Great to see Quiroz swinging some lumber. If you include his rehab trip to Dunedin, he now has 8HR in 100AB.

I know people say a backup C doesn't matter but having a usable bat around would benefit Zaun as well, who must be feeling pretty weary by now.

Let's just hope he can stay injury free and be ready for 2006.

According to MiLB.com, it appears that Jesse Litsch has been promoted to Auburn. With tonight's start by Adrian Martin, I can only assume someone else will be bumped to Dunedin, unless someone is hurt.

As far as I can tell, the starters in Auburn are: Robert Ray, Eric Fowler, Orlando Trias, Kristian Bell and Randy Dicken, plus Jesse Litsch now. Anyone have any information on a corresponding move?

It’s been said all good things happen in threes and it certainly did doing our mini-vacation. After seeing the Jays beat the Tigers by a run Thursday afternoon, the missus and I continued to get our baseball fix by seeing the big club’s top two affiliates over the week-end. This is Part 1. Part 2 comes your way tomorrow.

Our first stop was Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse to see the SkyChiefs and the Rochester Red Wings Friday night. With the forecast calling for showers and thunderstorms, I was pretty skeptical there would be a ballgame. It was a small miracle they managed to get 9 innings in.

The pitching match-up was a good one. Shaun Marcum was on the hill for the Sky Chiefs against the Red Wings Scott Baker, who had a cup of coffee with Minnesota earlier this season. I had seen Marcum with New Hampshire during a visit to Binghamton back in April and I was impressed with his poise on the mound. His mettle would be put to the test in the early going.

Top 1st – Marcum quickly got ahead of former Met/D-Ray Jason Tyner with a couple of fastballs for strikes at 88 and 89 MPH and after missing with a curve at 74, he retired Tyner on a 89 MPH fastball with a line-out to first. Marcum retired another former D-Ray by striking out former Jay farmhand Brent Abernathy with an 82 MPH slider. Then, the SkyChiefs hurler got into his first jam of the night. Chris Heintz drew a walk and that was followed by a double from former Padre/Twin Brian Buchanan. That put Heintz at third. Even though Heintz was a DH that night, he is also a catcher. Thank God for opposing catchers on the basepaths, because it easily could’ve been 1-0 Bad Guys. This theme would also come into play in our final stop of the road trip, but anyway… Marcum was able to bear down against the next hitter, Garrett Jones. To antagonize Jones before the game, the Sky Chiefs selected him as the Taco Bell K-Man; meaning if he struck out, everyone in attendance gets a free Taco. Coming into the game, he had whiffed 99 times and everyone was hoping to see him reach the century mark. Marcum got ahead of Jones, who took an 81 MPH slider for a called strike. Marcum went to the slider again at 83, which Jones fouled back to make the count 0-2. So, did we get a taco? Hell no! Instead, Marcum retired the Red Wings slugger on a fly ball to center with an offspeed delivery of 74, stranding runners at 2nd and 3rd.

Bottom 1st - Not a promising start for the SkyChiefs offence. Gabe Gross was retired on a fine running catch by left fielder Brent Abernathy in foul territory in front of the corner outfield seats. Bryant Nelson and Kevin Barker had trouble getting around on Baker’s fastballs, with Nelson popping out to second on a 91 MPH heater and Barker fouling out to third on a 93 MPH fastball.

Top 2nd – Much like the first for Shawn Marcum. He went with the breaking stuff on the first three pitches on Kevin West to get ahead 1-2 with offerings of 84, 75, and 84. He got ahead 0-2 before getting West on a line-out to left with an 89 MPH fastball for the first out. Marcum started off former Twinkie Luis Rivas with a pair of sliders at 81 and 82 before he lined out to center on an 88 MPH fastball for out number 2. Then, trouble came calling again for the Sky Chiefs right-hander. Luis Maza was paying attention to Marcum’s pitching pattern by jumping on an 82 MPH slider, doubling down the left field line. Corky Miller on the basepaths would join Maza as he was plunked by an 86 MPH fastball. However, Marcum shook that off by getting ahead of Jason Tyner 0-2 with a curve at 74 and a slider at 82. He put Tyner away with another slider, at 81, with a grounder to first with Marcum covering and again, two more Red Wing runners were stranded.

