May 2009

A Decent Homestand

May 9th,
     The Corpus Christi Hooks traveled to San Antonio for a split four game series against the San Antonio Missions.  The first two games would be played in San Antonio and the next two would be played in Corpus Christi.  The series was split so that the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament could be played at Whataburger Field.  The Hooks went to Nelson Wolff Stadium a venue which hadn't been too friendly for the Hooks in the past.  Polin Trinidad took to the mound and pitched five solid innings.  Polin gave up three runs off of eight hits.  He walked five and struck out two.

     The Hooks got on the board early in the top of the 1st as Josh Flores and Drew Meyer singled.  Drew Locke doubled and plated Flores and Meyer.  Jhon Florentino singled which brought Locke home and the Hooks had an early 3-0 lead.  The Hooks were able to add another run in the top of the 3rd.  At the end of 4 innings the Hooks had a 4-2 lead over the Missions.  The Hooks added another run in the top of the 5th after a Drew Locke double brought home Josh Flores who had also doubled making it 5-2.  This double was Locke's third double of the night and brought his Texas League RBI total to 34.  The Missions closed to within two in the bottom of the 5th.  That would be the last run which would cross home plate for the Missions that night.  The Hooks added two more runs in the top of the 7th after a Josh Flores single.  Drew Meyer brought Flores home on a towering shot over the right field fence.  The Hooks added another run in the top of the 8th when a Jonathan Fixler double brought home Felix Molina who had singled.  Chad Wagler and Andy Van Hekken recorded four innings of shutout relief to win the game for the Hooks 8-3. 

     The Hooks recorded four double plays.  To date Hooks catcher Jonathan Fixler has yet to hit a single.  All of his hits have been for extra bases.

Colby and Rob Seremano.JPG                                         (Colby and Hooks Pitcher Rob Seremano)

May 11th,
     The first of a two game home stand against the San Antonio Missions saw Casey Hudspeth take to the mound and the fans were treated to the second Corpus Christi Hooks pitcher go the distance in the last six days for a win.  Hudspeth gave up two runs off of nine hits.  The Missions got on the board in the top of the 1st off of a Mike Baxter RBI single.  The Hooks answered back in the bottom of the 1st when Josh Flores hit his first round tripper of the year which landed on left field berm.  The score was knotted at 1.  The Missions added another run in the top of the 2nd when Seth Johnston hit a home run which cleared the left field berm.  The Missions led 2-1.  The Hooks got two runs across the plate in the bottom of the 4th.  Drew Locke started the inning out with a single and Mark Ori doubled.  Locke and Ori would score on RBI groundouts by Mitch Einertson and Jhon Florentino.  The Hooks led 3-2.  The Hooks added another run in the bottom of the 6th.  Drew Meyer started out by hitting a ball that fell out of the glove of Luis Durango which allowed Meyer to get to third.  Drew Locke singled bringing his Texas League RBI total to 35 when Meyer crossed home plate.  The Hooks added one more run in the bottom of 7th.  Josh Flores single, stole second and cross home plate on a Drew Meyer single.  A throwing error to 1st by Keoni Ruth allowed Flores to score.

     Hudspeth threw 109 pitches, 74 for strikes.  The struck out two and walked no one.




May 12th,
     Douglas Arguello started on the mound for the Corpus Christi Hooks as they finished up their two game home stand against the San Antonio Missions.  Arguello pitched six solid innings, while he did give up seven hits he only allowed two earned runs, he also struck out five.  The Missions got on the board first in the top of the 1st after a Craig Cooper single brought home Luis Durango who had doubled.  The Hooks answered back in the bottom of the 1st after Josh Flores was hit by a pitch and he came home on a Drew Meyer double.  Meyer scored off of a Mark Ori single.  The Hooks led 2-1 after one inning.  The Missions knotted the score in the top of the 4th when Seth Johnston scored off of a Keoni Ruth single.  The Hooks added two more runs in the bottom of the 6th.  Mark Ori walked.  A single by Collin DeLome moved Ori to third.  DeLome stole second.  A single by Wladimir Sutil scored Ori and DeLome.  The Hooks had a 4-2 lead after six.  Rob Seremano relieved Arguello and at the point the Hooks bullpen imploded in the 7th.  The first four batters Seremano faced got a hit.  Seremano got tagged for four earned runs.  The usual dependable Andy Van Hekken also got tagged for four earned runs.  It wasn't until Erick Abreu came on in relief that the Missions bats were silenced but an inning that saw over 10 Missions batters come to the plate did the damage.  Abreu would go the rest of the game and recorded four strikeouts but the 8 run 7th did the damage as it left the Hooks trailing 10-4.  The Hooks were able to get one run back when a Brian Esposito groundout got Collin DeLome home who had tripled.  The Hooks ended up losing 10-5 and split the series with the Missions.  



