- Luis Nuñez has discovered the utility of ball four, and I don't mean Jim Bouton: he drew ANOTHER walk yesterday.
- Wisconsin's season may have been one prolonged disappointment, but Michael Pineda made sure they ended the season with a bang, striking out 14 and allowing only a 5th inning infield single from Domnit Bolivar in a season ending one hitter. Pineda struck out at least one batter in every inning and all but one of Pineda's K's were swinging strikeouts.
1st: Groundball, flyball, strikeout (swing)
2nd: Strikeout (swing), strikeout (swing), strikeout (swing)
3rd: Groundball, groundball, strikeout (swing)
4th: Groundball, strikeout (swing), strikeout (swing)
5th: Groundball, flyball, groundball, strikeout (swing)
6th: Groundball, strikeout (swing), flyball
7th: Groundball, flyball, strikeout (swing)
8th: Groundball, strikeout (swing), strikeout (called)
9th: Strikeout (swing), strikeout (swing), pop up
Groundballs: 9
Flyballs: 4
Line Drives: 0
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 0
Strikeouts: 14
Pineda's line drive rate over the last month? 10.3%.
- Also finishing with a bang despite a whimperous season were the High Desert Mavs, using a 4 run 6th to power ahead, enough to withstand a 3 run Lake Elsinore rally in the bottom half to close the season with a 6-4 win.
- The West Tennessee DIAMOND JAXX, however, ended their regular season with a whimper: rainy weather cancelled their season finale against the Mississippi Braves. They'll go to the playoffs thanks to winning the Southern League North division 1st half championship. They get the rarely seen but often dominant Carolina Mudcats, whose key to victory is one of the Southern League's better defenses: their .660 defensive efficiency is a close 3rd behind league leaders Huntsville and Birmingham, good for a 2nd lowest 4.34 runs per game. Their pitching is alright but hardly spectacular, thanks to the requisite control issues... though closer Chris Mobley is pretty tough to hit. Good luck getting flyballs to drop against these guys.
- Three good things about the Rainiers' season finale:
1. Chris Jakubauskas bailed out a struggling Robert Rohrbaugh in the 4th and responded with 4 shutout innings in which he struck out 8.
4th: Pop up, strikeout (swing), flyball, strikeout (swing)
5th: Strikeout (swing), line drive, strikeout (called), strikeout (swing)
6th: Flyball, strikeout (swing), groundball
7th: Pop up, strikeout (swing), strikeout (swing)
2. The September callups for the M's left a slight vacuum in the Rainiers roster for closing day. In the case of Brandon Morrow, he was done for the year here anyway so big deal. Replacing Luis Valbuena was as easy as Kevin Howard sliding over to 2B, but supplanting Tui at 3B was AZLer Scott Savastano, who responded with two hits, and was the man aboard in the 9th for...
3. ... Prentice Redman's season ending walkoff 2 run home run to win the ballgame 6-5. Yep, Redman did not warrant a look from the M's, but he made sure that he and the Rainiers closed the season, as many others did yesterday, with a bang.
Stats below the jump. West Tenn has at least two games left and Everett finishes their season Wednesday.
A-: Eugene 10, Everett 4
EVE: 32-42... EUG: 38-36
(League: 256/345/373... 4.17 ERA)
Walter Suriel: 3 IP, 10 H, (8 R) 6 ER (HR), 2 K, wild pitch (14 GS +1, 6.06 ERA, 78.2 IP, 12 HR, 24/67 BB/K)
Christian Staehely: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, walk, 3 K (19 app, 4.95 ERA, 36.1 IP, 1 HR, 22/30 BB/K)
Philip Hann: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER (HR), K (21 app, 4.50 ERA, 32 IP, 2 HR, 11/26 BB/K)
Luis Nuñez: 2-5, R, walk (283/306/367)
Manny Pimentel: 3-4, R, walk (231/340/313)
Welington Dotel: 1-5, 3 run HR, 2 K (281/335/439)
Jharmidy De Jesus: 2-4, R, walk, K (268/315/463)
Ryan Royster: 0-2, 3 walks (179/316/228)
A: Wisconsin 5, Quad Cities 0
WIS: 25-45... QC: 35-35
(League: 252/322/371... 3.68 ERA)
Michael Pineda: ONE HITTER, 14 K (21 GS +5, 1.95 ERA, 138.1 IP, 7 HR, 35/128 BB/K)
Daniel Carroll: 3-4, 2 R, SB #31 (248/325/324)
Alex Meneses: 2-5, 2 doubles, R, RBI, K (229/328/278)
Denny Almonte: 2-5, 2 RBI, K, SB #14 (249/303/420)
Joe Dunigan: 1-4, double, RBI, K (240/299/421)
Juan Diaz: 2-4, double, R, SB #16 (233/275/306)
A+: High Desert 6, Lake Elsinore 4
Mavs: 26-44... Lake: 39-31
(League: 273/340/412... 4.51 ERA)
Alfredo Venegas: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER (HR), 2 walks, 3 K (16 GS +9, 4.97 ERA, 112.1 IP, 12 HR, 32/87 BB/K)
Bryan Harris: 1.1 IP, K (41 app, 7.14 ERA, 51.2 IP, 13 HR, 12/33 BB/K)
Anthony Varvaro: 1 IP, K (24 GS +6, 7.12 ERA, 122.2 IP, 22 HR, 82/113 BB/K)
Steven Richard: 1 IP, 1 H, walk (32 app, 4.50 ERA, 42 IP, 2 HR, 24/42 BB/K)
Kuo Hui Lo: 1-3, 2 RBI (252/309/404)
Fernando Encarnacion: 2-4, 2 doubles, 2 R, 2 RBI, K (255/280/426)
Gavin Dickey: 2-4, 2 doubles, 2 R, RBI (242/306/333)
AA: West Tenn's regular season finale was cancelled due to bleh weather. On to the playoffs!
AAA: Tacoma 6, Portland 5
TAC: 80-64... POR: 70-74
(League: 277/348/444... 4.85 ERA)
Robert Rohrbaugh: 3 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, walk, 3 K (18 GS +1, 5.25 ERA, 96 IP, 8 HR, 28/76 BB/K)
Chris Jakubauskas: 4 IP, 2 H, 8 K (9 GS +3, 2.59 ERA, 55.2 IP, 5 HR, 14/48 BB/K)
Denny Stark: 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K (10 app, 3.00 ERA, 21 IP, 2 HR, 4/21 BB/K)
Jon Huber: 1 IP, 3 H, (3 R) 2 ER, hit batter (52 app, 6.40 ERA, 70.1 IP, 7 HR, 21/56 BB/K)
Prentice Redman: 3-4, 2 run HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, walk, K (310/388/571)
Oswaldo Navarro: 1-4, double, 2 RBI, K (261/326/333)
Craig Wilson: 2-4, solo HR (287/396/557)
Scott Savastano: 2-4, 2 R