Saturday, June 30, 2007 |
And Now, Your 2007 National League Western Division Champion San Diego Padres! Padres 3, Dodgers 1
Two of our friends from San Diego gave up their season tickets, as one of their fathers is slowly dying from Alzheimers, an expensive, time-consuming, and heart-rending process. It's sad that they're likely going to miss out on the Pads' third straight division title, because it really looks like, with Milton Bradley available even half-time, the Pads are going places this year.
And by extension, the Dodgers are not.
There was a theory on DT today that vetruhn presence was what killed the Dodgers, going 5-for-26, but that discounts Nomar's solo homer, and Jake Peavy being Jake Peavy. It's hard to say that any of the kids would have been better considering the opposition. There was also great consternation at using Matt Kemp as a pinch runner instead of a pinch hitter in the 11th with two out; I'll bite. Poor use of resources there by Grady. And putting in Tomko in a critical situation, well, dumb times two. He's burned the Dodgers too many times of late for him to earn that position. Mopup or bust.
Labels: dodgers, padres, recaps
Reggie Willits, You Are The Man!
When Amber Willits is cooking dinner — crack! — or putting the baby to bed — crack! — or trying to get a little sleep herself — crack! — she has to wonder why she ever agreed to live in a batting cage.Update 7/1: I should add the following quote for posterity, because Matt commented on it below:“I may have thought that a few times,” she acknowledged. “But I never said it.”
Baseball wives are an understanding breed. They endure 12-day trips and meals at midnight, and move their families from minor league towns like Yakima, Wash., to Pulaski, W.Va.
But Amber Willits, the wife of Angels outfielder Reggie Willits, has taken hardball devotion to a new level. For the past three years, she has made a home, raised a son and helped develop a .300 hitter — all in an indoor batting cage.
“I could not have gotten here alone,” Reggie said. “I have an extremely supportive wife.”
At this time a year ago, he was a fringe prospect who had never started a major league game. Today, he is 26, the leadoff hitter for the first-place Los Angeles Angels, batting .337 with 18 stolen bases and a shot at the American League rookie of the year award.
He credits his emergence, at least in part, to the cage he calls home. While other players travel long distances to workout centers in the off-season, Willits merely has to roll out of bed and start taking his hacks.
“It’s very convenient,” said his father, Gene.
If she is free, she feeds balls into the pitching machine. Amber stands behind an L-Screen, the kind used to protect batting-practice pitchers. Still, line drives sometimes rip through the screen.“I know she’s taken a few in the helmet,” said Mickey Hatcher, the Angels’ hitting coach. “But that’s part of the game.”
The Stupidest Idea In The History Of Baseball
Labels: evil
Dodgers Call Up Houlton, Send Down Kuo
Labels: dodgers
What Happens When You Sit In The Field Level Seats And Don't Bring Your Glove
Labels: dodger stadium, injuries
It's Not Wise To Upset A Wookiee: Orioles 6, Angels 3
Update: Well, that didn't matter. Despite a quality start by Bart, Hector Carrasco came in to face the top of the order and coughed up a three-run jack to cleanup batter Ramon Hernandez, who had only had four all year. The Angels inched closer in the eighth when Vlad cashed in Orlando Cabrera's two-out single, but that was it. With the O's understandably itchy about Chris Ray, who has given up homers late in recent games with the Angels, interim manager Dave Trembley went to recent callup and old friend Paul Shuey, the former Dodger. Shuey collected his first save in five years, his last being a two-inning save against the Marlins on August 22, 2002.
At some point, the Angels are going to have to realize Carrasco is a sunk cost and let him go. Carrasco ended the day with a 6.57 ERA and while he didn't get tagged with a loss, he surely deserved to, because the game would have gone to extras otherwise.
Labels: angels, orioles, recaps
Fire Jim Tracy, And Kevin McClatchy, And Ogden Nutting, And ...
Update: Looks like it didn't work. (Via BTF.)
Who's The Tough Guy Now? O's DL Trachsel
Pickoff Moves
Dodgers DFA Marlon Anderson
Not unexpected, considering they had to make room for Chin-Hui Tsao.Not Quite, Or, The Disadvantages Of The Running Game: Padres 7, Dodgers 5
Dino Ebel is another of the Angels' ex-Dodger coaches; Bill Shaikin recently interviewed him as part of a piece about the Angels' baserunning style:"From day one of spring training, Mike [Scioscia] tells them he wants them to go first to third, and it carries into the season," third base coach Dino Ebel said. "When I managed [triple-A] Salt Lake in 2005, that's what we did. These guys do it every day, from rookie ball on up, and they're not going to get yelled at if they're thrown out."Of course, all that stuff is problematic if you don't actually get runners on base. The Dodgers did their best Angels imitation for the first couple of innings or so, and actually cashed in two of their three base-stealers, but Chris Young did what he had to to kill the running game, namely, preventing guys from getting on base, mainly by whiffing nine Dodgers. Despite his seven hits and a walk, the guys he did let get on base past the first were mostly slow and aging (Kent, Nomar) or had those same guys in front of them, negating the running game (James Loney).Ebel spent 17 years in the Dodgers' organization as a minor league player, coach and manager before joining the Angels in 2005.
"What a difference … what a difference," he said. "The Dodgers wanted to go first to third, but it was always, 'Don't get thrown out at third.' Here, they encourage you to go. They make outfielders have to make a perfect throw. It's an aggressive style, and it works. I'm a true believer."
The Dodgers had a rousing eighth-inning comeback, but it was a case of too little, too late, and despite getting one more off Padres supercloser Trevor Hoffman in the ninth, Luis Gonzalez wasn't able to cash him in, and the crowd went home disappointed.
Tonight's matchup should be a good 'un, with two of the National League's top three ERA leaders facing off, Brad Penny (#1, 2.09) against Jake Peavy (#3, 2.14).
