Outshined_One

Who the hell is Mike Rivera?

It was a bit hard to tell what fastballs he was using, although I wouldn't be surprised if he used both. His fastball would range from 88 to 93 on the gun and there was a decent mix of ground balls and fly balls that he got out of them. Hatley looked okay. His breaking stuff was fairly effective and I think he hit 90/91 on the gun. Perconte was working in the high 80s.

Box Scores Iowa won 6-1 Box Score CF S. Fuld 1/3, 2 BB, 2 R, K 1B J. Fox 3/5, R, 3 RBI, 3B (1) RF B. Snyder 0/4, K PH N. Spears 0/1 SP E. Caridad 5 scoreless, 5 H, 6/1 K/BB, 2-7 GO-FO RP J. Berg 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0/1 K/BB, 4-2 GO-FO Tennessee won 6-2 Box Score 2B T. Thomas 0/2, 2 BB, R, RBI, SB (1) LF T. Wright 1/4, RBI, K, Assist (2B) C W. Castillo 1/4, RBI, K SS D. Barney 1/3, R, 2B (1), E (1, fielding) CF B. Guyer 0/0, BB SP C. Coleman 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6/1 K/BB, 4-4 GO-FO RP J. Papelbon 2.2 scoreless, 3 H, 3/0 K/BB, 2-3 GO-FO RP B. Schlitter 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1/0 K/BB, HR, 0-2 GO-FO Daytona won 4-0 Box Score 2B N. Samson 1/3, BB, R, RBI DH T. Colvin 0/4, 2 K 3B J. Rosa 1/1, R 3B M. Smith 1/2, K, CS (1) LF M. Gonzalez 1/3, K RF D. Rundle 0/3, 2 K SS S. Castro 0/2, BB, R SP D. McDaniel 6 scoreless, 1 H, 3/1 K/BB, 10-5 GO-FO RP J. Muyco 1 perfect, 1/0 K/BB, 1-1 GO-FO Peoria lost 3-2 in the 10th inning Box Score 2B J. Harrison 1/5, K, CS (2), 2 E (2, throw x 2) SS J. Lake 1/3, 2 BB, 2B (2), 2 K 3B R. Flaherty 2/4, BB, R DH N. Perez 0/5 1B R. Ridling 1/2, 2 BB, 2 RBI, 2B (2) RF K. Burke 0/5, K SP C. Archer 3 scoreless, 0 H, 5/4 K/BB, WP, 2-2 GO-FO RP A. Cabrera 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3/1 K/BB, 2-3 GO-FO RP J. Whitlock 2 scoreless, 1 H, 2/0 K/BB, 0-3 GO-FO OVERALL: 3-1

Dang. He was just starting to play well for the bulls :wink: It only figures he'd have 3 flawless defensive plays!

To me, the most indefensible move of the game was Lou PHing with Miles with Fontenot on 3B and Hill on 1B. I don't get why Lou didn't put Hoffpauir out there. Hell, he could have asked Marmol (a former catcher) to lay down a sac bunt and let Soriano try driving in some runs. The Miles move made no sense.

