The Jays' top two farm clubs muscled their way to victories, while the lower clubs lost by an aggregate of 32-7!! Together, the four games were a microcosm of the parent club's season to date:
Rochester 4 at Syracuse 5
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I guess it wasn't a good day to be a Red Wing (in any league) yesterday. Simon Pond (2-2, 2 BB) and Gabe Gross (2-4) hit solo home runs for the Syracuse SkyChiefs, who edged Minnesota's Triple-A affiliate at P&C Park. Rochester took an early three-run lead when Josh Rabe singled and scored in the second inning and Brian Simmons and Chris Heintz belted solo homers in the fourth off of spot-starter Josue Matos (4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR). The Chiefs' first hit didn't come until the fourth inning, when Pond and Gross crushed their solo homers to right field. Syracuse added three more runs in the fifth. Noah Hall singled and scored on Russ Adams' double down the right-field line. Shawn Fagan singled, moving Adams to third, and the two were plated on back-to-back RBI-singles by Alex Rios (1-3, BB) and Pond.
Josh Towers, having agreed a day earlier to his reassignment, stepped on the mound in relief of Matos with two outs in the fifth. Towers' only blemish through three and a third innings (1 H, 0 BB, 1 SO) came on a no-doubter off the bat of New Westminster's Justin Morneau in the eighth, cutting Syracuse's lead to one. Aquilino Lopez shut the Wings down in the ninth (0 H, 0 BB, 2 SO) for his second save since being optioned to Syracuse. Catcher Guillermo Quiroz had the day off. Morneau (2-4, HR) -- the International League's hottest hitter, at .402/.453/.736 -- should be playing on a Major League ball-field-near-you by the time Pond and Co. are digging for gold in Athens.
Binghamton 3 at New Hampshire 5
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The Fisher Cats pulled to within a half game of Binghamton in the Eastern League's Northern Division. John-Ford Griffin singled home Danny Solano for the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the F-Cats topped the B-Mets at Gill Stadium. New Hampshire scored 3 runs on four hits in the seventh to make a winner out of starter Cam Reimers, who's now a perfect 3-0 on the season. Reimers allowed 3 hits over 7 innings. Dan Jackson pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief to earn his 2nd save. The Fisher Cats took a 1-0 lead in the 1st on a sacrifice fly by Dominic Rich. Solano, who had doubled, scored from third on the fly to center field. Binghamton took a 3-1 lead in the 6th when, with two outs and with the bases loaded, Josh Pressley singled up the middle. All three runners scored when the ball was bobbled in the outfield. In the bottom of the 7th, New Hampshire had singles by Justin Singleton, Tyrell Godwin, and the aforementioned Solano, before Griffin singled in the winning run off reliever Tim Lavigne. The Cats added an insurance run in the 8th, as rightfielder Maikel Jova homered off Shawn Sedlacek.
Solano (2-3, 2 R, BB), Godwin (2-5) and Griffin keyed an offense which had been anaemic up until yesterday. It was only Griffin's second multi-hit game of the year. After giving up the winning home run Friday night, Erik Kratz returned to his catching duties, reaching base twice (H, BB). New Hampshire will try to win the four-game set today (1:05), as Syracuse-bound Dustin McGowan takes the mound for his final Double-A start against Binghamton's Jose Diaz, another highly touted righty. Live coverage of the game starts at 12:30 on the Fisher Cats Radio Network, WKXL.
St. Lucie 22 at Dunedin 5
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In a rare Sunshine State thrashing, Omar Malave saw his D-Jays give up 22 runs (21 earned) on 19 hits to the Mets High-A affiliate. Southpaw Kurt Isenberg made it out of the first inning without giving up a run, but didn't fare as well in the second. In fact, he was pulled after recording only one out in the second frame. He had only allowed two hits, a walk, (2 SO, 3 ER), and committed two errors, but it remains to be seen if Isenberg was pulled due to precautionary, or other, reasons. In any event, Santo Valdez entered the game and surrendered five runs of his own in the inning, giving St. Lucie an early 8-0 lead. The Mets would never look back. For good measure, the Mets put up a nine-spot on the board in the fourth inning. On the wrong side of a 16-run differential after four innings, Dunedin's bullpen gave up five more runs in the fifth and sixth, before righties Jamie Vermilyea and Andy Torres threw three innings of shutout ball to keep St. Lucie's run total at 22.
