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Shaun Marcum returned with an exclamation mark and a handful of Canadians had good nights.


Durham 4 Syracuse 1

Canadian Scott Richmond continued his dominance of Triple-A with seven shutout innings. He allowed three hits, no walks and struck out 10. Jonah Bayliss and Mike Gosling pitched poorly out of the pen and Bayliss took the loss. Offensively, Hector Luna went 2-for-4 with a double. Chip Cannon went 1-for-3 for the only other hit.

New Britain 15 New Hampshire 3

New Hampshire's pitching fell apart after Brett Cecil left the mound. He allowed one run on five hits and two walks over three innings. He also struck out seven batters. Jean Machi allowed three runs and Jared Gothreaux allowed four runs. Seth Overbey allowed five runs without recording an out.  Offensively, Scott Campbell and Eric Nielsen had two hits each at the top of the order. Brian Jeroloman was 1-for-1 with two runs scored, a solo homer and three walks. J.P. Arencibia was 1-for-4 and Travis Snider was 0-for-5.

Dunedin 9 Vero Beach 0

Shaun Marcum received a rehab start and did not allow a hit in four innings and struck out six batters. Canadian A.J. Wideman followed that up with four more shutout innings and he allowed three hits and one walk for the win. Cory Patton went 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored, a double, a homer and two RBI. Brian Dopirak went 1-for-4 with three RBI. Anthony Hatch was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a solo homer. Sean Shoffit was 2-for-2 with two walks.

Lansing 8 Peoria 6

Marc Rzepczynski had his first poor outing for Lansing. He allowed six runs on seven hits and two walks over 6.1 innings. He also hit two batters and threw a wild pitch. Tim Collins recorded his seventh save after allowing one run in 2.2 innings. Offensively, David Cooper went 4-for-5 with three runs scored, Kevin Ahrens was 3-for-5 with two doubles, and Justin Jackson was 3-for-5 with a run scored.

Hudson Valley 4 Auburn 3

Auburn lost the game in the bottom of the ninth inning when recent signee Danny Farquhar allowed the winning run after 1.2 innings on the mound. Joel Carreno started the game and allowed three runs on eight hits over five innings. He struck out two batters. Chris Demons went 2-for-4 in the leadoff spot but was caught stealing and picked off. Michael McDade, recently demoted from Lansing, went 3-for-4 with a double and RBI. Adam Amar kept his average at .387 with a 1-for-3 night. Mark Sobolewski's average dropped to .120 with an 0-for-4 night with three strikeouts.

GLC Tigers 4 GCL Jays 2

Each team managed only five hits. Jays starter Scott Gracey went three innings and did not allow a hit but walked one and struck out two. Willi Mendez allowed three walks in one-third of an inning. Jared Potts took the loss by allowing three runs in 1.2 innings. Offensively, 17-year-old 2008 draftee Markus Brisker continues to hit well and went 1-for-4 to keep his average at .315. Canadian outfielder Brad McElroy (who was born in my hometown of London, Ont.) went 1-for-3 with two runs scored, a double and a walk.

Three Stars:
3. Shaun Marcum for a hitless return to the mound.
2. David Cooper for going 4-for-5 with two doubles, three runs scored and an RBI.
1. Scott Richmond for seven innings of three-hit, no-run ball with 10 strikeouts.

Marcum Returns in Dunedin | 11 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
braden - Thursday, July 17 2008 @ 11:23 PM EDT (#188999) #

I'm assuming Cecil only went three because he pitched in the All-Star Game last night?  Hopefully, at least.

braden - Thursday, July 17 2008 @ 11:24 PM EDT (#189000) #
Wait, no, Cecil didn't pitch in the AS game.  Huh. 
dan gordon - Thursday, July 17 2008 @ 11:36 PM EDT (#189001) #

Cecil faced 16 batters.  9 of those were either a K or BB.  That could easily get the average number of pitches up to 5 per batter, or 80 pitches in total.  That's a lot for 3 innings.  I imagine that is why he was gone after 3.

