- The Mavs got one hit by four Visalia Oaks pitchers yesterday. Bryan Augenstein, the D-Backs' 7th round pick in 2007, a recently promoted Midwest League All Star, and returning from an injury layoff, started the game with 3 perfect innings. Jorge Perez, a reliever that's been Cal Leagued with a 5.74 ERA, releved Augenstein and walked his first two batters, eventually allowing a run on two groundouts before escaping. The Mavs' 2nd run came in the 6th, when Gavin Dickey broke up the no-hitter with his leadoff line drive double, eventually scoring after... a couple of groundouts. By this point, Visalia already had an 8-2 lead, thanks to some severe run damage against Anthony Varvaro that sent him running for the hills in the 5th.
To Varvaro's credit, he only walked one batter in his 4 completed innings, and in his previous 9 starts (all 4+ innings), he's walked fewer than three batters in 5 of them. And in the other four, he hasn't walked more than 5. It's something positive in what's been a tough season in the hell of High Desert for Varvaro.
- Maybe the Las Vegas 51's should change their nickname to the Las Vegas Slumpbusters. The Rainiers completed a 4 game sweep of Vegas with a resounding 10-3 victory last night, and since the start of June, the Rainiers have gone 10-2 against the Dodgers' AAA affiliate, a lineup led by... John Lindsey... John-Ford Griffin... and Terrible Terry Tiffee... and... uh....
Granted, the 51's have played .500 ball all season, though this is mostly the product of a useful defense and pitching staff doing their part to keep the scoring down as much as they could, not an easy task when you play half your games at Cashman Field, such a launchpad that they had to build the walls higher than usual to keep the balls in play. You'd think, if Ned Coletti really loathed his talented young players taking time from the veterans so much, that he'd send them down to Vegas instead of letting them rot in platoons or bench duty, but apparently not. The overcrowded, overpriced veteran outfield led to no demotion for Matt Kemp, plus 3Bs Andy LaRoche and Blake DeWitt have combined for 197 ABs in AAA. Maybe Coletti was scared his top prospects would blow their league-minimum paychecks at the craps tables or something.
- My Quality Start rule with PHAT ANDY 22 was not a cop-out. He gave the Rainiers 6 strong innings of one run ball yesterday. Something's waiting for readers after the stats below the jump....
Dominican: DSL Mariners 2, DSL Phillies 1
DSLMs: 40-20... DSL Phils: 30-29
(League: 238/339/322... 3.72 ERA)
Cristian Rijo: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, walk, 4 K (9 app, 2 GS, 3.86 ERA, 18.2 IP, 6/12 BB/K)
Anthony Fernandez: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 walks (15 app, 6 GS, 4.08 ERA, 46.1 IP, 24/40 BB/K)
Ambioris Hidalgo: 1.2 IP, 4 K (17 app, 7 GS, 4.15 ERA, 39 IP, 4 HR, 17/36 BB/K)
Rudy van Heydoorn: 1-4, double, R, 2 K (254/428/430)
Ameilis Carvajal: pinch RBI single (272/404/408)
Rey Lebron: 1-3, double, R (202/292/234)
Rk-AZL: The AZLMs had Friday off. With the average AZLMer's age being a hair under 20, I'm guessing that any off-day partying involved a lot of lemonade and DVDs.
Rk+: Greeneville 7, Pulaski 5
PMs: 35-22... GRE: 24-33
(League: 263/334/389... 4.17 ERA)
Taylor Lewis: 3.2 IP, 4 H, (2 R) 1 ER, 3 walks, 3 K, hit batter (8 GS +3, 5.28 ERA, 30.2 IP, 4 HR, 15/27 BB/K)
Andres Esquibel: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 walks, 4 K (14 app, 2.45 ERA, 29.1 IP, 2 HR, 5/19 BB/K)
Brent Gaphardt: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 walks, K (9 app, 1.96 ERA, 18.1 IP, 6/16 BB/K)
Dwight Britton: 2-4, RBI, walk, SB (262/300/399)
Mario Martinez: 2-5, solo HR, K (327/354/483)
Deybis Benitez: 2-4, double, 2 R (307/377/495)
Jonathan Arias: 2-2, double, 2 sac fly RBI (243/311/359)
Blake Trinkler: 2-4, RBI (227/341/336)
A-: Yakima 4, Everett 3
EVE: 25-33... YAK: 21-37
(League: 255/345/372... 4.22 ERA)
Walter Suriel: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER (HR), 2 K, wild pitch, hit batter (12 GS, 5.29 ERA, 66.1 IP, 10 HR, 22/56 BB/K)
