Clearwater (26-35, 62-65)  beat St. Lucie, 4-1.

Andrew Brown (4-7, 6.46) pitched six solid innings.  He allowed one run on 5 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out two.  Kyle Arjona (4.82) pitched two shutout innings.  Keylan Killgore (3.49) retired the side in order for his 10th save.  He struck out two and needed just seven pitches, all strikes, to ensure the victory. Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/20/2019 →

MLB announced their 2020 Grapefruit League schedule.

Clearwater (25-35, 61-65)  no game scheduled.

Lehigh Valley (60-65)  lost to Syracuse, 1-0.  Cole Irvin (5-1, 4.11) pitched seven solid innings.  He gave up a run on 6 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out seven.  Edgar Garcia (2.48) struck out three in two perfect innings. Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/19/2019 →

Bad day in the minors.  All five affiliates lost.  As the season’s end draws near, here are the playoff standings are as follows.

Lehigh Valley is in fifth place, 5.5 games behind the first place team.  Although unlikely, the IronPigs best chance of making the post season is winning their division.  They are 8.5 games back in the wild card race with 16 games remaining.

Reading is in first place by 3.0 games over first half winner Trenton.  Reading also has a 6.0 game lead over Hartford for best overall record should Trenton win the second half, too.  They have 15 games remaining and their magic number is nine. Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/18/2019 →

The Phillies signed non-drafted free agent, catcher Willie Estrada.  He will be assigned to GCL Phillies East.  He is a senior out of Southeastern University.  He was honored as the best defensive catcher in the country by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.  After graduation, he played in Canada for Regina.  (That’s 2 new catchers this week.)

My wife and I would like to thank all who kept her in your thoughts and prayers the past few days.  Unfortunately, we still need them.  We got bad news today.  I shan’t go into the details, but malignant won out over B9.  Thanks again for …

Clearwater (25-32, 61-62)  postponed.

Lehigh Valley (59-63)  swept a DH from Indianapolis, 8-4 and 7-2.    Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/16/2019 →

Four Williamsport Crosscutters were named to the NYPenn League Blue All Star Team – C Logan O’Hoppe, SS Kendall Simmons, SS Bryson Stott, and OF Corbin Williams.  The game will be played on August 21st.

Jamari Baylor and Freddy Francisco were running the bases for the trainer after the GCL game.  I hope this means that Baylor will be playing soon.  Edubray Ramos, recently put on the 60-day IL, arrived today.  Bailey Falter has thrown this week, next step is to throw from the mound.  Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/15/2019 →

Clearwater (24-32, 60-62)  was 2-hit by Dunedin and lost 6-0.  Alejandro Requena (7-10, 5.21) gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in three innings.  Seth McGarry (2.57) scattered 5 hits in four shutout innings.  He walked one and struck out two.  Kyle Arjona (5.09) pitched the final two innings and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks.

Simon Muzziotti had one of the Threshers’ hits, a single.  Jhailyn Ortiz had the other, a double.  he also had an outfield assist. Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/14/2019 →

First a few random thoughts.

I don’t expect the recent assignment of Charlie Manuel to hitting coach to solve all the Phillies’ problems.  Given time, the hitting guru can help almost any hitter.  During Phantasy Camp, he told us the story of how he won the confidence of a difficult Albert Belle when he was the hitting coach for the Cleveland Indians.  I also watched him transform Dylan Cozens before spring training started a couple years ago.  (And, watched the new hitting/analytics/video program destroy his advances before the season started.)  I fear that his presence in the dugout will lead fans and media to call for further change in the dugout.  He’ll likely become the most interviewed hitting coach in baseball. Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/13/2019 →

Clearwater (24-30, 60-60)   lost to Dunedin, 2-0.  Ethan Lindow had a solid debut for Clearwater.  The 20-year-old LHP pitched five innings.  He gave up a first inning run, 4 hits, no walks, and struck out six.  he gave up a lead off double in the first, a ground ball between the third baseman and the bag.  The runner scored on an infield hit off the second baseman’s glove.  He surrendered just two more hits, one another infield hit off the first baseman’s glove.  Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/12/2019 →

Clearwater (24-29, 60-59)   lost to Palm Beach, 4-1.  Jack Perkins (0-2, 4.91) pitched five innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk.  He struck out four.  Michael Gomez (2.25) lasted 1.1 innings and gave up a run on 3 hits (all XBH).  Zach Warren (3.40) stranded an inherited runner in 0.2 innings.  He walked a batter and threw a wild pitch to start the next inning before being relieved by Kyle Arjona (4.86) who allowed an inherited runner to score on a bases loaded walk. Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/11/2019 →

Clearwater (24-28, 60-58)   beat Palm Beach, 11-4.  Kyle Glogoski (2-1, 1.77) had another solid outing.  He pitched six, shutout innings, gave up 3 singles, walked one, and stuck out five.  Glogoski has yet to give up more than 2 earned runs in any of his 11 starts for Lakewood and Clearwater.   Continue reading Threshers Recap – 8/10/2019 →