Since I am out of town from 7/31-8/4, I’m posting this one day short. Next week’s will run through the games of 7/30-8/6.
AAA
Record: 3-3. Overall: 64-47, first place, three games ahead of Toledo (DET).
7/24: Again Adam Rosales and Ryan Hanigan carry the Bats’ offense. Hanigan was 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI (.301) and Rosales (playing 1B in this one) slammed homer #8 as Louisville held on to beat Syracuse (TOR) 4-3. Adam added a double and second run scored, finishing 2-for-4 (.264). Adam Pettyjohn picked up his tenth win with six innings (4.72, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). Matt Belisle was popped for two in the eighth (one of those actually let in by Danny Herrera), but Josh Roenicke stranded two in getting out of the jam (2.31, 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K) and Jon Adkins pitched the ninth for save #17 (3.61, 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K).
7/25: Durham (TB) pounded on Ben Jukich for five runs in the first inning and cruised to a 10-5 victory. Three of those first-inning runs came courtesy of a Chris Richard home run, but immediately afterwards Rosales committed a throwing error that led to two more of the unearned variety. Rosales then made another error in the fourth on a fielder’s choice play that led Durham to its sixth run. Errors or no, however, Jukich departed after five with a second straight unimpressive outing (L 0-1, 8.68, 5 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2 HR). RF Mike Griffin did hit his first IL home run and LF Luis Bolivar hit #5 in the losing effort. Rosales finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored (.266) despite the defensive issues.
7/26: A clutch RBI double by SS Paul Janish in the top of the ninth snapped a 3-3 tie as Louisville beat the Bulls, 5-3. DH Chris Dickerson singled in Janish directly afterwards for the insurance run. Chris had hit his tenth homer earlier in the game, a solo blast- he’s now got seven of those in the month of July. LF Rob Mackowiak hit #4 as well. Starter Bobby Livingston was better this time around (5.84, 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K), but Carlos Fisher gave up an RBI double to the only man he faced to allow the 3-3 tie (BS #1). Danny Herrera came on to retire four straight (W 3-3, 2.25, 1 K) and Adkins took care of the ninth for save #18.
7/27: Two solo homers in the first off Justin Mallett (L 4-2, 4.58, 6 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) were the only runs of the game. Tyler Pelland struck out the side in the seventh (3.98) and Matt Belisle threw a scoreless eighth (4.94), but three Bulls pitchers held the Bats to four hits.
7/28: The Bulls’ Joel Guzman slammed two homers off Ramon Ramirez (L 2-4, 3.92, 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) and Durham survived an eighth-inning two-run homer by Griffin (#2) to win it, 4-3. Janish homered earlier in the contest (#6, 2-for-3, .270). Dickerson reached base three times on a hit and two walks; he also stole two bases (23).
7/29: 1B Kevin Barker homered twice (#12 and #13) and Adam Pettyjohn scattered nine hits over five innings (W 11-4, 4.61, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR) as Louisville split the four-game set, 6-3. Fisher gave up his first AAA earned run following Pettyjohn (1.80, 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) but the rest of the relievers held the Bulls scoreless (Pelland 0.1 IP, McBeth 1.1, Adkins 1.0). Jon notched save #19 (3.47). Despite a fielding error, Dickerson got on base three more times- a double and two walks- while scoring two runs and stealing base #24. He’s now at .276/.379/.467. Why is Corey Patterson playing again?
Notes: 7/26: INF Aaron Herr returned from the DL, with UT Drew M. Anderson sent back to Chattanooga. 7/28: It’s REHAB TIME once again for Jerry Hairston Jr.! Also, OF Drew T. Anderson came off the DL- to make room, BJ Szymanski went back to Chattanooga.
AA
Record: 2-4. Overall: 15-23, tied for fourth place, 7 games behind Carolina (FLA).
7/24: MAKEUP MAELSTROM! Game one saw West Tenn (SEA) nip Chattanooga and Sam Lecure (L 7-5, 3.82, 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR), 3-2. SS Chris Valaika and 3B Eric Eymann each laced three hits (.317 and .306, respectively) and CF Drew Stubbs added two more (.464), but the Lookouts stranded nine runners.
