Stompers Win 6-2 In Canseco Opener

Former six-time MLB All-Star Jose Canseco was 0-for-4 on Friday night in his first of two games playing for the Stompers. Canseco will take part in a pre-game home run derby on Saturday before suiting up for Sonoma later that evening.

Danielle Putonen/Sonoma Stompers

Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

It was a packed house at Arnold Field on a beautiful Friday night, with throes of fans in attendance to watch one of the greatest sluggers to ever put a bat in his hand take his first professional swings in two years.

Even with former Oakland A's great Jose Canseco going 0-for-4 in Sonoma's 6-2 win over San Rafael, the story was a return to professional baseball for the 50-year-old. While he had recently taken part in home run exhibitions or appearances with numerous minor league and independent ballclubs, his presence on the field on Friday night was truly a sight to behold.

A hulking presence in the right-handed batter's box, Canseco towered over home plate in his imposing style: Wide open and crowding the plate. He was challenged a few times in the game, but pitchers mostly stayed away from him, with starter Ryan DeJesus (0-2) doing his best not to become a victim of Canseco's prodigious power.

Canseco's timing to game speed was quick to come around, too. While he hasn't seen live pitching in a while, Canseco's quick hands are still present. He can still react to pitches in on him or adjust away, but on Friday, he was just barely missing in his attempts to get on base.

His best plate appearance came in the third, when he got a pitch up and put his best swing of the game on it. The deep fly ball, however, flew towards the deepest part of the ballpark, and San Rafael (3-5) center fielder Zack Pace tracked it down about 15 feet shy of the wall for an out.

Regardless of the result of the game, Canseco brought an energy to the ballpark that was palpable. He still commands attention simply by coming to the plate, and each time his name was called, the reception of the crowd was predictably loud. This included a large amount of fans in the bleachers who were hopeful that Canseco would use that power to send one their way.

Sonoma (7-1) as a whole was its usual dominant self. It was yet another double-digit hit game as a team, with shortstop Gered Mochizuki showing off some power of his own in his 5'8", 170 lb. body. For the second time in four home games, the left-handed hitter hit a home run the other way, a three-run shot in the first that got Sonoma off and running. He finished with a game-high four RBIs.

The pitching was equally impressive, as Gregory Paulino (1-1) bounced back from a disastrous debut last Wednesday to pitch his best outing as a Stomper. His quality start of six innings included only four baserunners allowed and two runs scored, one earned. He struck out four and was constantly around the plate, throwing 52 of his 76 pitches for strikes (68.4% strike rate).

This time, however, his strike throwing led more to weak contact than strong, as a six-pitch sixth inning put a phenomenal capper on his evening. He gave way to San Francisco-born Jon Rand, Jr. in the seventh, and Rand obliged with the rare three-inning save, allowing only one hit while confounding the Pacifics with his deceptive changeup.

At 7-1, the Stompers are in the catbird's seat in the Pacific Association, well ahead of the other three teams. At presstime, the Pittsburg Diamonds were beating the Vallejo Admirals 4-1 in the seventh, and a win by Pittsburg would put the Stompers four games up on the other three teams in the league.

The second half of Sonoma's Jose Canseco Weekend will begin in earnest before tomorrow night's game as Canseco, some players and a lucky fan will take part in a home run derby at Arnold Field. The gates will open early so that fans can watch the derby as it happens, with the first 250 fans receiving a foam hand courtesy of Lagunitas. The foam hand will be missing the tip of its middle finger, playing off the unfortunate gun-related incident involving Canseco last year.

First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. with the gates opening around 4:30 p.m. for the home run derby. Stompers Hour will start when the gates open and last up until 15 minutes before first pitch. After the game, Canseco will sign autographs behind the third-base dugout.

Fingerless Canseco Gives Comic Relief Amid Scandals

Jose Canseco signs an autograph for a young fan at Arnold Field.

James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers

Originally Published: Bloomberg Sports

Rob Gloster and Erik Matuszewski, Bloomberg Sports

Just when sports is stuck in a morass of soccer scandals and deflated footballs, along comes the latter-day clown prince of baseball to provide comic relief.

Jose Canseco, who hit 462 home runs and wrote a book about how steroids helped him do it, will attempt to play all nine positions on the field during a two-day stint with the Sonoma Stompers this weekend. The Stompers will celebrate by passing out foam hands to fans minus half the middle finger -- the former slugger accidentally shot it off last year.

Canseco, 50, was cleaning his gun last October when it discharged and took off a piece of the middle finger on his left hand. The missing digit was re-attached in surgery, but two weeks later comedian Canseco Tweeted that it fell off during a poker tournament. “I put my finger in the freezer anyone want finger appetizers?”

