MVN - Most Valuable Network

Game Recaps (5/16/08)

I’ve been a little scatterbrained lately, so I’ll open with a few news bits I’ve slipped up on. First off, it’s Mock Draft season for baseball fans and we’re starting to see picks from all sort of groups. Baseball America has us taking prep RHP Tim Melville, a pick I don’t really agree with the reasoning of, a ten-day-old mock at Prospect Insider has us taking 1B Yonder Alonso, a solid pick that goes ninth on the BA board, and there’s a group one over at Minor League Ball that presently has us polling to take 1B Ike Davis by a two vote margin over 3B Ethan Martin and 1B David Cooper. Also of minor note, LHP Harold Williams has been released, possibly due to performance, possibly because baseball still wasn’t paying enough to support his family, and RHP Joe Kantakevich hasn’t pitched since May 4th (probably a good thing), while RHP Joe Woerman has been absent since the 8th, along with a few other players (as you’ll see later). On to the near sweep…

Tucson 4 (ARI -16), Tacoma 8
That’s more like it, for the offense, at least. RHP Chris Jakubauskas (2.70, W) went six innings for the win, with four runs (three earned) scoring on four hits and two walks while he struck out three. LHP Cesar Jimenez (5.40) was perfect over the next two frames, ringing up a pair, and then RHP Jon Huber (4.50) allowed two hits and struck out two in the ninth.
2B Tug Hulett (2B, R, 2 RBI, .205) reached four times coming to the plate in this one, with three hits and a walk. The remaining plate appearance resulted in a sacrifice fly. 3B Yung-chi Chen (HR, 2 RBI, .240) also hit his first home run of the season in the bottom half of the first. We haven’t seen Tui around since the 8th of May. LF Jeremy Reed (R, .352) and 1B Bryan Lahair (2B, R, RBI, .271) both had two hits, with Reed drawing a walk, and DH Victor Diaz (2B, R, RBI, SB, .316) and C Rob Johnson (2 R, .246) both had a hit and a walk.

Mobile 5 (ARI - 5), West Tenn 6 (ten innings)
RHP Doug Fister (3.14) was closer to form, getting through six and a third innings and allowing three runs to score on seven hits, a wild pitch, a hit batter, and two walks against six Ks. LHP Jason Mackinotsh (3.71, PO), not so much, as he had two runs (one earned) plate on two hits, a walk, and a K in an inning and two-thirds. RHP Roman Martinez (7.62) allowed a hit and struck out one in the ninth, and RHP Mumba Rivera (1.65, W) ditched the hit and just settled for the strikeout in the tenth.
DH Jon Nelson (2B, R, .302), who had two hits in the game, gets the gameball in this one for doubling and scoring on a botched force out in the tenth. 2B Luis Valbuena (CS, .310), CF Michael Saunders (2B, 2 R, .304), 1B Marshall Hubbard (3B, R, RBI, .360), and SS Mark Kiger (2 RBI, .189) all had two hits as well, with Hubbard and Kiger drawing two walks on top of that. Kiger is running an even 31/31 K/BB right now. Gritty.

High Desert 13, Rancho Cucamonga 5 (ANA - 10)
RHP Ricky Orta (3.90) did better this time around, but he’s still not quite to how he was before he went on the DL, as he went five innings this time and had three runs (one earned) score against him on six hits (HR) and two Ks. RHP Alfredo Venegas (3.86, BS, W) pitched the final four innings, letting two score on six hits while he struck out three.
It was definitely a quality night for the offense, particularly away from home, and they picked up eight of their runs in the final three innings. 1B Leury Bonilla (2 2B, R, 2 RBI, .289) and RF Carlos Peguero (2 2B, R, 3 RBI, .293) both collected three hits in the game. DH James McOwen (3B, 3 R, 2 RBI, .283), SS Chris Minaker (2 2B, 2 R, RBI, .278), and CF Greg Halman (3B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, SB, .271) all had two hits, with Halman additionally drawing a walk. Halman’s May line is now .286/.352/.694, with four walks against eighteen Ks in 49 at-bats. His K-rate hasn’t come down any since April, in fact, it’s only climbed, so he’s riding a hot streak right now and we’ll have to enjoy it while it lasts. 3B Matt Mangini (2B, 2 R, E, .250) and LF Kuo-hui Lo (2 R, 2 SB, .217) both had a hit and a walk. Scott also made it into the lineup, for the first time since May 8th, and drew a walk.

