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Syracuse rested while Pulaski romped. In close contests, New Hampshire won and Charleston lost. Dunedin couldn’t walk their way to victory, not with flammable pitching. Auburn finished up a thrashing, and then didn’t bother with offence, just to make it interesting in their regularly scheduled game.



Syracuse – All-Star Break

The SkyChiefs next game is Thursday at Louisville. Congratulations to Glenn Williams, who will be representing Syracuse at the All-Star game in Pawtucket tomorrow night. Congrats also to Canadians Jesse Crain and Justin Morneau, who will join former Blue Jay farm hand Dave Gassner in representing for the Twins organization.


Harrisburg 3 @ New Hampshire 4

The Fisher Cats finished up the first half on a winning note, holding on to beat the Harrisburg Senators 4-3 and move to a single game out of first place, behind the Binghampton Mets. The Cats answered the Senators run in the top of the 4th inning with 3 in the bottom of the frame, courtesy of a 3-run shot by C Paul Chiaffredo. The good guys scored what proved to be the winning run on an Anton French pinch-hit triple in the 7th, as Harrisburg touched up Travis Thompson and Jordan DeJong for 2 unearned runs in the next inning (a throwing error by Thompson, as well as a wild pitch from DeJong). DeJong stuck around for the ninth and earned his 4th save of the season.

Chris Baker started for the Fisher Cats and went 5 strong innings, allowing a solo homer and striking out 4 while walking no one. DH John-Ford Griffin was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Boxscore - MinorLeagueBaseball.com. Recap - SportsNetwork.com


Fort Myers 7 @ Dunedin 3

The Fort Myers Miracle got to Justin James early and often, scoring in 4 of the 5 innings in which he pitched. James’ ugly totals included 5 runs on 11 hits and 2 walks in 4+ innings, with just one strikeout.
In a game where they managed just 5 base knocks, the bright spot for the hitters was 9 walks. LF Jayce Tingler, 2B Ryan Roberts, and SS Manny Mayorson each receipted for 2 free passes, with Tingler also managing one of the rare hits. 3B Carlo Cota slugged TWO safeties, and also drew a walk. 1B Vito Chiaravalloti and DH Raul Tablado both went oh-fer, while CF Miguel Negron collected a hit and a walk for his 4 trips to the dish.

Boxscore - MinorLeagueBaseball.com. Recap - DunedinBlueJays.com


Delmarva 8 @ Charleston 7

The Alley Cats came back from an early 7-1 hole through 4 innings, tying the game up with single runs in the 5th and 7th and 4 markers in the 6th, but had nothing left with which to answer the Shorebirds run in the 9th.

No box score has been posted for the game as yet, but from the game recap on the team site we learn that Christian Snavely hit his 10th homer of the season, a 3-run rip. Joey Reiman collected RBIs on a single and a double. Matt Dalton was the starting pitcher and it would appear he was lit up.

Boxscore - MinorLeagueBaseball.com. Recap - CharlestonAlleyCats.com


Auburn 12 @ Batavia 1
Auburn 1 @ Batavia 0 (7 innings)

Picking up a game from July 4 which was suspended halfway through the 4th inning with Auburn ahead 7-0, the Doubledays finished the whupping by scoring 5 more runs and allowing just one over the final 5 frames. 2004 4th-rounder Casey Janssen was given the opportunity to finish what he’d started 9 days earlier, and he continued his mastery of the Muckdogs. His line came out to 7 shutout innings, 3 singles and a walk against 8 whiffs. The 12-run barrage was highlighted by 3 hits (including a triple) and a walk from SS Ryan Klosterman, a homer from 2B Brian Hall, 2 hits (including a double) from DH Chip Cannon, and 3 doubles from 1B Joey The Greek.

The second game, a 7-inning affair, saw more dominance from the Auburn pitching staff. Chris Leonard got the first starting assignment of his comeback trail, and he allowed just 2 singles and a walk through 5 innings, striking out 5. Erik Rico earned a save for his 2 shutout innings, 2 hits and a walk against 3 punchouts.