Just kidding, he said later.

Canseco was a six-time All-Star and the 1988 American League Most Valuable Player during a 17-year MLB career that started with the Oakland Athletics and included a 2000 stint with the New York Yankees. He and fellow performance-enhancing drug user Mark McGwire were Oakland’s Bash Brothers, and combined for 346 home runs in the five seasons from 1987 to 1991. Canseco’s 2005 book detailed his steroid use in baseball; McGwire later admitted using them.

Since his retirement, Canseco has tried boxing and mixed martial arts as well as hanging around the periphery of professional baseball. He will participate in a home-run derby before Saturday’s game against four Stompers players and two fans. It’s not exactly the double-jointed rubbery-faced skits of Max Patkin, the most recent Clown Prince of Baseball who appeared in “Bull Durham” and died in 1999, but it has humor potential.

Canseco will be helping the Stompers fill their park, said general manager Theo Fightmaster. The team averages about 300 fans a game, and Fightmaster told Sports Line the club has sold all its reserved seats for both nights of Canseco Weekend -- Arnold Field has about 300 grandstand spots, half of which are premium seats, and 1,000 in the outfield bleachers that cost $4 apiece.

“Not just the ticket sales, but every person in the ballpark comes, buys food, beer and maybe a hat or a T-shirt,” Fightmaster said in an e-mail. “To put it in perspective, this weekend we’ll gross about 2-3 times what we did on an average night last season.”

Pacifics Hand Sonoma First Loss Of 2015, 10-6

Sergio Miranda reached base four times on Wednesday night in Sonoma's 10-6 loss against San Rafael.

James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers

Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

Like most good things, they have to come to an end at some point. After a week that saw the Sonoma Stompers set franchise records left and right, the lone remaining undefeated team in the Pacific Association had their first hiccup of 2015 as they fell to the defending league champion San Rafael Pacifics on Wednesday night, 10-6.

A back-and-forth game saw the lead change five times after the fifth inning, but it was in the seventh where San Rafael (3-4) took the lead for good. With two out in a 4-4 game, Paul Hvozdovic was called in from the bullpen to face the powerful Matt Chavez with two runners on.

On a 1-1 pitch, Chavez got a fastball up and clobbered it to deep center, sending it out of the park for his league-leading fourth homer of the year and giving the Pacifics a lead they would never relinquish. San Rafael added three more runs in the eighth to make it a 10-4 game, two coming on Maikel Jova's second homer of the season.

Sonoma (6-1) made things interesting by loading the bases in the ninth with nobody out, but Gered Mochizuki grounded into a double play. While a run did score, Sonoma had only one out to play with. They added one more run, but couldn't make a comeback similar to their come-from-behind victory last Wednesday against Pittsburg.

The Stompers pitching staff had a tough time finding their groove against the Pacifics, walking eight batters and allowing 11 hits. The bullpen was responsible for seven runs in all, this after allowing only two total runs in their first six games. Starter Eric Schwieger allowed only two hits and struck out five in five innings, but also allowed five walks.

A scary incident in the first inning saw Stompers catcher Isaac Wenrich collide with first baseman Daniel Baptista on a pop up down the first base line by Jova. Wenrich ran halfway up the line as Baptista came forward and as the ball came down, Baptista made the catch while Wenrich ran face first into the inside of Baptista's shoulder. After being down on the ground for a minute or two, Wenrich stayed in the game and played all nine innings for the Stompers.

Fehlandt Lentini, Sergio Miranda and Joel Carranza each had two hits for Sonoma with Miranda and Carranza each driving in two runs, as well. Miranda also added two walks, pushing his league-leading on-base percentage to .548.

The Stompers will have an off day tomorrow as part of the postponement of their three game series with San Rafael in fan consideration of the NBA Finals, as the Golden State Warriors will play the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of their championship series.

Sonoma will return to action on Friday evening to host San Rafael for a three game series, with the first two games marking Jose Canseco Weekend at Arnold Field. The former American League MVP and six-time All-Star will play in both games with the Stompers, and will be a part of a pre-game home run derby prior to Saturday's game.

Both games have a first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets in three ways: Online at StompersBaseball.com, in person at the Stompers Fan Shop located at 234 W. Napa St. or by contacting the Stompers directly at (707) 938-7277 and by email at jack@stompersbaseball.com.

Stompers End Historic Week With 17-3 Blowout Win

Isaac Wenrich set a Stompers record with seven RBIs in Sonoma's 17-3 win over Vallejo.

