Pop Quiz: Who had more hits, Lansing or the three other teams combined? You can probably guess, Lansing had sixteen, the other three teams had 5, 5, and 3 for a total of thirteen. You can probably also guess that Lansing were the only team to win yesterday. Lansing's Jason Armstrong was the star of the day.
Columbus 3 Syracuse 1
This was Scott Downs turn to start and, with Scott in Toronto, Justin Miller got the spot start. Miller left after two innings with a sore hamstring. The Jays hope it is not serious as they have another starting spot to fill with Ryan Glynn's trade to Oakland yesterday. Chris Baker took over from Miller today and pitched five scoreless innings, making a strong claim for the final starters spot. Baker has been very inconsistent this year, veering from pitching well to being lit up.
Miller had a tough start, the first hitter of the game jacked one to give Columbus a 1-0 lead, but Miller got through two innings down 1-0. As mentioned above Chris Baker pitched five strong innings giving up three hits. The Chiefs tied it in the fifth on a home run by Justin Singleton. However after the home run in the fifth inning Columbus faced one batter over the minimum. Meanwhile Columbus scored a run in the eighth on an infield single by Bubba Crosby off Spike Lundberg. Columbus scored an insurance run in the ninth on three singles.
In the game the Chiefs had five hits, two by Singleton. The pattern evident at the end of April continues, the Chiefs are third in pitchers ERA, but last in batting average and OBP, and thirteenth in slugging. Four regulars are hitting under .250, Gross, Mottola, Crozier and Alfaro. The hitting needs to be fixed before this team improves.
Speaking of hitting the team has a roster move that needs to be made. John Hattig, the Guam bomb, is back playing in Dunedin and was ticketed for Syracuse before he was hurt in spring training. Jason Alfaro has been playing third base and will have to move if Hattig is to play. Julius Matos is filling the utility role, and is hitting well, so that role might not be available for Alfaro. The other option would be to send Hattig to New Hampshire for a while to help their anaemic offense.
Game StoryNew Hampshire 2 Altoona 7
Ismael Ramirez had his worst start of the year. In the second inning a triple and a home run made it 2-0 Altoona. In the third inning an error and a home run made it 4-0, and in the sixth another home run, a walk and a double ended the day for Ramirez. Jamie Vermilyea came on and gave up a double to the first hitter he faced. Vermilyea was done after two thirds of an inning, with a 7-0 score it was mop-up duty time. The Fisher Cats scored a couple of consolation runs in the ninth on a home run by Kevin Barker and a double by Mikael Jova and an RBI single by Raul Tablado. New Hampshire had five hits, two by Tablado.
Game StoryDunedin 0 Jupiter 2
The Dunedin offense recorded three hits on Sunday, spoiling a good start by David Purcey. Purcey went six innings, with four hits and only two walks allowed. He did hit a batter but had six strikeouts. That makes a solid start. In the second inning an error, by Hattig, a walk and a single made it 1-0 Jupiter. In the fifth three more singles made it 2-0, and that was about it.
Wisconsin 4 Lansing 12
Lansing might want to pass on their hitting secrets to the rest of the organization. In the third inning Lansing scored five runs to take a 5-1 lead. Lansing sent eleven men to the plate and had five hits in the inning, that was as many hits as the other teams recorded in their games. The big blows were doubles by Joey Wolfe and Eric Nielsen, and a two run single by Jason Armstrong. Armstrong doubled in another run and scored as part of a three run fifth inning. Lansing added four more in the eighth highlighted by a two run single from Armstrong.
Meanwhile AJ Wideman cruised through six innings allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks. Wideman had only one striekout. Lansing had sixteen hits, and Jason Armstrong had three with five RBI's. Yuber Rodriguez and Eric Nielsen also had three hits each, Chip Cannon had two. Every starter had a hit.
Game StoryYour Three Star Selection
Third star - Chris Baker five shutout innings
Second Star - Yuber Rodriguez three hits, two runs, two RBI's
First Star - Jason Armstrong three hits, five RBI's
Standings Update
Syracuse record is 16-20. The Chiefs are fifth, five games back of Buffalo.
The Fisher Cats are 19-16, one and a half games behind Portland.
Dunedin's record is 21-16 which puts them in third place, six and a half games behind Lakeland.
The Lugnuts are 20-17, in second place, one game behind South Bend
Bonus Coverage......some of you were looking for pictures of Shawn Marcum pitching. You can see some pictures here, although they are not that sharp.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050516091128203