Team Results
59-35, 1st–PCL American South, 11.5 games ahead of New Orleans.
The Express went 2-2 in the AAA All-Star game-abbreviated week with the highlight (or perhaps lowlight) a Sunday lollapalooza against the 2nd-place Zephyrs. A 6-1 RR lead heading into the bottom of the 8th was blown by the bully (thank you Messers Puffer and Driskill) with NO scoring a 3-spot in that frame and another 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to send it to extra innings. The good guys came up with a couple in the T11th, the Z’s matching with 2 runs of their own. Ditto the results in the 12th, though it was single run each that time. Finally, in the bottom of the 13th New Orleans pushed a run across with two outs via a Ryan Church single to take the win.
Maximum Overdrive
RHP Jason Hirsh. Idle during the week except for his All-Star game activity. So he’s still sitting on a string of 30.1 innings without giving up an earned run. And as noted previously, he has a 1.14 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over his last 13 games (86.2 IP).
RHP Chris Sampson. Make that two starts in a row that the RR bullpen has deprived Mr. Sampson of wins (Puffer and Driskill’s thumbprints were all over that week ago Saturday fiasco as well). Chris put together his usual sterling performance in Sunday’s game versus the Z’s, with just one run allowed over seven frames. That lowered his ERA to 2.55 and his WHIP to 0.96 on the season.
Stuck in Neutral
OF Charlton Jimerson. Flat-lining with a batting average of just .104 (8-77) over his last 24 contests. He was hitless over his last 37 at-bats with 19 whiffs until coming up with a triple in his only at-bat in Sunday’s game.
Broke Down/Under Repair
Nobody.
Among the PCL Leaders
- 2B Brooks Conrad is 1st in extra-base hits (49), 1st in triples (10) and 2nd in doubles (28).
- Jimerson is tied for 4th in extra-base hits (40), tied for 4th in triples (6), tied for 9th in home runs (15), and tied for 3rd in SBs (23).
- Jimerson’s league-leading strikeout total is now at 135, which is a bajillion more than any other player in the PCL. More or less.
- 1B Royce Huffman is tied for 5th in doubles (24) and is 8th in walks (45).
- Hirsh (2.28), Sampson, and RHP Chris Baker (2.51) are 4th, 6th and 8th, respectively, in ERA.
- Sampson, Hirsh (1.14) and Baker (1.23) are 4th, 6th and 9th, respectively, in WHIP.
- Hirsh and Sampson are still tied for 1st in wins (10) while Baker is still tied for 5th (
. - Hirsh remains 4th in strikeouts (99) but also has the 6th-most walks (45) and the 8th-most plunks (7).
- Driskill (12) is still 5th in saves and Roberto Giron (10) is 6th.
Miscellany
- Hirsh gave up a run on 2 hits in one inning of work in the AAA All-Star game on Wednesday while Baker threw a scoreless 2/3 of an inning.
- Did you know? Jimerson was a teammate of Aubrey Huff on that 1998 University of Miami team in which Huff set a Hurricane record for most RBIs in a season with 95. Pat Burrell was also on that squad.
- OF Jason Lane is 6-17 in four games since being sent down.
- INF Cody Ransom has four longballs and nine RBIs over his last four games (prior to Sunday).
Quoting
Assistant GM Ricky Bennett talking about LHP Mark McLemore:
“We think highly of him still, just like before his injury. He has a chance to pitch in the big leagues. The thought process is to sometime get him into our rotation or bullpen. He’s a bright pitcher who should be a productive major league pitcher.”
Team Results
15-9, 1st (2nd half)–Texas League South, 1 game ahead of San Antonio. (56-37, Overall)
The post-TZ world (that would be the banishment of Talbot and Zobrist to the Devil Rays, not the aftermath of Spack getting tired of all the BS and deciding to nuke the website) was not very kind to the Hooks. A 2-5 week for CC, including three one-run losses in a row.
Maximum Overdrive
OF Hunter Pence. Picked up hits in 13 of his last 14 games, batting .382 (21-55) over that stretch.