Mark Pettis: one out, 2 H, 1 ER, hit batter (16 app, 3.28 ERA, 24.2 IP, 19/23 BB/K)
Eddy Fernandez: 1.2 IP, 2 K (22 app, 4.18 ERA, 28 IP, 2 HR, 10/35 BB/K)
Luis Nuñez: 1-4, triple, R, 2 K (298/315/382)
Bennett Billingsley: 3-4, double, 2 run HR (259/331/448)
rest of Aquasox lineup: 4-26, 2 walks, 4 K
A: Peoria 6, Wisconsin 4
WIS: 18-36... PEO: 26-28
(League: 252/323/372... 3.70 ERA)
Keith Renaud: 5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER (HR), 3 walks, 4 K, hit batter (8 GS +1, 5.28 ERA, 46 IP, 2 HR, 30/24 BB/K)
Jose Escalona: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER (HR), walk, 2 K (31 app, 4.54 ERA, 39.2 IP, 6 HR, 20/40 BB/K)
Alex Meneses: 2-5, solo HR (222/323/257)
Alex Liddi: 1-3, double, R, 2 walks (235/303/349)
Joe White: 3-3, solo HR, RBI single, walk (275/380/349)
A+: Visalia 10, High Desert 2
Mavs: 21-33... Oaks: 23-30
(League: 273/341/413... 4.55 ERA)
Anthony Varvaro: 4 IP, 10 H, 8 ER (HR), walk, 2 K, wild pitch, hit batter (24 GS +2, 7.14 ERA, 116 IP, 21 HR, 80/106 BB/K)
Steve Uhlmansiek: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER (HR), 2 K (31 app, 4.65 ERA, 50.1 IP, 5 HR, 26/39 BB/K)
Steven Richard: 1.1 IP, walk (25 app, 4.19 ERA, 34.1 IP, 2 HR, 20/33 BB/K)
Gavin Dickey: 1-3, double, R, 2 K (240/292/337)
rest of Mavs lineup: 0-26, 3 walks, 5 K
AA: The DIAMOND JAXX game with Carolina was postponed due to meh weather. They intend to play a doubleheader today... and they'll need to in order to make the game up: this is the last day of the series, and the last time this season the Mudcats and DIAMOND JAXX will play each other.
AAA: Tacoma 10, Las Vegas 3
TAC: 68-58... LVG: 64-63
(League: 276/347/442... 4.82 ERA)
Andrew Baldwin: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 K (19 GS +8, 4.77 ERA, 126.1 IP, 10 HR, 36/69 BB/K)
Rich Dorman: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, wild pitch (5 GS +3, 4.73 ERA, 26.2 IP, 3 HR, 4/23 BB/K)
Matt Renfree!: 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, K, wild pitch
Denny Stark: 1 IP, 1 H, K
Shawn Garrett: 3-4, solo HR, 2 R (304/334/456)
Craig Wilson: 2-4, solo HR, K (284/414/514)
Rob Johnson: 2-4, R, 2 RBI (306/368/454)
Kevin Howard: 3-4, 3 run HR, solo HR, RBI single (255/353/391)
PHAT ANDY 22: Viva Las Vegas. Check me out...
What happens in Vegas shoulda stayed in Vegas the way you 51's play.
Phat Andy could Cy Young you losers every single day.
Cy's deader than your bats and poker tables full of rocks
My suck pitch with two strikes had you sweating in your socks
While the Rainiers blasted off right out of the blocks
Had you flailing at my pitches like a bunch of [SUBTHREAD CLOSED]
89 pitches for the bitches had you 51's in stitches
Had you wetting your britches like my suck pitch was vicious, making the statheads suspicious
Wondering what you're doing in AAA
The PCL's a place you don't deserve to play
Season's over, E.T.'s, pack your stuff and go away
Maybe you'll get some talent someday.
...
...
HAHAHAHAHA... I kill me... like I kill the heart of your order.
Word to your mother... JASON REPKO. Yeah, that's right, AGAIN. Your mom's getting to know me well. She needs to put less salt in her pancakes, though. No wonder you swing and miss like you're dehydrated....
Kevin Howard: That's it?
Phat Andy: Yeah, boy, that's it.
Kevin Howard: That was pretty short.
Phat Andy: Kinda like your power numbers, huh?
Kevin Howard:
Phat Andy: Hey, you came crawling to us after the 51's dropped you.
Kevin Howard: I hit two home runs today.
Phat Andy: Whatever. You weren't even good enough to play for the AAA team for a team that's starting NOMAR GARCIAPARRA at shortstop. So don't stand here asking ME questions, Bucky Dent, like I'M the one-
Kevin Howard: [sub-par pimp slap]
Phat Andy: [unmoved]
Kevin Howard:
Phat Andy:
Kevin Howard:
Phat Andy: See what I mean?
Phat Andy: [EPIC PIMP SLAP]
Kevin Howard: [flies over LF fence]
Phat Andy: HEY, three home runs for Kevin today!
Groundballs: 9
Flyballs: 4
Line Drives: 6
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 0
Strikeouts: 3