California League playoff preview

The California League's playoffs begin Wednesday, Sept. 7.

The winners of each division in the first half receive a first-round bye and get home-field advantage in the best-of-5 Division Championship Series. The teams earning the second and third places play a best-of-3 series for the right to advance to the Division Championship Series.

The winners of each Division Championship Series meet in a best-of-5 series for the league championship.

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes will meet the winner of the Lake Elsinore and Inland Empire series. The Modesto Nuts will battle the Stockton Ports in the North for the right to face the San Jose Giants.

Lake Elsinore Storm (69-71, South Division Wild Card) vs.
Inland Empire 66ers (69-71, South Division Wild Card)

Lake Elsinore won the season series, 13-12.

Game 1 at Inland Empire, 10:00 p.m. ET
Game 2 at Lake Elsinore, 10:00 p.m. ET
Game 3 at Lake Elsinore, 10:00 p.m. ET (if necessary)

It would have been unlikely to think that Inland Empire's Damon Mashore and Lake Elsinore's Phil Plantier would be managing in the 2011 California League playoffs.

Both men started the season as coaches. Mashore coached under Tom Gamboa for the Inland Empire 66ers, a Los Angeles Angels affiliate. Carlos Lezcano, who was the 2010 California League Manager of the Year, had Plantier as a coach on his staff at Lake Elsinore, the San Diego Padres' Cal League representative.

Within a week at the end of May and start of June, Gamboa resigned due to a family illness and Lezcano resigned because of a personal matter.

"Gamboa was always happy and upbeat, and it was fun playing for him," said Kole Calhoun, the 66ers outfielder who earned California League All-Star honors with 22 HR, 97 RBIs and a .323 batting average. "Damon got us to understand how everybody has to play as a team, and we bought into it."

The season series between the 66ers and the Storm has been extremely competitive. Lake Elsinore's 13-12 edge gives them home-field advantage if the teams finish tied on Monday. Inland Empire won last week's three-game series, and each team scored at least 10 runs in one game of the series.

"They play exactly like we do, and both teams run the bases well and have good pitching," said Mashore. "We match up well, and the games have been a lot of fun."

Nathan Freiman is a strong offensive performer for Lake Elsinore, with 21 homers and 110 RBIs. The former Duke Blue Devils star has been a big part of the Storm offense in the second half.

Lake Elsinore's speed will present a challenge to Inland Empire catchers. CF Reymond Fuentes, who came to the Padres organization in the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox, has 41 stolen bases while batting .276 and providing outstanding outfield defense. Up the middle, 2B Jonathan Galvez and SS Jeudy Valdez have more than 30 stolen bases apiece, and both infielders have hit 13 home runs.

Inland Empire will have John Hellweg and Ariel Pena, two of the California League's strikeout leaders, on the mound to start the series.

Hellweg, a 6-foot-9 right-hander from Missouri who is the Game 1 starter, had trouble locating the plate as a relief pitcher in the first half of the season. The bad Hellweg walked 32 batters in 31 2/3 innings with a 6.54 ERA in the opening half.

The good Hellweg has been dominant in the second half of the year, posting a 4-1 record and 2.18 ERA with 78 strikeouts and 27 walks in 57 2/3 innings. Hellweg, who was taken in the 16th round of the 2008 Draft, had made only three pro starts before June of this season.

Pena, a 6-foot-3 righty from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, has a 10-6 record with 180 strikeouts in 151 2/3 innings. Mashore is happy to have Pena starting the second game of the series, and Cody Evans, who won two games late in the season, will start game three if necessary.

Modesto Nuts (74-66, North Division second-half champion) vs.
Stockton Ports (75-65, North Division Wild Card)

Modesto won the season series, 14-10.

Game 1 at Stockton, 10:00 p.m. ET
Game 2 at Modesto, 10:00 p.m. ET
Game 3 at Modesto, 10:00 p.m. ET (if necessary)

Stockton Ports manager Webster Garrison is well aware of the standouts playing for the Modesto Nuts, his team's first-round North Division opponent.

Modesto's Kent Matthes was named the California League's Most Valuable Player and right-hander Chad Bettis is the league's Pitcher of the Year. Webster knows Modesto's players on the left side of the infield, shortstop Josh Rutledge and third baseman Nolan Arrenado, also were selected as All-Stars.

Modesto won the season series by a 14-10 margin and has home-field advantage because the Nuts won the second half title. Despite the stars his team is up against, Garrison said his team has worked hard all season.

"All our guys can play, and we get some big hits," said Garrison. "Our pitching and defense are solid, and we are getting timely hits that we didn't get earlier in the season."

Stockton certainly has a chance to win, but a "Choice" is even more important for the Ports. Michael Choice, who leads the league with 29 home runs, has a batting average of .335 during the second half of the season after hitting .248 in the first half.

In addition to Choice, Garrison has 2B Michael Gilmartin and OF Myrio Richard to add to the offense. Garrison is undecided about his starting pitchers for the series. Ports pitchers Daniel Straily and Murphy Smith are among the top eight hurlers in the league in ERA.

Modesto's Arenado has 20 homers and leads the league with 120 RBIs. He has stepped up with 76 RBIs in the second half, something very important considering the absence of Matthes, who is on the disabled list and has not played since Aug. 3.

Rutledge owns a .351 batting average, which tops players still in the California League. (Jedd Gyorko, who played for Lake Elsinore before being promoted to Double-A San Antonio of the Texas League, has a .365 average and has more than the required 378 plate appearances to be eligible for the batting title.)

Bettis has an 8-1 record and a 2.51 ERA in the second half of the season. The former Texas Tech pitcher, the Rockies' second-round Draft pick in 2010, leads the league with 184 strikeouts. Modesto has impressive stats, but Garrison said the Ports are ready.

"We match up well with anybody and we are ready to go for the playoffs," Garrison said.

Giant steps: The San Jose Giants have the best record in the California League (90-48) and set a new team attendance record. Gary Brown, the San Francisco Giants' first-round selection (24th overall) in the 2010 Draft, hit .338 with 13 homers and 79 RBIs to earn Rookie of the Year honors. The former Cal State Fullerton player stole 51 bases in 70 attempts.

Redding rebounds: Jon Michael Redding, a 2008 fifth-round selection of the Los Angeles Dodgers, showed a dramatic improvement over his 2010 season in the California League. Redding, who made the postseason All-Star team, had an 11-7 record with a 3.66 ERA for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2011, and opponents batted .250 against him. As a member of the Inland Empire 66ers in 2010 when they were the Dodgers' affiliate, Redding was 4-10 with a 5.56 ERA, and opponents batted .313 against him.

Hitters' paradise: The California League lived up to its reputation as a league that favors hitters. Among qualifying pitchers, Chris Heston of San Jose paces the league with a 3.29 ERA. Only eight qualifying pitchers were below 4.00 in ERA. Two high-altitude parks in High Desert and Lancaster were especially unfriendly -- High Desert's team ERA is 6.31 and Lancaster has a 5.92 ERA. San Jose led the league with a team ERA of 3.66.