Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-24-2007

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Box Scores:

 

Iowa lost 7-0, box:

 

CF E. Patterson 1/4, 2 K

SS R. Cedeño 1/4, 2 K, E (12, missed catch)

1B G. Soto 1/4, 2B (31), K

RF J. Kroeger 1/4

2B C. Rojas 1/3, K

SP L. Walrond 5.2 IP, 6 R, 3 ER, 6 H, 6 K/3 BB, HBP, WP, HR, 4 GO-6 FO, 99 pitches (57 strikes); hitting: 0/2, K

RP R. Wells 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 K/1 BB, 2 GO-1 FO, 20 pitches (12 strikes)

 

Tennessee lost 1-0, box:

 

LF J. Spearman 1/4, E (11, fielding)

CF T. Colvin 0/5, K

3B C. McGehee 1/4

1B K. Reynolds 0/3, K

PH N. Spears 1/1, 3B (2)

SP J. Samardzija 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 K/3 BB, HR, 9 GO-5 FO - at AA: 23.1 IP, 2.70 ERA, 16 K/8 BB, .233 BAA

RP G. Johnson 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 K/0 BB, 4 GO-2 FO

 

Daytona lost 11-10, box:

 

2B M. Camp 2/4, RBI, 2 BB, K, CS (2)

3B M. Matulia 2/4, R, BB, K

C S. Clevenger 1/5, R, 2B (6), RBI, BB, PB (1)

1B B. Dopirak 1/5, RBI, BB

RF R. Harvey 2/5, 2 R, 2B (8), HR (11), 2 RBI, 3 K, OF assist at first base

SS J. Mota 3/4, 3 R, 2 2B (8), 2 RBI, BB, K

LF Y. Carter 2/4, 2B (9), 3B (2), 3 RBI, BB

SP G. Reinhard 4.1 IP, 9 R, 7 ER, 9 H, 4 K/2 BB, HBP, 1 GO-6 FO

 

Peoria won 4-2, box:

 

3B R. Malone 2/4, R, 2B (14), K

SS D. Barney 1/4, 2B (7), RBI

DH M. Smith 1/3, R, BB

CF T. Wright 2/4, R, HR (1), RBI, SB (4)

2B N. Samson 1/2, BB

SP R. Hernandedz 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 9 K/0 BB, HR, 4 GO-4 FO

RP C. Lambert 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 3 K/0 BB, 3 GO-0 FO

RP A. Maestri 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K/0 BB, 0 GO-1 FO

 

Boise won 9-5, box:

 

DH T. Thomas 0/5, K

CF J. Wyatt 2/4, 2 R, BB, OF assist at third base

1B L. Bautista 3/4, 2 , 2 RBI, CS (1), K

RF K. Burke 3/4, 2 R, 2B (9), 2 RBI, K, HBP

C M. Mercedes 3/5, 2 R, 2 K, PB (3)

3B J. Rosa 3/5, RBI

SS B. Moss 2/5, 3B (2), 2 RBI, K

SP Z. Ashwood 4.2 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 K/2 BB, 4 GO-5 FO

RP B. Parker 2.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K/2 BB, 2 GO-4 FO

 

Mesa has the day off.

 

DSL Cubs lost their season finale 3-1, box:

 

SS J. Lake 1/3, K, HBP, E (16, fielding)

2B A. Mejia 2/4, 2B (13)

CF A. Quezada 0/4, 3 K, OF assist at home

LF A. Hernandez 2/4, 3B (3), K

3B P. Ramirez 1/4, 2B (4), 2 K

SP A. de la Cruz 3+ IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 3 K/0 BB, 3 GO-3 FO

RP P. Mota 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 4 K/2 BB, 3 GO-1 FO

RP R. Rache 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 4 K/0 BB, 2 GO-0 FO

 

Overall: 2-4

Edited August 25, 2007 by CaliforniaRaisin

[Guest]

Probable Starters:

 

Iowa: LHP Les Walrond (10-4, 5.00 ERA, 126 IP, 83 K/44 BB, .313 BAA)

Tennessee: RHP Jeff Samardzija (Tenn & Daytona: 6-8, 4.69 ERA, 124.2 IP, 57 K/40 BB, .313 BAA)

