- Juan Fuentes is putting up an impressive line in Pulaski (383/462/506), and while his approach at the plate has improved, he's also had some good luck. His 21% LD rate, while solid, indicates his .430 BABIP is due for some regression, though it's a substantial improvement from the 10% rate he had in Peoria last season. His walks (up to 13.6% from last year's 9.3%) and strikeouts (11.9% from last year's 9.3%) are slightly up, and obviously he's showing a bit more power. He's having an impressive August, running a 30% LD rate and a .467 BABIP to go with a 432/517/514 line. He's due for a bit of regression, but regression in his case is something like 300/360/400, still not bad, especially for a catcher (though he's also getting time at 1B due to the logjam at that position). Once the youngster adds some power to his line drive contact hitting, the M's will have themselves a good player coming up the ladder.
- Everett had themselves an 11 inning thriller. Down 5-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Jharmidy De Jesus' sac fly for the 2nd out preceded three straight singles (with help from a throwing error from Tri City RF Leonardo Reyes) that TIED THE BALLGAME at 5. The batter right after De Jesus, Luis Nuñez, grounded to 3rd for what could have been the game ending groundout, but he beat the throw to 1st.
With one out in the 10th, however, Tri City's Thomas Field took Chris Kirkland deep with one out to make it 6-5. But in the bottom half, Manny Pimentel doubled with one out, and pinch runner Nate Tenbrink came around on a Flaming Bees single to once again TIE THE BALLGAME.
The Dust Devils couldn't get anyone home in the 11th, and in the bottom half, Tyson Gillies drew a walk with one out, then stole his 18th base of the season, then came around to score the winning run for the Aquasox on a Ryan Royster double.
- Shawn Kelley isn't the only reliever running scoreless streaks around here. Converted catcher Jeff Dunbar has thrown 12.1 scoreless innings since coming to Wisconsin. Granted, it comes with an unimpressive 7/5 K/BB ratio, but let's humor an impressive transition (so far) from a former position player, shall we?
- Two R's and Two L's could probably outslug his namesake at this point: the M's Daniel Carroll has really struggled. Though Daniel Carroll opened the season with a quality 22% LD rate, that has dropped into the single digits since his return from a wrist injury. He did manage a 13% LD rate in June with High Desert, the month he returned, but it's plummeted since. Meanwhile, his K % has spiked from the high teens into the mid 20's.
One interesting anomaly: His K rate on the road is 20.6% compared to 26.9% at home. His LD rate is 14% on the road compared to 8% at home. Fox Cities Stadium isn't the friendliest of venues, but then again, DC was tearing up the MWL in April before his injury. So his sinking stats aren't a fluke: he's genuinely struggling right now. For whatever reason, he hasn't been at all right since coming back, and hopefully an offseason will hit the reset button and allow him to get back on track in 2009, because I don't see it happening this season.
- Chris Minaker hit his 40th double of the season for High Desert last night. HOWEVER:
Doubles at home: 27
Doubles on road: 13
Chris Minaker in Mavs Stadium in 2008: 357/373/548
Chris Minaker on road in 2008: 245/291/342
Chris Minaker at West Tenn in 2007: 227/284/286
Chris Minaker line drive % in 2007: 19%
Chris Minaker line drive % in 2008: 10%
Chris Minaker LD% on road: 14%
Chris Minaker LD% in Mavs Stadium: 7%
Chris Minaker flyball % on road: 34%
Chris Minaker flyball % in Mavs Stadium: 48%
Johan Limonta and Michael Saunders showed us that their power numbers were not primarily a product of Mavs Stadium. Chris Minaker's power, however, appears to be a nearly-pure product of Mavs Stadium.
- Brodie Downs and Doug FISTER had bad games yesterday for the DIAMOND JAXX in a 13-7 loss, but here is a factor of note: the starting left fielder was 1B Marshall Hubbard, which is kind of like putting Richie Sexson in left field. Though the top of Huntsville's lineup was a bit LHB heavy, the bottom of the lineup was not, not enough for Brent Johnson in RF (he usually plays LF) to be justified by a platoon shift.
