Monthly Archives: August 2009

The Lynchburg Hillcats have a scheduled day off.

The Bradenton Pirates wrapped up their season with a loss to the Blue Jays. �The Pirates were held to 6 hits in the contest. �Two of the hits belonged to SS Gift Ngoepe, and the only run scored was Ngoepe’s also — a solo home run in the 3rd inning. �3B Walker Gourley doubled, and Ngoepe, 1B Gerlis Rodriguez, 2B Henry Henry, and RF Melvin De La Cruz all singled. �

The Pirates had the bases loaded in the 4th inning, when Henry singled and stole second base, DH Joey Schoenfeld walked and De La Cruz was hit by a pitch. �Two strikeouts ended the inning, leaving all three on base. �They also had runners reach as far as third base in the 1st inning, when Ngoepe and Rodriguez both singled, and a grounder force out put Ngoepe on third base, but again a strikeout ended the threat. �In�the 2nd, Gourley doubled and advanced to third on a ground out, and two strikeouts left him there. �The seven Blue Jays’ pitchers combined for a total of 13 strikeouts.

The Pirates also gave 7 pitchers a chance to get into the last game of the season. �Newly signed draft pick Zach Von Rosenberg made the start and pitched 2 perfect innings, including 2 strikeouts. �Ryan Beckman pitched next. �He got out of a jam in the 3d inning, when a walk, a stolen base, and a throwing error put a runner on third. �He gave up one run in the 4th on three consecutive singles and a fielding error. �Rafael Quintero finished the th inning with a fly out. �Mitchell Fienemann pitched the 5th and gave up what would turn out to be the winning run, on a single, a stolen base, and an RBI double. �Andres Santos, Sandobal Septimo, and Diomedes Garcia each got a turn, with Santos and Garcia going one inning and Septimo taking two innings. �All four of those innings were scoreless.

The Bradenton Pirates finished with a 29 – 31 record, in 5th place (out of 6) in the Gulf Coast League’s North Division. �They did not qualify for the playoffs. �

A few team leaders:

Average: �C Ramon Cabrera – .291

Doubles: �1B Gerlis Rodriguez – 12

Triples: �INF Elevys Gonzalez – 2

Home runs: �OF Rogelio Noris – 6

RBI: �Gerlis Rodriguez — 28

Walks: �Gift Ngoepe — 21

Strikeouts : �Wesley Freeman – 59

And on the pitching side:

Wins: Jhonatan Ramos – 5 �

Losses: �Mitchell Fienemann – 6 �

Saves: Diomedes Garcia – 7

Innings: �Mitchell Fienemann — 40.1

Strikeouts: �Brent Klinger – 36

Walks: �also Klinger — 12

ERA: �well, be careful, because just looking at this number doesn’t tell the whole story.

Ramos had an ERA of 1.82 in 34.2 innings

Fienemann had an ERA of 3.79 in his 40.1 innings

Trent Stevenson �– ERA 1.20 in 15.0 innings

Diomedes Garcia — ERA 1.93 in 34.2 innings

Strikeout-to-walk ratios:

Ramos: �11.00

Fienemann: �8.67

Sandobal Septimo: �7.67

Melkin Laureano: �4.00

Klinger: 3.00

Garcia: �2.50

Edit:

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette sums up the Bradenton Pirates’ team.

Three unanswered runs in the second half of the game helped the Power get past the Crawdads. �CF Starling Marte led the offense with two hits, a single and a triple. �He scored the first Power run in the 1st inning, when he was hit by a pitch, went to second base on a missed catch error on a pick-off attempt, and scored on C Tony Sanchez’s RBI double. �

The Crawdads came back to score 2 runs in the 3rd inning and take the lead. �Hunter Strickland gave up the runs on three singles and a walk. �Those were the only hits he allowed in his 5 innings; he struck out 6 batters. �

Marte was a one-man rally in the 5th inning, when he tripled and then scored on a throwing error by the Crawdads’ center fielder. �In the 7th inning, SS Adenson Chourio singled and stole second base, then went to third on another throwing error. �Marte singled, to score Chourio, and then he also stole second base, and went on to third on a passed ball, but was left there at the end of the inning. �The Power added one more run in the 8th, on a single by 1B Kyle Morgan, a double by RF Quincy Latimore, and a fielding error. �The Crawdads committed a total of 6 errors in the game. �

