Monday, July 02, 2007 |
Minor League Scorebook
News
- The Angels were at it again in the 2007 draft, says Kevin Goldstein,
who notes how the Mets lost out on some
premium talent that the Halos snapped up. The Mets took NCAA champion Oregon State
closer Eddie Kunz in their first pick in the supplemental first
round. Kunz is a 6'6", 250 lb. man-mountain of intimidation —
with really only one quality pitch, a fastball that he throws from a
3/4-arm slot which does much to diminish its value. "Prior to the
draft, most teams had Kunz pegged as a second- or third-rounder",
Goldstein writes, noting that the Mets took certainty over
ceiling. "For a big-money team like the Mets, they should be focusing
on the big payoffs that go with taking risks on those
high-upside/highwashout potential guys." One of those guys was Angels
draftee Matt Harvey:
A high school right-hander from Connecticut with an arm that throws lightning, Harvey was generally considered the second-best high school pitcher in the draft. There was one problem though: His agent was the notorious Scott Boras, and he would not come cheap. Boras clients such as Harvey often fall in the draft to a position far lower than their talent would suggest, and when Harvey dropped completely out of the first round, somebody was going to get an extra first-round talent — if they were willing to empty their checkbook. The Mets had that chance, and they passed. In the interest of fairness, the Boston Red Sox were in a similar situation to the Mets — no first-round pick and lots of money to spend — and they also went elsewhere. Harvey wasn't selected until the third round, when the Angels of Anaheim found him too good to let slip. The Angels have a history of taking players like this; when Jered Weaver fell in the draft, they selected him, and he's now part of one of the game's top rotations. Two years ago, they selected a plummeting Nick Adenhart, who is now one of the top right-handed pitching prospects in baseball. How did they amass such talent? It was certainly not by selecting players like Eddie Kunz.
Borasophobia has also afflicted the Dodgers lately, in particular with Luke Hochevar. Drafted in 2005, by September, 2005, negotiations collapsed and never really resumed following published reports that the Dodgers were willing to up their offer to $2.89M on the condition he fire Scott Boras. Hochevar, of course, never signed with the Dodgers. Instead, he went to the Royals for a $3.5M bonus in last year's draft, and is now the less-than-proud owner of a 3-6 record with Texas League Wichita, with a 4.40 ERA. Not every alleged "first-round talent" represented by Boras is worth the money, though in Hochevar's case, it might be fair to say the Royals are pushing him awfully hard. - Did you know there's an international signing period? Me either, but Chris Kline at BA previews it. The Angels are said to be high on Dominican OF Edwin Barrera, but damned if I can find the word "Dodger" anywhere in that piece.
- Update: C/1B Bobby Wilson has been promoted from AA Arkansas to AAA Salt Lake. Ben Johnson moves up from Rancho to Arkansas to fill the void. It may be a sign that Jeff Mathis is on his way to Anaheim, as the Halos don't trust Molina's durability and don't think Napoli's injury is as transient as he represents.
Scores
Budde: 3-3, 2 2B, 1 BB
Liriano: (L, 2-10), 2.0 IP, 7 R, 7 ER, 8 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 6.56 ERA
Resop: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 4.57 ERA
1B-C-DH Ryan Budde went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, and when that's your lead, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong — i.e., Pedro Liriano. Ryan Budde also didn't help much behind the plate, allowing a scoring passed ball.
Morrissey: 0-2, 4 BB, 1 K
Rodriguez, S: 1-5, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Duff: 2-6, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K
Pali: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Collins: 0-5, 2 K
Adenhart: 5.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 K, 2 BB, 3.55 ERA
Thompson: (BS, 2), 3.0 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 2.01 ERA
Edwards: 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 2.92 ERA
O'Day: (L, 0-2) (in relief), 0.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 4.91 ERA
Nick Adenhart posted his first non-quality start in almost a month, and Rich Thompson wasn't able to keep things scoreless either. Darren O'Day suffered his second loss by giving up the final run of the game in the bottom of the 11th, a walkoff single by Vince Faison with men on the corners.
Anderson: 1-3
Johnson: 3-4, 1 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K
Pettit: 1-2, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
Remole: 2-3, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB
Statia: 0-4
Schoeninger: (W, 1-0), 5.0 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 4 HR, 9.00 ERA
Stertzbach: (S, 3), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 9.22 ERA
At last, Tim Schoeninger meets his match in the Cal League — and gets a win anyway, as the Quakes put up crooked numbers in three different innings, and held on to win it 8-9. Von Sterzbach got the save.