James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers

Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

It's only been a week into the 2015 season, but the Sonoma Stompers are setting a historic pace.

No, it's not just the #OnPaceFor78Wins part or the stellar bullpen work. Thanks to Sunday's 17-3 blowout of the Vallejo Admirals, the Sonoma Stompers accomplished four things that had never been done before in the team's history.

The most obvious accomplishment at first glance is the 17 runs, which broke the record of 15 runs that the Stompers set in a game against the Pittsburg Mettle on July 11, 2014. Sonoma scored in seven consecutive innings on Sunday, and the hit that put Sonoma (6-0) ahead for good was just the beginning of a great day for catcher Isaac Wenrich.

After Joel Carranza beat out a possible double play ball to keep the inning alive in the third, the former Vallejo (3-3) catcher came to the plate against former batterymate David Dinelli (1-1) and took him deep and out to right field for a three-run homer to give Sonoma 4-0 lead.

While four runs would have been plenty, Wenrich and the Stompers were far from satisfied. The catcher came up again in the seventh with two runners on and launched another homer to right for his second three-run shot of the game. When he added another run on an RBI single in the eighth, Wenrich extended his new single-game RBI record to seven, surpassing the mark of five previously set by Joel Carranza, Matt Marquis and Matt Hibbert.

As a team, the win extended Sonoma's franchise-best winning streak to six games and gave the Stompers their first ever 6-0 week. The 17 hits on Sunday tied the team record for hits that was set twice in 2014, and all nine starters for Sonoma had at least one hit. Kristian Gayday ended an 0-8 skid with three hits while Fehlandt Lentini, Gered Mochizuki, Sergio Miranda and Mark Hurley each had two hits apiece.

Paul Hvozdovic (2-0) picked up his second win in relief of starter Matt Walker. Walker was an out shy of being considered for the victory in the fifth, but Michael Cerda's two-run single chased him in favor of the lefty from West Virginia. Hvozdovic was good again for Sonoma, allowing a walk while striking out two in 2 1/3 innings. His only blemish was a solo homer given up to Vallejo's Brad Young.

Gregory Paulino made his first relief appearance of the year and looked superb after his rough outing as a starter on Wednesday, throwing two perfect innings to close out the game with three strikeouts.

In their first six games, the Stompers are hitting .319/.406/.459 as a team, leading the league by far in all three categories. They have a 79 point lead in batting average, an 85 point lead in on-base percentage and a 92 point lead in slugging percentage. Not coincidentally, the Stompers lead the league in hits (73, 2nd highest - 52, VAL), walks (30, 2nd highest - 21, VAL), and home runs (7, 2nd highest - 5, VAL).

UPCOMING SERIES WITH PACIFICS SEES GAME CHANGES

With the Golden State Warriors playing in their first NBA Finals since 1975, the San Rafael Pacifics have come to an agreement with the Stompers to change the date of two games during their upcoming three-game series from June 9-11.

Both the Tuesday, June 9 game and the Thursday, June 11 game have been postponed in accordance with Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals. One game will be made up with a unique day-night home-and-home doubleheader on Sunday, July 9. After the regularly scheduled home game for the Stompers that afternoon at 1:05 p.m., the two teams will travel back to San Rafael for the nightcap beginning at 6:05 p.m. Both games will be seven-inning games.

The second game to be made up has yet to be announced.

The Stompers will play next on Wednesday night in San Rafael in the only game the two teams will play in San Rafael this week. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. However, the Pacifics will come to Sonoma this upcoming weekend for a three game series beginning on Friday, June 12. That's the beginning of Sonoma's Jose Canseco Weekend at Arnold Field, as the former Major League slugger will suit up for the Stompers against the two-time defending Pacific Association champions for two games.

Sonoma Remains Undefeated, Win In 10, 2-1

In his first start with the Sonoma Stompers, Mike Jackson, Jr. struck out six over five-plus innings, throwing 43 of 67 pitches for strikes.

James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers

Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

Thanks to a two-out Joel Carranza RBI single in the top of the 10th, the Sonoma Stompers remained undefeated in 2015 with a 2-1 victory over the Vallejo Admirals in 10 innings. The five game winning streak is now the longest in franchise history, besting the four game streak set from June 4-7 in 2014.

While the first four games were won with a prolific offensive attack, it was the Stompers dominant pitching that became the key on Saturday evening. For the first time in his career with Sonoma (5-0), Mike Jackson, Jr. was called on as the starting pitcher and came up huge for his team.

