Minor League Highlights for Friday, April 18
Tucson 3, Tacoma 0. The Rainiers failed to get anything going off three Sidewinders, mustering just two singles on the way to being shut out. Mickey Lopez, spending time at shortstop, and 1B Andy Barkett provided the two hits for the Rainiers, while LHP Craig Anderson was the hard luck loser. He finally had his command and held Tucson to just 3 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings of work. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out one, allowing only 5 hits. Jeff Heaverlo takes the mound for the Rainiers today.
San Antonio 6, Midland 4.
1B A.J. Zapp hit his organization leading 5th home run of the year as part of his 3-4 evening, scoring twice and driving in two runs. Zapp now has more hom runs than the rest of his teammates combined (3), and as many as the entire Inland Empire team. 3B Justin Leone also drove in a pair of runs and SS Jose Lopez scored twice, providing the necessary offense. RHP Chris Wright got the start and struggled again, allowing 4 runs in 4 2/3 innings. Justin Lamber picked up the win in relief with 2 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out three on the way. Jared Hoerman earned his second save with a perfect 9th inning. Travis Blackley squares off today against John Rheinecker in a battle of young southpaws who are among the best prospects in their organizations.
Inland Empire 6, Rancho Cucamonga 1.
2B Ismael Castro had a pair of hits and runs scored and 3B Hunter Brown hit his first home run of the year to lead the 66’ers offense. OF Shin-Soo Choo is slowly raising his average, bringing it to .195 with a 1-4 evening, though he did score and drive in a run. RHP Jared Thomas started and got the win with six brilliant innings, allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out five. LHP Troy Cate made a rare appearance out of the bullpen to get some work in, pitching a scoreless inning, and LHP Ryan Ketchner finished the game with two more solid innings of work, racking up three strikeouts. He now has a sparking 2/18 walk-strikeout ratio in 11 1/3 innings of work. He’s doing it all without the ability to hear. If anyone ever starts a Ryan Ketchner fan club, consider me a charter member. Cha Sueng Baek takes the hill for Inland Empire today.
Beloit 9, Wisconsin 2. Doubleheader Game 1.
LHP Bobby Livingston took the loss with a rough start, allowing all 9 runs (only 5 earned) in 4 innings of work. He gave up eight hits, walked one, and struck out four. David Morrow tossed two scoreless innings of relief, but the offense wasn’t able to overcome the early deficit. OF Dustin Delucchi, who spent last season in the Independant Leagues, got two hits, as did C Rene Rivera, who has brought his average up to .286. Jon Nelson added his fourth double of the year, continuing to show the power that has the Mariners hopeful he’ll eventually learn the strike zone well enough to be an effective hitter. His 2/15 walk-strikeout rate in 52 at-bats so far isn’t encouraging, however.
Wisconsin 5, Beloit 1. Doubleheader Game 2.
The Timber Rattlers salvaged the second game of the doubleheader behind RHP Rich Dorman, who pitched the first 4 2/3 innings allowing only one unearned run despite giving up ten baserunners. Dorman’s ERA now stands at 0.68 for the season. Oscar Delgado got the win in relief and finished the game by tossing 2 1/3 shutout innings. OF Gary Harris provided the offense with 2 hits, including a triple, and Dustin Delucchi scored twice despite not getting a hit (he drew 3 walks). SS Michael Garciaparra went 0-3 to bring his season line to .143/.217/.238. It will be interesting to see how long the M’s let him struggle in Wisconsin before deciding if he’d be better off spending the summer in Everett. Tom Fulmer takes the hill for the T-Rats today.
And more Meche. I know neither of you guys listen to KJR all that much — and for two different reasons, I understand — but the Meche hype after yesterday’s game is starting to build to insane levels. It’s only three starts, people! And only one of those starts was good! And even if he continues to pitch well, there’s still a chance that at any moment, his arm could fall off. You almost have to take the Edgar approach here: it’s great to see him do well, but counting on him for a full season is unreasonable. If it were up to me, which it isn’t, I’d still sign Chuck Finley.
