Team Results
51-32, 1st–PCL American South, 6.5 games ahead of Albuquerque.
As a quick glance at the MO list below shows, this club remains on fire thanks to some outstanding pitching. The Express went 5-2 during the week and have won 15 of their last 19 games. During the latter stretch, the hurlers have put together a 2.56 ERA. About the only time RR lost during this 19-game stretch is when they ran into a club with even better pitching. Which in the PCL narrows it down to just one team: Nashville. The Sounds were responsible for three of the four losses and all were shutouts.
Maximum Overdrive
RHP Jason Hirsh. After his outing Friday night in which he tossed six scoreless frames to pick up the win and go 9-2 on the year, Matt’s brother has now put together a string of 24.1 innings without giving up an earned run. Jason has a 1.23 ERA and 1.07 WHIP over his last 12 games (80.2 IP).
RHP Chris Sampson. Another quality start on Wednesday pushes the record to 9-1 and keeps the ERA steady at 2.61.
LHP Mark McLemore. Hasn’t allowed an earned run in the 9.2 innings of work since returning from extended spring training where he was working out the shoulder problem.
RHP Roberto Giron. The career minor leaguer (and it’s a loooooong career, having started back in 1993 in the Blue Jays organization) has started to excel since moving back to the bullpen. The only run “Bob” has allowed in his last 12 appearances came on a solo shot. Over that 20-inning span he’s given up just ten hits with a 17:3 strikeout to walk ratio. He’s collected seven saves during this stretch as he shares the closer duties with Travis Driskill.
RHP Travis Driskill. And speaking of Driskill, he hasn’t been scored on over his last nine appearances (10 IP) while racking up five saves.
RHP Brandon Puffer. The third veteran member of the RR bully on a hot streak has surrendered just two runs over his last 14.1 innings (nine games).
Stuck in Neutral
INF Brooks Conrad. Batting just .196 (19-97) over his last 25 games which only six RBIs during that period.
OF Mike Rodriguez. Slumping badly with a .111 BA (6-54) over his last 15 games.
OF Charlton Jimerson. The third member of the “can’t buy a hit” squad is hitting .156 (7-45) over his last 14 contests.
Broke Down/Under Repair
SS Jesse Garcia. On DL with a broken hand that will keep him out until next month.
RHP Zeke Astacio. On DL with an ankle injury.
Among the PCL Leaders
<ul type=”square”><li>OF Luke Scott ranks 1st in longballs (19), 3rd in RBIs (58), 4th in walks (47), 7th in slugging (.563), 7th in OPS (.937) and is tied for 2nd in runs scored (60).
<li>Conrad is tied for 1st in extra-base hits (42).
<li>Jimerson is 3rd in extra-base hits (39), 8th in doubles (19), tied for 5th in triples (5), tied for 5th in home runs (15), and tied for 1st in SBs (23).
<li>Jimerson’s league-leading strikeout total is now at 119, which is 37 more than any other player in the PCL.
<li>1B Royce Huffman is tied with Conrad for 4th in doubles (23).
<li>Hirsh (2.42), RHP Chris Baker (2.45), and Sampson are 5th, 6th and 8th, respectively, in ERA.
<li>Sampson (0.94), Hirsh (1.19) and Baker (1.21) and are also among the top ten in WHIP.
<li>Hirsh and Sampson are tied for 2nd in wins while Baker is tied for 4th.
<li>Hirsh is 5th in strikeouts (92) but also has the 4th-most walks (44) and the 5th-most plunks (7).
<li>Driskill (11) is 5th in saves and Giron (8) is tied for 6th.
</ul>
Miscellany
<ul type=”square”><li>Hirsh, Scott and Baker have all been selected to play in the AAA All-Star game scheduled for July 12. The game will be televised on ESPN2 beginning at 6:00 PM (CST).
<li>Hirsh will be a busy fellow as far as all-star games go, as this Sunday he will be participating (along with Hunter Pence of the Hooks) as a member of the U.S. squad in the Futures Game. That game will be in Pittsburgh and will also be televised on ESPN2 at 3:00 PM (CST).
<li>After his 131-pitch effort last week, Hirsh was limited to just 92 pitches in his most recent outing.
<li>1B/DH Alan Zinter hit three home runs in the four games he played in during the week.
<li>SS Cody Ransom had a 5-RBI game on Friday.
</ul>
Team Results
8-2, T1st (2nd half)–Texas League South. (49-30, Overall)
When you have five .300 hitters in your lineup and a starting rotation that if it isn’t the best in the Texas League is certainly in the top two, you expect to win a lot of games. And the Hooks are doing just that as the club goes 5-1 on the week. With some of those starting pitchers just now beginning to pitch their best ball of the season, absent callups CC may end up with better second half than first half. Given the .594 winning percentage over the first 2 1/2 months, that would indeed be impressive.
