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Three wins in four games.  Dustin McGowan pitched well for the Chiefs and was supported by lots of runs.  Chip Cannon and David Smith drove in four runs each as the Fisher Cats won, Cannon had two dingers.  Both Dunedin and Lansing have fallen out of first place in their divisions as the first half of the season is coming close to its end.  AJ Burnett starts tonight for the Chiefs.



Columbus 3 Syracuse 10

Six runs in the first inning off seven hits for the Chiefs, only Ryan Roberts and Danny Solano did not have a hit in that inning.  Roberts had the misfortune to make the first and last outs of the inning.  Sergio Santos started the hit parade with a double off Tommy Phelps and Wayne Lydon provided the capper, a three run triple.  The Chiefs tacked on another run in the second when Chad Mottola doubled to drive in Santos.  Dustin McGowan had one bad inning, the third, when Columbus scored all three runs on a three run home run by Carlos Pena.  Syracuse got all three runs back in the fifth on a Rob Cosby home run and a two run double by Roberts.

McGowan went seven innings allowing five hits and two walks with seven K's, a very good start.  Kevin Barker had three hits to get his average back over .300, Santos, Mottola and Cosby had two hits each.  This was a team effort, every starter had a hit, eight starters scored a run and seven of them had a RBI.

Altoona 5  New Hampshire 11

David Smith and Chip Cannon supplied the offense for the Fisher Cats in this game.  Smith doubled with the bases loaded in the first inning to drive in two runs, Cannon followed with an RBI groundout.  Altoona tied the game with 3 in the top of the fourth off Michael MacDonald but New Hampshire scored two in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead again.  Cannon hit a two run home run in the fifth and Smith and Cannon homered back-to-back in the seventh.  Smith singled in the final run in the eighth.  Smith went 3-5 with a run scored and 4 RBI's.  Cannon went 3-4 with a walk, three runs scored and four RBI's.  Smith now has 8 homers on the season, Cannon has 9.  Manny Mayorson also had three hits, Curtis Thigpen had 2 and has pushed his average up to .288.  MacDonald pitched six innings for the win, he allowed four runs on nine hits.

Lakeland 4  Dunedin 1

Dunedin outhit Lakeland 10-6, but Lakeland bunched four of their hits in the first inning, and when you add two Dunedin errors Lakeland scored all four of their runs in the first inning off Robert RayRay only pitched two innings due to a rain delay but Daryl Harang pitched five innings of one hit relief to keep it close.  As mentioned Dunedin had ten hits but couldn't get a runner to home until the ninth inning.  Aaron Mathews had three hits, Chris Snavely and David Corrente had two each.

Wisconsin 4  Lansing 7

Kristian Bell started and gave up a couple of runs in the first, on his way to a six inning outing where he allowed three runs on four hits and four walks.  Lansing struck back with four in the third on a bases loaded walk, two sac fly's, an error and three hits.  Lansing added three more in the fourth on two doubles and two walks.  Lansing had only seven hits, Jesus Gonzalez had three of them, scoring twice and driving in one.

Stars

3  Kevin Barker
2  Chip Cannon
1  David Smith

Standings

Dunedin have lost four straight to drop out of first place with only four games left in the first half.  Lansing have dropped a half game behind.

Syracuse are 28-35, and are in sixth place, 12 games behind Rochester
New Hampshire are 27-33, and are in fourth place, 10 games behind Portland
Dunedin are 34-29, and are in third place, one game behind Fort Myers
Lansing are 38-24, and are in second place, one half game behind West Michigan

Note

The call-up of Vinnie Chulk and Brian Tallet has had a ripple effect, albeit temporary.  Rodney Ormond has moved from AA to AAA and Justin James from high A to AA.  Justin Singleton has returned from a lengthy injury and is rehabbing with Dunedin.  