May 13th,
     Brandon Backe took to the mound for the Corpus Christi Hooks as he continues his extended rehab against the Frisco RoughRiders and the Hooks provided Back with plenty of offense.  Backe would go seven innings, but it appeared that the RougRiders were able to adjust to Backe since this was his second start against them.  He gave up eight hits and four earned runs.  Backe struck out two and had a much better time than RoughRiders starting pitcher Jared Hyatt who lasted only two innings.  Hyatt did a good job in the 1st inning but it didn't carry over into the next inning as the Hooks sent 11 players to the plate and scored seven runs.  It started out with a Mark Ori single.  Ori came home on a Jimmy Van Ostrand home run .  Jhon Florentino followed with a single, he stole second and crossed home plate on a Brian Esposito single.  Esposito scored on a Josh Flores double.  Meyer plated Flores when he hit a single.  Meyer was brought home on Drew Locke's 8th round tripper of the season bringing Locke's Texas League RBI total to 37.  Frisco was able to score a run in the top of the 3rd on a Craig Gentry sacrifice fly that plated John Whittleman who had doubled. 

     The Hooks added one run the the bottom of the 4th making the score 8-1.  The Hooks added four more runs in the bottom of the 6th off of RoughRiders reliever Pedro Strop who had relieved Beau Jones.  Drew Meyer singled, he moved to second when Drew Locke walked and came home on a Mark Ori single.  The bases would be cleared when Collin DeLome hit his 10th round tripper of the season over the left field berm as he continues to lead the Texas League in home runs.  The Hooks led after six by a score of 12-1.  The RoughRiders would score three runs off of Backe in the 7th and two more off of Hooks reliever Chris Salamida.  The Hooks added one more run in the bottom of the 8th when a Wladimir Sutil single plated Drew Locke who had doubled.  The Hooks won 13-6. 




May 15th,
    Polin Trinidad toed the rubber for the Corpus Christi Hooks and the fans were not disappointed as Polin became the third Hooks pitcher in 10 days to toss a complete game for a victory.  Polin gave up seven hits, two earned runs, struck out six and walked one. 

    The Hooks scored first in the bottom of the 1st when a Drew Locke RBI single scored Collin DeLome who had also singled.  That RBI was Locke's 39th of the season.  The RoughRiders evened the score in the top of the 2nd when a Guilder Rodriquez single plated Steven Murphy who had also singled.  The RoughRiders would not score another run until the top of the 9th with one out on a Manuel Pina home run which hit the scoreboard.  The Hooks added two more runs in the bottom of the 4th.  The two runs came courtesy of Mark Ori's first home run of the season which also brought home Drew Locke who reached 1st on a throwing error.  After 4 innings the Hooks led 4-1.  The Hooks added three more runs in the bottom of the 6th.  Drew Meyer started it out with a single.  Drew Locke also followed with a single that moved Meyer to third.  Meyer came home on a Mark Ori single.  The RoughRiders switched pitchers as Joe Torres relieved Clayton Hamilton.  Torres walked Jimmy Van Ostrand and Jhon Florentino.  The walk of Florentino plated Locke.  Ori came home on a Brian Esposito single.  After 6 innings the Hooks led 6-1.  The Hooks added one more run in the bottom of the 8th afer a Drew Locke double brought home Drew Meyer who had also doubled.  The Hooks led 7-1.  The Hooks won 7-2 and would take the series 2-1 due to the postponement of the May 16th game due to rain. 

     Polin threw 105 pitches in the win.  There was some movement within the Hooks roster,  Pitcher Andy Van Hekken was promoted to Triple A Round Rock Express.  Pitcher Chad Wagler was demoted to Advanced A Lancaster Jethawks.  With that movement pitchers Chia-Jen Lo was called up from the Lancaster Jethawks and Danny Meszaros was called up from Class A, Lexington Legends. 

 

May 18th,
     Brandon Backe made his final rehab start for the Corpus Christi Hooks as the finished up a two game home stand against the San Antonio Missions.  This game was a pitching duel between Backe who went 8 innings and Missions pitcher Cesar Carrillo who went 7 innings.  Backe gave up 5 hits, struck out five and walked one.  Backe threw 98 pitches, 74 for strikes.  Carrillo gave up one hit, struck out five and also walked one.  Hooks pitcher Dann Meszaros looked very good in his Double A debut and pitched two shutout innings and struck out one.  The Missions scored the only run in the game in the top of the 12th when Craig Cooper hit a home run to left field off of Hooks reliever T. J. Burton.  The Missions pitchers did a superb job as they limited the Hooks to only three hits.  Drew Meyer and Jimmy Van Ostrand collected singles.  The Hooks haven't scored a run in the last 22 innings.


