| Monday, May 31rd |
New Orleans (19-32, 4th in Central) VS Oklahoma City (31-21, 1st in Midwest)
On a recent trip to New Orleans, I decided to take a stroll down to the New Orleans Entertainment Center. The Oklahoma City fire, who boast the most potent offense in the BPLA were in town to take on the struggling New Orleans Jazz.
I was a bit surprised to see just how beautiful the NOEC is. The architects and designers did a fine job mixing the classic and the new, and you could see the field from almost anywhere in the stadium. It was a hot evening, but the roof was opened, which gave me a nice view of downtown New Orleans and the night sky. Speaking of nice views, I must add that the New Orleans Cheerleaders were appropriately dressed for the 80-degree night.
The pitching match-up of Jamar Munoz and Roberto Verdugo was hardly an all-star game preview. Munoz (4-4, 4.24) was 0-2 in his last 4 outings and Verdugo (0-9, 4.36) hadn’t won any of his 10 starts. In fact, Verdugo has already lost as many games as he did all of last season, when he was 6-9 with a 4.58 ERA. New Orleans had just one player in their starting lineup hitting over .250, DH Faustino Gonzales. Oklahoma City, on the other hand, had just two players hitting below .260 (Arispe & Roberts).
Verdugo shocked the crowd and pitched a scoreless first inning. After he walked the leadoff batter, Harland Lewis, New Orleans 1B Shannon Mellott snagged an Andre Arispe line drive and turned an unassisted double-play for the first two outs. Verdugo then earned a standing ovation from the crowd (perhaps a Bronx cheer) by striking out Ozzie Sanchez, the league’s only .400 hitter. To nobody’s surprise, Jamar Munoz then came on and retired the first three New Orleans batters in order.
Verdugo pitched a scoreless 2nd, and thanks to another double play had faced the minimum through two. The crowd erupted into the loudest booing I’ve ever heard as A-Rod stepped up to the plate to lead off the bottom of the second inning. Security guards lined up around the perimeter of the field as cups and hot dog wrappers went flying onto the field. After a brief delay (that undoubtedly rattled Munoz) A-Rod ripped a single in to the gap in right-center. He could of easily had second, but chose to stay at first, causing the already frenzied fans to roar a little more. This also seemed to rattle Munoz, and he walked the next batter, Shannon Mellott. Dutra followed with a groundout that advanced both runners, and Naylor followed with a groundout that scored A-Rod. These fans don’t quit in New Orleans. Even as he crossed the plate to give New Orleans a 1-0 lead, A-Rod was booed.
Both pitchers pitched superbly until the bottom of the 5th, when Keith Naylor led off the inning with a solo shot. In the bottom of the 6th, Munoz gave up another solo shot, this time to Faustino Gonzales. Mellott, Dutra and Naylor followed with consecutive hits, before OKC called on the bullpen and brought Raul Cortez in to relieve Munoz. It was 5-0 New Orleans at the end of 6. A Faustino Gonzales sac fly in the 7th made it 6-0.
It was still 6-0 New Orleans in the top of the 9th. Verdugo walked the leadoff batter for his 5th walk of the night. Verdugo’s line wasn’t too bad, 8 IP, 2 hits, 5 BB, and 3 K’s. New Orleans went to the pen and brought in Donny Blanche who retired Arispe, then promptly gave up a single to Ozzie Sanchez. He then walked Jonathan Satterwhite to load the bases for Joel Roberts. Roberts singled to center, making it 6-1 New Orleans. DH Eric Ziegler than crushed the next pitch and sent it 437 feet to straightaway center. GRAND SLAM. 6-5 New Orleans. Oddly enough, most of the fans had already left by now, assuming that the Jazz would win with a 6-0 lead in the 9th. Taking no chances, New Orleans went back to the bullpen and brought out Ezequiel Garza. Garza retired the first batter for the second out but then allowed a single to Richard Parker. Chet Caruso followed Parker by grounding into a fielder’s choice and New Orleans escaped with a 6-5 win. Verdugo picked up his first win of the season, and Garza earned his 11th save. A-Rod went 1-4 to finish at .188, and Ozzie Sanchez went 1-4 to finish at .415. Members of the media gave player of the game honors to Verdugo, but my vote went to Keith Naylor, who was 2-4 with 3 RBI’s. It was an exciting game, and good to see the home team win.