After 31 appearances in 2014 as a reliever, with most of them coming as the team's closer, Jackson was terrific in his five-plus innings of work, mixing both his slider and his split-finger fastball with a 90 MPH heater to baffle the Admirals hitters. He was spotted a 1-0 lead right out of the gates thanks to an Isaac Wenrich RBI single, but Vallejo (3-2) finally got to Jackson in the sixth.

Darian Sandford led things off with a four pitch walk, which was atypical of Jackson on the evening. Sandford had already stolen a base earlier in the game and was off and running this time around once more, stealing second and putting the tying run aboard. That allowed PJ Phillips to drive Sandford home with a single over the outstretched glove of Sergio Miranda at second base, tying the game at 1-1.

Jackson's final line was terrific: 5+ innings, four hits, an earned run, a walk and six strikeouts. In his 67 pitches total, he threw 43 for strikes.

In the ninth, Vallejo had a great chance to win the ballgame when Jordan Hinshaw drew a walk off Jon Rand, Jr. (1-0). With Kale Sumner at the plate against Rand, Sumner was asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but Rand couldn't find the plate, taking the count to 3-0. After a strike Sumner got bat to ball, but popped the bunt up to first baseman Daniel Baptista for the first out.

After a ball to Brad Young, Rand caught Hinshaw trying to steal second and picked him off for the second out, taking away Vallejo's best opportunity of the game to that point.

But they also failed to do so in the 10th. Against Stompers closer Sean Conroy, Vallejo got the first two runners aboard and again attempted the sacrifice bunt, but Tyler Nordgren couldn't get it down. With two strikes on him and the bunt off, he grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, which then led to Conroy getting Sandford to pop out weakly to second base to end the game for his second save.

Sonoma only managed seven hits in the game, their first game of 2015 where they didn't have double-digit hits as a team. Carranza had two hits to lead the way for the Stompers, who have now set a franchise record for most consecutive wins with five.

Like Jackson, Rand was terrific as well, giving up only two hits in four scoreless innings to pick up his first win of 2015. The Stompers bullpen has been lights out, allowing only one run in 25 2/3 innings pitched so far this season, by far the best in the Pacific Association.

The defense stepped up big, too. On a popup into foul territory by former Stomper Glenn Walker in the second, Baptista ran over to field it in front of the Stompers dugout. Battling the wind, the ball came back behind him and as he reached out for it, it hit the heel of his glove. But Baptista was able to get his bare hand over to complete the catch and end the inning.

However, the biggest defensive play for the Stompers came in the seventh inning. After two-out singles by Walker and Brian Williams for Vallejo, Tyler Nordgren skied the first pitch to deep left field in foul territory, where Mark Hurley hustled and made a headlong dive towards the Admiral bullpen to make a sensational catch and end the Vallejo scoring chance.

With yet another win, the Stompers can have their first-ever 6-0 week with a win tomorrow at Wilson Park in Vallejo, where they will finish their three game series with the Admirals. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m., with the radio broadcast going live on StompersBaseball.com and the TuneIn Radio app.

Stompers Remain Undefeated, Defeat Admirals, 8-3

Erik Gonsalves picked up his first win of the season on Friday night with 3 1/3 no-hit innings.

James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers

Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

Before the Sonoma Stompers franchise came to be, pitcher Erik Gonsalves spent the summer of 2013 pitching for the Vallejo Admirals. After a fine season with the team, the Stompers signed him to be at the front of their starting rotation during their inaugural season. He obliged the team with 106 innings of solid work in 2014, the second most in the Pacific Assocation.

Now in his third year in the league, Gonsalves has seen his role change once more, as he's being asked to come out of the bullpen to begin 2015 with Sonoma. If Friday night's appearance is any indication, Gonsalves might be returning to the starting rotation much sooner than later.

Thanks to Gonsalves' phenomenal 3 1/3 innings of relief and a costly Vallejo error from left fielder Brad Young, the Stompers made a four-run fourth inning hold up in an 8-3 victory over the Admirals, keeping Sonoma undefeated on the young season.

Gonsalves (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief during Sonoma's first home series earlier this week, but got called upon in the fifth inning in a 6-3 ballgame. Vallejo had loaded the bases with two outs thanks to two Sonoma errors in the inning, and the red hot Michael Cerda came to the plate. Cerda was 5-for-14 with a double and two homers in his first three games coming in and already had two hits on the evening, including a two-run double.

Working the Vallejo (3-1) infielder on the inside part of the plate, Gonsalves got Cerda to pop out meekly to shortstop to end the inning, but his mastery did not stop there. Scattering only two walks, Gonsalves didn't allow a hit and struck out five, stopping any notion of a comeback by the Admirals during their Opening Night.