The Doubledays plated the lone run of the game in the top of the 6th, when Hall walked and LF Adam Lind doubled him home. There was no other offence to speak of, as Auburn managed just 4 hits and 2 walks.

Boxscores: Game 1, Game 2 - MinorLeagueBaseball.com. Recap - AuburnDoubledays.com


Princeton 0 @ Pulaski 6

7 shutout innings from a huge lefty drafted this past June? Nope, it wasn’t 1st-rounder Dave Purcey (6’5”, 240) or sandwich pick Zach Jackson (6’5", 220), neither of whom has signed as of yet. It was 14th-rounder Jordan Timm (6’6”, 230) shutting down the Princeton Devil Rays, surrendering just 4 singles and a walk while striking out 3. Lefty Derek Tate and righty Scott Roy finished up with a scoreless inning each.

For the third consecutive Monday, the biggest stick on offence belonged to Charles Anderson, and I’m happy to see that his efforts have been rewarded with a move up to the cleanup spot. Chuck banged out 3 hits this night, single-double-homer. SS Emmanuel Sena chipped in with 2 singles, as did Jon Ashford.

On defence, the P-Jays played musical chairs:

Mike Macaluso PH/2B
Greg Powers 2B/3B
Anthony Garibaldi 3B/1B
Charles Anderson 1B/RF
Jon Ashford RF/LF
Luke Hetherington LF/CF
Odd man out: Junior Chourio

Warum? Ich weiss nicht.

Boxscore - MinorLeagueBaseball.com.


Three-Star Selection!

I don’t seem to have many balanced nights for Stars; either pitching runs the table, or hitting does. This one belonged to the hurlers. You’ll get ‘em next time, Joey Metropoulos, Charlie Anderson, Christian Snavely, Paul Chiaffredo!

The Third Star: Chris Leonard , Auburn. 5 shutout innings, 2 singles, 5/1 K/BB.

The Second Star: Jordan Timm, Pulaski. 7 shutout innings, 4 singles, 3/1 K/BB.

The First Star: Casey Janssen, Auburn. 7 shutout innings, 3 singles, 8/1 K/BB.

Minor League Update: July 13 | 51 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_Finn McCool - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 08:02 AM EDT (#52133) #
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/MLB/Toronto/2004/07/12/537031.html
I don't really want to see Miguel Batista traded but, this trade intrigues me. COMM
_Finn McCool - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 08:09 AM EDT (#52134) #
I know JP has said he will not trade Miguel Batista, but if the Twins are offering Justin Morneau a Canadian kid who can really rake, why wouldn't you make that trade.
_Ryan01 - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 08:15 AM EDT (#52135) #
http://www.battersbox.ca/archives/00002079.shtml#8posts
The twins aren't offering Morneau. It's just Elliot perpetuating the same rumour that he started. There's a thread open on this subject already where you might find some more opinions. COMN
_Marc - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 10:56 AM EDT (#52136) #
Dalton couldn't have been the starting pitcher in the Charleston game... The Alley Cats tied the game in the seventh, which let the starter off the hook. The winning run was scored in the ninth, when the loser (Dalton) had to have been pitching...
_Marc - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 10:59 AM EDT (#52137) #
Baseball America's main Web page now has ESPN listed at the top of it... I knew they had an agreement to share info but it kind of looks like maybe ESPN bought at least part of BA... Has anyone heard about BA having financial issues? They also now have a shared agreement with The Sportsnetwork. Maybe this is why their updating of new info has been so slow in recent months and they have lost a few of their key writers.
Mike Green - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:00 AM EDT (#52138) #
Auburn's second game featured fine pitching and defence. Twice, Auburn had runners at third with one out and could not score. The Doubledays tandem of Klosterman and Hall turned a DP to get out of trouble and Curtis Thigpen threw out a runner. After the Doubledays scored their run, Batavia mounted a threat against Erik Rico. Rico surrendered a leadoff triple, and then proceeded to strike out the side to get out of it. I'd say that he's made the conversion from outfield to relief pitcher.
_johnnnyS99 - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:07 AM EDT (#52139) #
Dalton, indeed did not start, if he did, he would not go more then four innings, as he has been relieving his entire college and pro carreer.
_Jonny German - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:16 AM EDT (#52140) #
Dalton couldn't have been the starting pitcher in the Charleston game... The Alley Cats tied the game in the seventh, which let the starter off the hook.

