The Rochester Rhinos (99-63)
VS.
The San Jose Sharks (96-66)
Quick Facts:
-After five straight playoff appearances from 2077 to 2081, Rochester missed the playoffs last year en route to a 4th place finish. It was the first time the Rhinos had finished lower than third since 2068. Rochester last reached the World Series in 2078, and defeated Memphis in five games. Four players from that team are still with the Rhinos: 1B
Rick Ahn, 2B
Sergio Salo, SP
Segundo Narbaiza, and closer
Nathaniel Owen.
-This is San Jose's 4th straight division title and 9th straight postseason appearance. The Sharks last won the World Series in 2072, beating Tucson in six games. They reached both the '76 and '79 World Series, but lost to Knoxville(5 games) and Miami(5 games), respectively. Only 1B
Ugo Momoru, SP
Benito Ortiz, and reliever
Anselmo Ortiz remain from the '72 team, although 3B
Isaias Hernandez, who was a rookie that season, saw a bit of action for the Sharks this year after getting released by Nashville.
-San Jose won 10 of 16 games against Rochester this season. The average score was 5.8 to 4.7
-San Jose was one of only two teams to not have a losing record against any other team (the other was Denver). Unlike Denver, who finished .500 against only one team(Knoxville), the Sharks finished with a .500 record against four teams.
-San Jose and Rochester were the two best teams in the entire league in 1-run games. San Jose was 27-11(.711 winning percentage) and Rochester was 32-19(.627). San Jose also tied for the league lead in extra inning victories with 11(Hartford also won 11). They had the second highest winning percentage in such games(.786), with Sacramento's .800(5-1) being the highest.
-Rochester ranked 8th in runs scored. The Rhinos' offense was largely driven by homeruns, as they ranked 3rd in that category. Rochester led all of baseball with 49 triples, but finished last in baseball with only 250 doubles. Rochester also ranked 8th in runs allowed and 9th in ERA.
-San Jose ranked just 12th in runs scored, 21st in homeruns, and 17th in walks. The Sharks allowed the 4th fewest runs and had the 5th best ERA. They walked the third fewest batters in the league.
Batting and pitching stats for Rochester and San Jose:
Rochester batting:
Code:
Name POS G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG SB CS
G. Manrique RF 155 601 141 12 2 38 91 110 83 55 .235 .327 .451 7 3
R. Ahn 1B 157 578 162 37 3 28 99 100 84 147 .280 .373 .500 0 1
G. Schuyler CF 154 577 185 18 11 18 92 85 41 77 .321 .370 .484 5 2
S. Salo 2B 156 573 156 23 2 20 79 118 93 94 .272 .382 .424 0 0
A. Champ SS 155 558 190 16 9 21 109 88 37 31 .341 .388 .514 0 0
L. Guerriero 3B 138 555 173 55 5 31 98 108 54 135 .312 .378 .596 8 6
P. Bibbs C 152 551 170 23 2 26 111 91 57 32 .309 .375 .499 3 1
N. Colin LF 132 462 139 15 8 27 79 77 29 55 .301 .345 .543 32 8
A. Costner LF 107 228 67 11 0 5 25 27 16 29 .294 .339 .408 0 0
D. New CF 77 126 33 4 0 5 21 22 15 24 .262 .343 .413 1 0
R. Crawford C 54 124 28 10 0 8 28 19 15 33 .226 .305 .500 0 0
J. Gonzalez 1B 65 89 26 2 2 0 6 13 4 18 .292 .344 .360 6 0
G. Lasseter SP 32 88 17 5 1 0 9 7 2 40 .193 .209 .273 0 0
D. Philson SP 34 86 22 1 0 0 7 6 6 35 .256 .301 .267 0 0
C. Vandyne SP 35 70 5 3 0 1 3 5 4 27 .071 .122 .157 0 0
S. Narbaiza SP 35 65 7 2 0 0 3 2 1 23 .108 .118 .138 0 0
J. Plazas 2B 30 56 4 0 0 1 2 5 4 14 .071 .133 .125 0 0
J. Strickland SP 23 50 8 3 0 0 2 4 0 19 .160 .157 .220 0 0
J. Shenk LF 49 44 11 2 0 0 10 9 5 3 .250 .314 .295 1 0
A. Stansel SS 19 24 3 0 1 1 3 2 2 7 .125 .192 .333 0 0
R. Caulkins 3B 14 24 7 1 0 1 5 5 0 7 .292 .292 .458 0 0
H. Rao SP 6 13 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 .154 .154 .154 0 0
E. Casarez SP 9 9 1 1 0 0 2 1 4 5 .111 .385 .222 0 0
B. Montalvo RP 71 8 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 4 .125 .222 .375 0 0
D. Digennaro RP 61 8 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 5 .000 .000 .000 0 0
N. Owen RP 66 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 .000 .000 .000 0 0
