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Top Performers for Pacific Coast League Prospects

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Below are some of the top performers from the Pacific Coast League who are prospects. For many of these players their performance has led to a major league callup.

Mariners

Mike Zunino C (.229, 6, 31) - Mike is considered one of the best catching prospects in the game. With Jesus Montero getting an opportunity to catch full time for the Mariners there is no rush to promote Mike. He has been driving in runs, but has been having trouble making contact with 38 whiffs in just 28 games. He is far superior on defense than Jesus and has all the offensive tools.

Alex Liddi 3B/OF (.261, 7, 30) - His power is intriguing but his inability to make contact is maddening. He leads the Pacific Coast League with 61 K’s in just 38 games. He has a 13/61 walk to K ratio. His inability to make contact shows his lack of recognition of pitch types. He appears to be a mistake pitcher, which will not allow him to survive in the major leagues.

Nick Franklin SS (.339, 4, 16) - The Mariners are having trouble finding offense from their major league shortstop. Nick could provide a solution to that, though the Mariners would take a hit defensively. Some believe his best position is second base. He has a nice 24/16 walk to whiff ratio which bodes well for his offensive production in the major leagues.

James Paxton LHP (2-3, 3.93) - His ERA is a bit high but he has struck out 44 in 36 innings pitched. James is a step away from pitching for the Mariners.

Giants

Kensuke Tanaka 2B (.348, 0, 13) - He signed as a free agent out of Japan and at 32 years of age is not really a prospect. If the Giants are looking for immediate help he is available. He has a 15/15 walk to whiff ratio and stolen 11 bases in 15 attempts.

Brett Pill 1B (.341, 9, 47) - Brett is a Brandon Belt slump away from getting a major league opportunity. His nine homeruns are tied for the league lead and his 47 RBIs leads the next closest player by 14 RBIs. He just needs to up that average to be considered the Triple Crown.

Gary Brown CF (.213, 1, 14) - Gary was once the top prospect of the Giants with his assault of High A pitching. He has not had that success as he rises up the ladder. He’s only stolen four bases in 8 attempts and he has a 9/40 walk to whiff ratio, not the kind of numbers you want to see from your leadoff hitter.

Dodgers

Scott Van Slyke OF (.397, 9, 30) - The son of Andy was also putting up Triple Crown numbers. He led the league in hitting and was tied for first in homeruns. He was still short of Pill for the RBI lead. He has a .503 OBA. Those numbers were so impressive the Dodgers could not ignore him anymore and called him up.

Dee Gordon SS (.314, 0, 12) - Some questioned his ability to hit. Others were concerned with his inconsistency on defense. No one questions his speed. He leads the Pacific Coast League in stolen bases with 14 in 16 attempts. The Dodgers needed help so he has also been called up.

Athletics

Michael Choice OF (.294, 8, 31) - With Josh Reddick missing time because of a hand injury Michael is showing the power that makes it tempting to call him up. He has been making better contact with only 31 strikeouts in 38 games. He also has walked 23 times putting his OBA at .404.

Sonny Gray RHP (4-1, 2.19) - His 5′11″ height gives many pause for his ability to have success in the major leagues. He is making some noise with his good start in the Pacific Coast League. He already has one complete game to his resume and should be an innings eater.

Diamondbacks

Chris Owings SS (.339, 2, 25) - His numbers are confirming he will be an offensive shortstop. His 32 runs scored are tied for second in the league. He has also stolen 7 bases in 9 attempts. The one cause for concern is his 5/32 walk to whiff ratio, which could drive down the average once he reaches the major leagues.

Cardinals

Jamie Romak OF (.276, 6, 20) - Jamie is a 2012 first round pick out of Florida State and is making pitchers in the Pacific Coast League fear him as much as his college brethren. With both Matt Holiday and Carlos Beltran getting older his opportunity could come next year.

Kolten Wong 2B (.311, 1, 13) - He looked like the Cardinals second baseman of the future until Matt Carpenter switched positions and shows the ability to play second. Kolten would be the better defensive player but is less of a stick than Carpenter. He is a perfect 5 for 5 in stolen bases.

John Gast LHP (3-1, 1.16) - A Jake Westbrook injury led to a call-up to the Cardinals. He was leading the Pacific Coast League in ERA. The Cardinals have a number of hard throwers in their system, but Gast is not one of them.

