Tyson Gillies was 2-4 with a 2B. He’s got multi-hit games in three of his last six starts. Cam Perkins had the same line as Gillies, giving him his first multi-hit game and first XBH in a week. He does have six BBs in his last four games – hopefully a sign that he’s seeing the ball a little better and may be about to come out of the funk that’s had him OPS just .685 in May thus far.

Jesse Biddle pitched to mixed results. Clearly struggling with the strike zone, he allowed two hits, managed to strikeout seven, but walked four in six innings of 1-run ball. He threw just 42 of his 81 pitches for strikes.

A couple of “Near Philly” guys shined for CLR – Bensalem and UDel’s Nick Ferdinand was 3-3 with his second home run of the year, while Skillman, NJ and Seton Hall product Jon Prosinski managed his start well, giving up 3R, 8H, 1HR, 0BB, and 3K in 7.1IP.

Dylan Cozens goes 2-4 with a double and a home run, his fourth on the year, but Tyler Viza cannot survive on Dylan Cozens alone. He ended with a line much like Prosinski, 4R, 3ER, 8H, 1BB, and 3K in 7IP. And 17-yr-old Jesus Alastre is 4-8 plus a walk in his first two professional contests in the VSL. He’s an early candidate for “Guy I Fruitlessly Try To Find Bonus Information On After He Hits A Bunch Through The First Month Of The Season”. So that’s something to look forward to.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/14/2014 →

Running late today so I’ll skip the write-up today and just get you the graphic, with only a mention that J.P. Crawford‘s 13-game hitting streak ended with an 0-3 day on Tuesday. Enjoy the discussion.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/13/2014 →

Very strong day from the Lehigh Valley bullpen. They worked four scoreless innings, with Ken Giles allowing the group’s only hit, Phillippe Aumont surrendering their only walk, and Ethan Martin and Justin De Fratus working clean innings. Maikel Franco drew two walks in that contest, as Cam Perkins did for Reading, as that squad got past New Hampshire. Hoby Milner didn’t throw a ton of strikes, (around 60%), and he surrendered his eighth home run in his last four, but he got the W. Value that “W” as you will.

Colin Kleven induced 12 ground ball outs, but struck out just one, and let up eight hits and three runs in seven innings in Clearwater’s loss. Andrew Knapp had two hits for the Threshers. Meanwhile, the Lakewood lineup was school by Hunter Harvey, Orioles 2013 1st Round Pick and son of former Angels and Marlins closer Bryan Harvey. he struck out 10 in seven scoreless. Only Sam Hiciano managed a hit off Harvey, while J.P. Crawford extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double off of Jimmy Yacabonis, who is not necessarily significant except his last name is pretty rad and he went to St. Joe’s. Drew Anderson was the hard-luck loser there, allowing 1R on 4H, 2BB, 6K over 6IP.

The VSL season kicked off with the Phils club taking out Chicago. There’s a couple familiar names, mostly because we saw them there last year. That’s generally not a good sign for their prospect status. You all should read Matt’s VSL Roster Intro from yesterday for a better idea who to be watching in the VSL boxes. Hint: It’s mostly teenagers you have likely never heard of.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/12/2014 →

Tyson Gillies has it going on a little bit right now. He’s OPSing .908 in seven games this month, including 2-3 with a BB on Sunday. Maikel Franco also had two knocks in that one, while Sean O’Sullivan, Cesar Jimenez and Justin De Fratus held Gwinnett to two runs on five hits and three walks, all given up by O’Sullivan. De Fratus hasn’t walked a man in his last five outings, and has struck out eight over those six innings.

Cam Perkins is coming back to earth a little. He’s still been on base in all but one of his last ten games, but he’s OPSing just .579 over that span. Severino Gonzalez should have stayed in bed Sunday. He allowed 10 runs and couldn’t escape the fourth inning. Austin Wright didn’t manage to stop the bleeding, as he allowed 5 runs over 3 1/3 IP. Both men threw more than 2/3 of their pitches for strikes, they just weren’t fooling anyone with them. First baseman Brock Stassi pitched a scoreless eighth inning, so there’s that.

Mark Leiter Jr. managed his start well, leaving with two men on base in the sixth. Delvi Francisco couldn’t strand them, but the Blueclaws offense was one better than Delmarva on the day. All but Dylan Cozens had base hits, and Willians Astudillo, Mitch Walding and Jan Hernandez had two hits a piece. J.P. Crawford extended his hit streak to 12 games, walked, stole a base, rescued a cat from a tree, performed the Heimlich Maneuver on a wounded combat veteran, helped an adorable old lady cross the freeway and manned the grill at the post-game tailgate. I heard he let the burgers on the flame too long, though, and they got all dried out. Luckily, he made a really fine Garlic Aioli for the grown-ups and a homemade ketchup for the kids. Hard working young man, there.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/11/2014 →

J.P. Crawford extends his hitting streak to 11 games, as he went 3-3 with a double and drew another walk to match his season K total. He’s OPSing 1.242 this month thus far, no big deal.

