PCL champs even series with Charlotte

Steve Carp

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 10:04 a.m.

When you're trailing in a short series, it's important to get off to a quick start, if for nothing else to stem the negative flow from the previous game.

So the Vancouver Canadians decided to make sure the top of their batting order made something happen. With the first three batters reaching safely eight times, the Pacific Coast League champions took advantage of the opportunities and posted a 5-4 win over International League champ Charlotte at Cashman Field Tuesday in the Triple-A World Series.

In front of an announced crowd of 5,590, the Canadians got back in this best-of-5 series and turned it into a best-of-3 affair beginning Thursday night at 8. Jon Garland is expected to go for Charlotte while Vancouver will give the ball to Las Vegas-born Barry Zito, who starts in place of Brett Laxton, who was called up to the parent Oakland Athletics before the game.

"It's completely different situation now," Vancouver manager Mike Quade said. "It's a lot better than being down 0-2.

"Getting guys on is something we've tried to do all year. We're not a team that's blessed with a lot of power. We're not going to hit three-run homers. We're a couple of walks, a hit or two. So I was proud of the way the guys came in and played."

The Canadians bounced back from a 2-1 second-inning deficit with three in the third only to see the Knights -- the White Sox's affiliate -- draw even on Chad Mottola's solo home run to right field to lead off the fourth.

But Vancouver re-took the lead when Mottola's attempt at a shoestring catch on Terrence Long's line drive eluded him and went to the right-field wall for a triple, scoring Mike Neill. It was Long's third RBI of the evening.

"We've been doing this all year, getting our top guys on," Long said. "Once they're on, my job is to get those guys across. I'm just seeing the ball well and making good contact, doing what a guy hitting in the four-hole's supposed to do."

Kevin Jarvis gave Vancouver seven solid innings, surrendering seven hits over that span to get the win. Conversely, Charlotte manager Tom Spencer utilized his bullpen to the hilt, giving starter Pat Daneker an early hook after three innings and using six pitchers in an attempt to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

The move ultimately backfired as the Canadians kept putting runners on board. However, Vancouver wasn't able to build on the advantage and it took Benito Baez and Anthony Chavez to ultimately close the door on Charlotte.

Baez, a slender left-hander from the Dominican Republic, did his job, striking out Jeff Liefer while catcher Danny Ardoin threw out Mottola, who was on the front end of a hit-and-run ploy which went awry. Chavez was brought in to get the final out and he got Tilson Brito to fly to the warning track in right.

Quade said it was nice to see five runs stand up at cozy Cashman where that usually is about half as many as a team needs to win.

"We score five runs, we expect to win," he said. "On thing I've noticed the first two nights is that this ballpark is playing much more legitimate than when we were here during the summer.

"I don't know if it's because things have cooled off. But I'm not into 16-15 games. So to win a game like this was especially nice."

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