In the nightcap, the Lookouts made the most of three hits, getting a first-inning homer from LF Danny Dorn (#14, .260) and a sixth-inning tiebreaking bomb from 2B Justin Turner (#6, .275) in beating the Diamond Jaxx, 3-1. Pedro Viola came out of the bullpen to get the spot start and actually dominated, permitting just one hit and one unearned run in 3.2 innings with zero walks and six strikeouts (5.58). Ramon Geronimo picked up his first Southern League win with 2.1 innings of hitless relief (W 1-0, 0.00, 1 BB, 4 K). Derrik Lutz got save #3 (5.61).
7/25: Behind ex-Red Travis Chick’s eight four-hit innings (W 3-5, 3.98, 8 K), the Diamond Jaxx beat the Lookouts, 7-1. Jordan Smith struggled again after a good outing his previous start (L 2-5, 5.55, 4.1 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR).
7/26: Five runs in the seventh blew open a 1-1 contest and led to a 6-1 Chattanooga win. LF Danny Dorn was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer (#15, .272). Sean Watson got the win (W 1-1, 6.86, 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K) in relief of Camilo Vazquez, up again for another spot start (5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K). RF Sean Henry doubled twice and drove in one (.326).
7/27: Mississippi hammered Chattanooga and Travis Wood (L 2-6, 6.58, 5 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 4 K), 9-0. The Lookouts were limited to five hits. One belonged to Drew Stubbs (.366) who also picked up an outfield assist.
7/28: Robert Manuel allowed the only run of the game in the seventh (L 4-3, 1.50, 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 K), as the Braves got their second straight shutout win over the Lookouts. James Avery pitched six shutout innings (4.94, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K). Ramon Geronimo made it three straight scoreless outings in AA with a perfect eighth.
7/29: Three straight for the M-Braves, 9-3. This time Sam Lecure took the loss (L 7-6, 4.04, 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K). Two of the Chattanooga runs came on a Tonys Gutierrez pinch-hit single (.288). In fact, the club was 3-for-3 pinch-hitting in this one- Drew M. Anderson singled and scored in the sixth and Justin Turner doubled in the ninth.
Notes: 7/28: OF Thomas Collaro was released and OF BJ Szymanski returned from AAA. Collaro had been picked up earlier in the season after being let go by the White Sox organization. In 38 games with the Lookouts, he hit .170/.233/.307.
High-A
Record: 3-2. Overall: 19-18, third place, 6 games behind Dunedin (TOR).
7/24: Something not so common for the heavy air of the Florida State League: a slugfest. Sarasota triumphed over Lakeland (DET), 17-11, hitting five home runs- two from C Eddy Rodriguez (#3 and #4, 5 RBI, .203), 2B Jake Kahauleilo’s third (all hit in July), CF Chris Heisey’s fifth, and a late three-run bomb from streaking 3B Juan Francisco (#14, 12-for-27 in his last seven games). Kahauleilo finished 4-for-6 with four runs scored, adding two doubles to the home run (.258). LF Carson Kainer, who’s had a rough season (.237/.258/.301 in 65 games), was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. All told, the Reds bashed out nineteen hits. Rafael Gonzalez followed his best start of 2008 with a bad one (6.42, 3 IP, 5 ER, 3 HR). Rehabbin’ Justin James got the victory, retiring six straight, but Enerio Del Rosario (7.94, 1 IP, 2 ER), Terrell Young (1.69, 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER) and Joe Krebs (4.63, 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) all got scored on.
7/25: Five in the seventh broke a 1-1 tie; Sarasota beat Lakeland, 6-1. Three RBI for 1B Logan Parker (.320, 2-for-4). Scott Carroll continued to dominate as of late, striking out nine in seven innings (W 6-3, 3.17, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB). The Reds didn’t beat up Flying Tigers starter and Detroit phenom Rick Porcello (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 6 K), but they did battle him to a standstill before whacking his relievers.
7/26: Lakeland got its revenge by scoring two off Logan Ondrusek (L 0-5, 4.45, 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) and hanging on, 5-4. Starter Misael DeJesus was passable but not great (his starts have been either awesome or awful)- 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. DH Todd Frazier hit homer #8 and drove in two (.289) and Parker hit #2 in the ninth.
7/27: Off.
7/28: With homers from Frazier (#9, 4 RBI), Heisey (#6, 3-for-4, 3 R) and Francisco (#15, 3-for-5, 3 R, 2 RBI), the Reds buried Clearwater (PHI), 11-2. Rehabbin’ Justin James pitched four innings (2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR), then Del Rosario followed with three scoreless for his first FSL victory (W 1-4, 7.18, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 K).
