A big night by Kevin Barker helps Syracuse beat their closest rivals, Auburn gets a split in Red Sox Country and a high '07 draft pick swings a big stick in the Sunshine State but the affiliates only manage to win 2 out of 6.
Syracuse, NY - The Chiefs had to deal with some early adversity as they fell behind 2-0 to the Twins affiliates just 4 batters in. Lefty Jim Crowell gave up 2 singles and a walk to load up the bases before Chris Heintz cane up with a 2 run single. Crowell gave up another run on 3 singles in the 2nd and that extended Rochester's lead to 3-0. The damage could've been worse but Curtis Thigpen threw out Rochester's leadoff man Alexi Casilla trying to steal 3rd. Crowell's conundrum continued in the top of the 3rd as he gave up 2 more singles after getting the first 2 batters of the inning. Syracuse skipper Doug Davis mercifully gave Crowell the hook and gave the ball to recent Jay Jordan De Jong, who ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Chiefs got a run back in their half of the 3rd as Kevin Barker singled home Ray Olmedo's leadoff single to cut Rochester's lead to 3-1. Despite 4 base knocks in the inning, Syracuse had a settle for a single run as Chad Mottola rapped into an inning-ending double play. Jordan De Jong put out a fire in the 3rd but almost started one in the 4th as he dropped a Kevin Barker throw while covering 1st and that allowed Denard Span to get aboard. Span would steal 2nd and get to 3rd on a groundout. He tried to come home on a ground ball to short but Ray Olmedo, Curtis Thigpen, John Hattig, and Jordan De Jong prevented Span from scoring by getting him on a 6-2-5-1 fielder's choice. Olmedo snared a liner to end the Rochester threat.
Syracuse would tie the game in the 4th on a 2 out rally as John Hattig and Ray Olmedo singled and they would cross the plate on a 2 run double by Wayne Lydon. In the 5th, they would grab their first lead of the game as Kevin Barker launched his 11th homer of the season to left field to make the score 4-3. Chad Mottola would add an insurance with an RBI double to score a Kevin Barker single in the 7th.
Lee Gronkiewicz took the ball for 3 innings, setting down the order in the 6th and 8th while surviving a pair of singles and a stolen base in the 7th. Blaine Neal gave up a 2 out single to allow the tying run to come up to the plate but he got a groundball out to end the game for his 9th save. De Jong, Game Over Gronk, and Neal did a fine job keeping the ball on the Alliance Bank Stadium astroturf, getting a total of 11 groundouts over 6 1/3 innings of shutout relief while striking out a batter apiece. De Jong got the "W" to improve to 3-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.10.
Kevin Barker was a perfect 3-for-3 with a walk, a bomb, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. Ray Olmedo was 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Wayne Lydon also got aboard 3 times with a game tying 2 run double and 2 walks. John Hattig had 2 base knocks, Chad Mottola had an RBI double, and Curtis Thigpen and John-Ford Griffin also had safeties. Adam Lind and Ryan Roberts went 0-fer.
Manchester, NH - Two words, UGH and LEE! A week ago, there was a lot of suspense between the two teams as the Sea Dogs came within an out of recording a no-hitter against the Fisher Cats. This time around, the only suspense was whether Portland would shut out the Fisher Cats at Merchantsauto.com Stadium. The Fisher Cats again spoiled the party, if only for a few milliseconds, as Chip Cannon's RBI groundout scored a Sergio Santos double with 2 out in the 9th.
Portland would score 5 times off New Hampshire lefty Kurt Isenberg, who was unable to get an out in the 5th. Jo Matumoto gave up 3 more runs in 3 innings of "relief" and Matt Roney gave up the other run in 2 innings. The only positive from the F-Cat hurlers was their K/BB ratio was 11-2 but that was kinda offset by giving up 15 hits, don'tcha think?
Manny Mayorson and Ryan Patterson each had 2 hits for New Hampshire. Chip Cannon was hitless but did record a pair of walks. Sergio Santos and Dustin Majewski accounted for the other 2 Fisher Cat safeties. Robinzon Diaz got aboard by taking one for the team in the 1st inning but left the game after Brian Bormaster pinch-hit for him in the 5th.
