home opener Fri., April 7 (plus fees equals $43). That was a week ago.

That's not a discount, for a team with three players who have never played above minor league low A ball. (For those of you who need a refresher, the minor leagues go Rookie, low and high A ball, AA, then AAA. They say that the jump from AAA to the majors is gigantic, so imagine these three kids' jump yesterday--in front of 53,000 Dodger fans at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day--from low A ball to the Padres.)

I'll stop to take my breath.

What I was going to add was, the present Padres team reminds me of the Fire Sale days in 1993. Tom Werner and his gang of investors owners parceled off player after player during that season, with every other Major League team knowing they were going to do it. Meaning, San Diego couldn't get good value for the players they were trading for lesser talents. It made a joke of the franchise, and the commissioner's office stepped in to lend some advice and slow the dismantling of the 1992 team down.

The Fire Sale was a precursor to last year's effort in abandoning James Shields, Craig Kimbrel, Matt Kemp, Derek Norris, and all the rest, whom the Padres ownership had brought on board for big bucks in an effort to jump-start the team. We're in the year after Fire Sale II. Enjoy your baseball, San Diego fans.

LJ baseball 0, Otay Ranch 3

Nick Ferenczy before a turn at bat.

(Photo by Ed Piper, Jr.)

By Ed Piper, Jr.

La Jolla's bats failed the Vikings again, as Otay Ranch stifled the visitors, mired at a .215 batting average for the season. Coach Gary Frank's traveling squad went down to a 3-0 decision Thurs., March 30.

With La Jolla down 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, keeping the Mustangs within range for the Vikings' final at-bat was imperative.

When Viking starter Nick Hammel walked Otay Ranch's Omar Lopez to lead off the inning, Frank pulled him after 82 pitches and inserted left-hander Aidan Suljic.

Suljic, alternately hitting the corners and struggling with his location, wild-pitched Lopez to second. He then walked Matt Brumbaugh.

When the next Otay Ranch batter, Felix Canizalez, bunted toward third base, Suljic came down the mound and deftly fielded the ball. He wheeled and fired to Nick Ferenczy at third. On a close play, Lopez was called safe. Even on Frank's appeal, it was ruled the Mustang runner beat the throw.

That left the bases loaded, no outs. The next batter, Noel Perez, hit the ball back to Viking first baseman Dane Hansen. He made a good throw to catcher Garrett Brown for the out at the plate. One out. No damage done.

Things appeared good for La Jolla when Suljic struck out Noah Isley, in the one slot, looking. If the call at third had gone the other way, the lefty would have been out of the inning.

But then he plugged Justin Legaspi, a defensive replacement in right field in the top of the sixth, in the back with a pitch, forcing a run in. The Vikings only trailed 2-0, but they hadn't solved starter Alex Artalejo and reliever Lopez for the first six innings for more than a few hits.

Mustang Osvaldo "Wally" Tovalin followed with a single to right, scoring another run. Angst was felt in the tense visitors dugout. Then an unusual call occurred: The next batter for Otay Ranch, Miguel Artalejo, the starting pitcher's twin brother, was hit in the left shoulder by a Suljic pitch. But the plate umpire ruled that he leaned into the pitch, and he wasn't awarded first base. Aidan then caused him to pop out to short to end the inning.

The Vikings weren't able to mount any attack against Lopez, a righty, in the top of the seventh, going down to the 3-0 defeat.

LJ softball 1, Helix 14 (5 innings)

(Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)

By Ed Piper, Jr.

La Jolla's softball team enjoyed a good week last week, winning three games in three days in the annual Duds for Dudes tournament.

They were the first three wins for new Coach Andrea Denham's squad, after opening the season with six consecutive losses.

But on Wed., March 29, the Vikes were missing the right side of their infield, first baseman Emily Alvarez and second baseman Sara Tyrus, for a game at Helix. The whole house of cards came falling down in the second inning, when a talented Highlander team scored 10 runs.

The game was called on the 10-run mercy rule after La Jolla batted in the bottom of the fifth--a coin flip before the tournament game determined home team--with the score 14-1.

Viking shortstop Josie Sinkeldam was errorless in the field, handling a large number of grounders by the Highlanders to the left side of their hard-packed infield.

After starter Kyra Ferenczy went three innings, with former head coach Anthony Sarain sitting in with assistant coach Tracy Brown, with Denham absent, junior Flor Martinez tried her hand at pitching.