Minor League Highlights for Thursday, April 17
Tacoma 4, Tucson 3. The Rainiers won despite trailing 3-0 in the 5th inning, and scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. 3B Luis Figueroa, who led all M’s minor leaguers in batting average last season, was four-for-four with a double to raise his average to .341 on the year. Starter RHP Brian Falkenborg pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) but left when the game was tied so he didn’t get the win. Instead, LHP Tim Hamulack pitched a scoreless 9th (1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) to pick up his first victory of the season. SS Mickey Lopez and 1B Andy Barkett each had two hits for Tacoma, and RHP worked two scoreless innings (2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) in relief of Falkenborg.
Midland 7, San Antonio 5. RHP Clint Nageotte, who walked five batters in his last start but came away unscathed, was simply roughed up this time around and lasted just 3 1/3 innings (5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K). He also threw two wild pitches. Reliever RHP Enmanuel Ulloa, who took the loss, was also battered around (1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K). Offensively, the Missions got homers from 1B AJ Zapp and C Scott Maynard. Maynard has been getting the vast majority of the time behind the plate as prospect (and projected starter) Ryan Christianson remains on the disabled list.
Inland Empire 3, Rancho Cucamonga 2. Offense continues to be a problem for the 66ers, as they’ve scored just seven runs in their past three games, but they picked up another win thanks to strong pitching. RHP Juan Done, who spent last season at Wisconsin, worked 6 2/3 innings (5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) but wasn’t around to pick up the win as his team scored two in the bottom of the ninth to win. LF Shin-soo Choo hit his second homer of the year, but his line on the season is a paltry .189/.318/.432. Still, those OBP and SLG numbers aren’t bad for a guy hitting .189 — four of his seven hits this year have gone for extra bases, and he’s drawn five walks against 37 at-bats.
Beloit 8, Wisconsin 4. The Timber Rattlers managed to hold super prosect 1B Prince Fielder to an 0-for-4 night at the plate, but apparently forgot about his teammates, allowing them to score six times in the first four innings. Starter RHP Tanner Watson lasted just 3+ innings (7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3, BB), though LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith kept the game relatively close with a solid relief appearance (4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K). Watson’s ERA is now 7.71 compared to Rowland-Smith’s 1.93 mark, so it could be just a matter of time before the former loses his starting job to the latter. LF David Delucchi had two of Wisconsin’s seven hits.
Please excuse the delay in today’s Minor League Highlights. The wife and I are moving this weekend, so I spent the morning (“between 8am and noon”) sitting in the new apartment waiting for the cable guy to come by, despite the fact that there really was no good reason for him to come in the first place. Yeah, like I couldn’t have plugged in the damned cable modem myself and hit the power switch. I swear, next time I move I’m just going to find the magic box in the parking garage and hook the cable up myself, consequences be damned.
Another thing about Meche — boy, the camera sure does love him, doesn’t it? They almost swing towards him in unison, with little cartoon love bubbles floating over the lens.
Nice start for Meche. This is the kind of encouraging outing that people will cling to as his “potential” even when he’s getting bombed in future starts. He’s going to be wildly inconsistent, but Safeco will likely keep his overall numbers moderately respectable.
Random stats that may or may not mean anything:
Randy Winn is 4 for his last 26 with no extra base hits.
Carlos Guillen has played 13 games, and 11 times failed to draw a walk. He’s drawn 5 in the other two.
The last time Arthur Rhodes gave up a run was September 11th, 2002. That was 16 appearances ago.
The Mariners have played 16 games. Greg Colbrunn has played in three of them.
Ryan Drese threw 136 pitches for the Rangers tonight. Ouch.
In-game update: Gil Meche is cruising so far, with five strikeouts through four innings, and he’s been getting ahead of almost every hitter.