Labels: dodgers, padres, recaps
Minor League Scorebook
News
Jeff Mathis makes Kevin Goldstein's All-Disappointment Team:Once one of the brightest catching prospects in the game, Mathis crapped the bed when he earned a big league job out of spring training last year, and he's gone nowhere but backwards since. Now 24, he's hitting a miserable .240/.293/.372 in the friendly confines of Triple-A Salt Lake, and on the road he drops to .202/.250/.298. The only good news is that he remains an excellent defender, nailing 40 percent of attempting base stealers.The Dodgers don't escape getting a player on this list, and Andy LaRoche gets the (dis)honors:
While LaRoche was given a shot to fill the team's big league opening at the hot corner, it wasn't exactly because he was tearing up at Triple-A Las Vegas, as he's hit the DL with more shoulder problems with a batting line of just .244/.336/.366.
Scores
Brown: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Wood: 0-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
Porter: 2-5, 2 K
Eylward: 2-5, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
Mathis: 1-4, 1 K
Olenberger: (W, 8-2), 6.0 IP, 5 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 6 K, 3 BB, 2 HR, 3.87 ERA
Bulger: (S, 3), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 4.26 ERA
Salt Lake trailed through four, but then the Bees jumped on Sky Sox starter Mike Esposito and reliever Ramon Ramirez for six runs in the top of the fifth. That was all they'd need, and the Bees took it 7-5. Brandon Wood made two leadoff errors at third that reduced Kasey Olenberger's earned runs to only one.
Greg Porter not only has a five-game hitting streak at Salt Lake, he has two hits in every game he's played for Salt Lake, bringing his season line to .455/.500/.1000. Curtis Pride, Matt Brown, and Mike Eylward also had multi-hit nights.
Izturis: 2-2, 2 BB
Anderson: 0-3
Statia: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K
Marek: (L, 5-5), 6.1 IP, 5 R, 3 ER, 8 H, 6 K, 1 BB, 2 HR, 4.03 ERA
Garret Anderson and Maicer Izturis return to action in rehab stints at Rancho, with Anderson's less successful than Izturis's. The Quakes weren't able to do much against 66ers' starter James McDonald. Russell Mitchell (his 10th) and Travis Denker (his 5th) both homered against Rancho starter Steven Marek, Mitchell's a three-run jack in the fifth that put Inland Empire ahead for good. Rancho posted four errors, giving Marek two unearned runs.
Diaz: (W, 1-0), 6.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 H, 4 K, 1 BB, 1.74 ERA
Madrigal: (S, 3), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 3.12 ERA
Amalio Diaz continued to make outs without missing too many bats and collected his first win at Cedar Rapids in his first start at this level this year. He struggled at Rancho earlier in the season, was transferred to Arkansas during the pitching mixups in early June, and is back down in the Midwest League plying his trade now. He got six innings of scoreless ball for his troubles. Warner Madrigal closed out the game and earned his third save.
Tadd Brewer and Julio Perez each drove in a run in the bottom of the first, enough to win the ballgame. Mark Trumbo walked and stole a base, but also threw away a ball in the seventh that eventually became an unearned run.
Kiniry: 2-4, 1 K
Jimenez: 4.0 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 4.76 ERA
Towns: (L, 1-1) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 2 BB, 1.29 ERA
Orem crawled back from a 4-1 deficit to tie it 4-all in the bottom of the fifth, mostly on Deandre Miller's RBI double, but Jordan Towns took the loss in the ninth after loading up the bases on two walks and a hit batter, and then giving up an RBI single to Nick Van Stratten.
Gordon Gronkowski (I incorrectly identified him as "Grodon" after a previous MILB.com recap did the same) continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-4 with a home run. He's old for his league at 24, so his 7-for-9 with two homers over his last two games is maybe a little better than what he should be doing, but not by much.
McDougall: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
Stults: 6.0 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 10 H, 7 K, 2 BB, 2 HR, 7.11 ERA
Riley: (W, 3-1) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 6.92 ERA
Hull: (S, 3), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 3.46 ERA
Eric Stults survived six innings, dancing between ten hits, two walks, and a couple of homers to deliver a less-than-quality start. Matt Riley got the win in relief by walking two and striking out one in a scoreless eighth.
After giving up a run on Robby Hammock's RBI double in the top of the first, Las Vegas recovered the lead in the bottom of the frame when Delwyn Young doubled in Wilson Valdez and Sergio Garcia with nobody out. Both sides traded single runs in the third, and Tucson temporarily took the lead in the fifth with Jamie D'Antona's two-out, two-run homer. Las Vegas took the lead for good in the eighth, when Marshall McDougall drove in Delwyn Young; Wilkin Ruan reached (and Choo Freeman scored) on Tucson 3B Brian Barden's throwing error.
Andy LaRoche failed to appear in this game, and hasn't been in the lineup since June 17. He was apparently placed on the DL on June 18, but I haven't been able to dig up the cause.
Hu, C: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 BB
Howard, K: 2-5, 1 RBI, 2 K
Dunlap: 0-2, 2 BB
Concepcion: 2-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 1 K
Orenduff, J: (W, 4-2), 5.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 3.77 ERA
Miller: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 8.10 ERA
Gonzalez, L: (S, 3), 3.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 2.79 ERA
Justin Orenduff and two relievers blanked the Barons, three-hitting Birmingham on the road. Jacksonville sent nine men to the plate in the top of the first and collected five runs on five hits (three of which were doubles) and a walk. Luis E. Gonzalez got a three-inning save, his third of the year.
Mitchell: 1-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K
De Jesus: 0-4, 1 K
McDonald: (W, 6-6), 5.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 5 K, 2 BB, 3.65 ERA
Wade: 2.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 2.04 ERA
Wilson: (S, 7), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 0.43 ERA
Giles: 2-3, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Perez: 2-5, 2 RBI, 1 K
Bell: 0-5, 3 K
Santana: 0-3, 1 K
Mattingly: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K
Gonzalez: 2-4, 1 RBI
Kershaw: (L, 7-3), 4.1 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 7 K, 2 BB, 2.24 ERA
Clayton Kershaw's third bad game of the year; when he's good, he's very, very good, but when he's bad he can be awful, and he didn't last five in this one, giving up six runs (five earned) through four and a third. The only pitcher who didn't give up any runs was James Peterson, who made his first appearance this year at any level tracked here, and made the final two outs of the game.