7/29: The Threshers slice up Rafael Gonzalez (L 4-8, 6.93, 2.1 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR) and win easily, 9-5. Heisey (.281, 2 R), DH Jason Louwsma (.239, RBI), and Kainer (.242, RBI) each had a pair of hits.
Notes: 7/26: UT Justin Tordi returned from Chattanooga. LHS Alex Smit was inactivated so he could pitch for the Netherlands in the Olympics. 7/28: RHS Matt Klinker was promoted from Dayton. 2B Jake Kahauleilo went back to Dayton. INF Cody Puckett returned to the GCL squad.
3B Juan Francisco was named the FSL Batter of the Week for the week ending 7/27, batting .455 (10-for-22) with two homers, ten RBI, and a .909 SLG.
Low-A
Record: 4-2. Overall: 23-15, second place, one back of South Bend (ARI).
7/24: Four runs in the first, one in the second, and a key insurance tally in the eighth enabled Dayton to hold off a late Peoria (CHC) surge and win, 6-5, despite four errors. Remember the Chattanooga brawl game from a couple of weeks ago? Well, this was worse. It even inspired a post on Deadspin. Apparently, a 10-minute melee broke out in the bottom of the first inning (see this link for a fairly straightforward description of the sequence of events). Even worse, Peoria started Julio Castillo threw a ball in the direction of the Dragons dugout (attempting to hit a player), but missed and drilled a fan in the stands so hard in the head that he ended up in the hospital. The ball caromed five rows (!) backwards and landed in another fan’s lap. To top it off, Castillo was charged with felonious assault and went to a Montgomery County jail pending trial.
SS Zach Cozart was hit in the head with a pitch by Castillo and had to leave the game. Previous to that, in the top of the first, Dayton starter Kyle Lotzkar had hit a Chiefs batter with a pitch- the fourth in two nights. 2B Gian Guzman suffered a broken leg trying to field a grounder when he ran into Castillo. Dayton’s Angel Cabrera was also hit with a pitch and he then slid spikes high into second base on the following force play. Not a good night for Julio in general, was it?
Seventeen players were ejected- but then everyone was allowed back in the game after the president of the Midwest League conferred with Cubs and Reds officials and decided that playing the game with pitchers in the outfield was inadvisable.
Anyway, Juan Rafael followed Lotzkar and pitched 5.2 strong innings to get the win (W 1-1, 5.30, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K). After Jeff Jeffords struggled (3.63, 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER), Derrick Conatser finished the ninth for his first save. 1B Brandon Waring was 3-for-4 with a RBI (.276), RF Denis Phipps 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI (.254- good thing he’s better at hitting than he is at fighting. Listen to the audio linked from the MILB article.) and C Devin Mesoraco 2-for-4 with two RBI (.276).
7/25: The day after. Dayton was scoreless for the first seven, but piled up three in the eighth off the Chiefs’ bullpen to steal a 3-2 victory! Henry Arias (W 3-4, 3.93, 1 IP, 1 BB) picked up the win in relief of the to-be-promoted Matt Klinker (3.26, 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K). Aguido Gonzalez got save #1. Cozart recovered from his beaning the night before with a key pinch-hit RBI single. C Jason Bour homered (#3) and 2B Kevyn Feiner doubled in the other run.
7/26: On to host Kane County (OAK), but the Dragons lose the opener 7-4. Josh Ravin struggled badly with his control (L 2-6, 6.35, 2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 2 HR). Jeremy Horst and Curtis Partch combined to allow four hits and two runs over the final seven, but despite outhitting the Cougars twelve to ten, Dayton couldn’t make the comeback. Bour doubled and tripled and drove in two (.226), Cozart returned to the lineup with two hits (.281).
7/27: Again the Cougars beat on the Dragons, 9-3. Daniel Guerrero took a pounding (L 0-2, 7.04, 1.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 2 HR). C Devin Mesoraco homered (#7) and finished 2-for-4. He also committed two passed balls (11). 2B Angel Cabrera was 1-for-4 (.263) in his final game before being released (see below).
