Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Move Along People, Nothing To See Here

Move along people nothing to see here, except for four losses. Picking the three stars was tough, Brian Van kirk was an obvious choice for #1, he reached base all five times he came to the plate. Andrew Liebel had another good start, Reidier Gonzlaez was good for 5.2 innings before giving up five runs in the fifth, channelling Scott Richmond perhaps. The four affiliates combined for 8 runs.

Tacoma 9 Las Vegas 2

Brian Burres started and gave up five runs in 6.2 innings. TJ Beam gave up three more and Bill Murphy one.

Ex-Blue Jay Chris Woodward went 2-4 for Tacoma and is hitting .306. Las Vegas scored their two runs on a Kyle Philips home run and an error.

Philips had two hits and is now hitting .354. Buck Coats also had two hits and he is hitting .327.

Reading 6 New Hampshire 1

Reidier Gonzalez went 17 up, 17 down (OK there was one double play in there), but then the wheels came off. Two ground ball singles, followed by two walks, followed by a double and another single and the score was 5-0. Gonzalez left the game after five and his ERA is now 2.74.

The offense continued to be missing, the Fisher Cats had only four hits in the game. Several hitters are really struggling in June, albeit in just six games. Brad Emaus is hitting .083 in June; David Cooper .133; and Brian Jeroloman 214.

Brian Jeroloman had two hits.

Palm Beach 2 Dunedin 1

Dunedin scored in the first inning, Justin Jackson singled; Moises Sierra doubled him to third; and Manny Rodriguez hit a sac fly. But after those two hits Dunedin were held to just three hits the rest of the way. Jon Jaspe had two of those hits.

Andrew Liebel started for Dunedin and pitched seven innings giving up two runs on eight hits. Following up on Dane Johnson's comments on Liebel, Liebel has now pitched at least six innings in his last starts. In those six starts Liebel has pitching 38.1 innings and has given up 34 hits and 11 walks with 37 strikeouts.

West Michigan 5 Lansing 4

John Anderson had a typical start, nine hits allowed in four innings leading to five runs. Anderson is just 20 years old and has the reputation of being a strike thrower. He may be but he is catching too much of the plate, he has allowed hits in innings. Dustin Antolin threw 3.1 shutout innings and he has had a nice eight day run. Since Friday of last week Antolin pitched three times, 8.1 innings total. In those innings he has allowed 4 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. Hunter Moody finished a great job by the bullpen with 1.2 perfect innings.

Offensively Lansing scored a run on a sac fly in the first, scored an unearned run on a Luis Fernandez double in the fourth, and two runs in the seventh with a Brian Van Kirk triple and a Robert Sobolewski double being the big hits. those last two runs left the Lugnuts down 5-4. Lansing had runners on second in each of the eighth and ninth but couldn't get the tying run across the plate.

Van Kirk had three hits and two walks, Pastornicky, McClanahan, Fernandez and Jimenez had two hits each.

Three Stars

3rd star - Tyler Pastornicky
2nd star - Andrew Liebel
1st star - Brian Van Kirk

Standings

Las Vegas - 21-35, last place, 13 GB
New Hampshire - 26-31, 5th place, 5.5 GB
Dunedin - 22-30, last place, 13.5 GB
Lansing - 20-33, last place, 13.5 GB

Posted by Gerry on Sunday, June 07 2009 @ 08:54 AM EDT.

Move Along People, Nothing To See Here | 7 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

jerjapan - Sunday, June 07 2009 @ 10:52 AM EDT (#200940) #

I know people say that poor minor league team records are not necessarily an indictment of the prospects or the system, but what do people make of our poor records at all levels? I know that our losing records may have helped cost us our relationship with Syracuse, and I can't help but wonder if a winning culture and minor-league playoff experience wouldn't help our prospects. Any thoughts from the Box?

ayjackson - Sunday, June 07 2009 @ 10:58 AM EDT (#200941) #

Boris (London, ON): Blue Jays' minor league pitching coordinator Dane Johnson recently stated in an interview that RHP Danny Farquhar has seen his velocity jump to 95-97mph after being converted into a reliever. He's had a strong season so far and is a super interesting case because of the two distinct arm angles he throws pitches from. What are your thoughts on Farquhar?

Matthew Eddy: I've heard the same thing, and not from Dane. A scout who spent most of April scouting the Florida State League labeled Farquhar and lefty Tim Collins as the Dunedin club's top two pitching prospects, saying that Farquhar was reaching mid- to high 90s from his high three-quarters arm slot. Now he has been bumped up to Double-A. (Can Collins be far behind?) Farquhar has yet to start a pro game, but he did make most of his appearances in that capacity with Louisiana-Lafayette last year. He reaches the low-90s from his below-sidearm slot. He's a fascinating prospect, kind of like Yankees' low Class A reliver Pat Venditte, blah blah blah blah blah.

[The previous excerpt is courtesy (presumably) of Baseball America.]

ayjackson - Sunday, June 07 2009 @ 11:03 AM EDT (#200942) #

jerjapan - Sunday, June 07 2009 @ 12:07 PM EDT (#200943) #

The primary concern for the farm clubs is the proper development of the talent. The success of the teams is going to be due to the non-prospects as each team should only have roughly 2 A or B prospects. The Jays seem to push their top prospects a little bit so they aren't as dominant at their level, but more challenged.

AY, that argument is a sound one, but this year the minor league results thus far have been worse than previous years, and we have never posted strong minor league winning percentages. most of the players who are being pushed aren't generating strong numbers. I've heard other posters say that this will have long-term benefits for these prospects that don't show up in the numbers, which sounds logical... but shouldn't we try to surround our prospects with better organizational soldiers / non-prospects / AAAA minor league veterans, to create a winning culture? Can any of the hardcore minor-league observers point to any glaring weaknesses in the system that explain our lousy records this year?

ayjackson - Sunday, June 07 2009 @ 05:29 PM EDT (#200947) #

Bradley Mills had a nice little outing today - 7 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 11 K's, 110 pitches. Win pending.

Matt Luizza is the DH for Vegas today, with Phillips catching - looks like Arencibia has joined Snider on the treatment table. Anybody know what Phillips' defence is like behind the plate?

dan gordon - Monday, June 08 2009 @ 12:28 AM EDT (#200953) #

Does anybody have any stats on just how much of a hitter's park Las Vegas is? I see that many of the organization's AAA hitters are hitting for a much higher batting average at home than on the road. Phillips, for instance, is hitting 200 points higher at home. Diaz' home average is 7 times his road average (after Saturday, and, no that is not a misprint). Small sample size for some of these guys, but there are so many that have such huge splits. You'd think they were playing in Coors before the humidor. The rest of the Pacific Coast League is supposed to be a hitters' league, so Vegas must be really something. Have to keep this in mind in looking at the numbers of the AAA pitchers and hitters.

ayjackson - Monday, June 08 2009 @ 01:46 AM EDT (#200955) #

The home-road splits for Mills, Cecil, Castro and Purcey are pretty ridiculous. Loads of walks too. I wonder if it's a thin air thing where the breaking balls aren't breaking. Pitchers may be nibbling too much and getting behind, and then getting hammered in hitters counts.

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