Pedroza: 3-4, 2 RBI, 1 K
Coleman: (W, 3-0), 7.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 11 K, 0 BB, 0.95 ERA
Ogden struck for five runs in the top of the fourth and never looked back. 23-year-old starter Paul Coleman struck out a career-high 11 over seven innings, giving up only one run; he has won all three starts so far this year, and has a 11.84 K/9 in those three starts. He was West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2005; his ERA went up to 0.95 after this game.
Jaime Pedroza went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored. Ogden took advantage of five Casper errors.
Baez: 3-5, 1 2B
Silverio: 4-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Orr: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
Collado: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 K
Garcia, Y: 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
Alvarez, C: 3.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 3.00 ERA
Rondon: (W, 1-0) (in relief), 6.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 0 BB, 2.70 ERA
Another slugfest, with homers off the bats of Yosanddy Garcia (7th, 2 runs), Alfredo Silverio (8th, 3 runs), and Kyle Orr (8th, solo). Starter Carlos Alvarez only lasted three innings, and Daigoro Rondon went the rest of the way, pitching a quality... finish (?), and getting his first win of the season.
Labels: minors
Friday, June 29, 2007 |
The Angels' Rotation Slump Continues... But Howie Makes The Owie Go Away: Angels 9, Orioles 7
Update: Aubrey Huff hit for the cycle with a seventh-inning single, the first Oriole in franchise history to do so at home. But once that happened, interim manager Dave Trembley inexplicably yanked Huff for pinch-runner Brandon Fahey. With only a two-run lead against an Angels club that's been slamming runs up until the Royals series, facing a shutdown bullpen, and minus their biggest power threat, shortstop Miguel Tejada, it was a curious decision to say the least.
Bootcheck, Moseley, and Shields made good on the scoreless threat by cleaning up neatly after Escobar's really embarrassing game, putting zeros on the board through the eighth. The Angels kept chipping away at the O's lead, with Orlando Cabrera slamming a solo homer in the seventh off Scott Williamson to bring the Angels within one, 7-6.
Chad Bradford, the former Met and before that, Athletic, entered the game in the eighth and quickly got a pair of easy outs against Howie Kendrick and Kendry Morales. But Bradford suddenly lost his command, and walked Mike Napoli on five pitches, and then plunked pinch-hitter Erick Aybar on a 1-2 pitch after throwing behind him with the 0-1 pitch. Chone Figgins then cashed in Napoli from second, hustling all the way, with a two-out single that tied the game 7-7.
In the bottom half of the frame, Kendrick started a huge double play got got the Angels out of a jam started by Dustin Moseley, who intentionally walked Brian Roberts to get to Chris Gomez. Scot Shields got him to bounce out to end the frame and the last Baltimore threat of the game.
Chris Ray took the mound in the ninth, and with Vlad Guerrero coming to the plate, you could have been excused for thinking Ray was looking for redemption, or retribution for his June 3 implosion, in which he gave up the game winner against Vlad, a blast into the batter's eye in centerfield.
Instead, Ray kissed Vlad's uniform on a 1-1 fastball, and so he ended up at first with no outs. But after Matthews, Jr. hit into fielder's choice, and Casey Kotchman's weak pop to center, it looked like another annoying inning from the Halos. Well, not so fast: Howie belted one into the bullpen, and that was pretty much that. Frankie slammed the door to end things, and send the 36,689 home in a cranky mood.
Update 2: Incidentally: the Angels are the first team in the majors to 50 wins. Seattle is currently leading Toronto 5-1, so it doesn't look like the Angels can expect to gain any ground in the division, though the A's already lost 2-1 to the Yankees.
Labels: angels, orioles, recaps
The Ghost Of Gary Sheffield: Andrew Brown Heads To Oakland
Labels: ex-dodgers, padres, trades
Nick Gorneault Called Up
Update: Why of course, Shea Hillenbrand has been DFA'd.
Update 2: Just got an e-mail from Joanee who said the move was announced last night by Steve Klauke, the Bees' radio broadcaster.
Labels: angels
Pickoff Moves
Tech: iWait For The iPhone
Starting at 2:00 PM today you can own your very own iPhone, provided you don't mind doing business with AT&T, the company I learned to hate as a customer, not to mention hundreds of thousands of others. Steve Jobs doesn't think it works fast enough ($) on AT&T's native network, but WiFi access will take away some of the slowness.Rumors of the iPhone getting into celebrities' hands (e.g. Cher and Madonna) show the usual RHIP for hot new gadgets, but the rest of us will have to ...
Even for carpetbaggers like Josh May, 18, and his twin brother, Jonathan, the iPhone hype — and their exhaustion — were having a hypnotic effect.Slashdot has a summary post with a bunch of iPhone linkies. I'm kinda on the fence about this one; is it worth buying a first generation product with a cell provider who really doesn't care about your dropped calls?Planning to buy iPhones and sell them to the highest bidder on Craigslist, the brothers were first in line Wednesday at the Apple store in Walnut Creek, 30 miles east of San Francisco. They made T-shirts that read, "iWait." They used a plug built for Christmas tree lights to recharge their laptops and passed the time smoking, watching movies and talking to people responding to their Web bulletin board ad.
Alyssa Milano: Kotchman An Angels "Great"
The Times has a piece relating to this Alyssa Milano blog entry about the Dodger fans cheering Casey Kotchman's concussion when Russell Martin hit him in the dome with a pickoff throw. Kotchman said, "That's uncomfortable — and unwarranted." Ah, but he is having a good season. And of course we now know where he got last year's mono: talking to an elementary school class where his mom is principal.USA Today On Reg-gie Willits
More of the same from USA Today. Willits expects to play this weekend despite being taken out of Wednesday's game because of a knee contusion. Don't let the Rookie of the Year talk go to your head, kid: you're 2-for-20 in your last four games.Roster Notes
- We know a little more about the Milton Bradley to the Padres deal; it appears the Pads will send a yet-unnamed pitcher to the A's for Bradley. Him and Barrett... together ... hm...
The Padres faithful mull it over.
- Ex-Dodger Jayson Werth went down with ... a sprained wrist. Stop me if you've heard this one before.
- Craig Biggio went 5-for-6 in Houston to collect his 3,000th hit. Ironically, he got his 3,000th and made an out trying to turn a single into a double.
