Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

John Thomson gets blown out, the Fisher Cats win, and Lansing splits. In the second game of their doubleheader Lansing avoided a no hitter when Chris Emanuele singled with one out in the seventh. David Purcey has a sore elbow and will miss another start.

Toledo 12 Syracuse 3

The Chiefs led this game 3-2 heading into the sixth. Syracuse scored two runs in the first when the first four hitters, Lydon, Roberts, Adams and Barker, each singled. John Thomson gave up a home run to Chris Shelton in the second but the Chiefs got that back in the bottom of the second. Toledo scored eight runs in the sixth, four off Thomson and four off Jim Crowell helped by a triple allowed by Ismael Ramirez. Ramirez then gave up two runs of his own in the seventh. Brandon League pitched a shutout eighth but did give up two hits. Lydon, Roberts and Adams each had two hits.

Erie 1 New Hampshire 5

The Fisher Cats scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth for the win. Iriki started and pitched well, one run allowed in six innings. In the bottom of the eighth Juan Peralta led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. An intentional walk and a wild pitch put runners at second and third with one out. Santos singled one run in, Mathews singled another in, Smith doubled two in. Rob Cosby was 3-4, Aaron Mathews and David Smith had two hits each.

In team news David Purcey has a tender elbow and will miss a start and stay on the DL. Purcey says the elbow was sore in his last few starts. Ricky Romero is pitching in extended spring training in Florida.

Dunedin - All-Star break

Dunedin had two players at the all-star game, catcher Brian Jeroloman and outfielder Cory Patton. Patton was 0-1 with a walk, Jeroloman 0-1.

Lansing 2 Fort Wayne 1 - game 1

Eric Fowler made the trip down from Dunedin to Lansing to help out and pitched 4.2 innings giving up an unearned run on 3 hits. Lansing had scored in the first inning on a Yuber Rodriguez triple and a passed ball. With the score tied at one in the sixth Matt Liuzza singled, Sean Shoffit walked and Matt Lane singled for the game winning RBI. Ted Serro got the win and Paul Philips the save.

Lansing 0 Fort Wayne 3 - game 2

Lansing were no hit by three pitchers through 6.1 innings. With one out in the seventh Chris Emanuele singled to shortstop to break up the no-no. But that was it as Lansing were one hit. Zach Dials pitched five innings giving up three hits, one of them a home run. Lansing gave up a couple of runs in the sixth, in part due to two erros, a wild pitch and a passed ball on a strikeout.

3 star selection

Slim pickin's

3rd star - Zach Dials
2nd star - Yusaku Iriki
1st star - Rob Cosby

Posted by Gerry on Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 09:11 AM EDT.

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Mike Green - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 10:29 AM EDT (#169992) #

Fowler did a nice job for the Lugnuts, walking 1 and striking out 5. Aaron Mathews went 2-3 with a walk yesterday, and continues to hit up a storm.

ayjackson - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 11:48 AM EDT (#169998) #

Well I'd like to see Mathews at AAA soon, but I don't know what other roster moves would be necessary. The Cheif's outfield is filled with players likely too old for AA. Lydon certainly hasn't done anything to merit demotion, and while he's not ripping it up, Griffin doesn't warrant demotion either. Vento and Mottola are hitting well. Duncan could be a candidate for demotion/release, I guess.

ayjackson - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 12:57 PM EDT (#170002) #

Auburn's roster is set. Notables: Brett Cecil, Brad Mills, Joel Collins, Brad Emaus.

Dave Rutt - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 03:18 PM EDT (#170004) #

Snider walked 4 times in the doubleheader yesterday. Maybe he's turning a corner in the K/BB department.

ayjackson - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 04:49 PM EDT (#170007) #

I wonder if they'll try Cecil as a starter at Auburn. His third pitch projects to be an average splitter, which could be effective against righties. I can't think of any lefties in the majors, off the top of my head that throw a splitter.

Pistol - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 06:37 PM EDT (#170008) #

I suspect that even if the Jays view Cecil as a reliever that they'd use him as a starter in the minors to gain experience. However, given where they took him I suspect they see him as a starter. The standard line from the Jays is that they'll use a guy in a role until they prove that they can't do it.

From a Law chat following the draft:

Elliot (Princeton, NJ): So the Jays drafted your guy Brett Cecil. What's his ETA to the big leagues?

SportsNation Keith Law: ......I've heard that they might convert him to the rotation, in which case he's probably two to three years out.

CaramonLS - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 08:51 PM EDT (#170009) #

How well does Cecil's slider match up against Right handers? Is it something you could start in the middle of the plate and have land low and inside to a Righty? Steib from the left side?

Marc Hulet - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 09:29 PM EDT (#170013) #

Don't be surprised if both Cecil and Farina pitch this season in relief and then move to the starting rotation in 2008, to avoid over-use in 2007. It's what the Jays did with college-relievers-turned-starters such as David Bush, Shaun Marcum, Justin Maureau, etc.

tstaddon - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 11:32 PM EDT (#170019) #

So if Burnett can't go by next weekend, it looks like we'll be using our 10th starter of the season. I would suggest that John Thomson and Josh Banks are the frontrunners for the gig, with Ty Taubenheim a close third. None are particularly appealing options. However:

-If he's able to pitch, there's no time like the present to see if Thomson can give us something. If he can, he's probably worth a low-level prospect in July/August.
-Banks pitched well today and if you take out that one terrible start, his AAA numbers are decent this year. That said, the thought of him and Towers pitching in the same series is scary.
-Taubenheim actually started in Colorado last year and didn't get scalped. But he's pitching like he'd be better suited for relief. Maybe you call him up now for the spot-start and shift him into the pen before year's end to see if he's a viable 6th/7th-inning/long-man next year.

I'll throw my support behind Banks. Thoughts from the gallery?

Joanna - Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 11:54 PM EDT (#170021) #

Depending on how bad AJ's shoulder is, could they maybe do a commitee start? If it's a short stint, maybe use some of those arms getting dusty in the pen and give them each 1-3 innings of work. They did it last year for a start. I think it was Tallet, League and someone else. And they kicked ass.

Squiggy - Monday, June 18 2007 @ 08:11 AM EDT (#170025) #

Looks like AJ is indeed headed to the DL, per this morning's Star. Not at all surprising. As others have said, letting any pitcher throw 120+ pitches for 3 starts in a row is a recipe for disaster. With AJ's history this is even more off a concern.

Hard to know what Gibbons et al. were thinking - it's not like this team is in a pennant race. Are they trying to lead the league in pitcher abuse? Why burn this guy out, given that he is pitching so well, under contract for a while and you have a huge (and usually effective) bullpen? Just another reason to get frustrated and angry with the way this team is run.

cybernetic - Monday, June 18 2007 @ 04:13 PM EDT (#170064) #

Depends how long A.J. is out for and it this point it's unknown, I think it would be better suited if they had someone who is stretched out make the start and go 5-6 innings.

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