California Baseball: Day 6
Modesto Nuts
On Father’s Day, Danny and I drove south on Highway 99 for about 75 miles — through Lodi, Stockton, and Manteca — to Modesto, in the heart of California’s Central Valley. Modesto is known for its rich farmland, producing a variety of crops but especially milk, cattle, chickens — and nuts. Stanislaus County, with Modesto as its largest city, has about 200,000 acres devoted to almond trees, and another 38,000 acres for walnut trees. We were here to root for our next home team, the Modesto Nuts, the third team on our trip from the High-A California League.
We arrived at John Thurman Field, home of the Nuts, a little before the gates opened. I took the time to call my dad, a proper baseball fan, to tell him how the trip was going and wish him a Happy Father’s Day. Then Danny and I headed into the stadium.
“Stadium” is probably too strong a word. Situated in a quiet spot on the edge of the Tuolumne River between a city park and a golf course, John Thurman Field feels every bit like a municipal park where occasionally two Minor League teams show up to play a ballgame. The ballpark was built in 1955, then renovated in 1997 to keep up with California League standards. It remains a modest spot, with just 4,000 seats.
As we stepped inside, we noticed fans on the field, playing catch as part of a Father’s Day promotion. They were joined by all three of the Nuts mascots: Al the Almond, Wally the Walnut, and Shelley the Pistachio. The team had supplied a bucket of baseballs and a basket of gloves of all sizes. I nudged Danny to join me on the field. He was 23, and we hadn’t played catch in many years. It was a cool way to connect on Father’s Day, tossing the ball back and forth, surrounded by goofy mascots making encouraging gestures, an hour before a professional baseball game.
We left the field in good spirits as players from the Nuts and the visiting Stockton Ports arrived to begin warm-ups. Getting warm would not be difficult on this day. The official weather report stated that it was about 91 degrees at game time, but I’m pretty sure it was closer to 165 degrees. As I began to tour the ballpark, I realized that there was absolutely no shade to be found in the stands. The sun was directly overhead, bringing its blazing fury to bear on all of Modesto. The mascots, in their warm outfits and heavy headpieces, did not make many more appearances on the day.
My wife Marianne arrived soon after. Because it was Father’s Day, and because Modesto is still within a one-hour striking distance from our house, she decided to join us for this one game. We would go out to dinner afterwards to celebrate. Unfortunately, she ended up with the most uncomfortable, quietest, most lob-sided game with the fewest open concessions of any stop we made on our California baseball trip. Most other fathers had apparently decided to forego the chance of heat stroke on this special day. Official attendance was listed as 1,084, but it felt closer to 150. Perhaps they were counting commercial jet passengers who happened to fly across the vertical airspace of John Thurman Field during the game.
The three of us sat in our front-row, highly exposed seats for a few minutes, then retreated to the back of the ballpark to check out the food options before the game. The beef nachos briefly caught my eye, but I settled on a simple but delicious tri-tip sandwich with BBQ sauce.
Modesto has been home to a California League team since 1946 (with the exception of 1965), when they were known as the Modesto Reds. They later became the Colts, Reds again, and then the A’s for 30 seasons before renaming as the Nuts in 2005. They have been affiliated with 10 different Major League teams, and in 2017 joined the Seattle Mariners’ system, when they won their ninth and most recent California League title.
Some highly celebrated baseball legends had stops in Modesto along their playing careers, including Reggie Jackson, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Joe Morgan, Rickey Henderson, and Rollie Fingers. Tony LaRussa played here in 1966, one year before Sparky Anderson managed here.
