White Sox game notes
September 7, 2006 - Pioneer League (PL)
Great Falls Voyagers News Release
THE END HAS COME: The White Sox wrap up their 2006 Pioneer League season tonight against Northern Division regular season champ Billings. The Sox need a victory to avoid becoming the losingest team in the 76 game schedule era locally which began in 1998. That distinction currently belongs to the 1999 Great Falls squad that finished 29-47. Bobby Tolan's team is currently 28-47 overall, 10-27 in the season's second half. The Sox were beaten by the Mustangs in the opener of this season concluding two game series last night 4-3 as a Great Falls late game rally fell short. The Sox were down 4-0 when Christian Marrero drove in their first run with a bases loaded infield hit in the 7th. John Shelby then tightened things considerably with a two-run single in the bottom of the 9th. His single enabled the potential winning run to come to the plate with two outs in the 9th in the person of the league's home run leader Chris Carter, but Carter popped out in foul territory to end the game. The victory was Billings fourth in a row head to head with Great Falls and it's 50th of the season overall.
SANTILEZ IN THE FINALE: 20 year old RHP Clevelan Santilez will take the ball as the starting pitcher in the season finale tonight. Santilez will be out to snap a string of five consecutive losses dating back to an 8-4 setback August 6 against Billings. Over the span of his last five starts (0-5), the Venezuelan native has a respectable 4.74 earned run average. He last worked September 2 against Missoula allowing one earned run on four hits, striking out a season high nine batters in six innings. He suffered the loss in a 4-0 White Sox shutout setback at the hands of the Osprey. Santilez is 1-8 overall this season with a 5.16 ERA. He's making his 14th overall start, 11 of which have come at Centene Stadium.
HOW THE SOX STACK UP: The White Sox, for much of this season, led the Pioneer League in homers and are currently second (57). Great Falls sits fourth of the eight league teams in batting (.268), fourth in hits (685) and seventh in runs scored (364). On the mound, Sox pitchers have a collective 4.81 ERA good for seventh in the league. Defensively, the White Sox are last in fielding percentage (.946) with a league high 161 errors.
ALL-STAR SOX: 1B Chris Carter was voted to the 2006 Pioneer League All-Star team in balloting by league managers. He among league pace-setters in homers (1st-15), RBI (3rd-57), doubles (4th-20), slugging percentage (2nd-.573) and extra-base hits (1st-36). The 19 year old Las Vegas, Nevada native was honored as the TOPPS JULY PIONEER LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE MONTH. RHP Ramon Sanchez, OF Lee Cruz and OF Archie Gilbert received honorable mention.
TRENDING: The White Sox have lost their last 4 home games. Great Falls committed 4 errors in last night's 4-3 loss to Billings, marking the 27th time this season that the Sox have committed 3 or more errors in a game. INF Franklin Bautista is batting .143 (2-14) in his last 11 games played. 1B Chris Carter has hit 1 HR over his last 11 games. He's batting .309 with 3 HR and 17 RBI over his last 15 games. DH Tyler Reves is batting .235 (8-34) with 7 strike-outs over his last 9 games. 2B John Shelby is hitting .400 (18-45) with 2 HR and 11 RBI over his last 11 games. He's batting .500 (9-18) with 6 RBI over his last 4 games. OF Lee Cruz has an 11 game hitting streak in which he's batting .349 (15-43). OF Santo Garcia is hitting .364 (4-11) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI over the past 3 games. OF Archie Gilbert is batting .600 (6-10) with 4 stolen bases over the past 2 games. He's hitting .344 (31-90) with 2 HR, 9 RBI and 22 stolen bases over his last 24 games played. OF Christian Marrero is hitting .218 (14-64) with 3 RBI over the last 17 games. 3B Mike Grace is batting .385 (5-13) with 2 HR and 4 RBI over the last 3 games. C Matt Sharp is hitting .263 (5-19) with 2 RBI over his last 10 games played. C Reymundo Tavares is batting .294 (20-68) with 10 runs scored over his last 22 games. INF Tim Lawrence is 0-8 with 4 strike-outs over his last 9 games. C Kris Welker is batting .160 (8-50) with 12 strike-outs over his last 16 games played. SS Scott Madsen is batting .139 (10-72) with 31 strike-outs over his last 21 games.
HEAD TO HEAD: Billings leads the season series with Great Falls 9-6. The Mustangs are 4-3 at Centene Stadium.
Pioneer League Stories from September 7, 2006
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- Owlz Shatter Attendance Record, Paul Giles Honored - Northern Colorado Owlz
- Owlz ride strong arms to 5-1 win - Northern Colorado Owlz
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