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For the second week in a row, the Thursday MLU was delayed and almost cancelled due to technical issues. Fear not, however, my painfully slow Internet connection eventually went through and here you are. Four wins and one loss.


Syracuse 2 @ Pawtucket 0 (8 innings, first game)

Ty Taubenheim
got the start, but before you think he was spinning a complete-game shutout, he was pulled after the third. It's not obvious from the game log why he left early, but the last play he was involved in was a 3-1 groundout. This sort-of recap doesn't help much either. Lee Gronkiewicz made it a nervous eighth by allowing the tying run to reach with one out, but Hee Seop Choi grounded into a math student's favourite scoresheet notation: the 5-4-3 double play.

In any event, nothing much happened in this game until extra innings (remember, seven-inning games in doubleheaders) when Wayne Lydon showed up again (single) and Luis Figueroa doubled him home. A throwing error on this play that sent the ball into the third base dugout sent Figueroa home as well, so that's where the 2-0 score came from. Lydon had two hits on the night, but he's only hitting .218 -- and in fact, nobody in the Chiefs' lineup aside from Kevin Barker is hitting higher than .243.

David Riske started for Pawtucket but was on a strict pitch count and left after 26 pitches were thrown to four batters: strikeout-strikeout-walk-walk.

Syracuse 5 @ Pawtucket 2 (second game)

I was surprised to see Brandon League's name in the boxscore as the starting pitcher. Indeed, it was his first start of the year. But he was removed as well after just three innings. So now I'm wondering what's going on -- did the rain come back? And if it was raining, how did they manage to get the first game in? Colour me confused.

Jason Frasor came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth with a four-run lead and the bases loaded with two outs. He walked in one run, but got the groundout to preserve the 5-2 lead. That was the second run of the inning, the only inning in which Reading scored. Frasor then came back out for the seventh, allowed a single with one out and was pulled for Brian Tallet. This is where it gets interesting -- Tallet got the easy save when Real Canadian Hero Adam Stern flew into an 8-3 double play. Either it was a tremendous play by...yes, Wayne Lydon or Alejandro Machado was running a bit too much on contact.

Syracuse scored in five out of seven innings, so there were a bunch of single runs scattered everywhere. Guess who, Wayne Lydon scored twice and had a triple. Sergio Santos homered in the second and singled in the sixth to drive in two runs of his own.

New Hampshire 4 @ Reading 2

First of all, don't be fooled by Kurt Isenberg's two earned runs. Jordan De Jong came on with two on and nobody out in the seventh and allowed both inherited runners to score. Eight hits and two walks against just two strikeouts isn't world-beating, but it was enough yesterday for the F-Cats. Pitching six shutout innings should be enough.

Maikel Jova doubled in the second and third runs of the game in the fourth, but the R-Phils' starter, Scott Mathieson, had it going on for the first three innings. He struck out the side in the first, two more in the second, and only allowed a run in the third on a couple of singles and a sac fly.

However, the night belonged to Brad Hassey. Not everyone can get thrown out at third 7-5-3-5-3-4 after doubling in a run. I'm actually surprised the first baseman was over on the left side so quickly.

Palm Beach 5 @ Dunedin 2

Huh. In two years of minor league coverage, I never thought the D-Jays played Palm Beach. Jesse Litsch probably wishes they hadn't: 9 hits, 5 runs, fourth loss of the season. He did strike out 5 and did not walk anyone, but the two homeruns allowed reduced any chance for a perfect DIPS night. Brad Mumma faced five batters and got five outs in relief, helping his own cause by starting a 1-6-3 double play. The "3" on that was Ron Davenport, and this is the first time I've seen him at first base.

For the Dunedins, it was all the outfield: Aaron Mathews, Ryan Patterson and Dustin Majewski combined to go 6 for 12 with both RBI. Patterson is hitting .316 now; that's more like it.

Kane County 4 @ Lansing 10

Lansing, one of the rare above-.500 teams in the Toronto system, pounded Kane County yesterday morning in front of the kids. Big City Joey Metropoulos had two singles (sort of, see below) and two doubles, while Sean Shoffitt hit his first home run on the year for one of his three hits and three of his four RBI on the night. This game was over from the start as Lansing scored in each of the first four innings and was up 7-3. One thing that can help you score 10 runs is when the other team walks 10 guys (including three in a row in the seventh). Jordan Timm pitched four shutout innings to earn what I guess is called a "regular" save, his first of the year.

Things got nasty in the third inning as a 12-minute delay ensued after the umpires pulled a Kerwin Danley and overruled a double play on a fly ball that was (not) caught. Metropoulos lined to the third baseman and was called out. Then Cory Patton was doubled off first base. Unbelieveably, the umpires decided to cancel the two outs and put the runners at first and third; officially, Patton reached third on a "throwing error," which makes no sense as he was already out at first...anyway, Kane County's manager then pulled a Carlos Tosca of his own and got tossed -- with good reason.