RHP Chance Douglass. Has a 2.56 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP over his last 18 games, bettering that recently with an 0.94 ERA in his last four starts.
Stuck in Neutral
Nobody we’d care to discuss.
Broke Down/Under Repair
RHP Juan Gutierrez. On DL with a tired arm.
Among the Texas League Leaders
- C J.R. House (.338), 2B Jonny Ash (.323), OF Jorge Cortes (.316) and OF Josh Anderson (.307) are 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th, respectively, in batting average.
- OF Hunter Pence is 2nd in homers with 22 while INF Josh Bonifay is tied for 8th with 13.
- Pence (.567) and House (.494) are 2nd and 10th, respectively, in slugging.
- Pence (.925) is 4th in OPS.
- Pence is 3rd in RBIs with 68 while House is 4th with 63.
- Pence is tied for 5th in triples with 5 and Cortes is tied for 6th in doubles with 25.
- Pence (66) and Anderson (59) remain in the top ten in runs scored.
- House is 7th in OBP at .391 while Cortes is 10th at .385.
- Anderson is 2nd in steals with 29 but has also been thrown out the most times with 12.
- Four Hooks’ pitchers claim spots in the top ten in ERA: Matt Albers (2.31), Douglass (3.09), Gutierrez (3.51), and RHP Josh Miller (4.08).
- Douglass (1.22), Albers (1.27) and Gutierrez (1.34) are 2nd, 5th and 10th, respectively, in WHIP.
- RHP Paul Estrada is 2nd in the TL with 104 strikeouts while Guti (95) and Albers (90) are also in the top ten.
- Albers is atop the leaderboard in wins (10).
- Albers has issued the 6th-most walks (44).
- Estrada is tied for 7th with 7 saves.
Miscellany
- Springfield is definitely not reminiscent of the ’76 Oakland A’s when it comes to stealing bases. They came into Tuesday’s game averaging far less than one steal per game. In 85 ballgames, they’d swiped 59 bases in 86 attempts good for a 69% success rate. But they proceeded to run wild in Tuesday’s game with J.R. House behind the plate. The Cardinals stole seven out of eight bases in the contest. It should be noted that Josh Miller was on the hill for the Hooks for six of the swipes. House, meanwhile, is throwing out 19% of baserunners thus far in July (5 out of 26). That compares to 23% in June (6 out of 26), under 10% in May (3 out of 31) and a definitely atypical 33% in April (9 out of 27).
- RHP Chad Reineke made his Texas League debut with the start on Wednesday. While he didn’t give up any earned runs, he did allow all sorts of traffic with five hits and four walks surrendered in just 3.1 IP.
- And speaking of TL debuts, RHP Ronnie Martinez got the start Friday night and acquitted himself rather well. He gave up three runs in six innings while whiffing seven.
- Zobrist had a 2-run single in his first AB at the AAA level and went 3-6 in his first two games at Durham in the International League, while Talbot threw six shutout innings on Sunday in his debut for Montgomery of the Southern League.
Team Results
11-10, T3rd (2nd Half)–Carolina League Southern, 2.5 games behind Myrtle Beach. (43-48, Overall)
A 2-3 week for the Avalanche as a loss on Monday to Potomac was followed by a split of the 4-game series with Kinston, the runaway winner of the division title in the season’s first half.
Maximum Overdrive
LHP Troy Patton. A win in his performance Friday night (6 IP 5 H 2 R 2 ER 1 W 6 K) makes him 5-0 over his last five starts with a 1.45 ERA and 0.97 WHIP during that stretch.
1B/3B/DH Neil Sellers. Since falling to a season-low .228 on June 6, the Kentucky native is batting .333 (34-102) over his last 31 games. Stepped it up even more recently with a .429 BA (9-21) in his last six games.
Stuck in Neutral
RHP Rodrigo Escobar. The Avalanche closer had a 2.21 ERA through his first 28 games but has put up some ugly, ugly numbers since then. Over his last 8 games, the 23-year old out of Colombia has allowed 13 runs on 20 hits and 10 walks in just 10 IP. So make that an 11.70 ERA and a 3.00 WHIP over that stretch with three blown saves (in six save situations) thrown in for good measure.
