- Now the M's are testing Austin Bibens-Dirkx for real, and he's passing so far. Just one day after making a one inning rehab start, the AZLMs sent him back out for another one inning rehab start, and he responded by going flyout, groundout, strikeout. A key step for ABD's "rehabilitation" is for him to be able to throw on back to back days without trouble, so provided there's no pain or anything beyond residual soreness... mission accomplished on this front.
- Cheyne Hann, not to be confused with Everett reliever Philip Hann, may be ready for a higher level. Out of a small but reasonable sample of 39 batters faced in his 6 appearances, Cheyne has struck out an astonishing 46.7% of them. He is flat out dominating Arizona Leaguers... which in the grand scheme isn't saying much, but it definitely indicates an ability to take on the next level. After inducing 6 groundballs out of 7 balls in play in July, his groundball rate plummeted to 27% in August. He could well be hanging pitches, believing (rightfully so in this case) he can just blow hitters away. Looks like Cheyne needs higher level competition that will make contact with strike three, before he falls into the patterns that could make him a flyball pitcher.
- Tracy Thorpe finally cracked the five inning barrier and yesterday's start, and not by sitting on it.
Tracy took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, losing it with two outs on a line drive single, and that was after the leadoff batter reached on an E-3 muff by Marshall Hubbard on what was a routine grounder to short. Tracy finished the frame without damage and called it a night after that. In all, Tracy allowed one hit in 6 shutout innings of a 2-1 win over the division leading Carolina Mudcats. The hit was the only line drive he allowed.
Groundballs: 5
Flyballs: 3
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 4
Walks: 3
Strikeouts: 5
Three weeks ago I figured Tracy Thorpe was as good as gone. Now it looks like the 27 year old might actually have some sort of chance as a starting pitcher. He still needs to cut his walks and flyballs way down, but he's striking out a batter per inning and owning AA hitters for free much of the time.
- 27 year old IF Kevin Howard crossed Cheney Stadium before the latest series with the 51's and Rainiers began, leaving the 51's clubhouse and walking into the Rainiers clubhouse as the latest new member of the Rainiers. He can draw a walk and put the ball in play, occasionally for a double, but that's about it. He's a meh glove at 2B but the Rainiers have used him in both games this series at SS, go figure.
Last night's Rainiers game went 14 innings, lasting nearly 5 hours. For an unspecified reason, Ryan Feierabend exited in the 3rd inning after 53 pitches. He had given up 2 unearned runs and 6 hits, and two more potential runs remained on base when Mumba Rivera came in, but Mumba got out of the frame without further damage. The possibility of a disaster outing on a less-than-sharp night is my only guess for Feier's quick exit. The end came in the 14th, when Prentice Redman led off with a double, took 3rd on a groundout, and Jerome Williams intentionally walked two straight batters to load the bases and create a force at any bag... only for Jon Nelson to get a grounder into left field for the walkoff.
Stats below the jump:
Dominican: The DSLMs had today off. For those who are interested, the DSLMs did get in the front end of their August 9 doubleheader with the A1s, which they won 8-7, before getting rained out. There had simply been a delay in relaying the completion of this game. So 10 games left in their season, assuming completion of two previous postponements (which the schedule would allow, weather permitting).
Rk-AZL: Mariners 4, Rangers 1
AZLMs: 8-7... AZL Rangers: 10-5
(League: 264/348/375... 4.41 ERA)
Austin Bibens-Dirkx: 1 IP, K
Brian Oates: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 walks, 3 K (6 GS +5, 3.99 ERA, 49.2 IP, 3 HR, 27/51 BB/K)
Taylor Stanton: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K (9 app, 3.27 ERA, 11 IP, 4/12 BB/K)