The Cannon Booms Twice | 20 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Ducey - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 11:12 AM EDT (#148715) #
Why the removal of Adams in the first inning?
Mike Green - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 11:16 AM EDT (#148716) #
Adams has been called up to the big club, and probably will be in the lineup tonight.
Mike Green - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 11:27 AM EDT (#148717) #
Baseball America reports that Jeff Niemann will be making his return from "minor surgery" on his arm, and that Kyle Sleeth returned from TJ at Lakeland over the weekend with 2 innings of work. 
Maldoff - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 11:30 AM EDT (#148718) #

"Toronto RHP A.J. Burnett (sore elbow) will make a rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse on Monday instead of Class A Dunedin (it's expected to rain in Dunedin)."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?page=shorthops_060611

Maldoff - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 11:33 AM EDT (#148719) #
I'm sort of surprised the Jays are calling Adams back up already. Seems like either: a) he's played really well at 2B in Syracuse, or b) they didn't completely think the Alfonso pickup/Adams demotion through.
Ducey - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 12:59 PM EDT (#148726) #

It looks like a) to me.  He has not made many errors recently and as a bonus his bat has heated up.  I think the demotion was necessary.  It would have been tough to ask him to change positions at the major league level.

Other than the fact that the switch should have been made in February, it would appear that the 2B/ SS change has turned out well.

mendocino - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 03:42 PM EDT (#148748) #

D Romero to SYR, Purcey to NH.

I Ramirez to DL, replaced by J Singleton

Maldoff - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 03:45 PM EDT (#148750) #

Wow, I'm quite shocked by this.  Does anyone know what is wrong with Ramirez?

Moving Purcey down to AA will not do much for him (I think).  His main problem is with control, not being bettered by hitters.  Unless New Hampshire has a pitching coach he listens to more than in Syracuse, I don't see the benefit of this move. 

Good for Davis Romero for getting to AAA.  Now I'm betting he'll start for a few, and then be put in the bullpen. And with Ramirez going on the DL, I'm assuming that a spot opens up for Ricky Romero in AA.

Mike Green - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 03:53 PM EDT (#148752) #
I am delighted that Davis Romero has gotten the call to triple A.  He has earned it. 

The decision to pull back on Purcey was a wise one.  He still has a chance to be a fine, fine pitcher, but that is contingent on him learning the strike zone.  Tangible progress on that weakness should be shown before he is promoted to triple A. 

Gerry - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 04:09 PM EDT (#148755) #

Moving Purcey down is more about rebuilding his confidence than it is about pitching coaches.

Ramirez has struggled his last two starts after pitching well all season.  Ramirez left a start early on May 11th and was out of the rotation for nine days before coming back on the 20th.  It looks like he might not have fully recovered from the first injury, a la Chacin.

Romero was pitching very well for the Fisher Cats, his last four starts had 25.2 IP, 18 hits, 7 walks and 26K's.

Gerry - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 07:46 PM EDT (#148776) #
AJ Burnett has breezed through two innings, with 4 punch-outs.  Burnett has used 27 of his 75 pitch allocation.
Rob - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 07:56 PM EDT (#148777) #
Bit of a break for Burnett now as the Chiefs scored seven in the second. I haven't been listening long enough (you can hear the game here) to hear the announcers' thoughts on Burnett, but he hasn't missed up that much so far according to Gameday. This can only be a good thing; just ask Paul Konerko.

Burnett's only gone to a two-ball count twice, I think -- Johnson in the first and Durazo in the second. He got both batters out, in principle, on a strikeout and an error by Solano.
Rob - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 08:28 PM EDT (#148778) #
Don't look now, but Burnett's through four and is doing well. 53 pitches, 31 strikes. Two batters have reached base (error, walk) and both have been stranded or erased on the basepaths.
Rob - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 08:39 PM EDT (#148779) #
5 innings, one walk, seven K's now. 67 pitches (40 strikes) so I think this might be it for Burnett, what with an 8-0 lead. Perhaps one more inning, but 75 pitches is looming.
dan gordon - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 08:58 PM EDT (#148781) #
Burnett done after 5.  Vermilyea in for the 6th (and he struck out the 1st 2 he faced).
Mike Green - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 10:23 PM EDT (#148785) #
Unimpressed with, or perhaps inspired by,  Burnett's overpowering performance, Vermilyea struck out 8 in 4 innings of relief, as the Chiefs rolled to victory. 
Cristian - Monday, June 12 2006 @ 11:30 PM EDT (#148791) #
It's not so much Burnett's performance we should monitor but rather his post game comments regarding how his elbow felt.  Though I suppose that he didn't pull himself out of the game is a victory of sorts.
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