Minor League Discussion & Boxes 9-6-2007

[Outshined_One]

Box Score

 

Tennessee won Game 1 of their playoff series 6-3 Box Score

 

CF E. Patterson 1/5

3B C. McGehee 2/3, BB, R, 2 RBI, K

RF T. Colvin 1/5, R, 2B (1)

C C. Robinson 1/4, R, RBI, 2 K

SP M. Holliman 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 6/1 K/BB, HBP, 9-5 GO-FO

RP G. Jones .2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0/2 K/BB, 2-0 GO-FO

RP R. Roqeut 1.1 scoreless, 1 H, 1/2 K/BB, 2-1 GO-FO

Edited September 7, 2007 by Outshined_One

[CubColtPacer]

Here's some info about TN:

 

he Double-A Tennessee Smokies have added right-handed pitcher Jose Ceda, lefty Paul Schappert and outfielder Eric Patterson to the active roster effective Tuesday. Also, pitcher Grant Johnson has been placed on the disabled list and may not participate in the Arizona Fall League. The Smokies begin the playoffs Thursday against Huntsville, and the pitching rotation for the best-of-five series will be Mark Holliman, Justin Berg and Jeff Samardzija

 

Good for Ceda especially. I really hope he can get in a couple games in relief.

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070905&content_id=2191442&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

[Guest]

Argh, it was Veal or Berg for game 2 and everyone seemed to assume Veal would get the nod. And, of course, everyone now lists EPatt as an outfielder. :(

 

Probable Starters:

 

Game 1: RHP Mark Holliman (10-11, 3.57 ERA, 161.1 IP, 108 K/57 BB, .257 BAA) at LHP Sam Narron (7-9, 4.21 ERA)

[Guest]

MiLB.com's preview

 

REGULAR-SEASON SERIES

The Stars won the season series, 12-6. Huntsville went 4-5 in Tennessee, but dominated at home, taking eight of nine, including the last seven contests between these two teams. That could be important in this series since Huntsville will host four of the five games should the series go that far.

 

PROBABLES

Game 1: Tennessee at Huntsville

Mark Holliman (10-11, 3.57 ERA) vs. Sam Narron (7-9, 4.21)

 

Game 2: Tennessee at Huntsville

Justin Berg (7-7, 4.95) vs. Corey Thurman (5-8, 4.36)

 

Game 3: Huntsville at Tennessee

TBD vs. Jeff Samardzija (3-3, 3.41)

 

Game 4: Tennessee at Huntsville, if necessary

Donnie Veal (8-10, 4.97) vs. TBD

 

Game 5: Tennessee at Huntsville, if necessary

TBD vs. TBD

 

ON THE MOUND

Tennessee:

RHP Mark Holliman may have gone 10-11, but his 3.57 ERA was good for eighth in the Southern League ... RHP Jeff Samardzija was an underwhelming 3-8 with a 4.95 ERA in Class A Advanced Daytona, but has gotten better since being challenged with a promotion. He's got a 3.41 ERA in six starts, though his overall K rate of 65 in 141 2/3 innings is a bit concerning ... LHP Donnie Veal and RHP Justin Berg don't have the best year-long numbers, both with ERAs very close to 5.00. But both might have gotten hot at the right time. In his last four starts, Veal has a 1.93 ERA with 26 K over 23 1/3 IP. He finished fifth overall in the league with 131 strikeouts. Berg has a 3.57 ERA in 10 appearances since the All-Star break and finished off his regular season with a strong performance against Carolina.

 

AT THE PLATE

Tennessee:

The Smokies have lost a number of their bigger guns to promotion. 2B Nate Spears, the one-time Orioles prospect, has done a nice job since joining the club, hitting .298 in 38 games. ... Cubs' 2006 first-round pick OF Tyler Colvin has hit .291 with nine homers and seven steals over 62 games. In his first full overall season, Colvin hit .299 with 16 homers and 17 steals ... OF Sam Fuld hit .290 in 90 games with a .372 OBP and 10 steals ... OF Jorge Cortes hit .293 and finished seventh in the league with a .394 OBP.

[Marco4]

Think I might get this one on the radio. Its uncomfortable enough to keep me awake tonight.

[Guest]

Tennessee's lineup:

 

CF E. Patterson CF

LF J. Spearman

3B C. McGehee

RF T. Colvin

1B I. Salas

C C. Robinson

SS R. Chirinos

P M. Holliman

[Guest]

Tennessee up 4-0 after 1. After getting EPatt and Spearman out, McGehee walked, Colvin doubled, Salas hit a 2-RBI double, Robinson hit an RBI single, Cates singled and Chirinos blooped an RBI single to make it 4-0. Holliman struggled a bit in the bottom of the first but got a timely pickoff to end the Huntsville threat.

