After a rough night on Friday the affiliates fought back with five wins. I witnessed the Fisher Cats win 5-2 over Connecticut.
Notes from New Hampshire
* There were over ten scouts at the game, including the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Giants, Angels, Reds and Brewers.
* Most scouts who saw Marcum's start on Thursday were impressed although his fastball was at 85-87. Pitchers coming back from TJ surgery take a while to get their velocity back
* Scouts were impressed with Casey Janssen, they said he was throwing well at 92 mph and was pitching down around the knees. Janssen is scheduled to pitch again Sunday.
* Kyle Ginley has had elbow surgery to re-route a nerve
* Zach Dials had gone to Dunedin with shoulder fatigue and was kept there until his arm regained full strength
* The scouts had two questions for me, (1) will Halladay be traded?, and (2) Will JP be fired?
Tacoma 5 Las Vegas 6 - 10 innings
Las Vegas jumped out to a 2-0 lead, Buck Coats and Randy Ruiz doubled, Travis Snider singled in a run. In the second Kevin Howard hit a solo home run. Coats doubled again in the third and Ruiz singled him in. Brian Dopirak doubled home Ruiz to make the score 5-1. TJ Beam pitched 6.1 innings giving up just one run. Sean Stidfole gave up two runs in relief in the eighth, as did Bubbie Buzachero in the ninth when Jeff Clement hit a two run, game tying, home run. In the tenth Howie Clark doubled with one out and Tacoma intentionally walked Ruiz. Snider then worked a regular walk to load the bases and Dopirak delivered a game winning sac fly.
Ruiz had three hits and is hitting .327. Coats and Clark had two hits each. Snider and Dopirak were 1-4 rach, Arencibia had an oh-fer after his four hits the night before.
The Fisher Cats scored two runs in the first, Todd Donovan singled and Darin Mastroianni walked. The Defenders catcher tried to pick Mastroianni off first and threw the ball into right field. Donovan scored and Mastroianni went to third for a moment before Brad Emaus singled him home. Connecticut scored a couple of runs to tie the game after four but New Hampshire scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth. A ground out scored Adam Calderone who had led off with a single. In the sixth David Cooper singled in two insurance runs.
Marty McLeary pitched 5.2 innings, Edgar Estanga, Danny Farquhar and Zach Dials finished up.
Dunedin were outhit 10-5 but won. Chuck Huggins gave up two runs in the first inning but settled down to pitch six innings. Tim Collins and Dumas Garcia finished up. In the third inning Justin Jackson and Brad McElroy walked and John Tolisano doubled both runners home. In the next inning Matt Liuzza walked, Kevin Ahrens singled and McElroy doubled both home.
Lansing scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to break a 1-1 tie. Justin McClanahan started the eighth with a single, Balbino Fuenmayor added a one out single, a run scored on a fielders choice, Tyler Pastornicky walked, Brian Van Kirk drove in a run with a single and Johermyn Chavez finished the scoring with a two run single. Van Kirk had three hits, Chavez had two. Joel Carreno started and pitched six innings giving up one run on six hits.
Each team had eleven hits but Brooklyn hit four home runs. All of the Doubleday pitchers, Wright, Lehman, Wells and Miller allowed runs. Lehman pitched a hitless inning but gave up three runs thanks to two hit batters and a walk and lack of support from Wells who gave up a double with the bases loaded.
Yan Gomes had three hits, Marcus Brisker, Wellinton Ramirez and Kyle Gilligan had two hits each.
The Jays were down 2-0 after four innings but exploded for 13 runs over the next four innings. Ryan Goins was the only starter without a hit. Michael Crouse hit his first home run of the season and had two hits. Nick Zaleski, who has been one of the leading hitters on the team, had two hits, scored three and drove in three. Jack Murphy, newly demoted from Auburn, had two hits and four RBI's.
Juan Hernandez started the gave up two earned runs in 4.1 innings, the bullpen pitched 4.2 no-hit innings.
Three Stars
3rd star - Nick Zaleski
2nd star - Randy Ruiz
1st star - Brad McElroy
