J.P. Crawford belted 2 home runs as he went 3 for 4 with a stolen base to lead the Threshers to an 8-7 victory over the Daytona Cubs. Crawford’s 2 home runs sailed over the Oakley sign in right field for those familiar with Bright House Field. The first cleared the back fence and left the stadium. Continue reading Crawford Clubs Cubs; August 8, 2014
Yearly Archives: 2014
VSL Loses Championship Series
Since I’ve been mentioning it pretty much all week, here’s closure for you – the VSL squad lost today on a walk-off error. Two unearned runs in the last couple innings spoiled a fine performance from Ranger Suarez, who ended the year having given up just one walk and striking out 84 in 88.2 IP. Our main man Jesus Alastre was 2-3 on the day. Nice job by both guys all year, and I imagine we’ll hear from them stateside this fall and next spring.
Here’s a link to the box score.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_08_08_vphrok_vtirok_1&t=g_box&sid=milb
Box Score Recap – 8/7/2014
Maikel Franco was 3-5 with a home run (10). His season OPS approaches .700, his wRC+ approaches 90, and I think we sometimes forget, he is still one of the youngest players in the league. Cubs prospect Javier Baez’ recent promotion makes him 2014’s youngest National Leaguer. Maikel Franco’s only about three months older than Baez. Just some perspective. And here’s a note for you – the last Phillie to be the youngest National Leaguer in a particular season was Larry Christensen in 1973. The Braves and Dodgers have had the youngest six times a piece since 1990.
Also for LV – Ethan Martin went three strong innings backing up Jo Jo Reyes, and Hector Neris ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings, (16 if you count that one in the bigs the other night). At AA, Chris Bootcheck, Kyle Simon and Colt Murray combined to throw a two-hit, two-walk, 14k shutout. Mercy. Kelly Dugan was 2-3 with a double and a walk, and Jake Fox (17) and Aaron Altherr (10) went deep. Dugan’s taking no prisoners right now – he’s OPSing .946 over his last ten games. He’s been on base in all but four games since July 1. And it was just one of those days for CLR – Mark Leiter got shelled, and the bullpen behind him did the same, allowing 18 Daytona runs. Art Charles hit his 14th home run and Herlis Rodriguez was 3-3. I imagine we’ll see Charles in Reading next year, and he may hit a ton of homers in that environment.
Andrew Pullin was 3-6 with his eighth home run of the year, and Zach Green was 2-4 with two walks as Lakewood lost in 12. Cord Sandberg went deep (4), his first in a while, and Jia Tromp was hit in the jaw with a pitch, but X-Rays were negative, per Ian Catherine (@IanCatherine27) on Twitter relaying from Jan Hernandez, who got a text from Tromp. Jose Pujols went deep for the second straight game (5) and catcher Jesus Posso hit his first – @statsking wrote up here last week (behind BPro’s paywall). Franklyn Kilome was strong over six innings, getting nine ground ball outs. And the VSL championship series finale was postponed by rain. We should get Ranger Suarez today on regular rest. We’ll see how it goes.
General Discussion – Week of 8-7-14 – That Guy Who Used To Be Named A Different Thing Was Traded Edition
Since there are things to discuss, specifically the Roberto Hernandez trade, here’s a fresh thread. Also, VSL was rained out, so we should get Ranger Suarez tomorrow on regular rest.
Also, hey, while I have ya – I wrote a thing on Nola and Biddle at Crashburn Alley –
http://crashburnalley.com/2014/08/07/aaron-and-jesse-wait-aaron-paul-jesse-pinkman-whoa/
Enjoy, if you’re so inclined.
Discuss.
Williamsport Game Report, 8/6/14
Another in a long series of excellent reports by NYPhilsmaniac19.
August 6 Williamsport Game Report
WP played at Hudson Valley last night and looked like the losing (record) team that they are. They failed to get key hits with runners in scoring position, were shaky in the field, and K’d 13 times (though the home plate ump had a huge strike zone).
PITCHING:
Feliberto Sanchez started and was hit pretty hard. Here is a synopsis of his innings.
1) Gave up an oppo single into LF on 0-2 pitch/Baserunner took off for 2nd- Grullon’s throw went into CF, Aaron Brown charged hard as the runner took off for 3rd and the ball went right through him which allowed the runner to score. (This was a harbinger of the sloppiness to come)/Hard Lineout to CF/Hard groundout to 1st
2) Foul Popout to RF/K on a FB (half-hearted swing)/Line single over 2Bman’s head/During next AB, ball squirted through Grullon’s legs- he ran back and grabbed it at the cutout behind home, threw from his knees and nailed the runner who took off when he saw the ball get by. VERY impressive play from Deivi.
3) Hard hit oppo single between 1Bman and 2Bman/E-3 grounder that Hoskins couldn’t field cleanly/Hard Lineout to CF/Weak swing that led to an oppo RBI single/4-6-3 DP, Campbell (2B) made a nice glove flip to Marrero who relayed and got the runner. It was a cool play, but it looked like Campbell could have taken it himself and made an easier DP due to his proximity to 2B.
