Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-7-2007

[Guest]

Pawelek pitched the last two innings for Boise and his curve looked good.

 

Any word on when Kroeger is expected back in the Iowa lineup?

 

Raibidawg sent Iowa's broadcaster an e-mail and he said that Kroeger's oblique injury isn't that severe and Kroeger could be back as early as Friday.

[E.J.]

Pawelek pitched the last two innings for Boise and his curve looked good.

 

Any word on when Kroeger is expected back in the Iowa lineup?

 

Raibidawg sent Iowa's broadcaster an e-mail and he said that Kroeger's oblique injury isn't that severe and Kroeger could be back as early as Friday.

 

Cool. Thanks.

[jersey cubs fan]

Donaldson seems to be off to a great minor league start. I was hoping he'd be able to master the Midwest League this year, but a 950+ OPS with fantastic K/BB ratio is good regardless of the league.

[Guest]

Donaldson seems to be off to a great minor league start. I was hoping he'd be able to master the Midwest League this year, but a 950+ OPS with fantastic K/BB ratio is good regardless of the league.

 

Thomas too. Nice to see some hot starts from high draft picks.

 

------------

 

Jose Ceda since coming back from the DL and pitching in relief: 11 IP, 2 ER, 0 H, 16 K/6 BB.

 

Here are some recaps:

 

DaytonaCubs.com[/url]"]Defensive Struggles Doom Cubs, 8-1

Daytona Commits Four Errors in Fourth Straight Defeat

 

By: Dan Watson

 

[DAYTONA BEACH, FL] Defense eluded the Daytona Cubs Tuesday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Not surprisingly, a win did the same. The Cubs made four errors on their way to an 8-1 loss to the Fort Myers Miracle. The Cubs have now dropped four straight games.

 

Fort Myers starter Jay Rainville overcame a hiccup in the first inning, as he allowed a run in the first frame but locked the Cubs' offense down the rest of the way. Rainville finished with eight strong innings to pick up a victory.

 

Jeffrey Rea went 3-for-4 for the Cubs and scored the only Daytona run. Steve Clevenger had two hits, including an RBI double.

 

For the first time in the series, the Cubs scored first. Jeffrey Rea singled to start the first inning and scored when Steve Clevenger sliced a double down the left-field line to make it 1-0.

 

The hot-swinging Erik Lis tied the game in the top of the fourth. Lis, who homered twice on Monday, hit a moonshot off the right-field foul pole for a solo home run.

 

Fort Myers struck for a big inning in the sixth. Brian Dinkelman started the frame with a double. Two batters later, the Cubs intentionally walked Lis to set up a potential double play. The strategy nearly paid off, as Dustin Martin followed with a ground ball to second, but the relay throw was errant and allowed Dinkelman to score and give the Miracle a 2-1 advantage. Juan Portes knocked Martin home with a triple to right-center, and Danny Valencia singled up the middle to plate Portes and make it 4-1.

 

The Miracle piled on in the eighth as defense escaped the Cubs. Tolleson, Martin and Portes singled to load the bases with one out. Reliever Charlie Platt induced a ground ball back to the mound which appeared to be a tailor-made double play, but the throw to the plate sailed to the backstop to plate a pair of runs and extend the lead to 6-1. Scott Koerber was called in from the bullpen and induced another comebacker to the mound to hold the runners at second and third. Dwayne White made sure Koerber wouldn't wriggle off the hook, as he singled to left-center to plate a pair, pushing the margin to 8-1.

 

Meanwhile, Rainville buttoned things up on the mound. The right-hander retired 11 consecutive Cubs hitters between the fourth and eighth frame. Rainville allowed a one-out single to Jeffrey Rea in the eighth, but induced a double-play ball to the next batter to end the inning.

 

All told, Rainville pitched eight innings and allowed his only run in the first. He gave up five base hits, struck out two and didn't walk a batter as his record advanced to 6-10. The Miracle improved to 23-23 in the second half.

 

Joel Santo (8-6) took the loss for the Cubs, who fell to 18-27 with their fourth straight defeat.

 

PeoriaChiefs.com[/url]"] Chiefs Lose 10-2 Tuesday

 

Peoria, IL- The Peoria Chiefs gave up double digit runs for the third straight game in a 10-2 loss to the visiting Great Lakes Loons on Tuesday evening at O’Brien Field. The loss drops the Chiefs to 24-20 on the half and 55-58 overall but they do still hold the Wild Card spot in the Western Division playoff race.

