Archive for August, 2009

Hernandez hasn’t really made me a fan. I think we’d be fine without him,

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Iowa Cubs (70-65)

The Iowa Cubs made it four in a row tonight with a 7-4 thumping of the Oklahoma City RedHawks.

Casey Fossum improved his record to 6-4 by allowing only one run on two hits over five innings. Fossum walked four and hit two batters. He struck out nine.

Blake Parker pitched the ninth inning and picked up his 20th save. Parker allowed one hit and didn’t walk anyone. He struck out two.

First baseman Micah Hoffpauir went 2 for 4 with three RBI and a run scored. Third baseman Andres Blanco was 2 for 5 with two runs scored. Shortstop Darwin Barney was 2 for 4 with a run scored.

Tennessee Smokies (34-28)

Ryno’s Boys stayed tied for first place by beating the Moblie Bay Bears, 7-4.

Starter Jeremy Papelbon gave up two home runs in his five-inning start, but got the win anyway. Papelbon allowed four runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out one.

Brian Schlitter got save number twenty-one. He pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing no runs on one hit. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out two.

Right fielder Tyler Colvin hit a bases-loaded triple and a solo home run for four RBI tonight. Colvin was 2 for 4 and scored twice.

Third baseman Marquez Smith was 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Shortstop Starlin Castro went 2 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored. Castro also stole his third base for Tennessee.

Daytona Cubs (27-34)

The D-Cubs were thrashed by the Clearwater Threshers, 6-2.

Rafael Dolis started and only went three innings. He gave up two runs on three hits, although one of the two runs was unearned. Dolis walked four and struck out three as his record dropped to 3-9. His ERA is a respectable 3.54 though.

Left fielder Marwin Gonzalez hit his second home run, a solo home run in the fifth inning. Gonzalez was 1 for 3.

DH Brandon Guyer was 2 for 4 with an RBI. Second baseman Jake Opitz was 2 for 3 wih a walk.

Peoria Chiefs  (38-23)

The Chiefs shucked the Cedar Rapids Kernels, 11-1.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx continues to dominate the Midwest League. Tonight he improved his record to 7-1, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing only one run on five hits. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out six.  The Chiefs expect Bibens-Dirkx to start the playoffs for them, but I really think he needs to get a September call-up. Please?

It was a six RBI night for right fielder Kyler Burke, including a triple and a grand slam. It was Burke’s 14th homer this year. Burke was 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored twice.

DH Ryan Flaherty was 2 for 3 with a double and a walk. He scored twice and had two RBI. First baseman Rebel Ridling was 2 for 5 with an RBI and three runs scored.

Center fielder Jose Valdez made his Midwest League debut a successful one. He was 2 for 5 with two runs scored.

Boise Hawks (30-38)

The Hawks lost their sixth game in a row as they were messed up by the Tri-City Dust Devils 3-1.

Starter Robert Hernandez was pretty good tonight. He went five innings and allowed only one run on four hits. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out five.

Eduardo Figueroa got the loss in relief. He gave up two runs, one earned, over his 1.2 inning relief stint.

Shortstp Hak-Ju Lee was 2 for 4 with a run scored.

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I’m willing to bet nobody saw that one coming! Thoughts?

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A 3-3 record on a Friday night is reason to celebrate. There is just over a week remaining in the minor league regular season, so it’s time for prospects to leave a positive impression going into the off-season.
Reno 6 Las Vegas 0

Davis Romero, much better suited to the bullpen, was roughed up again in a start and allowed four runs in five innings. He also allowed two homers. Bill Murphy’s struggles continued with two runs allowed in two innings. Edward Buzachero worked two scoreless innings. The offense managed just five hits. JP Arencibia went 1-for-4 with the only extra base hit, a double. Kevin Howard went 1-for-3. Angel Sanchez was 1-for-2 with two walks. Brian Dopirak went 1-for-3 with a walk.

New Hampshire 6 Portland 2

Kenny Rodriguez continues to finish the year strong with one run allowed in six innings. He allowed just three hits and two walks, while striking out eight. Leon Boyd struggled out of the pen but Zach Dial worked a scoreless inning to end the game. Darin Mastroianni had another nice game with two hits and two steals. Brad Emaus also nabbed two bases and went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Nick Gorneault drive in three runs and was 2-for-4.