25-year-old catcher Ben Johnson hit his 10th and 11th homers, both solo shots, and drove in another on an RBI double; his final homer in the 8th was the game-winner. This is Johnson's third tour of the Cal League. He got a brief taste of AAA earlier this year. Don't get too excited: he had 19 homers last year for the Quakes, and the Angels still decided to keep him in Rancho. Hmm.
Christopher Pettit also homered in the game, a two-out solo shot in the fifth.
Johnson: 0-4, 4 K
Phillips: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K
O'Sullivan: 8.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 7 K, 1 BB, 2.81 ERA
Browning: (BS, 3)(L, 5-3) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 3.19 ERA
A brilliant outing by Sean O'Sullivan, squandered by Barret Browning's blown save. Cedar Rapids led most of the way starting in the second; scoring consisted of Scott Knazek's RBI single followed by P.J. Phillips' steal of home against right-handed Cougars starter Andrew Bailey. Browning got lousy support from his fielders, with 3B Matt Sweeney and LF Tyler Johnson both making errors on the same play that allowed Jermaine Mitchell to reach second.
Giovanatto: 3-4, 2 2B, 1 K
Walden: 4.1 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 6 K, 2 BB, 4.50 ERA
West: (L, 0-1) (in relief), 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 1.93 ERA
Cassevah: 2.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 13.50 ERA
Bobby Cassevah makes a mess of things in his first appearance at Orem; Christopher Garcia homered in the loss.
Fuller: 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 K
Dicent: 2-3, 3 RBI, 1 K
Bass: 2-2
Norman: 2-5, 1 RBI, 1 K
Wing: 2-4, 1 RBI
Anton: 3.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 0.00 ERA
Page: (W, 2-0) (in relief), 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 7.20 ERA
Seven runs between the two-run first and the five-run second was the difference in this game; a combined five errors between the sides led to four unearned runs for the Athletics, and three for the Angels. Raymi Dicent drove in three to lead the offense.
Young: 1-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Lindsey: 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI
LaRoche: 3-4, 2 2B, 1 BB, 1 K
Freeman: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Lundberg: 2-3
Bauer: (BS, 1)(L, 0-1) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 27.00 ERA
Andy LaRoche reappeared after 12 days off on the DL for a sore shoulder, and homered on his first pitch, a 440-foot blast that disappeared over dead center.
Spike Lundberg got the start and went six and a third innings giving up four runs, all earned, on nine hits, two of which were homers. He even helped himself at the plate, going 2-for-3, and was in line for the win going into the ninth, but reliever Rick Bauer gave up a two-run jack to AAAA first baseman Scott McClain, capping Grizzlies scoring in that frame. John Lindsey's RBI double in the bottom of the frame got the 51's one run closer, and things looked a little more promising when Grizzlies reliever Brian Wilson walked the bases loaded two batters later, but Ben Davis popped out to make the final out and that was that.
Hu, C: 3-5
Dunlap: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Gonzalez, J: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB
Hammes: 0-1, 1 K
Hammes: (L, 3-5), 6.0 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 5 K, 2 BB, 2 HR, 4.62 ERA
Miller: 2.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 7.27 ERA
Alexander: 1.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 5.05 ERA
Zach Hammes took his second loss in a row in this game, giving up a pair of homers, including a three-run jack in the top of the third to Carlos Gonzalez with nobody out.
May: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Locke: 2-4, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
Castillo, J: 6.0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 5 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 4.18 ERA
Pratt: 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 6.22 ERA
Meque: (W, 3-1) (in relief), 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 6.30 ERA
Jaime Hoffmann won this game with a walkoff single, his only hit of the night. Jacobo Meque got the in in relief; Lucas May homered, his 13th of the season, with leadoff solo shot in the fifth.
Bell: 2-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Santana: 0-2, 2 BB
Gonzalez: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Rivera, J: 1-4
White, G: 4.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 3.10 ERA
Melgarejo: (W, 2-5) (in relief), 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 6.56 ERA
Sanfler: (S, 3), 3.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 4 BB, 4.71 ERA
Jansen: 3-4
Gallagher: 3-4, 1 RBI
Jones: (L, 0-3), 5.0 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 14.40 ERA
Diaz: 3.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 6 K, 0 BB, 1.59 ERA
Labels: minors
Two things to pay attention to here: (1) Resop has a road ERA of 2.74 on the season. (2) Resop hasn't allowed an earned run since June 5.
I don't want to go overboard, but he's still on the right side of 25 for AAA pitcher. Let's stay awake on this one.
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