Here are the results for all the balls in play hit in the air towards Marshall:
1st: 2 run double
3rd: Double
4th: Double
8th: Double
9th: Single
Outs recorded: 0
Now, some of those hits were line drives and may not have been catchable, plus the Huntsville Stars had 15 hits in all and many of those balls were sprayed to all fields. But 4 doubles and a single with no outs recorded indicates to me that Hubbard wasn't flashing capable range in left.
You can only see five airballs above hit to Hubbard, so while some of the 13-7 loss can be attributed to his presence in left, I doubt it turns the game completely around to put someone more capable in left. In fact, only one ball was hit Hubbard's way in the 7th and 8th innings, where Huntsville scored 8 of their 13 runs. But still... not the best game for Marshall Hubbard in left. Not sure if Noah Hall was unavailable or what (Mike Wilson was the DH), but as bad as this was, I'm sure Marshall could do better. I don't know if this was a one-off coverage assignment, or the start of an actual attempt to decipher if Hubbard can play the outfield, which would make sense given the glut of 1B/RF/DH types they currently have (Limonta, Wilson, Hubbard).
But hey, at least Marshall had 3 hits today!
- Sorry... though he pitched yesterday, you're not getting a PHAT ANDY 22 rap. He pitched into the 6th but allowed 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, not terrible but not a rap-worthy performance.
Mumba Rivera came in and cleaned up the 6th, but coughed up the go-ahead run in the 8th on a bad throw: with a man on 1st, Mumba fielded a tapbacker, turned towards 2nd and threw YIKES AND AWAY to set up the go-ahead run (on a subsequent sac fly) that eventually sealed the Rainiers' doom in a 4-3 loss.
Stats below the jump:
Dominican: The DSLMs game with the Phillies was postponed due to rain.
Rk-AZL: The AZLMs took Sunday off.
Rk+: Pulaski 9, Bluefield 3
PMs: 32-20... BLU: 24-27
(League: 264/335/393... 4.25 ERA)
Taylor Lewis: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 walks, 2 K, wild pitch, 2 hit batters (7 GS +3, 5.67 ERA, 27 IP, 4 HR, 12/24 BB/K)
Jose Rios: 1.1 IP, 1 H, walk (12 app, 3.97 ERA, 34 IP, 2 HR, 8/38 BB/K)
Andres Esquibel: 2 IP, 2 H, 3 K, hit batter (13 app, 1.73 ERA, 26 IP, 2 HR, 3/15 BB/K)
Philip Roy: 1 IP, 1 H, walk, K (14 app, 1.52 ERA, 23.2 IP, 6/28 BB/K)
Mario Martinez: 2-4, 2 R, K (324/354/479)
Juan Fuentes: 1-3, R, 2 RBI, 2 walks, K (383/462/506)
Jose Rivero: 3-4, 3 run HR, 2 R, 5 RBI, K (270/350/391)
Tommy Johnson: 3-5 (385/404/505)
Jonathan Arias: 1-3, 2 RBI, walk (220/284/341)
A-: Everett 7, Tri-City 6, 11 innings
EVE: 24-29... 3C: 23-30
(League: 256/345/373... 4.23 ERA)
Walter Suriel: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER (HR), 2 walks, 4 K, balk, hit batter (11 GS, 5.37 ERA, 60.1 IP, 9 HR, 22/54 BB/K)
Bradley Reid: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER (HR), walk (9 app, 6.75 ERA, 2 HR, 8/6 BB/K)
Eddy Fernandez: 1.1 IP, 3 K (20 app, 4.44 ERA, 26.1 IP, 2 HR, 8/33 BB/K)
Chris Kirkland: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER (HR), walk, K
Javier Martinez: 1.2 IP, 1 H, walk, 3 K (16 app, 4.67 ERA, 17.1 IP, 1 HR, 15/16 BB/K)