Daytona: RHP Greg Reinhard (Daytona & Tenn: 5-4, 4.68 ERA, 84.2 IP, 69 K/41 BB, .280 BAA)

Peoria: RHP Robert Hernandez (5-9, 4.92 ERA, 86 IP, 55 K/25 BB, .282 BAA)

Boise: LHP Zack Ashwood (3-3, 3.92 ERA, 41.1 IP, 32 K/18 BB, .280 BAA)

DSL Cubs: RHP Jose Severino (7-2, 2.33 ERA, 65.2 IP, 42 K/6 BB, .224 BAA)

 

Jeff Samardzija at Tennessee: 3-0, 3.12 ERA, 17.1 IP, 12 K/5 BB, .242 BAA

 

Playoff Races:

 

Tennessee (11 games remaining) can make the playoffs either by winning the SL North second half or winning the SL North overall wild card:

 

SL North - Second Half
Club 	      W 	L 	PCT 	 GB
Huntsville*	34	25	.576	 -
Tennessee	  32	27	.542	2.0
Chattanooga	30	29	.508	4.0
Carolina	   29	30	.492	5.0
West Tenn	  25	34	.424	9.0

 

SL North Wild Card
Club 	    W 	L 	PCT 	 GB
Tennessee	68	59	.535	 -
Chattanooga 59	70	.457	10.0
Carolina	 57	72	.442	12.0
West Tenn	56	73	.434	13.0

 

Peoria (11 games remaining) can enter the playoffs as the second half champ or the second half wild card (which they currently one game back of Cedar Rapids). Beloit and Clinton are already in the playoffs.

 

MWL West - Second Half
Club 	      W 	L 	PCT 	 GB
Quad Cities	37	21	.638	 -
Cedar Rapids  33	26	.559	4.5
Peoria	     32	27	.545	5.5
Beloit*	    30	27	.526	6.5
Kane County	30	27	.526	6.5
Burlington	 27	31	.466	10.0
Clinton^	   25	34	.424	12.5
Wisconsin	  24	34	.414	13

 

Boise (12 games remaining) has to win the NWL East to make the playoffs:

 

NWL East
Club 	   W 	L 	PCT 	 GB
Spokane    29	34	.68	  -
Tri-City	29	34	.460	0.5
Boise	   28	35	.444	1.5
Yakima	  28	35	.444	2.5

[Banedon]

I watching the weather to see whether or not I'm gonna bother driving to Peoria tonight...I'm not terribly optimistic about this game being played.

[Guest]

Jeff Samardzija with a scoreless first - 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K/1 BB.

 

Robert Hernandez is racking up the Ks against Beloit, but did surrender another HR - 2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 4 K/0 BB.

[Guest]

I know Samardzija has been working with his four-seamer way more lately but he just gave up his 6th HR at AA and that's worrying for a groundball pitcher. Anyways: 2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 K/1 BB, 2 GO-2 FO.

 

Robert Hernandez gave up a run in the third and a couple more XBHs - he certainly racks up the XBHs. 3 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 K/0 BB.

[Guest]

Samardzija: 4 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 K/1 BB, 5 GO-4 FO.

 

Hernandez: 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 6 K/0 BB, 4 GO-4 FO.

[Guest]

9 K for Hernandez!! :D That's a career high. 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 9 K/0 BB, 4 GO-4 FO. That's Robert's final line.

 

Samardzija: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 K/3 BB, 9 GO-5 FO.

Edited August 25, 2007 by CaliforniaRaisin

[TysonCBulls423]

9 K for Hernandez!! :D That's a career high. 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 9 K/0 BB, 4 GO-4 FO. That's Robert's final line.

 

Samardzija: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 K/3 BB, 9 GO-5 FO.

 

 

is Jeff done?

[Guest]

9 K for Hernandez!! :D That's a career high. 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 9 K/0 BB, 4 GO-4 FO. That's Robert's final line.

 

Samardzija: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 K/3 BB, 9 GO-5 FO.

 

 

is Jeff done?

 

Yeah, that's Jeff's final line too. Tennessee is down 1-0 in the 8th.

