For those who have not heard, Tyson Gillies was slapped with a three-game team suspension, after a frustrated outburst that damaged some equipment and a wall in Thursday night. Gillies had four Ks on that night last night, and, well, I throw stuff and curse and whatever when I take the Golden Sombrero or the professional or household equivalent – hitting my thumb with a hammer while putting together an Ikea storage cabinet last weekend, for example. Those little nails you use to tack on the back panel are too small for stubby blogger fingers. Damned Swedes.

Anyway, I’m not too mad about this one if that’s all it was, and the games will go on. Oh wait, maybe not. Lehigh Valley was…postponed Friday?!?!?!? GILLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tommy Joseph‘s dialed in at the plate right now – he’s hit home runs in three of his last four games. Aaron Altherr hit his first AA bomb in that one, while Kelly Dugan was lifted for a pinch hitter in the third inning. I have not seen a reason for that yet. That game went 12 innings, and gave us our first Ken Giles‘ run and blown save of the year. Good bullpen work during the first nine of that game to back up a lackluster looking line from Severino Gonzalez.

In Lakewood, Carlos Tocci had two XBH in the double header, while J.P. Crawford was 2-3 in the nightcap, with his his sixth steal and his fifth error. Not to be outdone, Gabriel Lino tallied his seventh passed ball. Jan Hernandez is 0-12 with six Ks (yikes) since he’s been filling in for injured Zach Green. FWIW, Green’s not on the DL, and remains with Lakewood even though he was moved to the XST roster. Seems like he may return shortly. One more injury note: Larry Greene Jr. is said to be day-to-day with a sore wrist. Those two injury notes come from Jay Floyd (@phoulballz), I think. If not, sorry to whoever reported those items.

And finally, Clearwater managed just two hits on the night, as the recently demoted Brody Colvin made his first A+ start of the year. Not sure they’re actually “merit” demoting him, rather than just needing somewhere to stretch him out. He hadn’t been bad out of the pen in a couple innings thus far in 2014. Perhaps, as Matt suggested tonight on Twitter, they have finally decided he’s nothing more than an org arm. Or perhaps they’ve found him a new pitch and they need him to get some innings to work on it. I won’t lose much sleep over the club’s logic, there, TBH.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/25/2014 →

Maikel Franco with his first home run of the year as he was a triple short of the cycle. Sean O’Sullivan and Hector Neris pitched well in that game, and you should probably stop at that point and move on to the Clearwater box, unless you enjoy feeling super sad and shaking your head real slowly.

Logan Moore with three singles tonight, he’s hit safely in six of his last seven games. Also for CLR, Malquin Canelo had two doubles, giving him three on the year to go with no singles, triples or home runs. He may be trying to challenge Cameron Perkins for the title of “That Dude Who Hits A Lot Of Doubles”. You should see the plaque they give you for that. Super classy with brass name plates of past recipients and they shine it up for you real good and let you take it home for a week before hanging it on the wall in The Carpenter Complex Clubhouse, and every June the new draftees come in for the first time and they’re all like, “Whoa, that’s way nicer than any plaque they give out at our colleges and/or high schools.” It’s pretty sweet, is what I’m saying.

And for Lakewood, Wilmer Oberto hit his second homer in three days, as Drew Anderson returned from injury to make his first start of the year, and pitched like a man just returning from an injury and making his first start of the year.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/24/2014 →

What a gem from Jesse Biddle – 2H 1BB 10K in 7 scoreless innings. He’s got 38k to 7BB on the year. You’d like to see him throw a couple more strikes, I guess, but 67/106 will get it done on most nights. Not much else to complain about, there. Kyle Simon and Ken Giles closed out the shutout, while Tommy Joseph drove in Cam Perkins, (2-4 on the night), for the only run of the game.

Here’s something I never thought I’d say: I’m not sure why Luis Garcia isn’t in the big leagues right now. He’s allowed just 0R, 3H, 3BB and 9K in 9IP in AAA this year, including another scoreless frame last night, plus he pitched a clean inning in the bigs while he was up. They optioned him off the big club the day after B.J. Rosenberg gave up home runs to three consecutive batters, instead of optioning Rosenberg, (who was optioned himself just the other day). Not sure the logic there. Anyway, a couple more days and he can go back up (after his ten-day option period is up). I imagine we’ll see him shortly thereafter.

Dan Child notched his first save of the year in support of an OK start from Jeb Stefan, as 19-year-old catcher Jesus Posso, just over from XST, hit his first stateside homer. Alejandro Arteaga got kicked around some at Lakewood. Carols Tocci and Sam Hiciano put up two hits a piece, while Andrew Pullin hit his first bomb of the year. We heard from BaseballHQ’s Brent Hershey (@brenthq on Twitter) that it was pretty well wind-aided, and came on Pullin’s best swing of the day, but still. I’m sure he’ll take them however they come.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/23/2014 →

Dylan Cozens with the big game of the day – 2-4 with a triple and a home run, while J.P. Crawford and Andrew Pullin had two hits a piece and Wilmer Oberto hit his first full-season bomb. Crawford also stole his fifth bag of the year – he’s been caught twice, so we’ll see if he can pick up the rate as the season rolls on. Tyler Viza worked through another decent start, and continues to look pretty good for a 19 year-old in the SAL. Would like to see his K rate up a good bit, but he’s only walked four in 23IP.

Tommy Joseph  with his second home run in as many nights, while Kelly Dugan was 1-2 with two walks and two runs scored – seems like he’s found his eye again, with 7BB and just 7K in 42PA. Lots of time for those numbers to normalize as he builds a larger sample, but a good start for sure.

A rough night for the pen in Reading, as only Ryan O’Sullivan kept Richmond off the board. And not a lot went right for CLR pitchers either, as they gave up 18 runs. The Lehigh Valley pitchers had a pretty decent night, With Phillippe Aumont and Justin De Fratus working scoreless innings to close out a victory. Also, the BRef linker makes me put a space between the “e” and the “F” in Justin DeFratus. Seems wrong.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/22/2014 →