Duke Welker pitched one scoreless inning, then Casey Erickson pitched 2.2 scoreless innings. �Erickson left the game with two outs in the 9th inning, after he was hit by a line drive on his right (pitching) arm. �Noah Krol came on to get the last out,
and earn the save. �Erickson earned his 8th win. �

1B Kyle Morgan�was named the South Atlantic League’s Player of the Week for last week. �Morgan went 10-for-21 (.476) over the week, with 3 doubles, 3 home runs, and 7 RBI. �

LHP Rudy Owens, who has since been promoted to Lynchburg, was named to the South Atlantic League’s Post-Season All Start Team, and named the league’s Most Outstanding Pitcher. �He had a 10-1 record and a 1.70 ERA in his 19 games with the Power.�

3B Pedro Alvarez and RF Jonel Pacheco each went 2-for-4 for the Curve, who could not catch up to the Sea Wolves. �Both Alvarez and Pacheco singled in the 1st inning, after CF Gorkys Hernandez’s lead-off single, and Pacheco picked up the RBI as Hernandez scored. �The Sea Wolves tied the score in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run, and then took the lead in the 2nd inning on another solo homer. �Starter Danny Moskos allowed only a single and a walk over the next 3 innings, but then got into trouble in the 6th inning. �Two singles�and a 2-RBI double gave Erie a 4-1 lead. Moskos pitched 6 innings and struck out 8 batters. �

The Curve responded with 2 runs of their own in the top of the 7th. �With one out, 1B Miles Durham and Steve Lerud both singled, with Durham going on to third base. �Durham scored on an RBI grounder by Gorkys Hernandez, and 2B Shelby Ford’s RBI double brought in Lerud. �

Dustin Molleken pitched the last 2 scoreless innings, and allowed only 2 walks. �

This was Pedro Alvarez’s last game with the Curve. �He leaves on Tuesday to join Team USA in North Carolina, to prepare for the upcoming World Cup tournament. �

Dustin Molleken will also be on his way soon, to join Team Canada, also gettting ready in North Carolina. �Former Curve manager Tim Leiper will be the third base coach for Team Canada. �

Batavia scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to tie the score, and then get the walk-off win over the Spikes. �RF David Rubinstein led the Spikes’ offense with 3 hits, missing only a single from hitting the cycle. �

The Spikes got things started with 3 runs in the top of the 1st inning. �CF Evan Chambers walked and stole second base, and 1B Aaron Baker also walked. �DH Justin Byler’s grounder forced Baker out at second base, but moved Chamber to third. �David Rubinstein cleared the bases with a triple, bringing in two runs. �Rubinstein himself scored on a wild pitch. �

Batavia came roaring back with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning of starter Phillip Irwin. �Three singles, a walk, and a double brought in three runs before an out was recorded, and a sacrifice fly plated the fourth run. �That sent Irwin to the showers, and Brandon Holden came on to pitch. �Holden finished the inning with a pop out, then gave way to Nelson Pereira, who pitched 4 scoreless and hitless innings. Pereira walked 2 batters and struck out 9 — he got only 3 outs that were not strikeouts. �

The Spikes regained the lead with 3 more runs in the 5th inning, on back-to-back home runs by Justin Byler (his 5th, also bringing in Evan Chambers, who had walked) and David Rubinstein (his 3rd). �They also scored a run in the 6th, when LF Kyle Saukko walked, moved to third base on SS Brock Holt’s single, and scored on Chamber’s second single. �

Again Batavia came back, with a solo home run in the bottom of the 6th, and another run in the 8th, on a walk, a wild pitch, a missed catch error, a walk, and finally another walk to force in a run. �Those runs were charged to Zachary Foster, who allowed one run and struck out 4 batters in his 2.2 innings. �Marc Baca finished the 8th inning for Foster, but became the losing pitcher in the 9th, when he allowed the tying run to score on a double, a bunt, and his own throwing error. �Baca got one out, then gave up an intentional walk. �But the next batter singled, and the winning run scored.