Viera, FL - It was a scoreless game after 3 1/2 innings with the only Dunedin excitement coming when Brian Jeroloman threw out a runner trying to steal 3rd in the 1st. Brevard County got to D-Jays starter Brandon Magee for 3 runs in the 4th on 3 singles, 2 walks, and a sac fly. The Brewers affliates continued to pour it on in the 5th as Magee was burned by a walk and a homer to make it 5-0 for the Manatees. Adrian Martin immediately took over for Magee after the dinger and combined with John Zinnicker for 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
B.C. starter Christopher Cody held Dunedin down with 6 shutout innings but as soon as he turned it over to the bullpen, Dunedin made a game of it by scoring 4 times in the 7th. Brian Jeroloman drew a bases loaded walk to put the D-Jays on the board. That was followed by an RBI groundout by Jesus Gonzalez, and a 2 run single by Anthony Hatch to make it a one-run ball game at 5-4. If anything, the D-Jays did a number on the ERA of Manatees reliever Mike Marksbury to the tune of 108! Dunedin then loaded the bases with 1 out in the 8th but Cory Patton killed the rally by hitting into an inning ending double play,
Paul Phillips was asked to hold down the fort for Dunedin to give them a chance to rally in the 9th. Did he? Um, no! He got the first two batters but was then burned by back-to-back jacks that put the game out of reach.
Brandon Magee continues to get worked over in the Florida State League. Over 4 1/3 innings, he gave up 5 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks while punching out only 1 batter. His K/BB ratio to date is only 47/45 over 105 1/3 innings. Paul Phillips' ERA is nearly 7 and a half after his gopher ball adventures, nearly 5 runs higher than his mark at Lansing. He's given up 5 homers and 15 hits in just 9 2/3 innings but on the bright side, he hasn't walked anyone. I'm no scout but I think he needs to keep the ball down a little more.
Eric Nielsen and Cory Patton were each 2-for-4 with a run scored. Anthony Hatch, Carlo Cota, Kyle Phillips, and Jesus Gonzalez also had a base hit apiece but "Gonzo" did throw one away for his 10th clank of the season. Josh Kreuzer was officially 0-for-1 but did draw 2 walks and scored a run. His OPS is just 7 ticks away from 1.000.
Lansing - Scheduled Day Off
Game 1 - Auburn 3 Lowell 1 (7 Innings)
Lowell, MA - Brett Cecil has had some encouraging performances to start his pro career. This, however, was rank at the bottom of the list. The lefty, who was a supplemental first round pick this year out of Maryland, surrendered 3 singles in the 1st but his batterymate, fellow first rounder J.P. Arencibia, threw out a runner at 2nd to help keep the Red Sox affiliates off the board. After C.J. Ebarb gave the D-Days a 1-0 advantage with his first homer of the season in the top of the 2nd, Cecil gave up 3 singles and a walk in the 3rd that resulted in Lowell tying the game at 1-1. He was replaced by another southpaw, Marc Rzepczynski, who wiggled out of the jam by getting a lineout double play to end the inning as center fielder Adam Calderone threw to 2nd to double off a runner.
The D-Days went ahead for good thanks to the work of Darin Mastroianni. The leadoff hitter got aboard on a bunt single to the mound and advanced to 2nd on a throwing error by the Lowell pitcher. Mastroianni would get to 3rd on a groundout and then came home on a passed ball to make it 2-1 Auburn. An insurance run came in the 6th off the bat of Benjamin Zeskind, who sent one over the wall for his 1st of the season to up the lead to 3-1.
Javier Nieves helped Marc Rzepczynski record a 1-2-3 6th by getting the final 2 outs of the frame and got the first out of the 7th before giving up a single. Lefty Cody Crowell relieved Nieves and did put the tying run on base with a walk but he retired the next two hitters to earn his 1st save of the season.
Brett Cecil gave up 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks in 2 1/3 innings. However, he struck out 4 and his K/BB ratio is a healthy 22/3 after 18 2/3 innings. His ERA is just below a run and a half.
C.J. Ebarb was 2-for-3 with a jack while Darin Mastroianni and J.P. Arencibia got aboard twice with Mastroianni singling and walking while Arencibia earned two free passes. Arencibia was also 1-for-2 in throwing out basestealers. "Cleveland" Baron Frost had a single and a stolen base.
Game 2 - Lowell 5 Auburn 1 (7 Innings)
Lowell, MA - Ernie Banks would've said "Let's Not Play Two Ever Again" after this debacle. Despite booting the ball around 4 times, Lowell emerged with the doubleheader split. That adds up to 6 Spinners in this double dip. An early sign it would not be Auburn's night was seeing two runners get aboard on errors in the 1st but not crossing home plate. The Spinners scored single runs in the 1st and 2nd off Auburn southpaw Wilfreddy Aguirre thanks to a single and triple and then a double and single. Lowell then scored 3 more times in the 4th to chase Aguirre, who gave up 8 hits and 2 walks, one intentionally, while striking out two over 3 2/3 innings. Lefty Joe Wice punched out two batters, retiring all 4 men he faced, while John Tritz gave up just one hit over 1 shutout frame.
