May was a tough month for our buck-toothed, dam-building friends in the pacific northwest. They came out in April going 10-10 and looking to contend in the PCL. But the fifth month was yielded 22 losses while adding only nine wins. By month’s end Portland was a staggering 10 games below .500 at home and seven games out of first place.

With the difficult month behind them the Beavers look to change their fortunes in June. Josh Barfield has returned to the line-up and is hitting the cover off the ball and Craig Cooper is continuing to drive in runs. Aaron Cunningham is hitting well also. So as we look ahead we must also acknowledge a position player and pitcher that stood out in May.

OF Luis Durango

Luis Durango had a productive May raising his batting average from .276 to .304. He raised his stolen base total to 18, good for third in the PCL. He also raised his OBP to a team leading .384. All this earned Luis a call-up to the Padres with the injuries to Kyle Blanks and Scott Hairston. In his first game in San Diego, he flashed brilliance with his defense throwing out a would-be scorer from centerfield at the plate in the first inning. This was short lived though when with two outs in the ninth he carelessly dove for an uncatchable ball that got by him allowing the tying run to reach scoring position  in what eventually was a Heath Bell blown save. The Padres however did rally to win in extra-innings.

P Ernesto Frieri

For the Second straight month my pitcher of the month is Ernesto Frieri. Frieri went 2-1 in May while adding five more saves to bring his total to nine. He struck out nineteen more batters in May and maintained an ERA of 2.45. His WHIP did rise from 0.87 to a still impressive 1.05.