Minor League Discussion & Boxes 9-8-2007

[Outshined_One]

Box Score

 

Tennessee won Game 3 of their Series 11-6 Box Score

 

CF E. Patterson 3/4, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR (1)

3B/C C. McGehee 3/5, R, 2 RBI, 2B (1), HR (1), PB (1)

RF T. Colvin 1/5, RBI, K

C C. Robinson 0/2, 2 K, E (1, throw)

PH/3B K. Reynolds 1/3, R, 2B (1)

SP J. Samardzija 6 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2/0 K/BB, HR, HBP, 7-9 GO-FO

RP S. Avery 1 scoreless, 1 H, 1/0 K/BB, 1-2 GO-FO

RP R. Roquet 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, WP, 2-1 GO-FO

RP G. Jones 1 hitless/scoreless, 1/1 K/BB, 2-0 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 1-0

 

Tennessee leads their series 2-1

Edited September 9, 2007 by Outshined_One

[Guest]

Probable Starters:

 

RHP Jeff Samardzija (3-3, 3.41 ERA, 34.1 IP, 20 K/9 BB, .250 BAA) vs. LHP Derek Miller (6-2, 3.18 ERA)

[Little Slide Rooter]

Something confuses me. I follow minor league stats daily, but apparently dont know much about how the league works. I just looked over at the standings, and The Smokies(who got no hit last night) are in 3rd in their division, and have clinched a playoff spot, but the 1 and 2 teams havnt. How does that work?

[NCCubFan]

The Smokies finished third for the second half of the season, but were second in the division for the entire season. Except for AAA, the full-season levels in the minor leagues are divided into two halves. I think this is largely because, with the draft in mid-season and frequent mid-season promotions, the makeup of a team in the second half may be substantially different than in the first half, possibly enough so as to make it virtually a different team. A perfect example of that is Mississippi, in the same league but opposite division as the Smokies. Mississippi finished first in the division for the first half, but because they had a lot of players promoted to AAA, they finished dead last the second half.

 

As far as the playoffs are concerned, it works differently for different leagues. In the Southern League two teams qualify from each division. If a different team wins each half (as in the South Division that year) those two teams make the playoffs. If the same team wins both halves (as Huntsville did in the North Division) then the other playoff team is the team with the second best record for the entire year, not the second half. And even though Chattanooga finished a game ahead of the Smokies in the second half Tennessee finished 8 games ahead of Chattanooga in the first half. Therefore when you put it together to determine the second playoff team the Smokies were 7 games ahead.

[Iceblink]

Smokies won, 11-6. Samardzija went 6, 9 hits, 5 runs (2 earned), 0 BB, 2K. Avery picked up the win.

 

Homers by Cates, McGehee, Salas, and CPatt.

[TruffleShuffle]

Smokies won, 11-6. Samardzija went 6, 9 hits, 5 runs (2 earned), 0 BB, 2K. Avery picked up the win.

 

Homers by Cates, McGehee, Salas, and CPatt.

 

wow he's back?

[Guest]

Woa, totally forgot about the early start with CFB around.

 

Smokies can pull off the upset with one more win in the next 2 games.

[NCCubFan]

The key for the Smokies in this series: Avoid no-hitter, win game.

[Guest]

SmokiesBaseball.com[/url]"]Smokies take 2-1 series lead with electrifying 11-6 comeback win

 

Sevierville, TN – After spotting the visiting Huntsville Stars to a 5-1 lead, the Tennessee Smokies blasted their way back to defeat the Stars 11-6 and take a 2-1 series lead in the North Division playoff series. Gary Cates Jr, Casey McGehee, Issmael Salas, and Eric Patterson all had key home runs to help the Smokies regain and hold onto the lead to seal the victory in front of a an excited crowd of 1,253. The series now moves back to Huntsville for Game 4, with the Smokies needing only one win to advance to the Southern League Championship series.

 

The situation did not look good to start off for the Smokies, as starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija struggled through the first four innings of work. Samardzija surrendered a solo home run to Alcides Escobar in the first inning, then allowed three more runs to score in the third. To his credit, only one of the first four runs Samardzija allowed were earned, as the Stars jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The Smokies closed the gap to 4-1 thanks to an RBI single by Tyler Colvin, but Huntsville struck back with another run in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead.

