So I had a banner day today. I come to work to find that some dude in A/P threw me under the bus with a vendor over something I didn't do wrong. A vendor audit turns up a bunch of 'errors' I 'made' and now, for that and a variety of other reasons (supervisors and I get along... but we don't), my work assignment is on thin ice (not that I like the assignment anyway, but it's a paycheck... for the next however long).
I come home and watch Felix forget how to locate and watch the game quickly get away. After getting up for whatever reason, I sit down, hear a rip and discover that one of my nicer pairs of pants has ripped right down the ass. Scruffy posts a picture of rashy ass. Twice. I turn off the tube long enough to miss the Richie brawl, and now I go to do this wrap-up at the end of a banner day only to discover that, aside from the Hume/Aumont Connection, the rest of the org ate crap and died all the way up and down. The Mavs and Rainiers got wiped, while the DIAMOND JAXX just lost a 2nd straight game to the poor hitting and poor pitching 11-23 Mississippi Braves.
I'll be fine. Most of the org will be fine. Walk it off. Rub some dirt in it.
On to the wrap-up.
A: Wisconsin 7, Cedar Rapids 1
WIS: 12-17... CED: 16-16
Donald Hume: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER (HR), 7 K, wild pitch, hit matter
Phillipe Aumont: 3 IP, 5 K
Maximo Mendez: 3-4, 3 R, walk, K, 3 SB (152/264/217)
Juan Diaz: 2-4, double, R, 3 RBI, walk (282/351/341)
Alex Liddi: 1-2, double, 3 RBI, 2 walks (232/315/354)
Alex Liddi cleared the bases with a double in the 1st to make it 3-0, and the T-Rats squeezed home two more in the 2nd to make it 5-0.
And it's time for the Hume and Aumont Show. Donald Hume gave up a 3rd inning HR to Anel De Los Santos (253/282/414) and didn't get a lot of grounders but whatever. The MWL can barely touch him. Consider the Kernels fortunate they got the one HR.
Groundballs: 1
Flyballs: 6
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 4
Walks: 0 (but 1 hit batter)
Strikeouts: 7
Phillipe Aumont faced 9 batters, struck out 5 of them and got the other 4 on groundouts. Stretch out, kid. I can only imagine how good he'd be if he could dominante like this over 110 pitches. Right now, they're just trying to stretch him out bit by bit, given he never threw more than 27 pitches in an outing in the year leading up to his getting drafted. And given his young age, they may not be in a hurry to load him up on innings anyway. Churchill thinks he'll be in High Desert before the year is done. It'll all depend on what the org considers more important: battle-testing his natural ability against suitable competition, or stretching him out so he gets accustomed to doing what he does over 80-100 pitches and facing a lineup 3 times.
A+: Lancaster 16, High Desert 3
Mavs: 15-18... Jethawks: 15-18
Keith Renaud: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 ER (2 HR), 2 walks, 2 K
David Asher: two outs, walk
Juan Zapata: 1 IP, 5 H, 6 ER (2 HR), walk, K
Austin Bibens-Dirkx: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER (HR), K
Bryan Harris: 1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER (2 HR), K
Jamie McOwen: 2-5, R (281/344/377)
Carlos Triunfel: 2-5 (255/296/343)
Carlos Peguero: 2-5, RBI (292/313/469)
Uh... wow.
Renaud:
Groundballs: 7
Flyballs: 7 (2 HR)
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 2
Suck: plenty
Seven HRs off Mavs pitching today. Seven.
AA: Mississippi 9, West Tenn 7
WTN: 22-12... MIS: 11-23
Justin Thomas: 4.1 IP, 6 H, (7 R) 6 ER (HR), 6 walks, 8 K, wild pitch
Travis Chick: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 walks, 3 K
Roman Martinez: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 K
Prentice Redman: 2-5, R (230/366/420)
Michael Saunders: 2-5, R, K, SB (322/394/521)
Marshall Hubbard: 2-5, 2 doubles, R, 2 RBI (374/468/626)
Johan Limonta: 2-5, triple, 2 R, RBI, 2 K
Adam Moore: 2-4, double, triple, R, 2 RBI (311/393/476)
Jeff Dominguez: 2-4, R, RBI, K (219/286/297)
Mark Kiger: 1-3, double, RBI, walk (193/348/275)
The DIAMOND JAXX almost batted around in the 1st, piling up 5 runs with power from a Marshall Hubbard double, Adam Moore's 1st triple of the season and a Mark Kiger double (!!).
And then Justin Thomas gave it back. Back to back two out walks in the 2nd set up a JC Boscan (174/305/232) double to score two, followed by a Paul Bennett (111/220/194) triple that scored Boscan to cut the lead to 5-3. Getting squared up by such crappy hitters was a harbinger. In the top 3rd, again Thomas got two quick outs, only to walk the next two hitters, setting up a Kala Kaaihue (188/331/287) double to score them both and tie the ballgame. That was positively Ho-tastic.
The DIAMOND JAXX did retake the lead in the bottom 3rd. With one out, Johan Limonta continued his hot start with a triple, then scored on an Adam Moore double to make it 6-5.
Thomas held up despite loading the bases in the 4th, but he coughed up a solo shot to Kaaihue with one out and a man on in the 5th to give the AA Braves a 7-6 lead, and Thomas got the hook for Travis Chick shortly thereafter.
Groundballs: 2 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 3 (1 HR)
Line Drives: 4
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 6
Strikeouts: 8
Chick got out of the 5th and the score remained stagnant until the top 7th, where Chick surrendered a one out RBI double to Boscan to make it 8-6 Braves. In the 8th, Jason Perry (300/430/667 in 60 AB) walked, Greg Creek (288/370/481) singled and Matt Young (296/402/398) singled to make it 9-6.
The DIAMOND JAXX managed a token rally in the 9th with Marshall Hubbard doubling home a run with one out... but Jon Nelson and Johan Limonta went down on strikes to end it.
AAA: Iowa 14, Tacoma 2
TAC: 17-16... IOWA: 15-18
Robert Rohrbaugh: 3 IP, 8 H, (7 R) 5 ER, 2 walks
Joe Woerman: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER (HR), walk, 4 K
Jake Woods: 1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER (2 HR), walk
Josh Womack: 1-3, triple, walk. Welcome to Tacoma, Josh... I suppose.
Jeremy Reed: 3-4, 2 doubles, RBI, walk, K
Bryan LaHair: 1-5, 4 K: The Golden Sombrero
[COATHANGER]
Rohrbaugh:
Groundballs: 8 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 5
Line Drives: 4
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 0
The stellar Rainiers defense did assist in this narrow 14-2 loss. Tui committed two errors in the 1st inning, leading Daren Brown to immediately bench him. Brent Johnson moved from LF to fill in at 3B while Josh Womack made an inauspicious debut in LF and didn't do too badly.