Of course, the re-habbing Jose Bautista might have had a little to do with that calculation.
Las Vegas 6, Tacoma 1
The 51's put a big dent in their already slim playoff hopes by losing the three previous games coming into Thursday night. The tragic number stands at 5, even after the win. Still, having been a .500 club (now 12-11) in August after having their lineup so depleted is worth of praise, and hopefully Buffalo is paying attention. A little trivia for you: Buffalo's last championship team was managed by the 51's Marty Brown.
In tonight's game, Shawn Hill gave up a single earned run in 5 innings of work and Bobby Korecky contributed 3 shutout innings in relief. Useless detail - the well traveled Danny Farquhar pitched a scoreless inning for Tacoma, where he's done fine work in a small sample.
Third Baseman Luke Hughes led the offense with a 3/5 night. Yan Gomes, Richardo nanita, and Kevin Howard each collected two hits. Hughes and Gomes had a double each and Howard homered. DH Jack Cust, who's turned out not to be a hidden gem (his BA stands at .200) did contribute to the offense by walking three times.
New Hampshire 9, New Britain 6
For a team that's too often suffered from anemic offensive production this year, the Fisher-cats got a rare chance to see what a prolific offense looks like. It turned out to be a needed boost as Ryan Tepera was not good. He allowed 4 runs in his 4 innings of work, giving up 6 hits along the way. The bullpen fared much better, as five pitchers combined for five innings of work which held the opposition to two runs, only one of which was earned. Marcus Storeman gave up the earned run, while John Stilson is still unscored upon in 4 relief appearances since coming off the DL
Lead off man Jose Bautista, a guy you might have heard about, demonstrated for any potential skeptics that his wrist is feeling just fine, thank you. He went 2 for 4 with two homers including a grand slam. He also drew a walk. Team-mate Adam Lind had a quieter night - go figure - but did have a single and a walk. The downside is he struck out in all three of his remaining plate appearances.
Three other players in the F-cat's line-up came through with homers including Brad Glenn, and Dos Ryans (Goins and Schimpf). Goins had two hits, Schimpf had three.
Dunedin 9, Tampa 5
Scott Copeland faltered and was touched for five runs on nine hits and two walks over 5 innings of work. But the bullpen shut down the scoring and kept the Yankees from completing the comeback.
CF Kenny Wilson continues his improbably resurrection and he went 2/4 Thursday night with his third double in the last two games He has an .892 OPS in the last ten games and it's .827 overall since the promotion. Realistically, a 19 games stretch is far too small to draw any firm conclusions but if Wilson stays hot for another couple of weeks it will have to do wonders for his confidence looking ahead to 2013.
Otherwise, dissapointing Justin Jackson had a rare two-hit night and six other D-Jays had a hit apeice, including Oliver Dominguez recording a homer. Hot hitting Kevin Pillar, who left the game early for reasons unknown to me, was one of the two who went hitless.
Lansing 8, Great Lakes 9
The Lugnuts sent usually dependable Anthony DeSclafini to the mound on Thursday but it was not his night. He surrendered six runs, four earned, in 4.1 IP. Mixed results from the bullpen ended up not being able to salvage the win.
The bottom of the line-up contributed six of the eight Lugnut hits, with Chris Peteres and Shane Opit collecting two hits and Andy Fermin contributing a double. DH Kevin Patterson had a solo homer as well. RF Chris Hawkins also had a solo shot, his first homer since April and only his second of the year.
Vancouver 5, Boise 11
Vancouver was relying on rotation filler tonight and got the sort of performance one might expect, and worse. Ben White was torched for 7 earned runs in 4.1 innings, and while the bullpen was more effective the damage was done.
Offensively, newcomer Christian Lopes (one of my personal favorite prospects) continues to announce his presence with authority, going 3 for 5 on the night. Kelin Sweeney was 2 for 3 and walked twice, and Balbino had the only XBH for the Canadians, a double. On the other hand, Dwight Smith Jr was 0/5 and struck out in all five at-bats.
Bluefield 1, Kingsport 7
The Baby Jays again turned to a reliever for a start and Justin James was, for the third start in a row, not good. He didn't make it out of the third and was charged with 5 runs, 3 earned. Les Williams did come on and carry the team through the sixth inning with no further damage.
The offense managed just four hits, and a single XBH. Two of those hits - one a homer - belonged to DJ Davis.
GCL Blue Jays 6, Braves 1
Jario Labourt had a fine outing, throwing 4 shutout innings while waking two and striking out five. The offense was carried by lead-off hitter and 2B Justin Atkinson who went 2/3 and collected 3 of the temas 4 RBI.
