Dunedin opens another can of whoopass on their Yankee counterparts and there was a fantastic relief effort elsewhere on the farm. However, it wasn't enough to tip the scales for the affliates as they fell on the wrong side of .500 by dropping 2 out of 3 last night.
Columbus, OH - Much like Josh Towers, Josh Banks had one bad inning that cost him. His turned out to be in the 1st inning as Columbus' Brandon Watson led off with a single to extend his hitting streak to 38 games. He would score on a Darnell McDonald groundout. The big blow, however, was a 2 run homer by D'Angelo Jimenez to cash in a Bernie Castro double to make it 3-0 Columbus.
Banks rebounded to strike out the side swinging in the 2nd. The Chiefs got their first run as Jeff Duncan singled, stole 2nd, was pushed to 3rd on a Wayne Lydon base knock and came around to score on a Ray Olmedo single. However, Russ Adams and Mike Vento flied out to strand Lydon and Olmedo. Meantime, Josh Banks struck out his 4th batter in a row, again swinging, to start the bottom of the 3rd. He had to work around a hit by pitch, a stolen base, and a wild pitch but kept the Clippers off the board.
Banks got a double play ball to get out of the 4th and set down the side in order in the 5th. The Chiefs then made it a one run game as Kevin Barker went deep for the 6th time this season in the top of the 6th to make it 3-2 Columbus. Syracuse got their leadoff man aboard in the 7th as catcher Erik Kratz reached on an error but he wound up returning the favour to the Clippers by getting picked off 1st.
Banks would work his way 2 outs into the 7th before giving way to Brian Wolfe. The recent Jay call-up was able to strand a Larry Broadway double by inducing a groundout to end the frame.
The Chiefs tried again to start a rally as Ray Olmedo singled to lead off the 8th. A Mike Vento walk pushed him into scoring position but that was as far as he got and that was as close as Syracuse would get as they went down in order in the 9th to lose by a run.
At the plate, Kevin Barker and Ray Olmedo had 2 hit nights and drove in a run each. At the other end of the spectrum, Russ Adams was 0-for-4.
On the mound, Josh Banks went a solid 6 2/3 innings, giving up 3 runs (all earned) on 6 hits. He struck out 7 and didn't walk anyone but his record falls to 5-4. Brian Wolfe's ERA remains well below 1 at 0.74, as he worked around 2 hits and a walk to pitch 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.
New Hampshire - Scheduled Day Off
News and Notes from New Hampshire Union Leader
Chip Cannon makes Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet, but not for the right reasons.
Tampa, FL- Finally, some good news to warm the cockles! It's to the point now I can set my watch to it. I write a minor league update about the D-Jays beating up on the TB-Yanks once again.
Southpaw Johnathan E. Fowler , better known to you and me as Eric, toed the rubber for Dunedin against another lefty, Phillip Douglas Coke. Unlike his namesake's latest product, Coke would not put a Zero but would uncork a wild pitch to score Anthony Hatch, who led off the proceedings with a double, to give Dunedin a 1-0 advantage.
Coke would fizzle out/go flat (I couldn't decide which one to go with, okay?) again in the 3rd as he got the first two men out but Eric Nielsen singled and Josh Kreuzer brought him home with a double to make it 2-0 Dunedin.
Meantime, Eric Fowler stranded a walk in the 1st, a double in the 2nd and 3rd, and a walk in the 4th. He was touched up for a run in the 5th as he surrendered 2 singles sandwiching a Carlo Cota clank and that resulted in a sac fly to cut Dunedin's margin to 2-1. However, Fowler got a 4-6-3 double play ball to end the Yankee uprising. He would give up another double in the 6th but would strand that runner to end his night.
In the 7th, if Dunedin had sent 7 men up to the plate, I could've worked in a 7 UP reference. Alas, only 6 men came up but it was enough to plate another run, again coming with 2 out. Josh Kreuzer was plunked by a pitch and Jacob Butler chauffered him home with a double to restore Dunedin's 2 run bulge at 3-1.
Yesson Berroa took over for Eric Fowler in the 7th and set down the side with a groundout, punchout, and flyout. Daryl Harang was greeted with a leadoff double in the 8th and issued a walk. In sprite of that (get it?), Harang kept the Yanks off the board with a groundout, a K, and a popout to keep the Yanks off the board.
The D-Jays added more insurance as Carlo Cola was hit by a pitch and Eric Nielsen made Tampa pay for that by driving one over the wall for a 2 run shot to give the visitors a 5-1 cushion. That made the bottom half of the inning a little easier on the nerves as Tampa managed to load up the bases against Sean Stidfole on two singles and an Al Quintana error. Seth Overbey would end that nonsense by getting Yankees prospect Jose Tabata to ground out to end the ball game.
At the dish, Eric Nielsen and Josh Kreuzer had 2 hits apiece and 3 extra base hits and RBI between them as their batting averages hover around the .300 neighbourhood. Jacob Butler and Anthony Hatch also had extra base hits on the evening. On the negative side, Canadian David Corrente was 0-for-4.
On the bump, Eric Fowler evened up his record at 1-1 with 6 solid innings of 1 earned run ball on 5 hits and 2 walks while whiffing 3. Seth Overbey notched his 2nd save of the year and his ERA is below 1 at 0.93.