Michael Wacha (4-0, 1.99) - He opened some eyes in spring training. Like Jamie he is a 2012 number one pick, selected as the 19th pick, four selections ahead of Ramsey. Michael has only given up 27 hits in 40 innings but he does have a troubling 13/24 walk to whiff ratio, meaning his mid-90s fastball is not getting a lot of swings and misses.

Astros

Jonathan Villar SS (.308, 3, 21) - Marwin Gonzalez is currently occupying the position. Villar could be the future. He has 13 stolen bases in 17 attempts.

Jimmy Paredes OF (.366, 3, 15) - Those numbers got him a callup to the Astros. His defense is something left to be desired, but he will get an opportunity to show he deserves an opportunity in the major leagues. A 14/19 walk to whiff ratio is promising.

Jared Cosart RHP (4-0, 2.08) - Jared is benefiting from the tag team pitching rotation the Astros have established this year for all their minor league systems. In the past he has had command problems, but those have not yet surfaced in the Pacific Coast League. He has struck out 43 hitters in 39 innings.

Mets

Wilmer Flores SS (.272, 3, 22) - For a number of years he was the Mets top minor league prospect. The Mets continue to play him at short even though he lacks the defensive chops to play the position. His best hope may be the outfield, though his bat is not as strong as originally projected.

Zack Wheeler RHP (2-1, 3.74) - The way he is pitching Zack is major league ready with 47 whiffs in 43 innings. Though the Mets deny this, they do not want to promote him too early to get his arbitration clock clicking.

Rockies

Nolan Arenado 3B (.364, 3, 21) - The third baseman of the future is the third baseman of the present. He drove in those 21 runs in only 18 games and stroked 11 doubles.

Drew Pomeranz RHP (5-0, 3.18) - The Rockies are winning and at some point they are going to need pitching. Drew should be the first one for consideration based on his early start. He has struck out 44 in 40 innings of work.

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Posted in Cardinals, Athletics, Mariners, Giants, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Astros, Mets | No Comments »

Phillies Ink German to Seven Year Contract

Monday, May 13th, 2013

Donald Lutz was signed out of the MLB European Academy. On Sunday he bacame the first German to hit a homerun in a major league game who played all his youth while living in Germany. The Twins Mex Kepler is considered one of the top outfield prospects in baseball. The Phillies have launched into signing a German prospect.

http://www.mister-baseball.com/philadelphia-phillies-sign-germanys-julsan-kamara/ announces the signing of 17 year old Julsan Kamara by the Philadelphia Phillies to a seven year minor league contract. That should tide him over until he reaches 24. Like Max Kepler and now Donald Lutz (who was originally a first baseman) Kamara is an outfielder. He is a member of the Junior National Team.

Posted in Germany, Phillies | No Comments »

International Draft Update

Sunday, May 12th, 2013

It does appear that major league baseball is preparing for an international draft in 2014. It will be interesting to see if players from Canada and Puerto Rico get slotted for selection in the international draft or if they stay where they currently selected in the domestic draft.

It is all about major league baseball attempting to cut their expenses. The 2013 bonus pool is $78 million plus change, which is down from the $87 million allocated in 2012. You can see the value each of the teams have to spend for their international players here: http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/international-bonus-pools-for-2013-14/

The team with the most money to spend is the Houston Astros at close to $5 million. The team with the least amount to spend is the Washington Nationals at $1.8 million. The Miami Marlins are sixth at around $3.4 million. It will be interesting to see what they do to reach that spending level since Jeffry Loria has made a promise to improve the team through other means than signing free agents.

Major league baseball has also developed a slotting system for the draft, which limits the amount of money a team can spend on a player depending on where he is selected. You can see that slotting here: http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2013-2014-international-bonus-slots/. The Astros have $3.2 million they can spend for the top player selected in the draft while at the bottom of the scale the Nationals only have just under $500,000.

The international draft could be a four round draft. After the four rounds have been completed those not selected can be signed for $10,000 or less, or if teams still have money in their bonus pool they can sign players for a little more.

There will be penalties assessed for teams going above their bonus pool or slot amounts. The Tampa Bay Rays have already spent above their 2012 bonus pool amount and are restricted to an amount of $250,000 to sign any international player even though their slotted amount is $527,000.

The international signing period begins July 2. Next year there may be a four round draft to launch the international signing period. The advantage of a draft is it can be televised and draw additional attention to major league baseball. The fact it is international could increase the exposure internationally as familes of those players favored to be drafted would tune in to watch where they are drafted.