Anthony Phillips: 1-5, 4 K: The Golden Sombrero, SB (225/314/315)
Bennett Billingsley: 1-5, double, R, 4 K: The Golden Sombrero (237/316/393)
Manny Pimentel: 1-3, double, R, walk, K (224/343/306)
Fleming Baez: 2-5, double, R, RBI, 2 K (256/330/389)
Jharmidy De Jesus: 0-3, sac fly RBI, 3 K
Welington Dotel: 1-5, R, RBI, 2 K (264/317/395)
Tyson Gillies: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, walk, SB #18 (293/404/397)
Ryan Royster: 1-5, double, RBI (179/301/244)
A: Kane County 8, Wisconsin 5
WIS: 15-34... KC: 21-27
(League: 252/323/373... 3.70 ERA)
Keith Renaud: 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 walks, K (7 GS +1, 4.83 ERA, 41 IP, 1 HR, 27/20 BB/K)
Joe Kantakevich: 3 IP, 5 H, (2 R) 1 ER, K (18 app, 6.59 ERA, 28.2 IP, 3 HR, 11/15 BB/K)
Natividad Dilone: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 walks, 2 K (18 app, 5.18 ERA, 24.1 IP, 2 HR, 14/25 BB/K)
Jeff Dunbar: 2.2 IP, 2 H, walk, 2 K (10 app, 0 ER, 12.1 IP, 5/7 BB/K)
Daniel Carroll: 1-5, RBI (247/318/309)
Alex Meneses: 1-4, RBI, K (224/324/244)
Denny Almonte: 2-4, SB #12 (261/318/442)
Edilio Colina: 2-3, R, walk (289/347/374)
Joe White: 1-4, RBI (266/364/287)
Blake Ochoa: 3-4, 2 doubles, R, 2 RBI (241/321/361)
A+: Inland Empire 14, High Desert 8
Mavs: 21-28... Empire: 25-24
(League: 274/342/413... 4.57 ERA)
Anthony Varvaro: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 9 ER, 5 walks, 3 K, 2 hit batters (23 GS +2, 6.75 ERA, 112 IP, 20 HR, 79/104 BB/K)
Michael Wagner: two outs, 3 H, (3 R) 2 ER (HR), K, wild pitch (45 app, 4.95 ERA, 56.1 IP, 3 HR, 17/48 BB/K)
Ricky Orta: 3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER (HR), walk, 6 K (12 GS +6, 5.80 ERA, 59 IP, 14 HR, 21/58 BB/K)
Jamie McOwen: 0-3, 3 walks (266/329/402)
Carlos Triunfel: 2-5, double, 2 R, RBI, K (285/337/416)
Travis Scott: 2-4, double, 2 R, 2 RBI, K (278/349/466)
Chris Minaker: 3-4, double, R, 2 RBI, walk (306/336/454)
Kevin Reynolds: 2-4, double, RBI, walk, K, SB (375/412/417)
Ogui Diaz: 2-5, K, SB #13 (267/290/348)
Joe Simokaitis: 0-4, sac fly RBI (252/314/411)
AA: Huntsville 13, West Tenn 7
WTN: 21-28... HUN: 23-27
(League: 263/341/398... 4.18 ERA)
Brodie Downs: 6 IP, 6 H, (5 R) 3 ER, 2 walks, 2 K (35 app, 8 GS, 4.03 ERA, 89.1 IP, 5 HR, 40/56 BB/K)
Doug FISTER: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, walk, K (23 GS +2, 5.76 ERA, 125 IP, 12 HR, 44/93 BB/K)
Nelson Payano: 1 IP, 4 H, (3 R) 1 ER, 3 walks, 3 K, wild pitch (41 app, 4.16 ERA, 67 IP, 3 HR, 42/65 BB/K)
Roman Martinez: one out (32 app, 5.30 ERA, 37.1 IP, 4 HR, 18/28 BB/K)
Greg Halman: 1-3, 2 R, RBI, walk, K (286/330/480)
Marshall Hubbard: 3-5, R, K (304/414/518)
Johan Limonta: 2-4, 2 doubles, R, RBI, walk, K (307/380/534)
Gabe Johnson: 1-3, 2 RBI, walk, K
AAA: Tucson 4, Tacoma 3
TAC: 64-57... TUC: 53-68
(League: 276/347/443... 4.84 ERA)
Andrew Baldwin: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 walks, 3 K (18 GS +8, 4.94 ERA, 120.1 IP, 10 HR, 36/66 BB/K)
Mumba Rivera: 2.1 IP, 2 H, (1 R) 0 ER, 2 K (12 app, 6.89 ERA, 15.2 IP, 3 HR, 9/15 BB/K)
Victor Diaz: 2-4, double, R, RBI, K (288/371/543)
Craig Wilson: 1-3, double (281/423/528)
Shawn Garrett: 1-3, RBI, walk (297/326/440)
Luis Valbuena: 2-4, R (264/349/357)