This doesn’t have anything to do with the M’s, but I just have to pass it along because it’s a freaking riot. Jose Canseco, on his website JoseCanseco.com, is auctioning off a chance to spend the afternoon with him at his home in Florida (full story from ESPN.com). Possible activities for you and Jose include power hitting instruction, martial arts instruction, a workout and a cookout by the pool. Strangely, there’s no mention of instruction on playing fly balls off your head, how to take steroids, how to start a nightclub brawl, or how to piss away a once-promising career. But for the right price, I’m sure anything is possible. Minimum bid is $2,500. Good luck and good bidding!
Minor League Highlights for Wednesday, April 16
Tacoma 5, Tucson 2. 3B Chad Tracy, a pretty good Diamondbacks prospect, had three hits for Tucson to raise his season average to a robust .443, but the Rainiers managed to shut the rest of the team down to pick up the win. RHP Ken Cloude worked the first five (5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 BB), followed by fellow RHPs Allan Simpson (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) and Aaron Looper (2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K). Simpson was credited with his first win of the year. Offensively, the Rainiers were led by recent signee SS Mickey Lopez, who had three hits in four at-bats including a double. Lopez scored once, drove in one and also stole his first base of the year.
El Paso 7, San Antonio 2. No slugfest this time, as three El Paso pitchers combined to limit the Missions to just eight baserunners in the game. Three of those were C Scott Maynard, who went three-for-three with two runs scored. LHP Bobby Madritsch, signed by the Mariners out of the independent Northern League this winter, was roughed up in his second start of the year (4 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K), while reliever RHP Josue Matos (2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) was equally ineffective.
Inland Empire 2, Lancaster 1. The 66ers scored just two runs for the second consecutive game, but it was enough for a victory thanks to strong pitching. Starter RHP Glenn Bott wasn’t around to pick up the win, but pitched well in his five innings (2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and now has a 2.25 ERA on the season. LHP Troy Cate had been scheduled to start, but was not available because — you’ll never guess — his wife went into labor. Pineiro, Rhodes, Carrara, Moyer, Cate… pitchers in the M’s organization are nothing if not fertile! 1B Jason Van Meetren and C Luis Oliveros each had two hits for the Inland Empire, and RHP Mike Steele worked the final 1 1/3 (1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) to pick up his third save.
Beloit 5, Wisconsin 4. The Timber Rattlers lost yet another close game, in a contest which featured awful weather conditions. Temperature at game time was a crisp 45 degrees with a 35 MPH wind making things ever colder. Brrr. 1B Jon Nelson, who homered on Tuesday, went three-for-five with a double, raising his season line to .325/.349/.550 and C Rene Rivera had two hits in four trips. Thus far Rivera appears to be holding his own at age 19 against older competition. Starter RHP Juan Sandoval was roughed up in his 4 1/3 innings of work (6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), though the bullpen pitched well (3 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) after his departure.
So, when do we start to worry about Bob Melvin’s ability to identify a good hitter from a lousy one? With Tim Hudson rolling and the Mariners in need of a rally in the eighth, he sends John Mabry up to pinch hit for Dan Wilson. Mabry’s the left-handed bat on the bench, so this is the by-the-book response. Unfortunately, its also stupid.
Greg Colbrunn, 2000-2002, vs right-handers: .317/.398/.531. Thats in 309 at-bats. It includes 36 extra base hits. The last three years, Colbrunn has hit right-handers almost exactly the same as Edgar Martinez (.309/.413/.534). Would you consider sending John Mabry to the plate to pinch-hit for Martinez just to get the left-right matchup? Of course not.
Over the same time period, Mabry has hit .257/.316/.457 vs right-handers.
Melvin wasn’t saving Colbrunn for a spot where he might need him to get a hit off a left-hander. Foulke, who is right-handed, was going to pitch the 9th if Hudson didn’t. There was no threat of a left-hander coming into the game. He certainly wasn’t saving Colbrunn as a pinch hitter for someone in the 9th, considering Ichiro, Winn, and Boone were due up with Martinez to follow.
For some reason, Bob Melvin looked at his bench and decided his best chance to start a rally was with John Mabry and not Greg Colbrunn. Frankly, that simply is a bad decision, and its one that has been made too many times this year.