[Photo: �Hector Gimenez had 2 hits and 2 RBI tonight]

The Indianapolis Indians took advantage of Dontrelle Willis’s wild night to beat the Mud Hens at Fifth Third Field in Toledo, Ohio today. �The win gave them a 3-1 win of the series in Toledo and moved the Tribe into a tie with the Mud Hens for second place in the International League’s West Division. �It also moved the Indians above the .500 mark (68-67) for the first time in the 2009 season. �The Indians and the Mud Hens are still 10 games behind the first place Louisville Bats, and are not even close to being in the running for the wild card spot in the IL playoffs. �The Bats have clinched the West Division championship, and will be going to the playoffs. �

Detroit Tigers’ lefty Dontrelle Willis made a rehab start for the Mud Hens, and for awhile, it looked like he wasn’t going to make it out of the first inning. �He walked the first two Indians’ batters, RF Jose Tabata and 2B Pedro Lopez on 11 pitches. � CF Jeff Salazar singled into right field to load the bases. �Then Willis walked LF Brian Myrow (photo) and 1B Tagg Bozied on 9 pitches, forcing in two runs. �With the bases still loaded, 3B Neil Walker�drove a liner into the right field corner — but foul at the last moment. �He ended up�grounding to third, and the Mud Hens started a double play, 5-2-3, as 3B Brent Dlugach threw to the plate to force out Jeff Salazar, and C Dane Sardinha fired on to first base in time to get the out on Walker. � Tribe C Hector Gimenez�singled up the middle, just out of reach of the diving Toledo 2B Will Rhymes, and that brought in Myrow and Bozied, to give the Indians 4 runs. �

Tribe starter Ty Taubenheim, who stepped up to make the start today in place of Daniel McCutchen, gave up one run to the Mud Hens in the 2nd inning. �With two outs, LF Jeff Frazier doubled into center field, and the next batter, CF Wilkin Ramirez brought Frazier home with a line drive single into center. �

Taubenheim (photo) took advantage of two double plays to get out of the 1st and 3rd innings. �In the 1st, after Will Rhymes led off with a single, DH Scott Sizemore lined to third base, where Neil Walker made the catch, then fired across the diamond to first base to double off Rhymes. �In the 3rd, C Dane Sardinha singled, but Will Rhymes grounded right to 2B Pedro Lopez, who tagged Sardinha as he ran by, then threw to first to get Rhymes. �Of course, the Indians fell victim to the double play twice in the first three innings also. �Besides the 5-2-3 play in the 1st inning, Tagg Bozied grounded to third in the 3rd inning, for a 5-4-3 double play that erased Brian Myrow after his single. �

Taubenheim got out of a jam on his own in the 4th inning. �Former Indy Indian (2007) Don Kelly led off with a double into left field, and Brent Dlugach walked. �But Taubenheim struck out 1B Mike Hessman, LF Jeff Frazier, and CF Wilkin Ramirez, to end the inning. �

Dontrelle Willis got into trouble again in the 5th inning. �His control appeared to be a little better, as the balls he threw were closer to the strike zone, but he still walked the first three batters at the top of the order, Jose Tabata, Pedro Lopez, and Jeff Salazar, on just 15 pitches. �Willis headed to the showers, relieved by Zach Simons. �Simons’ second pitch to Brian Myrow got away from C Dane Sardinha for a passed ball, and Tabata scrambled home. Myrow was intentionally walked to load the bases again. �Tagg Bozied lifted a sinking line drive �to left field, which Jeff Frazier was able to catch at his shoe tops and get back into the infield in time to keep Lopez from tagging up and scoring. �That brought up Neil Walker (photo) with the bases loaded for the second time in the game. �Walker hit another fly to left field, and this time Lopez did tag up and try to score — but the throw in from Frazier was quick and on-target, and Lopez was out by at least 6 feet. �

Hector Gimenez picked up his second hit of the game in the 6th inning, with a liner into center field to begin the inning. �SS Argenis Diaz sent Gimenez to third base with a grounder up the middle, and Jose Tabata’s sacrifice fly brought Gimenez across the plate. �

Jeff Karstens came on to pitch the 6th inning, on his rehab assignment. �He was very quick, retiring three Mud Hens in order — two fly outs, and a strikeout. �He also pitched the 7th inning, and allowed 2 singles. �He struck out 3 batters over the two innings. �

The Mud Hens brought in another rehabbing pitcher for the 7th inning. �Jeremy Bonderman gave up a single to Brian Myrow, who went 2-for-3 in the game, but got three outs, leaving Myrow on base. �

