The Threshers 3 game winning streak came to an end when they returned home Friday night. Mark Leiter was coming off 2 solid starts where he had allowed only 2 runs in 16 innings, one his complete game shutout of Charlotte on July 20th. Leiter battled with control issues as the Threshers lost the first game of an 8-game home stand, 8-3. Continue reading Leiter Struggles Against Mets; August 1, 2014
Yearly Archives: 2014
Box Score Recap – 8/1/2014
LV reliever Hector Neris hasn’t allowed a run since July 8. He’s pitched 13 scoreless since then, allowing just six hits, two walks and struck out eight. Impressive run. Kelly Dugan was 2-6 with two doubles in Reading’s double header. Brian Pointer hit his second home run of the week, and his 11th on the year. Roman Quinn’s nine-game hit streak was ended, but he did manage a walk and his 20th steal.
Sam Hiciano (9) and Mitch Walding (4) went deep for Lakewood. Hiciano also had a double and drew a walk in his four trips to the plate. Dylan Cozens has two hits, including a double. He’s had two hits in six of his last ten games. Real nice. WIL managed just three hits.
ICYMI – I wrote up a handful of guys who had good numbers in July over at CrashburnAlley.com. Franco, Nola, Quinn, Tocci, MAG, Mecias, Cozens and Encarnacion. I hope you’ll check it out.
Also, this is not my work, but here’s an article from Philly.com on Matt Imhof.
Box Score Recap – 7/31/2014
David Buchanan with a strong outing in what’s likely to be his last before a recall to Philly to take over Cliff Lee’s spot in the rotation – he went 7.1 innings, allowing one run on seven hits, one walk, and striking out five. Aaron Altherr was 2-4 with his ninth home run of the year, and MAG worked a clean ninth, including two Ks, for his fifth save of the year. Roman Quinn and Brian Pointer were each 2-4 with a walk. Quinn’s two hits were a double and his fourth home run. Andy Knapp had four hits, Willians Astudillo three, and Cozens and Canelo two a piece, as Yacksel Rios threw about 65% of his pitches for strikes en route to another good start – 2R 1ER 6H 2BB 4K in 5IP.
WIL was swept in a double header – they managed just one hit in the seven-inning opener, then lost in 13 in the nightcap. Drew Anderson continues to rehab in the GCL – a fair but not great outing there. Five DSL guys had multi-hit games, including Edwin Rodriguez, and every VSL starter had at least one hit, including three from our man Jesus Alastre.
Hmm…little dry today. Light on the jokes. I blame flexor pronator strains. Jerks.
General Discussion – Day of 8-1-14 – So, So…So So Sad Edition
Well, with over 250 comments on the thread form yesterday, I’ll give you all a fresh one today to talk about your feelings. No trades (which doesn’t have to make you sad on its face) and Cliff Lee down with an injury again (which does). Frown.
Hmm…a frown, is by definition, “sad on its face”. I guess. Or I’m trying too hard to be clever for this early on a Friday.
Discuss.
Nola/Quinn Lead Assault on Fort Myers; July 31, 2014
Aaron Nola 2-hit the Miracle through 5 innings and the Threshers scored 9 runs in the second and third innings as Clearwater beat Fort Myers and took the series against the FSL South, first half division champions, three games to one. In the process, they helped drop the Miracle into a second place tie in the second half standings.
Aaron Nola pitched another good game. He allowed one run on 2 hits and a walk. He threw 73 pitches, 47 for strikes. He relied heavily on his fast ball, throwing predominantly 2- and 4- seam fastballs through the first 3 innings. One of his rare early inning curve balls resulted in a strike out to end the first inning. Continue reading Nola/Quinn Lead Assault on Fort Myers; July 31, 2014
General Discussion – Day of 7-31-14 – Cold Stove Edition
Things have gone cold…maybe still you could see Bastardo go, since there’s little reason not to deal him with a bullpen crowded with younger, cheaper arms right now. And you never know if Amaro may find the right deal for Byrd or Burnett yet, but I can’t really see much else. Could be wrong, I suppose, but it doesn’t seem like it.
I will say this, I don’t think there’s much to complain about what Amaro is doing right now, though it’s pretty easy to complain about what he’s done in the past that led him here. Feel free to do some of that now. I’d personally like to complain about Ryan Howard’s contract, because as far as I know, no one’s ever mentioned how bad it is, I don’t think. It’s pretty bad, I think. Maybe I’m the only one.
Discuss.