Delmarva, Orioles affiliate in the SAL, has a guy with a familiar last name – Mike Yastrzemski. He is, in fact, Yaz’s grandson, and he was a home run shy of the cycle to help The Shorebirds take down The BlueClaws. Not sure how I missed young Yaz last season in the NYPL. I blame Mitch.

Maikel Franco had a double and drew a walk in the Iron Pigs extra inning loss. He’s now drawn five walks in his last seven games, after drawing just six on the year prior to that point. He’s OPSing .959 in May. Clearly he’s turned the corner from his slow start.

Reading’s game was suspended by rain in the 13th inning. Chris Serritella had three hits, including two doubles. Colton Murray gave up an unearned run and walked two in his AA debut. They’ll finish up that game on Sunday, and I suspect Tyler Knigge will come out for the 13th so as not so burn another pitcher. They’re quickly running out.

And finally, don’t forget to read Jim’s game story from CLR tonight. Good notes there on a couple guys.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/10/2014 →

Maikel Franco went 2-5 with his third home run of the year. Justin De Fratus and Cesar Jimenez worked clean innings of relief, before Ken Giles made his AAA debut – he walked one, allowed a hit and a run and struck out one. Some guy named “Derrick Mitchell” hit three home runs off of Lehigh Valley pitching. Never heard of him.

Jesse Biddle with another poor showing – 5R, 4ER, on 8H, 3BB and 6K over 5.1IP. He only threw about 57% of his pitches for strikes. Cesar Hernandez was back in the lineup after a groin tweak made him a late scratch Thursday. Tommy Joseph left the game early. Jay Floyd (@PhoulBallz) reporting it as a left wrist issue, which is better than a head/concussion issue.

And for CLR, Kuis Paulino pitched pretty well – 1R on 2H, 3BB and 5K. Ethan Martin loaded the bases in the sixth before being pulled –  he was bailed out by Jeb Stefan. Our friend @BaseballBetsy said Martin appeared to be laboring through the inning. Darin Ruf had two hits in his second rehab appearance.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/9/2014 →

Maikel Franco was 2-4 plus a BB, and Reid Brignac hit two three-run home runs in Lehigh Valley’s win over Charlotte. With Freddy Galvis demoted, and Brignac swinging a hot bat, you wonder if maybe that’s the move, especially after Cesar Hernandez was scratched yesterday with a sore groin.

Darin Ruf began his rehab assignment with CLR last night. He walked and struck out in 4PAs. Ken Giles put up 2Ks in a clean inning for Reading. Tommy Joseph seems to be doing fine after his latest concussion scare – he’s hit in four of the five games since he came off the DL. He’s OPSing .905 on the year, though he’s still well under 100 PAs.

And last, but (as they say) certainly not least, J.P. Crawford extends his hit streak to 10 games with his third double in two days. He’s OPSing 1.178 over those ten games. I think he might be pretty good at baseball. He should seriously consider it as a career.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/8/2014 →

Can we be done with Mookie Betts already? Seriously. Enough.

Jonathan Pettibone and the Iron Pigs bullpen held Charlotte to two runs over 11 innings, with Justin De Fratus, Seth Rosin and Luis Garcia locking down 5.2 of those without allowing a run. It’s weird to see a bunch of right-handed relievers capable of such things. Wonder where the Phils could find a couple guys like that…

Carlos Alonso, Zach Collier, Cameron Perkins and Aaron Altherr each had two hits, while Albert Cartwright had three, as Reading went off for six runs in the sixth inning to take down Portland. Hoby Milner‘s best start of the year gets the job done, though he continues to be homer prone. He’s allowed seven in his last three starts. Less would be better. A revelation, I know.

A rehabbing Ethan Martin worked around two hits to pitch a scoreless sixth for CLR, while Andrew Knapp got his season off to a mixed start, doubling, but striking out three times (less would be better) in his first game as DH after Tommy John Surgery last fall. The Phillies released Chad Carman and sent Justin Parr to XST as part of the roster maneuvering to get Knapp and Willie Carmona on the CLR active roster. Sorry to see Carman go, as he was friendly on social media, and by all accounts, in person. And his dad and I once had a spirited argument about the role of The Red Cross versus local non-profits in disaster relief in the comments on this very website. So there’s that.

And finally, J.P. Crawford had two doubles for Lakewood – he’s now OPSing near .900, though he does currently have one more strikeout than walk on the year. WASHOUT! Drew Anderson took the worst of the Kannapolis offense, surrendering eight runs in 3.2 IP. He left with the bases loaded in the fourth, and Yacksel Rios couldn’t get an out before all three men crossed the plate.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/7/2014 →