Cameron Rupp is raking right now. Just absolutely mashing. He’s OPSing 2.381 over his three games, and today he hit his third home run. Crushing it. My goodness.

Perci Garner had a fine outing, picking up the victory via a six inning, six strikeout performance. Ken Giles struck out the side in order for his second consecutive save. He’s recorded six outs thus far in 2014, all Ks.

And in Clearwater, Cole Hamels gave up two homers to Dwight Smith Jr. and little else in a four inning rehab start. Smith retired after the game, citing that one Seinfeld where George leaves a meeting after making a successful joke. “I’m not topping that one,” said Smith. When asked about it, Hamels said, “I don’t know that one. I stopped watching after season six.”

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/6/2014 →

Sean O’Sullivan got hit around some, but Phillippe Aumont worked his way around two hits to work a scoreless inning in LV’s loss. Two hits a piece for Cameron Perkins and Kelly Dugan – Perkins’ were both doubles – he’s got three already on the young season, picking up where he left off in 2013. Ken Giles struck out the side, (not in order, of course), to pick up his first AA save, after AA repeater Jay Johnson struck out two in a clean eighth inning.

A rehabbing JA Happ beat CLR, while Brian Pointer had his second triple in as many days. Dylan Cozens with two hits and Larry Greene was on base twice in support of a fine outing from Alejandro Arteaga for LKW – 2R, 5H, (1 HR), 6Ks 0BB, and he threw nearly 2/3 of his pitches for strikes.

Not going to get the graphic up today, but here’s the link and a spot to discuss Saturday’s action.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/5/2014 →

Cameron Rupp went deep again. He’s on pace for probably a lot of home runs or at least more than two, I bet. Also thing I would bet – Kyle Simon is not happy with his AAA debut. Just a hunch. Hector Neris, on the other hand, survived his unscathed. Don’t sleep on the 25-year-old Dominican. He put up pretty solid peripherals in Reading, and could be a bullpen piece for the big club sometime soon, especially if his HR rate normalizes now that he’s out of the Reading launching pad.

Cameron Perkins had two hits, including a double, while Severino Gonzalez started his season well – 1R 4H 1 BB and 3K in 5 IP. Reports from @longenhagen had Seve at 89-90 and touching 91 early, then fading later in the cold.

CLR walks it off in the tenth against Dunedin. Brian Pointer had a triple in that contest, and Ethan Stewart allowed just five base runners in seven IP – he only struck out one, and walked three, but allowed just two hits. A note there – The Jays have Dwight Smith‘s son, Dwight Smith Jr. For those who don’t remember Dwight Smith, he and Jerome Walton were all the rage back in ’89. Walton won the NL ROY and his Cubs teammate Smith got second, ahead of one-time Phils Gregg Jefferies and Charlie Hayes.

Carlos Tocci and Andrew Pullin had doubles, while Jesen Therrien got rocked in relief, as Lakewood took the loss. Tyler Viza made his full-season debut. He was a 2013 draftee out of JuCo, and played GCL last year, so he’s skipping Williamsport, (for now, at least). Looking forward to seeing what he can do with the opportunity.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/4/2014 →