Sunday, September 04, 2005 |
Minor League Scorebook
- Howie Kendrick just can't stop hitting, and so he made Texas League Player of the Month for August, a month in which he had a line of .377/.403/.658 with five home runs and 32 RBIs. His 32 RBIs and 75 total bases led all Texas leaguers in that month. His two biggest competitors? Also Travs, Kendry Morales and Erick Aybar.
- The Angels promoted Zach Sorensen from Salt Lake to replace Maicer Izturis. Izturis will miss a week to ten days due to a deep bruise incurred during Wednesday's game against the A's, when Jay Payton slid into him at second. Robb Quinlan will take over at third full time in the duration.
- Also in that same article, the Angels released LHP Tim Bittner, acquired in the 2003 trade of Scott Schoeneweis. Bittner was 1-7 with a 6.27 ERA for Salt Lake, and was mentioned in the Baseball America 2005 Prospect Handbook as the Angels' 26th best prospect.
- I wrote Stephen Smith today about Dick Simpson, the Angels prospect whose single season minor league home run record Brandon Wood eclipsed. Stephen pointed me at this RealAudio interview with Dan Ardell, who played one year in the majors with the Angels as a 20-year-old. Here's the excerpt, which starts at 13:24 on the recording:
Stephen Smith: ... it's interesting that you mentioned some of those places that you played because one of the things that we've been following on FutureAngels.com this year is the historic season that Brandon Wood is having in Rancho Cucamonga. He hit his 42nd home run to tie Dick Simpson of the San Jose Bees in 1962, and one of the players he passed up on that list as he was moving up was John Warner, who I think hit 37 in Tri City in 1964. So you actually had an opportunity to see some of these guys that Brandon is passing up, and quite frankly, as we've been researching the media guides and whatever little sparse records we can find, we've been trying to put this in perspective, because nobody's around that really was in San Jose or Tri City and so we really don't know what the ballparks were like, we don't know what the conditions were like. So tell us, what were they like and is Brandon's historic effort this year credible compared to what they were doing?
So the inability to hit breaking stuff turned a 19-year-old phenom into a major league bust. It is, as I have said before of others, a cautionary tale.Dan Ardell: I haven't seen Brandon play, but any time you hit 40 home runs, I don't care whether it was Little League, high school, junior high school, whatever, it's a huge accomplishment. Dick Simpson was a great ballplayer. He was a little bit like Hank Aaron. He was tall, skinny, he had great wrists. Had a little trouble with the curveball. He played with the Angels briefly. John Warner, actually went by Jack Warner, was a smaller guy, but also one that had just tremendous wrists, and again, couldn't hit the curveball. These guys were very, very good minor league ballplayers, the kind of guys that could remember every at bat that they had, and I would have guessed that both of them would have made it. They were that good. And so you look at a guy like Brandon and you say his accomplishment is absolutely huge. Dallas McPherson, you look at the numbers some of these guys put up in the minors, and you just don't know. I think it's a reasonable guess that they'll do well, but I've missed a few times before, too.
Callaspo, A: 2-5, 1 2B
Merloni: 2-6, 2 RBI, 1 K
Gorneault: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Mathis, J: 1-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K
Wood, B: 1-5
Budde: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K
Specht: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
Bootcheck: (W, 7-4), 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 10 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 5.42 ERA
It wasn't what you'd call a great win -- Bootcheck left the game after plunking a batter and giving up consecutive triples -- but I suppose he'll take it. Scott Erickson was responsible for eight fargin' earned runs, and one unearned run. Dude -- stick a fork in yourself, you're so done.
Brandon Wood collected his first AAA hit, a single. In fact, the Stingers were actually outhit by the 51's, 17-16, but it's hard to win when the opposition outhomers you 2-0.
Salt Lake climbs to one game back of first-place Tacoma, who lost 2-0 to Sacramento.
BTW, what the heck were they giving away, free booze? Attendance 12,472 for a last-place club on a Labor Day weekend?
Willits, R: 2-4, 1 K
Kendrick, H: 0-4
Napoli, M: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Morales, K: 0-4
Weaver: (L, 3-3), 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 9 K, 1 BB, 3.98 ERA
Austen: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 4.14 ERA
Jered Weaver lost this one when first baseman Mike Eylward failed to field a routine ground ball hit by the leadoff batter, Dan Moylan. Weaver got six flyball outs to two groundball outs. Needs to work on that sinker! Good that he got 9 K's, though.