[snoodmonger]

CF T. Colvin 0/55, K

 

Rough night for Tyler.

[NCCubFan]

CF T. Colvin 0/55, K

 

Rough night for Tyler.

I'm surprised they didn't pinch hit for him by the time he was 0 for 50. It should have been obvious by then it wasn't his night. :lol:

[Guest]

All boxes posted!

 

IowaCubs.com[/url]"]Zephyrs Shut out Cubs 7-0 Friday

Soto Extends his hitting streak to nine games

http://www.iowacubs.com

 

Zephyr left-hander Jason Vargas combined with two relievers to shutout Iowa 7-0 Friday night in New Orleans.

Vargas struck out eight Cubs while allowing only four hits and one walk in seven innings. The Cubs didn't get a runner to third base until the ninth inning. It was the fourth time Iowa has been shutout this season and only the second time it was accomplished in nine innings by a Cubs opponent, the other was July 30th in Salt Lake.

 

With Chicago adding Craig Monroe to the big league roster today, Jake Fox was sent back to Iowa and he'll be welcomed back by manager Buddy Bailey, "We dearly need another bat in the lineup right now...it'll give us another bat in the middle of the lineup, especially against these left-handed pitchers." Bailey thought Fox would have helped against Vargas, "We need a little more depth in our lineup, one or two more hitters makes the pitcher work harder and sometimes it springs big innings."

 

Iowa had only five hits on the night with Geovany Soto's double the only extra base hit. Soto has a nine game hitting streak and leads the league with a .361 average.

 

Les Walrond took the loss for Iowa, he's now 10-5. The Zephyrs broke up a scoreless game with a three run fifth and followed with another three run inning in the sixth.

 

The game's only homer, by Luis Matos, opened the scoring in the fifth.

 

SmokiesBaseballl.com[/url]"]Bears Out Duel Smokies, 1-0

 

MOBILE, Ala. – The Lone run scored in the second inning on a Rusty Ryal homerun and with that Mobile knocked off Tennessee 1-0 to take the series 1-4. Jeff Samardzija pitched six-innings of four hit baseball but was the tough luck loser in the contest. Brooks Brown for Mobile grabbed the win going seven innings and yielding just four singles with five strikeouts. Tennessee started the ninth with a Nate Spears pinch hit triple. Smokies batters then grounded out twice to third with the infield in and the final out was a fly to left missing a the chance to even the score. Reid Mahon picked up the save his second of the series.

 

Tennessee remains two games back of Huntsville for first in the Southern League North with ten remaining.

 

DaytonaCubs.com[/url]"]Manatees Outslug Cubs, 11-10 in Rubber Match

Daytona's Late Surge Falls One Run Short

 

By: Matt Martinez (Jonathan Mota photo/ Tommy Proctor)

 

[DAYTONA BEACH, FL] Faith and Family Night at "The Jack" featured a game doused with runs, hits, and late-inning heroics. Unfortunately for Cubs' fans, Daytona fell one run short of the rival Manatees in a wild game that lasted over three and a half hours.

 

Greg Reinhard started for the Cubs and was anxious to improve upon his seven consecutive scoreless innings pitched. But, in the first inning he was touched up for a run on one base hits to give Brevard a 1-0 edge.

 

Daytona, coming off a twelve run outburst a day ago, continued right where they left off. The Cubs sent nine men to the plate in the home half of the first. Matt Matulia legged out an infield single, Steve Clevenger followed with a ground-rule double and Brian Dopirak brought Matulia home via the fielder's choice. Ryan Harvey ripped an RBI double to score Clevenger and Jeffrey Rea reached on a fielder's choice to extend the inning. Jonathan Mota took advantage of his at-bat as he laced a two-run double down the line and Yusuf Carter emulated Mota with a run-scoring double of his own to cap off the five-run first. After only one inning of play, Daytona led, 5-1.

 

The lead was short-lived as the Manatees piled on five runs of their own in the top of the second, highlighted by a three-run, bases clearing double off the bat of Lorenzo Cain. Manatees up, 6-5.

 

Brevard added to their lead in the top of the fifth, putting a two spot on the board on three base hits to make it a 8-5 advantage.