In fact, it was Sonoma (4-0) who had to make the comeback, as after the Cerda double, Sonoma and Vallejo traded runs back and forth to make it a 3-3 ballgame. The costly error by Young came in the fourth on a bases loaded RBI single by Fehlandt Lentini. Young misplayed the ball that landed in front of him, and as it rolled to the wall, all three runners came in to score, giving Sonoma the 6-3 lead.

Joel Carranza reached four times for the Stompers, including two hits. The Stompers first baseman only had one hit in eight at bats coming into Friday's action. In his first game at Vallejo since joining the Stompers, Isaac Wenrich also notched two hits against his former team. Lentini scored three times and stole third on a throw back to the pitcher in the first, getting himself into position to be brought home on Carranza's first hit of the game.

Although it's only four games into the season, the Stompers are way out in front of the other three teams in the Pacific Association in all major hitting categories. Their .327 team batting average is 77 points higher than second-place Vallejo's, and their .430 team on-base percentage is 97 points higher. 41.5% of the league's total walks have been tallied by Sonoma hitters.

While he didn't qualify for the victory, starter Jeff Conley looked good after a rough first inning. In all, he struck out six in 4 2/3 innings and allowed only four hits and three walks. Of the three runs he gave up, two were earned. Paul Hvozdvoic pitched a scoreless ninth inning, as well. This season, Stompers relievers have given up only one run in 29 2/3 innings with a 19/5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Game two of the three-game weekend series takes place Saturday afternoon at Wilson Park in Vallejo with a change in gametime. The 5 p.m. start time has been moved up to 4 p.m., with the radio broadcast beginning at 3:50 on StompersBaseball.com and via the TuneIn radio app.

How Sweep It Is: Sonoma Wins In 10, 10-9

Mark Hurley is mobbed by his teammates after he scored the winning run on a wild pitch in Sonoma's come-from-behind victory on Wednesday night. Hurley scored twice on wild pitches in the game.

James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers

Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

How sweep it is, indeed.

After spotting the Pittsburg Diamonds a 9-2 lead in the early innings, the Sonoma Stompers roared back to tie the game in the eighth inning and won it in the 10th as Mark Hurley raced home on a wild pitch for a wild come-from-behind victory, 10-9, completing an opening series sweep.

The maddening comeback began in the fifth when Sonoma (3-0) sent 10 men to the plate and scored five times. The biggest jolt of the inning came off the bat of player-manager Fehlandt Lentini, who launched a three-run homer to left to cut the lead to 9-7.

From there, the Stompers took advantage of the inconsistency of the Diamonds battery. Justin Martinez (0-1) had four wild pitches in his three innings of work and miscommunicated with catcher Billy Gonzalez to the tune of two passed balls. Two of those wild pitches allowed runs to score, and both of those runs were scored by Hurley, with the final one costing Pittsburg (0-3) the game.

The Stompers had to come back because of a rough start for right-hander Gregory Paulino, who made his first start since having Tommy John surgery nearly two years ago. The former Oakland A's farmhand threw strikes, but they were hittable, as he gave up eight runs on eight hits in only 1.2 innings.

After Paulino was given an early exit, the Stompers bullpen came through big to keep Sonoma in the game. Save one run given up by Jon Rand, Jr. in the fourth, the Stompers relievers were untouchable. Former Santa Rosa Junior College standout Jerome Godsey threw three shutout innings following Rand before giving way to Sean Conroy (1-0) in the ninth. The sidearmer threw two shutout innings himself and turned an impressive 1-6-3 double play in the 10th on a Chris DeBiasi sacrifice bunt attempt.

The Stompers employed their first shifts of the regular season, all against left-handed hitters. Of their four total shifts, one ball found a hole to the right of second base and Diamonds first baseman Nick Oddo beat the shift with a perfect bunt down the third base line.

Offensively for Sonoma, Lentini led the way with his 2-for-5 night, including that big three-run shot. Daniel Baptista reached base four times while going 2-for-3. Kristian Gayday was 2-for-5 and scored three runs while TJ Gavlik went 3-for-6 in his first start of the season as the designated hitter. The exciting Yuki Yasuda went 2-for-2 as a late-inning replacement, as well.

As a team, the Stompers now have 40 hits in their first three games of the season and have a collective triple-slash line of .342/.430/.504, including five home runs. Even for a small sample size, the early offensive firepower is a good sign of things to come for a team that features a lot of pop up and down the lineup.