Penn Murfee
Both the Nuts and the Ports came into the game with losing records and no hope of catching the Visalia Rawhide for the first-half title. But we did have a few interesting storylines to follow. The first was Nuts starting pitcher Penn Murfee, a 33rd-round pick in 2018 who described himself to one publication as a “hippie cowboy” who signed for a “candy bar and a plane ticket.” He had started the season in Triple-A Tacoma but struggled mightily, giving up 10 earned runs in just 8 2/3 innings. He tumbled down to Modesto, where he met pitching coach Rob Marcello (now the pitching coach in Tacoma) and got his baseball career back on track. With a particular focus on throwing his fastball up in the zone, Murfee was beginning to get dominant results in Modesto and would finish the season with 122 strikeouts in 102 2/3 innings. And on this Father’s Day, he led off with two strikeouts in a scoreless first inning.
The Nuts half of the inning began with a repeat performance of our first game in Stockton. Both of the A’s top two pitching prospects — A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo — would again take the mound for us on their way back up the baseball ladder after injuries. As he did in Stockton, Puk gave up a first-inning solo home run, this time to Nuts catcher and California League All-Star Cal Raleigh, and the home team took the lead, 1-0. Raleigh trotted around the bases to cheers and cowbells as the base umpire — only two umpires preside over games at this level — trailed his path to make sure he touched first, second, and third base.
Raymond Kerr
Murfee did not return in the top of the second for Modesto. Instead, lanky lefty Raymond Kerr took the mound. I don’t know if Kerr was expecting to pitch this early in the game, but it did not appear to be the case. For a pitcher who had a very solid season, compiling a 3.33 ERA apart from this Father’s Day game, Kerr completely melted down in the Sunday sun.
After getting a leadoff out, Kerr gave up a single, threw a wild pitch, walked a batter, then gave up a double and a single, coaxing the first mound visit from Marcello. Another walk, another mound visit. A throwing error by third baseman Jake Scheiner continued the Nuts’ misery. Kerr then gave up another double and was done for the day.
Kerr’s final pitching line: 1/3 inning pitched, giving up seven runs, six of them earned.
He was replaced by J.T. Salter — a very different figure, at 6-foot-8, 295 lbs. — who surely did not expect to be pitching with one out in the second. He threw a wild pitch to his first batter. That batter then doubled, scoring another run. But Salter mixed in a couple of strikeouts with a single and a walk, and the second-inning Nuts nightmare was finally put to an end. The Ports led 8-1, and their top two future Major Leaguers were set to take the hill to shut down any potential rallies. The game was effectively over, with 7 1/2 innings still to play in the relentless afternoon heat.
Puk had a simple second inning, facing just three batters. He was relived by Luzardo, who threw four sharp innings, giving up just a solo home run and recording nine strikeouts with no walks. Stockton added two runs of its own, and Luzardo left the game with a 10-2 lead, well in line for the win.
By now, much of the crowd had retreated to the top row of the ballpark on the first-base side, where a sliver of shadow had emerged. It was nearly impossible to be sitting in our prized seats for more than a half-inning without needing a respite in the shade.
The home fans cheered their team and rattled bells on every hit and good play by the Nuts, but their numbers were small, their voices carrying as individual sounds versus a cumulative roar of a crowd. Between innings, Nuts fans played plenty of on-field games — tossing plastic fish into a partner’s net, jiggling balls hands-free from a fanny pack, relay races, and raffles — but the participants looked lethargic and slow, not willing to push their limits for a ballpark game in the baking sun.
A bit of excitement rumbled to the surface briefly in the seventh inning when Ports star Nick Allen was hit by a pitch — a common occurrence when one team is getting embarrassed by the other. Players rose to the top of the dugouts steps, angry. Ports Manager Webster Garrison settled them down, but the bad blood seemed to simmer for another inning or two.
But there were no runs scored in the final four innings, and the game came to its inevitable conclusion, with the Ports beating the Nuts, 10-2.
We fled to our cars, cranked the air conditioning, and drove to downtown Modesto, where we enjoyed a very nice Father’s Day dinner at Tresetti’s World Caffe. I finished off my festival of beef with a Grilled New York Saltimbocca that was pehaps just a little better than the tri-tip I’d had for lunch. Danny and I then said our goodbyes to Marianne and headed to our hotel to rest up for the next day in Fresno.