Minor League Discussion & Boxes 7-27-2007

[TruffleShuffle]

Take your ball and go home ^^^^. That's why they're minor leaguers. They're learning. You cant remedy something by stats alone. Still hearing his velocity is good and I'LL go with what Andy said and go with the positive which probably hurts some in here. Minor leaguers are going to have more off days, that's why they call it the MINOR LEAGUES!!!!!

 

he's certainly had a lot of off days. I'd like to see an on day at some point.

[Slugger_16]

IowaCubs.com[/url]"]Smith Walk-Off Sends Sky Sox over Cubs 7-6

Cubs and Sky Sox Split Four Game Series

 

Pinch-hitter Seth Smith belted a walk-off solo homer in the ninth inning to give Colorado Springs a 7-6 victory over Iowa on Friday.

 

Batting for reliever Mike Gallo, Smith belted a 2-0 pitch from Ben Howard over the right-field fence for his 12th home run. The dramatic blast extended his hitting streak to 18 games.

 

"Yeah, T.R. [manager Tom Runnells] came over, woke me up and told me to get up to the plate," Smith joked on KZNT Radio's postgame show. "I got a good pitch and hit it."

 

Smith, a 2004 second-round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, also homered against Iowa on Thursday and is hitting .417 (15-for-36) with eight RBIs in his last 10 games.

 

The Cubs had rallied to tie the game, 6-6, in the eighth on RBI singles by Mike Mahoney and pinch-hitter Kevin Hart.

 

Clint Barmes, Omar Quintanilla, Joe Gaetti, Lino Garcia and pitcher Mike Esposito each knocked in a run for the Sky Sox. Gallo (2-6) fanned three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win after Esposito allowed four runs -- one earned -- on eight hits with three strikeouts in seven innings.

 

Howard (5-4) recorded four outs and took the loss. Cubs starter Randy Wells was charged with three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts in five innings.

 

Geovany Soto hit a three-run homer and Buck Coats went 3-for-5 with a triple and an RBI for Iowa.

 

SmokiesBaseball.com[/url]"]Reynolds rips Mudcats

 

Kyle Reynolds homered twice and drove in six runs and five pitchers combined on a two-hitter as Tennessee routed visiting Carolina, 14-1, on Friday.

 

Reynolds smacked an RBI single in the third inning, belted a two-run homer in the fourth and blasted a three-run shot in the eighth as the Smokies (53-50) rolled to their third straight victory.

 

The 23-year-old third baseman connected for his first two homers in his third game with Tennessee after belting 12 in 74 contests at Class A Advanced Daytona. He finished 4-for-5 to boost his Double-A batting average to .556.

 

Reynolds also had a two-homer, six-RBI game with the Cubs on July 9.

 

Tennessee's Casey McGehee hit a two-run homer, his fifth, in the fourth, Tyler Colvin had three hits and two RBIs, Issmael Salas drove in three runs and Jorge Cortes scored four times.

 

Smokies starter Justin Berg allowed one hit, walked four and struck out three in four scoreless innings. Matthew Avery (1-0) picked up the win after giving up a run on one hit over two frames. Grant Johnson, Geoffrey Jones and Rocky Roquet each tossed a hitless inning.

 

Frank Moore hit his third homer in the fifth for the Mudcats (44-61), who have lost three in a row.

 

DaytonaCubs.com[/url]"]Hammerheads Down Cubs, 6-2

Jupiter Puts Up 15 Hits on the Board en Route to Win

 

(JUPITER, FL) The Cubs travelled south to play six consecutive games at Roger Dean Stadium to face off first against the Jupiter Hammerheads followed by a three game set with the Palm Beach Cardinals. Unfortunately for Daytona, they were greeted rudely to the tune of a 6-2 final, thanks to an abundance of Hammerhead hitting.

 

Jeff Samardzija suffered his seventh defeat Friday night as Jupiter rallied six runs on 12 base hits in four and a third innings. To Samardzija's credit, 11 went for weak singles and the twelfth was an RBI double off the bat of Jupiter's best hitter in Gaby Sanchez.

 

The Hammerheads scored three runs in the third inning on six consecutive base hits to take a commanding 3-0 lead. Daytona answered back with a two spot in the top of the fourth to make the game interesting. Matt Camp extended his hitting streak to nine games as he led the inning off with a double and stole third without a throw. Steve Clevenger lifted a fly ball to medium-depth center field to score Camp from third to give the Cubs their first run. Brian Dopirak came up next and improved his hit streak to ten games with a one-out single and Matt Matulia followed with double that got caught up in the tarp. Jeffrey Rea hit a sharply struck ball to the shortstop to score Dopirak from third and the deficit was only one run, 3-2 Hams.