Labels: angels, ex-dodgers, injuries, padres, tech, trades
Minor League Scorebook
News
- OF Brad Coon has been promoted to AA Arkansas from Rancho. Coon was third in the Cal League in stolen bases with 77, and joins the Travs for their series in Frisco.
- Terry Evans has been named to the PCL All-Star Team, scheduled for July 11. Here's an oddity for you: Evans has played exactly one game for the Bees since he was optioned to Salt Lake on June 23.
- The Bees sent down RHP Jesse Smith to Arkansas.
Scores
Wood: 1-5, 1 K
Porter: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Pavkovich: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
Saunders: (W, 4-5), 6.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 8 K, 3 BB, 5.02 ERA
Resop: (H, 4), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 4.67 ERA
Gwyn: (S, 11), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 1.89 ERA
It's noteworthy that Brandon Wood had only his fourth strikeout over the last week, and keeps his hitting (7 games) and on-base (21 games) streaks alive. Greg Porter is hitting like he means to make the Angels in July, slamming his third homer in a week, this time a solo shot in the fourth, and getting an RBI single in the sixth.
Joe Saunders also pitched like he wants back in the big club again, posting a quality start plus with eight strikeouts. Chris Resop pitched a scoreless 7th, Jason Bulger did the same in the 8th, and Marcus Gwynn struck out the side between two hits for his 11th save.
Wilson: 1-3
Collins: 2-3
Smith, J: (L, 1-1), 4.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 5 K, 1 BB, 2.35 ERA
Arkansas lost the first game of this doubleheader to Armondo Gallaraga, who whiffed seven Travs, including Sean Rodriguez twice. Jesse Smith made only his fourth start of the season in either the PCL or the Texas League, and took the loss. He had not made a start since April 20.
Rodriguez, S: 1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Wilson: 0-4, 1 K
Peel, A: 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 K
Rodriguez, R: 3.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 5.49 ERA
Thompson: (W, 2-3) (in relief), 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 2.14 ERA
O'Day: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 3.00 ERA
The Travs split this doubleheader, with Sean Rodriguez collecting a two-run dinger that was the difference in the game. Darren O'Day would have been in line for a save, but a four-run seventh eliminated his chance.
Statia: 0-3, 1 BB
Izturis: 0-2, 1 BB
Renz: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K
Speier: 1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 5.40 ERA
Butcher: (L, 5-6) (in relief), 4.0 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 2.50 ERA
Arredondo: 1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 15.43 ERA
Justin Speier made his first Cal League rehab appearance, and wasn't so sharp; it went along with the rest of Rancho's pitching, who gave up ten runs, including two dingers and three runs to Drew Locke alone. Seven of Inland Empire's 13 hits fell in for extra bases, so it was no surprise they won it. Brok Butcher got the loss, and deservedly so, but despite his inferior outing, his other works held his season ERA to 2.50.
Jordan Renz homered, his 11th of the season.
Trumbo: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K
Perez: 2-4, 1 BB
Arredondo: 2.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 4 K, 1 BB, 3.38 ERA
Madrigal: (W, 4-3) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 3.21 ERA
I looked at this summary and thought, boy, wouldn't it be cool if Mark Trumbo's homer won this one in extras? No such luck, as it turned out Abel Nieves had a walkoff single to drive in Tyler Johnson.
Kenneth Herndon had a shutout going through six, retiring the first 10 batters in order, and 18 of his first 19. He got in trouble in the seventh when he walked leadoff batter Wilson Ramos, and gave up consecutive singles to Daniel Berg and Chris Parmelee. In all, four runs scored that inning, leading to reliever Felipe Arredondo. Warner Madrigal got the win in relief.
Estrella: 4-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Gronkowski: 4-5, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 K
Moore: 3-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
Gonzalez-Lopez: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Fish: 4.0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 K, 3 BB, 4.66 ERA
Schlecker: 1.2 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 9.82 ERA
Holland: (W, 2-1) (in relief), 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 5.79 ERA
Brasier: (S, 1), 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 0.00 ERA
The Owlz just walloped the Chukars, posting crooked numbers in five different frames with homers from Gordon Gronkowski (a three-run jack in the 8th), Jeremy Moore (two-run, 400 foot homer off the right field scoreboard in the 2nd), and ex-Trojan Hector Estrella (solo homer in the 3rd). Gronkowski, who picked up a career-high six RBIs, thinks he's just getting his feet wet:
"You don't always have a 4-for-5 night, but you always try to hit the ball hard every time," Gronkowski said. "Usually this doesn't happen. [Thursday] it just worked out." The first baseman put up a week's worth of stats just two days after his 24th birthday. Gronkowski, a 49th-round 2006 draft pick by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, said his teammates' success at the plate was the main reason for his lofty numbers.It made their June 23 loss to the Chukars in 17 innings a lot more palatable.
Fuller: 2-4, 1 BB, 1 K
Loman: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
Castillo: 3-5, 2 RBI
Howard: (W, 1-0) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 21.60 ERA
21-year-old Seth Loman was a 47th round pick out of Lamar Community College in last year's draft, and had a .206/.333/.383 line for the AZL Angels last year. He's on fire this year in limited action, hitting .364/.517/.727 in 22 AB. Here he got a solo shot and two walks besides, in a poorly pitched game in which every Angel pitcher gave up at least one run.
Freeman: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 K
McDougall: 0-1, 3 BB
Ruan: 2-3, 1 RBI
Pinango: (L, 2-4), 5.1 IP, 6 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 2 HR, 3.81 ERA
Hoorelbeke: 1.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 5.44 ERA
Wright: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 13.50 ERA
Tucson put the hurt on starting with a four-run second in which Miguel Pinango surrendered a pair of two-run jacks to Donnie Sadler and Casey Daigle, and never looked back. Choo Freeman extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Wesley Wright pitched mopup in the ninth, striking out the side between a hit and a walk.
Howard, K: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB
Ellis: 2-4, 1 K
Dunlap: 0-4, 1 RBI
Norrito: (W, 4-0), 6.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 2.62 ERA
Troncoso: (H, 1), 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 2.25 ERA
Meloan: (S, 16), 1.0 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 2.11 ERA
24-year-old Giuseppe Norrito continues to post very good numbers at this level without striking out a decent number. Here he posted a quality start and collected his fourth win; like all his decisions, he got them as a starter. He's earned a quality start in six of his eight starts, so that's something. Jonathan Meloan got his 16th save with a rocky ninth, hurt when his shortstop, Jimmy Rohan, threw away what could have been a double play ball. On the other hand, he got that back when Adam Shabala tried to steal home and got nailed at the plate.