Those players from Japan, Korea and Taiwan who already have professional leagues subject to their own internal drafts will probably have specific rules exempting them from being drafted unless there are players a major league team wants who were passed over in that country’s own draft. Of course, most of these rules have not been established yet and the major leagues still has to get approval from the players association before establishing any such draft. If the money that would normally be spent on international players is reduced and that money goes to major league players as the current domestic drafting process appears to be achieving, it would not be a surprise the players association approves of the draft.

Posted in MLB | No Comments »

Z-Man Error Derails Strasburg

Sunday, May 12th, 2013

Stephen Strasburg was cruising along with his best outing of 2013. For the first four innings he had retired 12 of the 13 hitters he faced, striking out 6 with a fastball consistently hitting 95-97 miles per hour. In the fifth Luis Valbuena smoked a one out double down the right field line, but Roger Bernadina quickly retrieved the ball, threw to cutoff man Danny Espinosa who fired to Ryan Zimmerman for the second out as Valbuena tried to stretch it to a triple. Wellington Castillo grounded a routine ball to Ryan Zimmerman, who made a bad throw to Adam LaRoche, winging it to the inside part of the bag and pulling LaRoche off first base. After that error the wheels flew off for Strasburg.

A pitcher is supposed to have the back of his teammates, so when one of them makes an error the pitcher is expected to bear down and bail out his fielders. Strasburg walked the number eight hitter Darwin Barney, running the count to 3-2. He also ran the count to pitcher Edwin Jackson to 3-2. Jackson drove a ball over Span’s head for a 2-run double to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Another 3-2 count to David Dejesus before he walked him. Starlin Castro grounded a ball into the hole. Ian Desmond made a nice backhand play on it, fired to second but DeJesus beat the throw. Anthony Rizzo put a dagger to the heart, bouncing the ball over the mound and into centerfield for a 2-run single. Rizzo attempted to steal second. Wilson Ramos was content to let him steal it. Rizzo stopped before he reached second, Ramos gunned it down and Rizzo was tagged out before Starlin Castro could even think about going home.

The only ball hit hard in the fifth inning was the Jackson double. Two walks, an infield single and a bleeder up the middle contributed to the loss for Strasburg, dropping his record for the year to 1-5. Not only did the Zimmerman error extend the inning, it forced Strasburg to throw 25 extra pitches. Davey Johnson had no choice but to pinch hit for him in the bottom of the fifth, with his pitch count now over 90.

Ian Desmond hit a solo shot to lead off the fifth, smashing the ball into the centerfield bleachers. He would have his second straight three hit game and finish a triple short of the cycle. Danny Espinosa followed with a single and moved to third after two groundouts. Chad Tracy pinch hit for Strasburg and lofted a lazy fly to center for the final out. It seems everyone on the National bench is hitting below .200s. That is not getting it done for late inning rallies.

Zach Duke came on to pitch the eighth. He may have punched his ticket to Syracuse, giving up four runs while only retiring two hitters. A wild pitch scored one run and a 2-run single by David Dejesus just by Danny Espinosa scored two.

The Nationals got the fans hope up for the last time in the bottom of the sixth. Back to back walks to Roger Bernadina and Ryan Zimmerman and a single by Adam LaRoche loading the bases with one out, ending the day for Cubs starting pitcher and ex-National Edwin Jackson. Shawn Camp came in and gave up a single to Ian Desmond to score one. Two hitters with batting averages under .200 could not extend the inning. Danny Espinosa struck out and Tyler Moore grounded to third. Danny at least got one hit but Moore went 0 for 4 to keep that average spiraling downward.

The Nationals could only get one more runner on base when Steve Lombardozzi hit a pinch hit triple in the right field corner. Recently called up Eury Perez popped one up into too shallow centerfield to keep Lombo stranded at third and Roger Bernadina sent his average to below .110 with a healthier fly out to center.

Hector Rondon pitched the last two innings, retiring all six hitters he faced.

Game Notes: Henry Rodriguez pitched two shutout innings. The velocity on his fastball hit three digits, but stayed mostly in the high 90s…Stephen Strasburg started the game throwing eight 95 plus mile per hour fastballs to David DeJesus. DeJesus took the eighth fastball to the warning track in centerfield. In the fourth DeJesus also drove Bernadina to the warning track in right field…Ryan Zimmerman made his second error of the game when he let a ball scoot under his glove in seventh. He atoned for that two batters later by starting a 5-4-3 double play…Bill Taft was the first President other than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson to win a President’s race.