Bottom 2nd – Again, not a promising half inning for the Syracuse offence. Chad Mottola couldn’t catch up with a 94 MPH heater from Scott Baker to go down on strikes. Baker kept going with the cheese by retiring John-Ford Griffin on a ground out and Jason Alfaro on a fly-out with offerings of 93 and 92 respectively.

Top 3rd – Another inning, another 2 runners on base for Shawn Marcum to deal with. Things started well again for the SkyChiefs hurler went he retired Brent Abernathy, who grounded to short on a 74 MPH curve. Then, to be different, Marcum decided to get in trouble with 1 out, as opposed to 2 out in the previous 2 innings. Chris Heintz and Brian Buchanon singled on fastballs of 88 and 89 to put runners at 1st and 2nd. But once again, Marcum would slam the door shut. He got ahead of the Taco Bell K-Man, Garrett Jones, at 0-2 as Jones took a fastball at 90 MPH before whiffing on a slider at 82. So again, the question was, would we get at taco? Hell no. Instead, Jones flied out to left on a 90 MPH fastball to end the inning. So, for those keeping score, three innings, 6 left on base, no tacos, but zero runs.

Bottom 3rd – Scott Baker set down the first 6 SkyChiefs in a row but he would not make it lucky number 7. Justin Singleton, Kenny’s boy, got the fans on their feet with a solo homer to right field on an 89 MPH fastball to make 1-0 Syracuse. Baker got back to business by retiring Guillermo Quiroz on a broken bat liner to 2nd and Danny Solano flied out. Gabe Gross tried to keep the rally alive by drawing a 2 out walk but Bryant Nelson flied out to end the inning.

Top 4th – Guess what, another inning, another pair of Rochester runners get on base, but only one would be left on. Marcum got the first two batters on grounders to short, getting Luis Rivas on an 82 MPH slider and Luis Maza on a 76 MPH curve. Then, the number 9 hitter, Corky Miller, broke through against Marcum with a solo shot to right to tie up the game at 1-1 by connecting on an 84 MPH offering. Jason Tyner would follow up with a single on a 2-2 fastball at 91 MPH before Brent Abernathy tapped an 82 MPH slider back to the mound, which resulted in a 1-3 put-out to end the frame.

Bottom 4th – Scott Baker would have another 1-2-3 inning by whiffing Kevin Barker on a 94 MPH heater and used another 94 MPH offering to get Chad Mottola on a grounder to 2nd. Baker then froze John-Ford Griffin with a breaking ball of 80 MPH.

Top 5th – For a refreshing change of pace, a 1-2-3 inning by Baker was quickly followed by the first 1-2-3 inning of the night by Shaun Marcum. Chris Heintz flied out, Brian Buchanon struck out swinging an 85 MPH offering, an at-bat in which Marcum threw a pitch at 92 – albeit a ball, and Garrett Jones managed to avoid the indignity of being the Taco Bell K-Man for a third time by lining out to center on an 83 MPH slider. Justin Singleton was almost fooled as he got twisted around like a pretzel trying to track the ball down running towards the wall but he managed to snare it to end the inning.

Bottom 5th – Jason Alfaro greeted Scott Baker by smoking a 94 MPH fastball to left for a lead-off double. Then Justin Singleton, proving he can play small ball as well as long ball, got into a hole at 0-2 but he fouled off a couple of pitches before advancing Alfaro to 3rd with a grounder to 2nd. Beautiful at-bat, his dad would be proud! The “get him on, get him over, get him in” equation was completed by Guillermo Quiroz, whose ground out to 3rd brought in Alfaro to make it 2-1 Syracuse. I was surprised there was no play at the plate but I don’t think the Rochester 3rd baseman was playing in at the bag. It wasn’t like GQ’s grounder was a slow roller or a chopper or that Alfaro got a huge jump, but it seemed that Rochester didn’t mind trading an out for a run. Bryant Nelson popped out to short to end the inning.

Top 6th – The second Syracuse lead of the night was short-lived, very short-lived, as Kevin West took Shaun Marcum deep with a solo jack to left to tie up the game at 2-2. Luis Rivas then got aboard with a single but Marcum settled down again by getting ahead of Luis Maza, who fouled off 82 and 81 MPH sliders, before rapping into a 6-4-3 double play on a 90 MPH heater. And Marcum used a 90 MPH fastball to get Corky Miller to go down swinging to end the frame. A steady drizzle that began about an inning ago turned into heavier showers as the same time Miller went down swinging.