Dewitt: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Mitchell: 2-4, 3 RBI
Locke: 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB
De Jesus: 1-3, 2 K
Guerra: (W, 5-3), 5.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 4 K, 3 BB, 1 HR, 4.19 ERA
Rodriguez, J: (S, 1), 3.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 4.98 ERA
Jansen: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Vetters: 2-4
Blevins: 4.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 1.13 ERA
Stanke: (L, 0-1) (in relief), 4.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 5.63 ERA
Orlando Sandoval hit a triple and Zack Murry squeezed him home to break a 3-3 tie and give Casper the win in a close one. Kenley Jansen hit his second homer of the season in the loss.
Labels: minors
Thursday, June 28, 2007 |
Unit Body Framed: Dodgers 9, Diamondbacks 5
"He is Randy Johnson, but at the end of the day, he's still got to throw the ball over the plate and get people out," said Martin, likely to be named an All-Star for the first time on Sunday. "You can't go out there thinking, 'That's Randy Johnson, future Hall of Famer.' You have a game plan like you would for any pitcher.For his part, Johnson, who didn't get into the fourth, attributed his part in the loss to an 18-day layoff. (I'm inclined to say that being 43 has something to do with it, too, but then when you're my — er, our age — the mind has a way of playing funny tricks on you."And I also think, he's still good, but that's not the same stuff he had when I watched him on television and he was absolutely dominating back in the day. The 0-2 pitch I hit, when he was throwing 99 [mph], even if he misses his spot, he had the velocity to compensate and I foul it straight back. Not today."
Martin's two-run jack in the first set the tone for the game, which was, most of the way, a laugher for the Dodgers. The Dodgers' supercatcher went 3-for-6 with a pair of RBIs, and in fact everyone in the one through four part of the lineup got at least two hits. Even Randy Wolf, who had one of his better recent games, got in the act and had a pair of hits.
At the mound, Wolf mostly cruised through six frames, giving up only one run in the fourth on Carlos Quentin's sac fly. He finally got whacked in the seventh, when he gave up a single and two walks to load the bases with nobody out. Grady Little selected Brett Tomko to extract the Dodgers from that jam, which proved about as fatal as expected, with only one of the three failing to score. When Tomko maintained the lead through the eighth (without any Snakes crossing the plate, even!), Little got even more enthusiastic, and allowed him to go in the ninth.
Whereupon he had to eventually be replaced by Takashi Saito after giving up another couple of runs, and a long flyball out to dead center. The griping at DT is that he can't even handle a blowout game without coughing up some lead. That's Bombko; some days, he'll be just good enough to convince you he can be useful. Maybe a two-inning leash?
Labels: diamondbacks, dodgers, recaps
Padres Acquire Milton Bradley
Labels: athletics, padres, trades
Newsday: Yankees And Angels In Talks Over Hillenbrand
Labels: angels, rumors, trades, yankees
The DePodesta Mistake In The Mirror
To be fair, Colletti, like DePodesta, presided over a playoff berth in his first season with the Dodgers last year, and his team currently stands at 43-33, just a half-game back of the pace-setting Padres. But he's also enjoyed an increase in team payroll and an obviously higher tolerance from ownership for mistakes than DePodesta enjoyed. A Colletti apologist might point to Schmidt's clean off-season MRI and say that blaming him for Schmidt is unfair. But Schmidt's uncharacteristically low velocity and poor performance in the second half of '06 were obviously better indicators than a clean off-season MRI.That may be true, but he also had at hand trainer Stan Conte, freshly removed from the Giants, and who should have had a very good working knowledge of Schmidt's innards (to the extent that men in such capacities can have). To me, there were two mitigating circumstances regarding the Schmidt acquisition:
- The Dodgers needed rotation stability. Normally I'm in favor of playing the kids, but Chad Billingsley, despite a very respectable 3.80 ERA and a 7-4 record in 16 starts, only pitched seven innings three times the whole season. Games often went into the bullpen, thus taxing that resource more often. Schmidt pitched into the seventh and beyond 19 times last year. Now, you could argue (as Jackson does) that his second half implied he was having shoulder problems, but the alternative explanation is that, hey, it's the second half.
- The Dodgers only offered Schmidt three years. This is the really important point, and one I keep returning to. Even if Schmidt doesn't pitch one day for the Dodgers, his contract isn't going to be an albatross for the team the way the Darren Dreifort or Kevin Brown deals were, simply because it just isn't that long.
Labels: depodesta, dodgers, injuries
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 |
Minor League Scorebook
Mathis: 0-4, 2 K
Wood: 1-4, 1 K
Porter: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
Eylward: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Smith, Ca: 3-4, 1 RBI
Rouwenhorst: (L, 7-3), 5.1 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 K, 3 BB, 4.63 ERA
Casey Smith's three-hit night, and Greg Porter's second AAA homer were the highlights of a drab game that Jonathan Rouwenhorst let escape in the third. Nick Gorneault whiffed three times.
Some guy named Ryan Speier temporarily got me excited, thinking Justin Speier had been booted up to AAA for a higher level rehab assignment, but no; Ryan works for the Sky Sox at the moment, and collected his 20th save of the season.
Pettit: 2-4, 1 K
Johnson: 2-3, 1 BB
Ortega: (L, 4-7), 5.0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 6 K, 1 BB, 3.46 ERA
Brandt: 1.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 6.00 ERA
Welcome to the Cal League, Doug. Douglas Brandt gave up his first two runs in the Cal League in only his second game, but Anthony Ortega got the loss despite pitching a good five innings and allowing only two earned runs.
Phillips: 0-2
Haynes: (L, 2-4), 7.1 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 8 K, 0 BB, 3.32 ERA
Diaz: 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 4.15 ERA
Jeremy Haynes took his fourth loss despite pitching a quality start plus, thanks to a four-hitter spun by Beloit starter (and Anaheimer) Alex Burnett and closer Robert Delaney (of Westwood).
