Welcome to the 60s people. And I mean temperature, not time.
While a good portion of the country cooks and broils in triple-digit heat, I couldn’t help but think as I drove up to Blair Field today about how much of a treat it had to be for the players that would be lining up to take the field in today’s first game of the 25th annual Area Code Games. For the first game today there were overcast skies and my car’s temperature reading said it was 63 degrees.
Long Beach State's Blair Field was the site once again for the Area Code Games. Players and fans were welcomed to the park with comfy temps and clearing skies.
So yes, not only are these talented baseballers lucky to be selected to take part in this prestigious high school All Star event, but thanks to Long Beach’s near-perfect weather, they also played in the most comfortable conditions possible.
Today was actually day two of the Area Code Games (I had some home improvement issues yesterday, so I couldn’t make it) and the first game pitted the Southeast-based Nationals going up against the Northern California-based Athletics. That 8:30am start time was a bit on the early side for me, but a pretty good crowd had already formed for this one. Nearly as many as have shown up for the Long Beach State games the last few seasons. So here’s how it went down.
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GAME THREE.
Athletics – Â 300 041 0 – 8Â 7Â 0
Nationals- 000 000 0 – 0Â 3Â 4
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The Athletics were aggressive from pitch No. 1 today, as Braden Bishop and Max Dutto smacked singles in two of the first three pitches of the day. Bishop got a single, immediately stole second on the first pitch to Dutto, then scored on Dutto’s follow-up single to center field.
Max Dutto exemplifies the aggressive stance that the Athletics team took with them to the diamond today. Here, Max Dutto's steal attempt forces a wild throw into centerfield.
Three pitches into the game and the A’s got all the runs they would need. B.J. Boyd got a walk and Ryan Tellez supplied another RBI single to round out the first four batters of the game. Odd thing about all four of them?… Each one got a stolen base in the opening inning. Didn’t I say this Athletics team was uber-aggressive?
While the Nationals’ Trey Wingenter was the victim of the rough start on the mound, the Nats used six pitchers in all. The bigger problem was the defense behind the mound. As noted above, the Nats committed more errors than they earned in hits. Two of those Big E’s came in the Athletic’s four-run 5th inning, along with a pair of walks too. Ouch. A bases loaded walk by Dutto brought in the first run and a throwing error on Nats catcher Ryan Dowdell allowed the second and third runs of the inning to cross the dish. And it was pretty much sayonara from there.
The A’s were led by their top three of Braden Bishop, Max Dutto and B.J. Boyd, who each had a single, a walk and a stolen base. Catcher Austin Rei, a Washington signee, had a pair of hits, a stolen base and also made plenty of solid blocks of pitches in the dirt too.
And FYI, considering both Bishop and Rei are headed to Washington, maybe there IS something to this Lindsey Meggs thing in Seattle. We’ll see.
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PICS
Braden Bishop started the first game by scoring three pitches in.
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Arizona State-bound starter Paul Blackburn showed a lot of moxie, along with a crippling upper-70s curve ball.
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Big Brady Bramlett busted big time breaking balls and blitzkrieg bullets.
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In fact, the Ole Miss commit threw fast balls hard as hell. So hard...
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... his apparently ill-fitting hat fell off his head time and again. Who's in charge of costume design here?!
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The Nationals had defensive imperfections plague them all day, like this bad-hop chest-bumper that Tyler Gonzales had trouble corralling.
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Nats pitcher Michell Aker, a William & Mary commit, had a sharp liner bounce off his gut, but made a quick recovery to get the out. He would be fine, by the way.
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UCLA-bound Freddy Avis, from Menlo HS in Atherton, was one of the more impressive arms of the day, reaching 91-92 on his fast ball and low-70s fall-off-the-table curve.
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GAME FOUR
Yankees – 010 001 0 – 2Â 5Â 1
Brewers – 010 210 0 – 4Â 9Â 1
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The California domination continued in the second game as the Southern California-based Brewers were able to outlast the Northeast-based Yankees. Call it the home field advantage, right? Well, either way it was the two Cali-based teams that got the Ws today, with these local area boys taking this 11:30am game too.
The pivotal inning proved to be the 4th frame as Daniel Robertson, a UCLA signee, cranked out a stitch-ripping triple on the first pitch of the frame. A batter later, Ron Miller, who is bound for UNLV, crushed the longest shot of the day, a deep, warning-track shot over the left fielder Buck McCarthy’s out-stretched glove. That salvo easily scored Robertson and put the Brewers up for good.
With two out in the 4th inning, Fullerton signee Timothy Lopes added an RBI single for a little insurance. An inning later it was another future Bruin, Ty Moore, hitting out of the 2-slot, who ripped a sharp RBI single in the 5th to close out the scoring for the Brewers.