F. Maldonado SP 5 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 .143 .143 .286 0 0
J. Vivier RP 44 4 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 .500 .500 .500 0 0
L. Luna RP 89 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0 0
A. Martinez SP 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0 0
J. Rafter RF 2 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 .500 .500 2.000 0 0
Rochester pitching:
Code:
Name G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER BB K CG SH
D. Philson 34 34 14 9 0 4.49 238.1 223 124 119 51 184 5 1
G. Lasseter 32 32 17 7 0 3.36 235.2 209 103 88 70 172 9 1
S. Narbaiza 35 35 15 5 0 2.81 230.1 212 78 72 44 128 1 0
C. Vandyne 35 35 10 7 0 5.26 220.2 232 140 129 111 152 2 0
J. Strickland 23 23 6 11 0 7.40 125.1 155 108 103 83 68 0 0
L. Luna 89 0 9 3 7 3.21 101.0 89 37 36 16 34 0 0
B. Montalvo 71 1 6 4 3 3.83 87.0 87 41 37 43 71 0 0
N. Owen 66 0 4 6 34 3.24 72.1 59 32 26 32 58 0 0
D. Digennaro 61 0 14 0 1 4.54 69.1 76 41 35 33 40 0 0
J. Vivier 44 0 3 1 0 5.80 49.2 58 38 32 14 18 0 0
H. Rao 6 6 1 2 0 7.23 37.1 52 31 30 20 23 0 0
E. Casarez 9 5 1 2 1 5.03 34.0 43 26 19 20 19 0 0
H. Crosley 40 0 2 3 4 9.74 32.1 54 35 35 19 14 0 0
F. Maldonado 5 5 1 2 0 10.80 20.0 29 24 24 13 12 0 0
A. Martinez 3 2 0 1 0 11.42 8.2 19 12 11 4 5 0 0
San Jose batting:
Code:
Name POS G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG SB CS
U. Momoru 1B 147 570 154 25 3 34 101 116 77 29 .270 .352 .504 6 0
O. Escobedo SS 146 561 155 19 4 43 116 98 30 62 .276 .317 .554 0 0
J. Lumsden RF 144 561 179 50 5 20 109 98 44 33 .319 .365 .533 3 0
C. Seaver C 140 538 152 24 2 23 106 87 61 32 .283 .358 .463 0 0
S. Martinez LF 139 480 146 45 13 10 60 110 97 85 .304 .424 .515 54 20
A. Cisneros 3B 128 451 124 34 2 5 51 48 35 26 .275 .324 .392 2 4
G. Ormiston CF 130 450 142 34 3 6 80 76 46 53 .316 .382 .444 5 1
V. Zurcher 2B 114 404 100 24 2 15 64 61 33 59 .248 .308 .428 1 3
R. Clear 2B 111 352 97 19 3 9 51 53 34 57 .276 .340 .423 14 5
W. Natali LF 77 247 77 11 2 1 30 39 8 29 .312 .336 .385 32 5
E. Alexander CF 97 235 83 12 1 3 35 40 4 38 .353 .364 .451 18 4
F. Conde CF 72 137 38 5 1 1 16 14 19 8 .277 .365 .350 3 0
R. Isenhour C 40 112 32 8 0 1 16 11 9 6 .286 .341 .384 0 0
R. Salazar SP 33 88 11 5 1 0 7 9 6 23 .125 .181 .205 0 0
J. Rubino SP 34 83 3 0 0 0 3 0 4 31 .036 .080 .036 0 0
S. Mchenry SP 31 78 7 5 0 0 3 9 5 33 .090 .143 .154 0 0
B. Ortiz SP 17 38 2 1 0 0 1 3 3 19 .053 .122 .079 0 0
B. Gowen SP 17 36 2 1 0 0 0 3 5 11 .056 .171 .083 0 0
D. Hardeman 1B 10 29 5 0 0 0 1 3 2 6 .172 .226 .172 0 0
J. Myatt SP 11 25 4 3 0 0 5 1 2 9 .160 .214 .280 0 0
T. Richmond SP 13 23 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 14 .043 .083 .043 0 0
W. Gammill 1B 16 22 4 0 0 1 4 1 4 7 .182 .296 .318 0 0
B. Cano 2B 7 22 6 0 0 0 1 5 1 2 .273 .304 .273 0 0
G. Parker RP 30 9 2 1 0 1 2 2 0 3 .222 .222 .667 0 0
I. Hernandez 3B 3 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0 0
L. Stec 2B 4 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 .125 .000 0 0
G. Molina SP 3 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .167 .167 .167 0 0
R. Tibbs RF 5 5 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .400 .400 .400 0 0
P. Mcgaha 3B 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0 0
C. Cape SP 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0
G. Loewen LF 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .333 0 0
S. Torres Jr. C 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0
A. Fiore C 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 .000 .000 .000 1 0
J. Holliman Jr. C 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0 0
W. Ramirez SP 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0 0
B. Frisch RP 47 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0
C. Blanton RP 42 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0
A. Ortiz RP 33 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0 0
L. Farnum RP 28 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0