Bottom 6th – Bryant Nelson flied out to center to start things off but Kevin Barker got to Scott Baker by singling to left on a 92 MPH fastball. Chad Mottola popped up to 2nd but John-Ford Griffin singled to left on another 92 MPH offering to push Barker into scoring position. Then Jason Alfaro cashed home Barker and Griffin with his 2nd double of the night to make it 4-2 Syracuse. Justin Singleton would strike out on an 81 MPH offering to end the inning.

Top 7th – The first pitching change of the night saw Francisco Rosario take over for Shaun Marcum. It was a tough start for Rosario as Jason Tyner reached on an infield single to 2nd to lead off the inning. Rosario then walked Brent Abernathy to push Tyner up to 2nd. Then Rosario induced a grounder to short off the bat of Chris Heintz in what appeared to have the makings of a double play. The out was recorded at 2nd but Jason Alfaro’s relay to first was wide of first base as Brent Abernathy barreled in on him to prevent the SkyChiefs from turning two. The throwing error allowed Jason Tyner to score to make it a 4-3 game for Syracuse. Brian Buchanan kept the rally going with a single to center and that advanced Heintz to second. That was the end of the line for Rosario, who was relieved by Kevin Tolar. The portly left-hander induced a ground ball off Taco Bell K-Man Garrett Jones for what should’ve been a double play ball. Shortstop Danny Solano threw the 2nd to get the lead man but Alfaro, who almost seemed to be hearing footsteps even though the baserunner Buchanan was nowhere near him, was off-balance as he threw wide again of the first base bag to Kevin Barker’s right. That allowed Jones to reach on the fielder’s choice and Chris Heintz to advance to 3rd. However, Tolar bailed out Alfaro by whiffing Kevin West with an 84 MPH slider to end the Rochester threat. At the same time West swung and missed, a bolt of lightning touched down in the distance.

Bottom 7th , Part 1– The lightning intensified but amazingly, the game continued. Rochester brought in right-hander Beau Kemp into the game to relieve Scott Baker. Guillermo Quiroz singled to center to lead off the inning but he would be erased at 2nd as Danny Solano’s sac bunt attempt rolled all of two inches in front of home plate, allowing Corky Miller to throw out Quiroz easily. However, Solano made it to 1st and wound up getting to 2nd as Luis Rivas was charged with an error for dropping the throw from the catcher on the steal attempt. with Gabe Gross at the plate. With a 1-2 count to Gross, the rain intensified and the game was delayed for 75 minutes.

Rain Delay Show - It was Fireworks Night at Alliance Bank Stadium so instead of fireworks being held at the end of the game, the show got underway during the rain delay. Kudos to whoever decided to get the show going, that was a great way to entertain the fans. Before the show started, it seemed that every rain-related song was being played on the PA system with “classics” like Milli Vanilli’s “Blame It On The Rain”. It was also the first time in a while I heard Supertramp’s “It’s Raining Again”, and then there was the Doors “Riding On The Storm”. It was the second rain delay the missus and I sat through. The first one we experienced was in the Sunshine State, during a Jacksonville Suns game. How’s that for irony?

Bottom 7th, Part 2 – It was play ball once again as Syracuse looked to build on a 4-3 lead. In relief of Beau Kemp, Rochester lefty Ricky Barrett inherited a 1-2 count on Gabe Gross and a runner on 2nd in Danny Solano with 1 out. Gross worked the count full but grounded out to 2nd to advance Solano to 3rd. Bryant Nelson, who was 0-for-7 in the 14 inning marathon we witnessed against Scranton back in April, would make it 0-for-11 total with a fly out to right to strand Solano.

Top 8th – Lee Gronkiewicz relieved Kevin Tolar and Game Over Gronk clearly meant business, changing speeds effectively with a sequence of 78, 79, 89 to get ahead of Luis Rivas in the count 1-2 before inducing a ground ball with a 69 MPH curve. Gronk needed all of 3 pitches to get Luis Maza, retiring him on a 77 MPH offering, and then used a 90 MPH fastball to retire Corky Miller on a ground ball to 2nd. Very impressive relief work.