Jung: (L, 0-1), 3.1 IP, 6 R, 3 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 4.32 ERA
West: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 4 K, 0 BB, 1.17 ERA
Ogden comes back to win the second round, chasing Young-Il Jung after only three and a third. Grodon Gronkowski drove in Orem's only run.
Dicent: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
Castillo: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
Wing: 2-3, 1 3B
Armstrong: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 6 K, 1 BB, 1.00 ERA
Coello: (BS, 2)(W, 1-0) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 6.00 ERA
Rosario, An: (S, 2), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 0.00 ERA
The Angels led through seven, but the A's tied it up with a three-run eighth. Seth Loman drove in the winning run in the eighth without credit when he reached on 2B Carlos Morales' fielding error. Angel Castillo hit a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth, in an inning that could have been bigger save for Alberto Rosario getting caught stealing second.
Garcia: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 K
Young: 5-5, 3 2B, 2 RBI
Lindsey: 3-5, 2 K
Freeman: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB
McDougall: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Juarez: (L, 3-3), 2.2 IP, 8 R, 8 ER, 10 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 6.56 ERA
Wright: 1.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 27.00 ERA
What a terrific night for Delwyn Young: a perfect 5-for-5 with three doubles and two RBIs. John Lindsey, Choo Freeman, Sergio Garcia, and Marshall McDougall all reached base multiple times; too bad the pitching wasn't quite as good.
Wesley Wright, who made his first appearance at AAA, got touched for three runs, all earned, after getting the callup following his first and only start of the year for Jacksonville.
Raglani: 2-2, 2 RBI, 3 BB
Dunlap: 3-4, 1 RBI, 2 BB
Rohan: 3-5, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Megrew: 4.0 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 5.96 ERA
Alexander: (W, 3-0) (in relief), 3.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 2 HR, 4.41 ERA
Some great hitting going on here, with wonderful games for pretty much everyone listed above. That includes Kevin Howard, who got traded from Philadelphia's Sally League Lakewood BlueClaws team some time after June 17; he's been with Jacksonville since June 21, hitting .296/.321/.333 since he arrived in 27 AB.
Dewitt: 0-4
Locke: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 K
De Jesus: 1-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K
Arias, M: 2.1 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 K, 3 BB, 5.93 ERA
Pratt: (L, 2-4) (in relief), 3.0 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 H, 1 K, 4 BB, 6.45 ERA
Meque: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 6.75 ERA
Mattingly: 0-2
Santana: 0-2, 1 K
Wall: (L, 4-9), 6.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 4.62 ERA
No shame in pitching well but taking the loss. Josh Wall gave up one earned run, but you'd like to see a few more K's.
Bell: 1-3
Santana: 0-2
Johnson: (L, 1-3), 2.1 IP, 5 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 2 BB, 4.95 ERA
Sanfler: 2.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 5.08 ERA
Ortiz: 1-2, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Gardner: (W, 1-0), 6.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 6 K, 2 BB, 0.77 ERA
A terrific outing with Ogden for Michael Gardner, who seems to have been demoted from the Loons after June 13. He got the start and pitched six shutout innings with six strikeouts and two walks.
Ogden and Orem had exactly the same number of hits — six apiece — but Ogden made theirs count by virtue of having four of theirs fall in for extra bases.
Baez: 2-5, 1 RBI
Silverio: 3-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Casanova: 2-4
Guzman, A: 3-4, 2 RBI, 1 K
Malone: 3.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 6 K, 2 BB, 3.86 ERA
Smit: (W, 2-0) (in relief), 5.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 0.82 ERA
Labels: minors
Lame X 3: Royals 1, Angels 0
The Angels out-hit the Royals 10-5, but because the Angels' only extra-base hit was Chone Figgins' bloop double, the Angels never cashed in any of their multitudinous baserunners.
The one good thing to come of this was an excellent start by Jered Weaver, but it doesn't mask the facts that (a) the offense stinks, and (b) the offense has masked some pretty abysmal pitching over the last couple weeks (see also, the Astros and Pirates series). Maybe the other good development, if you can call it that, was Casey Kotchman failing to make a third groundout when he came up as a pinch hitter. He reminded me of his early-season struggles, bouncing to right in recent AB's in previous games, but at least he made an out somewhere besides an infield glove this time.
Best to forget about this garbage as soon as possible.
Update: Best news all week: the Angels will DFA Shea Hillenbrand on Friday. Why Friday? Why not now?
Something else I forgot to mention in that Times game recap above: Reggie Willits and Mr. Wall had a rude introduction, and Willits left the game with a bruised knee. He'll have precautionary x-rays.
Update 2: Incidentally, the sweep of the Angels ensured the Royals a winning month of July, the first winning month they have had in four years. The Royals won the season series 5-2; the last time the Angels lost the season series to Kansas City was in 1996, when the 70-91, fourth-place Angels went 4-8 against the 75-86, 5th-place Royals.
Labels: angels, recaps, royals
Three Angels Sent To Rehab At Rancho
Rick Wilton Responds On Jason Schmidt's Injury
By the title is your blog entry from Tuesday, June 26, it sounds like my analysis is Jason Schmidt was confusing.As it says in the last sentence of the analysis that you post in the blog entry "his ability to pitch effectively in 2008 is a longshot." The key term is pitch effectively. Schmidt is likely to start the year on the DL and be ready sometime during April-May. My analysis wasn't meant to say Schmidt won't pitching 2008. He should, just not nearly as well as he has in the past. I based my projection on several factors.
Are they making progress regarding recovery from labrum surgery? Absolutely. But it is still a delicate surgery of a crucial component of a pitcher's anatomy.
- A review of the seven years worth of labrum injury data that I have in my database strongly suggests pitchers who had surgery to repair a "tear" of the labrum rarely return to form the first year back from the surgery. Pitchers who have a "frayed" labrum repaired, which usually is a lot less damage than a tear, returned to a higher success level the first year after the surgery. While there are exceptions to the rule, a large majority struggle that first year. The "percentage play" says Schmidt will have an off season in 2008.
- An orthopedic surgeon who advises me on a semi regular basis has done has done his fair share of labrum surgeries on college and high school pitchers. He was the first to help me separate the difference between a frayed and torn labrum.