Kane County 6 (OAK + 8), Wisconsin 8
LHP Edward Paredes (5.12, W) has won his past two starts, breaking even on his record at 3-3. This time around, he went five and a third innings and allowed three runs to score on five hits (HR), two walks, and five strikeouts. LHP Travis Mortimore (0.68) would walk one and strike out two in an inning and two-thirds of relief following him. RHP Ryan Moorer (2.51) walked just one in his inning of work, but LHP Walter Suriel (13.50) would again run into trouble, giving the Cougars three more runs on four hits (HR) while striking out a batter for the only out he recorded. LHP Jose Escalona (6.75) and RHP Justin Souza (4.24) would split the final two outs, with Escalona walking one.
All in all, it was a good night for the T-Rats offense, as everyone in the lineup managed to reach safely at least once. Actually, I should rephrase that, everyone who recorded a plate appearance reached safely. Dunigan was replaced at the top of the second, so he never got one. CF Maximo Mendez (2B, RBI, .224), 2B Edilio Colina (2B, 2 R, RBI, .314), 3B Alex Liddi (2B, R, 3 RBI, SB, .228), and RF Calvin Beamon (3B, R, RBI, SB, PO, .241) all had two hits, with Colina drawing a free pass, LF Gavin Dickey (2B, 2 R, RBI, 2 SB, .366) and DH Denny Almonte (R, SB, .222) both had a hit and a walk, and C Israel Nunez (2B, R, .308) doubled. Colina is now posting an OPS of .900 in May. Beamon stole home for his fourth stolen base of the year, but got picked off at first.

Aguirre Mariners 5, VSL Phillies 7 (+ 1)
RHP Johalbi Chourio (8.10) pitched three and a third innings and had three runs score against him on three hits, a wild pitch, a hit batter, and two walks. RHP Reynaldo Sabala (6.35, L) went two frames after that and gave up four more runs on three hits, two wild pitches, and two hit batters against two Ks. RHP Manuel Campos (3.86) scored one of those runs on two hits, a wild pitch, a hit batter, and two Ks. Normally, I’d say this is fairly indicative of raw pitchers, four wild pitches and four hit batters in a single game contributing to a close loss, but all these guys have at least a year of experience under their belts and Chourio has two, so this sort of collapse shouldn’t be expected. Not that the four errors helped anything.
The offense got two hits apiece from DH Yidido Batista (R, SB, .250), C Mario Yepez (3B, R, PO, .375), and 2B Jetsy Extrano (2B, .313). SS Roberto Velasquez (3B, RBI, .412) tripled and walked.

Today’s Starters:
Tacoma: LHP Ryan Feierabend, in Tacoma, @ 7:05 pm PDT
West Tenn: RHP Rich Dorman, in Jackson, @ 5:05 pm PDT
High Desert: LHP Nick Hill, at Rancho Cucamonga, @ 7:05 pm PDT
Wisconsin: RHP Nathan Adcock, in Appleton, in progress
Aguirre: TBA, at Rays

Tacoma Rainiers: 22-18, .550 9 GB in PCL Pacific North
West Tenn Diamond Jaxx: 25-16, .610, 3.5 GB, in SL North
High Desert Mavericks: 19-23, .452, T-1st in CAL South
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers: 18-19, .486 9 GB in MWL Western
Aguirre Mariners: 2-3, .400, 3 GB in VSL
Organizational Record: 86-79, .521

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under '08 Season, Game Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.