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Posted in Nationals, Cubs | No Comments »

Wright Pitches Bay Sox to victory Over Seawolves

Saturday, May 11th, 2013

Myworld was in Bowie to watch Mike Wright pitch the Bowie Bay Sox to a 5-1 win over the Erie Seawolves. Wright is the eighth rated prospect of the Baltimore Orioles. He has a nice easy delivery, hitting 92-95 on his fastball. He also threw a couple good curveballs that had a sharp break as they crossed the plate. He worked six innings and only gave up just one run as he struck out six.

The Bay Sox got him some runs early by erupting for a three spot in the opening frame. Five singles off Seawolf lefty Matt Crouse did the early damage. Matt was able to last five innings, but he gave up 11 hits and five runs. Buck Britton and Henry Urrutia each went 3 for 3 with one walk each. Britton hit a solo shot for the Bay Sox in the fifth inning, the first Bay Sox homerun since April 26.

Jason Gurka worked the last three innings, giving up two hits and striking out five.

Game Notes: The last time we saw Tyler Collins play he was hitting less than .200 with only one homerun. He had a streak of five games in a row with a homerun and now leads the Eastern League in homeruns with eight…Xavier Avery made a nice sprawling catch of a line drive. An inning later Henry Urrutia also dove for a ball but couldn’t come up with it. It is more difficult for the 6′5″ Urrutia to dive as gracefully and effortlessly as Avery. He did make a nice diving catch toward the right field line in the next inning…Kevin Guasman has the best strikeout to walk ratio in baseball, an amazing 32/1. No pitcher, not even a major leaguer can top that…Guasman has a reputation for eating small powdered donuts after each inning in games he is pitching. During spring training Adam Jones filled his locker with powdered donuts. They counted them and there were a total of 1,900 donuts. They only lasted three weeks to the end of spring training…The Bay Sox keep an interesting stat. They track their won/loss record against specific umpire crews, even breaking down their won/loss record against the home plate umpire…Matt Hobgood is pitching well in relief down in Delmarva. In ten appearances his ERA is 0.90, giving up just nine hits in his 20 innings of work. The only downside is his 13/20 walk to whiff ratio, far from Gausman territory. Matt was a first round pick of the Orioles in 2009. Some of the players selected in the first round after Hobgood include Zack Wheeler, Drew Storen, Mike Minor, Mike Leake, Aaron Crow, Shelby Miller and Mike Trout. The Orioles would probably like to ask for a mulligan after selecting Hobgood.

Posted in Orioles, Tigers | No Comments »

What’s With the Poor Umpiring

Friday, May 10th, 2013

Major League baseball used to be proud to state they had the best umpires in the game. The last few days this statement has to be questioned. Do the umpires need another refresher course in remedial umpire rules and etiquette? They have made some pretty bonehead calls and ejections in this merry month of May.

The first was not a call but a failure to follow a philosophical creed that all umpires take, though shall not confront. Fans do not pay to see umpires make calls in a baseball game. They come to a game to watch the stars play. So when an umpire throws one of the biggest stars out of the game in the first inning it should be for a pretty obvious offense. That magical word or phrase that every player knows should not be said or he will be tossed.

On Sunday May 5 Bryce Harper attempted to check his swing. An appeal was made to third base umpire John Hirshbeck. Hirshbeck ruled his bat had crossed the plane. Replays are somewhat inconclusive, though this is not the point. Harper objected to the call throwing his hands in the air. Rather than turning his back to take a stroll to the outfield Hirshbeck gets confrotational and starts yelling at Harper. Harper throws his bat and helmet to the ground in disgust. Hirshbeck thumbs him. In the first inning. He tries to justify the reason he ejected him, but it is petty. Hirshbeck did what umpires are told not to do, he became confrotational with a player, a player many fans pay to see play and he threw him out in the first inning, before many fans even arrive at the ballpark to take a seat. Hopefully Hirshbeck will take a seat and watch the playoffs from home when the best umpires are selected.

Angel Hernandez had a doozy of a call. A ball that replays clearly showed travelled over the fence was ruled a double. This was a critical call because the ball was hit with two out in the ninth of a 5-4 game. The homerun would tie the game. The manager for the Athletics protested the call and as the umpires reviewed the play announcers from both teams clearly saw it was a homerun and were certain the call would be reversed by the umpires. This is why replay was instituted for homeruns - to make the right call. They were shocked when Angel Hernandez came out and said the replays were inconclusive. The king wears no clothes.

To put egg on Hernandez face Joe Torre made an official comment the next day to basically say the call was blown. They would be “speaking to the crew to thoroughly review all the circumstances surrounding last night’s decision.” Myworld hopes Angel Hernandez is another umpire who is watching the games from a television set once the umpiring crews for the playoffs are selected.