L. Kohn RP 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 1.000 .000 0 0
San Jose pitching:
Code:
Name G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER BB K CG SH
J. Rubino 34 34 14 13 0 3.72 237.1 222 106 98 71 209 4 2
R. Salazar 33 33 20 8 0 4.33 232.2 235 116 112 38 122 4 2
S. Mchenry 31 31 17 8 0 4.38 217.2 182 110 106 81 187 0 0
B. Ortiz 17 17 6 7 0 5.11 111.0 144 67 63 43 62 1 1
B. Gowen 17 17 3 7 0 5.48 106.2 146 72 65 38 65 1 1
J. Myatt 24 14 7 4 0 5.22 101.2 122 59 59 36 93 0 0
T. Richmond 13 13 4 5 0 7.02 74.1 100 64 58 37 46 1 0
B. Frisch 47 0 9 2 13 2.96 73.0 41 25 24 26 84 0 0
C. Blanton 42 0 6 3 13 2.65 71.1 61 21 21 8 51 0 0
G. Parker 30 0 8 1 3 3.17 54.0 51 21 19 7 37 0 0
C. Ehret 28 0 1 2 1 6.00 48.0 56 38 32 29 22 0 0
L. Farnum 28 0 1 0 1 5.09 46.0 47 26 26 20 31 0 0
C. Saari 23 0 1 1 0 4.39 41.0 50 26 20 10 30 0 0
A. Ortiz 33 0 1 4 10 2.31 35.0 30 14 9 13 34 0 0
J. Turner 22 0 0 0 0 7.24 32.1 27 26 26 14 28 0 0
G. Molina 3 3 1 1 0 5.00 18.0 15 13 10 3 11 0 0
L. Kohn 7 0 0 0 0 10.80 11.2 19 14 14 11 3 0 0
C. Cape 2 2 0 1 0 8.71 10.1 25 13 10 3 5 0 0
W. Breeze 2 0 0 0 0 3.60 5.0 6 2 2 3 3 0 0
W. Ramirez 1 1 0 1 0 3.60 5.0 8 2 2 1 4 0 0
P. Duran 2 0 0 0 0 0.00 3.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thoughts:
Rochester's playoff run came to an end last year largely because ace
Segundo Narbaiza spent a good portion of the year on the disabled list. His absence caused the Rhinos to slip and allowed teams like Buffalo and Hartford to fill the void. In this year's season preview, I said that if
Narbaiza went down to injury again, Rochester wouldn't be able to compete, but that if he stayed healthy, the Rhinos might have a chance. I also pointed out that veteran starter
George Lasseter was a career underachiever, and
Dennis Philson, who had performed respectably last season, was nonetheless not a reliable starting pitcher. Well,
Narbaiza stayed healthy and made 35 starts. While not as dominant as he once was, he still managed to finish second in the NL in ERA, and he moved into a tie for third place on the all time wins list. He and
Robert McComas have each won 321 games.
Lasseter, meanwhile, had a career year, going 17-7 with a 3.36 ERA. He had never before had an ERA under 5.00.
Dennis Philson, who had managed a surprising 4.68 ERA last year, actually managed to improve upon that, posting a 4.49 mark, while also striking out a career-best 184 batters. Combine that with a good offense and a pretty good bullpen, and it is no surprise that Rochester was able to bounce back from last season's 77-85 record.
San Jose has had one of the more topsy-turvy seasons. Early in the year, established stars
Ugo Momoru and
Charles Seaver were struggling badly, and solid starters like
William Natali and
Alberto Cisneros were also contributing very little. The starting pitching was mediocre as had been expected, and relief ace
Bill Frisch was lost for a month and a half with an injury. Consequently, the team struggled through the early part of the year. At the end of April, they were only a game out of last place. At the end of May, they were still closer to last place(3 games) than they were to first place(7 games). It wasn't until June that they began to recover, and by the end of July they were in first place. With a seeming knack for winning close games, the Sharks managed to survive the wildest and most competitive division race. Time after time, they seemed to do just enough to pull out games despite looking like an average team.
Rochester would seem to have the advantage in this series, both in terms of hitting and starting pitching. Additionally, Rochester is one of the few teams that has a bullpen nearly as good as San Jose's. Still, the Sharks have seem to be able to find a way to win a lot, and the Rhinos will be without the services of third-baseman
Louis Guerriero for this series, as he is on the disabled list with a strained back.
Prediction: The
Rhinos in six games.