Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Hayden Penn is going to be a richer pitcher

Hayden Penn is going to be a richer pitcher

Penn blew away the Sky Chiefs tonight in Ottawa. He will be in Baltimore shortly.

The farm affiliates went 1-5 on Saturday night.

Syracuse 0 @ Ottawa 9

Strikeouts may be fascist, but they work. Hayden Penn threw 8 innings of 5 hit ball at the Chiefs, striking out 10. Casey Janssen was perfect into the 4th inning, but then things fell apart for him in the 5th. Three singles and a hit by pitch led to two runs. In the bottom of the sixth, he hit another batter and then gave up another ground ball single and was removed from the game. Ben Howard came on and walked the first batter and then came a grand slam, and the rest is epilogue. Wayne Lydon had 3 hits, and Adam Lind went 1-4.

New Hampshire 2 @ Bowie 7

Ricky Romero's run of good August starts came to an end and he now sits at 1-7 with a 5.13 ERA for New Hampshire. Ricky, you might want to lose those numbers. Romero went 5.1 innings and allowed 5 runs, 3 of which were earned on 6 hits, a hit baseman and a walk, while striking out 4. Danny Hill struggled in relief. Ryan Klosterman hit a 2 run homer to account for the Fisher Cat runs.

Tampa 3 @ Dunedin 1

The D'Jays broke ahead early, but a Yankee homer in the 3rd followed by an unearned run off Eric Fowler in the 5th was more than the Dunedin bats could manage on this night. Fowler went 5.2 innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. Yesson Berroa followed and gave up a run on two hits and one walk, and blew away three Yankees. Milton Tavarez pitched a perfect ninth. Ron Davenport went 4-4 with 3 doubles to lead the attack.

South Bend 1 @ Lansing 7

Chi-Hung Cheng is rounding into playoff form. Last night's 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits and no walks while striking out six Silver Hawks, should qualify as a good omen. Cheng is 11-5 on the season with a 2.73 ERA, and has struck out well more than a batter per inning. Lansing led 2-0 after 5 innings on a Silver Hawk misplay on a steal attempt and a Joey Metropoulos RBI single. After South Bend scored an unearned run off Edward Rodriguez in the top of the sixth inning, Jesus Gonzalez salted the game away in the bottom of the frame with a three-run shot. Jordan Timm finished up the game in fine style, and Brian Pettway added a late 2 run double.

Auburn 2 @ State College 3, 10 innings

Brandon Magee gave the Doubledays an effective start, but the bats were quiet on Saturday. Magee went 6.2 innings and allowed two runs on seven baserunners, while striking out two. Nathan Starner recovered from his recent difficulties by retiring the four batters he faced. Brian Jerolman and Ben Zeskind each reached base three times to lead the offence.

Burlington 14 @ Pulaski 0

Last night, the P-Jays laid an 18-7 beating on Burlington. Revenge was sweet for the B-Indians. And it was like water torture for Pulaski- 17 singles, 3 doubles and 3 walks were their undoing. Redier Gonzalez was touched for 8 of the runs on 10 hits and 1 walk, but the 10 hits including a bunt and six ground balls in 3.1 innings. Ouch. Baron Frost continued his hot hitting, going 3-3 with a walk. He's hitting .325 with pop and plate discipline, and might get a shot at some playoff action at a higher level.

3 stars

3rd star- Ron Davenport
2nd star- Jesus Gonzalez
1st star- Chi-Hung Cheng

Posted by Mike Green on Saturday, August 26 2006 @ 09:52 PM EDT.

Hayden Penn is going to be a richer pitcher | 11 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

StephenT - Saturday, August 26 2006 @ 11:49 PM EDT (#154188) #

Penn, 21 years old, was at 90 pitches going into the top of the 8th (Lynx leading 6-0). He retired Santos on one pitch, then Mahoney on a 3-2 popup. Lydon then tripled on a ball to left-centre in a 9-pitch at bat. Penn finished by striking out Figueroa on 4 pitches. The final pitch was a curve ball that Figueroa swung and missed at by least by a foot. (110 pitches in total for Penn, according to the boxscore; I actually missed the top-of-the-1st, but counted 97 pitches in innings 2 through 8.)

Lind hit 3 line drives, though 2 were caught. He also made a couple of nice catches in left-field in the bottom of the 7th: he caught a deep one running backwards, then caught a sinker in front of him.

Adams made 6 ground outs at 2nd-base (4-3), including a couple of tough plays.

Unfortunately, Thigpen was not playing tonight (Mahoney was catching).

I won't be at Sunday's game, though I will record the Rogers cable broadcast of it for later viewing.

Also, I just heard a day or two ago that Ottawa will have a team again next year.

