Monday, July 16, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.
The 51s' bullpen struggled in a 7-3 loss to Sacramento Sunday night before an announced crowd of 2,747 at Cashman Field. Pedro Feliciano relieved Phil Devey in the sixth inning with runners on second and third. He allowed none of Devey's runners to score, but gave up three runs on no hits in the seventh inning. Chad Ricketts surrendered two runs in the ninth inning despite striking out six batters.
Being promoted to a higher level just once during the minor league baseball season is progress.
Being called up twice is phenomenal -- which makes Phil Devey's rapid climb to triple-A a rarity.
In his first triple-A start, Devey surrendered two runs, walked four and struck out one batter during the 51s' 7-3 loss to Sacramento on Sunday night at Cashman Field.
"My two-seamer was working well tonight, but there are still a lot of things I need to improve on for the next start," Devey said of his 5 1/3 innings of work. "I was pitching behind in the count a lot of times and that wasn't my game plan coming here."
Devey left the game with the River Cats holding a 2-1 lead and ended up taking the loss.
Devey, a 24-year-old lefty, played three years at Southwestern Louisiana (now called Louisiana-Lafayette) and was taken by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 1999 first-year player draft.
Devey started this season in Class A, then got sent up to the Dodgers' double-A team in Jacksonville before arriving in Las Vegas on Saturday in time to watch the 51s' victory over the River Cats. At Jacksonville he posted a 6-0 record with a 2.53 ERA in 11 starts.
"I thought Devey did an outstanding job," 51s manager Rick Sofield said. "I was impressed. He is a tough kid. He's a very smart kid.
Devey grew up in Canada, where hockey is the No. 1 sport.
Naturally, he and his friends started playing hockey at an early age, giving little thought to baseball or anything else. Devey deviated from his hockey-only diet when he was about 12.
"None of my friends played baseball," he remembered. "From watching movies and television and stuff, there was something about it I enjoyed.
"One of the videos I used to watch was an instructional video by (former major leaguer) Rick Honeycutt. My dad used to make me watch that all the time. I hated watching it because it was so boring, I wanted to go play.
"But now, Rick Honeycutt is one of our pitching coaches. When I met him, I couldn't believe it. Now I get to work with him in person."
He hopes one day it will pay big dividends in the form of a big league promotion.
"From start to start, it's just a learning experience," Devey said. "I'm just learning as I go. I'm happy to be where I'm at, but I know there is still a ways to go.
"Playing with these guys helps me become more mature and professional and learn more about the game. I'm going to try to get as much knowledge as I can out of every pitcher on the staff."
"That's what we're here for, to support them," Sofield said. "We could easily lose a guy. I don't know who they'll put in the rotation.
"We could very well be trying to make a trade. I'm assuming somebody is going to be put in that rotation out of the bullpen which could take somebody out of our team."
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