Astros Affiliates Playoff Schedule and Results

[OregonStrosFan]

A handy-dandy breakdown of Astros Affiliates playoffs scheduling courtesy of Jayne at WTHB.  LINK

[OregonStrosFan]

G-Stros lose 1st game in the best of 3 championship series 5-3.

Walter strikes out the side in T9 for the River Bandits to give Quad Cities the 2-1 win!  QC with 6 hits in the game - 3 by Correa, 2 by Ruiz, and the other by Teoscar Hernandez.

[OregonStrosFan]

OKC loses 3-1 to go down 1-0 in best of 5 series against Omaha.

[OregonStrosFan]

Duffy with a sac fly walk-off scoring Domingo Santana. Hooks win 2-1 and go up 1-0 on the series against the Missions!

[OregonStrosFan]

And pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but if not you should definitely check out https://twitter.com/QCBanditPhotog Quad Cities River Bandit's photos on Twitter. Phenominal.  For example, check out this this pic of Danry Vasquez.

[jbm]

Thanks for the heads up.  Those are great photos. 

I know Kemp is not that small, but in one of the photos (a fantastic one by the way), he looks five feet tall. 

[VirtualBob]

+1

[Nate in IA]

I am at the Kernels/River Bandits game tonight and on the roster handed out at the game both Appel and McCullers are listed as TI.  Any idea?  Temporarily Inactive?

[OregonStrosFan]

I am at the Kernels/River Bandits game tonight and on the roster handed out at the game both Appel and McCullers are listed as TI.  Any idea?  Temporarily Inactive?

Temporarily Inactive. Both have been shut down for the remainder of the season (per Luhnow, no health issues just inning limits).  BTW, have a blast at the game!

[OregonStrosFan]

If you're trying to follow along on Twitter, seems a lot of folks are posting game happenings with an #AstrosMiLBPlayoffs hashtag.

[Nate in IA]

Temporarily Inactive. Both have been shut down for the remainder of the season (per Luhnow, no health issues just inning limits).  BTW, have a blast at the game!

Thanks.  Thought it might have been something like that.  It's 1-0 Kernels through 1 on a home run by the leadoff hitter.   The Kernels pitcher is a sneaky right hander.  Struck out the first three Bandits throwing no faster than 86 and down to 73 with the offspeed stuff.

[Nate in IA]

1-1 after 1.5.  Walk by Ruiz, double by Pena that the left fielder couldn't field cleanly.

[Nate in IA]

Bustin' it open in the 4th.  3 runs highlighted by a Ruiz home run.  4-1 Bandits mid 4th.

[Nate in IA]

Osborne on to pitch the 6th and promptly gives up a double down the left field line.  Still 4-1.

[Nate in IA]

Osborne's double comes home on the second out and Christensen is on to pitch.  Man on 3rd, two out.

[Nate in IA]

Christensen got the third out via strikeout.  4-2 Bandits after 6.

[Nate in IA]

Christensen took it through 8 and Walter shut 'em down in the 9th.   River Bandits win the series 2-0.  That home run RIo hit was a no doubter from the sound off the bat.

[Nate in IA]

Sorry to hijack this thread, wasn't sure where to put this.

[OregonStrosFan]

Sorry to hijack this thread, wasn't sure where to put this.

Not a hijack, exactly what this thread was started for!  BTW, you noted the 'no doubter' HR by Ruiz...  Any thoughts on him (or Correa) via your first-hand observations?!?

[Nate in IA]

They both had an error on tough chances.  I was a little far away from home plate to catch details but it looked like Rio might be a little more comfortable in the box than Carlos.  I will say Carlos has a quick bat and I can see why he has that .360 batting average.  Rio was the offensive star of last night's game.  Rio also made a couple of real nice plays at third.  Carlos only had a couple plays total in the field.  I was impressed with Bircher.  After giving up that first inning home run, he settled down nicely.

Clearly only getting to see them for a couple games this year, it's hard to notice overall trends.  Quad Cities gets Beloit for the Western Division Championship 3-game series starting Saturday.  I unfortunately won't be able to make the trip over.

[Reuben]

The Valleycats win Game 1 of the NYPL Division Series (?) 1-0 on a Conrad Gregor homer in the top of the 9th. Gonzalo Sanudo, the mystery man the Astros got in the Kvasnicka trade, closed it out. Michael Feliz went 7, allowing just 3 hits, no walks, and striking out 8.

[Reuben]

OK, I just looked up Sanudo's stats. With the Valleycats, he has yet to allow a run in 13 (now 14) innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 20 K's. Overall this year (3 games at CC, 18 at Greeneville, 9 at TC), he's got a 1.16 ERA in 38 2/3 IP, 19 saves, 20 hits, 4 walks, 2 HR, and 51 K's. He's 21 years old, so not old for the NYPL at least.

