Joey Votto of Vancouver was named A to Z League player of the week for the week ending July 10. Votto batted .478 (11-for-23) while hitting four home runs and driving in 12 runs. He also logged a pair of doubles. Others considered for the recognition included Mickey Mantle, who hit .500 and had three homers, eight RBI and scored seven runs; Chipper Jones, who batted .421 with two homers and seven RBI and scored five runs; Ken Griffey, Jr., who had three game-winning hits and had three homers and nine RBI; and Jason Kendall, who batted .524 (11-for-21).
Joey Votto
Some highlights for the week:
July 4
Bobby Avila and Henry Aaron both had three hits and Bobby Allison and Joe Adcock homered as Aberdeen thumped Renton and Babe Ruth 9-3. Catfish Hunter went 3-for-4 with a double and a homer and pitched decently as Hoquiam beat Tumwater 7-4. Griffey hit a tie-breaking RBI double in the bottom of the seventh and Ron Guidry won his first of the year as Goldendale edged Long Beach 3-2. Jim Kaat scattered 10 hits and Harmon Killebrew, Ralph Kiner, and Chuck Klein each homered as Kelso blanked Ocean Shores 5-0. Buster Posey tied the game with a homer in the bottom of the ninth and Pasco won it over Cashmere 2-1 on Kirby Puckett's run-scoring double in the tenth. Yakima scored eight in the fifth, but nothing else and Ephrata pounded out 14 hits in an 11-8 victory. Bill Nicholson and Graig Nettles homered to back Don Newcombe and North Bend topped Quincy 5-1.
July 5
Adcock's homer leading off the eighth snapped a tie and Aberdeen held on to beat Renton 4-3. David Wright hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh and Wenatchee went on to beat Jefferson County 5-3. Bob Gibson pitched a six-hitter and Nomar Garciaparra and Lou Gehrig homered as Goldendale blanked Long Beach 2-0. Roy Oswalt pitched a five-hitter and drove in a run as Ocean Shores shut out Kelso 5-0. Vada Pinson's two-run double capped a three-run rally in the eighth and Pasco came from behind to beat Cashmere 4-3. Votto hit a pair of homers and drove in five runs and three Vancouver pitchers combined on a five-hitter and beat Davenport 6-0. Bainbridge Island kayoed Greg Maddux with five in the first and George Brett drove in four runs in a 10-3 romp over Moses Lake. Quincy scored four in the fifth and six in the seventh and doubled up on North Bend 10-5.
July 6
Forks scored five in the top of the eighth to take the lead, but Snoqualmie answered four in the bottom of the frame, taking the lead on a bases-loaded single by Al Simmons, and the S's won 8-5. Rogers Hornsby had a homer, triple, and a single, scored two runs and drove in three to lead Hoquiam to a 7-3 win at Tumwater. Wenatchee scored four in the fourth, the key hit being a two-run triple by Paul Waner, and defeated Jefferson County 5-3. Goldendale got 12 hits but only one run against Bob Lemon, and Greg Luzinski hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run fourth as Long Beach topped the G's 5-1. Kiner hit a one-out homer in the bottom of the 12th and Kelso edged Ocean Shores 6-5. Posey hit a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth and Pasco beat Cashmere 6-5. Bobby Doerr hit a two-run homer to cap a three-run rally in the top of the eighth and Davenport came from behind to best Vancouver 4-2. Dock Ellis pitched a seven-hitter to log his eighth win, and Damion Easley drove in three runs as Ephrata topped Yakima 6-2. Juan Marichal pitched a two-hitter--both by Ernie Banks--and Mantle drove in three runs with a pair of homers as Moses Lake knocked off Bainbridge Island 7-1. Matt Nokes and Dave Nilsson both hit two home runs and Phil Niekro went the distance as North Bend beat Quincy 7-2.
July 7
Carlos Zambrano and Sam Zoldak combined to hold Ephrata hitless in Yakima's 6-0 win. Zambrano pitched 8 1/3 innings, struck out 10 and walked five. Manager Don Zimmer pulled Zambrano in the ninth after he hit Jim Edmonds with a pitch and then walked Darrell Evans, having thrown to that point 139 pitches. Zoldak got Luke Easter to hit into a double play to end the contest. Aberdeen scored three in the top of the eighth, two on a pinch double by Bobby Allison, and the A's beat Renton 4-1. Mike Trout hit a pair of homers and drove in four runs as Tumwater won at home against Hoquiam 9-4. Chipper Jones and Reggie Jackson each had three hits to lead Jefferson County's 14-hit barrage in a 9-4 win at Wenatchee. Griffey hit two homers and drove in five runs as Goldendale thumped Long Beach 8-4. Chili Davis hit a solo shot with two out in the top of the 14th and Davenport beat Vancouver 7-6 despite a homer and five RBI by Votto. Marty Marion singled home Joe Morgan with the game-winner in the top of the tenth as Moses Lake won at Bainbridge Island 5-4. Kazuhisa Inao pitched a five-hitter and Monte Irvin and Justin Upton homered as Quincy topped North Bend 5-1.
July 8
Todd Frazier hit a two-run homer in the top of the eleventh, then Forks and Rollie Fingers gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the frame but held on to beat Snoqualmie 3-2. Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to snap a tie and Vancouver held on to beat Davenport 3-1. Paul Molitor hit a three-run homer in the second as Moses Lake chased Vida Blue early and held on to beat Bainbridge Island 6-5.
July 9
Shades of the Wizard in 1985--Marion hit a grand slam against Tom Niedenfuer during Moses Lake's seven-run seventh and the M's beat North Bend 11-7. Ted Williams hit a two-run homer off Felix Hernandez in the top of the first and Wenatchee led all the way in a 6-3 defeat of Hoquiam. Tom Glavine pitched a three-hitter and Josh Gibson hit a pair of homers to lead Goldendale in a 9-1 rout of Jefferson County. Ty Cobb and Oscar Charleston had three hits each to lead Cashmere in a 9-4 romp over Vancouver. Curt Davis scattered seven hit and Davenport got all three of its hits during a two-run fifth and beat Yakima 2-0. Bobby Bonds hit a leadoff homer in the top of the tenth and Rod Beck won his tenth as Bainbridge Island bested Ephrata 7-6.
July 10
Mike Schmidt hit his twentieth home run and Snoqualmie scored four runs over the last three innings to win at Aberdeen 6-4. John Tudor allowed just four hits over eight innings and Frank Thomas and Jim Thome homered to lead Tumwater to a 5-1 win at Forks. Hoquiam scored four in the bottom of the first in a rally capped by Dave Henderson's two-run double, and the H's beat Wenatchee 7-3. Chipper went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and four RBI, Dave Johnson had four hits including a homer, and Charles Johnson also went deep as Jefferson County whipped Goldendale 9-2. Mark Langston pitched a three-hitter and Long Beach blanked Kelso 3-0. Mike Piazza hit a three-run homer in the top of the tenth and Pasco topped Ocean Shores 7-4. Rod Carew hit a three-run triple during a five-run rally in the third and Cashmere rolled to a 6-3 win over Vancouver. Dizzy Dean pitched a four-hitter, and Davenport got just one hit, a fourth-inning triple by Doerr, and beat Yakima 2-0. Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, and Banks all homered and Bainbridge Island edged Ephrata 5-4. Maddux allowed seven hits over eight innings and Morgan and Stan Musial had two RBI each as Moses Lake beat North Bend 7-1. Mike Ivie had a homer, double, single, and four RBI to lead Quincy to a 5-3 win over Renton.