With their first home series in the books, the Stompers will look forward to a day off Thursday before beginning a six-game road trip Friday, starting with the first of three games against the Vallejo Admirals. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. with the audio broadcast beginning at 6:55 p.m. both on StompersBaseball.com and the TuneIn Radio app.

Stompers Crush Diamonds, Play For Sweep Wednesday

Gered Mochizuki had a home run, a double and two RBIs in Sonoma's 9-2 win over Pittsburg on Tuesday night. He's 4-9 in his first two games with Sonoma.

Danielle Putonen/Sonoma Stompers

Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

The bats are alive from the start for the Sonoma Stompers in 2015, as the team's 14-hit attack was more than enough in a 9-2 drubbing of the Pittsburg Diamonds.

Six players had multi-hit nights for Sonoma (2-0), as the team jumped on Pittsburg (0-2) starter James LoPresti (0-1) early and didn't let up, knocking him around for 10 hits in only 2.2 innings. Gered Mochizuki and Isaac Wenrich did the most damage against the former SSU player, as Mochizuki's opposite field shot to left and Wenrich moonshot to right-center punctuated Sonoma's early offensive barrage.

Mochizuki added a double and drove in two runs while Wenrich scored three times. Six runs in all came across for the Stompers off LoPresti, and the team scored in each of the first five innings against the Diamonds, who have now given up 15 runs in the first two games of 2015.

Amongst the other offensive superstars for Sonoma were Kristian Gayday and Daniel Baptista, who each tallied three hits. Fehlandt Lentini and Matt Hibbert each had two hits, as well, with Hibbert scoring twice and adding an RBI while Lentini drove in a run and scored a run himself.

While the offense was the big story on Tuesday night, the pitching more than held its own. Eric Schwieger (1-0) had a solid first start of 2015, striking out six in five innings while allowing four hits and two runs. In their first respective appearances of 2015, both Erik Gonsalves and Mike Jackson, Jr. threw two scoreless innings in relief.

Mike Taylor hit a solo homer off Schwieger in the second to tie the game at 1-1 and Chris DeBiasi put the Diamonds in the lead later in the inning with a sacrifice fly, but a four run bottom of the inning for the Stompers was the breaking point in the game. All nine Sonoma hitters came to the plate in the inning.

Sonoma will look for the sweep on Wednesday night in game three of the team's opening series of 2015, with the first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. at Arnold Field. Former Oakland A's farmhand Gregory Paulino is the probable starter for Sonoma, who will be hosting "NASCAR Night" presented by Sonoma Raceway.

Fans will get to see an actual NASCAR Stock Car and get greeted by the Sonoma Raceway Girls as they enter the field. Sonoma Raceway will also be giving out some fantastic raffle prizes, which include tickets to the NASCAR Toyota/Save Mart 350 June 26-28 at Sonoma Raceway.

Baseball Outside Of Major League Baseball Is Different, But So Is Major League Baseball

Eric Garcia McKinley/SB Nation

Originally Published: Beyond The Box Score

Eric Garcia McKinley, Contributor

Baseball Prospectus’s Effectively Wild podcast is known for the quirky questions the hosts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller receive for its weekly listener email show. My favorite question, and I believe the favorite of many others, was about the essence of baseball: "If baseball were different, how different would it be?" To truly understand something, it’s not enough to investigate the object in question, but also what makes that object different from others. For someone who regularly says the phrase "the difference of difference," out loud and to human beings, this question piqued my interest. I don’t recall the exact answer, but the question was more important anyway.

Ben and Sam are currently entering into an experiment in different baseball. They have taken the reins of baseball operations for the Sonoma Stompers, they of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, for the 2015 season. Their foray into baseball outside of Major League Baseball allows for reflection on the question of different baseball. While not about the difference of baseball itself, we can draw conclusions about different varieties of baseball. All baseball is different—it’s just different in different ways.

I’ve only watched one independent baseball game, and it was actually a professional game that approximated independent ball. It was put on by Baseball-Bundesliga, Germany’s professional baseball league. The game pitted the home team Berlin Sluggers against the Solingen Alligators. While the game was actually professional, it felt independent. The diamond is located far south in Berlin. It’s the only baseball field in the metropolis.

It was an informal environment, which contributed to the feel. The informality was due to a couple of factors. The first and most notable is that in Germany, soccer is king—baseball is more the court jester.

My baseball companions and I purchased tickets from someone sitting in a lawn chair. We sat wherever we wanted. Our options ranged from second row bleacher-like seat to first row bleacher-like seat. In other words, there were two rows and options. And after the game, I strolled right into the Sluggers’ dugout to chat with a couple of players. It was not a security breach. The atmosphere was incredibly light. In this way, the game probably resembled a high school matchup rather than an independent league game. The Stompers will pull in a crowd—who could resist a four-and-a-half foam fingers on Jose Canseco night?