You're absolutely right, Marc, my mistake. Still no boxscore available.
_Sneeps - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:16 AM EDT (#52141) #
Marc, BaseballAmerica has gone down the tubes completely. If my subscription hadn't run out when it did, I would have demanded my money back. The updates are slow, the don't give the starting pitchers for the day anymore... the boxscores take forever, and they don't do updates for the site until late in the day now. They also don't have any info about the signings for the draft anymore.
_Marc - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:25 AM EDT (#52142) #
My question about BA is why did this happen? From what I understand they were quite popular! I mean, on draft day, their servers crashed because there was too much traffic. A couple thoughts... A subscription to the Web site is too expensive and last I looked (a year ago) they didn't offer newspaper subscriptions to Canada. And to find it in stores is near impossible. There has been a lot said that interest in the minor leagues is really on the rise (including attendance) so you'd think this would be a perfect time to rake in the money if you're covering the minors... Personally I almost prefer following the minor leagues... less to do with money and egos.
_csimon - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:28 AM EDT (#52143) #
I have a newspaper subscription to Baseball America--I live in Toronto-- and I've had one for years
_Marc - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:48 AM EDT (#52144) #
Humpf... guess the BA rep I talked to/emailed didn't know what he was talking about...
Mike Green - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 12:11 PM EDT (#52145) #
Shaun Marcum and the D-Jays started their game against Fort Myers 10 minutes ago. The game is available through the Fort Myers broadcast, which one can connect through theminorsfirst.com. Anybody able to listen?
_Chris H - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 12:11 PM EDT (#52146) #
http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/minors/040712top100.html
Baseball America is not perfect but it is one of the best sources (if not the best source) for minor league information - specifically scouting reports and organizational reports for all 30 teams...and not many website/publications can compete against its high school and college coverage...

I had a subscription while living in Canada and continue to have one here in the States...

They just came out with an updated top 25 list...no bluejays though...COMN (subsription required).
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 12:19 PM EDT (#52147) #
Well. Ron Davenport hit a 2R HR. The Jays lead 2-1. Vito singled (it's interesting to hear his last name actually pronounced - it should be left only to a trained professional) and Tablado and someone else flew out. 2-1 after 1.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 12:25 PM EDT (#52148) #
Marcum has a 1-2-3 second.
_Marc - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 12:43 PM EDT (#52149) #
I think it's about time to challege Davenport, in his third year with Dunedin I believe, with a promotion to see if he is worthy of the offseason 40 man roster. He is still young and plays solid defence.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 12:59 PM EDT (#52150) #
Tablado K's with Davenport on 3rd. 2-1 Jays after 3.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 01:14 PM EDT (#52151) #
Missed the top of the 4th. Fort Myers tied it at 2. I think one of the runs against Marcum are unearned. Cota left the bases full in the bottom of the 4th. 2-2 after 4.
_Jacko - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 01:19 PM EDT (#52152) #
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/scoreboards/index2.html
Speaking of Baseball America, they are now repackaging the Sports Network boxscores from milb.com:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/scoreboards/index2.html

Or COMN.

Same data, but the colours are a little nicer...
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 01:19 PM EDT (#52153) #
Marcum has a 1-2-3 5th.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 01:26 PM EDT (#52154) #
Tablado hit's an opposite field solo HR, his 14th. Jays lead 3-2 in the 5th.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 01:39 PM EDT (#52155) #
It's still 3-2 after 6.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 01:54 PM EDT (#52156) #
Marcum leaves after 6.1 allowing his first extra base hit to plate the tying run. Thorpe in to pitch with runner on 2nd. Marcum had 6 SO I think. Thorpe gets out of it. 3-3 to the bottom of the 7th.
_Rob - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:00 PM EDT (#52157) #
MatO, I'm listening to the Dunedin game, if you'd like me to provide some "colour typing" along with your play-by-play. :)
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:07 PM EDT (#52158) #
Colour away. I'm sort of in and out of my office here so I'm not listening full-time.
_Rob - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:09 PM EDT (#52159) #
I wasn't listening full time there, but it sounds like the D-Jays left a runner on. No runs in the inning, still tied at 3 after 7.
_Rob - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:19 PM EDT (#52160) #
Thorpe still pitching for Dunedin in the top of the 8th.