The only run the Travs scored -- on Mike Napoli's solo homer -- proved historic, as it was his 30th, not only a career high for Napoli but made him only the ninth player in franchise history to have 30 or more home runs. Napoli's .237/.370/.503 line speaks of a Paul Bako-type career -- but his power numbers are first-rate, and the .100-point spread or so between his average and his OBP is very impressive. His defensive skills behind the dish are only considered so-so, though, so his career path is a little muddy.
Brown: 1-2, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
Sugden: 2-4, 2 RBI
Mendoza: (W, 1-0), 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 9 K, 0 BB, 0.00 ERA
No freaking way: easily Mendoza's best outing of the year, and it's only his second
Update: this was Mendoza's first start for Rancho; he pitched in relief on August 29. In today's game, he faced the minimum in four of his seven frames, and only got into one jam in the top of the sixth. With men on the corners, he coaxed a double play from Carlos Arroyo to end the inning. Same problem as Jered Weaver, though: nine of his outs were by the flyball, only three by the groundball, including that aforesaid double play.
Sutton: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI
Collins: 1-4
Toussaint: 0-4
Renz: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K
Madrigal: 1-4
Cordova: 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 1 HR, 4.35 ERA
Simard: (L, 9-9) (in relief), 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 5.61 ERA
Statia: 2-5, 1 2B, 3 RBI
Trumbo: 1-5
Wipke: 0-2, 3 BB, 1 K
Martinez: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
Boyer: 1-3, 2 BB, 2 K
Hughes: 1-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K
Overstreet: 2-4, 2 RBI
Marek: 3.2 IP, 5 ER, 1 HR, 4.27 ERA
Whittington: 2.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 3.94 ERA
Hill: (W, 3-4) (in relief), 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 4.64 ERA
Another pair of big innings did in Ogden. Raptors pitcher Mario Alvarez started the fifth with a comfortable 8-0 lead, but immediately surrendered a pair of walks, which Michael Hughes cashed in with a home run. Three hits later (one of which was a bunt single), he was out of the game, and the Owlz were back in it, 8-5. A Hainley Statia infield single drove in a run in the sixth, but the ninth sealed it as once more the Ogden bullpen blew apart. A leadoff walk from Raptors pitcher Aaron Klusman to Flint Wipke (great baseball name, no?) keyed the inning; a Brett Martinez double, another walk (to Billy Boyer), and a Patrick Reilly pinch hit single tied the game. The game winner came on Colby Overstreet's single.
With the win, the Owlz have a two game lead over Ogden in the second half, with five left to play, three against Ogden.
Young, D: 1-5
Theodorou: 3-5, 1 RBI, 1 K
Gutierrez: 3-4, 2 RBI
Jackson: 2-5, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K
Erickson: (L, 2-4), 5.2 IP, 8 ER, 10 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 2 HR, 7.20 ERA
Rupe: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 6.42 ERA
Abreu, T: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
LaRoche, A: 0-6
Loney: 2-6
Martin, R: 2-5, 1 BB, 1 K
Ruggiano, J: 3-6, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Garcia: 0-3, 3 BB
Miller: 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 0.73 ERA
Broxton: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 3.17 ERA
Bartlett: (L, 3-3) (in relief), 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 5.05 ERA
Justin Ruggiano is getting very hard to ignore, and I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the bottom end (20-30 in the BA book) of the Dodgers system top prospect lists next year.
Denker, T: 1-4
Dewitt: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
Kemp: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K
Dunlap: 2-5, 2 2B, 1 K
Rohan: 0-2, 2 BB
Hoffmann: 2-4, 1 RBI
Tiffany: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 9 K, 7 BB, 3.93 ERA
Simmons: (BS, 1)(W, 4-2) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 4.42 ERA
Alexander: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 3.03 ERA
Nine strikeouts? Good. Seven walks? Horrible. At least they recorded the win.
The comments above for Ruggiano also apply to Raglani. These southern leagues have a lot of pitcher's parks.
Westervelt: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K
Batz: 2-4
Elbert: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 10 K, 2 BB, 2.66 ERA
Castillo: (L, 0-2) (in relief), 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 6.43 ERA
Sutherland: 2-5, 2 K
Locke: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
Robinson: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
Alvarez: 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 6 K, 4 BB, 1 HR, 6.14 ERA
McDonald: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 4 K, 1 BB, 2.25 ERA
White: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 7.09 ERA
Klusman: (BS, 2)(L, 4-2) (in relief), 0.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 3.09 ERA
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