Blanco leaves Nuts with monster blast

By BRIAN VanderBEEK
bvanderbeek@modbee.com

last updated: April 29, 2008 04:11:22 PM

Tony, we hardly knew you.

Tony Blanco is headed toward Little Rock, Ark., this afternoon, where he'll join the roster of the Tulsa Drillers. If his bat stays as hot in Double A as it has been in Modesto, he might be headed to Colorado Springs sometime next week.

Blanco on Monday night put an exclamation point on his five-game stay with the Nuts, collecting three hits, including a mammoth home run, to ignite Modesto to an 11-7 victory over Visalia at John Thurman Field.

Michael McKenry and Mike Paulk homered and drove in four runs each as Modesto closed its homestand with a 5-2 record.

Blanco started three games at third base and was the designated hitter in the other two for the Nuts. He had at least one hit in each game, batting .550 (11 for 20) with two doubles, a triple, a homer and three RBIs.

Modesto scored four runs in the first, three on McKenry's homer off the scoreboard, and four more in the second, with Paulk's off-field shot down the left-field line accounting for the first three. Brandon Durden (1-0) recorded the win in relief of Shane Lindsay, who allowed four runs and six hits in four innings.

With the Nuts up 8-4 in the fourth, Blanco left his mark on the game with a blast to remember. He was told before batting practice that Tulsa was in his near future, and just before his third at-bat he told teammate Nelson Robledo to watch closely.

"I told Robledo that I couldn't leave here without a long ball, so I told him to watch my next at-bat, and that's the one I hit out," Blanco said.

The ball was a screaming, rising line drive that carried out to the deepest part of left-center, where the wall is about 405 feet from home plate. Manager Jerry Weinstein, who admired the blast from the third-base coaching box, said the ball was three-quarters up the light standard when it left the yard, and not losing speed or altitude at that point.

He said the ball had to travel at least 500 feet, but unless it hit a car in the parking lot there's no way to be sure.

What is certain, Weinstein said, is that Blanco left a mark in his brief stay and will be sorely missed as the Nuts open a series tonight in Bakersfield.

"We'll miss the big man," Weinstein said. "He changes the dynamics of the game. He hits the ball all over the field. He hits line drives, but he also can elevate the ball and adjusts with two strikes to go the other way. He's a professional hitter, and that's what all these guys are trying to become."

Blanco, 27, will take the roster spot of second baseman Eric Young Jr. in Tulsa. Young broke a bone in his wrist last weekend. The injury means Corey Wimberly will move over from third base to second base, and Blanco will split time at third with former Nut Jeff Dragicevich.

"I have to get up at 2:30 in the morning, but I'm happy to go," Blanco said. "I've had a good time here. These are really good guys, really good teammates. I hit the ball well here, and now I need to get some of my defense back because you have to have both to get somewhere."

Bee staff writer Brian VanderBeek can be reached at bvanderbeek@modbee.com or 578-2300.

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