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Minor League Update Cruz To Arnold: Recall That Grand Slam!
A bizarre headline even for me; going here might explain it. Or not. A 2-1 night on the farm. If this was the NHL, it would be a 2-0-0-1 night, or a 2-1-0-1 night, I forget how they handle the overtime loss.

Syracuse had the day off
Box score

Here's more about the awful, awful person that is Esix Snead: Bush considers filing charge. And explain this to me: "It's possible Bush, Burnside and Jurries will also receive suspensions." Now, the latter two got into it, hockey-style, but Dave Bush might get suspended? What the hell for, turning his back on a supbar human being?


New Hampshire 9, Binghamton 5
Box score

You remember the Fisher Cats, right? The team that can't score a run to save their Manchesterite lives? Yeah...they got nine in the first two innings last night. (Matthew Lindstrom might find himself going down to St. Lucie soon.)

Baseball's a funny sport. The wind was blowing in from left (20 mph), but Eric Kratz and Rob Cosby still managed to hit homers to the left side. Kratz added a double and a single and Miguel Negron, Clint Johnston and Ron Acuna all had a couple of hits as well.

Ismael Ramirez started and went five strong, striking out six. Lee Gronkiewicz picked up his 19th save and his ERA is now a cool 0.96, with his WHIP close to that at 0.93. He is 26 years old, so it's probably time to see what this minor league Rule 5 pick with more than 1 K/IP for the last two years can do in Syracuse.

Bonus story: Eric Kratz [is] making it.


Lakeland 9, Dunedin 8 (13)
Box score

A tough loss for the Dunedin Blue Jays. Down 8-5 in the bottom of the 7th after an Eric Arnold grand slam in the third (off Eulogio De La Cruz), they came back to tie in on a Jason Waugh double in the bottom of the eighth. Alas, the winning run scored in the top of the 13th on a two base throwing error by catcher Robinson Diaz.

A strange play in the top of the 12th when Another Juan Gonzalez tripled to lead off the inning. After a 6-3 putout, Lakeland attempted a bunt, presumably. The batter struck out and Gonzalez was caught stealing third 2-6-2. The rotation play must have been on there.

Well, they can't all be good for Casey Janssen. Six runs (four earned) and three walks in 3.2 innings, including five runs in the fourth. No strikeouts.


Lansing 10, West Michigan 7
Box score

It was 62 F with wind and drizzle. Isn't that nice? Chi-Hung Cheng didn't think so. None of his first three innings were anything to write home about, especially the second. He gave up five runs, all in that frame, and gave way to Juan Perez, who kept West Michigan scoreless until the ninth.

Christian Snavely, who's not doing so well with the Lugnuts, had a walk and four hits last night -- three singles and a double. That two-bagger was the only extra-base hit for Lansing, despite scoring 10 runs.

Having both "Southwest Michigan" and "West Michigan" in the same division is very, very, confusing. Not to mention South Bend. Also, it looks like Fort Wayne won, meaning the probability of Lansing grabbing a first-half wildcard spot is approaching zero. Scoreboard-watching in June. I love it.


Three-Star Selection:
3. Juan Perez
2. Eric Kratz
1. Cristian Snavely

Today's Games:
Syracuse (Francisco Rosario) @ Charlotte (Jon "Ray Durham" Adkins), 7:15.
New Hampshire (Perkins) @ Binghamton, 7:00.
Dunedin vs Lakeland, 7:00 (the last game of the FSL first half).
Lansing @ Fort Wayne, 7:00.

Posted by Rob on Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 08:19 AM EDT.
Cruz To Arnold: Recall That Grand Slam! | 16 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
NYJaysFan36 - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 09:45 AM EDT (#119746) #
With respect to the possibility that the helmet was used as a weapon, even though Esix Snead (just sounds sleazy) is now my most hated player ever, he didn't hit Bush with his helmet.
You can watch video of it here:
http://www.nbc12.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WWBT/MGArticle/WBT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031783277235
It looks like he thinks about it, but clearly his hand is empty right before he tackles and sucker punches Bush simultaneously. The helmet kind of bounces off the ground as they are going down.
This reminds me of all that Roger Clemens vs. Mets crap a couple years ago. If Snead felt thrown at and wanted to charge he can't just wait until its convenient. What a coward.
I would have loved to watch Burnside put a hockey-style beating on James Jurries though. Jurries has already been suspended 15 games this year for violating the minor league steroid policy. On the other hand, Jurries gave me a ball in Syracuse last year. Talk about internal turmoil...hahaha
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Lugnut Fan - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 11:13 AM EDT (#119762) #
Lansing is not out of the first half play off spot by any means. They are 2.5 games out with 4 the last four games of the first half being against Fort Wayne, so they have their destiny in their own hands. If they can take three of four from them, then Lansing earns the first half wild card. They are 4-0 on the year against the Wizards, so hopefully that bodes well for the upcoming series.