The Doubledays offence was pretty anemic in this one as they were held to 2 singles, 3 walks, and a plunk. C.J. Ebarb was a baserunner twice on a hit and a hit by pitch and threw out a runner behind the plate to boot while Darin Mastroianni had a hit and a walk. Victor Santana was the only Auburn player to touch home plate in the 7th as Adam Calderone brought him in with a sac fly. That was after the bases were loaded on 3 consecutive walks. The D-Day hitters struck out 12 times, including a hat trick by Shawn Scobee, and left 8 men on base.
It was not a good night in the field if your name was Vasquez. Auburn 2nd baseman Carlos Vasquez was charged with the D-Days lone error of the night while Lowell 3rd baseman Pedro Vasquez made two throwing errors of his own. Would it be overkill to also mention that Lowell catcher William Vazquez, with a "z" and not an "s" in front of the "q", also had a passed ball in Game 1? The cabal pays me the big bucks to notice these things.
Kissimee, FL - It was the John Tolisano show for the G-Jays as he accounted for the entire offence in this one. The switch-hitting 2nd baseman, who was a 2nd round pick in this year's draft, belted his 3rd homer of the year to give the visitors a 1-0 lead and he went deep again in the 3rd to tie the game at 2-2. In between, the G-Braves scored single runs off G-Jays starter Marcus Walden in the first two innings using a single and double in the 1st and a single, 2 groundouts, and a wild pitch in the 2nd. Walden was vicitimized by a leadoff homer in the 4th and that put the Braves on top, 3-2.
Ontario lefty Mike Lynch took over for Walden to start the 5th and enjoyed his first scoreless outing, striking out 3 and giving up just one hit over 3 scoreless frames. He sliced his ERA by over 22 runs, it's now just over 10 - woo hoo! Meantime, the G-Jays offence stalled as their best opportunity to tie the game came in the 7th when Eric Eiland singled and stole 2nd but he would be left there.
The Braves broke out the tomahawk chop in the 8th as Nathan Jennings was burned for 3 runs on 3 hits. Ryan Bird stopped the carnage by getting a 5-4-3 double play ball. Kevin Ahrens drew his 2nd walk of the game in the 9th but he was the last baserunner for the G-Jays.
John Tolisano's batting average is at the Mendoza Line at .200 but his 17 walks against 21 strikeouts has his OBP just two points away from .350. Eric Eiland also joined Tolisano in the two hit club and added a stolen base. Quebecer Kevin Denis-Fortier was hitless but did earn a couple of bases on balls. Balbino Fuenmayor was 1-for-4.
Marcus Walden saw his ERA drop below 6 but his record is now 0-and-4. His K/BB ratio is 15-4 over 15 1/3 innings but opponents are hitting nearly .330 against him.
*** 3 Stars! ***
1. Kevin Barker, Syracuse - 3/3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 2 R
2. Marc Rzepczynski, Auburn - 3IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K, 1HBP = W
3. John Tolisano, GCL Blue Jays - 2/4, 2 HR, 2 RBI
Honourable Mentions........
Syracuse - Wayne Lydon, Ray Olmedo, John Hattig, Jordan De Jong, Lee Gronkiewicz, Blaine Neal
New Hampshire - Manny Mayorson, Ryan Patterson
Dunedin - Eric Nielsen, Cory Patton, Anthony Hatch, Adrian Martin, John Zinnicker
Auburn - C.J. Ebarb, Darin Mastroianni, Joe Wice, John Tritz, Benjamin Zeskind, Javier Nieves, Cody Crowell
Gulf Coast League - Eric Eiland, Mike Lynch, Ryan Bird, Kevin Ahrens
Standings........
Syracuse 42-51, 9.5 GB Buffalo, IL North, W1
New Hampshire 49-44, 10.0 GB Trenton, EL Northern, L1
Dunedin 16-9, Tied for 1st with Tampa, FSL West, L1
Lansing 14-9, 2.0 GB West Michigan, MWL Eastern, W5
Auburn 16-11, 1st place, 2GA Williamsport, NYP Pinckney, L1
GCL Blue Jays 12-12, 2GB GCL Yankees, L1
Today's Schedule........
Rochester at Syracuse, 7:00 p.m.
Dunedin at Brevard County, 7:00 p.m.
GCL Phillies at GCL Blue Jays, 7:00 p.m.
Portland at New Hampshire, 7:05 p.m.
Burlington at Lansing, 7:05 p.m.
Vermont at Auburn, 7:05 p.m.
Bonus Materials..........
New Hampshire skipper Bill Masse has seen enough of the Portland Sea Dogs, according to the Union Leader.
An article on Sean Shoffit in the Lansing State Journal
A feature on Man-Rod, Manny Rodriguez, in the Auburn Citizen
I really want to see Yusaku Iriki make it to the big club. Why? Check out his website.