 

After an efficient bottom half of the fourth, the Hammerheads put another three runs on the board on three singles in the fifth to extend the lead, 6-2.

 

Darin Downs threw a scoreless two and a third and Tim Layden tossed a scoreless inning himself in relief but it wasn't enough as the Cubs faltered, 6-2.

 

Steve Clevenger also extended his hitting streak to nine games with Daytona. Clevenger has also put the ball in play every time he has stepped up to the plate with zero strikeouts through his first nine games played.

 

The Cubs will try and slow down the Hammerheads Saturday night at Roger Dean starting at 6:05pm. Catch all the action on WELE 1380 or on the web at daytonacubs.com.

 

PeoriaChiefs.com[/url]"] Chiefs Fall 6-2

 

Peoria, IL- The Peoria Chiefs had a two game winning streak snapped with a 6-2 loss to the visiting Dayton Dragons at O’Brien Field on Friday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 21-12 in the second half but they will remain in first place heading into Saturday’s contest.

 

Kerry Wood was originally slated to make an appearance out of the bullpen, but with the threat of rain he was given the start for his one inning of work. Wood responded by tossing another scoreless frame, his third in three outings. He struck out lead off hitter Drew Stubbs on a breaking ball before getting Justin Turner to ground out to short. Wood then retired Juan Francisco on a flyout to left to end the inning. Wood finished the inning by throwing 13 pitches, a combination of fastballs and breaking balls.

 

Dayton got on the board in the second inning against Chiefs reliever Jeremy Papelbon who was originally scheduled to start the contest. After a lead off walk to Denis Phipps, Chris Heisey grounded into a fielder’s choice. Heisey beat a run-down to steal second and scored the first run of the night on a single by Jason Louwsma to make it 1-0.

 

The Dragons added to their lead in the fourth inning. With two outs, Heisey picked up his second hit of the game and Carson Kainer followed with a base hit. The third straight hit in the inning came off the bat of Louwsma when he doubled into right center to score a pair to make it 3-0. Tony Esquer picked up an RBI single to score Louwsma from second to make it 4-0.

 

Peoria got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning against Dayton starter Anthony Gressick. Darwin Barney tripled to the gap in right center field and came into score on a ground out by Jim Adduci to make it a 4-1 game.

 

Dayton got the run right back off Papelbon in the fifth inning. Stubbs led off the inning with a single and scored all the way from first on a double to the right field corner by Turner to make it 5-1. Matt Maradeo came on in relief and got the final two outs of the inning to limit the damage.

 

The Chiefs climbed a run closer in the bottom of the sixth inning after Barney doubled just inside the first base line. Wellington Castillo came in to the game to pinch hit for Henry Blanco and delivered an RBI single to the left to make it 5-2. Leon Johnson was picked off first base with the tying run at the plate to end the inning. Blanco had two plate appearances in his sixth rehab game with a walk and a strikeout.

 

The Dragons pushed across another run in the eighth inning after a mistake by the Chiefs defense. Kainer and Louwsma both singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Louwsma then got in a run down and Kainer broke to the plate and scored on a throwing error by first baseman Russ Canzler. The Chiefs didn’t get a runner on base in the eighth or ninth innings against Dragons reliever Lee Tabor.

 

Papelbon took the loss by finishing the night going 3 1/3 innings while allowing a season high five runs on seven hits. Maradeo worked 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief while striking out three. Casey Lambert tossed 1 1/3 of relief and allowed a pair of hits and an unearned run.

 

Gorman’s Pub Player of the Game: Darwin Barney (SS) – Barney finished the game 2-for-4 with both runs scored. Barney picked up his second double and first triple for his two hits while also reaching on a first inning error.

 

Notes...Papelbon gave up more than one run in an appearance for the first time since May 13th in Wisconsin…May 13th was also the last loss suffered by Papelbon…Barney now has a seven game hitting streak...The Chiefs are 8-2 in a 24 game stretch against only Eastern Division opponents…They next face a Western Division foe on August 11th at Kane County…Peoria had four of their six hits go for extra bases…The Chiefs have won nine of the last 11 games they have played…The series continues on Saturday night at 6:30…It is Firefighters Appreciation Night…There will be another spectacular fireworks show following the game presented by the Peoria Chiefs…Peoria will send RH Robert Hernandez (4-5, 4.35) to the mound against Dayton LH Jamie Arneson (0-2, 4.56)…The game can be heard live beginning with the pre-game show at 6:15 PM online at http://www.peoriachiefs.com or on WOAM 1350.