Dunedin 3 Lakeland 2

Minor league vet Vince Bongiovanni has been a life saver in Dunedin this year and he had another nice game on Friday night. Bongiovanni allowed just two runs in six hits and no walks over 6.1 innings. He added six Ks. Matt Daly pitched 1.1 innings and recorded all his outs via the strikeout. Alan Farina finished up the game with a scoreless ninth and he struck out the side. Tyler Pastornicky and John Tolisano each had two hits. Eric Thames went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Matt Luizza went 1-for-3.

Lansing 5 Dayton 1

Lansing defeated Dayton behind the strong pitching of Joel Carreno. The right-hander allowed just four hits in seven innings, but he did walk three batters. One run scored against Carreno and he struck out nine batters. Yorman Mayora finished the game with two scoreless innings. Offensively, Michael McDade continued to swing the hot bat with a 2-for-4 day. Welinton Ramirez has really enjoyed his promotion to Lansing and he went 1-for-4 with his fifth double in eight games. Justin McClanahan went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Kenny Wilson had a hit and stole a bag. Yohermyn Chavez went 0-for-4 with two Ks.

Batavia 9 Auburn 7

The bullpen struggled for Auburn. Evan Crawford started the game and allowed two runs in 5.1 innings. Josh Wells, though, allowed four runs in one innings, while Dan Miller allowed on run in just one-third of an inning for the blown save. Zach Anderson allowed two runs in one inning for the loss. At the plate, Sean Ochinko went 4-for-5 with a double, RBI and two runs scored. Ryan Schimpf went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI. Markus Brisker broke out of his season-long slump with three hits and a stolen base. Kevin Nolan, and Yan Gomes each had two hits. Gomes smoked his 20th double in 51 games. Rehabbing Jon Del Campo went 0-for-5 with three Ks.

GCL Yankees 2 GCL Jays 0 (Eight innings, rain)

The baby Jays were no-hit in a rain-shortened game. Gustavo Pierre had the roughest day with three Ks in as many plate appearances. Kevin Denis-Fortier was the only player to get on-base and that was via a walk. Robert Ray made a rehab appearance and pitched one inning. Ross Buckwalter also made a rehab appearance with one inning pitched. Nestor Molina finished the game up by allowing one run in five innings. He walked one, allowed three hits and struck out four batters.

Three Stars:
3. Matt Daly for recording all four of his outs via the K
2. Joel Carreno for one run in seven innings of work
1. Sean Ochinko, for four hits

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I have always been a fan of Wells, but I have to say, seeing news like this gives me mixed feelings.This will be shocking news for Wells fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I can’t say I’m all that surprised though. Wells is cool, I hope this doesn’t affect the season.

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Ha, I just can’t get enough of young,

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NEW YORK - OK, so maybe in the world of Ozzie Guillen grandchildren are overrated anyway.
Asked last week if he would give Jose Contreras another start this season, the White Sox manager responded, “I’ve got three kids, and I want to see my grandkids when they are born. I don’t want to get a heart attack before my time.”
Pennant races must make a man do crazy thing, because guess who is getting the start for this afternoon’s start against the New York Yankees?
“Saturday’s starter is going to be Jose Contreras,” Guillen announced after Friday’s loss. “I don’t have many choices. Our choices in the minor leagues weren’t very good. He’s going to start Saturday. We made sure we changed his routine, so we hope he pitches well.”
Guillen was asked why the organization decided to go away from calling up youngsters Daniel Hudson or Carlos Torres, and he pointed toward the fact that the roster somewhat had their hands tied.
“Because we don’t have another options at all,” Guillen said. “Then we don’t want to move anyone off the roster and we’ll see how it works.”
Contreras was finally yanked out of the starting rotation earlier in the week, after he went 1-5 with a 6.16 ERA in his last eight starts.
The Sox were hoping that the Saturday spot would be filled by Jake Peavy, but after taking a comebacker in his right elbow last Monday, they opted to give him one more start in Class AAA Charlotte Saturday night.

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Any thoughts on Guess who’s back on the mound!?

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For all you fans out there, here’s some news about young,

Sky Blue FC won the first Women’s Professional Soccer League championship last weekend, but didn’t find out until the champagne celebration that their coach-slash-captain, Christie Rampone, is three months pregnant. No, she didn’t play barefoot.

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I bet everybody saw that coming! Thoughts?

Here’s a vid of young:

Youth Baseball - Tips for Young Catchers

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Denver probably thought all their troubles were gone when they shipped Jay Cutler out of town, but now they’ve got an even bigger problem child on their hands in Brandon Marshall. The operative word being “child.”