The game itself was different than anything I, or anyone else, has seen in Major League Baseball. First, the final score of the game has never happened in a MLB game. It was 30-0. According to Baseball Reference’s Play Index, since 1901 a team has only scored 30 runs once. In 2007, the Rangers beat the Orioles 30-3. Even if that game was 30-0, the one I witnessed in Berlin would still have been different. Germany’s professional league employs the mercy rule, so the game was called after seven innings. That is to say, parity was not on display in this game.

The players are weekenders. Games are played Friday through Saturday. Not all of the players get paid, and those that do get paid don’t make that much. The teams are mostly populated by Germans. The highest paid players tend to be from the U.S. I wish I knew for sure what level they could reach in the U.S., but my guess is independent ball. The players are responsible for their equipment. Sometime in the third or fourth inning, one of the Berlin Sluggers broke his bat while popping out to second base. He was really angry about it, too—definitely angrier than one should be for turning in an out in a 23-0 game. It turns out he was mad because he had to replace his own bat.

Like Berlin itself, the Sluggers were rough around the edges and much less refined than their counterparts from western Germany. I didn’t capture a particular moment in time due for change, either. The Alligators have played 420 games in 12 seasons for the first division Baseball-Bundesliga, and have a pretty good .736 winning percentage. In seven seasons of play at the top level of play, the Sluggers have a .337 winning percentage in 196 games. Since this game, the Sluggers have been relegated to the second division Baseball-Bundesliga.

The Sluggers' rawness was part of the charm. The starting pitcher for the Sluggers allowed ten runs in the first, but he stayed in the game (rosters max out at about 20). Other pitchers to enter included someone who threw nothing but curveballs, and the person who began the game as the third base coach, who was also the manager. I imagined the sequence a little bit too dramatically. "Enough of this shit," I fantasized him saying, "I’ve got this to the end, even if it means no more dozen run innings." Instead, his first pitched sailed about five feet above the catcher. He gave up a bunch more runs.

It was great.

What makes Major League Baseball different from other forms of baseball—from independent baseball to baseball in foreign countries where the sport is not very popular and all the way down to little league baseball—is the intense scrutiny it receives by newspaper writers, writers who blog, and other members of the media. Additionally, the myriad statistics Major League Baseball collects (the reason that a site like Beyond the Box Score exists) make it different from everything else. The material for calculating batting average, wOBA, ERA, WAR, FIP/xFIP/cFIP, SIERA, WHIP etc. exists in every baseball game, including the one I saw in Berlin back in 2012. But the ingredients that make those statistics are left unmixed far more often than they're put together.

But whether or not the game receives scrutiny and statistics, whether introductory or advanced, says something about the brand of baseball in question. In this way, the difference between Major League Baseball and possibly every other variety (I don’t know enough about foreign leagues such as Japan, Korea, Mexico, etc. to say for sure) in the world is greater than the difference that exists between all others. In the game I went to in Berlin that approximated independent play, the most important figures were the number of runs that evoke the mercy rule and how much the player who broke his bat will have to pay for a new one. Germany’s Baseball-Bundesliga is indisputably different from MLB. That is not to say that the professional and statistical self-legitimization that exists in MLB makes it better—it just makes it different.

I’ve never followed an independent team in the United States. But as the Sonoma Stompers’ season kicks off tonight, I’ll be paying attention. It just might lead to the discovery of a new, different, kind of baseball.

★★★

I would be remiss not to take this chance to recommend the Effectively Wild podcast—it is well rated and reviewed on iTunes. Additionally, a group of Effectively Wild listeners got together and created a truly excellent blog (that I was a part of for a hot minute) called Banished to the Pen. Visit and bookmark that, too.

Sonoma Stompers Give Baseball Writers A Chance To Run The Team (NPR)

Originally Published (With Audio): NPR Morning Edition

David Greene, Host

Writers/podcasters Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller will make real-life player moves. Lindbergh tells David Greene that they're used to making those moves — but in their fantasy leagues.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Most sports fans have had that moment when they become absolutely convinced they could do a better job than whoever is running or ruining their favorite team. Well, what if you actually got your chance? Baseball writers Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller just did.

BEN LINDBERGH: We are very happy to report that Sam and I will be serving as the Sonoma Stompers baseball operations department this summer.