Maximum Overdrive
RHP Mitch Talbot. Has a 1.95 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over his last five games. Mitch notched wins in four of those games. The only game he didn’t pick up a win was one he didn’t start. That was the Clemens’ game in which he came on in relief and pitched three innings to pick up the save.
RHP Chance Douglass. Talbot pitched his best game of the season last week so Douglass decided this week it was his turn and on Wednesday turned in the nine inning shutout. The 5-hitter was accompanied by 10 strikeouts and zero walks. The Amarillo product has a 2.83 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP over his last 15 games.
RHP Matt Albers. Two more wins during the week makes him 5-0 over his last five starts with a 0.96 ERA and 0.91 WHIP during that span. The Clements HS product is now 10-2 for the year with a 1.92 ERA.
RHP Dave Rollandini. The refugee from the Italian professional leagues has yielded just one run over his last 12.1 innings of work (nine games). Actually, if you throw out three of his performances (in which he allowed 14 runs in just 2.2 IP), Rollandini has a 2.13 ERA in the remaining 25 games out of the bullpen for the Hooks this season.
C/1B J.R. House. Has a .358 BA (19-53) over his last 14 games, which isn’t that striking if you consider his BA for the season is .348. But what is impressive is the fact he’s driven in 16 runs during that stretch (accompanied by the four longballs).
House finished June having thrown out 6 of 26 attempted basestealers during the month (23%). That’s certainly a step up from May when he threw out just 3 of 31 (less than 10%).
OF Jorge Cortes. Chuggin’ along with an on-base streak that stands at 50 games and a hitting streak sitting on 27 games. The 25-year old Colombian is batting .383 (41-107) during the hit string and .364 (84-231) over his last 61 games.
SS Ben Zobrist. Has hits in 16 of his last 18 games, pasting the ball at a .422 clip (27-64) during that period. We’ll also note that he has a 7-game hitting streak, has drawn 12 walks over his last 8 games and has struck out just once in his last 33 at-bats. The 25-year old switch-hitter is currently .339/.448/.483 on the year with an impressive 52 walks versus 42 strikeouts.
Stuck in Neutral
Nobody we’d care to discuss.
Broke Down/Under Repair
LHP Josh Muecke. Back on the DL, this time with what is being termed as stiffness in his pitching shoulder.
Among the Texas League Leaders
<ul type=”square”><li>House, Zobrist, and Cortes (.327) are still running 1-2-3 in batting average while OF Josh Anderson (.308) is 9th.
<li>OF Hunter Pence is in homers with 20 while INF Josh Bonifay is 8th with 12.
<li>Pence (.560) and House (.519) remain 3rd and 7th, respectively, in slugging.
<li>House (.919), Pence (.913), and Zobrist (.897) are 5th, 9th and 10th, respectively, in OPS.
<li>Pence is 1st in RBIs with 62 while House is tied for 4th with 57 and Bonifay is 10th with 47.
<li>Zobrist is tied for 3rd with 25 doubles while Cortes is tied for 10th with 22.
<li>Pence (59), Zobrist (56), Anderson (53), and House (51) are all in the top ten in runs scored.
<li>Zobrist is 1st in walks and OBP.
<li>House is 7th in OBP at .403 while Cortes is 8th at .399.
<li>Anderson is 2nd in steals with 22 but has also been thrown out 9 times.
<li>Albers leads the league in ERA by half a run over his nearest competitor.
<li>Joining Albers are Douglass (3.48), Gutierrez (3.51), RHP Josh Miller (3.55), and Talbot (3.61) to give CC pitchers five of the top 11 spots in ERA. Wow!
<li>Douglass (1.18) edges Albers (1.19) for the top spot in WHIP.
<li>Guti (95) is 2nd in strikeouts while RHP Paul Estrada (94) is 3rd, Talbot (81) is 6th, Albers (79) is 7th, and Miller (71) is 9th.
<li>Albers tops the TL in wins.
</ul>
Miscellany
<ul type=”square”><li>Those hitting and on-base streaks for Cortes are the longest in minor league baseball this season.
<li>2B Jonny Ash had his 40-game on-base streak snapped on Saturday night. Only Cortes’ streak was longer in the minor leagues this year.
<li>After losing the first two games played between the two teams this season, CC then ripped off 13 straight wins against Midland until seeing the streak broken Saturday night. The RockHounds are now 3-14 versus the Hooks this year but 38-25 against the rest of the league.