Martinez, who played in the infield prior to her pitching stint, didn't allow a run in her single inning of work but hurt her non-throwing shoulder and left the game after the fourth inning.

Ferenczy then resumed her place in the pitcher's circle to finish out the abbreviated contest.

Third baseman Linda Brown smashed a line drive over the left fielder's head in the bottom of the first, with the ball rolling all the way the fence. Sinkeldam, who got aboard via a hard-hit grounder to short, came all the way around from first on Brown's drive.

That was La Jolla's sole run.

Helix pitcher Kasey Castro, a freshman, went four innings, limited the Vikings to four hits, and struck out one while walking none. She faced only 15 batters to get the 12 outs, using 41 pitches, as she logged her third win in her third start.

LJ baseball and softball: Pitching in

By Ed Piper, Jr.

I got an answer I didn't expect when I asked Nick Ferenczy's father if his son liked pitching.

We were standing behind the backstop at Muirlands Middle School during La Jolla's 7-3 win over West Hills Tues., March 28. We had a perfect view of Nick, a right-hander, on the mound as he threw against Wolf Pack hitters, whom he stymied pretty effectively for five innings.

Replied William, "Better than his sister."

Wow. His sister is Kyra Ferenczy, who continues to blaze a trail, with pitch and bat, for the Viking softball team. She's now in her second year as La Jolla's sole pitcher when the game really counts.

Raising my eyes at this statement, I asked dad, "What position would she rather play?" "She'd rather be in the outfield."

Both Ferenczy youth are excellent hitters, as well as pitchers. Here I had formed a whole idea of Kyra, like her brother her team's leadoff batter, as this tornado of a pitcher toiling from the pitcher's circle. Which she is.

Meanwhile, her head is saying, I would rather be in the outfield.

Now that their dad mentioned this, I faintly remember someone saying last year, when Kyra first started playing at La Jolla, that Kyra played other positions but could pitch when her team needed that. Maybe Kyra herself told me that.

All of which was a great relief then to Anthony Sarain, the Vikings' coach at the time. His daughter, Katya, had graduated in June 2015, leaving the team without a viable pitcher.

So, this story is really about Kyra, not her brother. Both continue blistering the ball at the plate. Hopefully, neither one gets blisters from pitching, which would be an issue for any hurler.

This is a true act of doing something for the team: the fact that Kyra, who would prefer playing in the outfield, is willing to pitch almost every single inning for the La Jolla softball team.

By the way, Kyra is hitting .320 through seven games in the first slot in the order for the Vikings. She missed a couple of games at the start of the season while she and centerfielder Vanessa Shaffer were playing for the CIF Division 2 champion soccer team.

LJ baseball 7, West Hills 3

By Ed Piper, Jr.

Right-hander Nick Ferenczy scattered six hits in his five innings of work, upping his record to 4-1 on the young season in a 7-3 win by La Jolla over visiting West Hills Tues., March 28.

Ferenczy walked none and struck out four as he continued to show why he is a major mainstay of the Vikings' pitching staff. His ERA after the 77-pitch workout is a scintillating 1.40.

Meanwhile, batting leadoff for Coach Gary Frank's minions, Ferenczy cleared the bases with a bases-loaded triple to the alley in right-center in the bottom of the second, capping a six-run inning explosion against wobbly first-time Wolfpack starter Dylan Craft that basically decided the game.

Ferenczy, a senior, now carries a .357 batting average, second among regulars only to Zach Sehgal and Garrett Brown--the trio leading the team with 10 hits apiece--and Nick's eight runs scored rank number one on the squad.

The Vikings batted around in the fortuitous second, as West Hills experienced some of the angst La Jolla felt Friday in resorting to pitchers further down the depth chart due to the plethora of tournament games during pre-league. Craft, a righty, hit Noah Brown with a pitch with one out, then walked Christophe Naviaux and Blaise Gimber in short order before he was let down by an error on a grounder to short by Cooper McNally.

The West Hills hurler then gave up yet another free pass, this one to Nick Hammel, in a rare appearance at the plate and in the field, before Ferenczy clubbed his three-run blow into right.

Junior Sam Stewart came on in relief of Ferenczy in the sixth inning, regaining the control that had been lacking Friday in his first start of the season at Steele Canyon. He retired the side in order in his first of two innings, despite the misplay of Ferenczy on a foul popup to his second batter, the Wolfpack's Noah Quintana, that gave Quintana a second chance. Stewart got him to hit a harmless fly to Gimber in left.

