Lexington
Friday Night, the Legends built a lead 6-3 lead off the continued power surge of Colin Delome who hit his 6th homer this season and Steve Brown who hit his third of the season. Hickory came back with 5 in the 8th of Fernando Abad. Abad had been very effective in his first 5 outings this season allowing only one earned run in 11 innings before allowing 5 runs in the 8th last night. The Legends lost 8-6.
Saturday, the Legends were rained out.
Sunday, the Legends split the double header. The opener was an ugly 10- 9 come from behind win. Leandro Cespedes have up 8 runs but only 2 were earned. Due to the extra work caused by 3 consecutive errors, he only lasted into the 3rd inning where he faced 6 batters. After 3 it was 9-4. The bullpen held and the offense responded with 4 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th for the 10-9 win. Colin Delome hit his 4th homer in 4 games. He now leads the Sally League with 7 round trippers.
In game 2, the Legends found themselves in a 4-0 hole after 2 innings and couldn’t dig out. The final was a 6-2 loss. Delome went hitless ending his 9 game hitting streak.
The Legends are off on Monday.
Salem
Friday night, Salem pitches go hit hard in an 11-2 loss.
“It was brutal,” Salem catcher Koby Clemens said. “It was just tough. Guys had trouble locating their pitches tonight and they [Lynchburg] took advantage of hitters’ counts.”
Clemens, in his first season as a catcher, tried to shoulder some of the blame.
“I was talking to [pitching coach] Gary Ruby about it tonight,” Clemens said. “I felt like sometimes I don’t know what [pitches] to call. It seemed like whatever I’d throw down, they were hitting it. I feel like a video game player, I’m calling for the pitches.”
But Pankovits said the pitchers have the ultimate control.
“The pitcher has the ball, they have the ability to shake [off] any pitch,” Pankovits said. “And most of the time, when they shake, it isn’t a very good idea.
“It’s called taking responsibility.”
Also in Friday’s paper, there is a story on Osvaldo Fernando’s transition from player to coach.
“He understands the game,” said Astros’ farm director Ricky Bennett. “He has very good communications skills; he’s bilingual. He has all the intangibles.
“His presence helps out not just the Latin players, but all of the players.”
“And he throws good batting practice,” added Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits, who is out from throwing BP himself until he is fully recovered from offseason shoulder surgery.
Saturday, Salem committed 3 errors and left seven runners on base in the 4-3 loss. The three errors pushed the Avs total to 21 in 15 games that have resulted in 12 unearned runs.
“It’s definitely been pretty much a collective effort. We certainly work on it; we certainly emphasize it,” Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said. “We’ve had pretty good defensive teams in the past couple of years, and that’s a big reason why we’ve been successful in the past.”
David Qualben got the start and didn’t make it through the 5th allowing 8 hits. He did have a signature pick off. Jordan Parraz was the most effective Av at the plate, going 3-5 with a triple short of the cycle.
Sunday, Polin Trinidad continued his impressive start to the 2008 season, prompting his manager to ask, “How long will he be here?” and give some rare praise.
“He does everything you ask,” said Pankovits, not a noted overpraiser of pitchers. “He’s aggressive. He has a great feel for how to pitch a game. He knows when to change speeds, he knows how to locate, he knows when to pitch around somebody.”….”He doesn’t throw 93 or 94, his breaking ball doesn’t break a foot, he doesn’t have devastating stuff,” Pankovits said. “But he knows how to win. Knock on wood, he’s as good as I’ve had here.”
The Av’s got lucky with a blown call by an umpire gave Koby Clemens credit for a home run on a ball that was obviously foul.
“Yeah, I think they missed it,” Pankovits admitted after the game. “But they’re human. That ball was a rocket and it had a lot of hook to it.”
The Avalanche’s scoring was capped by an unusual play where Jordan Parraz scored from first on a blooper by Clemens.
The second baseman was covering the bag, and the right fielder was too deep to get to the ball. By the time the ball was even picked up, Parraz was dashing home.
Corpus Christi
Friday, the Hooks could get the big hit when they needed it in their 5-2 loss.
“We had plenty of chances, we just couldn’t get those breaks,” Hooks outfielder Mitch Einertson said. “We hit a lot of balls hard that were stopped in those situations. Sometimes, that’s just how that works and other times we get those breaks. (This) just wasn’t one of those nights.
“The main thing is that everybody’s swing seems to be coming through and everybody is getting hits as the season’s going on. It’s just one of those nights and I’m sure we’ll come out (tonight) and get them.”
Chris Johnson returned to the line up going 1-4 and making a nice defensive play as well.
Saturday, Corpus Christi got crushed 15-5.
“We got whipped,” Hooks manager Luis Pujols said. “This was one of those games that happen every year. I just talked to all the pitchers and told them that I appreciated what they did because it was a tough night.
“But I also reminded them that they pitched well for 14 games, and (this) is going to happen once in a while. They just need to keep their heads up and keep pitching well. … You just hope the team goes home, doesn’t do anything crazy and regroups (today).
Sunday, the Hooks salvaged one win for the weekend. Brad James got plenty of run support starting with a 5 run first inning.
“Brad always gives us a quality outing,” Manzella said. “We’re going to get a lot of ground balls and that’s what you need at this field. To come out and jump on them early really put the pressure on them and we just leaned on (James) the rest of the game.”
Round Rock
Friday, the Express 9th inning rally fell short in their 6-4 loss. Mark Saccomanno lead the Express hitters going 3-5 with a triple.
Saturday, Round Rock also left seven runners on base in their 4-2 loss.
“It goes back to the basics,” Express manager Dave Clark said. “When you get a guy on base you’ve got to find a way to get him over. You can’t be striking out as much as we’ve been doing at the plate.
“Right now the bats are quiet, and I’m waiting for the bats to wake up. Hopefully I won’t be waiting much longer.”
Sunday, the Express got a strong outing from Chad Reineke but it wasn’t enough as Memphis scored a tie breaking run in the 9th to win 3-2.
“He came out on a mission to prove that he could go deep and he did today,” said Round Rock manager Dave Clark. “I felt that he was on top of his game today.”
Marc Saccamonno accounted for the Express runs with a 417 foot, 2 run homer in the 8th.
Transactions: The Astros announced that Tim Byrdak will be called up to take Wandy Rodriguez’s place on the roster with Wandy going on the DL. They also said that Jack Cassell will be called up later in the week to start in Wandy’s spot.