Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-9-2009

[Outshined_One]

Box Scores

 

Iowa lost 10-4 Box Score

 

CF S. Fuld 3/5, R, K

2B N. Spears 0/4, BB, K

LF D. Deeds 0/4, BB, R, 2 K

1B J. Fox 1/4, R, 2B (1), 2 K, HBP

RF B. Snyder 2/5, R, RBI

SP M. Atkins 5 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 5/3 K/BB, 2 HR, 5-5 GO-FO

RP J. Samardzija 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2/2 K/BB, 2 HR, 3-0 GO-FO

 

Tennessee lost 7-4 Box Score

 

2B T. Thomas 1/4, R, RBI

LF T. Wright 0/3

C W. Castillo 0/4, K, E (1, catcher interference), PB (1)

RF R. Robnett 1/4, R, 2 RBI, HR (1), 2 K, Assist (2B)

CF B. Guyer 1/3, K

SS D. Barney 0/3, R

SP J. Russell 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2/1 K/BB, HR, HBP, 5-6 GO-FO

RP J. Papelbon 1.1 scoreless, 1 H, 3/1 K/BB, 1-0 GO-FO

RP A. Maestri .1 perfect, Pickoff (3B)

 

Daytona lost 5-4 Box Score

 

2B M. Gonzalez 3/4, R, RBI, 2B (1), E (1, fielding)

DH T. Colvin 2/3, BB, R, RBI

1B J. Rosa 0/4, R

RF D. Johnston 0/3, RBI, K, E (1, fielding)

CF D. Rundle 0/3, 2 K

SS S. Castro 3/3, R, SB (1)

SP J. Leverton 4 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 4/3 K/BB, 5-3 GO-FO

RP R. Dolis 1 hitless/scoreless, 1 HBP, 2/0 K/BB, 1-0 GO-FO

RP J. Muyco 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0/1 K/BB, 5-1 GO-FO

 

Peoria won 4-1 Box Score

 

DH J. Harrison 1/3, BB, R, K, SB (1), CS (1)

LF K. Burke 0/3, BB, K

3B J. Vitters 0/3, R, HBP

RF N. Perez 0/2, BB, R

SS R. Flaherty 2/3, R, 2B (1), 3B (1)

2B J. Lake 0/3, K

SP A. Shafer 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2/0 K/BB, Balk, 11-2 GO-FO

RP B. Beliveau .2 scoreless, 2 H, 1/0 K/BB, 1-0 GO-FO

RP K. Kreier 2.1 scoreless, 1 H, 4/0 K/BB, 1-2 GO-FO

 

OVERALL: 1-3

[Brian]

Come on, probably the easiest day of the year for Raisin to get the starters and he doesn't have them in yet.

 

;)

 

might as well put this out there now, thanks to everyone that contributes to these threads on a daily basis. Looking forward to reading them daily, hoping for some break out performances.

[illiniguy]

Hpefully Vitters has asuch a good year that I forget all about Matt Wieters.

[Guest]

Probable Starters

 

Iowa: RHP Mitch Atkins (2008 at Tenn & Iowa: 17-7, 4.00 ERA, 164.1 IP, 132 K/50 BB) (Wiki)

Tennessee: LHP James Russell (2008 at Daytona & Tenn: 6-10, 5.44 ERA, 127.1 IP, 86 K/38 BB) (Wiki)

Daytona: LHP James Leverton (2008 at Boise: 1-3, 4.61 ERA, 54.2 IP, 38 K/27 BB) (Wiki)

Peoria: RHP Aaron Shafer (2008 at Mesa & Boise: 2-2, 3.00 ERA, 33 IP, 25 K/6 BB) (Wiki)

[Guest]

Come on, probably the easiest day of the year for Raisin to get the starters and he doesn't have them in yet.

 

;)

 

might as well put this out there now, thanks to everyone that contributes to these threads on a daily basis. Looking forward to reading them daily, hoping for some break out performances.

 

Hey now, I had to wait till this morning to find out who Daytona was starting.

[ChiefsVoice]

Chiefs OD Lineup

 

Campana CF

Harrison DH

Burke LF

Vitters 3B

Perez RF

Ridling 1B

Flaherty SS

Lake 2B

Flores C

Shafer P

 

I like it. We go L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R for the first 8 batters.

 

6:15 pregame. The stream was up and running earlier through MILB gameday audio. Enjoy. As always I'll have email up in the booth nathanb@chiefsnet.com. Feel free to ask questions and I'll get to what I can on the air.

 

Happy Opening Day!

 

NB

[Outshined_One]

Chiefs OD Lineup

 

Campana CF

Harrison DH

Burke LF

Vitters 3B

Perez RF

Ridling 1B

Flaherty SS

Lake 2B

Flores C

Shafer P

 

I like it. We go L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R for the first 8 batters.

 

6:15 pregame. The stream was up and running earlier through MILB gameday audio. Enjoy. As always I'll have email up in the booth nathanb@chiefsnet.com. Feel free to ask questions and I'll get to what I can on the air.

 

Happy Opening Day!