Juan Mateo came on to pitch the 8th for the Indians. �He gave up a lead-off single to Will Rhymes, then a walk to Scott Sizemore. �Don Kelly continued his hot hitting for the Mud Hens with an RBI single into center field, scoring Rhymes. �The inning ended when Mike Hessman lifted a little pop to the right of the mound. �Mateo was able to step over and catch the ball just before it hit the ground, then throw to first in plenty of time to double up Kelly, who had been running on contact. �

The Mud Hens scored one more run in the 9th. �Jean Machi (photo) took over for Mateo, and gave up a one-out triple to Wilkin Ramirez. �RF Brent Clevlen walked, and C Dane Sardinha brought in Ramirez with a sacrifice fly. �Machi ended the inning with a fly out to Brian Myrow in left field, and the Indians were ready to hop on the bus back to Indianapolis.

Indians’ Hitting Gems of the Game: Two hits for Hector Gimenez. �His single in the first inning brought in the two runs that Dontrelle Willis did not force in. �Then he singled again in the 6th inning, sparking another rally.

Indians’ Defensive Gem of the Game: �Five strong innings by Ty Taubenheim, throwing 75 pitches (48 strikes) on short notice. �He allowed only one run on 5 hits and struck out 6 batters. �After the game, Taubenheim said “I think I had really good fastball command… Five innings went by and I felt good and we won.”

The GCL Bradenton Pirates, as usual, do not play on Sunday. �Tomorrow’s game will the their last of the season.

Altoona played an early game in Erie:

A walk-off walk in the 12th inning gave the Sea Wolves the win this afternoon. �Reliever Ramon Aguero, in his second inning of work, walked the first batter in the bottom of the 12th. �A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second base, and Aguero struck out the next batter. �He intentionally walked the next Erie batter, but two un-intentional walks forced in the winning run. �Aguero took the loss, his first with the Curve. �

The Curve got started in the 2nd inning with back-to-back walks by DH Jason Delaney and 1B Miles Durham. �2B Shelby Ford singled to load the bases. �LF Jeff Corsaletti brought in Delaney and Durham with a drive down the left field line and into the corner. �C Miguel Perez brought in Ford with a grounder to short, and the Curve had a 3-0 lead.�

Base running problems hurt the Curve in the early innings. �SS Brian Friday walked to open the game, but was thrown out trying to steal second base. �RF Jonel Pacheco was also thrown out trying to steal after he singled in the 3rd inning. �In the 4th inning, Jeff Corsaletti singled and was out at second trying to stretch it into a double. �

After Corsaletti was thrown out in the 4th, Miguel Perez was hit by a pitch. �He moved to second base on a wild pitch, and came around to score when CF Gorkys Hernandez singled up the middle. �

Jared Hughes took over for Alderson in the 7th, and that’s when the�Sea Wolves tied it up. Hughes allowed a lead-off single, and a sacrifice bunt and an infield ground out moved the runner to third base. �He scored on a wild pitch. �Erie took 6-4 lead in the 8th inning on back-to-back doubles, and added a go-ahead run on a fielding error by Brian Friday. �

The Curve came right back in the top of the 9th to tie the score again. �With one out, Jonel Pacheco collected his 3rd hit of the game with a single into right field. �Jason Delaney walked. �Two RBI singles, by Miles Durham and Shelby Ford scored Pacheco and Delaney. �When Jeff Corsaletti bounced to first base, Durham was out on the throw back to the plate, and the game went into extras. �Erie put one base runner on (a walk) in the bottom of the 9th and one on (single) in the 11th . The Curve put one runner on in the top of the 10th (Gorkys Hernandez’s single), and went down in order in the 11th and the 12th. �That set up the bottom of the 12th, and the walk off walk. �

A 6-run first inning by the Dash chased Hillcats’ starter Nate Adcock after only one inning, and the Hillcats could not catch up.

