Friday, September 11, 2009

Perez and Pedroza Lead Vipers to 2-0 Series Lead

The Calgary Vipers are one win away from becoming GBL champions, thanks once again to the late-season pickups from the Victoria Seals. The Vipers defeated the Toros 11-4 on Thursday night to sweep both games in Tucson.

Ex-Seal Wilver Perez led the way for Calgary once again. He went 2-for-5 with a homer and 5 RBIs on the night. Perez is hitting .345 with 2 homers and 9 RBIs in six playoff games with the Vipers. Sergio Pedroza also had a good game at the dish, going 3-for-6 with a homer, 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Pedroza is now hitting .393 with 3 homers and 11 RBIs in the post-season.

Amongst GBL hitters, Wilver Perez is second in homers and RBIs in the playoffs. Sergio Pedroza leads the league in both of these categories, making it quite likely that one of these Ex-Seals will be named Series MVP (Isaac Hess is also 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA). In any event, the Seals organization better have been well compensated in the late-season deals for these three players. In addition to the cash that changed hands, lets hope that Über closer Mac Suzuki is in a Victoria Seals uniform in 2010.

The Vipers and Toros play game three in Calgary on Friday night. The Snakes can clinch their first ever GBL championship by winning just one game this weekend at home. If necessary, Game 4 of the Calgary-Tucson series will be played on Saturday and Game 5 will be played on Sunday if Tucson can rally to push the series to the limit. Calgary joined the GBL in 2008 and won the North Division Championship that year, only to lose to the Orange County Flyers in the fifth and deciding game of the GBL Championship Series.

Seal Blubber Bits
  • Austin Bibens-Dirkx's season is over. The Peoria Chiefs were swept in two straight by the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the Western Division Semifinals in the Midwest League playoffs. On Thursday, the Chiefs were eliminated after dropping another heartbreaker -- this time a 9-8 walk-off loss in the bottom of the ninth. The Chiefs had led 8-7 going into the bottom of the final frame before blowing their first lead after 8 innings since July 2006. Bibens-Dirkx had an outstanding season with the Chiefs and will likely be moved up by the Chicago Cubs to Advanced A or AA baseball next season.
  • Jamar Hill has done well since joining the York Revolution of the Atlantic League. He's hitting .310 with 2 homers and 3 RBIs in 42 at-bats. Josh Arhart has not fared as well; he's hitting .192 with 2 homers and 9 RBIs in 26 at-bats. Hill and Arhart are batting 6th and 7th in the Revolution lineup, respectively.
  • Ex-Seal Travis Wade has been an asset to the York Revolution since joining the team. He has a 3.18 ERA in 5 2/3 innings pitched and opponents are hitting .280 against him. Another ex-Seal, Roberto Sotolongo, has not performed that well; he's 0-2 with a 5.04 ERA. It will be interesting to see if Victoria is compensated by the York Revolution with players next season in return for the four Seals. The Revolution is in last place in the "Freedom" Division of the Atlantic League, but is fourth in the league in attendance with an average of 4,085 fans per game.