 

NB

 

Thanks Nate!

 

I'm looking forward to hearing how hard Shafer's throwing. Most people seem to think he has everything he needs to make it to the majors and be a really good pitcher, save for his velocity. If he's working in the 90s, everyone here will be really excited for his potential as a Cub!

[Guest]

Flaherty goes 2/3 with a double and triple. Vitters went 0/3. Shafer was solid but gave up a lot of hits and only got 2 Ks in 5. Looks like Jeff Beliveau is relieving, which is a surprise.

 

Starlin Castro went 3/3. :) Dolis came in as a reliever too and had 2 strikeouts in a scoreless and hitless inning.

 

Samardzija came out of the pen too.

[CUBZ99]

Colvin 2/3 with a BB :grin: Not a bad start. Hopefully he is healthy and can put himself back on the map.

[Outshined_One]

Somehow, each Cubs team scored 4 runs apiece. Go figure.

[Wrigley Rat]

Samardzija came out of the pen too.

Carrie Muskat says Samardzija was supposed to relieve this game, but will start his next appearance.

[Wrigley Rat]

Some notes/comments from today's games:

- Ryan Buchter gets the save for Peoria. Could he be groomed as a closer? If the Cubs can turn his left-handed arm into a valuable relief pitcher for the cost of Matt Avery (IIRC), that would be something.

- Some interesting position choices at Daytona: (1) Russ Canzler played the whole game at 3B (no errors). Canzler playing 3B on a team with 3 or 4 other players who can play 3B is interesting. I pictured him as a 1B/LF (Hoffpauir type with less power). Now he looks more like a corner infield type down the road. (2) Drew Rundle was in CF. Good to see - if he can stick there. I don't have a lot of hope for Jonathan Wyatt, so I would love to see Rundle do well in CF since he appears to be the only player on the team besides Wyatt who can play there. (3) Steve Vento blew the save opportunity. If he is the closer on a team that has Hank Williamson, Dan McDaniel, and Marcos Mateo then I'm thinking those three are in the rotation. In my opinion, those three rank higher than Vento as future closers (but could have a future in the rotation as well - they did say they are putting the best arms in the rotation this year).

- Sad to see Blake Lalli backing up 1B and C again this year at Tennessee. I was hoping he would get more AB's (and he still might). He came into the game as a PH and got a double in his only AB. He seems to have better offensive skills than Kyle Reynolds, but Reynolds got the start at 1B. (Clevenger also seems to be a better option there.)

- Matt Camp got some time at 3B - his versatility is becoming very valuable (2B, SS, 3B, and the OF). Let's see if he can develop even though he is getting older (25).

- Welington Castillo had a passed ball and a catcher's interference (error). Good thing he wasn't rushed to Iowa.

[UMFan83]

Somehow, each Cubs team scored 4 runs apiece. Go figure.

 

Funny because that's what the big boys did in their season opener.

 

You think Shark is letting his demotion get to him. His comments at the start of Spring training implied that he thought he was a lock to make the team...now he's back at Iowa.

[NCCubFan]

You think Shark is letting his demotion get to him. His comments at the start of Spring training implied that he thought he was a lock to make the team...now he's back at Iowa.

He shouldn't be surprised, though. There's been talk all along of sending him down so he could be kept stretched out as a starter for when the Cubs need one.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm so glad these are back.

 

Way to go Castro, Shafer, and Flaherty.

 

Boo Castillo and Samardzija

[karenmac]

I'm so excited that the minor league season has started! Glad to see Sam have such a good start in Iowa, but hope all is OK with Mitch Atkins - hopefully those earned runs will be the last of it for a while.

 

As far as my impressions of the Peoria game...

I was *very* impressed with Shafer. While, yes, he did only strike out 2, he was consistently throwing 1st pitch strikes, which was good against Kane County, as they are generally groomed as such "patient" hitters. There was one play in the 2nd where he grabbed a bunt to the 3rd base side and tried to throw to first from his rear-end...luckily, the throw was OK, but he should have just eaten the ball, as it was clear there was no way the guy was going to be out. Finally, he's a ground-ball pitcher, which is great for the infield we have, I think. Of the 15 outs he had, 12 were on the ground (one with a DP), 2 strike outs, 2 were fly balls. If he can keep that up, we're in good shape and he's not going to be around long.

 

The other person that really impressed me last night was...Kevin Kreier. You're probably thinking, what?!? Kreier had better control than I remember from last year (maybe I'm just forgetful) and had 5 of his 7 outs as Ks...3 of them called.

 

Offensively, it seemed that many of the guys put together good, patient at-bats. They looked quite human the 1st time through the lineup, not surprising, I suppose, but you could see some of the adjustments starting in the 4th. While there were 6Ks total, only Nelson Perez did so twice.

 

Guess that's it for now...am hoping the rain stops and it gets warm so we can get the game in tonight!

[Wrigley Rat]

Thanks Karen - good to hear about Shafer and Kreier. I know the Cubs were high on Kreier as they gave him a $100,000 signing bonus (or something like that). Maybe he can put it together this year.