Brandon Backe.JPG                                                          (Brandon Backe)

Danny Meszaros.JPG                                                       (Danny Meszaros)



Closing Some Ground

May 5th
     The Corpus Christi Hooks started their current home stand against the Midland RockHounds.  Casey Hudspeth took the mound and he pitched a solid seven innings giving up seven hits, four strikeouts, two walks and two earned runs.  He had a shaky first half but a visit to the mound by pitching coach Stan Boroski did some good.  Casey did give up a home run to RockHound Corey Brown who hit the ball onto the left field berm in the RockHounds top of the 2nd.  The Hooks batters provided Casey with a lot of offense.  The Hooks got onto RockHounds pitcher Chris Farley early.  The Hooks scored three runs in their half of the 1st inning as Mark Ori brought home Drew Meyer and Drew Locke with a RBI single.  Ori would be brought home on a Jhon Florentino RBI single.  The Hooks added one more run in their half of the 3rd.  Farley was pulled as Jason Glushon relieved him in the 4th and it didn't get any better.  The 1st batter he faced, Collin DeLome hit a home run into the visitor's bullpen.  Two more runs would cross the plate in the Hooks half of the 6th inning.  Andy Van Hekken come on in relief of Hudspeth and got the save as he recorded one strikeout.  The Hooks won 10-3. 

  


May 6th
     Today's game ended up being a pitchers duel.   Douglas Arguello took to the mound for the Corpus Christi Hooks and Graham Godfrey for the Midland RockHounds.  Arguello pitched a spectular game as he went the distance, the first Hooks pitcher to do it and get a win since June 9, 2007.  Arguello gave up 7 hits and one earned run.   Outfielder Drew Locke hit a solo shot onto the left field berm in the Hooks half of the 1st inning.  Locke collected his 30th RBI and currently leads the Texas League in RBI's.  The earned run that Arguello was responsible for came across in the RockHounds top of the 5th inning, making the score 1-1.  That tie didn't last long as the Hooks came to bat in the bottom of the 5 inning.  Jhon Florentino and Felix Molina singled.  Florentino and Molina were brought home when catcher Jonathan Fixler launched a home run that cleared that left field berm making the score 4-1.  The Hooks defense backed up Arguello with some stellar defensive plays.  Arguello got himself into one jam in the RockHounds top of the 7th.  The RockHounds had individuals at the corners with two outs.  This threat was negated when RockHound hitter, Chris Carter grounded out to Fixler and was called out on batters interference. 

     Arguello collected his first win of the season.  He faced 34 batters.  He threw a total of 116 pitches, 75 of those for strikes.  He struck out six.

 


May 7th
     Brad James took to the mound for the Corpus Christi Hooks and as with his previous outings he continues to struggle on the mound.  He appeared to be frustrated with the home plate umpire strike zone.  James lasted a total of 4.1 innings in his appearance.  He gave up eight hits, struck out three, walked three and was responsible for five earned runs.  The Hooks bullpen struggled during this outing as the RockHounds clobbered them for nine more additional runs.  Abreu gave up one, Lopez gave up three, Wagler gave up four and T. J. Burton gave up one.  RockHounds DH, Corey Brown hit two home runs.  Three of his four home runs have come courtesy of the Hooks bullpen.  The Hooks winning streak ended at four games.  The one bright spot was that Outfielder Collin DeLome collected his ninth round tripper of the season as he continues to lead the Texas league in home runs.  The Hooks lost 14-2.

May 8th
     Brandon Backe took to the mound for the Corpus Christi Hooks as the Houston Astros have kept him on an extended rehab.  Backe pitched a solid six innings, he gave up two hits,  walked four and struck out seven.  He threw 82 pitches, 54 of them for strikes.  The Hooks got onto the scoreboard first in their half of the 4th inning off of a Jhon Florentino RBI single that plated Mark Ori who had doubled.  The Hooks added another run in the bottom of the 5th, when Koby Clemens crossed the plate on a Drew Locke RBI groundout.  The Hooks added two more runs in the bottom of the 7th off of RockHounds reliever Mike Benacka.  Benacke walked Clemens and Josh Flores.  Clemens and Flores moved up one on a sacrifice bunt by Collin DeLome.  Clemens crossed home plate on a Drew Meyer grounder and Locke collected his Texas League best 32nd RBI off of a double that plated Flores.  The Rockhounds got a run in the top of the 8th, but the Hooks answered back in the bottom of the 8th as they made the RockHounds pay for two errors.  RockHounds catcher Anthony Recker dropped a ball that allowed Mitch Einertson to score off of a double by Hooks catcher Koby Clemens.  The RockHounds added one more run with a Josh Donaldson round tripper off of Hooks releiver T. J. Burton.  The Hooks beat the RockHounds 5-2 and took the series 3 - 1.


 
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