The third offense was the most egregious, breaking one of the basic tenets, umpires who fail to understand one of the most clear rules of baseball. Myworld is not an umpire but even we know the rule that a relief pitcher must face at least one batter unless an injury prevents that from happening. In today’s game between the Angels and the Astros, the Astros brought pitcher Wesley Wright in to pitch. The Angels countered with pinch hitter Scott Cousins.

Shame on manager Bo Porter for not knowing this rule, or maybe he was trying to pull something over the umpires eyes, but he countered by bringing in pitcher Hector Ambriz. This rule was created to prevent the constant shuffling of pitchers and hitters until a roster has been depleted. Evidently the four men in Fieldin Culbreth’s crew did not seem to know this basic rule. They allowed the second change in pitchers. Mike Scioscia protested the call. Fortunately for the umpiring crew the Angels came back and won the game 6-5, otherwise this game would have been replayed at the time of the infraction because the umpires did not follow a clear and basic rule (Rule 3.05).

Here’s hoping the entire umpiring crew for Fieldin Culbreth is sitting in front of the television when the crews are announced for the playoffs. It’s only May. Let’s hope there are not too many more boner calls or we’ll have to start calling up the AAA umpires to arbitrate the playoff games.

Get your act together major league umpires. You have been a major disappointment early in the season. What did Bobby Valentine say about the technology being available to make umpires obsolete? Myworld likes the human factor, but we also appreciate a little bit of competence in doing a job.

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Posted in MLB | No Comments »

Nats Complete Sweep of Tigers

Friday, May 10th, 2013

While the sun was shining the rain was falling. Wierd. It didn’t last long. The Tigers may have wished it lasted longer to make this series not even happen. They lost the makeup game 5-4 allowing the Nationals to complete the sweep of the AL defending champion Tigers in a short two game series. The Nationals will travel to Detroit at the end of July for a two game series where the Tigers can achieve revenge.

The Nationals got to Doug Fister early. Denard Span pulled a double down the right field line to open the bottom of the first. Roger Bernadina laid down a beautiful drag bunt for a single. Doug got Bryce Harper to ground to second, but the Tigers could not complete the double play, Span scoring on the ground out. Ryan Zimmerman followed with a single. Adam LaRoche stroked a single to center appearing to load the bases with Bryce content to stop at third. The ball skipped past the charging Austin Jackson for an error allowing Harper to score and Zimmerman to advance to third. Ian Desmond roped another single to make it 3-0. Fister finally bore down to strike out both Danny Espinosa and Wilson Ramos to end the inning.

Fister did not do much better in the second inning. With one out and an 0-2 count to Denard Span he threw a ball inside, grazing Span on the uniform. A walk to Roger Bernadina put two runners on setting up back to back RBI singles from Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche to make the score 5-1.

Fister would retire the side in order in the third, but did not come out to pitch in the fourth. With runners on first and second and two outs Jim Leyland went to his big bullet early, pinch hitting Victor Martinez. Victor swing at and missed on a Dan Haren 2-2 slider.

Dan Haren gave up a lot of hard outs, but Denard Span and Bryce Harper did a good job of tracking down the line drives that seemed to hang up in the air long enough to be snared. Doug Fister drove in the first Tiger run in the second when he bounced a single up the middle to score Jhonny Peralta. Austin Jackson hit a hard liner tracked down by Span that had National fans taking a deep breath.

When Tiger relievers stalled any further rallies by the Nationals the Tigers got a big 3-run pinch hit homerun from Matt Tuiasosopo in the sixth that traveled just past the left field bullpen to pull within one. Dan Haren was pinch hit for in the bottom of the sixth, leaving the final three frames for the National’s bullpen.

Ryan Mattheus, Drew Storen and Rafael Soriano each tossed an inning of relief, each giving up a single but no more. With Miguel Cabrera on first after a two out single in the ninth Soriano gave up a long fly ball to Prince Fielder caught at the warning track by Denard Span to end the game.