Lol on the West Michigan, Southwest Michigan comment.
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The Bone - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 12:27 PM EDT (#119773) #
Looking at Lansing's schedule, if they win 3 out of 4 against Fort Wayne than they need to win a makeup game vs. Southwest Michigan as well - Would they play such a makeup game?
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Lugnut Fan - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 12:57 PM EDT (#119779) #
Oh, I forgot about the rain out. If they won 3 of 4, that would give them a 1/2 game lead. I don't know what they would do in that situation. They for all intensive purposes should play the game, but with the all-star break starting Monday and most players either traveling to the all-star game or home for a couple of days on both squads, I doubt that they would.
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sweat - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 01:08 PM EDT (#119783) #
Wouldn't it go to season series after that anyways? So they wouldn't need to play that game.
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Lugnut Fan - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 01:15 PM EDT (#119784) #
That's possible sweat and that is probably how it would be handled. If they take 3 of 4 from the Wizards, then they would definitly have the upper hand in the season series. I haven't observed this type of scenario over my time following the league, so I guess we will see what happens. If it happens.
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The Bone - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 01:26 PM EDT (#119787) #
If they win 3 of 4 they are a half game back not up - For instance, if they lost the first game they would be 3.5 games back and then they would win 3 in a row to move 0.5 games back

So they'd need to play the game to tie for the wild-card, at which point I'd assume it would go season series
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Lugnut Fan - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 01:36 PM EDT (#119788) #
Nice catch......I stand corrected.
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Mike Green - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 08:49 PM EDT (#119868) #
Whoa, Nelly. Miguel Negron has homered in each of his first 3 at-bats as the Fisher Cats and Vince Perkins lead Binghamton 11-0 after 4 innings. That's 4 homers on the season for Negron, who has been really heating up in June.
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Nigel - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 09:06 PM EDT (#119869) #
The other guy who has come back from the dead in NH is Cosby. He's hit another 2 doubles tonight to send his line to something like 285/330/450. While those numbers aren't fantastic, considering where he was at in the middle of May, it means that he's been killing the ball for about a month now. If this keeps up he may turn himself back into a prospect before this season is over.
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Gerry - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 09:15 PM EDT (#119870) #
Rosario, Perkins and McGowan are all pitching well tonight. McGowan is done, 5 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K's, one unearned run.
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R Billie - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 09:47 PM EDT (#119873) #
Rosario: 6.2 innings, 2 earned runs on 6 hits and a walk, 4 strikeouts and 2 homeruns allowed. He'll get a no decision as he leaves a 2-2 game.

Concerning stat: 82.1 innings, 13 homeruns allowed. That's significantly more than you want to see especially from someone pitching to minor league batters where you presume power is relatively scarce compared to the big leagues. I think Francisco must be throwing a lot of Ted Lilly belt to letter high fastballs.

Perkins: started well with three blank innings and his team taking an 11-0 lead thanks to 3 homeruns and 6 rbi by Negron. But he either relaxed too much or the Mets caught up to him as he got hit around for 6 runs, 4 earned in the next 1.1 innings (7 hits, 2 walks, 5 k). Rob Cosby is 3 for 4 with 3 doubles in this game and has come back to boost his average to .290 after being in the doldrums early. Cliff Johnston continues to pound the ball going 2 for 3 with a walk (.388). Johnston despite his age was a very late convert to hitting (think Rick Ankiel) so you have to be impressed by him somewhat.

McGowan stood toe to toe with Tigers phenom Justin Verlander and matched him pitch for pitch through the first 5 innings.

McGowan: 5ip 5h 1r 0er 1bb 7k
Verlander: 5ip 5h 1r 1er 1bb 7k

The difference is McGowan left the game likely due to pitch count as the Jays are still stretching him out and Verlander went on to pitch two more dominant innings, finishing with 9 strikeouts. Lakeland went on to score 9 times off the relievers for an easy win.

Lansing is leading 5-0 in the 4th inning with Danny Core pitching. Thigpen has a double and two walks.
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Mike Green - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 09:58 PM EDT (#119874) #
The Sky Chiefs won their 5th in a row. Kevin Barker singled to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the 9th. Charlotte threatened in the bottom, loading the bases with one out, but old friend Matt Whiteside got a punch-out and a fly-out to nail it down.
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Jonny German - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 10:26 PM EDT (#119875) #
That's significantly more than you want to see especially from someone pitching to minor league batters where you presume power is relatively scarce compared to the big leagues.

I don't disagree with the first part, but AAA leagues aren't exactly full of young prospects who haven't developed their power yet. According to Robert Dudek, the age of the average hitter in the International League as of July 1, 2003 was 27.6.

Here's the AB/HR count for all leagues in 2004: 

League    	Lev	AB/HR
American	MLB	30.2
National	MLB	31.3
International 	AAA	34.7
Pacific Coast 	AAA	31.0
Eastern 	AA	38.0
Southern 	AA	41.3
Texas   	AA	43.1
California	A+	43.9
Carolina	A+	49.8
Florida State	A+	54.7
Midwest   	A	49.7
South Atlantic	A	41.6
NY-Penn  	A-	61.7
Northwest	A-	45.8
Appalachian	R+	46.0
Pioneer  	R+	41.0
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Mike Forbes - Thursday, June 16 2005 @ 11:40 PM EDT (#119886) #
Good to see Miguel Negron heating up after my very bold claim of him "being the only bat with superstar potential in the Jays system". If he becomes the next big thing I think I deserve 50% of the credit for it. ;)
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R Billie - Friday, June 17 2005 @ 01:27 AM EDT (#119894) #
I always thought Negron's potential was seen more in the speed/batting average arena rather power. Three homers is pretty impressive although the lineup beat up those pitchers in general.

It will be interesting to see if Johnston carries his performance to AAA next year. I'm interested to see what he might do in the majors as a late bloomer.
[ Reply to This ]
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