Marshall has not played in either of the Broncos preseason games because he fully admits that he hasn’t bothered to learn the playbook. Then he threw a temper tantrum at practice on Wednesday (helpfully captured by local news crews), by walking through running drills, punting balls across the field instead of giving them to ball boys, and knocking down passes instead of catching them. Basically just being a gigantic baby. He was not allowed to practice on Thursday as a result.

The disgruntled wide receiver told ESPN last night that he isn’t trying to force a trade, even though he’s been asking for one for months. That’s good news, because no one is going to want to trade for a spoiled brat wide receiver. (There’s plenty of those to go around.) He says he’s “frustrated” over … playing in Denver, I guess, and apologized for his behavior. That doesn’t mean he’s suddenly interested in cooperating with offense, however.

So for now Denver is stuck with him, their only recourse being a maximum four-game suspension. UPDATE: And that’s exactly what they’ve done. He’s just been suspended for the rest of the preseason for “conduct detrimental to the team.”

Of course, there is one constant between both the Jay Cutler saga and the Marshall one—Josh McDaniels. The only thing he seems to have accomplished in his first offseason is pissing off his team’s two best players and winning the respect of no one. Should be a good year in Broncoland!

Brandon Marshall Makes A Mockery Of Practice ABC7
Denver Broncos’ WR Brandon Marshall misses practice again, likely out Sunday ESPN
Broncos can’t send Marshall home with pay ProFootballTalk

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I have always been a big fan of Mock, but I have to say, seeing news like this gives me mixed feelings.How do you think this news will affect the team this season?

Here’s a video of Mock:

Joe Scarborough Mock Obama’s First Pitch

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I wonder how Wells’s fans feel -

Let’s push controversy aside for a while, shall we, and try to just enjoy a baseball game this afternoon?

The last time the Mets visited Wrigley Field was more than 16 months ago, on April 22, 2008. That isn’t that long ago in baseball terms, but of the eight starting Cubs that day, four are no longer with the team and one is on the DL. Five other Cubs who appeared in the game are elsewhere as well. As for the Mets, four of their starting eight from that game won’t appear due to injury and three others have departed.

Ronny Cedeno hit a grand slam in that game, just to remind you of blasts from the past. It’s still his only slam. (That’s just about the time we started calling him ONEDEC.)

Two very different teams will take the field at Wrigley this afternoon from that long-ago day in 2008 (the Cubs did face the Mets last September, still almost a year ago, when the Mets were desperately trying to win a playoff spot, which they lost on the last day of the season). The Mets have been decimated by injuries, both to their starting lineup and pitching rotation — the three Mets probable starters in this series, Pat Misch, Bobby Parnell and Nelson Figueroa, were definitely not the pitchers Jerry Manuel envisioned in his rotation in April.

OK, I suppose I can’t resist a couple of links and comments regarding the current Milton Bradley situation. Phil Rogers says the Cubs should just cut him, which would cost north of $20 million and I think is a ridiculous idea, but Rogers also offer some suggestions of other teams’ bad contracts that could result in a trade:

The only way to trade Bradley, according to executives with other clubs, is to up your ante to take on someone else’s bad contract. You know the names — the Blue Jays‘ Vernon Wells, owed $98.5 million over five years; the Giants‘ Barry Zito, $83 million over four years; the Astros‘ Carlos Lee, $55.5 million over three years, maybe the Giants’ Aaron Rowand, $36 million over three years.

The best of those scenarios involves the Rangers‘ five-year, $80-million deal with Michael Young, who at 32 is a productive player. He’s owed $16 million a year for four more seasons.

In a cost-cutting mode because of ownership problems, Texas might consider a Bradley-for-Young trade. But it wouldn’t do it during its ongoing playoff race and it’s going to be increasingly awkward for them to try to wade through a hugely problematic trade.

As Rogers says, Texas is in a playoff race and probably wouldn’t do it now. So are the Giants with Zito, who has actually pitched very well since the All-Star break. The Vernon Wells deal would be more palatable to the Cubs if it didn’t have five years and nearly as much money as Alfonso Soriano’s. But I’d do it. Wells is virtually the same age as Bradley (about eight months younger) and, though he’s had a couple of tough years since he signed his monster deal, at least he does have proven power numbers from the past, and could play CF, allowing Kosuke Fukudome to move back to RF next season (with Reed Johnson retained to back them both up).

