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Three rain outs, Lansing wins behind more strong starting pitching from Zach Dials. Lansing's team ERA is just over 1. The Jays affiliates have thirteen rain-outs already this season. Bonus notes from the minors included for no extra charge.

Ottawa at Syracuse - postponed

New Hampshire at New Britain - postponed

Dunedin at Fort Myers - postponed

Great Lakes 1 Lansing 3

Lansing received another excellent start, this time from Zach Dials who went five shutout innings. Ben Harrison came on in relief and gave up a run to tie the game at 1 but got the win when Lansing scored in the bottom of the sixth. Lansing's first run came courtesy of a single by Brian Pettway, a double by Matt Liuzza and a single by Brian Bormaster. Pettway doibled to drive in Travis Snider with Lansing's second run and the final run came on an error scoring Scott Campbell who had singled.

2 star selection

2nd star - Brian Pettway, 3-4, 2 doubles, RBI
1st star - Zach Dials, five shutout innings, 4 hits

Team Records (it is too early to look at standings)

Syracuse 4-6 (2 games postponed)
New Hampshire 4-2 (4 games postponed)
Dunedin 3-6 (2 games postponed)
Lansing 5-1 (5 games postponed)

Did You Know?

All minor league teams have played ten games or fewer so season statistics are from a very small sample size. They would pass virtually unnoticed in the middle of the season.

Russ Adams is only hitting .182. Several of Syracuse's big hitters are quiet, Jeff Duncan (.105); Kevin Barker (.156); John Hattig (.182); and Chad Mottola, who had two hits yesterday to pull his average up to .211 are each weel below expectations.

John-Ford Griffin is off to a hot start hitting .361 and slugging .778. Mike Vento is also hitting well at .344 with a .625 slugging.

The Chiefs are striking out a lot, with 10 games played five hitters have nine or more strikeouts and two others have seven and eight K's respectively.

Jamie Vermilyea has a zero ERA with no baserunners allowed in 5.2 innings. Brian Wolfe continues to build on a strong spring with a zero ERA and a .75 WHIP.

Among the starters Dustin McGowan has a .90 ERA and 1.10 WHIP after two starts. Josh Banks has a 1.05 WHIP after two starts.

Eric Kratz leads Fisher Cat hitters with a .583 BA. Aaron Mathews might have been in Dunedin if Ryan Patterson was not injured, he is making the most of his opportunity hitting .381. Sergio Santos continues to struggle, he is hitting .059 in four games.

Chip Cannon is hitting .111 with 14 K's in 27 at-bats. Cannon could just be in a slump, or be in a funk becuase he was sent back to AA. Don't forget that Cannon hit .248 in AA last season with 158 K's in 135 games. The rosy expectations of him coming into 2007 were based on a strong AFL campaign but again that was a smaller sample size.

Most New Hampshire starting pitchers have only made one start, relievers Jordan DeJong, Jean Machi and Jo Matumoto still have their zero ERA's intact.

Adam Calderone has only played in 5 games for Dunedin but he is hitting .438, Jacob Butler is hitting .419. Anthony Hatch has slipped to .212 after a strong start.

The Dunedin starters have struggled. Orlando Trias, Robert Ray, Kurt Isenberg and Brandon Magee, who have made six of Dunedin's nine starts, each have ERA's over 5.50. Aaron Tressler, Kristian Bell and Ted Serro have the leading ERA's.

Lansing are winning with pitching. Lansing's team ERA is just over 1.00; 8 of the 12 pitchers have an ERA of 0.00; the worst ERA on the team belongs to Ben Harrison at 4.50. Brian Pettway (BA .360) and Travis Snider (.333) are carrying the offense.

Zach Dials and Pray for Rain? | 6 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
ChicagoJaysFan - Monday, April 16 2007 @ 12:54 AM EDT (#165919) #
Yes, I know it's early, but it's great to see Snider off to an early start.  In a perfect world, I think he could be able to start next year in AA and ready for the majors in '09.  As I said, that's a perfect world and unlikely, but it would mean getting promoted to Dunedin mid-way through this year and tearing it up.  Then doing the same next year at NH and being promoted to Syracuse mid-way through.  I think Vernon Wells was the last Blue Jay prospect I was this excited about.
Maldoff - Monday, April 16 2007 @ 10:41 AM EDT (#165933) #
Syracuse's game has already been cancelled today.  I swear, those guys are not going to remember what baseball is by the time the weather warms up!  Global warming, huh?
Mike Green - Monday, April 16 2007 @ 12:16 PM EDT (#165939) #
Check out the Midwest League's team batting lines.  In particular, the team HR and K totals are bizarre.  The weather has been so bad that home runs are at deadball levels but strikeouts are at a higher average than modern MLB.  If a pitcher is walking more than 3 a game in these conditions, it is a sign of real control problems.

Travis Snider's early line is even better than it looks, as is Brian Pettway's.  Dunedin is going to need a second half run to make the playoffs, and Snider and Pettway are leading candidates to supply the oomph.

Hodgie - Monday, April 16 2007 @ 01:44 PM EDT (#165948) #
Hmmmm, I wonder if Brian Pettway mis-interpreted Ted Williams' axiom about hitting....the one the says to swing from the heels UNTIL you have two strikes? His batting line is impressive if you ignore the strikeout rate which seems to be doubling the league average.  
Pistol - Monday, April 16 2007 @ 01:57 PM EDT (#165949) #
Maybe there's a good reason for it, but I'm not sure why Pettway is in Lansing.  If he's ever going to get back to being a prospect he needs to perform at higher levels quickly.  Or maybe being in the Midwest League says how the Jays feel about him.

Interesting fact:  Pettway is 12 days younger than Adam Lind.

actionjackson - Monday, April 16 2007 @ 04:36 PM EDT (#165965) #
Maldoff, I think that's why the wording has been switched to "Climate Change". It better captures the $#@* that is passing for our weather this "spring".
Zach Dials and Pray for Rain? | 6 comments | Create New Account
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