Chris Harvey led the Yankees with an RBI double in the 2nd inning, a walk and stolen base in the 5th and a screaming line drive in the 7th that, unfortunately, was nabbed by Brewer 3rd baseman Daniel Robertson, who then doubled a runner off of 1st base to end the game.
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PICS
Max Fried, another of the numerous stud pitchers bound for John Savage's UCLA program, gave up two walks and a run, but also had four Ks in his two innings of work.
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Oklahoma-bound Fernalys Sanchez didn't get a hit, but did pull in a pair of walks at the dish.
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Sanchez's high school teammate Nelson Rodriguez is shown here sliding in for a run. N-Rod is probably the biggest brute-bat in the Area Code Games but still hasn't made a college commitment. He is supposedly leaning toward joining Sanchez at OU, but my guess is if he is still undecided, he's probably not bothering with college.
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If you thought Brady Bramlett's hat problems were bad, Yankee 3rd baseman Dan Rosenbaum jumped out of his shoe in fielding a grounder. Again... who the hell is the costume designer on this set?!
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Rich Hill is pretty fired up to have dual-threat talent Tanner Rahier coming to the bluff. Here he scores the first run of the game for the Brewers.
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Vanderbilt commit Rhett Wiseman is multi-talented and runs the 60 in 6.4, which was on display in beating out an infield single to start the game for the Yankees.
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Slender lefty Kyle Twomey, who is bound for USC, showed smooth mechanics and an effortless upper-80s bee-bee. At 6'3, 165, he is beyond projectible and should make a big time impact at Dedeaux Field.
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Energetic Timothy Lopes had a 3-for-3 day at the dish for the Brewers. He's going to bring a lot of enthusiasm to Rick Vanderhook's Fullerton program. Titan fans, you have reason to be geeked for the future.
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OTHER NOTES.
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IT’S ALL WOOD.
In case I didn’t mention it already, yes, the Area Code games are an all-wood tournament/showcase. Obviously, with stands full of scouts, I’m sure they would prefer it that way. As far home runs go, nobody even came close to hitting a yard call. As mentioned in the write up of today’s second game, the Brewers’ Ron Miller (Serra High School, L.A.) was the only one to come close, knocking an RBI double to the warning track.
And the other thing that makes it so tough to hit a tater is the fact that Long Beach’s Blair Field is notoriously cavernous, going 348 down the lines and 387 in the gaps.
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RICH HILL, San Diego.
Told me that the much-anticipated multi-million dollar stadium upgrade will begin after the completion of the 2012 season. When I first interviewed Coach Hill back in 2007 he told me it was “just around the corner” and gonna happen soon. Well, he told me that the funding has finally come around and ground-breaking will start in June.
The stadium is going to be build around the existing Cunningham Stadium field and should be completed in time for the 2013 season. Well, you know… with San Diego’s near-perfect weather they’ll have plenty of days to work on it.
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MIKE BIANCO, Ole Miss.
The Rebel head honcho told me he usually doesn’t make the trip out to Long Beach for the Area Code games, but this year he’s got eight committed players that are taking part in the games. One of his biggest catches is RHP Brady Bramlett, who tossed an inning for the Nationals in today’s first game. Bramlett has the look of a real Friday night horse for the Rebels, with his intimidating 6′4, 225-pound frame.
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THE RPI EFFECT.
Coach Bianco told me that his non-conference schedule is set for 2012 and 2013, with the only roadie coming at Florida International next season. Then he paused and said, “But with the changes to the RPI, that will certainly have to change for us. We haven’t scheduled for road trips in 2014, but we’ll probably play two weekends away from home each season.
When I asked him if he was hoping to come back out west again, he said, “Not sure about that. I was just talking to (Utah coach) Bill Kinneburg about that and the difficult thing about playing a weekend out west is coming back on Sunday night. You either get in way too late or it’s hard to find flights back that leave late enough to finish your Sunday games.”
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco (left) chats it up with former Long Beach coach Mike Weathers and Utah's Bill Kinneburg at the Area Code Games.
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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HERE AND GEORGIA.
I have to say, there’s a pretty big difference between this high school showcase and the one I covered a few weeks ago at Georgia State’s home field that featured a handful of inner city all-star teams from around the country. Although exposure-wise, the MVP Tournament was much more important since those involved kids that might not get their talents in front of college coaches and pro scouts. But the Area Code Games is certainly less concerned with who wins the games and more concerned with getting the most players to show their wares. For example, back at the MVP Tournament in Decatur, the starting pitchers went deep into games, even having a pair of complete games. Here in Long Beach, there were a total of 17 pitchers trotted out to the mound in the two games I saw.
Obviously, the Area Code Games are chock-full of scouts that are critiquing every facet of every players game. Here, Yankee slugging monster Nelson Rodriguez is under the microscope by the dudes sitting in front of me.
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