4) Line 1B to LF/Walk/WP moved up runners, 4-3 RBI groundout/SF to pretty deep LF/6-4 FC
5) Ground single up the middle/Grullon threw runner out attempting to steal (another excellent throw), swinging K/6-3 easy groundout
Sanchez was done after 5. His control was good, but they hit numerous hard shots. The shoddy fielding didn’t help him. Based on the stadium gun, he topped out at 88 and mostly sat at about 85. Not one pitch that I saw (gun didn’t show up until the 3rd inning) was below 82 so not much difference between his FB and off-speed pitches.
I was pleased to see that Chris Oliver came on in relief but I shouldn’t have been. The first two batters reached on plays that should have been made- throwing error by Hernandez, then a hot shot grounder that went right through Hoskins at 1B (ruled a hit, but was right at him). After an RBI groundout and a lineout, Oliver walked to next two (4 pitches and 7 pitches), the inning ended on a liner that Brown ran down in the gap in left-center. The next inning Oliver gave up 2 singles, a double steal, 2 more walks, and a run. Oliver did top out at 94 on the gun. He was mostly in the high 80’s with his FB and 75-76 with his offspead stuff.
Mark Meadors came on in the 7th with bases loaded and one out and got out of the jam stranding all three of Oliver’s runners. Meadors also had an easy 8th giving up just one single. He was throwing in the mid 80’s.
OFFENSE:
Cord Sandberg went 2 for 5. After fouling off 3 two-strike pitches, he smoked a base hit up the middle that almost hit the pitcher in the head. He then fouled out to third, K’d swinging at a high FB, and singled on a swinging bunt up the 3rd base line but then got thrown out trying to advance to 2nd when the throw went by the 1Bman. The last AB, he K’d looking on a pitch that was clearly outside to end the game.
I was not impressed with his wheels. He failed to score from 1st on a no doubt double to the wall by Tromp in the first, and although he was awarded a hit on the swinging bunt, a good throw would have gotten him. He had an uneventful night in RF.
Jiandido Tromp went 2 for 4. He doubled in his first two AB’s- the first was over the RF’s head in RC, and the second was a hard grounder just inside the 3rd base bag. He struck out in his other two AB’s (swinging at a high FB, and looking at a pitch that appeared to be outside). He took some mighty swings but was able to do a better job of making contact once he had two strikes. He tracked the ball well in LF.
Aaron Brown went 0-4 with 2K’s (both swinging). He did advance a runner from 2nd with a no-out groundout to the 1Bman. His other out was a hard liner the other way that was caught by the RF. Brown went back well on two liners over his head that he caught. The ball that got through him on Grullon’s overthrow was a case of him charging over-aggressively. I can see what people say about how the fans will love the way he plays the game. He struck me as being much more serious and focused than the rest of the team before the game.
Rhys Hoskins (pronounced like Reece- I was curious about this) went 1-3 with a 5 pitch walk. His single was a liner between the SS and 3Bman. His two outs were a shallow very high flyout to CF and a hard hit 6-3 RBI groundout. On defense, he did not impress though he did make a nice tag on a wide throw from Hernandez at third. He made one error on a grounder and could have been charged with another.
Wilson Garcia went 1-3 with a walk. He smoked a double into the LC gap, grounded out hard 4-3, and hit a weak liner to the 2Bman. No defense to report as he DH’d.
Derek Campbell went 1-4 with a hard line single up the middle and a looking K. He also flew out to deep RF and popped up to 2nd. He played a solid 2B.
Jan Hernandez had a rough day. He went 1-4 with two K’s, a lazy flyout to CF and a soft single over the SS’s head. He made a throwing error on one play and Hoskins saved him from getting charged with another. He did not appear to play with much urgency,
Deivi Grullon had a nice day throwing out runners trying to steal (besides the one he threw into CF in the 1st). They did execute a double steal but he held onto the ball because the runners got a great jump. At the plate he went 1-4 with a hard line single up the middle.
Emmanuel Marrero had the roughest of all days as he took the Golden Marrero going 0-4 with 4 K’s. He and Campbell (who played 2B) had trouble turning DP’s which could have bailed the Cutters out a few times.
submitted by nyphilsmaniac19
Box Score Recap – 8/6/2014
Aaron Nola and Jesse Biddle were on the hill for Reading and Clearwater, in the opposite order from where you’d have logically guessed that six weeks ago before Biddle was put on the inactive list. Nola pitched well, allowing one run on six hits, one walk and four Ks in five innings. He threw 65% of his 72 pitches for strikes, and was innings limited at five. Mitch Rupert was there on his day off and said on Twitter that Nola was sitting 92-93 on scouts guns, and though he touched 97 on the stadium gun, that seems far-fetched. Mitch estimated that stadium gun was probably 2MPH hot. Still a fine outing from Nola.
