The Playoff Picture (as of September 9)
RANCHO CUCAMONGA — The Quakes won Game #1 of their three-game series with the Mavericks, 12-5 at High Desert. Angel Castillo hit a grand-slam. Alberto Rosario, Mike Trout, Dillon Baird and Richard Cates also homered. Starter Manuel Flores gave up four runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and three walks. Orangel Arenas starts for the Quakes tonight at Rancho Cucamonga. The winner of the series will face Lake Elsinore in a best-of-five series for the South Division title.
CEDAR RAPIDS — The Kernels won Game #1 of their three-game series with the LumberKings, 3-2 at Clinton. Starter Ariel Pena gave up one run on one hit in 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and four walks. David Carpenter got the win in relief, striking out three in 1 2/3 innings. John Hellweg notched a save. Jose Jimenez was 2 for 3 with a homer. Buddy Boshers will start for the Kernels tonight at Cedar Rapids, according to LumberKings.com. The winner of the series will face the winner of the Quad Cities – Kane County series in a best-of-three matchup for the Western Division title.
OREM — The Owlz clinched the South Division wild-card with a 4-2 win over Ogden. The Raptors won both halves of the division race, so they will have the home field advantage in their best-of-three playoff series starting Friday night. Game #1 will be at Orem, while Games #2 and (if necessary) #3 will be in Ogden. The two teams finish the regular season tonight at Ogden; as of this morning, the Owlz have won 10 of 15 games this season between the two teams, although overall the Raptors (44-30) have a better record than Orem (38-36).
I’ll also note that Damon Berryhill, Ogden’s manager, was Rancho Cucamonga’s hitting coach in 2002.
FutureAngels.com 