After much delay, here I am. I had another long night, but fortunately that'll be the last of them this week. After yesterday's meh non-recap, I figured I owed it to you to put forth the extra effort on this edition, so expect heavy details of some interesting low minors contests, both of which featured good results. I would've done the same for the DIAMOND JAXX and Rainiers but they... kind of... let me down.
On to the wrap-up!
A: Wisconsin 7, West Michigan 5
Edward Paredes: 6 IP, 5 H, (3 R) 1 ER, walk, 5 K, 3 hit batters
Travis Mortimore: 2 IP, 2 H, (1 R) 0 ER, K, balk
Shawn Kelley: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K
Calvin Beamon: 2-5, R, K
Alex Liddi: 1-4, R, RBI, walk, 2 K
Eddy Hernandez: 1-4, double, RBI, walk, 2 K
Juan Diaz: 1-4, triple, 2 R, walk
Ronald Garth: 3-4, double, R, 2 RBI
Slowly but surely out of the gate, the T-Rats piled on a run here, a run there. Alex Liddi singled home Edilio Colina in the 1st to make it 1-0. Ronald Garth doubled home Joe Dunigan to make it 2-0 in the 2nd. Juan Diaz tripled in the 4th and Ronald Garth singled him in as well to make it 3-0.
But Edward Paredes, who was cruising nicely, ran into trouble in the 5th. Edilio Colina botched a grounder from leadoff batter Audy Ciriaco at 2B. Paredes then plunked Kody Kaiser, and Kyle Peter beat out a bunt back to the mound to load the bases. Justin Henry grounded to 2nd, and Colina took the out at 2nd, allowing Ciriaco to score, 3-1. Then Jordan Newton lined a single to left to cash in Kaiser, make it 3-2, and took 2nd on the throw home. Paredes then plunked ANOTHER batter, Chris Carlson, his 3rd hit batter of the game, to re-load the bases with one out.
Ron Bourquin grounded to 1st, and Ronald Garth took the easy out there for two outs, allowing Henry to score and tie the ballgame. Joe Tucker popped out to end the inning, and Paredes left after the 6th with a tie ballgame, all the damage coming in this 5th inning, a shame given how well he had pitched otherwise, and especially considering he had struggled to start this season and was looking for a rebound effort. He got it... except for that big inning.
Groundballs: 10 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 1
Line Drives: 3
Pop Ups: 3
Walks: 1 (but 3 hit batters)
Strikeouts: 5
Travis Mortimore came in, now seeing more than the mop-up action he was seeing to start the year, and as one would expect, he struggled with the higher leverage. Kyle Peter tapped back to the mound, and Travis threw YIKES AND AWAY to put him up. He did get Justin Henry on strikes, but Jordan Newton came up, and Peter started messing with Mortimore, taking his lead, and in trying to hold him, Travis balked to put Peter on 2nd. Then Peter took advantage and stole 3rd. Then Jordan Newton took advantage and tripled to center past Maximo Mendez (who it turns out is really struggling in this short tour with the T-Rats: looks like Everett for this young man) to cash in Peter and make it 4-3 Whitecaps.
There would have been more, but Chris Carlson grounded to 3rd, Jordan Newton tried for home, but got caught in a rundown for the 2nd out, and OH LOOK, Carlson's trying for 2nd, so Alex Liddi threw to Colina to get him for the 3rd out.
And the T-Rats said NO, NOT LIKE THIS and blew up the Whitecaps bullpen in the 7th... not literally, because that would be a felony... and then where would Justin Souza warm up his suck pitches?
Paul Nardozzi relieved Andrew Hess with Alex Liddi on 2nd and one out, and uncorked a wild pitch that got so far past catcher Jordan Newton that Liddi scored to TIE THE BALLGAME. Juan Diaz drew a walk, and with two out, Ronald Garth lined a single to left... and Joe Tucker candyassed it on a hop, allowing Diaz to score, and T-Rats lead 5-4. Blake Ochoa grounded to short, and SS Audy Ciriaco threw it YIKES AND AWAY to cash in Garth. Party on, Garth, 6-4 T-Rats.
Mortimore settled down, mowede the side down in order, and the T-Rats got an extra run on a two out Eddy Hernandez double. Despite a run off back to back doubles against Shawn Kelley, the Whitecaps would not come back.
A+: High Desert 8, San Jose 5
Kyle Parker: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER (HR), walk, 5 K, wild pitch
Joe Kantakevich: 1.2 IP, 1 H
Michael Wagner: 2.1 IP, 1 H, K
Jamie McOwen: 1-5, RBI, 2 K
Carlos Triunfel: 1-5, R, K
Johan Limonta: 1-5, RBI, K
Chris Minaker: 2-3, double, sac fly RBI
Greg Halman: 1-2, R, walk, SB #10
Matt Mangini: 3-3, double, 2 R, RBI, walk
Kuo Hui Lo: 2-4, R, RBI, 2 K
Leury Bonilla: 3-4, triple, 3 R, RBI, K
Having had a great start to the year, Kyle Parker's luck ran out in the 1st inning. Sure, he got the first two batters on strikes, but Ryan Rohlinger doubled, Pablo Sandoval's grounder snuck up the middle to cash Rohlinger in, and Alex D'Alessio took Parker deep to make it 3-0. Only a triple from the 1st inning cycle, Brett Pill lined a pitch... right to Triunfel at 2B for the 3rd out.
