Lightning Strikes Four Times!

Thursday, May 27, 2010
The defending champions scored twice in the first period before the Dodos finally answered back when Dylan Mlcoch skated backwards, received a pass from Matt Marsh and scored a power play goal (9:15). The Lightning scored two more goals to close out the period with a 4-1 lead, while outshooting the Dodos 17-4.

Thirty-one seconds into the second period, The Lightning scored their fifth goal. The Dodos outshot the Lightning in the period 15-12, but none of the shots found the net. Meanwhile, the Lightning scored four more goals, to extend the lead to 9-1.

The Lightning scored 2:12 into the third period, and were called for a slashing penalty a minute later. The Dodos capitalized on the man advantage, scoring when Jeff Hewitt passed the puck to Mlcoch, who found Brian Silvey cutting towards the goal. Silvey beat the goalies for the Dodos' second power play goal of the game (4:25). With an eight goal lead, the Lightning defense softened up considerably, allowing Marsh to score a goal with just five seconds left in the game (14:55).

Fantasy Performances of the Day: J. Hewitt 1A; Silvey 1G; Marsh 1G, 1A; Mlcoch 1G, 1A, K. Hewitt 2 Min. Tripping; Big Chris 28SV

Dodos Separate Twins!

Sunday, May 23, 2010
Dodos Baseball bounced back from their loss Saturday to get a decisive victory over the Single A Twins, 8-5 at Sylmar High School. Making his first start of the season and his debut for the Dodos was RHP Kyle Thomas. Thomas struck out the first batter he faced before allowing two bloop singles, but he then got a pop up and a strikeout to strand the runners and send the Dodos to the plate. The Dodos took the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Dustin Burke hit a single and advanced to third on two pass balls before scoring on a ground ball hit by Chris Hems that was misplayed by the Twins.

With a 1-0 lead, Thomas would retire the side with only four pitches after surrendering a first pitch, leadoff single. Following a ground out back to Thomas, Twins' 3B Kevin Anderson popped up to Shane Shoemaker at second, who caught the runner off second to complete the inning ending double play. Charles Dethloff returned after a two-game absence and promptly led off with a single. With one out, Rick Jarakian singled Dethloff home and Ken Gerber followed with an RBI triple, scoring on a sacrifice grounder to second by Shoemaker. The Dodos were winning, 4-0 after two innings.

Two walks and two singles by the Twins cut the lead in half, but a sprawling catch by Chris Hoffman stopped the bleeding in the third. Hems led off the bottom of the third with a first pitch triple, but Twins' pitcher, Tim Wayne managed to stop the Dodos from scoring and strand a runner at third.

The Twins tied the game in the fourth with two singles, a walk, a throwing error and a controversial balk call.

In the fifth, Thomas retired the side in order and the Dodos had one out, with the bases loaded, but failed to get a hit and capitalize on the opportunity.

The Twins would take a brief lead in the sixth when Thomas hit a batter, who advanced to third on a throwing error. With two outs, Shoemaker misplayed a ground ball, allowing the run to score. Leading 5-4, the Twins made a move to the bullpen and Dethloff welcomed him to the game with a 385-foot double off the left-center wall, an a wild throw from the outfield allowed him to get to third. Two batters later, Jarakian grounded out to short, plating Dethloff and tying the game.

Thomas would retire the side in order again, while collecting two more strikeouts in the top of the seventh. In the bottom half, with two out and bases loaded, Dethloff hit a routine fly ball to right field. The right fielder appeared to have the ball tracked down, but dropped it at the last minute, allowing three runs to score and give the Dodos an 8-5 lead.

The Twins were shut down in the eighth despite loading the bases with no outs, and Thomas collected his final two strikeouts of the game to bring his total to 12 in eight innings.

Troy Warn, Sr. came on in relief in the ninth and posted a 1-2-3 inning to get the save.