Matienzo's soft liner to second base is followed by a single from Doug Deeds. One on, one out.
Guzman gets to a full count and walks.
Elvis Corporan comes up with two on and...I didn't hear what he did. It's a break now, so he must have gotten out...

Oh, it was a pitching change. Reed now pitching to Corporan. Ground ball to Cota at 3rd, he turns the 5-4-3 DP (with some help from Roberts).
Going to the bottom of the 8th, still tied 3-3.
_Rob - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:23 PM EDT (#52161) #
Another short relief stint by Rob, as real life intrudes on my BB-surfing life once again. It's a tie game, so it should be an exciting finish for the D-Jays.

ABC ya later! (sorry, wrong radio guy)
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:32 PM EDT (#52162) #
Roberts walks, Mayorson singles and Tingler is HBP. Bases loaded 2 out for Cota. Pitching change.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:36 PM EDT (#52163) #
Cota flies out to the warning track. 3-3 after 8.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:42 PM EDT (#52164) #
Reed (I think) strands an error at 2nd. 3-3 to the bottom of the 9th. Davenport to lead off.
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:54 PM EDT (#52165) #
Davenport walks and Vito singles. Tablado chases a pitch up and K's. MEDINA lines a 3-1 pitch into gap in right-centre scoring Davenport. Dunedin wins 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth. Reed indeed is the WP. The Jays had 19 fly-ball outs of the 25 recorded.
Mike Green - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:56 PM EDT (#52166) #
http://www.dailymail.com/news/Sports/2004071326/
I still can't find the boxscore for yesterday's Charleston game, but COMN for the Charleston daily mail game report. Dalton did indeed get the loss in relief. Brad Mumma started and was raked for 7 runs before the Alley-Cats came back.
Mike Green - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 02:57 PM EDT (#52167) #
Mat O and Rob, that was fun. Thanks.
Mike Green - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 03:26 PM EDT (#52168) #
http://milb.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=minorbaseball&page=milb-fs/scores/final/finallog.aspx?GAMEID=18278
COMN for today's Dunedin game log. Typical game for Marcum: 6.1 innings, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts. 6 of the strikeouts were looking. I'm guessing the slider was fooling people again.

With 2 hits, including a dinger, and 2 walks in 5 PAs, Ron Davenport continues his fine hitting. Dunedin really needs to promote somebody. They've got 4 outfielders (Tingler, Medina, Negron, Davenport) and 3 2B/3B (Cota, Roberts, Tablado), and so one guy DHs and one sits every game. Usually one of the OF sits and Tablado DHs, but this is not an ideal situation. Tablado needs more work at third base, and the outfielders all need regular time. It'd be better if someone like Clint Johnson (who's 26 and has earned the promotion from Charleston) had the DH job. Oh well, all in good time.
_Jeff Geauvreau - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 03:35 PM EDT (#52169) #
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/baseball/7730.html
Pulaski game story and an interesting story on Pulaski starter lefty Jordan Timm.
_Jeff Geauvreau - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 03:43 PM EDT (#52170) #
http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2004/07/13/sports/sports02.txt
D-days start a new 2 game win streak , the game stories !
_MatO - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 04:06 PM EDT (#52171) #
All the hits off Marcum that I heard (I missed a few)were ground balls including the 2B that chased him that was inside the 1st base bag. The announcer joked that Davenport had nothing to do in RF while the Fort Myers RF had something like 10 putouts. That would seem to indicate that he might have a decent sinker also.

