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August 30
I guess the schedule makers were wrong. Everybody online had the Cannons playing tonight, but the final result is in by 5:30 in the afternoon. Despite being out hit ten to four, the Cannons swept the series with the RedHawks, winning 2-0.
This, combined with Tacoma's loss to the Stars, puts the Rainiers 3 1/2 back of the Guns, with 8 games to play. Calgary's 'magic number' versus Tacoma to 5, while the number versus Edmonton is also 5 with tonight's outcome in Fresno, where the Grizzlies beat the Trappers. Thr Trap is now four back of the Guns with eight to play.
The Guns are doing so well despite yet another pitching callup. Carlos Castillo went back up to the Sox, so Robert Theodile came off the injured list to start last night. Six pitchers combined for the win, which was saved by an amazing throw from Olmedo Saenz throwing from his knees to get Cannon killer Wes Chamberland with the last out, with the tying run crossing home plate.
Come back tonight to see how the Trappers are doing! And remember, the last four home games of the regular season start tomorrow against the Canadians!
August 29
Wow. It's hard to believe that Oklahoma and Calgary are the same two teams as two weeks ago when the Guns were swept here in Calgary. The Cannons have won three in a row from the RedHawks, including last night's come from behind victory. It was almost nice to have not followed the game inning by inning Friday (I was hawking merchandise at Lilith Fair) because I'm sure I would have been going insane.
In other team news, Edmonton lost last night, while Tacoma won, which switches the two teams once again, with Tacoma in second, still 2 1/2 games behind the Guns, while the Trappers fall to three full games back.
Even though tomorrow is Sunday, and a travel day, two of the three Northern Division title race teams play night games. Both the Trappers and Cannons play in the evening.
Starting Monday, the Cannons play Vancouver here at Burns Stadium (only four home games left in the regular season!), Edmonton goes home to face the Iowa Cubs, while the Rainiers replace the Trappers as Fresno's opponents. While there are no more broadcasts of Cannon's games online for the regular season, if you're not at Burns this week, you can listen to both of the other teams online. The Cubs link (for Edmonton) is still on this page, while you have to look in the archives for the Fresno link.
Just wanted to take a sec and thank you, the people whom come here and read this page. I just got better data on what kind of hits my page gets, and because most of you skip the main page I wasn't aware of just how many hits I get in a day. It's nice to know that I'm not just writing in a vacuum. Hope to see you all at Burns this week!
August 27
Hard to believe from two weeks ago, but two facts stand out after tonight's games. First, the Cannons won versus the RedHawks, and second, that the Edmonton Trappers are in second place.
The Cannons, on the strength of the Big Inning, (seven runs in the fourth) and pretty good relief work, (Mike Bertotti game up one run and strike out six in three innings), beat the RedHawks, to extend their winning streak to four games.
The second place Rainiers came away with a loss in Vegas tonight, as the Stars continue to help out the Guns by playing spoiler for the second straight evening. The Trappers, after holding off the charging Fresno Grizzlies, won seven to six in ten innings, to maintain their two game gap between the Guns and themselves. Ths put them in second, as Tacoma is now 2 1/2 games behind the Cannons.
No day games tomorrow, so come back to find out all the scores and information on the days games, and the Cannons run for the title.
August 26
I wrote earlier that the Guns did their jobs in Vancouver. Well, it appears that The Sky Sox and Stars did theirs as well. The Rainiers and Sox split their double header today, while the Stars won in Edmonton tonight. As a result, with twelve games left, the Cannons are 1 1/2 games up on Tacoma, and 2 up on Edmonton. As noted below, Tacoma faces the Stars in Vegas, Edmonton fly to Freson (no easy task) to play the Grizzlies, while the Cannons face the fearsome RedHawks in Oklahoma City. Folks, we got ourselves one heck of a race!
The Cannons have done their job in Vancouver. With today's matinee win at Nat Bailey, the Guns took three of four against the Canadians. The 6-4 win featured a home run from Brian Simmons in the first. During their time on the coast the team has rediscovered the big inning, being on the giving end of a few, as opposed to being on the receiving end. Also, the starting pitching was there in pitcher friendly Vancouver, including Carlos Castillo, who did well.
The scene now moves to Oklahoma City, where Calgary takes on the RedHawks, who swept the Guns earlier in the month here at Burns. The Cannons simply cannot allow that to happen again if they are to remain in the Northern Division hunt. By contrast, Tacoma faces the last place Las Vegas Stars, in Vegas, while the Trappers are in Fresno to take on the Grizzlies. Fresno also plays Tacoma during the second last stand of the season, so they have a large say in how the Cannons will fare going into the last week of the season. Ironically, the very team the Guns will be cheering for is the same one they hope to meet in the first round of the playoffs.
August 24
Well, it's been quite a week in Cannon land. Winning 5 of 6, and then a huge comeback in the first game against Edmonton gave hop that the playoffs were just days away. But losing the last four games have left the Cannons with the slimmest of margins atop the North Division, with a 1/2 game lead over Tacoma, and only a one game lead over the once dead Edmonton Trappers.
Only adding to the Cannon's woes is that the last place Vancouver Canadians are pretty hot as of late, and have a pretty good pitching staff right now. Last night's matchup of Jim Abbot versus Eric Hanson would have been a marquee matchup in the majors a couple of years ago, and was a great game last night. Unfortunately for the Guns, Hanson prevailed in a sparkling nine strikeout performance.
