AFL Round Up
The East squad erupted for seven runs in the opening frame and appeared to be off to the races. Brandon Allen had the big hit, a 3-run homer. But the West bullpen did not allow another run the rest of the game, allowing the hitters to nick away at the lead to get them in a position where Matt McBride’s 2-run homer in the bottom of the eighth proved to be the game winner in an 8-7 comeback win.
Mike Minor was the unfortunate recipient of the the East bats pasting. He gave up seven hits and walked one before Josh Fields bailed him out to get the last out of the inning. Seven other pitchers, including Tanner Scheppers followed with one inning of shutout work, giving up only five more hits. Mike Leake and Danny Gutierrez struck out the side, though they both gave up hits in the process. Michael Dunn got the win and Craig Kimbrel picked up the save.
The Nationals reliever Drew Storen gave up the hit to McBride to take the loss in the game. Stephen Strasburg was supposed to get the start for the East but he had to be scratched because of a sore neck. Tommy Mendoza got the start instead and gave up a 2-run homerun to Chris Heisey in the first inning to pull the West to within 7-2. Yonder Alonso was the big hitting star with three hits, including a 2-run double.
Box score for the game can be found here: http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l119&t=g_box&gid=2009_11_07_afewin_afwwin_1
AFL West
Phoenix Diamond Dogs (13-9)
The Diamond Dogs are the only team left hitting .300 at .308. The AFL is getting rich in talented pitchers with the arival of the 2009 number one picks, dropping a number of averages. Grant Desme is still hitting .354 but he has slowed down on his homerun swing going the whole week without a homerun. He also only drove in one run in a 5 for 30 week. Brandon Snyder is also up there in average at .355, but his RBI barrage has slowed down as well. He only drove in three runs in a 7 for 24 week. Jemile Weeks and Chris Marrero have been the big sticks. Jemile went 12 for 27 for the week, scoring eight runs from the lead off spot and driving in four. Chris had five straight two hit games in a 11 for 35 week, driving in nine runs during that span. Danny Espinosa has also been smoking in his last four games, getting eight hits in 17 at bats and scoring nine runs. He scored 11 runs for the week. Lastly, Corey Brown was the big RBI man for the week, driving in 10 runs.
The pitching staff got two solid performances out of Stephen Strasburg, shedding the Jekyl and Hyde concerns after his poor outing in his second start. He gave up two runs in nine innings, striking out 11 and showing off his legendary electric 100 mile per hour fastball in his last start. Drew Storen has been getting an opportunity to close out games and his 0.93 and two saves are encouraging that. For the week he had four appearances without giving up a run, striking out four. Toshiyuki Yanuki is the only pitcher that has not given up a run for the Dogs. He has appeared in seven games out of the pen, pitching three times last week and not giving up a run in four innings.
Mesa Solar Sox (9-12)
Starlin Castro has ripped off a string of five straight two hit games to up his average to .424, tops in the AFL. He was 13 for 31 for the week with six runs scored and five driven in. He didn’t draw a walk during that span. Bryan Peterson upped his average to .388 with a 10 for 28 week, scoring five runs and driving in five. Jose Igelsias had a big game where he homered and drove in five runs. Overall, he was 3 for 21 for the week, dropping his average to .222, justifying some who have concerns with his bat. Matt Dominguez’s bat could be waking up with two doubles, a homerun and six RBIs in his last two games. He was 4 for 19 for the week and is hitting .174.
Andrew Cashner made two starts and did not give up a run in his eight innings of work. He struck out eight and didn’t give up a hit in one of his four inning starts. His 2.63 ERA is sixth among starters. The AFL hitters have caught up with Randor Bierd who gave up nine runs in his two starts for the week that covered six innings. He had only given up three runs in his previous three starts. Richard Lentz and his 0.77 ERA out of the pen are tops on the team. He had four shutout innings last week, striking out six to give him 13 in his 11 innings of work.