The Dunedin lineup is quite something. They sure made every Fort Myers pitcher work deep into counts. A point the announcer made repeatedly. He also noted how efficient Marcum was.
_Rob - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 04:34 PM EDT (#52172) #
The Dunedin lineup is quite something. They sure made every Fort Myers pitcher work deep into counts

No kidding. I kept thinking that I missed something on the radio, but it was still 3-2 or 2-2 on the batter, be it Vito, Roberts, or Cota.
Craig B - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 06:50 PM EDT (#52173) #
I'm hoping that Ron Davenport can make his way to New Hampshire or even Syracuse relatively soon. I think he's earned it.
_Finn McCool - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 07:32 PM EDT (#52174) #
I just tuned into the Batavia broadcast of the Auburn game in time to hear Brain Hall hit a 2 run home. It's Hall 4 home run of the year and the 3 game in a row the Hall has homered.

Auburn is lead 2-0 after one inning
_Finn McCool - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 07:45 PM EDT (#52175) #
Let's try this again Brian Hall Hit a 2 run home run.
_ainge_fan - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 10:23 PM EDT (#52176) #
Funny that were singing the praises of the Dunedin offence, when in preseason it looked to be third most prolific in the system. Amazing what a pair of surprise years can do(I think its safe to say that Tablado's and Davenport's effectiveness were unpredicted).

Gotta disagree, Johnny, about the three stars. I'd have loved to see the nod go to Chris Leonard- who's looking more and more like the steal we hoped he'd be, and who's persevered through so much in the shadows.

Well, I guess I can't really argue shouldn't argue about how impressive Janssen's first start was, compared to Leonard's, just a sentimental note.
_ainge_fan - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 10:26 PM EDT (#52177) #
uggh...that's quite the last sentence there. Sorry.
_Sneeps - Tuesday, July 13 2004 @ 11:09 PM EDT (#52178) #
And how about this... the Jays never have a player in the BaseballAmerica top 20 list (very rarely actually) and the organization is 66 games over .500. I don't know what that says... either we have amazing depth, without any stars, or BA has no idea what they are doing. I'm going with the latter.
_Chris H - Wednesday, July 14 2004 @ 09:08 AM EDT (#52179) #
BA has no idea what they are doing

That is the most ridiculous comment I have heard in a while.

Yes, BA focuses on tools more then baseball skills (which differs somewhat from the Jays focus) but they still do a pretty good job.

No Jays in the top twenty? Going into the season...Rios was at #6...McGowan was at #18...Quiroz was at #35...None of them made the top twenty list at mid-season, mainly as a result of either promotion or injury...

And its not like BA doesnt recognize the work the Jays have done. BA ranked the Jays 2002 draft as the best (this was after the 2002 minor league season...I would think, if BA were to do the grading for the 2002 draft now the Jays would be lower in the rankings?)...in 2003 BA ranked the Jays draft as the 3rd best...

Only mistake I really see by BA, when it comes to the Jays, is not including David Bush in their top 100 at the beginning of the season...

C.
_Sneeps - Wednesday, July 14 2004 @ 11:35 AM EDT (#52180) #
I'm talking about the weekly top 20 list.
_Ryan01 - Wednesday, July 14 2004 @ 02:33 PM EDT (#52181) #
There aren't any Blue Jays on the Hot sheet because none of them deserve to be there. It's not a prospect ranking, it's simply a list of who the hottest players are. McGowan was there for a while but he got injured, Banks was there til he tanked in AA, Vermilyea showed up until his last rough outing. Raul Tablado's the only guy you could really make a case for and even he was in the list of others last week. We have a lot of good prospects that are playing well, but none of them are as hot as Francis, Wright, Kubel etc. I don't see how that's Baseball America's fault.
Mike Green - Wednesday, July 14 2004 @ 03:05 PM EDT (#52182) #
It's true. None of the Blue Jay prospects are really hot, the way Rios was last year. That's fine. There are a whole bunch, who, in the broader perspective, are looking good.
_Brent - Wednesday, July 14 2004 @ 03:23 PM EDT (#52183) #
There are a whole bunch, who, in the broader perspective, are looking good.

I'll take this a step further. There are plenty of Jays who are showing some pretty good peripheral stats (K/BB, K/9, HR/9, ala Marcum), but won't be showing up on any top prospect list any time soon.

I think this is just fine. There are a handful of guys in the Jays organization that will be very successful major league players, in my opinion. You can't say that about a lot of other organizations.
Minor League Update: July 13 | 51 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.