 

After a scoreless inning and a half, Daytona's bat awoke. Carter uncorked a two-run triple to score Rea and Mota to bring the deficit to the slimmest of margins, 8-7 Brevard.

 

In his second inning of relief, Tim Layden allowed three runs to come home in the ninth on three singles to put the lead presumably out of reach, 11-7.

 

The Cubs would perform valiantly in the bottom of the ninth to keep the crowd of nearly 3,000 in it. Ryan Harvey led off with a solo shot to left field that would make Dopirak jealous. Rea pounded a single, as did Mota and Carter reached on a throwing error by the pitcher to load of the bags. With one out and the top of the lineup rolling around, things were beginning to look interesting for the Cubs. Matt Camp hit a sharp single to right field to score Rea and close the lead to two runs. Matulia followed suit, but as his would-be single was finding it's way through the infield, it kicked off the leg of Camp which retired the batter and left the bases loaded with two down. Clevenger drew a five pitch walk in a huge situation to score Mota and it became a one-run ballgame. Brian Dopirak became the ninth batter of the inning in the most demanding spot of the marathon of a game. Dopirak hammered a ball up the middle but it took a Manatee ricochet off the pitchers glove and the second baseman, Mike Bell, took it to the bag for the final out.

 

PeoriaChiefs.com[/url]"]Hernandez, Bullpen Lead Chiefs to 4-2 win

 

Peoria, IL- Robert Hernandez tossed six strong innings and struck out a career high nine while the bullpen provided three innings of shut out work to give the Chiefs a 4-2 win over the visiting Beloit Snappers at O’Brien Field Friday night. The win improves the Chiefs to33-27 on the season and will keep the Chiefs a game behind Cedar Rapids in the Wild Card race.

 

Hernandez allowed two runs on six hits over his six innings of work. He struck out a career high nine batters including the last three he faced in the sixth. Casey Lambert worked two innings of scoreless relief and did not allow a hit. He struck out three and did not issue a walk. Alex Maestri pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his ninth save of the season.

 

Beloit did not waste any time jumping on Hernandez in the first inning. After retiring the first two batters on a fly out and a strike out, Hernandez allowed a solo home run to Wilson Ramos to put Beloit in front 1-0.

 

The Chiefs answered right back in the bottom of the first against Snappers starter Matthew Fox. Ryne Malone lined a single through the right side of the infield and advanced to second on a past ball. Darwin Barney delivered an RBI double into the left field corner to score Malone and tie the game 1-1.

 

The Snappers regained the lead in the third inning against Hernandez. Garrett Olson doubled off the wall in center field to lead off the inning. Chris Cates moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt and he scored on a ground out by Steven Singleton to put Beloit a head 2-1.

 

Peoria tied the game back up in the fifth inning thanks to the long ball. Ty Wright led the inning off with his first professional home run to left field that just cleared the wall and knotted the game at 2-2.

 

The Chiefs regained the lead thanks to execution at the plate by Russ Canzler against Snappers reliever Matt Williams. Blake Lalli lined a single up the middle on the first pitch he saw from Williams to start the inning. Marquez Smith drew a walk to put runners on first and second with one out. Canzler moved both runners over with a sacrifice bunt. Matt Canepa grounded out to short to score the go ahead run in Lalli to put the Chiefs in front 3-2.

 

Peoria added some insure against reliever Jesus Carnevales in the bottom of the eighth inning. Derek Schermerhorn led the inning off with a pinch hit single followed by a single by Smith. Schermerhorn was thrown out trying to move to third on the Smith single. Canzler reached on an error by the second basemen and Canepa delivered an RBI single to give the Chiefs a 4-2 lead.

 

Gorman’s Pub Co-Player of the Games:

 

Robert Hernandez (P) and Matt Canepa ©[/b] – Hernandez picked up his sixth win of the season with six solid innings of work. He struck out a career high nine batters and did not issue a walk.

 

Matt Canepa © - Matt finished the night 1-for-4 including a game winning RBI ground out that gave the Chiefs a 3-2 lead. Canepa later delivered an RBI single to add an insurance run in the Chiefs win. The multi RBI game was the first this season for Canepa.