Three Stars -
3. Christian Lopes
2. DJ Davis
1. Jose Bautista
Las Vegas 6, Tacoma 1
The 51's put a big dent in their already slim playoff hopes by losing the three previous games coming into Thursday night. The tragic number stands at 5, even after the win. Still, having been a .500 club (now 12-11) in August after having their lineup so depleted is worth of praise, and hopefully Buffalo is paying attention. A little trivia for you: Buffalo's last championship team was managed by the 51's Marty Brown.
In tonight's game, Shawn Hill gave up a single earned run in 5 innings of work and Bobby Korecky contributed 3 shutout innings in relief. Useless detail - the well traveled Danny Farquhar pitched a scoreless inning for Tacoma, where he's done fine work in a small sample.
Third Baseman Luke Hughes led the offense with a 3/5 night. Yan Gomes, Richardo nanita, and Kevin Howard each collected two hits. Hughes and Gomes had a double each and Howard homered. DH Jack Cust, who's turned out not to be a hidden gem (his BA stands at .200) did contribute to the offense by walking three times.
New Hampshire 9, New Britain 6
For a team that's too often suffered from anemic offensive production this year, the Fisher-cats got a rare chance to see what a prolific offense looks like. It turned out to be a needed boost as Ryan Tepera was not good. He allowed 4 runs in his 4 innings of work, giving up 6 hits along the way. The bullpen fared much better, as five pitchers combined for five innings of work which held the opposition to two runs, only one of which was earned. Marcus Storeman gave up the earned run, while John Stilson is still unscored upon in 4 relief appearances since coming off the DL
Lead off man Jose Bautista, a guy you might have heard about, demonstrated for any potential skeptics that his wrist is feeling just fine, thank you. He went 2 for 4 with two homers including a grand slam. He also drew a walk. Team-mate Adam Lind had a quieter night - go figure - but did have a single and a walk. The downside is he struck out in all three of his remaining plate appearances.
Three other players in the F-cat's line-up came through with homers including Brad Glenn, and Dos Ryans (Goins and Schimpf). Goins had two hits, Schimpf had three.
Dunedin 9, Tampa 5
Scott Copeland faltered and was touched for five runs on nine hits and two walks over 5 innings of work. But the bullpen shut down the scoring and kept the Yankees from completing the comeback.
CF Kenny Wilson continues his improbably resurrection and he went 2/4 Thursday night with his third double in the last two games He has an .892 OPS in the last ten games and it's .827 overall since the promotion. Realistically, a 19 games stretch is far too small to draw any firm conclusions but if Wilson stays hot for another couple of weeks it will have to do wonders for his confidence looking ahead to 2013.
Otherwise, dissapointing Justin Jackson had a rare two-hit night and six other D-Jays had a hit apeice, including Oliver Dominguez recording a homer. Hot hitting Kevin Pillar, who left the game early for reasons unknown to me, was one of the two who went hitless.
Lansing 8, Great Lakes 9
The Lugnuts sent usually dependable Anthony DeSclafini to the mound on Thursday but it was not his night. He surrendered six runs, four earned, in 4.1 IP. Mixed results from the bullpen ended up not being able to salvage the win.
The bottom of the line-up contributed six of the eight Lugnut hits, with Chris Peteres and Shane Opit collecting two hits and Andy Fermin contributing a double. DH Kevin Patterson had a solo homer as well. RF Chris Hawkins also had a solo shot, his first homer since April and only his second of the year.
Vancouver 5, Boise 11
Vancouver was relying on rotation filler tonight and got the sort of performance one might expect, and worse. Ben White was torched for 7 earned runs in 4.1 innings, and while the bullpen was more effective the damage was done.
Offensively, newcomer Christian Lopes (one of my personal favorite prospects) continues to announce his presence with authority, going 3 for 5 on the night. Kelin Sweeney was 2 for 3 and walked twice, and Balbino had the only XBH for the Canadians, a double. On the other hand, Dwight Smith Jr was 0/5 and struck out in all five at-bats.
Bluefield 1, Kingsport 7
The Baby Jays again turned to a reliever for a start and Justin James was, for the third start in a row, not good. He didn't make it out of the third and was charged with 5 runs, 3 earned. Les Williams did come on and carry the team through the sixth inning with no further damage.
The offense managed just four hits, and a single XBH. Two of those hits - one a homer - belonged to DJ Davis.
GCL Blue Jays 6, Braves 1
Jario Labourt had a fine outing, throwing 4 shutout innings while waking two and striking out five. The offense was carried by lead-off hitter and 2B Justin Atkinson who went 2/3 and collected 3 of the temas 4 RBI.
Three Stars -
3. Christian Lopes
2. DJ Davis
1. Jose Bautista