Broke Down/Under Repair
C Jeff Mackor. Out with an oblique injury, forcing Lou Santangelo to catch the last 10 games in a row.
SS Edwin Maysonet. Has missed the last six games with a sore back.
3B Billy Hart. Will be activated from DL on Monday after missing five weeks with a broken wrist.
Among the Carolina League Leaders
- OF Beau Torbert is 2nd in batting average at .307.
- OF Francisco Caraballo (26) and Sellers (25) are #1 and #2 in doubles while SS Edwin Maysonet is tied for 8th with 21.
- Santangelo and 2B Drew Sutton are tied for 6th in longballs with 10.
- Santangelo is tied for 3rd with 4 triples.
- Sutton is 4th in walks with 51 and tied for 7th in swipes with 19.
- Caraballo and Santangelo (both tied for 4th with 83) along with OF Ervin Alcantara (10th at 73) continue to whiff with the best…err…worst of ’em.
- Patton is 10th in ERA at 3.12.
- Patton (94) and RHP Jimmy Barthmaier (87) are 2nd and 4th, respectively, in strikeouts.
- Escobar, despite his recent troubles, still leads the league with 17 saves.
- Barthmaier (46) leads the league in walks while Felipe Paulino (41) ranks 7th.
Miscellany
- RHP Tip Fairchild had smooth sailing in his Carolina League debut on Thursday. Well, at least until the 7th inning. After allowing just one run on three hits over the first six frames, Fairchild walked one and was touched for three singles to lead off the seventh. He drew the hook with the one run in, with three more runs scoring after he left. Thus his performance was more impressive than his final pitching line: 6 IP 6 H 5 R 5 ER 2 W 4 K.
Team Results
10-14, 6th (2nd half)–SAL Northern, 6 games behind Lakewood. (54-39, Overall)
A schitzo 3-3 week for the Legends saw a blowout win, a blowout loss, a couple of one-run losses and nearly a couple of one-run wins. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t so much schitzo as just extemely balanced.
Maximum Overdrive
RHP Brad James. Remains on fire with six shutout innings in his start on Wednesday, giving him a 1.08 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over his last six games (33.1 IP).
RHP Raymar Diaz. Now has a 2.24 ERA and 1.14 WHIP over his last 19 games with 95 whiffs in 88.1 IP.
Stuck in Neutral
1B Mark Ori. Batting just .194 (14-72) over his last 17 games. The power and RBIs have also dried up, with just two doubles and six runs driven in over this stretch. The last time he hit a home run was nearly a month ago (June 18, to be exact).
Broke Down/Under Repair
RHP Brandon Stricklen. On DL with an arm problem.
RHP Levi Romero. On DL with triceps tendinitis.
C J.R. Towles. On DL with an injured right knee.
Among the SAL Leaders
- RBIs: OF Eli Iorg comes in 9th with 55.
- ERA: Diaz is 4th at 2.36.
- WHIP: Diaz is 10th at 1.15.
- Strikeouts: Diaz is tied for 5th with 102.
- Saves: Stricklen remains tied for 10th with 9.
Miscellany
- The Legends stole 14 out of 15 bases during the week, an average of 2.3 swipes a games. That’s more than double their SB production on the season entering the week (0.9 swipes per game).
- With the callup of Fairchild and Romero being out of action, LHP Ryan Owens got the spot start on Saturday.
- Former #1 draft pick LHP Brian Bogusevic had arguably his best start of the season on Tuesday (5 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 2 W 5 K). Didn’t build on it though, as he got hit hard for five runs on eight hits and two walks over five innings on Sunday.
- An interesting message your manager must be trying to send if he sends up a seldom-used/hardly-ever-on-the-active-roster backup catcher as a pinch-hitter for you. Such was the case on Sunday, when Mitch Einertson found .104 career hitter David Kady pinch-hitting for him in the 9th inning of an 8-0 blowout by the West Virginia Power. Mitch, consider your ass kicked.
