Washington Wins 2 of 3, Best Prospect Traded June 24, 1999
(AP) WASHINGTON, D. C.--Losing series isn't in the Sea Dogs' habit.
After dropping a controversial series to Binghamton, Washington returned
home to drop Richmond two of three. And yesterday, WAshington split a
doubleheader with Calgary, winning 8-0 and losing 7-6 to win their
second consecutive series.
The first game of the series against Calgary, a 2-0 victory, featured
another huge pitching performance, this time by Shawn Estes. Estes, who
was rocked in his last start against Binghamton, allowed just five hits
and two walks to the top offense in the PVBL over eight shutout innings.
"I felt a lot better being at home," Estes said, possibly alluding to the
violence that erupted in Binghamton last week.
Chuck Knoblauch and Harold Baines both had two hits for the Sea Dogs, and
Wetteland collected his sixth save. But Estes was the story.
"He was just dominating," Weiner said. "They couldn't touch him all day."
The second game wasn't anywhere near as close, as Washington's Alex
Fernandez continued his bedazzlement of the Defiant League.
Fernandez pitched seven shutout innings to post his eigth win as a Sea
Dog. He allowed just four hits and two walks, striking out four. He has
been so dominating as a Sea Dog, he has moved into the league leaders in
wins despite coming over winless.
"Our scouts had rated him as well as any pitcher we ever rated, despite
the fact that he just couldn't win in Medina," Weiner said. "We knew we
had something special when we got him."
The Washington offense wasn't dormant in this game either, as they jumped
all over Calgary starter Cliff Magrane for their biggest offensive output
in over a week.
Mickey Kelly had three hits to break out of a slump in which he saw his
average fall from .293 to .271, and Barry Larkin had two doubles batting
in the fifth spot.
"We're moving Larkin around because we want to get Garret Anderson a
lot of at bats," Weiner said. "We're thinking that if Garret starts
hitting, Larkin can pick up the bottom of the order and help us score even
more runs, and Barry's a lot more versatile."
The third game featured the first poor pitching performance by Tim Belcher
of his Sea Dog career. Belcher made it through only 2.1 innings in his
third start, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks.
"They can't all be good," Belcher said. "I'm still getting used to doing
this again. Twenty relief performances will throw off your timing."
Belcher was outdueled by Calgary's ace, Paul Wagner. Wagner went an
astounding seven innings, allowing no runs and just two baserunners on one
hit and one walk.
However, Washington came back against the Calgary relief in the ninth
inning. Mike MacFarlane and Robin Ventura hit back-to-back homers, and
Washington rallied to pull within one. However, they couldn't finish the
job, as the Cowboys' Brian Bevil got Barry Larkin to pop up.
Washington is now the first team to 50 victories (50-21). They will
travel to Richmond for a doubleheader Monday, featuring 13-game winner Ben
McDonald (2.19 ERA) against Richmond starter Robert Person (1-5, 3.97) and
nine-game winner Mackenzee Leefenhaufenhauz (2.49) against Richmond's
Jimmy Key, who outdueled Leefenhaufenhauz in Washington's previous series.
Notes and Quotes:
"Could you NOT put up the new boxscores while I'm writing my articles?"
-A red-faced Aaron Weiner
"You know, if anyone else had a tight knee, we'd be taking out the monkey
wrench."
-Ernie Young
* * *
Washington's shortstop of the future is gone.
Minor-league shortstop Dennis Abreu, just 19 years old, was traded
yesterday for minor-league outfielders Roger Cedeno and Don Coker.
Coker was the original Washington superprospect, and at one time was the
top prospect in all the minor leagues. However, after three amateur
drafts, Coker wasn't even the sixth best prospect on his new team, the
Medina Mustangs.
"Man, it would have been incredibly playing with all those super guys,"
Coker said, "but I'm glad Washington brought me back. It'll be kinda nice
being the player of the future for them again."
Abreu was the #2 shortstop prospect in the majors, a talent that had
almost no ceiling. But Cedeno and Coker are both outfielders with
extremely bright futures.
"With the way our team was set up, it might have made more sense to hold
onto Abreu," GM Aaron Weiner said. "But I thought that we needed more
prospects."
The move is somewhat of a strange one for the Sea Dogs, as they had just
traded for Garrett Anderson. The move may be in response to Anderson's
dropping from a .325 average to a .309 average in just a few games as a
Sea Dog.
"This should not send a message to Anderson," Weiner said. "While it's
not impossible that he's going to be moved, it's certainly a tough
proposition to think about swapping him."
Washington, who assumes that Anderson will leave as a free-agent within
the next few years, now projects their outfield of the future as Cedeno,
Kelly and Coker. Strangely, this would mean the odd man out is MVP
candidate Larry Walker.
"Oh, I think we'll find a place for Larry," Weiner chuckled. "I think
we'll be finding one for him for a long time."