Scottsdale Scorpions (9-12)
Scottsdale is last in hitting and homeruns. Their big bat is clearly Jose Tabata, who is hitting leadoff for the team. His average is at .366, enhanced by a 13 for 26 week. Brandon Allen has to hope his homerun in the All Star game will break him out of his .162 funk. He went 28 at bats without a hit before delivering in the game before the all star break. Buster Posey would also like to break out, hitting only .218. He did hit his first two homeruns during the week and had a four game hitting streak.
Donald Veal leads the AFL in pitching with a 0.54 ERA. He is doing his Tommy Hanson impression of last year. He has not given up a run in his last three starts, pitching just shy of 12 shutout innings and striking out 12. Opponents are hitting only .172 off him in the dry desert air. Scott Mathieson gave up his first runs in the AFL after six appearances of shutout ball. It raised his ERA to 3.12.
AFL West
Peoria Javelinas (14-8)
Russ Mitchell drove in seven for the week and tied Grant Desme for the AFL RBI lead with 23. Casper Wells had a better RBI week, driving in nine on a two homerun week. He was 8 for 25 in a seven game hitting streak. Dustin Ackley is holding his own, hitting .295. Only four of his 13 hits have gone for extra bases, and they all have been doubles. He was 7 for 24 last week, with three of his four extra base hits.
Because the starting staff has been getting shelled the Javelinas have been relying on their bullpen to keep them in games. Zach Braddock picked up his three saves last week, appearing in three games and retiring the side in order for four innings. Mark Rogers and Philippe Aumont are two bullpen pitchers being racked. Mark is trying to make a comeback with the Brewers after multiple shoulder surgeries but his 17.61 ERA is not promising. He gave up eight runs in less than two innings during the week. Many questioned the Mariners for moving Aumont to the bullpen and he has a 14.14 ERA in that capacity. He gave up five runs in a little more than two innings of work. Sergio Santos, signed as a first round pick as a shortop in 2002 has made seven appearances for the Javelinas for a 6.75 ERA. All seven runs he gave up were in a three game period.
Peoria Saguaros (10-12)
Matt McBride hit a 2-run homer to win the all star game for the West. He’s been hitting well during the regular season hitting .413 with three homeruns. He’s second in the league to Starlin Castro. He was 8 for 13 in his last five games, driving in six. He also walked six times during that span, striking out just once. Chris Heisey also went deep in the all star game and is the second best hitter for the Saguaros, hitting .358. He went deep twice last week, but his average dropped with a 6 for 27 week. Jonathan Gaston had an unusual streak where he had three straight games with a triple. He leads the AFL in triples with four but is only hitting .220. He is having trouble making contact striking out 25 times in 17 games.
Wilton Lopez dropped his ERA to 1.38 with seven shutout innings in two appearances, three of them in relief. He gave up three hits and struck out four, getting back to back wins with his performances. Mike Minor and Mike Leake are doing the best impression of the Mike and Mike show. Minor has a 2.31 ERA after five starts, not pitching more than three innings in those starts. Leake’s ERA is also at 2.31 in the same number of innings, not going over three innings in his starts.
Surprise Rafters (10-12)
Brandon Laird has gone deep in two straight games to up his homerun numbers to five. Those two homeruns drove in six for the week in a 7 for 12 three game hitting streak. That broke a streak where he went 14 at bats in a row without a hit. Mike Moustakas had three homeruns for the week driving in five. He is only hitting .250 but he is second on the team in RBIs with 14.
The Rafters pitching is last in the AFL, but Ian Kennedy is tied for the AFL in strikeouts with 19. In five starts he has a 3.98 ERA. He walked three hitters in his last start, giving up his first homerun. He had only walked one hitter in his previous four starts. Aaron Crow had his two first starts last week giving up six runs in a little over seven innings. His ERA is at 7.36. After starting two games and not givng up a run, Danny Gutierrez pitched out of the bullpen last week and was racked for five runs in five innings. Tanner Scheppers gave up his first runs, getting knocked around for three runs. He came back a couple games later and threw two innings of shutout ball, lowering his ERA to 3.00.