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
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060601001907880