Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008

Chacin loses in a duel

Nuts pitcher doesn't bring his best stuff

Rancho Cucamonga's Sean O'Sullivan leads the California League in wins, while Modesto Jhoulys Chacin leads all of minor league baseball in the same category.

So Monday's Quakes-Nuts game should have been a great pitchers' duel, right?

O'Well.

Rancho's ace limited Modesto to one run on five hits over seven innings, while Chacin allowed six runs in his most difficult outing as a Nut, and the Quakes shook Modesto 6-2 at John Thurman Field.

With their ninth loss in their last 14 games, the Nuts are looking less and less like a playoff-caliber team. Their lead over Bakersfield for the final playoff spot in the North Division is down to 3½ games with 21 games remaining. Six of those games are in Bakersfield.

Chacin (6-2 with Modesto and 16-3 overall this season) suffered though four-hit, three-run uprisings in the third and fifth innings. He allowed more than four runs for the first time in his nine starts since his promotion from Low-A Asheville.

"They don't walk on water," said Modesto manager/philosopher Jerry Weinstein. "And if they did we'd expect them to be perfect."

Chacin's 16 wins still lead minor league baseball, but O'Sullivan (15-5) is right on his heels. His victory over the Nuts gave him the single-season record for wins by a Quakes pitcher. Rancho Cucamonga first fielded a team in 1993.

"I wasn't aware of the record until after my last win, when my dad told me about it," O'Sullivan said. "It wasn't a record I was focusing on, but as long as it's there you might as well go after it."

Baseball first took notice of O'Sullivan when he was playing elite youth baseball in San Diego County in 2000 and Baseball America named him the most promising 12-year-old in the country.

"These guys still tease me about that," he said. "I guess that's something that will follow me my whole career. It's something nice to have in your back pocket."

He was drafted in the second round out of Valhalla High School in El Cajon, but opted to attend Grossmont Community College. He then was taken in the third round of the 2005 draft by the Los Angeles Angels, and signed prior to the following season.

O'Sullivan broke in with a splash.

He was a Pioneer League all-star in 2006, and was named the Angels minor league pitcher of the year in 2007.

This season, O'Sullivan, 20, is adding to his mystique, and his numbers.

He turns 21 in three weeks. Had he turned pro right out of high school, perhaps he'd be at a higher level by now. But to O'Sullivan's credit, he's patient.

"If I had it to do all over again I'd do exactly the same thing," he said. "The one season at junior college really prepared me. It allowed me to mature a little more and allowed me to pitch at a higher level. I wouldn't have given that up and I'm happy where I am right now."

The Nuts had baserunners in each of the first four innings, but never had one in scoring position with less than two outs. O'Sullivan retired eight consecutive Nuts at one point, a streak that was broken by Matt Repec's bloop double in the seventh. When Nelson Robledo followed with a double off the base of the wall in left field, the Nuts had broken through for their only run against O'Sullivan.

"That guy was really good," Weinstein said. "He was excellent in pitching to both sides of the plate and changing speeds with quality location. He did a lot of things you need to do to win."

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