Cheyne Hann: 2 IP, 3 H, 4 K (6 app, 1.80 ERA, 10 IP, 3/18 BB/K)
Scott Savastano: 1-3, double, RBI, walk
Henry Contreras: 1-2, RBI, K (289/319/333)
rest of AZLMs lineup: 4-23, 12 K
Rk+: Pulaski 6, Bluefield 2
PMs: 34-21... BLU: 25-29
(League: 263/334/390... 4.18 ERA)
Kyle Haas: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER (HR), 2 walks, 7 K, 2 wild pitches (11 GS, 7.41 ERA, 37.2 IP, 5 HR, 26/40 BB/K)
Kyle Brown: 2 IP, 3 K (7 app, 5.25 ERA, 12 IP, 6/12 BB/K)
Brandon Pullen: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K (14 app, 4.38 ERA, 24.2 IP, 3 HR, 3/27 BB/K)
Dwight Britton: 3-5, 3 R, 2 K (252/288/396)
Gabriel Noriega: 5-5, triple, R, 3 RBI, SB (243/267/315)
Mario Martinez: 2-5, RBI (328/356/478)
Juan Fuentes: 0-3, sac fly RBI, walk, K (364/441/485)
Guy Welsh: 2-4, double, R, K (336/434/495)
A-: Yakima 7, Everett 3
EVE: 25-31... YAK: 19-37
(League: 256/346/373... 4.24 ERA)
Kenn Kasparek: 1 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 2 walks (7 GS, 5.47 ERA, 24.2 IP, 2 HR, 15/27 BB/K)
Doug Salinas: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 walks, 2 K (17 app, 3 GS, 4.93 ERA, 2 HR, 24/40 BB/K)
Bradley Reid: 2 IP, 1 H (10 app, 5.79 ERA, 14 IP, 2 HR, 8/6 BB/K)
Chris Kirkland: 1 IP, walk, K
Tyson Gillies: 1-5, double, 3 K (295/396/411)
Bennett Billingsley: 1-2, triple, R, RBI (245/321/410)
Welington Dotel: 2-4, triple, 2 RBI, SB #10 (270/324/409)
A: Wisconsin 3, Peoria 2
WIS: 17-35... PEO: 25-27
(League: 252/323/372... 3.70 ERA)
Juan Ramirez: 5.2 IP, 5 H, (1 R) 0 ER, 3 walks, 4 K, hit batter (19 GS +3, 4.36 ERA, 105.1 IP, 8 HR, 33/95 BB/K)
Natividad Dilone: 2.1 IP, 2 K (19 app, 4.73 ERA, 26.2 IP, 2 HR, 14/27 BB/K)
Jeff Dunbar: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, K, wild pitch (11 app, 0.68 ERA, 13.1 IP, 5/8 BB/K)
Edilio Colina: 1-4, solo HR, 2 K (297/353/390)
rest of T-Rats lineup: 5-28, 8 K
A+: Lake Elsinore 8, High Desert 4
Mavs: 21-31... Lake: 27-25
(League: 274/342/413... 4.55 ERA)
Justin Souza: 3 IP, 7 H, 6 ER (HR), 2 walks, 2 K (9 app, 2 GS, 5.01 ERA, 23.1 IP, 2 HR, 8/23 BB/K)
Nick Hill: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, walk, K, wild pitch, balk (29 app, 4.83 ERA, 85.2 IP, 10 HR, 29/64 BB/K)
Michael Wagner: 3 IP, 3 H, K (46 app, 4.70 ERA, 59.1 IP, 3 HR, 17/49 BB/K)
Aaron Cotter: 1 IP, K (47 app, 3.30 ERA, 60 IP, 5 HR, 15/56 BB/K)
Jamie McOwen: 1-5, R, RBI (264/328/396)
Carlos Triunfel: 3-4, R (291/343/419)
Ronnie Prettyman: 2-4, 2 run HR, K (317/356/516)
Travis Scott: 2-3, walk (277/349/460)
AA: West Tenn 2, Carolina 1
WTN: 22-29... CAR: 33-19
(League: 263/341/399... 4.21 ERA)
Tracy Thorpe: 6 IP, 1 H, 3 walks, 5 K
Justin Thomas: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 walks (17 GS +7, 4.18 ERA, 118.1 IP, 11 HR, 56/105 BB/K)
Shawn Kelley: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K (24 app, 1.00 ERA, 36 IP, 14/32 BB/K)
Johan Limonta: 2-4, double (307/378/531)
Adam Moore: 2-2, 2 RBI, 2 walks (312/390/488)
rest of DIAMOND JAXX lineup: 1-24, 2 walks, 8 K
AAA: Tacoma 6, Las Vegas 5, 14 innings
TAC: 66-58... LVG: 64-61
(League: 277/348/443... 4.84 ERA)
Ryan Feierabend: 2.1 IP, 6 H, (2 R) 0 ER, walk, K, wild pitch (13 GS, 2.04 ERA, 75 IP, 5 HR, 15/48 BB/K)
Mumba Rivera: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 4 walks, 2 K, hit batter (13 app, 7.11 ERA, 19 IP, 3 HR, 13/17 BB/K)
Jorge Sosa: 2.1 IP, 2 H, walk, K (24 app, 4.31 ERA, 31.1 IP, 5 HR, 16/32 BB/K)
Jared Wells: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 walks, 2 K (46 app, 5.96 ERA, 51.1 IP, 4 HR, 31/47 BB/K)
Randy Messenger: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 (intentional) walks, 2 K (38 app, 4.34 ERA, 56 IP, 6 HR, 20/43 BB/K)
Prentice Redman: 2-6, double, 2 R, 2 walks (308/386/538)
Matt Tuiasosopo: 1-5, solo HR, 3 walks, 2 K (269/357/434)
Shawn Garrett: 3-6, double, R, 2 RBI, 2 walks (299/330/442)
Victor Diaz: 1-4, 4 walks, K (284/370/531)
Craig Wilson: 2-4, walk (287/424/505)
Jon Nelson: 1-3, RBI
Rob Johnson: 1-6, sac fly RBI (305/368/456)
Luis Valbuena: 1-5, R, walk, 4 K: The Golden Sombrero (266/363/353)