 

The Smokies then began to claw their way back into the game in the bottom of the fifth. With the score still 5-1 in favor of the Stars, Jemel Spearman led off the fifth with a triple and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Patterson. With the score now 5-2 in the sixth, Salas crushed a triple to deep right center field with one out. Cates then blasted a two-run home run down the left field line after nearly hitting one earlier in the game to cut the lead to 5-4 Huntsville.

 

The bottom of the seventh inning proved to be the pivotal inning. With Patterson on first with one out, McGehee smacked a line drive home run over the left field wall to give the Smokies their first lead of the game at 6-5. Kyle Reynolds then followed with a two-out double to keep the rally alive. Salas then hammered a towering home run to left field to give the Smokies a little breathing room with an 8-5 lead.

 

After Huntsville cut the lead to 8-6 with a lone run in the top of the eighth, the Smokies put the game out of reach for good. Two consecutive singles by Jorge Cortes and Spearman brought Patterson to the plate, who proceeded to hit a three-run home run to give the Smokies a commanding 11-6 lead going into the ninth. Smokies reliever Geoff Jones came on to pitch a scoreless ninth inning in front of an appreciative crowd.

 

Matt Avery (1-0) picked up the win tonight pitching one inning of scoreless relief of Samardzija, who gave up five runs through six innings. Jeff Housman (0-1) suffered the loss for Huntsville, surrendering three runs over one inning of work.

 

Game four of the best of five series will take place in Huntsville on Sunday night beginning at 7:05 pm. If necessary, game five will also take place in Huntsville on Monday night beginning at 8:05 pm. Donnie Veal will take to the hill to close out the series for the Smokies on Sunday night with Lindsay Gulin to start for the Stars.

 

Knoxville News-Sentinel[/url]"]Smokies are real swingers

After no hits, Tennessee has 16, including four homers

 

ADAM GREENE

 

SEVIERVILLE - The Tennessee Smokies more than made up for Friday night's no-hit performance, laying 16 hits and four home runs on the visiting Huntsville Stars for an 11-6 win in front of 1,253 fans at Smokies Park Saturday night.

 

The victory gives the Smokies a 2-1 series lead over the Stars, with game four scheduled for tonight at 7:05 p.m. in Huntsville. Left-hander Donnie Veal is slated to start for Tennessee.

 

"After yesterday's game, to get the number of hits we got today was really big," Smokies manager Pat Listach said. "The guys battled back after being no-hit and showed a lot of character."

 

Tennessee third baseman and catcher Casey McGehee agreed. It was McGehee's two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning that gave the Smokies their first lead, 6-5.

 

"We got no-hit last night and as much as you want to downplay it, it hurts," McGehee said. "Everybody came out with the determination that we were going to put some big hits together."

 

The game opened on a starkly different note, with Huntsville taking command 4-0 after three innings. Stars' shortstop Alcides Escobar jacked a home run off Tennessee starter Jeff Samardzija for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. In the third, Huntsville capitalized on Smokies mistakes to score three unearned runs.

 

In the bottom of the third, Tennessee right fielder Tyler Colvin knocked in Samardzija to put the Smokies' first dent in the scoreboard. Huntsville answered with an RBI from first baseman Steve Sollman to push the lead to 5-1.

 

Tennessee finally broke out the bats starting in the fifth inning when Eric Patterson brought left fielder Jemel Spearman home with a sacrifice fly. One inning later, the Smokies staged their version of the home run derby.

 

First, Gary Cates knocked a two-run homer, scoring Issmael Salas, to put the Smokies within a run.

 

"That felt great," Cates said. "I had barely missed on the at-bat before that by just a few inches. We took off from there. We've been like this all year. Late in the game, we've turned it on. That's what happened today. Our bats just woke up."

 

McGehee hit his two-run shot in the following inning. Two batters later, Salas sent a ball 415 feet to the back wall of the stadium.

 

An RBI from pinch hitter Guilder Rodriguez put the Stars within two runs in the eighth, but they wouldn't get any closer.

 

Patterson, fresh from Class AAA Iowa, saw to that. In the bottom of eighth, Patterson sent a rocket over the right-field fence that even the Ripley's smiling shark had no chance at catching. It was good for three runs, scoring Jorge Cortes and Spearman.

 

Samadzija pitched six innings, allowed nine hits, five runs and notched two strikeouts.

 

Reliever Matt Avery (1-0) got the win, going one, one-hit inning.

 

Geoffrey Jones picked up the save with a hitless ninth.