<li>3B Mark Saccomanno has nine errors in just 25 games, though most of those (seven) came in the first two weeks after coming off the DL.
</ul>
Team Results
4-6, 4th (2nd Half)–Carolina League Southern. (36-44, Overall)
The Avalanche have quickly fallen into the basement of the Southern division, their favorite haunt during the season’s first half, and a familiar reason for their ineptitude is a lack of offense. Salem scored just eight runs in four games during the shortened week as a result of the all-star game. The only win was a 1-0 blanking on Sunday of the Wilmington Blue Rocks by Troy Patton and a couple of relievers.
Maximum Overdrive
LHP Troy Patton. 3-0 over his last three starts, allowing just three runs on only 12 hits and three walks in 18 IP during that span. Has got his ERA for the year down to 3.39 but his WHIP of 1.35 remains a bit high as a result of those earlier control problems.
RHP Ronnie Martinez. Has a 1.32 ERA over his last five starts (34 IP) but has just a 2-3 record to show for it due to the anemic Avalanche offense.
LHP Enyelbert Soto. Two more scoreless innings during the week lowers his ERA to 1.33 over his last 20 games (27 IP).
Stuck in Neutral
C Lou Santangelo. A deep bruise on the leg limited Lou to just three ABs during the week and he whiffed all three times. Batting just .073 (3-41) over his last 13 games with only one RBI. His BA for the season has fallen to .225.
Broke Down/Under Repair
3B Billy Hart. On DL with a broken wrist.
Among the Carolina League Leaders
<ul type=”square”><li>OF Beau Torbert is still 2nd in batting average at .321.
<li>OF Francisco Caraballo and 1B/3B/DH Neil Sellers and both tied for 1st in doubles with 21 while Torber is 4th with 20. SS Edwin Maysonet is tied for 6th with 19.
<li>2B Drew Sutton (9) and Santangelo (8) remain 9th and 10th in the longball category.
<li>Sutton is 5th in walks with 45.
<li>Santangelo (3rd at 78), Caraballo (7th at 72) and OF Ervin Alcantara (8th at 70) continue among the whiff leaders.
<li>RHP Chad Reineke is 6th with a 2.76 ERA and tied for 3rd with a 1.11 WHIP.
<li>Reineke, Patton and RHP Jimmy Barthmaier are 2nd, 3rd and 8th, respectively, in strikeouts.
<li>RHP Rodrigo Escobar has a league-leading 16 saves.
<li>Barthmaier (41) has issued the 2nd-most walks while RHP Felipe Paulino (34) has issued the 9th-most.
<li>Paulino has given up the 7th-most gopher balls.
</ul>
Miscellany
<ul type=”square”><li>Santangelo was co-champion of the home run derby at the Carolina League/California League All-Star game.
<li>Reineke pitched a scoreless inning in the All-Star game and picked up the win while Escobar notched the save. Torbert nearly claimed the MVP award with a couple of hits and a couple of RBIs in the game.
<li>Torbert had a heckuva game on Thursday versus Winston-Salem. He threw out two runners at second base while going 3-5 at the plate, with a double and a stolen base (#12).
<li>Speaking of throwing out runners, Caraballo has thrown out six of ’em this season while Alcantara leads the Carolina League with 10 runners nailed.
<li>The Avalanche are dead last in the Carolina League in runs scored.
</ul>
Team Results
3-8, 8th (2nd half)–SAL Northern. (47-33, Overall)
The offense utterly disappeared over the last four games as the Legends were shut out twice and scored a grand total of three runs. Naturally, all four games resulted in losses for the boys from Lex.
Maximum Overdrive
RHP Tip Fairchild. Just keeps truckin’ along with amazing consistency and now has a 1.42 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over his last 13 games. The K/W ratio is currently 90:18 in 101.2 IP for the season.
RHP Garrett Murdy. Has a 1.07 ERA and an 0.98 WHIP over his last nine appearances.
RHP Brad James. J.R. Towles’ teammate at North Central Texas College has allowed just 3 earned runs over his last 19 innings.
RHP German Melendez. Continues to impress with a 1.05 ERA and 0.66 WHIP in 17 games out of the bullpen. He’s got a 34:6 K/W ratio in 25.2 innings of work. Currently has a streak of 8.2 innings (6 games) without giving up a run.
Stuck in Neutral
C J.R. Towles. Continues to slump with a .137 BA (7-51) over his last 17 games.
Broke Down/Under Repair
LHP Brian Bogusevic. Well it ain’t gonna blow your socks off but Bogey’s third rehab appearance for Tri-City Saturday night was we suppose a tad encouraging (5 IP 3 H 4 R 2 ER 2 W 3 K). It’s not known how many more starts he’ll make for TRC before returning to Lexington.