Hopefully this makes my position a little bit clearer. If not, drop me an e-mail.
Regards,
Rick Wilton
Publisher
The baseball injury report
Minor League Scorebook
News
- South won the Texas League All-Star Game 5-4 thanks to Jonny Ash's line drive to center. Ash, the starting second baseman for host Corpus Christi, drove in the game winner in the bottom of the 10th. The Travs' Adam Morrissey hit a solo homer in the fourth, and Sean Rodriguez hit a leadoff double in the top of the 10th, but reliever Ryan Mattheus couldn't hold the lead and gave up two in the bottom of the frame.
- The Angels have disabled three players on the Cedar Rapids roster: C Jon Hodach (concussion, ankle sprain), INF Ryan Mount (strained quad), and RHP Aaron Cook (undisclosed injury). LHP Kelly Shearer will replace Cook on the roster from extended spring training, and INF Tadd Brewer and C Brian Walker move up from Orem. Cedar Rapids currently has nine players on the DL.
- ASU shortstop and fifth-round pick Shane Romine signed with the Angels for $125,000.
- Update: I have added a couple of names to the watch list at the suggestion of the Chronicler, Young-Il Jung and Darren O'Day. O'Day is a bit older than his peers, and so he dominated at Rancho; we want to see him repeat that success over an extended period at Arkansas before we give get too excited. I'm also on the edge of adding Tim Schoeninger to the list, as well.
Scores
Wood: 1-5
Porter: 2-5, 1 2B
Eylward: 2-4, 2 K
Mathis: 2-4, 1 3B, 2 RBI
Brown: 3-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB
Patchett: 2-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Liriano: (W, 2-9), 5.2 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 0 K, 3 BB, 1 HR, 5.94 ERA
Including this game, Brandon Wood has a .326/.392/.663 line in June with 30 hits, 15 of which were for extra bases, and a 20:10 K:BB ratio. In fact, he has had
- no strikeouts over his last 11 at bats
- only two strikeouts in his last nine games
- an on-base streak that dates back to June 4
In a similar vein, Jeff Mathis is doing better, with a .276/.329/.480 June in which 8 of his 20 hits went for extra bases. Here's the interesting bit, which you may or may not want to throw under the "Small Sample Size" bus: 13:7 K:BB ratio.
As for this game, Matt Brown blasted two two-run homers and had another hit besides. The Angels continue to confound me by playing Mike Eylward at first and newly promoted Greg Porter — 2-for-5 on the night, and scoring a pair — in right, and batting cleanup. Nick Gorneault collected his tenth dinger of the year, a three-run shot in the fourth.
A shout-out to wumbug in the comments here and there for giving me impetus to review some of these numbers.
Pettit: 2-4, 1 RBI
Leblanc: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 K
Rodriguez: (L, 2-7), 4.0 IP, 7 R, 7 ER, 10 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 2 HR, 6.55 ERA
Trumbo: 1-3, 2 BB
Perez: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 K
Phillips: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
O'Sullivan: 5.0 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 2.99 ERA
Browning: (W, 5-2) (in relief), 3.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 3.35 ERA
Starter Sean O'Sullivan cruised through five scoreless innings, facing one over the minimum and that thanks to a P.J. Phillips error. Then he gave up a leadoff walk to Allan De San Miguel, and things went downhill from there, getting charged with all four runs while retiring none in the fifth. One of those he left on base scored on reliever Barret Browning's wild pitch, so don't take Browning's pitching line too seriously.
Fortunately for him, Matt Sweeney's eighth inning two-run jack erased the temporary 4-3 deficit, and put the Kernels ahead for good. Bobby Cassevah struck out two in a scoreless ninth to finish the game.
Garcia: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 K
Moore: 1-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB
Pippin: 2-5, 1 RBI, 2 K
Dini: 2-5, 1 3B, 4 RBI
Walden: 2.2 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 4 BB, 1 HR, 4.76 ERA
Hurst: (W, 1-0) (in relief), 3.1 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 3.68 ERA
Jimenez: 2.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 2.45 ERA
Round 2: Orem stomps all over Ogden, though to my knowledge no folding chairs were used. Instead, a four-run second and a three-run fifth did most of the damage, abetted by a two-run triple by Gregory Dini (who ultimately plated four), a bases-loaded walk by Jeremy Moore, and a third-inning error by Ogden second baseman Elian Herrera. Moore drove in another run in the top of the ninth with a leadoff homer.
Jordan Walden got the start and only went 2.2 inning; David Hurst got the win in relief. Milan Dinga pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game.
Loman: 2-2, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB
Castillo: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Norman: 3-5
Speier: 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 0.00 ERA
Mendoza: (W, 1-0) (in relief), 5.0 IP, 3 R, 0 ER, 5 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 0.00 ERA
Some people were asking about Tommy Mendoza at Halos Heaven the other day; well, here he is again, makng a five-inning relief appearance following Justin Speier's second appearance at this level. I had to blink because there were so many unearned runs in this game. In fact, all the runs against the Angels save for two were unearned thanks to five Angels errors, sometimes multiple ones in the same play. For example, in the top of the seventh, Donnie Ecker reached on Ivan Contreras' fielding error, and then Contreras threw wildly to allow Michael Ortiz to score.
First baseman Seth Loman drove in three of the Angels' nine runs, including the two in the bottom of the sixth that won the game.
Young: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K
Lindsey: 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
Freeman: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Ruan: 2-4, 1 2B
Davis: 1-1, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Lundberg: 6.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 8 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 6.16 ERA
Riley: (BS, 2), 0.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 7.20 ERA
Fussell: (W, 1-0) (in relief), 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 5.40 ERA
Hoorelbeke: (S, 1), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 5.36 ERA
John Lindsey's hit four homers since coming up to AAA, and while he isn't going to get a chance with the Dodgers, you have to admire it. This one was a two-run blast in the fourth that temporarily gave the 51's the lead; Ben Davis's homer in the top of the ninth won it. Choo Freeman also homered, a solo shot in the fifth.
Major league veteran Chris Fussell made his second appearance of the year with the 51's, and Casey Hoorelbeke got his first save of the season.
