Thanks to LL Night keeping Brett, etown, Goose and I out until the late hours, you get a morning-after post for this recap. LL Night Karma struck back in last night's slumpbusting 7-03 win.
The T-Rats could use some slumpbusting against Great Lakes, as the Loons are owning this series. With the Mavs off to travel, we'll also take a brief look at the Lancaster Jethawks. As one would surmise against a 9-21 AA team, the DIAMOND JAXX lit up the Mississippi Braves, and the Rainiers got some late heroics against the Redhawks in a game that featured a bemusingly familiar face.
On to the wrap-up!
A: Great Lakes 6, Wisconsin 1
WIS: 10-17... GLK: 14-16
Edward Paredes: 2.2 IP, 4 H, (5 R) 1 ER (HR), 2 walks, 2 K
Jacob Wild: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 5 K
Robert Harmon: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 walks, 4 K
Justin Souza: 1 IP, K
Edilio Colina: 2-4, R (329/365/429)
Scott Robinson: 2-4
Juan Diaz: 1-3, RBI, K (260/330/312)
Ronald Garth: 1-4, double, 2 K (239/292/343)
The Loons jumped on Edward Paredes from the get-go and had a 5-0 lead after 2, a lead that was more than enough today. Ronald Garth helped him out at 3B with two costly errors that sparked both the 1st and 2nd inning rallies. Paredes didn't even get to see the order twice before getting the hook in the 3rd, though to his credit he opened the 3rd with back to back K's before a walk ended his day early.
Groundballs: 5
Flyballs: 1
Line Drives: 3 (1 HR)
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 2
No, red hot Joe Dunigan didn't get shut down today, though 1 for 3 with a K isn't much to crow about.
A+: The High Desert Mavs had the day off. They are en route to Lancaster for another series with the Jethawks, who at 13-18 isn't the juggernaut they were last season.
Lancaster's .742 team OPS (275/338/403) is 4th in the Cal League, albeit a distant 4th (Lake Elsinore is 3rd with .770 and Stockton leads the Cal League with .848). The Mavs are right behind them at .741 (268/331/410), so both teams have had similar seasons at the plate. The best Jethawk bats include 3B Jorge Jimenez (352/402/495) and OF Reid Engel (324/369/441)... no more dangerous than, say, Johan Limonta, but still dangerous. Catcher Jon Still (316/397/596) and 1B Lars Anderson (283/386/504) are probably the most dangerous power bats in the lineup. The Jethawks still have a lot of power hitting... just not all the way through the lineup like last season.
Lancaster's pitching has walked the fewest batters in the Cal League, which combined with High Desert's 2nd most K's in the Cal League will mean a lot of swinging. As always, with great thanks to their home park, the Mavs have the highest team ERA in the league at 5.47, with Lancaster's 4.43 right in the peloton.
Travis Beazley and Christopher Jones can dominate and strike out hitters, but have been scored on (ERAs of 4.82 and 4.55 respectively) so scoring runs on them isn't impossible.
The one guy that's kept hitters off the basepaths is Tony Bajoczky (27.2 IP, 27 H, 2 HR, 4-18 BB/K, 3.25 ERA in 4 starts). Like Kyle Parker, he's not spectacular, but he's gotten the job done so far.
AA: West Tenn 13, Mississippi 3
WTN: 21-10... MIS: 9-22
Doug FISTER: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER (HR), 4 walks, 3 K
Roman Martinez: 1 IP, 2 K
Travis Chick: 1 IP
Craig James: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K
Prentice Redman: 2-5, double, 2 R, RBI, walk, SB (221/376/395)
Michael Saunders: 2-4, 2 R, sac fly RBI, walk (308/390/505)
Marshall Hubbard: 2-5, 2 run HR, 2 R, K (371/460/619)
Mike Wilson: 1-3, double, 2 R, RBI, walk (254/351/522)
Adam Moore: 3-5, double, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 K (295/385/422)
Jon Nelson: 1-2, RBI, 3 walks, K (274/361/370)
Ronnie Prettyman: 3-5, R, RBI (227/258/409)
Luis Valbuena: 1-3, double, R, K (321/414/512)
Jeff Dominguez: pinch walk, RBI single (189/271/226)
See what I was saying about the AA Braves? I didn't expect a blowout like this, but I did expect to see success. This is about as successful as success gets in AA.
Doug FISTER might have gotten farther, but after allowing 3 runs in the 6th, Scott Steinmann elected to play it safe with the FIST and give the bullpen some easy work.
Groundballs: 6 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 7 (1 HR)
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 4
Strikeouts: 3
AAA: Tacoma 2, Oklahoma 1
TAC: 16-14... OKL: 20-12
Ryan Feierabend: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER (HR), walk, 2 K, wild pitch
Jon Huber: 3 IP, 2 H, K
Jeremy Reed: 1-4, RBI, K (364/425/561)
Bryan LaHair: 1-4, RBI, K (303/387/596)
rest of Rainiers lineup: 4-23, 2 R, 3 K
Robinson Tejeda and Feier had themselves a little pitchers duel, and after 6, Tejeda had the upper hand after Feier surrendered a solo shot to Nate Gold (235/361/500) in the 2nd. Feier gave the Rainiers 6 solid innings but already had 100 pitches after 6 and left with a 1-0 deficit. Also, he was getting squared up a little too much for comfort.
Groundballs: 7
Flyballs: 3
Line Drives: 5
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 1
Strikeouts: 2
Jon Huber surprised us by going the rest of the way, all 3 innings worth, allowing only 2 hits with a strikeout over 34 pitches. Given his struggles this season, this was a pleasant surprise.
One other pleasant surprise was Kazuo Fukumori imploding in the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. Tuglett lined a single, Tui smoked a grounder into LF after him, and after Bill White came in, Jeremy Smurfing Reed smoked a grounder up the middle to cash in Hulett and TIE THE BALLGAME at 1, before Bryan LaHair lined a single to cash in Tui for the walkoff.
So hey... remember that rookie MLB umpire Casey Moser from early this season, whose distorted view of the strike zone produced a Squinty headbob and ejection? Well... looks like his ass got demoted: he was the 3B umpire in this game.