 

The return from the eight game road trip did not get off to the start the Chiefs had hoped for in the first inning. Chiefs starter Robert Hernandez walked the lead off hitter Juan Rivera on four pitches before giving up a double off the right field wall to Matt Berezay. With two on and no outs Eduardo Perez hit a three run homer to right center. Josh Bell hit the second straight homer of the inning to make it 4-0. Carlos Santana walked and Scott Van Slyke singled to put two runners on with one out. Francisco Lizarraga singled to left to score Santana to make it 5-0, but Van Slyke was thrown out trying to go to third and Lizarraga was caught trying to go to second to end the inning.

 

Great Lakes got to Hernandez again in the fourth inning after Trayvon Robinson singled with one out and scored all the way from first on a double by Rivera to make it 6-0. Berezay doubled for the second time in the game but the defense prevented another run from scoring. Leon Johnson smashed into the wall in center but Brian Leclerc picked the ball up and relayed it to the shortstop Darwin Barney who threw Rivera out at the plate.

 

The same defense that got Hernandez out of the fourth inning let him down in the fifth inning. Josh Bell reached on an infield single that was just out of the reach of second basemen Nate Samson. Santana reached on an error by Russ Canzler at first base to put two on with no outs. Adolfo Gonzalez followed with a triple that Jim Adduci just missed on a diving attempt that cleared the bases to make it 8-0. Robinson delivered a two out RBI single to make it 9-0.

 

Peoria finally threatened against Loons starter Paul Coleman in the fifth inning. Wellington Castillo picked up an opposite field single for just the second Chiefs hit of the game. Brian Leclerc followed with his second hit of the game on a single to center that the center fielder did not field cleanly and allowed Castillo to move to third. Leon Johnson followed with the third straight hit to score Castillo to make it 9-1. The Chiefs loaded the bases after a walk to Samson but Adduci grounded out to end the rally.

 

Great Lakes added a run in the sixth inning after Berezay picked up his fourth hit of the game and went to third on a double by Perez. Bell singled to score Berezay to make it 10-1. Jose Ceda came in to relieve Hernandez and got all three outs in the inning.

 

Darwin Barney doubled down the left field line off of Miguel Sanfler with one out in the ninth. The Chiefs then drew two straight walks to Samson and Adduci to load the bases. Derek Schermerhorn drew a bases loaded walk to make it 10-2 before the Chiefs left the bases loaded as the game ended.

 

Hernandez suffered his third straight loss by going five plus innings and allowing 10 runs, eight of which were earned on 16 hits. Ceda tossed three shut out innings including striking out the side in the seventh. He finished with four strikeouts and one walk. Alex Maestri pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning in his only inning of work.

 

Gorman’s Pub Player of the Game: Wellington Castillo ©- Wellington went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run scored. Castillo now has 10 doubles on the season and 34 runs scored which is third on the team.

 

Playoff Watch: The top two teams in the division excluding Beloit and Clinton will make the playoffs. With 26 games remaining, the Chiefs are in the Wild Card spot, 2 ½ game behind Quad Cities and 2 ½ games up on Kane County. The Chiefs have six games (four at home) left against Kane County and two at Quad Cities. The Wild Card team will play Beloit in the first round while the Second Half Champion will play Clinton.

 

BoiseHawks.com[/url]"] Hawk's Big Inning Polishes Emeralds, 14-8

 

The Boise Hawks used an eight run sixth inning Tuesday night to beat the Eugene Emeralds, 14-8. Tony Thomas paced a 17 hit attack with three hits, including his third home run of the season, and four RBI's. Ty Wright drove in two runs with three hits and a sacrifice fly. Every batter in the lineup had at least one hit. Thomas and Bill Moss both had two hits in the eight-run sixth inning when the Hawks sent 13 batters to the plate.

 

Dustin Sasser started and gave up six runs in five innings. Audi Santna got the win with two innings of relief and Mark Pawelek pitched the final two innings.

[Guest]

gotta love no hits and two earned runs in 11IP. Too many walks!

 

Love the K-ratio, though.

[Keener98]

gotta love no hits and two earned runs in 11IP. Too many walks!

 

Love the K-ratio, though.

 

I read an article last week or so comparing Ceda to Lee Smith, is that even a valid comparison, or is it just another writer not knowing what they are talking about?

[Guest]

gotta love no hits and two earned runs in 11IP. Too many walks!

 

Love the K-ratio, though.

 

I read an article last week or so comparing Ceda to Lee Smith, is that even a valid comparison, or is it just another writer not knowing what they are talking about?

 

Well, Ceda is 6'6 and throws mid-to-upper 90s and some projections have him as a reliever in the big leagues. I'm guessing that's where the comps came.