[Guest]

wow, there is some serious homefield advantage in AA.

[Guest]

After 7, Tennessee is up 5-2.

[Guest]

Tennessee up 5-3 after 8, the bullpen really struggled there but Roquet got out of a bases loaded jam.

[Guest]

Tennessee wins it 6-3!

[Brian]

yay

[Marco4]

:D - I went missing somewhere between 4-0 and 5-2. Great news!

[karenmac]

woot! keep it up Smokies :)

[Guest]

SmokiesBaseball.com[/url]"]Smokies grab Game One Thursday night, 6-3

 

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Tennessee Smokies starting pitcher Mark Holliman threw a gem in Game One of the Southern League North Divisional playoff Thursday night, limiting the Huntsville Stars to five hits and two runs over seven innings en route to a 6-3 Smokies win. Holliman struck out six and walked two, while retiring the side in order in three of the innings he pitched.

 

The Smokies offense gave Holliman all the run support he would need Thursday night with a four-run first off Stars' starter Sam Narron. Casey McGehee started the attack with a two-out walk, and advanced to third on a Tyler Colvin double. Teammate Issmael Salas would double in both McGehee and Colvin to put the road team up 2-0. Salas himself would make it 3-0 on a Chris Robinson’s base hit. A Robinson Chirinos hit brought in Gary Cates to make it 4-0 Smokies.

 

Tennessee added a run in the fourth inning on a McGehee base hit, which scored Chirinos and gave the Smokies a commanding 5-0 lead.

 

Huntsville answered in the bottom of the fourth with one run, and added a run in the seventh and eighth innings to close the gap to 5-3. They would get no closer though as the Smokies added a run in the ninth inning, to make it 6-3 Smokies.

 

Smokies' reliever Rocky Roquet got out of a two-out bases loaded jam in the eighth, and kept Huntsville off the score board in the ninth for the game's save.

 

Game Two is set for Friday night at Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville. The Smokies will start Justin Berg (7-7, 4.95), while the Stars will send Corey Thurman (5-8, 4.36) to the mound. The series will then head to Tennessee for Game Three this Saturday, September 8 at 5:00 p.m. Tickets are available by calling the Smokies ticket office at (865) 286-2300 or by ordering online at http://www.smokiesbaseball.com.

 

Knoxville News-Sentinel[/url]"]Smokies off to a great start in playoffs

 

Holliman's strong pitching, four-run first stop Stars

 

Skip Vaughn

sports@knews.com

 

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Tennessee Smokies manager Pat Listach had just led his team's pregame warmups Thursday night before the opening game of the Southern League North playoff series against the Huntsville Stars.

 

"We've just got to play good fundamental baseball," he said. "We've got to get good starting pitching.

 

"Our starting pitcher has to keep us in the game. Our starting pitching is key. As always defense and pitching will decide this series."

 

Tennessee got a good start by beating the Stars 6-3 before an announced crowd of 1,182 at Joe Davis Stadium. Game two of the best-of-five series is tonight in Huntsville.

 

The Smokies struck for four runs in the first inning on a two-run double by Issmael Salas and RBI singles by Chris Robinson and Robinson Chirinos. After two outs, Tennessee sent seven batters to the plate against Stars left-hander Sam Narron (7-10).

 

Tennessee starter Mark Holliman (11-11) pitched seven innings with six strikeouts and allowed two runs, five hits, one walk and hit a batter. He threw 109 pitches, 75 for strikes. Rocky Roquet earned the save.

 

"Our guys came out swinging the bats," Listach said. "The bullpen wasn't sharp but they got through it. The offense kind of set the tone tonight. Holliman was outstanding. He got the lead and he knew how to pitch with it. He was the key tonight."

 

Casey McGehee went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and scored a run for the Smokies. Gary Cates and Chirinos also had two hits.

 

"Come playoff time it's not really about individuals at bat," McGehee said. "You're trying to have good at-bats for the team. That's all I was trying to do. The key to the game was we had a great starting pitching performance, and our bullpen came in and made big pitches when they had to."

 

In the fourth, the Smokies went up 5-0 with an unearned run on a single by McGehee. Huntsville scored in the bottom of the fourth on Lou Palmisano's RBI double.

 

The Stars closed to 5-2 in the seventh on Steve Sollmann's run-scoring double. They added a run in the eighth on Hernan Iribarren's hit off Tennessee reliever Geoffrey Jones.

 

Tennessee scored in the ninth on McGehee's sacrifice fly against Huntsville reliever E.J. Shanks.

 

"It's always good to get the first game in any series," said Cates. "Holliman pitched a great game tonight. And we were able to play good defense behind him and pull this victory out."

 

Probable starters for tonight's game are Tennessee right-hander Justin Berg (7-7, 4.95 ERA) and Huntsville right-hander Corey Thurman (5-8, 4.36).