Team Results
16-10, 1st–NYP Stedler, 1.5 games ahead of Oneonta.
The ValleyCats take five of six games during the week and overtake the O-Tigers for the division lead. V-Cat pitchers posted an 0.98 ERA in the five wins, with the starters (2 earned runs in 27 IP) particularly effective.
Maximum Overdrive
LHP Chris Salamida. The 13th-round pick out of D-III Oneonta State has started off his pro career by allowing just two earned runs in 22.1 IP (and just one earnie over his last 16 innings). Was one of five southpaws drafted and signed by the Astros this year. Although he was a draft-eligible sophomore, the 22-year old didn’t get picked in 2005 despite putting up better numbers that season for the Red Dragons than in 2006. A bit of a maturity issue may have caused teams to back away, although his coach says he corrected that this past season which may be why the Astros selected him.
LHP Cory Lapinski. Another impressive outing Saturday night with four scoreless/hitless innings in the game against Batavia. Now has thrown 13.2 straight innings without giving up a run. We mentioned last week that Lapinski last year as a junior led all of D-III with 16 strikeouts per nine innings. What’s even more notable about that is that he was primarily a position player his first two years at Illinois Wesleyan, throwing just three innings combined as a freshman and sophomore. That lack of pitching experience might also explain the control problems he had last year in his first pro season.
LHP David Qualben. After a fine outing Saturday night (6 IP 5 H 1 R 1 ER 1 W 4 K), has given up just 2 runs on 13 hits in his first 24 innings of work as a professional.
RHP Cesar Mayora. Blanking State College for three frames on Thursday gives the 22-year old Venezuelan eight scoreless innings of work for the ValleyCats. He’s allowed just one earned run on 11 hits in 18.2 combined innings this season if you add in his work for Greeneville.
Stuck in Neutral
OF Nick Moresi. We really don’t like to highlight the struggles of a first-year player because those initial season stats are often totally meaningless as the player adapts to life as a professional, a more exhausting schedule, the wood bat, etc. But Moresi has struggled more than most (.173/.259/.267 in 20 games) and his struggles at the plate come on top of a disappointing season hitting-wise at Fresno State. The third-round pick dropped off to .301 as a junior for the Bulldogs after a sophomore campaign in which he hit .356. His ’06 BA might not sound too bad to some but you quickly realize how mediocre it was when you consider that eight of his teammates had higher BAs and that the overall team BA for all seven WAC schools this year was .290. His most recent wood bat experience also has a disappointing downturn associated with it. After putting up credible .265/.366/.487 numbers in the summer of 2004 in the Cape Cod League for Yarmouth-Dennis (btw, that’s the same club Rice OF and Astros draftee Tyler Henley is playing for this summer), Moresi fell off to an abysmal .209/.257/.266 for the same club in the summer of 2005.
It’s been noted that a hamate injury may have had much to do with the poor numbers this past season. He missed five weeks after having surgery on the hand and then spent another month struggling at the plate as he tried to come back quickly. The hamate problem was a recurring one for Moresi and the second time he’d had surgery for it. And we wonder if his poor numbers a year ago in the Cape might have been related. But if you’re asking if the same injury and/or recovery from surgery is causing his laggard numbers at TRC, the answer apparently is no. The 21-year old Californian pronounced himself completely healthy at the time of the draft, and even if you discount that his .375 BA over his final 80 at-bats of the college season would suggest he was recovered.
Definitely a toolsy guy, Nick has drawn comparisons to Drew Stubbs defensively (and one of those making the comparisons was Astros’ draft guru Paul Ricciarini). So is he a good athlete a la Jimerson who’ll always be struggling to put things together at the plate, or a steal for the Astros because the injury masked how good he was? Since we’re optimists at heart, we’ll go with the latter. We just wish the kid had gotten off to a better start offensively to make us feel better about that prediction. His last two games might be a hint of better things to come, as Moresi went 4-9 including a 4-RBI game on Sunday.
