6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

News

• It's nearing time for the short-season and complex leagues to get going, and the Orem Owlz have announced their 2006 roster, which includes 17 pitchers on the 32-man roster. One of those is not Gustavo Espinoza, which has to lead to some questions about his health. Names that do appear on the list include Trevor Bell, Sean O'Sullivan and Anthony Ortega, the latter leading the Dominican Summer League Angels in 2005 with a 0.86 ERA in 94.1 IP. Position-player-wise, the team has SS P.J. Phillips, up from AZL last year, and Luis Rivera, promoted after his second pass through the AZL. Their season starts tomorrow, June 20, against Dodgers Rookie-A affiliate Ogden.
• Likewise, the Ogden Raptors have their 32-man roster up; they're carrying 16 pitchers, including four listed shortstops.
• The Angels' AZL team begins its season Thursday, June 22, against the Cubs. Their roster appears to be in a state of flux, as there's barely enough players listed to even field a team, let alone play a short season. Also, looking at the schedule, it seems like the team will be playing 10:30 AM games in the Arizona heat until July 27. As I write this, the temperature at Tempe is 99°F. This has to be a typo... right?
• The GCL Dodgers' roster is also very much a product in the making, but you'll see first-round pick SS Preston Mattingly as the most recognizeable name on the list. Of course, their schedule also makes the ridiculous claim that they're going to have their kids playing at noon in the stifling Florida heat.
• Jered Weaver makes today's Daily Dish at Baseball America in a story that mostly recounts the Salt Lake Tribune story I linked to earlier in the day. BTW, congratulations to Bryan Smith for getting the byline for that piece.
• Speaking of BA, the weekly Prospect Hot Sheet is out, and no Dodger or Angel prospect made the top 10 list. Here's a couple from the "In the Team Photo" section:

  Steven Shell, rhp, Angels (Triple-A Salt Lake): Overshadowed by Salt Lake rotation-mates Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders for most of the season, Shell, 23, gets the Hot Sheet nod for his work last week (11 IP, 0 ER, 6 hits).

  James Loney, 1b, Dodgers (Triple-A Las Vegas): After two so-so seasons at Double-A, Loney, 22, might be turning a corner in his fifth pro season. Last week he hit .455 (15-for-33) with two home runs, seven RBIs and seven runs.

• No Angel or Dodger prospect was named an Offensive Player of the Week. Steven Shell, normally overshadowed by Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders, made Pitcher of the Week.
• As usual, it's Monday, which means it's time for yet another roundup of the weekly notebooks.

  PCL (Bees) Last week: 7-1 (yes, that includes a doubleheader), 41-29 overall, 1st place, Pacific North Division. Hot: Curtis Pride (.625 w/ a HR), Howie Kendrick, who flirted with .400 and above all week, Cold: Nick Gorneault (.225), but he's also hit four homers and driven in 13; not much is going wrong for the Bees at the moment, who steamrolled over the 51's and Grizzlies.	PCL (51's) Last week: 2-6, 37-34 overall, 2nd place in the Pacific South Division. Hot: James Loney (.425 w/ 2 HR, 7 RBI); Eric Riggs (.458). Cold: Team run production, despite a .284 team batting average over that time.
  Texas League (Travs) Last week: 3-4, 23-45 overall, 4th (last) place, North Division, concluding the first half. Hot: Aaron Peel (11-36 over his last 9 games). Cold: Jason Aspito (1-25).	Southern League (Suns) Last week: 3-2, 48-22 overall, 1st place, South Division. The team missed by one game an opportunity to tie the league consecutive games win record, losing 11-7 to Mississippi and ending the streak at 16. Hot: Mark Alexander (saved 10 of his last 11, 0.87 ERA), Danny Muegge (won four of his last five starts), Heath Totten. Cold: Despite the losses, the Suns are still on quite a streak.
  Cal League (Quakes) Last week: 0-6, 32-38 overall, dropping to a tie for fourth place in the South Division, and eliminating the Quakes from first-half contention. Hot: Jose Arredondo, despite taking a loss in an eight-inning game, became the first Cal League pitcher to reach 100 K's, 20 ahead of the next highest pitcher. Sean Rodriguez continues to hit well (3 HR). Cold: The rest of the pitching staff.	Florida State League (Dodgers) Last week: 2-1 thanks to three rainouts, 25-40 overall, 6th (last) place, East Division. Hot: Alberto Bastardo (sealed one of the Dodgers' wins with two scoreless relief innings), Scott Elbert (2.81 ERA, made the FSL All-Star team). Cold: Everybody else.
  Midwest League (Kernels) Last week: 3-3, 31-39 overall, 6th place, South Division. Hot: Brett Martinez (10-35, 2 HR, 7 RBI). Cold: Everybody, but 0-14 Madison Edwards stands out.	South Atlantic League (Catfish) Last week: 2-5, 37-33 overall, 4th place, Southern Division. Hot: Russell Mitchell (8-17). Cold: No nominees.

• Finally, a bit of administrivia: starting with tonight's scores, all pitchers of interest will show complete lines minus stuff like balks and errors. Mainly, this means runs will appear as well as earned runs.

Scores

// posted by Rob @ 12:04 AM link  //  0 comments