Some friends and I go out for Pho every other Friday, then hang out over coffee afterward. One positive side effect of this is that it prevents me from seeing crappy Mariners losses like tonight's... except we turned in early and I got home just in time to see Yuni come up with the bases loaded and dribble a shin high pitch into a 6-4-3 inning ending rally-backbreaking double play... and then the 9th inning. Yeah.
Take solace: the org's minor league teams had another great day, especially at the plate. Wisconsin got rained out, sure, but the Mavs and DIAMOND JAXX combined for 25 runs, and not even a terrible outing by Joe Woerman could stop the Rainiers from a comeback win in Tucson.
On to the wrap-up!
A: Welcome home, T-Rats. You just got rained out! Don't you just love the weather in Appleton?
Doubleheader tomorrow, weather obviously permitting.
A+: High Desert 13, Bakersfield 8
Alfredo Venegas: 5.1 IP, 7 H, (2 R) 1 ER, walk, 4 K, balk
Jose Escalona: 1.2 IP, 3 H, walk
Joe Kantakevich: one out, 4 H, (6 R) 4 ER, walk, K
Harold Williams: two outs, 1 H, walk, K, 2 wild pitches
David Asher: 1 IP
Carlos Triunfel: 1-6, triple, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
Johan Limonta: 2-3, triple, 2 R, RBI, 2 walks
Carlos Peguero: 3-5, R
Chris Minaker: 1-5, 3 run HR
Greg Halman: 2-5, solo HR, 2 R, 2 K
Travis Scott: 3-4, solo HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, walk, K
Matt Mangini: 1-3, R, walk
Ogui Diaz: 2-5, double, R, 2 RBI
After the Mavs opened the bottom 1st with back to back strikeouts, 11 (ELEVEN) consecutive Mavs reached base in a mega-ton 10 run 1st inning that included a 3 run Chris Minaker homer, an Ogui Diaz double and two triples (Triunfel and Johan Limonta) among 8 hits, and saw 5 batters get a 2nd plate appearance. Blaze SP Zachary Phillips got absolutely nuked as he gave up more earned runs in this inning (9) than he surrendered in his previous 4 starts combined (6) before getting pulled for JB Diaz, who FINALLY tourniqueted the bleeding by getting Chris Minaker to ground out.
Alfredo Venegas, a square-peg-round-hole pitcher in the rotation, pitched into the 6th inning and didn't look bad at all, though with 10 runs behind him and a meh Bakersfield lineup, there wasn't a lot of pressure.
Groundballs: 10
Flyballs: 5
Line Drives: 2
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 1
Strikeouts: 4
It was 12-2 Mavs when he left, and it stayed that way until Joe Kantakevich exploded. Not literally, but he came in for the 8th and single, walk, single, error, single... K... single and buh bye JK. Family Warrior Harold Williams couldn't stop the bleeding, as he went single, wild pitch... K... walk, wild pitch, and finally got a flyout to end the damage 6 runs later. A 12-2 blowout became a 12-8... well, no, that's not a nailbiter, but remember that no lead is safe in the Cal League. BTW, many of those singles were grounders, calling into question the quality of the infield defense, because if that was variance, then that was a LOT of negative variance.
Fotunately, the Mavs squeezed home another run in the 8th, and David Asher allowed no shenanigans in the 9th.
AA: West Tenn 12, Tennessee 2
Rich Dorman: 6 IP, 2 H, 2 walks, 5 K, hit batter
Travis Chick: 1 IP, 2 H, K
Roman Martinez: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER (HR)
Craig James: 1 IP, K, hit batter
Michael Saunders: 1-5, 2 R, walk, 3 K
Mark Kiger: 2-3, RBI, 3 walks, K
Shawn Garrett: 2-4, R, 4 RBI
Marshall Hubbard: 3-5, R, 2 RBI, walk
Prentice Redman: 1-5, 2 run HR, walk, 3 K
Mike Wilson: 2-4, double, solo HR, 3 R, walk, K
Luis Valbuena: 3-3, double, solo HR, 4 R, 2 RBI, walk
Jeff Samardzija, the Notre Dame tight-end who chose baseball over football... couldn't throw strikes to save his life, and lasted about three innings. But he was only responsible for three of the DIAMOND JAXX's runs, as West Tenn methodically destroyed the Smokies bullpen until they stood pretty after 7 with a 12-0 lead. Roman Martinez gave up some sympathy runs in the 8th, but otherwise the Smokies got nothing.
Like Venegas in the Mavs game, Rich Dorman had little pressure to protect a growing lead down the stretch, and was able to get his work in without any damage. The closest he came to trouble was loading the bases in the 5th with two outs via 3 consecutive free passes, but a liner found Mark Kiger at SS and they got out of trouble.
Groundballs: 5 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 4
Line Drives: 4
Walks: 2 (plus 1 hit batter, all in that 5th inning)
Strikeouts: 5
AAA: Tacoma 6, Tucson 4
Eric Cyr: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, walk, 3 K, 2 hit batters
Joe Woerman: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 walks, K
Scott Shoemaker: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 walks, 3 K
Potatoes: two outs, 2 H
Jon Huber: two outs, walk, K, wild pitch
Jeremy Reed: 3-5, R
Matt Tuiasosopo: 1-4, double, K
Jeff Clement (DH): 1-4, double, R, RBI, walk
Mike Kinkaide: 3-5, R, RBI, K
Bryan LaHair: 1-4, double, R, RBI, walk
Charlton Jimerson: 1-4, double, R, RBI
Yung Chi Chen: 1-4, RBI
Rob Johnson: 1-5, RBI, K
Oswaldo Navarro: 2-3, double, R, walk
Eric Cyr got a surprise start, albeit a short one. No BIP breakdown for such a short outing, but he did get 4 groundballs vs a flyball and a line drive out of the 13 batters faced, which isn't too bad.
Joe Woerman, meanwhile, got pounded in the 4th and 5th innings, and it took a Rainiers comeback to save his bacon. Charlton Jimerson's leadoff double in the 6th led to the go-ahead run off a Rob Johnson line drive single. The Rainiers added an insurance run in the 7th when Jeff Clement led off with a double and eventually scored to make it 6-4, a lead that three relievers would not relinquish.
Joe Woerman, despite his crappy outing, got credit for the win. HIs ERA currently stands at a sparkling 17.74 after this relief outing and 3 starts. In 11.2 IP, he has walked 17 and struck out 10, allowing 23 runs on 18 hits. He has hit the wall hard in Tacoma.