Lansing, MI - How do you lose despite limiting the other team to 3 hits and seeing them make 3 errors? By making 4 errors of your own (3 of them by your shortstop) and blowing some golden scoring opportunities. A Raul Barron single and a Yuber Rodriguez walk went for naught in the 1st as Brian Pettway lined out into a double play.. In the 2nd, the 'Nuts would load up the bases with 1 out but a Jonathan Diaz fly ball did not get the job done and Raul Barron struck out to end the frame.
The news got worse in the top of the 3rd as starter Adrian Martin had to leave the game due to injury according to the game story on lansinglugnuts.com. Martin would leave after issuing a leadoff walk to start the inning and that would prove costly. Another righty, Zach Dials, would enter the game and he would get a pair of strikeouts in the frame. However, the leadoff walk would move into scoring position by a stolen base and an infield single to short followed by an E6 from Jonathan Diaz would plate the only run Dayton would need in this one.
After that, Dials was dialed in as he went on to retire 15 hitters in a row and 16 of the last 17 hitters he faced. Of the 15 outs in play, 12 were on the ground. The closest Lansing came to scoring was in the 3rd as Scott Campbell singled but he was erased on a Yuber Rodriguez double play grounder. Brian Pettway would follow with a double but he would be left there.
Dayton put the game away with 2 more unearned runs off Lansing righty Paul Phillips. Phillips got the first two batters but another error by Jonathan Diaz gave the Dragons a base runner. A stolen base and a single led to Dayton taking a 2-0 lead and Phillips uncorked a pair of wild pitches to bring home the 3rd Dragons run. The Lugnuts made one more attempt to get something going in the 9th as Matt Liuzza led off with a single and Chris Emanuele got aboard on a 1 out error. However, pinch hitters Jonathan Baksh and Joey "Big City" Metropoulos came up empty to end a night of frustration for the home side.
Batting wise, Brian Pettway had the best performance of the night by going 2-for-3 with a double and Scott Campbell was 2-for-4. Yuber Rodriguez drew a walk but did go 0-for-3 and struck out twice. Jonathan Diaz had the night from hell, going 0-for-3 and making 3 clanks. Matt Liuzza made the other error by catcher's interference, offsetting a 1-for-4 night.
Pitching wise, Adrian Martin suffered the hard luck loss and an injury as his record falls to 2-2 but his ERA is just above 1 at 1.02. Zach Dials gave up just 1 hit in 6 innings of excellent relief, striking out 3. That lowers his ERA to 5.44.
*** 3 Stars! ***
3. Kevin Barker, Syracuse - 2/4, HR
2. Josh Kreuzer, Dunedin - 2/4, 2 2B, RBI
1. Zach Dials, Lansing - 6IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
Honourable Mentions.........
Syracuse - Josh Banks, Brian Wolfe, Ray Olmedo, Jeff Duncan
Dunedin - Eric Nielson, Eric Fowler, Yesson Berroa, Daryl Harang, Seth Overbey
Lansing - Brian Pettway, Scott Campbell
Standings...........
Syracuse - 30-33, 4GB of Buffalo, Internation League North Division - 2 game losing streak
New Hampshire - 31-28, 7.5GB of Trenton, Eastern League Northern Division - 1 game losing streak
Dunedin - 27-35, 11.5GB of Sarasota, Florida State League West Division - 1 game winning streak
Lansing - 32-29, 6.5GB of Dayton, Midwest League Eastern Division - 1 game losing streak
Today's Schedule/Probable Starters.............
Syracuse at Columbus, 12:05 p.m. RHP Mike MacDonald (2-3, 3.98) vs RHP Felix Diaz (4-4, 5.72)
Akron at New Hampshire, 7:05 p.m. LHP Scott Lewis (2-2, 3.91) vs LHP David Purcey (3-5, 5.37)
Dunedin at Tampa, 7:05 p.m. - TBA
Dayton at Lansing, 7:05 p.m. RHP Sean Watson (4-2, 2.06) vs LHP Nate Starner (5-5, 4.50)
Bonus Canadian Minor League Baseball Coverage
It's less than two weeks and counting before I leave Ontario and head to Edmonton, the home of the Edmonton Cracker-Cats of the independent Northern League. In my last update two weeks ago, the C-Cats rallied from 5-0 to beat the Gary SouthShore Rail Cats 6-5. I boldly predicted that this would be the turning point of the season and lead to bigger and better things! Well, not so much. However, the 'Cats did pull out another thrilling come from behind victory as they beat Fargo Moorhead 9-8 in 11 innings at Telus Field Sunday afternoon. They fought back from a 6-1 deficit by scoring 4 times in the bottom of the 9th, thanks in large part to a 3 run homer by former Mariner Ryan Radmanovich before winning it in extras. It's surprising that Radmanovich, a Calgary native, is playing in Edmonton this season. I'm sure that'll be warmly received in the Battle of Alberta. Former Angel and Indian Lou Pote earned the victory in relief as the 'Cats "improved" to 9-13. The good news is, they're only 3 games back of Winnipeg for the North Division lead. Thankfully, they're not in the South as Gary is running away with that division with a league best 17-6 mark. Now you're up to date!