Bottom 8th – The SkyChiefs looked to add some insurance runs by getting a 1 out rally going. Kevin Barker struck out on a 92 MPH offering from Ricky Barrett to lead off the frame. However, Barrett ran into trouble when his throwing error allowed Chad Mottola to get aboard safely as the pitcher dealt not only with a chopper but a flying bat as well. John-Ford Griffin drew a walk to push Mottola to 3rd. However, Griffin was thrown on the back end of a double steal and Jason Alfaro struck out to end the inning. I thought Griffin was safe on the leg first slide but the umpire didn’t agree and the inning came to an end.

Top 9th – Matt Whiteside came into the game for Lee Gronkiewicz to try and close things out for the SkyChiefs. To earn the save, he would have to get through the top of the order. Jason Tyner put Whiteside with an 8 pitch at-bat but Whiteside got Tyner to fly out to center for the first out on an 80 MPH offering. Brent Abernathy also got to a 2-2 count but also went down on an 80 MPH pitch with a grounder to short. Then Whiteside used a 93 MPH heater to get Chris Heintz on a grounder to 3rd to end the game. SkyChiefs Win! SkyChiefs Win! 4-3!

Three Stars Of The Game

1. Jason Alfaro – Despite a couple of fielding misadventures to make it a 1 run game in the late going, Alfaro collected 2 doubles, drove in the go-ahead runs to snap a 2-2 tie, and scored a run.

2. Justin Singleton – belted a solo home run to get the SkyChiefs (to borrow a Jerry Howarth phrase) in flight and moved Alfaro’s lead-off double in the 5th with a ground ball to the right side to help Alfaro advance to 3rd, and eventually, score a tie-breaking run.

3. Kevin Tolar – clutch relief work in the 7th, stranding the tying and go-ahead runs on base, overcoming a botched double play ball to get two huge outs.

Honorable Mentions - Lee Gronkiewicz &, Matt Whiteside. They combined to get the final 6 outs or the game in order. .

Shaun Marcum - I strongly considered him for star number 3. He got into some jams, but he showed incredible poise and kept the damage to a minimum. From the two starts that I’ve seen of Marcum’s, he doesn’t seemed to get rattled out there. He’s as cool as a cucumber.

John-Ford Griffin – a single and a walk in 4 appearances and scored the winning run.

Guillermo Quiroz – a 1-for-3 night at the dish and contributed an RBI groundout.

A big win for the SkyChiefs, who complete a 2 game sweep of Rochester as they try to catch the Wings and the Buffalo Bisons in the IL North. Part 2 of our road trip – to Manchester, New Hampshire, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, comes your way tomorrow. If you managed to get through all this, thanks for reading!!

Great report #2, thanks for the pitches and speeds, it is a good insight into the pitcher. Did you get any speed readings for Rosario?

If I recall correctly, Rosario was in the 88-91, 92 MPH range. It wasn't a very long appearance. I don't know why I didn't make detailed notes of his pitches at the time, a lapse of concentration, I guess. We purposely sat on the upper deck on the first base side so the radar gun readings were facing us. I was also thrown off that Rosario was wearing #41 instead of #32. I was disappointed Rosario was taken out because I wanted to get a better read on his stuff. However, manager Marty Pevey made the right call to bring in Tolar.

A correction on the report. Chad Mottola was credited with a infield hit to the pitcher in the 8th inning. Thanks for the kind words, Gerry.

So, on this night, Marcum threw a fastball usually in the 88-90 range, a slider usually at 81-82, a curve at 74 and an offspeed pitch (a change?) at 74. His slider and his change are supposed to be his best pitches.

Thanks, #2JB, for the report.

Adam Lind isn't in the lineup tonight for Dunedin. Is it just a day off, or has he possibly been promoted to New Hampshire? I remember reading that the Jays brass were going to discuss Lind this week, so maybe they've made up their mind?

Just went to MILB.com and Adam Lind isn't listed on any team. He's no longer with Dunedin, we know that. This probably means that he was called up.

The Dunedin roster still has Lind listed. At least, it did when I saw it here. Tingler-Smith-Medina-Lind.

Lind pinch-hit in today's Dunedin game.