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And yesterday is weaving in and out
 
Two big leaguers have interesting days in the minors, while Lansing gets it done with pitching and New Hampshire with hitting.


 
Josh Towers’ 2006 AAA debut was a case of glass-half-full or glass-half-empty. He was charged with 2 earned runs over 7 innings while striking out 4 and walking just 1, but he surrendered 11 hits and 6 runs total. Finish on a positive note: No Homers.
 
Fellow banishee Russ Adams also provided good news and bad news, with 3 hits including 2 triples being mitigated by his second error at second base, a miscue of the ‘fielding’ variety. Finish on a positive note: He got the putout to end the top of the 4th when Jason Phillips threw out Gookie Dawkins attempting a steal.
 
Kevin Barker also swung good wood for Syracuse, with two two-bag hits. Ryan Roberts reached 3 times via a base knock and two walks.
 
 
The Fisher Cats made it back-to-back big Mondays with a trouncing of the Harrisburg Senators. CF Tony Miller and RF David Smith each had 3 of the 16 New Hampshire hits, while 1B Vito Chiaravalloti, 3B Brad Hassey, and 2B Carlo Cota collected 2 each. Cota had a perfect night, drawing 3 walks in his other 3 plate appearances. LF Adam Lind and C Curtis Thigpen were each 1 for 4, Lind with a double and Thigpen with a walk. Chip Cannon had the night off.
 
Davis Romero didn’t really need all the support, as he pitched an outstanding 7 innings of 4-hit 1-run ball, punching out 5 and not walking anybody. Connor Falkenbach, making his double-A debut, was less effective, charged with 3 earned on 5 hits and a walk in 2 mop-up innings.
 
 
Dunedin: Scheduled off day.
 
 
 
The Lugnuts totaled just 6 singles and a walk on offence, but that was enough as Aaron Tressler and Po-Hsuan Keng teamed up on a 4-hit shutout. Tressler went the first 7 frames, charged with the 4 base knocks while striking out 5, and Keng cleaned up by tossing 2 unmarred innings, 1 whiff.
 
1B David Hicks and 3B Anthony Hatch each collected an RBI on 2 base hits, Hatch adding a base on balls and a stolen base. CF Luke Hetherington and LF Cory Patton each scored a run as part of a 1-for-4 night. RF Brian Pettway wore a collar.
 
 
Three Star Selection!
 
The Third Star: Po-Hsuan Keng, Lansing. 2 spotless innings and a 1.67 ERA for the season.
 
The Second Star: Davis Romero, New Hampshire. 7 stellar innings.
 
The First Star: Aaron Tressler, Lansing. 7 outstanding innings.
Now Today Is Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Today | 13 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 10:02 AM EDT (#147932) #
Check out the log of the first 5 innings of Towers' start.  4 Syracuse errors and a bunch of ground ball singles to center and to short.  There are unearned runs and then there are unearned runs, and Towers' 6 last night were of the latter type.   Towers' basic job is to keep the ball in the yard, not walk people and get his share of strikeouts, and let his defence do the work.  He did it fairly well yesterday.
#2JBrumfield - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 11:10 AM EDT (#147940) #
At least that's some encouraging news about Towers' performance.  I feared the worst after seeing the score on the outfield scoreboard at the game last night.  The way the SkyChiefs are going, Roy Halladay would be hard pressed to get a win for that team. 
Maldoff - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 02:53 PM EDT (#147964) #
I have high hopes for Jesse Litsch.  He was a draft and follow from 2004, and has performed well thus far (including last season).  He's a younger guy, 21 years old, and already in High A.  His ERA is slightly higher than one would like, but the rest of his peripherals (strikeouts, walks, WHIP, etc) look very good.
Mike Green - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 03:35 PM EDT (#147968) #
Litsch's ball-in-play statistics show a high BABIP and GB/FB rate and a low line drive rate, and much worse statistics at home than on the road.  That might suggest that his DIPS profile is more indicative of his performance than his ERA.  The only worrisome split is the "men on".  It's a small sample, but the numbers hint that he is much less effective pitching from the stretch.  We'll check on this again later in the season.
Maldoff - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 04:00 PM EDT (#147970) #
Mike Green, what do the high BABIP and GB/FB ratios mean? Could you explain your thoughts little bit (I'm new to those stats).
Mike Green - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 04:10 PM EDT (#147973) #

BABIP normally correlates with line drive rate.  A pitcher with a high line drive rate will normally have a high batting average on balls in play.  A high BABIP with a low line drive rate, such as Litsch has, is suggestive of an element of bad luck/poor defence. 

A high GB/FB rate and an average home run rate (like Litsch has) equates to a fairly HR/fly rate (12% for Litsch).  With Litsch's home-road stats, that might be explained by the park. 

Davis Romero last year in Dunedin had similar issues with his DIPS profile and his ERA, and has flourished in New Hampshire this year. 

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