- While the primary item of interest from the Rainiers was Brandon Morrow's start yesterday, there was another item that made the news: recently acquired reliever Jorge Sosa has tested positive for an amphetamine, earning himself a 50 game suspension from MLB.
The positive test came while Sosa was with the Rainiers... though the half life of drugs in your system can vary considerably. It could be residual presence from usage during his Mets time, or he may have used while with Tacoma. It could be either case, or both cases. We don't know most of what goes on behind closed doors, though the fact that the Mets dropped him like a bad habit out of the blue in mid-May despite a meh but seemingly productive performance leads me to wonder if the Mets let him go because they 'had a hunch' that Sosa was going to 'run into problems'.
Sosa and the Mariners will have quite a bit of time to think about it either way.
- With one game left in the DSLMs regular season after yesterday, manager (not that) Jose Guillen emptied the bench, using 14 different position players and 6 pitchers in yesterday's 6-4 win over those failed roiders from the DSL Cardinals. The DSLMs are heading to the DSL playoffs after this, so Guillen probably wanted to make sure as many players as possible got the chance to shake off any rust.
- Either Ben Pribanic has a long way to go, or he doesn't handle 105 degree desert weather very well. His ERA currently looks like a grocery bill.
- Paging Two R's and Two L's. Paging Two R's and Two L's:
Daniel Carroll hit his first career professional home run against Quad Cities yesterday. Carroll took a Ryan Kulik suck pitch over the LF wall with one out in the 3rd.
Sadly, the breakthrough blast did not key a T-Rats win, as starter Keith Renaud sucked more than Kulik, failing to finish the 5th inning in helping faciliate a 5-3 Quad Cities win.
- GOOD LORD JAMIE McOWEN. Three more hits makes him 10 for his last 17. Two doubles yesterday too. And stolen base #27... swiping 3rd base, no less. Someone's making a season-ending statement.
- On a lesser Mavs note... with 4.2 nausea-worthy innings yesterday, Alfredo Venegas became only the 2nd High Desert Mavs pitcher this year to surpass 100 innings pitched on the season, with Anthony Varvaro and his 116 facepalm-inducing innings being the other.
- Shawn Kelley got rocked in the 8th inning last night, blowing a 5-2 DIAMOND JAXX lead and setting up Mobile's extra innings walkoff victory. It's the second straight appearance in which the previously untouchable kelley got pounded, and I don't want to say he's wearing down: he HAS struck out 9 in those 3.2 combined innings, and the first outing against the Mudcats was all groundballs, though the Baybears did tee off on him in the 8th. If the season wasn't almost over, I'd say it's adjustment time for Kelley. As it stands, it should roll off his back, and he should reload, work on his game between now and next Spring, and be ready to own hitters again in 2009, whether it's at AA or AAA.
- Marshall Hubbard started this game in left field. This is actually the 5th game he's started in LF, and this time he looked far better. Balls in air hit to Marshall Hubbard:
1st: Double
4th: Flyout!
6th: Flyout!
7th: Flyout 7-3 double play!
8th: Double
10th: Single, moving runner to 3rd, which set up the winning run on the next AB
The double play is the only outfield assisted double play from LF by the DIAMOND JAXX this season.
- Breakthrough: Brandon Morrow positively owned the Portland Beavers, striking out 11 of them over his 4 2/3 innings, the longest outing that he's managed yet, and easily his best.
According to Ian Ruder of the Tacoma News Tribune, Morrow threw 72 pitches, struck out 5 of the last 6 batters he faced with only one well-hit ball, and regularly hit 98 on the gun in PGE Park. Morrow, on his outing last night:
Tonight was the first time that I’ve felt comfortable out of the windup. I got a good rhythm and I stayed back out of the windup and felt comfortable finally.
I was initially ambivalent about whether or not we should see Morrow in September... but a big step forward like this has me on board with the team's intentions of test-driving him in the rotation next month on an 85-90 pitch count. Routinely hitting 98 already? Mixing his pitches well and feeling comfortable from the windup? Razzing Daren Brown for pulling him after 72 pitches, instead of feeling bushwhacked and being relieved about getting pulled? I say go for it!