Among the NY-P Leaders
- BA: OF Jordan Parraz (.357), INF/OF Cesar Quintero (.333) and INF Eric Taylor (.318) rank 2nd, 5th and 8th, respectively.
- OBP: Parraz is 1st at .460 while Taylor is 10th at .398.
- SLG: Parraz (.512) and Quintero (.444) are both in the top ten.
- OPS: Parraz (.972) and Quintero (.832) again make the top ten.
- Doubles: SS Tim Torres is tied for 3rd with 8, Taylor and INF Jhon Florentino are tied for 5th with 7, and Parraz is tied for 9th with 6.
- RBIs: Florentino (16) is tied for 7th while Torres (15) is tied for 9th.
- ERA: Qualben (0.75) and Salamida (0.81) are 3rd and 4th, respectively.
- WHIP: Qualben is 2nd at 0.71.
- Strikeouts: Reliever and LHP Victor Garate is tied for 4th with 27.
Miscellany
- Lapinski and Lexington’s Ori are both from Niles, Illinois and lived down the street from one another as kids. They were teammates last season with the V-Cats.
- Illinois Wesleyan was also the alma mater of the Red Rooster, Doug Rader.
- Draftees C Max Sapp, 3B Chris Johnson, OF Drew Holder, 1B/OF Jimmy Van Ostrand and Moresi, all of whom might have been expected to provide a little bit of pop for the V-Cats, have combined for just two homers thus far and only 16 extra-base hits overall.
- TRC pitchers have picked off 20 runners in 26 games. Not surprisingly, southpaws have been doing the heavy lifting: Qualben (4), Doug Arguello (4), Lapinski (3), Jake Hurry (3), Salamida (2), and Garate (2).
- The V-Cats remain king on the basepaths, leading the NY-P with 41 SBs (out of 53 attempts, good for a 77% success rate).
Team Results
12-13, 3rd–Appy West, 4 games behind Elizabethton.
A 2-4 week for the G-Astros as shoddy pitching (with one notable exception) and some paltry hitting (again, with a single exception) don’t exactly make for a good combination.
Maximum Overdrive
LHP Polin Trinidad. With two extremely effective performances during the week, the 21-year old Colombian is currently working on a string of 26.2 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run and has been far and away the G-Astros’ most effective pitcher in the early going. He’s repeating the Appy League after an up and down season last year where he was tagged for a .308 BAA but also put up 47:11 strikeout to walk numbers in 50 IP. Last year was his first year stateside after three years in the DSL. Started the first game of the season for TRC this year before being moved back to Greeneville. Was ineffective in that game (four runs on seven hits over four innings), although we doubt that was the reason for his transfer. More than likely the organization intended for him to return to Greeneville all along but had him start that first game since most of the recent draftees at Tri-City had only been working out for a few days and may not have been ready for extended action.
INF Ronald Ramirez. A four-hit game on Sunday gives him a .455 BA (30-66) over his last 17 games with 16 RBIs and 12 extra-base hits during that span.
Stuck in Neutral
SS Timmy Johnson. When last we left our struggling second-year infielder, he had started off the season on a 2-20 pace. Hard to believe but things have actually gotten worse. Try 1-13 with seven strikeouts, dropping him to .091 on the season.
Among the Appy Leaders
- Ramirez is numero uno in batting average (.432), slugging (.676), OPS (1.151) and doubles (10). He’s second in OBP at .475 and tied for third in RBIs with 16.
- 3B Brandon Caipen is 8th in OBP at .416 and tied for 3rd in SBs with 8.
- C Ralphie Henriquez is tied for 5th in RBIs with 15.
- Cheo’s nephew 1B Cirilo Cruz has K’d the most (31) but has also drawn the 3rd-most walks (14).
- Trinidad leads the league in ERA (0.29) and WHIP (0.65). He’s tied for 4th in strikeouts (27).
Miscellany
- OF Allen Langdon has gone hitless in his last 18 trips to the plate, whiffing 10 times in the process.