SS Tommy Manzella. On DL with an ankle sprain.
RHP Brandon Stricklen. On DL with an undisclosed injury.
Among the SAL Leaders
<ul type=”square”>
<li>Batting average: 1B Ole Sheldon is 5th in BA at .328.
<li>OBP: Sheldon ranks 5th here as well at .436.
<li>Slugging: Towles (.520) is 7th.
<li>OPS: Sheldon (.926) and Towles (.896) are 7th and 9th, respectively.
<li>Doubles: Sheldon is 2nd with 27.
<li>RBIs: OF Eli Iorg is tied for 9th with 48.
<li>ERA: Fairchild is 1st at 1.68 while RHP Raymar Diaz is 9th at 2.70.
<li>WHIP: Fairchild is tied for 2nd at 1.01.
<li>Strikeouts: Fairchild is tied for 6th with 90.
<li>Wins: Fairchild is still numero uno.
<li>Saves: Stricklen is tied for 8th with nine.
</ul>
Miscellany
<ul type=”square”><li>RHP Levi Romero went just one inning in Monday’s start, having to leave the game after being hit on the hand by a line drive. He came back and made his next start on Saturday.
<li>Reliever Sammy Gervacio gave up a grand slam on Friday night (only one run was charged to his account) and has now given up runs in each of his last three outings.
</ul>
Team Results
7-6, 2nd–NYP Stedler.
The ValleyCats started out scorching the ball at such a pace they were even drawing an accolade or two from opposing managers. TRC scored 52 runs over the first eight games on the way to a 5-3 record. But then a three game span (including a 12-inning affair) saw the V-Cats score just three runs and not surprisingly they lost all three. Tri-City bounced back a bit offensively the last two games and won both. Despite the mostly good hitting, the NY-Penn League team did not hit a longball until game #13.
Maximum Overdrive
OF Jordon Parraz. Perhaps it’s an overstatement to call this a make or break season for Mr. Parraz, but the pressure is on for someone who finds himself in his third season in SS ball. After batting just .262 last year for the V-Cats (and .244 the season before that at Greeneville), the 21-year old former third-rounder is hitting well in the very early going with .395/.511/.526 numbers.
SS Tim Torres. The Oral Roberts-ex has hits in all 12 games he’s played in and is currently at .391/.400/.543. He leads the club with 11 ribbies and is 4-4 in steals. This year’s 23rd-round pick hit .315 as a senior this past season for ORU.
Stuck in Neutral
Nobody we’d care to discuss.
Quoting
The Lowell Spinners’ manager talking about the V-Cats:
“They have some good hitters over there,” noted (Bruce) Crabbe. “I like the way they swing the bats.”
Team Results
6-6, 3rd–Appy West.
With an early lineup that included C Ralphie Henriquez (who hit .215 last year for Greeneville with just one dinger) at times as the cleanup hitter, one wasn’t expecting a whole lotta runs out of the ‘lil stros. And initially that held to form as the Appy League club scored just 10 runs in its first four games. But the offense suddenly clicked at that point and the Astros have averaged 5.9 runs per game over the last seven contests (entering Sunday play). We’re still a bit skeptical of the run-scoring ability of this team but are crossing various portions of our anatomy in the hope the recent offensive surge isn’t just smoke and mirrors.
Maximum Overdrive
OF Allen Langdon. Drafted in the 10th round last year out of HS in Idaho, an injury pretty much put a damper on the lefty swinger’s first pro season as he batted just .162 in 11 games for the G-Astros. This year he’s healthy and creaming the ball at a .440 clip (11-25) in the early going. The kid does have some pop with a double, triple and homer among his early hits and is showing a good eye with six walks versus six strikeouts. Currently has an 8-game hit streak.
Stuck in Neutral
SS Timmy Johnson. Last year’s 7th-rounder really struggled at the plate in ’05 as he batted just .192/.250/.298. Those first season performances are easily discounted but the plate problems are continuing in the high-schooler’s second go-around with the G-Astros as he’s off to a 2-20 start. Has made two miscues in the field in the five games since that opening-night five-error horror show.
Miscellany
<ul type=”square”><li>At least in the early going, Henriquez is demonstrating some new-found pop (and the reason why he’s batting in the middle of the order) as six of his 10 hits have gone for extra bases and he leads the G-Astros with nine RBIs.
<li>3B Brandon Caipen has six errors in nine games played at the hot corner. Pretty easily explained as the the 28th-rounder out of Youngstown State hasn’t seen action at third base since high school.
</ul>