He'll get at least one more Tacoma start... and then, when rosters expand in September, he'll likely be among the few September callups. I'm guessing he'll take Dickey Time's spot in the rotation, though anything can happen, especially with this organization.
Unfortunately, the game was suspended after the power went out at PGE Park. Reportedly, the cause of the malfunction was a rift in the space time continum caused by a violation of the natural order of the Universe, aka Kevin Howard's 3rd home run of the game.
Stats below the jump....
Dominican: DSL Mariners 6, DSL Cardinals 4
DSLMs: 42-23... DSL Roidbirds: 27-37
Cristian Rijo: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER (HR), walk, 4 K, wild pitch, hit batter (10 app, 3 GS, 21.1 IP, 1 HR, 7/16 BB/K)
Francisco Garcia: one out, 2 walks, K
Jose Perdomo: 3 IP, walk, 4 K, hit batter (19 app, 3.40 ERA, 55.2 IP, 1 HR, 12/40 BB/K)
Miguel Celestino: 1 IP, 1 H, K (12 GS +3, 2.48 ERA, 58 IP, 15/47 BB/K)
Bruno Mercedes: 1 IP, 1 H, K (22 app, 3.86 ERA, 58.1 IP, 2 HR, 21/63 BB/K)
Felix Bautista: 1 IP, 2 H, (2 R) 1 ER (HR), 3 K, hit batter (18 app, 2.71 ERA, 73 IP, 5 HR, 11/80 BB/K)
Victor Ozuna: 2-5, K (219/315/281)
Axel Wel: 1-3, double, 2 R, RBI, walk (277/364/354)
Hector Mercedes: 2-4, 2 run HR, 2 R (282/402/372)
Hassiel Jimenez: 1-3, double, walk (282/402/372)
Augusto Marte: 1-4, RBI, 2 K (131/268/215)
Rk-AZL: Padres 9, Mariners 5
AZLMs: 9-12... Desert Friars: 15-6
(League: 263/346/374... 4.37 ERA)
Ben Pribanic: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 walks, K
Kenta Suda: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER (HR), 2 walks, K (7 GS +4, 3.10 ERA, 49.1 IP, 3 HR, 32/36 BB/K)
Dustin Birosak: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, walk, wild pitch
Nick Love: 1 IP, 1 H, walk (12 app, 9.15 ERA, 20.2 IP, 6/13 BB/K)
Jeroen de Haas: 1 IP, 1 H (11 app, 5.56 ERA, 11.1 IP, 2 HR, 2/4 BB/K)
Fred Bello: 1-3, double, R, K (293/382/345)
Cesar Fuentes: 2-4, R, 2 K (267/321/366)
Henry Contreras: 2-3, double, R, RBI (327/351/400)
Jarrett Burgess: 2-4, double, R, 2 RBI (219/281/278)
Robert Rodriguez: 2-4, double, RBI, K (239/254/331)
Rk+: Burlington Royals 6, Pulaski 5
PMs: 37-25... BUR: 23-38
(League: 264/333/391... 4.19 ERA)
Taylor Lewis: 5 IP, 2 H, 3 walks, 5 K (9 GS +3, 4.54 ERA, 35.2 IP, 4 HR, 18/32 BB/K)
Stephen Penney: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 K (15 app, 4.94 ERA, 27.1 IP, 2/21 BB/K)
Kyle Brown: 1 IP, 2 H, (4 R) 0 ER, walk, 2 K (9 app, 4.50 ERA, 14 IP, 7/15 BB/K)
Blake Nation: 1 IP, 3 H, (1 R) 0 ER (18 app, 2.86 ERA, 22 IP, 1 HR, 8/22 BB/K)
Gabriel Noriega: 2-5, R, K, SB (243/268/301)
Mario Martinez: 2-5, double, 2 R, RBI, K (328/352/478)
Juan Fuentes: 2-4, triple, 2 RBI, walk, K (347/422/472)
Jose Rivero: 1-4, RBI, walk, 2 K, SB (251/329/374)
Jacob Shaffer: 3-4, double (257/337/338)