 

BoiseHawks.com[/url]"] Hawks win third in a row over Canadians, 6-3

 

The Boise Hawks beat the Vancouver Canadians Friday night, 6-3. Bill Moss led a seven hit attack with three hits including a double, an RBI and a runs scored. Kyler Burke had a two-run double in the Hawk's five run fifth when they erased a 2-1 deficit and took the lead for good.

 

Starter Dustin Sasser picked up the win, his third f the season, going five innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out six. Steve Vento pitched an inning and a third and John Muller picked up his first save of the season pitching two and a third innings of shutout ball. Muller entered the game in the seventh inning with the bases loaded struck out Matt Sulantic to end the inning. He gave up one hit the rest of the way.

 

The win was the third in a row for the Hawks over Vancouver as they maintain a two and a half game lead in the Eastern Division of the Northwest League. Since July 3 the Hawks are 17-6.

 

The series continues Saturday night as the Hawks send Alberto Cabrera to the mound. He will be opposed by the Canadians' Inoel Deaza. Game time at Memorial Stadium in Boise is 7:15 p.m.

 

Friday night's game, and all Hawks home games, are webcast by Fiberpipe and are archived on the Hawk's website at http://www.boisehawks.com.

[Slugger_16]

Take your ball and go home ^^^^. That's why they're minor leaguers. They're learning. You cant remedy something by stats alone. Still hearing his velocity is good and I'LL go with what Andy said and go with the positive which probably hurts some in here. Minor leaguers are going to have more off days, that's why they call it the MINOR LEAGUES!!!!!

 

he's certainly had a lot of off days. I'd like to see an on day at some point.

 

I enjoyed this line in the Daytona wrap up:

 

To Samardzija's credit, 11 went for weak singles and the twelfth was an RBI double off the bat of Jupiter's best hitter in Gaby Sanchez.

 

That's a lot of weak singles.

[Iceblink]

I enjoyed this line in the Daytona wrap up:

 

To Samardzija's credit, 11 went for weak singles and the twelfth was an RBI double off the bat of Jupiter's best hitter in Gaby Sanchez.

 

That's a lot of weak singles.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I'll buy 3 weak singles, but 11? That's a month's worth.

[the splendid splinter]

I enjoyed this line in the Daytona wrap up:

 

To Samardzija's credit, 11 went for weak singles and the twelfth was an RBI double off the bat of Jupiter's best hitter in Gaby Sanchez.

 

That's a lot of weak singles.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I'll buy 3 weak singles, but 11? That's a month's worth.

Pretty weak just to write it, thou its good to see the 6 punchouts. I was just wondering if thee 11 weak singles were weaker than Jacque Jones round of 3rd base last night, despite a tremendous play by Freel.

[CubColtPacer]

Take your ball and go home ^^^^. That's why they're minor leaguers. They're learning. You cant remedy something by stats alone. Still hearing his velocity is good and I'LL go with what Andy said and go with the positive which probably hurts some in here. Minor leaguers are going to have more off days, that's why they call it the MINOR LEAGUES!!!!!

 

he's certainly had a lot of off days. I'd like to see an on day at some point.

 

I enjoyed this line in the Daytona wrap up:

 

To Samardzija's credit, 11 went for weak singles and the twelfth was an RBI double off the bat of Jupiter's best hitter in Gaby Sanchez.

 

That's a lot of weak singles.

 

You have to wonder if that's close to true or not. That's been the Cubs contention with Samardzija all along-they keep saying that if he moves up the ladder, his numbers will actually get better because most of the hits that he gives up are weak shots that would be turned into outs by better defenders.

 

It's really hard to know if that is true or not, so I guess it will just have to be wait and see.

[Athletics36]

I was disappointed in what I saw last night in Jupiter and if anybody would like to know more send me a PM.

[Jon]

You have to wonder if that's close to true or not. That's been the Cubs contention with Samardzija all along-they keep saying that if he moves up the ladder, his numbers will actually get better because most of the hits that he gives up are weak shots that would be turned into outs by better defenders.

 

It's really hard to know if that is true or not, so I guess it will just have to be wait and see.

He'll only get hit harder. The main issue is his inability to strike anyone out. Even with a healthy ground ball to fly ball ratio, he's just not that good right now. And he wasn't that good in college.

 

If he's ready for a callup sometime in 2009, I think we'd have to be thrilled with his development. It would be quite unlikely that the contract he received will ever be justified, but it's also not his fault many had some ridiculous expectations for him.

[Laura]

Switch him and Harvey.