China fan - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 08:01 AM EDT (#154190) #

If Adams is playing 2B at Syracuse, does this mean there is still a chance that Aaron Hill might be shifted to SS next year to make room for Adams at 2B? Or is Adams likely to be traded or dumped? Seems very little chance that Adams could supplant Hill at 2B next year or any conceivable year, given his poor performance this year, and it also seems unlikely that Hill will be shifted to SS next year (otherwise wouldn't they want him to be practising the position by now?). So I don't quite understand the Jays strategy with Adams.

Pistol - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#154192) #

I think the Jays feel that Adams isn't a SS, so that leaves him at 2B. I don't read anything else into it regarding Hill.

CeeBee - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 10:52 AM EDT (#154193) #

I wouldn't be surprised to see Adams play a little 3rd either this year or in spring training and end up on the bench for the Jays. One other option would be to trade him though I can't see getting much in return unless he was part of a multi-player trade.

Wildrose - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 11:29 AM EDT (#154194) #

Ricky, you might want to lose those numbers.

Surely others caught this riff? Nice one Mike....

Mike Green - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 11:29 AM EDT (#154195) #

Thanks, Stephen, for the report. I am pleased to hear that you'll have baseball in Ottawa next year.

Jordan - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 02:34 PM EDT (#154200) #

Just adding my two cents to Stephen's excellent report, though there's little new to say -- Penn was dominant. He looked like a major leaguer on a rehab start. Janssen started very strong before getting singled to death -- some were seeing-eye grounders, some were slashing base hits. It was the two HBPs that cost him, I think, and I would't have pulled him so early. I thought it was an encouraging start, and I trust he'll get another look-see in Toronto after rosters expand.

As Stephen mentioned, Lind was retired on two pitches he ripped -- one to the first baseman, the other to centerfield. His base hit was a ringing single to left-center; he struck out in his other AB, looking silly on some really nasty breaking stuff from Penn. Lind is also a major-leaguer, and though he may take a little while to adjust, he's eventually going to be a strong addition to the Jays lineup.

Adams went hitless and didn't show much against superior pitching, though he came in hitting .314. He made two dynamite plays at second base -- he ranged to his right on a hard grounder, jumped and spun and fired a beam to nail the runner, then came in on a little bouncer past the pitcher and whipped the ball in time to get the runner. Based on infinitesimal sample size, his 2B glove looks ready for the Show; his bat may be another story.

Ryan Houston pitched the 9th, and I was interested in seeing the guy with so many walks and Ks to his credit. He came as advertised: he throws nasty stuff that finds the strike zone once every so often, and he must rely on the umpire a lot. He gave up a three-run bomb after a long at-bat, and after the inning was over had some words for the home-plate umpire. I felt bad -- it's never fun to watch a pitcher go into the dugout with his head hanging.

Interesting play early on: the Ottawa batter hit a sinking liner into right that the fielder ice-cream-coned, but still clearly caught. But the umpire called him safe, and a mini-brouhaha ensued. Syracuse's manager came out to discuss it in level-headed fashion, whereupon the umpire checked with hsi two colleagues, conversed briefly, and reversed his call. It was great to see a minor-league ump risk looking bad but making sure the right call was made. A little more of that in the majors would be nice.

Glad to hear the Lynx will be back next year -- they had an announced crowd of about 3,500 (looked more like 2,000 to me), attracted by the pleasant evening, (probably) the Jays' farm team, and maybe the possibility that this is their final season. 3,500 is a pittance for other AAA clubs, but it was a pretty strong turnout for the Lynx.

Rob - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 03:37 PM EDT (#154205) #

He also made a couple of nice catches in left-field

Aside from those plays, did you notice anything that would indicate whether or not Lind is playable as a major league leftfielder? Is he better than, say, Chad Mottola? (These questions are also directed at Jordan and any other Bauxites who may have been in attendance.)

Tanner - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 07:02 PM EDT (#154208) #

I'm one of the Gameday stats stringers for the Lynx and I've had the chance to see 4-5 of Penn's starts this year. I didn't see the game yesterday but he's had a few dominant starts like that. Other times, he seems to have trouble with his command. Sometimes both happen in the same game.

I worked the game today and for Syracuse, Josh Banks had an excellent outing. Don't follow prospects very closely so I don't know if he's a top prospect, but he looked good today. McGowan also threw 2+ solid innings.

Jordan - Sunday, August 27 2006 @ 08:14 PM EDT (#154211) #

Aside from those plays, did you notice anything that would indicate whether or not Lind is playable as a major league leftfielder?

He did a good job watching the two home runs sail over the fence. :-) Actually, Lind didn't get many chances, but I recall him making a decent running catch on a shallow fly ball, and he ran his routes well enough. Not enough evidence to rank him, but I've heard him compared to Catalanotto defensively, which is pretty much all you could expect. I don't think he's a Ryan Klesko out there, at least.

Hayden Penn is going to be a richer pitcher | 11 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.