Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes v. Lake Elsinore Storm Review

Rancho Cucamonga wins the series 3-1
Series MVP: Gabe Jacobo

Game One: Quakes commit seven errors in shutout loss

Chris Young made a rehab start for Lake Elsinore, and he combined for a shutout with regular starter Anthony Bass. The Storm won 5-0, but they only had two more hits than the Quakes. However, Rancho Cucamonga committed an astounding seven errors which led to four unearned runs. It was very uncharacteristic for the Quakes who set numerous league records for fielding stats. Lake Elsinore drew eight walks, and Anthony Bass earned a save pitching the final 3.1 IP of the game.

Game Two: Pineiro solid as Quakes even series

In game two, Rancho Cucamonga answered with their own ringer in Angels' starter Joel Pineiro. He wasn't quite as good as Chris Young, but he no hit Lake Elsinore through five innings and finished with six solid innings pitched. The Quakes offense banged out 14 hits, and their three insurance runs in the top of the 9th were huge. In the bottom of the 9th, former Padres' first rounder Allan Dykstra hit a three run home run off closer Eddie McKiernan to cut the lead to 7-5, but the Storm couldn't get any closer.

Game Three: Chaffee, Quakes staff limit Lake Elsinore

For the second straight game, a Quakes started pitched a very good game, but this time it was a regular Cal League pitcher. Ryan Chaffee continued a string of strong starts and struck out five over seven one-run innings. He walked four, but overall Lake Elsinore was limited to three hits, only one of which went for extra bases. The majority of the game was close, but Rancho Cucamonga got four late runs against the Storm bullpen to cruise to their second straight win. Jeremy McBryde pitched very well, but the offense didn't support him.

Game Four: Brach's blown save sends Quakes to championship

This game could end up being the most memorable of the 2010 playoffs. The Quakes committed two more errors to bring their series total to 11, and a baserunning mistake also took a run off the board. The big Matt Lollis struck out seven in a very good Cal League debut, and it would be up to the bullpen to get the last 11 outs. Rancho Cucamonga chipped away but looked to be in trouble down two with no one on base in the 9th against super closer Brad Brach. However, the Quakes loaded the bases, and Angel Castillo hit a walkoff double to send the Quakes to their first Cal League Championship since 2008.

Starting the series against Chris Young was a tall task, and he dominated as a lot of Major League rehabbers do on their assignments in the lower levels of the minors. They rebounded in game two with their own ringer, and teams that start the series on the road always want to split the road games and take care of business at home. That's obviously what they did, and it's not surprising considering they had success at Lake Elsinore this year. Despite the numerous gaffes throughout the series, they maintained their momentum with good pitching and timely hitting and defeated a very good Storm team.

In the first game, Lake Elsinore drew eight walks, which was pretty par for the course for their hitters. In games two and three, Rancho Cucamonga continued to walk a few more batters than they would've liked with three in three innings (not counting Joel Pineiro's work) in game two and five in game three. The difference in those games was their staff didn't allow many hits, so the walks didn't have as big of an impact. Ryan Chaffee had four of the five game three walks, but he was able to work around them like he has been in his last few starts. Manny Flores settled things down in game four with only one walk, and oddly enough it became the highest scoring game of the series for Lake Elsinore.

Lake Elsinore really didn't take advantage of their opportunities that were few and far between. They were just 8/39 with runners in scoring position and left 28 runners on base in the four game series. Admittedly, those numbers look a little better when game one's ridiculous 1/18 and 13 LOB are taken out, but the point is the lineup struggled. Among players that played more than one game in the series, only three players, Vince Belnome, Allan Dykstra and Jesus Lopez had an OPS over the league average for the series, and that's just not good enough. The game four additions of Chris Tremblay and Rico Noel to the lineup were too little, too late.

Overall, I'd say Lake Elsinore's starters were good enough to win. Juan Oramas allowed three runs in five innings which doesn't live up to the Oramas standard, but in the Cal League with a solid bullpen, that should still be good enough to give them a chance to win. Jeremy McBryde was a tough luck loser in game three, and they couldn't have asked anything more of Matt Lollis in his Cal League debut. Again, overall they did a good job, but I still wonder if things would've been different had Anthony Bass gotten a start. The bullpen caused some problems late in games, and I don't think anyone expected Brad Brach to blow a save.

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