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Am I referring to the fact that a bunch of Jay farmhands shut down the opposition? Or is it a topical reference to the "wicked bad storm" (to borrow a friend's phrase) that blew through here yesterday?


Syracuse 3 @ Rochester 2

Russ Adams went 3-for-4 with a couple of doubles but, strangely, did not drive in nor score any of the Chiefs' runs. In fact, Syracuse left 12 men on base last night. Why did they win, then? My man Wayne Lydon drove in the eventual winning run and doubled before scoring the first run.

Oh, and some guy named McGowan (or, as Peter Gammons once said, Magowan), threw six shutout innings. He didn't get the win, of course, because individual win-loss records are about as useful as real math skills in a Sudoku puzzle. One hit and three walks for Dustin McGowan. This start actually reminded me of his major league debut, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had really unhittable stuff there in Western New York.

New Hampshire 1 @ Connecticut 0

Looks like McGowan won't be the First Star after all. Kyle Yates: 9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K. In a typical move for the F-Cats, the only run came on a bases-loaded, one-out ground ball that the Defenders didn't defend into a double play. This is the same Kyle Yates who was demoted to Dunedin after a bad start in Double-A, so this is really good to see. Yates was #21 on our prospect list last year, and while I wish I could say I was higher on him than that, I had him at 24 (which is basically the same as 21, if you've never ranked prospects before).

Clearwater 8 @ Dunedin 3

Well, the high Game Scores had to stop somewhere. Aaron Mathews "led the way" with two doubles, a single and a walk, and David Corrente scored twice on two hits and a double. Also, an 0-fer from Ryan Patterson, though he's still hitting .318.

Southwest Michigan 0 @ Lansing 5 (7 innings, Game 1)

Do we have any Billy Carnline fans in the house? He apparently heard about McGowan's six scoreless innings and said "Yeah, I can do that." Only one walk and two hits for him, though, so McGowan might not even be the second star. (Actually, he will be.)

As for the offense, Yuber Rodriguez walked three times, basically matching his entire 2005 total. The Lugnuts actually only had five hits in this 7-inning game; Y-Rod scored twice and Josh Bell had two hits. Two RBI for Cory Patton as well.

Southwest Michigan 1 @ Lansing 2 (9 innings, Game 2)

Chi-Hung Cheng got the start in the second game, and continues his fine season. He's still striking out more than a batter per inning, he's walking half as many, his ERA is well under 4, and he's only allowed 3 homers in 52 innings. The only thing I'd like to see from him now is longer starts -- 52 divided by 11 isn't the greatest average.

Oh yeah, the game. Lansing scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, and it went something like this: Walk. Hit by pitch. Single. Fly out. Sac fly. Yup, just your garden variety walk-off sacrifice.

Three Star Selection:
3. Billy Carnline
2. Dustin McGowan
1. Kyle Yates
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Pistol - Thursday, June 01 2006 @ 08:31 AM EDT (#148100) #

He didn't get the win, of course, because individual win-loss records are about as useful as real math skills in a Sudoku puzzle

If you want some math in your puzzles try Kakuro.

Lugnut Fan - Thursday, June 01 2006 @ 01:01 PM EDT (#148117) #

The first game in Lansing yesterday was slated as an old fashioned pitchers duel.  Mike Wlodarczyk against Billy Carnline.  Wloadarczyk is a 6'5" left handed fire baller that came into yesterdays game with a ~1.3ish ERA and had only lost once on the season which was opening night to the Lugnuts.  He is also a top 20 prospect in the D-Ray organization according to Baseball America if my memory serves me right.  One of the five runs the Luggies scored was on a bases loaded balk, bu it was timely hitting and outstanding pitching from Carnline who was locating the fastball really well last night and his change up was outstanding.  His arm action was great and he had hitters diving out on their front foot.  If a starting spot opens up above, I think Carnline will be somewhere else at the end of June.  He deserves it.

In the second game Cheng pitcher very well.  One thing that I noticed last night is he was pitching to contact a lot more last night.  He wasn't trying to strike everyone out and didn't throw as many breaking balls last night.  He has certainly added some velocity on his fastball this year.  He was consistenlty 90 to 91 last night. 

In the Lansing State Journal, Ken Joyce said that they didn't have good situational hitting last night in the second game.  I disagree totally with that.  The D-Rays had another left hander named Jacob McGee throwing in that game and he had a 95 to 97 mph fastball that touched 100 mph at one point last night, combined with an 80 mph change up and a pretty good slider.  He was tough.  The timely hitting came in the third where after a Jacob Butler walk, Cory Patton came up and laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line.  The third sacker let it roll in hopes of it going foul, but it rolled right over the bag.  I was not covering the game last night, so I didn't have a chance to ask Patton or Ken, but I'm positive that Patton laid that bunt down on his own.  I don't think it was called for. I personally was shocked because it was the first time that I had seen the general square around and to lay down such a perfect bunt almost made me choke on my Pepsi.  How many times do you see something like that from your number three hitter in the line up and one of your power threats?  A base hit later in the inning scored the game tying run.  It was the same story in extra's where Bormaster laid down a bunt single.  Ultimately it led to the winning run.  Granted the bunts were sacrifice attempts, but they turned into hits that won the game.  To me, that is very good situational hitting.

Mike Green - Thursday, June 01 2006 @ 01:07 PM EDT (#148118) #
Thanks, Lugnut Fan, for the astute game reports. 
Maldoff - Thursday, June 01 2006 @ 01:51 PM EDT (#148124) #
Is "Game-Over-Gronk" hurt right now? I was sort of surprised to have not seen him in last night's game in the ninth inning, and I've noticed he hasn't thrown in a while.
Marc Hulet - Thursday, June 01 2006 @ 02:28 PM EDT (#148128) #

Wow I can actually post... I use a Mac most of the time and the Web site will not let me post. Luckily I am on a PC right now...

Gronkiewicz is on the AAA DL. Not sure why.

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