- After getting rocked his first time out, 3rd round pick Ben Pribanic looked far better in a 3 inning relief stint with the AZLMs yesterday.
4th: Strikeout (swing), flyball, flyball, strikeout (called)
5th: Strikeout (swing), bunt groundball, groundball, hit batter, line drive
6th: Groundball, flyball, strikeout (called), walk, flyball
He's still showing flyball tendencies, but given he just got hammered his first time out, this is a relief.
- Jarrett Burgess in August: 309/356/420... 10% LD rate, .424 BABIP, 25.3% K/PA. He certainly needed a good month, but there's a lot of luck involved here.
- Robert Rodriguez in August: 107/138/161... 10% LD rate, .207 BABIP, 46.6% K. He's just blown.
- Pulaski's last regular season game got rained out, but congratulations to the PMs on winning the Appalachian League's East Division title in Pulaski's first year back in the league. Their reward? A 3 game Championship Series with the West division champions, the Elizabethton Twins. The Liz Twins led the league with 6.33 runs per game, an .823 OPS, 142 doubles, 263 walks, and 88 HR. No, really, they led the league in all those respective categories.
The Liz Twins home park, Joe O'Brien Stadium, is possibly a contributing factor, as they have also allowed the 3rd most runs in the league (5.27). Their 181 walks issue is tied for the lowest total in the App League, while their 52 HRs allowed is the most. Maybe it's the park, maybe not: their .602 defensive efficiency is lowest in the App League.
With no park factor data below A ball, there's no definite stats to point at and say yes or no. I'll have to do some research this offseason on the subject, but in any case, the PMs are facing a team that can score a lot of runs and surrender a lot of runs. Win or lose, this should be a fun series.
- Pulaski's playing for a championship, but Everett's just trying to stay out of the division cellar. Going into yesterday tied with Vancouver for the bottom slot, they eked out a rain shortened 4-2 win to move out and leave the Canadians by themselves.
The culprit for Everett has been consistent weakness across the board: their .702 OPS and 4.69 runs per game are 3rd least in the Northwest League, their 573 K's are tops, their 249 walks are 2nd least, their 5.41 runs allowed per game tied for worst, their 44 HRs surrendered 2nd most, and the kicker: their .617 defensive efficiency is worst in the league by a comfortable margin. They can't even make the youth excuse, as they have one of the NWL's more veteran rosters, with the majority of their team in the 22-23 year old age range (whereas the average NWLer is 21-22) with only a handful of teenagers.
- One guy that's going to get on M's fans' nerves in a few years is Venezuelan pitcher Jose Perez. He struck out 10 T-Rats in yesterday's 4-0 Cedar Rapids win. He had struggled in his first 3 starts with the Angels affiliate since his callup from Orem of the Pioneer League, where he struck out 77 in 58.1 IP with only 8 walks but also surrendered 7 HR and ran an ERA in the 4's with a 17% LD rate. The guys is a strikeout machine that doesn't walk anybody once he gets the hang of things, and if he can do a better job of keeping the ball down... I suspect he'll be another in a long line of useful Angels SPs.
- West Tenn had 11 hits total in their doubleheader sweep defeat to Montgomery. Mark Kiger (227/356/294) had 5 of them.
The M's are allegedly trying to keep the DIAMOND JAXX roster loaded for the playoffs, but I'm not sure it's worth it. The current team as is just isn't very good, let alone competitive in a short series. They're far too flat, the pitching far too hittable, too many inconsistent, struggling arms, far too many empty lineup spots, and the hitters who can hit aren't consistently productive enough to offset any of this. Whoever they face in the Southern League playoffs will probably take the series in a walkover. What use is Shawn Kelley in the 8th inning of a 3-0 deficit or a 10-2 rout? You may as well call him up to AAA and be done with it. But if they want to load a playoff-bound roster and take their best shot, even if it's a longshot, then go for it.
- The first game of last night's Rainiers doubleheader was resumption of a scheduled game from way back on April 6. I love how, with two outs in the bottom 1st, a flurry of substitutions takes place for players who are no longer with the Rainiers, and in a couple of cases not even with the org anymore.
Defensive Substitution: Chris Denorfia replaces center fielder Nicholas Blasi, batting 1st, playing center field.
Defensive Substitution: Matt Murton replaces left fielder Todd Linden, batting 4th, playing left field.
Pitcher Change: Vincent Mazzaro replaces Brad Knox.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Luis Valbuena replaces Bronson Sardinha.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Michael Saunders replaces Greg Norton.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch hitter Victor Diaz replaces Wladimir Balentien.
On-field Delay (of about 4 months and 3 weeks).
Victor Diaz strikes out swinging.
Also, Nick Blasi, subbed out for on the River Cats side, was at one point on this Rainiers roster. He's currently with Charlotte, his 3rd AAA team this season.
- After his awesome start last time, Brandon Morrow threw 79 pitches (47 for strikes) after picking up where Robert Rohrbaugh left off in the suspended game, but took a bad beating in the 5th.
2nd: Strikeout (called), flyball, groundball
3rd: Walk, pop up, strikeout (swing), flyball
4th: Flyball (HR), strikeout (swing), groundball, flyball
5th: Line drive, walk, flyball (HR), walk, flyball, groundball, flyball, flyball, pop up
6th: Groundball, groundball
Groundballs: 5
Flyballs: 8 (2 HR)
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 3
Strikeouts: 3
The two HRs were his 1st and 2nd long balls allowed in Tacoma as a starter. His LD rate going in was only 12.5%, and obviously wasn't affected too much, but Morrow certainly hasn't been a groundball pitcher. His rate there was 40.6% and that certainly went down a bit yesterday.
Stats below the jump.
