Monday 7/2/2012 Minor-League Updates

[nate1213]

#99! Throw goes off his helmet and he goes to third on the error, so no 100 yet for Billy. Theo Bowe lines out to left, so no chance for Billy to steal home for #100

It has to be a sin to walk Hamilton.

[mace]

Hamilton singled and swiped No. 100, but Bakersfield fell short and lost 3-2, squandering a nice start from Jamie Walczak.

One hundred steals. On July 2. Wowsers.

[corkedbat]

Yorman Rodriguez was 1-4 tonight, but the best news might be that he didn't K for at least the third game in a row. Baby steps.

[klw]

Article on Cingrani's outing
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp...vkey=news_milb
C

ingrani (3-1) issued four walks as he lowered his Southern League ERA to 1.75.

"The off-speed wasn't really there, again," he said. "I just used the fastball and threw a breaking ball there when I needed to. It wasn't too bad."

Cingrani retired the first 10 batters he faced before yielding a one-out single to Paul Gran in the fourth inning. He gave up a single and a walk in the fifth and sixth, then came out after issuing a pair of free passes in the seventh.

Though his secondary pitches were inconsistent at times, the southpaw still tried to use them to keep Jacksonville off balance.

And on Hamilton's feat.
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp...vkey=news_milb

Hamilton jokingly told MiLB.com in May that his goal is to double last year's mark of 103. But next up is Nixon's Cal League record and just beyond that is Vince Coleman's Minor League best of 145, also set in 1983, in the South Atlantic League. The Mississippi native seemed confident that he could potentially reach both numbers before season's end. "I mean, it's possible," he said. "I think 144 is possible, but I'm not saying I'm going to go out and get 144. I knew [103] would be tough to double, but I didn't set any goals. I just want to get better, come work on my jump and whatever happens, happens."

[lollipopcurve]

I saw an inning or two of Cingrani's start -- 6th and 7th. Jacksonville did not put a single ball in play over that time. Either Ks or BBs. I think the ump was squeezing him, too. Riggleman went to the mound, and when the ump went out to break up the confab, Riggleman seemed to have several choice words for him. Overall, Cingrani was overmatching the hitters with the fastball, and they just starting taking. Secondary stuff looked OK -- a little better than the earlier start I saw. With the deception/explosion/command he's got of the fastball, the secondary stuff just needs more consistency. I don't think he needs to improve the quality of those pitches much, if at all -- just be able to throw them for strikes with some regularity.