7/28: Luis Montano had a fine outing (W 11-6, 3.97, 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) as Dayton won 6-1 to salvage one of three. 3B Neftali Soto was 3-for-4 (.293) with a RBI and run scored. Mesoraco doubled in two (.280). CF Jeremy Reed was 3-for-4 (.248) and had another instance where he stole second (#16) and was then caught immediately thereafter trying to swipe third (#8).
7/29: Kyle Lotzkar (3.86, 5 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 K) and Juan Rafael (W 2-1, 4.37, 4 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K) combined on a four-hit shutout of Burlington (KC), 4-0. LF Brandon Menchaca tripled in two in the seventh (.173) and Mesoraco had an RBI double and stolen base (#2).
Notes: 7/28: INF Angel Cabrera was released- see this thread. 7/29: LHR Steve Otterness came up from Billings, replacing RHS Matt Klinker (promoted to Sarasota).
Rookie-Pioneer
Record: 4-2. Overall 23-15 (first half), victors by three games over Helena; 2-0 second half.
7/24: Billings trampled Helena (MIL) 17-2, smacking twenty hits. DH Andrew Means hit a two-run homer in the fifth and then a grand slam in the eighth- he finished 3-for-6 with four runs scored and seven RBI (.253). RF Byron Wiley was 3-for-6 with two doubles and a triple and three RBI (.280). CF David Sappelt was 4-for-6 with two RBI (.325). SS Miguel Rojas and 3B Carlos Mendez each scored three runs. Starter Jamie Arneson pitched six strong (W 3-1, 3.82, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). Junior Martinez pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth (7.62, 3 K) and righty Justin Freeman whiffed three straight in the ninth (6.62).
With this victory, the Mustangs locked up the division crown for the first half of the Pioneer League season. They’ll receive an automatic playoff bid.
7/25: Billings wins again over Helena, 3-2. Clayton Shunick started but left after two innings, leaving Enrique Garcia (W 2-0, 3.55, 4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) to get the W in relief. Steve Otterness picked up save #3 (4.26). LF Tony Brown (#9) and RF Tyler Stovall (#1, 2-for-4, 2 R, .350) both homered.
7/26: Great Falls (CHW) came to Dehler Park and beat the Mustangs, 4-1. Leo Astorga pitched well in defeat (L 3-1, 2.41, 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K).
7/27: The White Sox scored all eight of their runs in the first four innings, beating Oscar Castro (L 2-2, 5.05, 3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER) and Billings 8-4. 1B Mike Konstanty drove in three runs, two on his third homer (.316). Four Mustangs errors didn’t help the situation.
--BEGIN SECOND HALF--
7/28: Lance Janke threw six four-hit innings (W 2-1, 4.15, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) as Billings bounced back, 4-2. Strong relief from Josh Beal (2.57, 1.2 IP, 1 BB, 2 K) and Randall Linebaugh (save #3, 3.38, 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 K) finished out the win.
7/29: Dan Zeffiro threw four scoreless innings of relief (W 1-0, 2.82, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K) and Billings hung on to beat Missoula (ARI), 9-7. Jamie Arneson started (4.93, 4 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 2 HR). Righty Mike Bohana, up from the GCL team, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth (2 K) for the save. 2B Jose Gualdron smacked three hits (.241), including a double and triple. 3B Carlos Mendez was also 3-for-4 (.258) and so was DH Kyle Day (.377). LF Matt Stiffler, an Ohio University product, was 0-for-2 but scored three runs- one each time he drew a walk. He’s hitting .190 for the season but has a .358 on-base average.
Rookie- Gulf Coast
Record: 1-2. Overall 14-17, fourth place, 5 back of the Pirates.
7/24: Rained out.
7/25: Win over the Red Sox, 5-1. Drew Bowman had his best outing of ’08, striking out seven over five shutout innings (W 1-0, 4.85, 2 H, 0 BB). 1B Humberto Sosa homered (#2).
7/26: Loss to the Twins, 6-3. The Reds went through eight pitchers in this one for some reason, with Rafael Ceballos (3-1, 8.18) taking the L.
7/27: Off.
7/28: In case you hadn’t heard, UT Jerry Gil is now a pitcher! In the Reds’ 7-0 loss to the Pirates, Gil pitched a scoreless sixth inning, striking out two. Shea Snowden took the defeat in this one (L 3-3, 1.50, 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K).
7/29: Suspended due to rain in the first inning, with the Orioles leading the Reds 1-0. Game will be completed on August 8th.
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Originally Posted by Doc. Scott