Anybody heard anything about what kind of stuff he has?

[Duman]

OK, I just looked up Sanudo's stats. With the Valleycats, he has yet to allow a run in 13 (now 14) innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 20 K's. Overall this year (3 games at CC, 18 at Greeneville, 9 at TC), he's got a 1.16 ERA in 38 2/3 IP, 19 saves, 20 hits, 4 walks, 2 HR, and 51 K's. He's 21 years old, so not old for the NYPL at least.

Anybody heard anything about what kind of stuff he has?

Saw him pitch a few times in Greeneville and can't remember exact stuff but it was impressive.  He was a man among boys here.  His departure from Greeneville left a hole in the bullpen that was never filled.

[Jose Cruz III]

Thanks for this thread, guys.

[Reuben]

Some quick thoughts about the Tri-City game last night.

Kyle Westwood has a Doug Brocail look to him - big, muscular, with glasses, a bushy goatee, and a bit of a glowering disposition on the mound. His FB was consistently clocked at 88 - I never saw more than 88 or 89 - but it's obviously worked for him because he's had fantastic numbers at TC. Mixed in a good amount of offspeed stuff. From our seats behind the 3rd base dugout couldn't see breaking action or horizontal location. Kept it down for the most part, and got a couple inning-ending DPs that kept runs from scoring.

Gonzalo Sanudo closed it out by pitching the last 2 innings. He topped out at 89, and threw something offspeed at about 72. Seemed like he had good deception, good arm speed on the slow stuff, and really good control. Like Westwood, he's dominating this level without a plus fastball.

The team looks like a tight-knit bunch. Chan Moon seems to be the main guy that keeps everyone loose. Sanudo also seems to have a jolly demeanor. Clearly, the pitching carried the team as Gregor and Ramsay were the only hitters approaching decent numbers. Tyler White did OK after coming up from Gville. He also seems a bit miscast at 3B. So I'm not sure if we'll see any of these hitters in Houston someday, but some of the pitchers we presumably will.

[Nate in IA]

Quad Cities River Bandits earned a trip to the Midest League Championships by beating Beloit today 9-5.  
Judging from the box score, it looks like it was a pretty balanced offensive attack with 6 players scoring.
Home runs by Ruiz, Correa, and Hernandez.

They'll take on the South Bend Silver Hawks, a Diamondbacks affiliate, in a best of 5 contest.
First two games will be in South Bend on September 11&12 with games 3,4, and 5 in the Quad Cities on September 14, 15, and 16

I hope to be at one of those games in the Quad Cities..

[Reuben]

So, Lancaster was eliminated last night in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the CAL league semi-finals vs. Inland Empire.

I happened to wake up around 3 am (Eastern), couldn't fall back asleep, and ended up listening to the last couple innings. The Jethawks had loaded the bases with no outs in the 13th and couldn't score (K, 3-2-3 DP). In the bottom of the 14th, DeShields led off with a single, next guy reached, then DDS stole 3rd. Fontana was then intentionally walked to set up the force at home. Cleanup hitter MP Cokinos hits a pop fly into shallow LF where it's caught by the 3rd baseman; DeShields for some reason tags and bolts for home and is easily thrown out for out #2. Next hitter, Aplin, K's to end the inning; once again, 3 on, no out, no runs. Inland Empire promptly scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 15th.

Lancaster PBP guy kept saying how bizarre it was that DDS tried to score on such a shallow ball... and Linares, LAN's manager, must've been pretty pissed, because in the bottom of the 15th DDS's spot came up, with 2 outs and the tying run on 2nd... and he pinch-hit for him with Dan Gulbransen, who flew out to end the series. So, more not-great news in regards to DeShields' maturity and/or feel for the game, and a tough way for Lancaster's season to end.

Meanwhile, the good news is, as mentioned in it's own thread, Tri-City won the NYPL Championship tonight. Also, QC went up 2 games to none in the best-of-5 MW League Championship series. Rio Ruiz had 2 doubles, Borchering hit a HR, and Joe Bircher pitched 5 shutout innings as QC won 5-0.

[Nate in IA]

River Bandits Sweep!   With a 4-2 win at home to clinch it.  Ruiz with the HR

Josh Hader with a fantastic start, pitched 7 strong giving up nothing.  3 hits, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts.

Walter gave up the two runs in the top of the 9th on a single and a bomb but closed it out.

[Reuben]

Did you go, Nate?

[Nate in IA]

Did you go, Nate?

I did not.  I couldn't make though I dearly wish I could have gone.