Whether the results be nameless or scoreless, only a few games were played last night on the farm. Ted Lilly pitched well, and I have some trivia questions for you all...
UPDATE: This has now transformed into a Trivia Challenge thread. We don't need no stinkin' minor leagues.
Ted Lilly's line last night: five innings, four hits, two runs, three walks and seven strikeouts. Take from that what you will -- he will start for Toronto on Labour Day, said J.P. Ricciardi on the FAN 590. He also struck out Dave Berg on what was called "a Bugs Bunny change." More importantly, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard, 60 of his 83 pitches were strikes. He only managed 28 of 63 last time out. There wasn't much else in the Syracuse 3-2 loss to Pawtucket to speak of aside from John-Ford Griffin's 28th homerun of the year.
New Hampshire won 7-5. Despite being below .500, they're not out of it yet; they are three games behind Trenton for that second playoff spot. Both teams have five games to play.
As for the game, in a rare offensive display by the Fishers, Ryan Roberts had a double, two singles and a walk, Ron Davenport singled and tripled and four others gathered two hits.
I'm not sure how the FSL playoff system works if Lakeland finishes first in both halves, but Dunedin is tied for the top spot now after their big bang 8-1 win. Give Adam Lind (single, double, triple) and Vito Chiaravalloti (homer) a combined cycle. You have to feel for Eric Arnold; in the 7-run fifth, he didn't even get on base, striking out swinging twice on his way to a Golden Sombrero. Kurt Isenberg pitched well, going seven innings and allowing just one run.
Two seven-inning games for Lansing: in Game 1, they got only one run on an Aaron Mathews solo shot as they lost 3-1. In Game 2, it was more of a balanced attack as the 1, 4, 8 and 9 hitters all got two hits and Jordan Timm pitched five shutout innings, walking none and striking out five. Lansing won it 5-4 in extras (eight innings).
As for the Midwest League playoffs, Lansing is four games out of a playoff spot with five games remaining. That makes their tragic number two.
Auburn lost two games to the rain from Katrina. However, they are still well ahead of Mahoning Valley for the division title. The two teams are 5.5 games apart and play five against each other from Friday to Tuesday, so we'll see who gets the home-field advantage in the first round. I believe the winner of the Pinckney division automatically plays the wild card team (which won't be from Pinckney), but someone with more knowledge of the playoff system can correct me.
And Pulaski is done for the year.
Three-Star Selection:
3. Ryan Roberts
2. Jordan Timm
1. Adam Lind
And now for something completely superfluous:
Fun With Small Sample Sizes:
With only four games and some space to fill in today's Minor League Update, I shall treat you to some Auburn Doubledays on-pace-for numbers. These are current as of August 31 and meaningful as of...never. Don't put any stock in these; they really mean nothing. They're just fun to look at. Why Auburn? Just felt like it.
Ryan Patterson has been the hottest hitter on the team, and if you translate his numbers into a 162 game season, you have the following:
.339/.389/.579, 633 AB, 30 HR, 47 2B, 8 3B, 147 RBI, 52 BB, 115 K
Trivia Question #1: Only four Blue Jays have hit .339 or higher in 100+ AB. You know Olerud, Molitor and Delgado are the first three. Who is the fourth? Hint: Middle infielder, 1990s.
Or how about the first rounder, Ricky Romero? He appeared in one game, let's see how 34 of those starts would look for him:
68 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 34 BB, 68 K.
No runs whatsoever. Trivia Question 2: Who holds the Blue Jay record for most innings pitched in a season by a righthander without giving up any runs? (Al Leiter holds the overall record at 6.3.) Hint: He was a September callup.
Manny Sena leads the team in SB with 9. Let's see how he does over a full season in that category, and others:
.208/.271/.278, 583 AB, 8 HR, 16 2B, 0 3B, 43 RBI, 51 BB, 221 K, 24 SB
It's not often you see someone whose walks plus RBI equal less than half of their strikeouts. In fact, from 1960 to 2004, among players with 200 AB or more in a season, only 42 have done it. (The highest batting average among these 42 is .263 for the legendary Rolando Roomes of the 1989 Reds.) Trivia Question 3: Only one Blue Jay has done this in 200 or more AB. Can you guess who it was? Hint: It was sometime between 1985 and 1993.
And finally, relief ace Paul Phillips:
108.2 IP, 2.04 ERA, 31 SV, 34 BB, 114 K.
The trivia question (#4) here: Who is the only pitcher to throw exactly 108.2 innings in any of the seasons since 1999? Hint: He has been a candidate for the Batter's Box Andujar Award, which a certain someone thinks this man will or should win every year.
Many thanks to the Lahman database, which you may not use in answering the questions. However, consulting Baseball-Reference.com to confirm your answer before guessing is okay.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050831175726660