Box Score Recap – 7/30/2014
First off, despite what was on MiLB.com for a while last night, Aaron Nola did not pitch. That site had it wrong. It was Miguel Nunez, and he pitched really well, allowing just one hit and three walks with eight strikeouts in six scoreless innings. He had a fine July, with a WHIP under 1.00 and six inning stints each time out. Roman Quinn was 2-5 and Chris Serritella was a triple short of the cycle. Cody Forsythe worked a five out save in that contest.
Maikel Franco hit the game-winning home run (9) for Lehigh Valley. He’s finishing the month strong. Hopefully August is another July, or even another May, and not another April or June. Five Iron Pigs had multi-hit games, led by Cesar Hernandez and Tyler Henson, who were both 204 with a double and a walk. I left the Rochester pitching line in there so you could see Trevor May’s work. Well done for the former Phils #1 prospect. He’s bound to be a September call-up this year after what looks like a really solid year on paper – 4HR, 33BB and 89K in 89.1 IP. All make for fine rates. Reading managed just one hit against Portland pitching, as Adam Loewen pitched fairly well – he did walk five guys in six scoreless innings, which is not ideal, though he also struck out seven. And Colt Murray let down two of his mates when he allowed both Seth Rosin and Austin Wright’s runners to score in the eighth.
Zach Green had two hits and a walk for Lakewood, as they were shut down by former Phils farm hand Luis Gonzalez. Gonzalez spent three years in the Phils system from 2010-2012, and spent last year in the DSL for the Orioles. He’s 22 years old, but he’s been very good for Delmarva – 0HR, 58K, 19BB in 61.1IP. Curious why he was let go, and I wonder if it was personal, as he wound up in the DSL for a year after what was not a bad year in WIL in 2012. Denton Keys went six scoreless, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out five – good start for him. He’s been inconsistent, but no major red flags so far for him. Austin Davis’ first pro start went pretty well, though he’s not stretched out – he may still wind up staying in the pen going forward.
I’m going to open another trade deadline thread today since yesterday’s is near 100 comments already. Try to keep that stuff in the general discussion, if you can.
Box Score Recap – 7/29/2014
Luis Garcia, back from the DL, and struck out two in a clean inning of work. Kelly Dugan and Aaron Altherr each had singles in both games of Reading’s DH – Edgar Duran had four doubles, all told. And nice work from Ryan O’Sullivan to give his bullpen a break for six innings. He’s been about as effective as a starter as I’d imagined – he seems to be managing his way around the fact that his stuff plays down in longer stints – his strikeout rate has dipped severely from his time in the pen, and his walk rate has gone up.
Roman Quinn was 4-5 with two steals. The Threshers stole six off of Stuart Turner and his battery mates. Not a good day for him. Cody Forsythe stranded two runners, despite allowing a hit, and struck out the side for his second FSL save. He’s been really good this year – 50:8 k:bb in 47.1IP across two levels. Wouldn’t mind seeing him get four weeks in Reading right now. For Lakewood, Tocci, Pullin, Knapp and Cozens put up two hits a piece – one of Tocci’s was a double, one of Cozens’ was a three-run homer (14). Tocci is OPSing .820 for the month, and Cozens .931. Yoel Mecias is limiting runs, but he’s not yet striking out a ton of batters – just 21 over 32 innings this year. He’s got plenty of time to turn that around, however.
Thinking they ought to get Brandon Liebrandt to Lakewood, already. Another gem from him the the NYPL – in six scoreless innings, he allowed one hit, two walks and struck out six. He’s allowed just six hits and struck out 18 in 18 innings at this level. Dominant. GCL pounded out 13 hits against the Pirates squad, while Nic Hanson threw five perfect innings in his rehab appearance.
General Discussion – Week of 7-30-14 – Thirty Thirty Thirty Four Hours To Go Edition
Thirty thirty thirty-four hours to go // Let’s get some people traded.
Nothin to lose, so let them boys go // Let’s get some people traded.
Get Paps to the airport, put Byrd on a plane,
If you can’t move Bastardo, it would be a shame.
You can’t control the fact that you signed Ryan Howard to that enormous contract // how did you not see that one coming, dummy?
Oh oh oh oh oh ohhhhhhh…
Discuss. (note – upon further review, my math is bad – it was 32 hours when i came up with this idea, but I added 8 to 24 and got 34. Wow!)
Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
The ‘Pigs (49-61) are going in the wrong direction quickly after being swept by Buffalo over the weekend into Monday and getting trounced by Rochester Monday evening extending their season high losing streak to ten games. It is their longest losing streak since the awful team of 2008, in their inaugural season. Since May 30th, Lehigh Valley is 20-37 and has fallen from second place to last place, 14 games in back of division leading Syracuse. Lehigh Valley visits Rochester for two games before returning home over the weekend for what will be a six game homestand. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
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