Snider's average down to .262.  In his last 10 including tonight he is now hitting .214.

canuckiwi - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 04:28 AM EDT (#189006) #

So Cecil didn't have his best outing. Well that's going to happen from time to time, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. The Fishers have much bigger fish to fry.

Not that I would ever be one to say "I told you so," but this Richmond kid is starting to make me look like the second coming of Nostradamus. 10Ks and no runs or walks in 7 innings against a good hiiting team like the Bulls, is bound to impress the brass in Toronto, if not many of the bloggers on this site!

 

Thomas - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 07:27 AM EDT (#189012) #
Richmond is absolutely impressing in Triple A. In the past JP has tended to promote only prospects with a capital "P" in September, but Richmond forth a good argument that he deserves a look in September, if not earlier.
John Northey - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 07:45 AM EDT (#189014) #
I still need a fair amount of selling on Richmond.
http://thebaseballcube.com/players/R/Scott-Richmond.shtml

He pitched in University until age 25, then went to the Northern League for 3 years (including his age 25).  This year is his first in the standard minors.  He has a live arm, as shown by his 322 K's in 385 2/3 pro innings (7.5 per 9 IP).   However, he did not dominate at any level and was a swing man until last year.  His 3 games in AAA helps his cause, but even Tomo Okha had good 3 game stretches.  If he keeps it up, dominating AAA from now until September then maybe the Jays will give him a shot.  It would be a great story, but I don't see anything until 2009 after having a strong spring training and impressing CIto and the coaches.  If he slips for a few starts or has a weak spring training in 2009 then he won't get that shot.  Just the way it is for a guy who doesn't get into the organized minors until age 28.

Gerry - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 09:13 AM EDT (#189016) #

John Lott went to the AA All-Star game and has a couple of stories in todays National Post.

In the first he talks with Travis Snider about some of the personal issues that have impacted him.

In the second he talks with the two catchers, JP Arencibia and Brian Jeroloman.

Pistol - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 09:34 AM EDT (#189017) #
Arencibia now has 100 ABs in AA without a walk!

BulletJayFan - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 03:28 PM EDT (#189031) #

Richmond could be the real deal but will need another pitch in order to stick in the majors, I think. His fastball sat at 93 on the gun through 6 innings, but we saw some 91s and 92s in the 7th. His fastball has some movement; not as much as Purcey's, but certainly more than, say, Josh Banks, and he located it on the corners well last night, as he did the last time I saw him. Of his 96 pitches, 66 were strikes, and this is with an ump who was squeezing the corners. He used his breaking pitch (I think it was a slider but I couldn't tell for sure) effectively against lefties. He didn't seem to throw it as much to righties, but, for the most part, he didn't need to. It came in at about 84. He didn't seem to have a changeup at all, or at least not one he was confident enough in to throw for strikes, and that is probably the missing piece of the puzzle. His height also helped him bear down on the batters all night. 

One final note: Richmond got 19 swinging strikes last night, which gives gives you an absurd swinging strike percentage of 19.9%, so he's got the stuff.

Mike Green - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 03:58 PM EDT (#189033) #
Justin Jackson's seasonal line is up to .242/.350/.376.  That may not sound like much, but for a 19 year old shortstop with a good glove and good speed in the Midwest League, it is just fine.  All he needs to do is make modest incremental improvements as he gets older and slowly advances up the system, but that is of course easier said than done. 

He has been compared with Shawon Dunston.  Dunston was in the Midwest League at age 20, and hit .310/.332/.409, but walked and struck out much less often than Jackson.  Actually, a better comparison would be Royce Clayton (no guffaws, please), who came through the Midwest League at age 19 and put up a .236/.309/.286 line with 101 strikeouts in 104 games.  Jackson is ahead of where Clayton was, and Royce was actually a perfectly decent shortstop in his prime. 

Nigel - Friday, July 18 2008 @ 05:04 PM EDT (#189035) #
Alex Gonzalez (the Toronto variety) also went through low A at 19 (albeit in the South Atlantic League) and put up some fairly similar numbers .271/.319/.402 to Jackson.  Jackson is walking more and striking out more than Gonzalez but I think Alex Gonzalez with better patience would be a good upside comp right now for Jackson - that's a complement for those wondering!
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