Game One: Rafael Soriano likes to rip his tucked in uniform jersey out to hang over his pants once he picks up a save. He has convinced the rest of the Nationals to follow suit. When a final out is made the uniform jerseys are all pulled out from their tucked in pants to celebrate the victory…Tiger relievers Darin Downs, Luke Putkonen, Drew Smyly and Jose Valverde only gave up one hit in the last five innings. Jose was hitting 95 miles per hour on his fastball, something myworld doesn’t recall him hitting last year…Alex Avila hit two shots to right field, but Bryce Harper made an over the shoulder catch on one as he raced to the wall and a sliding catch on another to rob Alex of two hits. Alex hit another hard line drive caught by a charging Span. He finally got his hit in the eighth, but no batter in the game tagged the ball harder than Alex…Austin Jackson led off the fifth with a double. He should have been doubled off second when Dan Haren caught a hard liner back at the box. Austin froze about ten feet away from second but the throw from Haren sailed into centerfield as there appeared to be some confusion between Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa about who was to catch the throw. Fortunately for the Nationals Jackson could not advance to third and died on second after two fly outs to center.

Posted in Tigers, Nationals | No Comments »

Z-Mann Tames Tigers

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

It was a constant drizzle, delaying the game for close to an hour. Myworld did not get home until way past midnight. The delayed game did not impact the sizzle off the Jordan Zimmermann fastball as he restricted the Tigers to just one run on seven hits over seven innings in the Nationals 3-1 win over the Tigers. He struck out seven, many swinging and missing at his high 95 mile per hour fastball. The drizzle had stopped by the time Zimmermann took the mound and would not return until long after he left. The sizzle on the fastball never left.

The Tigers scored first in the third inning. Torii Hunter got things started by ramming a two out double down the third base line past a diving Ryan Zimmerman. Miguel Cabrera lined a single between short and third, just enough to allow Hunter to race home ahead of the weak throw by Tyler Moore. A walk to Prince Fielder put two runners on but Andy Dirks whiffed to end the inning. It would be the last inning a Tiger would touch third base.

The Nationals rallied for a run in the bottom frame. Denard Span led off the inning with a triple down the right field line. He had stumbled rounding second and a good throw would have gotten him at third, but it was off line to the outfield side of the bag. Ian Desmond lined one to first but Bryce Harper smacked a ball deep enough to left to score Span with the Nationals first run.

The Nationals scored another run in the fourth, again courtesy of a poor throw from right field. Adam LaRoche started the inning with his second single to left field. Danny Espinosa got his second hit of the game with a line single up the middle, LaRoche stopping at second. Kurt Suzuki lofted a fly ball to right, LaRoche tagged and the throw from Torii Hunter skipped past the third baseman, hitting the railing of the camera well. The ump pointed toward home allowing LaRoche to trot in with the go ahead run. Espinosa was allowed to take third. Jordan Zimmermann struck out to end the inning.

The Nationals scored another run in the fifth inning when Bryce Harper hit a no doubter deep into the right centerfield bleachers. The centerfielder took one step back, stopped and watched the ball sail into the crowd. As Harper rounded the bases he passed Miguel Cabrera, who at one time was a 20 year old potential superstar for the then Florida Marlins. What myworld would have given to have read each of their thoughts as Bryce passed Miggy on his way to touching third.

Tyler Clippard got fans nervous in the eighth. He retired the first two hitters, but walked Andy Dirks and Jhonny Peralta. He had two strikes on both but couldn’t put them away. Both fouled balls off until Clippard threw ball four. He finally got Alex Avila on a 2-2 check swing third strike to end the eighth.

Rafael Soriano came on in the ninth to retire the Tigers on three fly ball outs.

Game Notes: Denard Span started the Nationals off well in the first with a bloop single over short. He got picked off first before Desmond could finish his at bat…Two hitters struggling Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche both got two singles in three at bats. One of Danny’s hits was a perfectly placed bunt single while both of LaRoche’s singles were opposite field hits…It is rare to see Bryce Harper strike out on a fastball, but Joaquin Benoit got him to swing and miss at a 95 mile per hour heater…Adam LaRoche looked too casual when he booted a slow grounder in the first. Miguel Cabrera lined one at Ian Desmond at short who caught Torii Hunter too far off first base to double him off…Prince Fielder hit a high fly ball near the right field scoreboard that appeared to be a catchable ball that Bryce Harper missed. He leaped at the scoreboard to catch the ball but the ball fell to the right side of his glove without hitting the scoreboard. Andy Dirks, a lefthanded batter could not ground a ball to the right side to advance Fielder to third, where he could have been with one out. Instead he grounded a ball to short, forcing Fielder to stay on second…Both Torii Hunter and Prince Fielder swung on and missed at a Jordan Zimmermann high 95 mile per hour fastball…Miguel Cabrera pulled a ball hard to left off Tyler Clippard to lead off the eight that would have cleared the fence if he had straightened it out. The homerun would have made the score 3-2…Roger Bernadina made a diving catch in the ninth on a ball he appeared to have misjudged at first. Roger was a defensive replacement for Tyler Moore in the eighth…The racing Presidents seem to have fallen into a pattern. George Washington has won 11 races and Thomas Jefferson 7. The other three Presidents have yet to win a race. Something tells me there is a conspiracy going on.