 

Playoff Watch: The top two teams in the division excluding Beloit and Clinton will make the playoffs. With 10 games remaining, the Chiefs are in the Wild Card spot, 4 ½ games behind Quad Cities who lost to Cedar Rapids Friday night. The Chiefs are now one game behind Cedar Rapids in the Wild Card race. Kane County is 2 games back and Burlington 5 games behind Cedar Rapids. The Chiefs have two games (at home) left against Kane County, three games (at home) against Cedar Rapids and two at Quad Cities. The Wild Card team will play Beloit in the first round while the Second Half Champion will play Clinton.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Hernandez is going to be a star.

[Guest]

I started the Robert Hernandez bandwagon, TT. I started it.

[rabidawg900]

Peoria's doing really good

[CUBZ99]

Nice line for Shark. Good to see all those Ground balls and it seems like he is starting to get a few more K's.

[CubColtPacer]

Samardzija is going to be a tough one to rank in the offseason rankings. Do you pay the most attention to the Daytona numbers, where he was pretty bad most of the season and the organization kept insisting he was pitching better than his numbers, or do you take the most recent work in AA as a better indication of his ability, where his runs given up are down and his strikeouts are up?

 

I think you'll see a lot of variability with him on just how good of a prospect he is.

[karenmac]

I watching the weather to see whether or not I'm gonna bother driving to Peoria tonight...I'm not terribly optimistic about this game being played.

 

Hope you made it over last night - it was a great night for baseball and the Chiefs looked as good last night as I've seen them in a while!

[Guest]

Samardzija is going to be a tough one to rank in the offseason rankings. Do you pay the most attention to the Daytona numbers, where he was pretty bad most of the season and the organization kept insisting he was pitching better than his numbers, or do you take the most recent work in AA as a better indication of his ability, where his runs given up are down and his strikeouts are up?

 

I think you'll see a lot of variability with him on just how good of a prospect he is.

I'll be going against the crowd on this site and putting him in my top 3. Sadly, it's mostly based on this.

[Andy]

Not that I'm not excited that Shark is balling it up in AA - hell, I'm probably his biggest fan on here - but the SL is a pitcher's league, isn't it?

[CubinNY]

Not that I'm not excited that Shark is balling it up in AA - hell, I'm probably his biggest fan on here - but the SL is a pitcher's league, isn't it?

Becuase they have a lot of real good pitchers in the league. Said another way, JS doing well in AA is a real good sign. Some players insist the biggest jump in baseball is from A to AA.

[Outshined_One]

Not that I'm not excited that Shark is balling it up in AA - hell, I'm probably his biggest fan on here - but the SL is a pitcher's league, isn't it?

 

It is (in terms of neutral factors), but he's facing much better hitters in AA than A+.

 

I have no idea where I'll end up ranking Samardzija at season's end. He'll probably fight it out with Colvin for my #1 spot, but throughout the season, he was bouncing around my personal rankings like a freaking ping-pong ball.

[Guest]

Not that I'm not excited that Shark is balling it up in AA - hell, I'm probably his biggest fan on here - but the SL is a pitcher's league, isn't it?

 

It is (in terms of neutral factors), but he's facing much better hitters in AA than A+.

 

I have no idea where I'll end up ranking Samardzija at season's end. He'll probably fight it out with Colvin for my #1 spot, but throughout the season, he was bouncing around my personal rankings like a freaking ping-pong ball.

You holding off on Vitters until you see more?

[Outshined_One]

You holding off on Vitters until you see more?

 

Yep. My two big concerns are:

 

1) How good is his pitch recognition?

2) Can he stick at 3B?

 

I'll point out that there's a large gap between the two. I'm hoping he either posts a reasonable IsoD or doesn't strike out so much as to cause some of the people who frequent this board to have a conniption, but that remains to be seen.

 

I'll add that I'm not overly thrilled with this year's crop of prospects compared to previous seasons. Colvin will probably get my nod as #1 overall, but I really don't have a good feeling about him.

[Bruno7481]

Obviously Colvin has a lot of work to do in the BB:K ratio, but overall I think he's had a pretty good season for his first full year in professional baseball.