Paul: 2-4, 1 K
Dunlap: 0-4, 1 K
Rohan: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 K
Hammes: (L, 3-4), 4.2 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 7 K, 1 BB, 4.22 ERA
Zach Hammes got knocked around and earned a losing record with this one, failing to get out of the fifth. Both sides had seven hits, but outside of David Nicholson's triple, all of Jacksonville's hits were singles.
Dewitt: 2-4, 1 2B, 3 RBI
May: 1-3, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 K
De Jesus: 0-3, 2 K
Castillo, J: (W, 3-5), 5.1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 4.27 ERA
Rodriguez, J: 2.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 5.89 ERA
Wilson: (S, 6), 1.1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 0.45 ERA
The 66ers stomped on the Giants starting with a four-run first and never looked back. Lucas May hit a two-out, three-run jack in the bottom of the first to cap scoring in that frame, and Inland Empire got the game winning hit the very next frame with Blake Dewitt's double.
Garabedian: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 K
Jansen: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Pedroza: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
Kanaby: 2-4
Jones: (L, 0-2), 2.0 IP, 8 R, 7 ER, 6 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 27.00 ERA
Acheatel: 5.0 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 6 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 2.25 ERA
Kutz: 2.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 5 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 4.50 ERA
Labels: minors
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 |
Now Starting At Third Base For Your Dodgers... Tony Abreu! Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 5
So the Nomar at third experiment isn't going well, is it? He personally stranded eight baserunners, going 0-for-5, and struck out twice.
The Dodgers recovered from a bad outing by Chad Billingsley, and kept their extra-innings record intact at 5-0. This was a good win.
Labels: diamondbacks, dodgers, recaps
Ervin Santana To AAA Marching And Chowder Society Starts Now: Royals 12, Angels 4
Update: Okay, I realize the Angels don't have the pitching depth to spare to ship him down to AAA with all the injuries and near-injuries they've got in the rotation. But God I'm sick of this.
Update 2: And the Angels bullpen compounds the situation by giving up a five-run turd in the top of the ninth. Bootcheck I can maybe tolerate given his inexperience, but Oliver, are you bucking for a DFA?
Update 3: Kendry goes yard. Get your plane tickets ready for the Bronx, Shea.
Labels: angels, recaps, royals
Troy Percival Returns To The Show
Pickoff Moves
Kevin Goldstein Notices Brandon Wood Is A Good Player
Ya think?After a historically great 2005 season that included 101 extra-base hits, Wood has regressed a bit to a player with tons of power, but only a decent batting average and a disturbingly high strikeout rate. He’s made slow-and-steady improvement this year, and is now officially hot again, including a 7-for-12 weekend and four home runs in his last seven contests. Batting .321/.396/.667 in June, and .262/.352/.488 overall, Wood currently has no obvious openings in the big leagues, but one will be made for him next year.Given yesterday's news about Greg Porter, not to mention the yearlong shuffle in the outfield and at DH, the Angels seem intent on making that space. While I'm kind of skeptical that the Angels are liable to make that kind of space available any time soon, they could surprise me, too; after all, Nathan Haynes is still on the roster. On the other hand, so is Shea Hillenbrand.
ITD Names Ogden Staff
Inside The Dodgers names the Pioneer League Ogden team's coaching staff, something you rarely hear about:Field Coordinator: P.J. CareyThe two lowest levels of the Dodgers' farm system are 4-3 (Ogden) and 6-0 (GCL Dodgers) one week into the season.
Hitting Coordinator: Bill Robinson
Outfield/Base running coordinator: Gene Clines
Pitching Coordinator: Marty Reed
Catching Coordinator: Travis Barbary
Infield Coordinator: Matt Martin
THT: Jason Schmidt "A Longshot" For 2008
I'm not sure what Rick Wilton's comments are based on:Wow! I said early this spring that Schmidt had been dealing with a damaged shoulder, but I never envisioned the damage the surgeon found when he opened up the shoulder Wednesday. Schmidt has some scarring of the bursa sac, a frayed biceps tendon and a partially detached labrum. The labrum injury is the most severe and one that did not show up on the MRI. The labrum was re-attached to the bone and he will still need considerable time to allow it to heal properly. The Dodgers speculate that the damaged labrum prevented Schmidt from having complete range of motion. Thus, he lost a considerable amount velocity on his pitches.True Blue LA recently published a letter from Will Carroll rebutting his own three-year-old piece in Salon about the trauma of shoulder injuries. Of course, none of this indicates Schmidt will be back any time soon, nor how effective he will be when he returns. But if Ned Colletti deserves any credit at all as general manager, it's on this one point: he offered Schmidt more money and fewer years to be a Dodger. The lessons of Darren Dreifort and Kevin Brown haven't been forgotten, and that's important.In 2000, Schmidt had a torn labrum and frayed rotator cuff while pitching with the Pirates. He ended up missing 129 days of that season. According to several sources, this surgery is much more extensive. While Dodgers trainer Stan Conte states that Schmidt will be throwing in spring training, it is highly unlikely he will be ready for the early part of next season. Now that he has had two labrum injuries, with the most severe just occurring, his ability to pitch effectively in 2008 is a longshot.
Will Carroll On Rich Harden
In today's UTK:The bigger test than throwing hard is going to be recovery. Harden was not expected to throw back-to-back games at this stage of his rehab (and we do need to consider this as rehab), but an extended absence would need to be considered a major negative. We need to see Harden back on a mound by Thursday to say that this is working as planned. The late word from Oakland is that Harden is sounding very negative, comparing his shoulder pain now to what he had prior to going on the DL.The A's may have gotten one player back into the bullpen, but they lost another as Kiko Calero hit the 15-day DL with an inflamed shoulder.
Shorting The Angels
John Beamer has a recommendation for you, if you play the sports books: short the Angels. He saw the Halos as an 88-win team at the start of the season (a 96-win club now), and while Texas has "no chance" at the division thanks to what is arguably the worst pitching staff in the majors, Beamer thinks Oakland will put together another .600+ second half and climb back up in the standings. And it might not take all that much: if the Angels don't get their rotation settled soon, if they keep posting games like Monday's, they'll find themselves toe-to-toe with the A's or the M's come September 1, or worse, in the final week of the season.Labels: angels, athletics, dodgers, injuries
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