2002

Posted in Tigers, Nationals | No Comments »

Flying Squirrels Down Thunder

Monday, May 6th, 2013

Myworld travelled south to the Diamond to watch the Richmond Flying Squirrels host the Trenton Thunder. Justin Fitzgerald, third in the Eastern League ERA race tamed the Thunder bats in their 5-1 win. Down in Richmond they really know how to entertain the fans, which may be why they lead the Eastern League in attendance.

The Thunder got to Fitzgerald early, all the result of poor defense. Jose Pirella hit a high chop to third baseman Mark Minicozzi, who snagged it backing up but overthrew the firstbaseman. Tyler Austin lined a ball to center. Ryan Lollis made a poor choice to dive for the ball, or tried to do his best imitation of the Flying Squirrel. The ball skipped past him and rolled to the wall, Pirella scoring the first run with Austin stopping at second. Fitzgerald buckled down getting Kyle Roller on a check swing third strike and coaxing Slade Heathcott to go fishing on a curveball in the dirt for another strikeout stranding Austin at third.

The Squirrels lost a scoring opportunity in the first. Joe Panik slapped a one out single. Mark Minicozzi followed with a shot down the right field line. Panik should have scored easily on the hit but fell flat on his face rounding third. He had to return to third where he was left stranded. After a walk loaded the bases Ricky Oropesa flied to shallow left field and Brett Krill grounded to short.

The Squirrels got to Caleb Cotham in the third. Javier Herrera started the rally lining a double over the third base bag. A one out walk to Minicozzi put runners on first and third with one out. Andrew Susac drove one deep to right field. Neil Medchill tracked the ball poorly, backtracking after the ball to watch it sail over his glove. Herrera scored on the hit. With two out Brett Krill and Jarrett Parker hit back to back RBI singles to make it 3-1. A walk loaded the bases, setting up a 2-run single from Ryan Lollis, who made up for his defensive miscue in the first. Herrera batted for the second time in the inning, swinging at a 3-0 pitch and popping it up to the shortstop for the final out. Cotham did not come out to pitch the fourth inning.

The Squirrels defense again got them in trouble in the seventh on two high throws. Fitzgerald made a high throw to first and Oropesa could not bring the glove down to make the tag. Kevin Mahoney hit a ground ball to Oropesa, who instead of taking the easy out at first tried to turn to make the throw to second, sailing it to pull Joe Panik off the second base bag. Fitzgerald was able to get out of the inning with two ground outs.

The Squirrels went to their bullpen in the eighth inning. Lefty submariner Phil McCormick looked nasty facing lefthanded hitters. Kyle Roller took a called third strike to end the eighth. Slade Heathcott made a poor swing on a curveball to lead off the ninth, his third whiff of the day. Neil Medchill made it three straight whiffs against lefties. Righthander Ali Castillo hit the ball hard, grounding a two out single past the shortstop. Lefty Kevin Mahoney grounded a ball weakly to short to end the game.