Alright, I'm back from the game. My pen ran out of ink in the third inning, so a lot of this is from memory. Some preliminary notes... -As always, I had a ball at O'Brien Park. The atmosphere is great and very family-friendly. Considering that I paid $5 for a ticket and got seats two rows behind home plate, I really cannot complain about the accommodations. If you ever get the chance, I really encourage you to take the trip down to Peoria to catch a game. -That out of the way, today's game was not very friendly weather-wise. It was 50 degrees when I got to the park and the temperatures dipped down into the low 40s as the night went on. There was also a swirling wind that didn't exactly help matters, either. The grass and warning track appeared to be slick, as there were a few stumbles and slips in the outfield. -One other thing I want to emphasize is that it's early in the season and a lot of my observations may not reflect how good or bad players are down the road. Considering this was not a day that was hitter-friendly and a lot of the pitchers still aren't totally stretched out yet, their best baseball this season is yet to come. Anyways, onto my game notes... -Chris Carpenter looked pretty good. The radar gun wasn't working in the early going and I wasn't in the mood to harass anyone in the stands about their readings, but when the gun got back up, Carpenter was working in the low 90s. He was regularly hitting 92/93 in the 5th inning, which was nice to see. His breaking pitch (I think slider?) had very nice late break on it and his change had some good action. He ran into some trouble in the fourth inning and the Cougars start hitting his pitches hard (including one hanging breaking ball that should have been jacked out of the park, but instead ended up being a long double). However, he worked around it and made the most of what he had. I remember hearing he has trouble with command/control on occasion, but he looked pretty sharp tonight with some clean mechanics. -What in the heck happened to Huseby? The guy was working in the 80s when he came out of the pen. Maybe the Cubs are trying to build up his arm strength for later in the season when he'll be starting, but considering how much the Cubs forked over to sign him when they drafted him, this is not what I expected to see at this point in his career. -The 0 BBs for the Chiefs is noticeable, but in fairness to them, the Cougars' pitchers were doing a solid job of working the strike zone tonight. Plus, they had plenty of hittable pitches for people tonight. -With Josh Vitters...there's not a whole lot I can really say about him from tonight's game. There was one ball hit his way the entire night and that particular ball was a tough play for any 3B (low and hard grounder to his left that got under him as he laid out for it). His ABs looked fine and his swing was pretty nice, but he didn't do anything particularly noteworthy. The one thing I did like was that he made a conscious effort to use all fields. -I see both sides of the argument with Ryan Flaherty sticking at SS. On the one hand, the guy looks kind of awkward at SS. On the other hand, he did a good job out there tonight defensively. He handled the routine plays and made some fairly nice plays. I still don't think he'll stick at SS, but I see why the Cubs want to see if he can stick there. -Nelson Perez is the kind of talent that excites me and yet worries me. His double was a frozen rope down the opposite field line. He has a cannon of an arm that has fairly good accuracy. However, he had an AB where he saw a steady diet of breaking balls and looked completely lost against them as he flailed away. I can definitely see why his walk numbers last season were not so good. -Junior Lake looked alright. His error was on a bad hop on a ball that froze him. Much like Perez, his double was a frozen rope down the opposite field line. He made some decent plays at 2B, although it was pretty clear that he still has some work to do in terms of getting comfortable with his position. He had a scary moment during the game when a shallow pop fly was hit out his way. He seemed to have waved off CF Tony Campana and made the catch, but for whatever reason, Campana dove head-first for the ball and took out Lake's legs. Thankfully, both of them got back on their feet quickly afterwards. -Josh Harrison has the potential to be one of those mighty mite types of guys. Standing next to guys like Flaherty, Perez, and Lake (all 6'2 and over), he looked like a midget. However, the guy did a very good job at the plate tonight, laying down a beautiful bunt single and splitting a gap. He also was a nuisance on the basepaths and seemed to have pretty good instincts out there. -I didn't pay much attention to the Cougars. Christian and Coleman were their top two prospects out there and both looked decent, but no one on that team was really memorable. That's about it from what I remember. I'm hoping to go back again soon!

the ump rang up hardy on a pitch that missed by a foot. if the strike zone is that inconsistent you're really rolling the dice by letting a pitch go that misses the outside corner by 3 inches. Hardy's was a borderline pitch, but it's on a different plane. You have to take that, it was well outside and again, nothing has been called out there all day. If he swings everyone gets pissed at Lee for popping up to the right side or rolling into a double play. Moreover, there wasn't much he could actually do with that pitcher other than foul it off. Would you have preferred to see him swing and miss? How about a weak hit to Prince Fielder? Maybe an easy ground ball to Hardy? right, cause a liner down the right field line isn't at all possible. With that pitch and Derrek's approach? Probably not. Anyways, I'm off to Peoria. I'll post my thoughts on the Chiefs later tonight. Go Cubs!

the ump rang up hardy on a pitch that missed by a foot. if the strike zone is that inconsistent you're really rolling the dice by letting a pitch go that misses the outside corner by 3 inches. Hardy's was a borderline pitch, but it's on a different plane. You have to take that, it was well outside and again, nothing has been called out there all day. If he swings everyone gets pissed at Lee for popping up to the right side or rolling into a double play. Moreover, there wasn't much he could actually do with that pitcher other than foul it off. Would you have preferred to see him swing and miss? How about a weak hit to Prince Fielder? Maybe an easy ground ball to Hardy?

They're only down a run. Back off the ledge.

that was a ball. it wasn't. but even if it was, you don't take that with two strikes. The ump has not been calling that pitch all day. It was well off the plate, to boot.

Garbage.

A beach ball? Seriously? Cripes, when are they going to start doing the wave?

hey pal, the brewers announcers just told me that he's made himself a good outfielder - he didn't have any errors last season. I can't wait until Mat Gamel comes up to turn the Brewers' defense into a slaughterhouse.

Fukuseeingeyesingle

That's two awkward catches for Braun today.

heh heh heh

That was...just weird. It worked, but still, weird, weird inning.

We always see him on camera.

Wow. Seriously. Wow.

Not a strike, but I'll take it. Oh Lord, they have children announcing the batters. Groan.

That jiggling is hypnotic.

DAT CAT IS CRAZY.

That was a straight steal. Fontenot never looked back.

Don't encourage him, Bob.

He destroyed that pitch.