Fantasy Performances of the Day: Shoemaker 1-4 (RBI, SH, 2K); Burke 3-5 (R, SB); Hems 1-4 (3B, R, RBI, SB); Jas. Butter 1-3 (R); Warn, Sr. 1-3 (BB, K); A. Gerber 0-3 (R, BB); Dethloff 2-4 (2B, 2R, K); Hoffman 0-3 (SB, HB, 2K); Jarakian 1-4 (R, 2RBI, K); K. Gerber 1-3 (3B, R, RBI, HB).
Thomas (W) 8IP, 5R, 3ER, 9H, 4BB, HB, 12K; Warn, Sr. (SV) IP

Dodos Lose a Special Game!

Saturday, May 22, 2010
The Dodos faced the PCBL AA Division Royals in a makeup game at College of the Canyons. The Royals would prove too much for their former division counterparts, defeating the Dodos 22-10 in 6.2 innings of play. The Dodos were off to an early 1-0 lead from two singles from Chris Hems and Jason Butter and an RBI double by Matty Lane. Shane Shoemaker shut the Royals down in the home half of the first inning.

After a ten-week holdout, Jared Butter finally made his first appearance for the Dodos, leading off a nine-run second inning with a walk, followed by an Albert Hernandez single to bring Chris Hoffman to the plate. Hoffman had just recently purchased a pair of those HD Vision sunglasses and boy did they pay off! Hoffman belted the first pitch to left field for his first homerun of the year. Leading 4-0, the Dodos pounded the Royals' starting pitcher Anthony Carusa with two doubles, two singles and a walk before Carusa was pulled from the game. The Dodos would get a hit batter, a sacrifice fly and an RBI double before they were finally retired with a 10-0 lead in the second inning.

An error by short stop Dustin Burke to start the bottom half of the second inning opened the flood gates and the Royals scored seven runs on four hits, two errors, six stolen bases, two passed balls, two walks and two hit batters.

Clinging to a 10-7 lead to start the third, the Dodos offense disappeared. In fact, over the next five innings they struck out seven times and only managed two hits, including Hoffman's third hit of the day.

The Dodos defense also decided to call-in sick after the third inning, giving up two more runs in the third, seven in the fourth, four in the sixth and two in the seventh to enforce the mercy rule.

Fantasy Performances of the Day: Shoemaker 1-3 (R, RBI, BB, K); Burke 1-3 (R, RBI, BB, 2B, SB); Hems 1-3 (2R, BB, 2K, SB); Jas. Butter 2-4 (R, 2RBI); Lane 1-4 (R, RBI, 2B, K); Warn, Sr. 0-4 (K); Jar. Butter 0-2 (R, BB, K, HB); Hernandez 2-3 (R, RBI, SF); Hoffman 3-3 (R, 4RBI, 2B, 3-R HR); K. Gerber 1-3 (R, 2B, K).
Shoemaker (L) 5.2IP, 18R, 12ER, 13H, 7BB, 2HB, 3K, 2HR, 3WP; Hoffman (IP, 4R, 4ER, 5H, BB, HB, K, HR, WP)

Kings Double Up Dodos!

Thursday, May 20, 2010
Dodos Hockey lost another forgettable game, 10-5 to the Kings, falling to 0-6 for the season. Trailing 1-0 in the first, Dylan Mlcoch passed the puck to Jeff Hewitt, who shot the puck between the goalie's legs for the Dodos' first goal. The Kings would score three more goals in the first period to amass an early 4-1 lead.

Following five more goals (score was now 9-1), Dylan took a rebound from a shot by Pat Henninger and scored (13:29). The Dodos trailed 9-2 after two completed periods.

The Dodos would score three goals in the final period, the first coming exactly two minutes into the period when Pat passed to Jeff, who sent a pass to Dylan for the backhand goal (2:00). A mere 59 seconds later, Shane Linnenberger passed the puck to Pat, who then put a wrist shot by the diving goalie to cut the lead to 9-4 (2:59). Minutes later, Shane stole the puck and took a slap shot that found the goal (10:07). The Kings would add another goal with just 15 seconds remaining in the game to win 10-5.

Fantasy Performances of the Day: J. Hewitt 1G, 1A; Henninger 1G, 2A; Silvey (left game in 2nd with a broken stick); Linnenberger 1G, 1A; Mlcoch 2G, 1A; Big Chris 35SV