LJ baseball: Pregame standoff

By Ed Piper, Jr.

Something this reporter had never seen before occurred just prior to La Jolla's tournament game at Steele Canyon Fri., March 24: a standoff between players remaining on the foul line after the playing of the National Anthem.

Once the recording of the "Star Spangled Banner" ended, Viking and Steele Canyon players and coaches doffing their caps out of respect, they replaced their caps. But the two teams' players remained along the painted foul lines, the Cougars along the first base line in front of the home dugout, La Jolla players on the third base line.

The two umpires looked a little befuddled as the Steele Canyon starters took their positions to start the top of the first inning, yet Cougar players not in the starting lineup and most or all of the Vikings not budging an inch. Steele Canyon starter Tyler Luban threw his eight warm-pitches, the players on the lines standing like tin soldiers a short distance away.

Third baseman Brandon Navarro was taking practice grounders from first baseman Trevor Dickey only feet away from the Viking "tin soldiers".
Spectators looked at each other, wondering what was going on. Coaches in the Viking dugout did the same.

The umpires approached the remaining players, imploring them to leave the field. Several from both sides peeled away, until finally only one player on each side remained on the foul lines.

Yered Teodosio, a reserve second baseman for the Vikings, steadfastly stayed in place in front of his team's dugout. The plate umpire walked to his Cougar counterpart on the opposite side and told him to clear the field. He reluctantly did so.

That left the triumphant Teodosio the only man standing. "It was a standoff," said the 5'4" junior, obviously pleased at his apparent moral victory. "Yeah, I was the last one."

Teodosio, retired to the dugout, switched to taking up his game duties keeping the team scorebook.

LJ baseball 5, Steele Canyon 11

Kyle and Dad play tag in the outfield

before game. (Photo by Ed Piper, Jr.)

By Ed Piper, Jr.

With multiple games each week during pre-league tournaments, La Jolla has had to dip into its other arms on the mound.

"Pitching by committee," assistant coach Steve Booth called it before the Vikings' game at Steele Canyon Fri., March 24.

And not only was Booth talking about the team's pitchers. His five-year-old son, Kyle, was in tow for his first away game, and though he was well-behaved, dad was rightfully concerned that no foul ball hit his son during the game. So he constantly checked that Kyle had a batting helmet on and was behind a barrier while the ball was in play.

"Aidan (Suljic), 'Sea-bass' (Sebastian Partida), Blaise (Gimber), with Sam (Stewart) starting today," Booth ticked off the names of the "committee" for the game to come. Later, he added, "Dane (Hansen) also."

Meanwhile, the coach juggled keeping an eye on his son, who had never served as batboy, with his duties with Viking players during warm-ups and the game.

At its worst, pitching-by-committee descended into six walks in the bottom of the third inning divided among three hurlers, head coach Gary Frank pulling Stewart, in his first start, after loading the bases to start the inning. Then Frank saw enough of Hansen after only three batters, including two walks. He switched Hansen for Gimber at first base.

After giving up a sacrifice fly to Cougar Matt Brinkmeier to score Steele Canyon's fifth run, tying the game, Blaise then suffered an error at the hands of Hansen to reload the bases after inducing Trevor Dickey to hit a groundball.

Things only got worse, as La Jolla pitchers through the fifth inning gave up five more walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a wild pitch, as the hosts got used to circling the bases, collecting only three more hits  while scoring six more runs.

Unfortunately, on the offensive side for the Vikings the runs dried up after a soaring Garrett Brown home run down the left field line, a three-run shot, keyed a four-run second inning.

In that inning, after designated hitter Christophe Naviaux flied out, Gimber hit a fly that went off a diving Aaron Taylor's glove in right field. After Sola Hope struck out swinging on a pitch in the dirt, second baseman Noah Brown singled to left. That put runners on first and second.

Nick Ferenczy, who last pitched Tues., March 21, a strong six and two-thirds innings in a hard-luck loss at home to Montgomery, singled to right, driving in Gimber. That put two aboard for Brown's blast, which sailed high and over the fence, beyond the 292-foot sign down the line.

By the fourth inning, Kyle Booth found a new project to keep himself busy. He began collecting all the loose baseballs in the dugout, pitching them into the combination seat/bucket his dad provided for him.

Meanwhile, the game ball thrown by La Jolla pitchers was hitting the dirt, flying to the backstop, and going everywhere else but the strike zone, it seemed.