A-: Salem-Keizer 6, Everett 5
EVE: 27-36... S-K: 34-29
(League: 256/346/374... 4.23 ERA)
Nolan Gallagher: 5 IP, 7 H, (2 R) 1 ER, walk, 3 K (5 GS +1, 3.00 ERA, 27 IP, 1 HR, 9/20 BB/K)
Chris Kirkland: 2 IP, 2 H, (2 R) 0 ER, walk, 2 K, hit batter
Javier Martinez: one out, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 walks, K (19 app, 4.37 ERA, 22.2 IP, 1 HR, 20/20 BB/K)
Eddy Fernandez: two outs, 1 H, walk, K (25 app, 3.90 ERA, 30 IP, 2 HR, 12/37 BB/K)
Bradley Reid: 1 IP, 1 H, K (12 app, 6.06 ERA, 16.1 IP, 3 HR, 8/8 BB/K)
Tyson Gillies: 2-4, double, R, 2 RBI, walk, K, SB #20 (301/400/442)
Travis Howell: 3-4, solo HR, K (306/417/438)
rest of Aquasox lineup: 1-21, 2 walks, 5 K
A: Quad Cities 5, Wisconsin 3
WIS: 20-39... QC: 30-29
(League: 252/323/373... 3.71 ERA)
Keith Renaud: 4.2 IP, 6 H, (3 R) 2 ER, 2 walks, 6 K (9 GS +1, 5.15 ERA, 50.2 IP, 2 HR, 32/30 BB/K)
Joe Kantakevich: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, K (22 app, 5.26 ERA, 37.2 IP, 3 HR, 13/20 BB/K)
Ryan Moorer: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, K (41 app, 4.37 ERA, 57.2 IP, 2 HR, 22/42 BB/K)
Daniel Carroll: 3-4, solo HR, K (256/332/345)
Alex Meneses: 2-4, double, R (233/329/280)
Alex Liddi: 1-4, RBI, K (230/300/343)
Joe Dunigan: 2-4, R, K, SB #25 (228/289/406)
Joe White: 3-4, RBI (291/389/354)
Juan Diaz: 0-4, 4 K: The Golden Sombrero (231/275/301)
A+: Visalia 5, High Desert 2
Mavs: 22-38... Oaks: 26-33
(League: 273/341/413... 4.53 ERA)
Alfredo Venegas: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 walks, 2 K, wild pitch (14 GS +9, 4.83 ERA, 100.2 IP, 8 HR, 29/83 BB/K)
Julio Santiago: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, K (40 app, 5.68 ERA, 63.1 IP, 3 HR, 45/45 BB/K)
Steve Uhlmansiek: 1 IP, 2 H, walk (33 app, 5.13 ERA, 52.2 IP, 6 HR, 28/40 BB/K)
Jamie McOwen: 3-4, 2 doubles, R, SB #27 (270/330/407)
Carlos Triunfel: 0-3, sac fly RBI (288/339/414)
Ronnie Prettyman: 4-4, R (296/343/471)
Geraldo Valentin: 1-4, RBI, K (255/286/351)
AA: Mobile 6, West Tenn 5, 10 innings
WTN: 25-33... MOB: 27-31
(League: 264/342/401... 4.21 ERA)
Luis Muñoz: 6 IP, 6 H, (2 R) 1 ER, 2 walks, 2 K (3 GS +2, 5.40 ERA, 18.1 IP, 2 HR, 9/12 BB/K)
Doug FISTER: 1 IP, 1 H (23 GS +5, 5.57 ERA, 129.1 IP, 12 HR, 45/96 BB/K)
Shawn Kelley: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER (HR), walk, 4 K (26 app, 2.04 ERA, 39.2 IP, 1 HR, 16/41 BB/K)
Jason Kershner: one out, 3 H, 1 ER (8 app, 5.40 ERA, 11.2 IP, 5/7 BB/K)
Johan Limonta: 2-5, double, R, 2 RBI, K (311/381/537)
Mike Wilson: 1-5, double, R, 2 RBI (279/386/557)
Adam Moore: 1-4, RBI, walk, K (311/390/490)
Marshall Hubbard: 1-2, double, 3 walks (296/407/511)
AAA: We end with a whimper: A power outage led to the suspension of the Rainiers game with Portland. They'll finish the game today at 5:30, before starting today's scheduled game.