Adcock did not have it from the start. �With one out, he gave up two walks and a single, though CF Jose De Los Santos made an on-target throw to the plate, allwoing C Eric Fryer to tag out the lead runner as he tried to score. �Then with two outs, Adcock gave up a 3-run homer, three straight singles, and a 2-RBI double, to give the Dash their 6-0 lead. �

Moises Robles took over for Adcock to begin the 2nd inning (Adcock may have reached the 30-pitch limit in pitching to 10 batters in the 1st inning). �Robles pitched 3 perfect innings with 2 strikeouts. �Ronald Uviedo pitched the remaining 4 innings. �He gave up a solo homer in the 7th innings, and scattered three more singles and two walks. �

The Hillcats were quiet for the first 5 innings, with singles by 2B Chase d’Arnaud in the 1st, �DH Jamie Romak in the 4th, and C Eric Fryer in the 5th. �D’Arnaud reached second base on a fielding error to open the 6th inning, and he was able to tag up and move to third base when 3B Josh Harrison flied out. �SS Jordy Mercer brought d’Arnaud in with a sacrifice fly to put the Hillcats on the scoreboard. ��

Three doubles, by 1B Matt Hague, Eric Fryer, and Chase d’Arnaud, plus a single by Jose De Los Santos gave the Hillcats 3 runs in the top of the 7th inning. �They threatened again in the 8th, when Jamie Romak walked and Hague singled, and both moved up 90 feet on a passed ball. �But a strikeout ended the inning without a run scoring, and the Hillcats still could not catch up. �

The Power led the Crawdads 9-2 going into the 9th inning,
and almost let the game slip away when the Crawdads scored 6 runs in the top of the 9th. �Starter Brett Lorin pitched 6 innings and got his second win, allowing one run on 6 hits and a walk, while striking out 8 batters. �That one run was a solo home run by Hickory’s Eric Fry to lead off the 2nd inning. �Diego Moreno pitched 2 innings and also allowed a run, in the 7th inning on a double and an RBI single. �

Wilson Ortiz took the mound to begin the 9th inning, and he got into trouble with two singles and a hit batter to load the bases without an out. �A short fly ball gave him one out, but was too short for the runner on third base to tag up. �But a walk and another hit batter forced in two runs, and Eric Fry hit his second homer of the game. �This one was a grand slam, giving the Crawdads 6 runs in the inning. �Rafael De Los Santos relieved Ortiz and gave up another single, but got the final out of the game. �

The Spikes out-hit the Crosscutters 11-6, but the Crosscutters were able to make more efficient use of their hits, and they took advantage of 4 errors by the Spikes. �

Tyler Cox made the start for the Spikes. �In 6 innings of work, he allowed one run in each of four different innings, on 4 hits, no walks, with 6 strikeouts. �Three of the runs scored on the combination of an error and a double (1st, 3rd, and 5th innings). �The run in the 5th also was aided by a throwing error by C Craig Parry, when the base runner stole second. �The run in the 4th inning came without an error charged — it was an inside-the-park�home run. �

The Spikes scored 2 runs in the 3rd inning, temporarily tying the score. �CF�Evan Chambers led off with a double, and 2B�Brock Holt followed with a triple, scoring Chambers. �Holt scored on 1B�Aaron Baker’s RBI single. � Holt singled again to lead off the 7th inning. �He moved to second base on DH�Justin Byler’s single, and to third on Baker’s sacrifice bunt. �RF David Rubinstein’s sacrifice fly scored Holt to bring the Spikes within a run of the Crosscutters. �

Victor Black relieved Cox in the 7th inning. �He retired the side in the 7th. �In the 8th, he gave up a double and a sacrifice bunt. �The runner tried to score from third on a grounder to third, but was tagged out at the plate by Craig Parry. �The Crosscutters did score one more time in the 9th. �With two outs, a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI single scored the insurance run. �Cox suffered the loss, his 3rd of the season. �Brock Holt had 3 hits, a triple and two singles, in the game. �

The Pirates will have to make a spot on their 40-man roster for McCutchen, and they have not yet said how that will happen. �

McCutchen has a 13-6 record with the Indians, in 24 starts this season. �He has already pitched 142.2 innings, and while that is a lot, particularly by the Pirates’ standards, it is less than the 171.1 innings he threw last season (123.1 in the Yankees’ organization and 48 in the Pirates’). �McCutchen has allowed 145 hits and 55 earned runs (ERA 3.47) with only 29 walks and 110 strikeouts. �He has been particularly effective since the All-Star break, when his ERA dropped from 4.37 pre-break to 1.90. �While his strikeout rate has been about the same throughout the season, his walk rate dropped almost in half after the break — from 2.27 walks per 9 innings before to 1.04 walks per 9 innings after the break. �

(LATER)

Brad Lincoln has been named to take McCutchen’s spot on Team USA.