Let's hope Carlos Castillo, down replacing Tom Fordham, plays better than he did in his opening outing. Castillo, who arrived only 90 minutes before game time, was visibly pouting and gave up seven runs in two innings of work against the Trappers.
The Cannons play three more at Nat Bailey, then move down to Oklahoma City to play the red hot RedHawks. The Guns close out the home portion of the regular season against the Canadians starting on Monday.
August 16
Well, the losing streak is over, and hopefully a new one is not begun. The Cannons split with the Buzz tonight, winning the first and losing the second. With the split, the Trappers winning and Tacoma losing, the Trappers move to within 1 1/2 games of first, while the Rainiers slide to three games back, a change of half a game for each team. Tomorrow the Guns play a single game against the Buzz, an evening game (5:00 Calgary time).
For those of you who encountered an error message when trying to access the Buzz/Cannons game tonight: The signal broadcast.com was sending out for the first few innings of the first game was really, really bad, to the point where I couldn't listen to it. The 'signal unavailable' message was put up shortly after. Hopefully the call of tomorrow's game will be available!
August 15
Ugly. That's about the only way to describe the last four games the Cannons have played. The Guns were swept by the Oklahoma Redhawks, and it is only through losses by Tacoma and Edmonton that Calgary is still in first place.
The bullpen, which has been consistent throughout the season, was simply ugly during the four game set. The Redhawks moved from seventh to third in team batting during the series with the Guns. The Cannons had chances to win in two of the four games, but were not able to come through.
Things don't get any easier either! The Cannons move to Salt Lake for a six game in four day stretch against the hottest team in the PCL, the Buzz. The two double-headers make up for games rained out here in Calgary on July 2nd and 3rd.
The Buzz are online! To catch any of the action from this pivotal series, click the link!
August 10
Wow, what a weekend. And I'm not just saying that because of the weather, and the crowds at the ballpark. The four game series with the Iowa Cubs marked the arrival of Abbott mania to the ballpark. Jim Abbott was called up here from Birmingham on Thursday, to start on Saturday. That sparked the makings of a very busy, and entertaining weekend here at Burns Stadium.
There's been a whole lot written and said about Jim, but a couple of things stand out in my mind. First is the standing ovation that most of the crowd gave Abbott as he came off the field. I hope that it came from the fact he gave such a sterling performance, and not because of his...uniqueness.
Second was what happened after the game. Here at Burns, the players walk through a public area to get from the field to the clubhouse. Not only did he 'walk the gauntlet' after the game, but when he was showered up, there were more fans outside. He could have taken a different route, up through the front office and out, but instead he signed every autograph asked for.
After two days of flying from Alabama to Alberta, meeting new teammates, pitching a 7 inning gem which resulted in a No Decision, it would be easy for Jim to slide into the park just before he had to face the media for the second time in 12 hours. But instead, at 9:00, while only the grounds crew, and a few of us food service types were setting up for the afternoon's game, Jim walked in, chipper and ready for the day.
It's really refreshing to see a player, especially one who has spent the vast majority of his career in the Show, be so down to earth, and so ready to interact and show his appreciation to the people who have come to see him.
I hope that we get to see this talented player, and this genuinely nice person, help get the team into the post season.
Going into the four game set with the Oklahoma Redwings, the Guns are in first, 3 1/2 games up on Tacoma, and four up on the Trappers. Oklahoma is in first in the East, 1 1/2 games up on the Zephers, so both teams need to win. Tacoma is in Memphis on the next leg of their east swing, while the Trappers have to go down to Des Moines to play the Cubs, the only team in the league to reach the 70 win mark.
The games can't be listened to online so I suggest coming down to Burns for the next four games. And yes, Jim's pitching in this series, Thursday afternoon (12:05).
August 6
The Cannons have come out of the Battle with three out of possible four wins. With the exception of Monday's 10-2 Cannons loss, there was a lot of good baseball played, and just enough more of it by the Cannons to get them three wins. The Guns now have a three game lead on the Trappers, who play at home against the Canadians, and three and a half games up on Tacoma, who travel to Nashville.
The Guns, meanwhile, have to face what have been the big guns of this year's PCL, the Iowa Cubs. The Cubs have a team .285 batting average and 157 home runs...without having been to Burns yet this year. There is also for the bragging rights between the two Triple A affiliates of Chicago teams to think about. The Cubbies are in a pennett race of their own, four games up on Omaha.
The series between these two first place clubs can be heard online. Click on the graphic below to hear Cannons baseball.
August 2
The Battle of Alberta is on! The Cannons are up one game after a big 11-4 win Sunday evening. This puts the Guns two games up on the Trappers, and 2 1/2 up on the losing Tacoma Rainiers. The Guns come home in control of their own destiny, and need to win three of four over the Trappers to help distance themselves from the rest of the division before facing Iowa, in some minds the top team in the league, in the middle series of the homestand.
Tomorrow's (Monday's) game is online starting at 1:30. Click on the link to listen to the action.
That's all the Cannons news for the month of August. If you have any comments, please mail me at
kmorriso@cadvision.com.
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