As you would expect, Dunedin's offense couldn't quite keep up with their counterparts' pace. In the losing effort, Jayce Tingler (3-5, 2 R) and Ron Davenport (3-5, 2 RBI) had three hits apiece, while Carlo Cota (2-4, BB) and Miguel Negron (1-3, 2 BB, 0 K) each reached base on three occasions. Valdez (1.2 IP, 10 H, 12 R, 11 ER) was tagged with the loss for the D-Jays, whose team ERA soared from 3.38 to 4.12, fourth worst in the FSL, after the defeat. Dunedin hopes to bounce back today in the third game of the four-game series. We'll see if Vito Chiaravalotti is back in DH slot, after missing the last two games.
Charleston 2 at Delmarva 10
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While teammates (and 2003 co-draftees) Shaun Marcum, Justin James, and Tom Mastny have left strong indicators of their readiness for promotions to High-A, Danny Core has had only marginal success thus far. Yesterday, Core allowed three runs in the first, and seven runs in total (5 BB, 3 SO, 3 HR), during his 4 2/3 innings of work. Joaquin Canizal and Brad Esarey threw 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief, but Mark Sopko allowed two solo home runs in the ninth.
The Alley Cat mojo must have run dry, as Chaleston couldn't escape an early five run deficit, scoring only two runs in the lop-sided loss to the Shorebirds. The Cats' sole production came from Willie Rivera, who had an RBI-single in the third, and Clint Johnston, who smacked a solo homer in the ninth. Catcher Joey Wolfe reached base three times (2-3, 1 BB), while Ryan Roberts (0-4, K) continued to cool down. Charleston will try to salvage a series split today.
Links of the Day
1. Kevin Gray has a preview of the highly anticipated McGowan v Diaz matchup. (Union-Leader)
2. Matt Michael has another great SkyChiefs report, in 'Hot at the Top'. (Post-Standard)
3. JP Ricciardi's trip to Oklahoma dragged on an extra day, as the Bedlam Series pitted No. 15 Oklahoma against Oklahoma State yesterday (after a rainout on Friday). More importantly, 6'5" power lefty David Purcey, speculated to be a potential 2004 first-round draft choice for the Jays, took the mound for the Sooners.
4. As noted in other threads, Bob File begins his Syracuse rehab assignment today. To make room for File (as well as McGowan), Bruce Chen was dealt to the Orioles for a player to be named later.
Today's Games
Rochester (MIN) at Syracuse (Jason Arnold), 6:00 pm
Binghamton (NYM) at New Hampshire (Dustin McGowan), 1:05 pm
St. Lucie (NYM) at Dunedin (Neomar Flores), 2:00 pm
Charleston (Justin James) at Delmarva (BAL), 3:05 pm
Three-Star Selection!
Our Third Star: John-Ford Griffin, New Hampshire (2-4, game-winning RBI; is the DH finally heating up?)
Our Second Star: Danny Solano, New Hampshire (2-3, BB; scored the winning run)
Our First Star: Simon Pond, Syracuse (2-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; .292/.343/.492 for the season)
Sunday's Three-Star Standings
1. Josh Banks, Dunedin (16)
2. David Bush, Syracuse (15)
T3. Dustin McGowan, New Hampshire (13)
T3. Ryan Roberts, Charleston (13)
T5. Mike Galloway, Charleston (9)
T5. David Smith, Charleston (9)
T5. Ismael Ramirez, Dunedin (9)
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