David Purcey seems to be a new pitcher in 2007, and one can only guess at how wide the smiles might be in the Jay front office. He was smooth last night in a Fisher Cat win. The farm affiliates went 2-3.


Scranton Wilkes-Barre 4 @ Syracuse 0

Scranton is now the triple A franchise of the Yankees and with a marquee matchup of Phil Hughes and Dustin McGowan going for the AL East rival affiliates, it would be nice to report on how good McGowan looked. Alas, it was Hughes who dominated. Six innings of two-hit ball and ten strikeouts later, he had his second triple A win. McGowan meanwhile wasn't bad, but lacked good control with 3 walks (and many more long plate appearances) in 5 innings of work. He allowed 3 runs, 1 unearned, on 4 hits and those 3 walks with 5 punchouts. Mike Vento and Kevin Barker had 2 hits each. Useless fact dept. : this might have been the first game in pro ball having 3 players with the surname Duncan (Eric, Shelley and Jeff).

New Hampshire 1 @ Connecticut 0 (1st game)
New Hampshire 1 @ Connecticut 2 (2nd game)

In the opener, it was all 2004 first round pick David Purcey. Purcey threw a 7 inning complete game one-hitter, walking one and striking out 11. In unpleasant conditions, he came out with good control of his fastball, and control of his off-speed stuff magically appeared in the second or third inning. Wayne Lydon singled to open the game, stole second, advanced to third on a wild throw and scored on a Robinson Diaz sacrifice fly. That was all the support Purcey needed. Lydon added another single and stolen base, while Aaron Mathews continued his hot hitting, by reaching base in all three plate trips. Chip Cannon tripled and walked to begin his emergence from a painful slump.

In the nightcap, Jesse Litsch aimed to follow Purcey's example and made a good start of it. After 5 innings, he had thrown a 1 hitter and led 1-0. In the sixth, the Defenders got to Litsch for 2 runs, with the aid of two errors and a passed ball, and that was the ballgame. Litsch's final line of 5 innings, 2 unearned runs on 3 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts is nothing to sneeze at. Jean Machi came on to retire three batters in a row to end the sixth, but the Fishers could not mount a rally in the top of the 7th. Sergio Santos and David Smith had 2 hits each and John Schneider drove in the lone Cat run with a double.

Sarasota 6 @ Dunedin 3

The D-Jays had plenty of baserunners, 14 in all, and hit 2 homers, but just couldn't put things together. Leadoff hitter Adam Calderone reached base leading off the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th innings, but scored no runs. In the first, Anthony Hatch singled him to third with nobody out, but the 3-4-5 hitters in the lineup came up empty-handed. In the third, Hatch grounded into a double play before #3 hitter Jacob Butler hit a solo homer. It was one of those kinds of days. Anthony Garibaldi hit a 2 run shot in the 6th inning to bring Dunedin within a run, but the bullpen could not shut down the Reds after that. None of the D-Jay pitchers, including starter Orlando Trias, shone.

Kane County 3 @ Lansing 6

The Lugnuts continued their winning ways, this time by banging out 12 hits, including 5 doubles. Travis Snider went 3-5, missing only the long ball in his effort at the cycle. Sean Shoffit doubled twice and had the key blow, a 2 run double which broke a 2-2 tie in the 4th inning. Scott Campbell doubled twice and scored 2 runs out of the leadoff spot. Aaron Wideman started and gutted his way through 5 innings for the win, allowing 2 runs, 1 unearned, on 8 hits and 3 walks with 2 strikeouts. The lefty Wideman's proficiency with runners on first helped him, as he picked off one Cougar and another was thrown out trying to steal. Seth Overbey pitched 2.1 scoreless innings for the save.

3 stars

3rd star- Adam Calderone
2nd star-Travis Snider
1st star- David Purcey