And strangely enough, the best local media words on this situation come from the Tribune’s Steve Rosenbloom, who I almost never agree with and who often writes ridiculous bombast. But today he nails it, in a column titled Bradley’s response ought to anger those who take on racism seriously:

Racism is serious. If you are concerned or angry enough to put that in the public discussion, then you seemingly should be motivated to explain when and where this happened. How else do you take a step toward keeping it from happening again?

But when Bradley offers only cynicism and sarcasm, he diminishes the severity of the issue. Moreover, he does a disservice to those suffering abuse but who are willing to fight the fight head on.

…

Under no circumstances does anyone deserve to be abused racially. Underachieving baseball player and racial epithets are dots that should never connect.

But Bradley’s history and now his dismissive response to questions following his serious charges invite the suggestion that he’s looking for ways to shield himself from his problems, self-inflicted or otherwise.

One hundred percent correct, Mr. Rosenbloom. Bravo.

Try to enjoy today’s game.

Today’s Starting Pitchers

Ted Lilly Cubs vs. Pat Misch Mets 9-8 W-L 0-1 3.40 ERA 4.09 116 SO 13 27 BB 13 21 HR 1 vs. NY – vs. Cubs

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	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Ted Lilly	9-8	21	21	0	0	0	0	135.0	123	56	51	21	27	116	3.40	1.11

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Pat Misch’s stats below are with the Mets only; see the pitcher box for his full-season stats.

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	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Pat Misch	0-1	15	0	0	0	0	1	18.2	18	6	6	1	10	13	2.89	1.50

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There’s no profile photo of Pat Misch in a Mets cap available (at least not in that size), so you get one of him with his former team, the Giants. The Mets acquired Misch on waivers in July and he’s spent the last couple of months shuttling between Buffalo and New York, making 15 relief appearances with the Mets (after four with the Giants). He is a Chicago-area native who graduated from Glenbrook North HS in Northbrook in 1999 and has made three career relief appearances vs. the Cubs, all in 2007. This will be his first start as a Met. Only one current Cub has a hit off him — Koyie Hill (1-for-2), but that’s covering only eight total at-bats from all current Cubs.

Ted Lilly is 2-1, 3.86 in five career appearances (four starts) vs. the Mets. His last two starts against them, one in 2007 and one in 2008, were both wins, the last one in the April 22, 2008 game mentioned above. The current Met who has the most AB against Ted is Gary Sheffield; Sheffield is only 5-for-28 against him.

Cable-only today in Chicago (CSN) and New York (SNY). For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin’ Avenue.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 2:15 pm, 3:15 pm and 4 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

what do you think?This might be shocking news for Wells fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming from a mile away. I’m pretty surprised though. Wells is neat, I really hope this doesn’t affect the season.

Want to give yourself an edge? Want the same professional equipment that the professional athletes use? Want to buy it for less? Get free shipping on orders over $99 when you shop at BaseballRampage. These guys have practically everything you and your team need, from bats balls and gloves to cleats, bases, even pitching machines.

I wonder how Hernandez’s real fans feel, The Washington Nationals have signed veteran right-hander Livan Hernandez and he will start Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs. The 34-year-old right-hander was released by the Mets on Thursday and signed by Washington on Tuesday. He was 7-8 with a 5.47 ERA with New York and had struggled in his last three starts, allowing 18 earned runs in 14 1-3 innings.

what do you think?This will be shocking news for Hernandez fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming. I can’t say I’m all that surprised though. Hernandez is cool, I really hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.

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I wonder how Cabrera’s fans feel -

what do you think?How do you think this news will affect the rest of the team this season?

Take a peek at a clip of Cabrera:

Alex Cabrera - La saco del estadio!

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Look who is making news again - Dukes! This time, Dukes, Willingham power Nats. In the interest of saving time, we have a summary -

Elijah Dukes seemed to be beating a path to the batter’s box because his Washington Nationals’ teammates kept getting on base and giving him a chance to hit. “You’ve got me down in the seven hole and it just comes so quick. You’ve got guys up there that’s basically hit after hit after hit and then I’m up there.

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This will be shocking news for Dukes fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming. I’m pretty surprised. Dukes is neat, I hope this doesn’t affect the season.

Here’s a vid of Dukes at his best:

Baseball Highlights: JMU vs VMI

Every day could be opening day when you open your check-book and see the logo of your favorite MLB team prominently displayed. All 30 teams available. Matching labels and cover are also available. These baseball checks are only $27.90 at DesignerChecks.com

I wonder how young’s serious fans feel,

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