GREENE: The Sonoma Stompers, they're an independent professional baseball team in California's wine country. Think grape stomping. Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller do a weekly podcast where they said they would love to run a team, and the owners of the Stompers heard this and decided to take them up on it. The two writers are passionate about sabermetrics, the kind of baseball number-crunching made famous in the movie "Moneyball."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MONEYBALL")

JONAH HILL: (As Peter) Of the 20,000 notable players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team of 25 people that we could afford, like an island of misfit toys.

GREENE: That emotional moment from actor Jonah Hill in the movie "Moneyball," a character Lindbergh says he can really relate to.

LINDBERGH: We're looking for skills that are underappreciated. Really sabermetrics, it just means the search for objective knowledge about baseball.

GREENE: Knowledge that gets put to the test today in the Stompers' home opener. When we reached Lindbergh in Sonoma, we asked what in the world drove him to do this.

LINDBERGH: These days, everyone's an armchair general manager, right, 'cause we all have our fantasy teams and we sit at our keyboards and it's, you know, easy to do when you're not actually in that room, making that decision. And there's the human side of it, you know. There's interacting with players and what happens when you have to cut a player who's underperforming. You know, it's not as easy as pressing the drop button in your fantasy league. You have to sit a guy down and tell him he's out of a job because he wasn't good enough. And so, we're hoping to get a little bit of a culture shock by getting out from behind our computers and getting into the clubhouse and seeing how these things really work.

GREENE: And that brings us to the Sonoma Stompers. So tell me about them.

LINDBERGH: Well, the Sonoma Stompers are an independent league team. And for people who don't know what that means, there are many leagues across the country, professional players who are paid to play baseball, but they're not affiliated with a major league organization. And so, they have more freedom in terms of what they can do, and that's what appealed to us. Sonoma plays as part of the Pacific Association, which is a California league, relatively new, relatively small. So we're hoping it's the perfect place to kind of be a testing ground for some things that might not work as well in the majors.

GREENE: Just take me to the place, if you can. I mean, I've seen the logo for the Stompers. It looks like a vineyard. I mean, is the stadium set in, you know, idyllic wine country of Sonoma County?

LINDBERGH: It absolutely is. It is not a bad place to spend the summer, which is the upside. No matter how this project goes, we will have been in Sonoma for a few months. It's a small town, you know. It's 9,000, 10,000 people, and 2,000 of them will be at Stompers' opening day.

GREENE: Let me ask you this, Ben. I mean, is there one player who you've kind of decided to put on the roster and you can kind of point to him and explain for our listeners, you know, exactly, you know, what the science said about him that makes you confident that he's, you know, the right person to have on the team.

LINDBERGH: I guess I would mention Sean Conroy. He is from a Division III school and so he was not drafted. He doesn't throw particularly hard. He throws sidearm, and then he switches sometimes to throwing over the top so there's a bit of deception. But he is not a big guy. He doesn't have your typical athlete's body. But when you look at his stats and even after adjusting for the quality of competition and the ballparks and the weather and there's so many factors to take into account, after you apply those adjustments to his stats, he looks like one of the best college seniors. So that's kind of the prototype for the guy that we have gone after.

GREENE: So you come in as a baseball writer, you and your colleague, and you tell, you know, this group of baseball professionals who work for the Stompers, we know the science. Here's a pitcher who you might never have looked at, but trust us. Like, he's going to be a great pitcher. I mean, how have the other people involved in the organization reacted to things like that?

LINDBERGH: Thus far, it's worked out well. And, you know, we were as nervous and anxious as anyone when these guys showed up that we picked from a spreadsheet. But luckily, they've all showed up and actually looked like baseball players, which we were very relieved to see.

GREENE: All right. So opening day, Sonoma Stompers, where are you going to be and what are you most excited about?

LINDBERGH: Well, I'd probably be right behind home plate. You know, we're going to have technology tracking all the pitches, tracking all of the batted balls so that we know how hard guys are throwing and how hard they're hitting, and we'll be looking at those numbers throughout the games and after the games. But we'll also, I think, just take a moment to sit back and appreciate where we are and what we're doing. It's a beautiful ballpark. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful night. We'll just try to get the total opening day baseball experience.

GREENE: You promise me you'll take time to grab a beer or a sip of wine, I guess.

LINDBERGH: Yes, I will have some wine.

GREENE: Well, Ben, it's been really cool hearing about this, and I know we're going to follow your story and the story of the Sonoma Stompers as the season goes on. Thanks a lot.

LINDBERGH: Yes, I look forward to talking to you again.

GREENE: That's Grantland baseball writer Ben Lindbergh, who, this summer, is running the Sonoma Stompers with fellow writer, Sam Miller. And we will be checking back in with them as the season progresses.