There's another interesting scoring note in here. With runners on first and third, Brian Pettway was dead in the water between first and second and Metropoulos tried to get home in the rundown but was thrown out as well. Score it 4-2-1-3-4; I'm not entirely sure where the putout at home is in there.

Three Star Selection
3. Kurt Isenberg
2. Joey Metropoulos
1. Sean Shoffitt

As always, those names are subject to change once someone points out who I missed.
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Maldoff - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 09:08 AM EDT (#146682) #
InsideTheDome.com reports that Jamie Vermilyea has been "returned to New Hampshire".  With Taubenheim only throw 3 innings last night, and the overall lack of starters in Syracuse, I would be surprised by this move.  Can anyone confirm it?
earlweaverfan - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 09:39 AM EDT (#146684) #
I see that Patterson has been an outstanding hitter at every level in his career so far, and is showing every sign of keeping that up at Dunedin.

Does anyone have insight into his fielding, throwing, speed capacities, i.e., if he keeps it up, could he become a genuine outfield candidate for the majors?

If so, what are we looking at for how long it would be before he might reasonably be ready for the bigs - 2008 or later?

ds - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 10:06 AM EDT (#146685) #

Could Taubenheim be the next callup to Toronto?  The whole scenario sounds an awful lot like Casey Janssen's last start at Syracuse.

 

Gerry - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 02:06 PM EDT (#146715) #

McGowan has been sent down to AAA and will rejoin the rotation.  Jason Frasor was recalled.

McGowan was always a starter until last fall when he had success in the Toronto bullpen.  This year he has not been overly successful in that role with an ERA over 5 in AAA and almost 8 with Toronto.  When I was in Buffalo last month I asked Dustin how he liked relieving and he said it was OK "for now".  Unfortunately he was called away then and the next day he had been called up to Toronto.  In my opinion he had felt that he should go back to starting and his limited success in the bullpen probably cemented that view.

Mike Green - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 04:20 PM EDT (#146728) #
In answer to earlweaverfan's question about Ryan Patterson, here's our draft review with Jon Lalonde.  Patterson played centerfield in college, and is playing left now.  He seems to have adequate speed, good but not great power and he plays with real intensity.  His major quality as a hitter is the ability to hit line drives all over the place, and so you might consider a young Al Oliver as a comparable, at least with regard to his skills.
Rob - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 07:57 PM EDT (#146753) #
Would that be a non-CF version of the young Oliver, Mike? I presume (having never seen Patterson play) that he won't stick in centre -- for Auburn last year, in almost every game, he was moved to LF or RF by the 8th inning. (Now, I suppose that could mean that one of the corner guys -- Pettway and Patton, I believe -- was too bad to leave out there, but why move Patterson if that's the case?)

It's almost too easy to make the Reed Johnson comparison, but defensively it seems to stick. I sure don't like Sparky in CF (I'm not his biggest fan in left, but one step at a time) but he certainly won't kill you in the corners and I think Patterson's the same way.

And if Ryan Patterson's makeup is really as good as they say it is, we'll be seeing him soon. I can see him being one of the guys J.P. moves fast once he likes what he sees.
Mike Green - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 09:00 PM EDT (#146756) #
I had forgotten how long Oliver remained in centre.  He seemed to me to be better suited to left-field.  Patterson's offensive skills are not quite Johnson's.  He's a better pure hitter and has more power, but doesn't seem to have quite the plate control.

Ricky Romero had a wonderful outing tonight in Dunedin- 4.2 shutout innings with 1 walk, 6 ks and 6 groundouts.  A couple more of those, and with the arrival of the warmer weather, he'll be New Hampshire bound.
Maldoff - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 09:29 PM EDT (#146757) #

Well Mike Green, with Taubenheim looking like he will be going to the majors soon (and replaced by McGowan in the Skycheifs rotation), there is still an open spot in that rotation.  After tonight, I would think it will be filled by Ismael Ramirez, and rightfully so.  Ramirez was pulled after 3 solid innings tonight, so I wouldn't be shocked if he got the call when Ty is promoted.

So Ricky's spot might be ready sooner than expected, giving the FisherCats one heck of a one-two Romero punch!

Mike D - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 10:03 PM EDT (#146763) #

Having seen Patterson play in Brooklyn last year, his build is very reminiscent to Reed Johnson's.  Patterson told us (check out "Meet The Doubledays" in the Interviews tab on the left) that some big league clubs scouting him were concerned with his size and floated the idea of him switching to middle infield.

He has a long but lively swing.  He's not quite as spastic as Nomar, but he's similarly jumpy when settling into the batter's box.   I think he'll translate into a doubles hitter whose average and OBP will turn on whether he can harness his K rate.

He was tremendously confident, bright and articulate -- easily the team leader on Auburn last season.   Plus, he's a close friend of Aaron Hill's from his LSU days.

Mike D - Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 10:04 PM EDT (#146764) #
By which I mean, "reminiscent of Reed Johnson's," of course.
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