The Little Giants got a runner on 2nd in the 2nd but came up empty. Parker liked trouble so he got into some more in the 3rd. Ryan Rohlinger walked with one out, and Travis Scott joined the fun with a passed ball, before Pablo Sandoval bounced a double over the LF wall to cash in Rohlinger, 4-0 Little Giants. Andy D'Alessio grounded through the right side to move Sandoval to 3rd. Brett Pill snuck a grounder into LF to cash in Sandoval and make it 5-0, and Parker's having a shitty day, so he tops it off with a wild ptich to move both runners into scoring position.
But Parker shows us what he's made of and gets two groundouts to 2nd. In both cases, with the infield in, Triunfel checked the runner at 3rd to make sure he didn't score. Well played, phenom.
Leury "Latin Campaneris" Bonilla watch: back in RF today, and led off the bottom 3rd with a lined single that got past Dom Duggan, so Leury took 2nd. Jamie McOwen struck out, but Triunfel lined a single to right, and Johan Limonta singled to right to cash in Bonilla, 5-1 Little Giants, and put runners at the corners. Chris Minaker sac flied triunfel home to make it 5-2 before Travis Scott flied out.
In the bottom 4th, Greg Halman led off with a walk (pitch recognition!), then stole his 10th bag of the season before Matt Mangini doubled to right to cash him in and cut the lead to 5-3. Kuo Hui Lo smoked a grounder up the middle to cash in Mangini and make it 5-4. Leury Bonilla took strike three, then Kuo Hui Lo got caught off the bag for the 2nd out before Jamie McOwen's liner found 3B Ryan Rohlinger for the 3rd out. Great potential rally, some production, big flameout. The Mavs could have easily tied the game there before variance struck.
Parker did give the Mavs the minimum 5, and avoid further trouble, showing us that, even at his worst, he's got perseverence. He's only in High A ball and it's early in his career, but I've got a good feeling about Kyle Parker's chances at a big league career.
He's not spectacular, but he has shown that he can be productive and difficult to knock out.
Groundballs: 9
Flyballs: 5 (1 HR)
Line Drives: 3
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 1
Strikeouts: 5
The Mavs beat up on the Little Giants bullpen. Dan Griffin came in to pitch, and after a one out walk from Matt Mangini, Griffin uncorked a wild pitch and back to back singles to Kuo Hui Lo and Leury Bonilla to cash in Mangini and TIE THE BALLGAME. Jamie McOwen, keep to his daily quota of making some sort notable impact on a game, smoked a grounder into right field to cash in Lo and give the Mavs a 6-5 lead. Triunfel did pop out to 1st, and 1B Brett Pill caught somebody off the bag, but threw YIKES AND AWAY anyway, allowing Bonilla to score and make it 7-5.
The Mavs added a run in the 8th after Leury Bonilla led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. There would be no comeback from the Little Giants.
AA: Carolina 7, West Tenn 1
Doug FISTER: 4.2 IP, 7 H, (5 R) 3 ER (HR), 4 walks, 3 K
Roman Martinez: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, walk (intentional), 3 K, hit batter
Craig James: 1 IP, walk, K
Shawn Garrett: 1-4, RBI, 3 K
rest of DIAMOND JAXX lineup: 3-26, R, walk, 8 K
Doug FISTER couldn't locate today, got no help with two fielding errors, and I'd hope this was just a bleh day rather than a harbinger of any problems, as it was last season. Carolina sat on the spotty FIST and squared him up from the start, even getting him to walk in a run. The Mudcats blew him up in the 5th and chased him with two outs.
Groundballs: 9
Flyballs: 6 (1 HR)
Line Drives: 2
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 4
Strikeouts: 3
There isn't much else to say, other than the offense rolled over, and Roman Martinez is showing, even in inconsequential mop-up outings, that he's got little shot of even surviving AA, let alone getting to AAA, let alone the bigs.
AAA: New Orleans 7, Tacoma 3
Sean White: 5.1 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 4 walks, 4 K
Potatoes: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER (HR), walk, 2 K
Jon Huber: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 walks, K
Yung Chi Chen: 2-3, R, walk
Jeremy Reed: 2-4, R, RBI, K
Bryan LaHair: 1-3, double, 2 RBI, walk, K
Rob Johnson: 2-4, K
This game is most notable for who wasn't playing: Jeff Clement and WLAD were held out of the lineup, leading to a e-gasm of speculation across the M's blogosphere of whether they had been called up. Of course, as Marc noted, Tui wasn't in the lineup either, and it looked like Daren Brown was just running the B Team out there to get them some work against the Zephyrs, while resting the top prospects. This is facilitated by Jimerson's addition, which gives the team a glut of outfielders and allows Daren Brown to rotate guys around.
Oh, the game? It sucked. Sean White sucked. Potatoes sucked. Team B sucked. I'm willing to bet that most of 2284 Rainiers fans' night at the ballpark sucked.
Groundballs: 11 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 2
Line Drives: 6
Walks: 4
Strikeouts: 4