DSL PLAYOFFS: Who needs Rocktober when we have HURRICANE AUGUST?
Speaking of which, Game 2... was Hurricaned Out. They'll try to play Game 2 today.
Rk-AZL: Mariners 10, Cubs 2
AZLMs: 11-14... AZL Cubs: 13-11
(League: 265/346/376... 4.40 ERA)
Taylor Stanton: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 walks, 4 K (11 app, 2.65 ERA, 17 IP, 6/20 BB/K)
Ben Pribanic: 3 IP, 2 H, walk, 4 K, hit batter
Dustin Birosak: 1 IP, 2 H, (1 R) 0 ER
Jeroen de Haas: 2 IP, 2 H, K (12 app, 4.73 ERA, 13.1 IP, 2 HR, 2/5 BB/K)
Jarrett Burgess: 3-4, triple, 2 R, 2 RBI, walk, K (237/299/306)
Scott Savastano: 2-3, triple, R, 3 RBI, 2 walks, SB (275/348/400)
Alfredo Mateo: 1-5, triple, RBI, K (240/328/360)
Randy Molina: 2-4, 2 R, walk, 2 K (238/303/300)
Joel Mendez: 1-3, double, 2 R, 2 walks (275/306/333)
Robert Rodriguez: 1-4, R, RBI (223/242/307)
Rk+: Pulaski's game with Bristol was cancelled due to rain.
A-: Everett 4, Vancouver 2, 6 innings (rain shortened)
EVE: 29-39... VAN: 28-40
(League: 257/345/375... 4.20 ERA)
Nolan Gallagher: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 walks, 2 K, hit batter (6 GS +1, 3.09 ERA, 32 IP, 1 HR, 12/22 BB/K)
Chris Kirkland: two outs, walk, wild pitch
Dennis Freaking Raben: 1-3, double, 2 K (287/426/586)
Jharmidy De Jesus: 2-2, 3 run HR (231/250/415)
A: Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 0
WIS: 22-42... CED: 37-27
(League: 252/323/372... 3.69 ERA)
Keith Renaud: 6.2 IP, 6 H, (4 R) 3 ER, 5 K, 2 wild pitches, 2 hit batters (10 GS +1, 5.02 ERA, 57.1 IP, 2 HR, 32/35 BB/K)
Ryan Moorer: 1.1 IP, 1 H, walk, K (43 app, 4.20 ERA, 60 IP, 2 HR, 23/45 BB/K)
Cheyne Hann: 1 IP, 1 H, K
Alex Meneses: 2-3, walk, SB (238/333/282)
Alex Liddi: 2-4, double, 2 K (237/303/356)
rest of T-Rats lineup: 1-22, walk, 10 K
A+: The Mavs had Tuesday off.
AA: They played two in Jackson.
Game 1: Montgomery 10, West Tenn 2, 7 innings
Gaby Hernandez: 4.1 IP, 4 H, (1 R) 0 ER, 3 walks, 3 K (9 GS, 4.97 ERA, 50.2 IP, 6 HR, 17/37 BB/K)
Jason Kershner: two outs, 1 H, 3 ER, 2 walks, K (9 app, 7.30 ERA, 12.1 IP, 7/8 BB/K)
Aaron Cotter: 2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 walks, 2 K, wild pitch
Mark Kiger: 3-4, R
Gabe Johnson: 2-3, walk, K
Game 2: Montgomery 3, West Tenn 0, 7 innings
WTN: 27-36... MON: 34-29
(League: 264/342/400... 4.20 ERA)
Luis Muñoz: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 walks, 6 K (4 GS +2, 4.81 ERA, 24.1 IP, 2 HR, 12/18 BB/K)
Doug FISTER: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K (23 GS +7, 5.47 ERA, 133.1 IP, 12 HR, 45/102 BB/K)
Mark Kiger: 2-3, K (227/356/294)
rest of DIAMOND JAXX lineup: 1-20, 5 walks, 7 K
AAA: They played two in Tacoma. The first game was the resumption of a suspended game, shortened to 7 innings, the second being the scheduled game for tonight, a 7 inning nightcap.
Game 1: Sacramento 6, Tacoma 4, 7 innings
Robert Rohrbaugh: 1 IP, K (16 GS +1, 5.26 ERA, 89 IP, 7 HR, 27/72 BB/K)
Brandon Morrow: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER (2 HR), 3 walks, 3 K, wild pitch (4 GS +1, 6.75 ERA, 17.1 IP, 2 HR, 8/21 BB/K)
Denny Stark: 1.1 IP, 3 H (7 app, 2.12 ERA, 17 IP, 1 HR, 2/14 BB/K)
Luis Valbuena: 2-3, R, RBI, SB
Shawn Garrett: 1-2, RBI, walk (302/341/442)
Victor Diaz: 1-3, double, R, 2 K (280/367/524)
Prentice Redman: 1-2, double, R, RBI
Game 2: Tacoma 7, Sacramento 6, 7 innings
TAC: 75-63... SAC: 80-58
(League: 277/347/443... 4.84 ERA)
Scott Shoemaker: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 3 walks, 2 K, wild pitch (31 app, 10 GS, 6.34 ERA, 88 IP, 17 HR, 34/58 BB/K)
Justin Thomas: 3.1 IP, 5 H, walk, 4 K (6 app, 4.20 ERA, 15 IP, 2 HR, 8/18 BB/K)
Prentice Redman: 1-3, solo HR, walk, K (304/381/546)
Luis Valbuena: 3-4, R, 2 RBI (293/369/359)
Craig Wilson: 1-3, 2 run HR, 2 R, walk, K (257/370/500)
Luis Oliveros: 1-3, 2 RBI, K (263/289/350)
Oswaldo Navarro: 2-3, double, R, K (260/327/331)