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Gothenburg took home two more victories over the weekend on the road against division rival Jönkoping on a cool, windy afternoon in Småland. A Småland native himself, Sharks shortstop Andreas Wahlin decided to start his team off right off the ”bat”. Batting lead-off, Wahlin banged a homerun into the long grass to start the game with a hit, an rbi, a run scored and a Gothenburg lead!
The Sharks never looked back, though Jönkopings pitchers did, as Wahlin had a career day adding four long bombs to his power-packed season. Though Wahlin provided the deep power, the rest of the Sharks offense was far from inept, racking up 30 runs in just ten innings of baseball!
Game one ended in five innings as ace starter Martin Pennycook pitched a gem and was one basehit away from pitching a shut-out in two consecutive weeks, giving up just one run. Gothenburg played good defense as well, commiting just one error as second baseman Andy Vanecek rushed a throw after making a diving stop on a low line drive up the middle. The error would be the Sharks only miscue of the day on defense…well, almost.
That depends on if you count tripping on the ”warning track” a miscue.
The snipers must have been somewhere high in the trees behind right-centerfield, because as centerfielder Johan Weidolf raced to stop a hard single in the gap he just seemed to have his feet shot out from under him! ”I tripped on the hill in the outfield”, was Johan’s explaination. Anyone that is reading this in the United States right now is thinking, ”oh my god…that is a worse excuse than, I lost it in the lights”. The problem is that in Sweden it it a perfectly rational excuse.
”Baseball isn’t exactly Sweden’s top priority in the world of sports…if it was maybe Peter Forsberg would play for the Yankees instead of the Colorado Avalanche”, notes Andy Vanecek. ”I’ve seen it all here…bases in half in foul territory, a downward sloping outfield that looks more like a sledding hill and dugouts made of old bus stop booths.” In Jönkoping there is no outfield fence and no warning track of dirt. Instead, in the last few yards before the long grass that marks a homerun, there is a hill.” I guess it does the trick, as it is pretty difficult to increase one’s speed running uphill!
On the offensive side of the action a couple of Sharks looked more like comedians. Eager to crush, Jönköpings starter’s slow curve ball Andy Vanecek was way ahead of a full-count offering. Making any attempt to get a piece of the ball to foul it off Andy lost a handle on J-Lo and, ala Minnesota counterpart and MLB Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, his precious J-Lo went helicoptering toward third base. ”Foul Bat”, could have been yelled by the Cuban-asylum-seeking homeplate umpire, but instead ”strai free” was the call. The pitch was secure in the catchers mitt and J-Lo was in the third-base coach’s box.
Even Sharks speedster Andreas Fredriksson wanted some stagetime. ”He’s fast, but he hasn’t quite grasped the keys of baserunning” was an anonomous opinion. Fredriksson was picked off first base on two consecutive attempts. ”I just need more experience you know”, was Andreas explaination. He’ll get it too since he has worked himself from never picking up a baseball to starting outfielder in just two seasons.
At any rate, the more humorous miscuses of the day did not hurt the final result. The bottom line is that Gothenburg won both games easily, maintaining their unbeaten season and their two point edge over second place Vidingsjö.
Game 2
After a quick sandwich, banana and Red Bull energy drink it was time for game two.
Liking how it felt in game one. Andreas Wahlin led off game two with yet another home run. His hot bat was contagious as Gothenburg rolled to 6 runs before Jönköping had time to blink.
Taking the mound for his first start of 2004, Andy Vanecek had trouble finding the strike zone. Free passes and lots of wild pitches left Jönköping with two runs in the first. The second inning started well as Andy quickly retired the bottom of the line-up feeling good with two down and nobody on base. One problem…Jönköping smelled a two-out rally. Cuban catcher and lead-off man worked an 8 pitch walk and soon Vanecek had troubles finding the zone. Hoping to cool his right-hander off a bit, coach Weidolf called time and sprinted in from center. ”Just take it easy. This next guy hasn’t swung the bat all day. Take a little bit off and just throw it across the plate.”, were the Weidolf’s wise words. ”Got it”, thought Vanecek.
Four pitches later Vanecek had neck cramps, Weidolf was sprinting in again from center, and Jönköping had two dingers and four more runs. Vanecek switched spots with Wahlin, taking over shortstop and Wahlin thanked him getting the next batter to ground out to Andy 6-3 for the third put-out.
Each time Jönköping scored in game two the Sharks responded. ”They scored 2 in bottom of the first, we scored two in the top of the second…they take 5 in the second, we respond with 5 in the third. That is how championship ballclubs play this game. We did a great job of hitting today and played solid defense. Not many teams in Sweden could have beaten us today.”, noted first baseman Tore Hansson.
The Sharks exploded for 19 runs in game two, taking home the victory and helping Vanecek quickly forget his pitching woes.
This Saturday Gothenburg goes up against second place Vidingsjö who always puts up a fight and who handed the Sharks their only loss of the 2003 regular season. Good luck Göteborg!!!!
By A-bomb
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