Game Notes: Thunder had back to back singles to start the fifth. Ramon Flores grounded to first baseman Ricky Oropesa. Nick McCoy hesitated from first, was tagged out by Oropesa, who then made the short trot to first to complete the double play…Justin Fitzgerald struck out five hitters in the first two innings. After that 12 of the next 15 outs were the result of ground outs, including two double plays. Another out was his sixth strikeout…Mark Minicozzi has a unique walk up song. Frank Sinatra and “Fly me to the Moon”…For whatever reason the Squirrels have a Pirate just past the first base stands, who gets raised up on a plank when the Squirrels get a runner on base. When they score a run a Pirate flag is raised…The Squirrels also have a Viking that walks onto the field after a win. They call him the Victory Viking…Other between inning escapdes include rolling a pig named Parker along the infield border in a cart. The pig appeared very calm as he was being raced along the field by an intern in a John Denver farmer outfit. Interns were throwing pig noses to the crowd. The also have Flingo the Flamingo, an intern strapped inside a plastic flamingo who throws hot dogs into the crowd. That appears to be an imitation of the vendor in Reading who rides an ostrich and shoots hot dogs into the stands. There are also the racing peanuts, a cashew, a walnut and a regular peanut. Bags of peanuts are thrown into the stands as part of the promotion. The regular peanut won. As if this isn’t enough entertainment they have the Molly Maid drag queens, which were four women and one man dressed in hula skirts dragging the infield. They also do a dance in the middle of the field manicure to whatever song was playing at the time (not YMCA)…The Richmond mascot is named Nutzy the Flying Squirrel. It appears his head is too big. Whoever was wearing the suit need to keep their hand on the head to see out of the slot in the costume…When entering the stadium you are treated to live music. That was a pretty neat touch…Whack the intern had a good name, but the execution was poor. This is where a kid has a plastic hammer and the four interns stick their head out of a slot and the kid whacks the interns with this hammer. Each intern represents a section of the field and the intern whacked the most wins a prize for that section of the field. Counting the number of whacks each intern received seemed pretty random…Before the game the team held a moment of silence for the death of Virginia Commonwealth coach Paul Keyes. The Diamond is also the home park for VCU. Keyes died at 50 years of age from stage 4 Melanoma. He wore uniform number five and many of the players raised their hands holding out five fingers. His son threw out the first pitch showing potential to be a pretty good baseball player with a rifle of an arm.

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Tide Takes Eleven to Down Mudhens

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

It rained most of the day in Norfolk. Fortunately for the Tide the rain stopped a couple hours before the game. The Tide jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Mudhens were true to their name, rallying for three in the eighth to tie the game. Chris Robinson, hitting less then .200 entering the game, collected the clutch hit, a two out single in the eleventh to give the Tide a 6-5 win.

The Tide scored quickly off Mudhen starter Shawn Hill. Two walks and two singles scored two runs, Russ Canzler stroking an RBI single and Yamaico Navarro lining one up the middle for an RBI single. The Tide could have scored more but Danny Valencia was thrown out at third on the Navarro single, having the presence of mind to get into a run down to allow Canzler to cross the plate with the second run.

The Tide built the lead to 4-0 in the third on two solo homeruns. Jason Pridie led off the inning with a solo shot that went over the patio in right field. With two out Danny Valencia slugged an opposite field homerun into the bullpen in rightfield.

Steve Johnson pitched well through the first five innings, giving up only two hits and one walk. He tired a bit in the sixth, walking the leadoff hitter Quintin Berry. Nick Castellanos hit a one out double into right center to move Berry to third and Jordan Lennerton drove them both in with a single down the right field line.

Russ Canzler led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo shot deep into the left centerfield bullpen. For Russ it was his second straight game of hitting a homerun.

The Mudhens rallied off the Tides bullpen, Chris Jones giving up a double and two singles to start the eighth inning in his third inning of work. Alex Burnett came in to pitch and hit John Lindsay with his first pitch to load the bases. A ground out to first scored the second run of the inning. Argenis Diaz slapped one up the middle. Jonathan Schoop made a nice dive for the ball to stop it, but could not get the force at second, allowing the tying run to score.

Travis Ishikawa led off the eleventh with a double. Trayvon Robinson pinch ran for him, eventually scoring on the Chris Robinson two out single.

Game Notes: After each homerun the scoreboard shoots off cannons from the carrier to celebrate the event. Norfolk is the home of the aircraft carrier…The Norfolk Tides are going to have a Star Wars day on May 4th, bringing in a number of Star War characters to celebrate the day. They are encouraging fans to also wear Star Wars regalia. They are calling this day “may the fourth be with you.”….Harbor Park was opened in 1993. It is a concrete structure that still has an old fashioned feel to it. Because of all the rain the announced attendance was 2,589. There seemed less than that inside the stadium….L.J. Hoes also has the Denard Span walkup song, which Adam Jones also had, but has now changed…Jose Ortega looked impressive in his bullpen outing for the Mudhens, striking out the side in the eighth as he hit 97-98 on the radar gun. He worked two perfect innings, striking out four. Danny Valencia swung at and missed at three breaking pitches…Evan Reed was also hitting 97-98 for the Mudhens in relief. His breaking pitch was consistently bouncing in front of the plate…Yamaico Navarro doesn’t seem to have the arm to play shortstop on an extended basis. Defensively he may be a more consistent shortstop than Schoop, but Schoop has the better tools…Argenis Diaz fell face first when rounding the first base bag after taking the ball to the wall. He was able to take second, but that should be on some blooper highlights if a video captured his fall…The game yesterday lasted just 1 hour and 59 minutes.