As for Biddle, he was facing a Daytona team that has some pretty nice players right now, namely Kyle Schwarber, this year’s 4th overall pick, (who was generally ranked in the teens pre-draft but picked high and signed underslot), Dan Vogelbach, who’s OPSed near .800 on the year, and Billy McKinney, last year’s 24th overall pick who came to CHC in the Jeff Smajfgskuh trade and has been raking ever since. That’s some nice talent, and Biddle unequivocally shut them and the rest of their mates down. He threw five no-hit innings, allowing just one base runner on a walk, and striking out five. Rad. Here’s a nice write-up with comments from Biddle from MiLB.com’s Jake Seiner.
Elsewhere, Jia Tromp and Cord Sandberg both had two hits, and Tromp’s were both doubles for WIL. Tromp’s hot right now, with 5XBH in his last four games. Jose Pujols was 2-3 including his fourth homerun of the year and Denton Keys worked six fine innings for GCL – 1R 0ER 3H 1BB 5K. 2013 J2 guy Bryan Martelo was 2-4 with a double and a triple in the DSL.
And finally, VSL lost game two of their championship series on Wednesday. The last game is today, for all the marbles. Which for all I know is what these guys get for winning a championship. They probably get like a pizza party or the Venezuelan equivalent, and a neat plastic trophy. Or whats the drinking age in VZ? Maybe they all just go get blasted. Anyway, we likley won’t know until the box score starts up who will be starting for the VSL, but I would actually be a little surprised if it isn’t Ranger Suarez. I’ve wavered on that point for the last couple days. 11:30 EST, we’ll find out.
Biddle Baffles “Bears”; August 6, 2014
A clean-shaven Jesse Biddle made his 2014 Threshers’ debut tonight against the Daytona Cubs. The young lefty had only pitched 2 GCL innings since his last start for Reading on June 23rd. He came into the game with a 5-inning limit. Continue reading Biddle Baffles “Bears”; August 6, 2014
Phillies in between rock and hard place with Gonzalez
When the Phillies signed right-handed Cuban fireballer Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez last August, there were hopes that he would slot in to a 2014 starting rotation featuring Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, giving the Phillies a formidable threesome that would allow them to compete. To say the least, that didn’t happen. A lot of other things didn’t happen for the 2014 Phillies, as they have plummeted to the bottom of the National League standings.
Now, the focus must be on 2015, and the focus on next year begins with looking at what is happening in the minors throughout the rest of 2014. Continue reading Phillies in between rock and hard place with Gonzalez
It’s Official, from the Threshers Twitter Account, Biddle Starts Tonight
Box Score Recap – 8/5/2014
Holy Zachamole! Collier hit his fifth home run in four games. That’s pretty remarkable. Kely Dugan drew two walks in that one – he’s got five walks in his last four games. Not quite as impressive, and certainly not worthy of a “Holy Kellymole” or a “Kelly Guacamole”. Freddy Galvis hit his first of the year for LV, as Maikel Franco had two hits, including a double. MAG did not fair well in his third AAA outing. Roman Quinn on base again, as Jim pointed out in his write-up, for the 20th game in a row. Be sure to read Jim’s report for a nice write-up on Miguel Nunez’ start, plus a nugget about Jesse Biddle.
For Lakewood, Willians Astudillo had two hits – his fourth multi-hit game in a row and he’s OPSing .858 over his last ten games, and I can’t believe I missed that he struck out twice in the same game on July 30. That’s craziness. Especially considering that was his entire strikeout total for the month of July. Two. In a month where he took ~85 PAs. Yes, he also only drew two walks, but still. Otherwise, this year’s 8th overall pick, Rockies prospect Kyle Freeland, pretty well shut down the Blueclaws in his SAL debut – he struck out six and allowed two hits and nothing else in five innings. It is nice to see that Dylan Cozens had one of the hits off Freeland – a double. Proves very little in the grand scheme, but nice to see our questionably good guy can sometimes hit their probably good guy.
Hmm…kinda regretting saying “Holy Zachamole” earlier. Oh well, no turning back now.
And finally, Victor Delgado and closer Alejandro Garcia shut out Detroit in Game One of a three-game VSL championship series. I talked about the prospects for the series yesterday. Delgado allowed three hits over eight innings. Luis Mendoza and Jesus Alastre each pushed runs across, and 17 yr-old 2B Daniel Romero had two hits and scored twice. Game two today could be the clincher. Watch out for updates from me early-mid afternoon as the 11:30 EST start time should have me posting a result sometime around 2-3pm, time permitting.
**Update** VSL lost 4-2 today. Jesus Alastre and Joseph Miranda were both 2-4 with a double, and Carlos Indriago had a fair start in the loss. He allowed eight hits and a walk in five + innings and Sergio Velis couldn’t keep those inherited guys from scoring. It all comes down to Thursday’s game three. We’ll see if they throw Ranger Suarez or not.
Phuture Phillies 