Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

A 2-3 night for the affiliates. Lansing had the best night winning 16-9.

Charlotte 4 at Syracuse 1

Not much from the Chiefs tonight - just 4 hits. Eric Kratz scored the only run with a solo HR.

It was a bullpen game on the mound. Justin James had the best night going 3 scoreless innings.

New Hampshire - Day Off

Dunedin 7 at St Lucie 4

The D-Jays scored 4 in the 3rd inning to break the game open. Garibaldi led off with a walk. That was followed by a Hatch RBI double, a Phillips RBI single, Nielsen single, Patton single and a 2 run double from Jacob Butler. A 2 run triple by Garibaldi was the highlight of a 3 run 5th inning that put Dunedin up 7-0.

Eric Nielsen had 3 hits including a double, Hatch had 2 hits including a double, and Patton & Phillips each had two singles.

Kristian Bell got the start. He pitched 5 scoreless innings before running into trouble, giving up 2 runs in the 6th and 7th innings before departing. On the night he pitched 6.1 innings with 4 Ks and 2 BBs.

Lansing 16 at W Michigan 9

Here's your softball game. Oddly enough with 25 runs there was only one HR on the night - a Joey Metropoulos solo shot.

Travis Snider was 3-6 with 2 doubles, Raul Barron was 3-5 with a walk, and Jaspe, Metropoulos, Nelson and Diaz each had two hits.

Graham Godfrey gave up 3 runs in 4 innings. Ben Harrison followed and gave up 3 runs in 2 innings to get the easy 'W' next to his name.

Auburn 8 at Mahoning Valley 14

Aussie Shane Benson got roughed up a bit in this one, but wasn't helped by his defense. He gave up 8 runs (4 earned) in 2.2 innings.

Paul Franko led the Doubleday offense going 3-4 with a HR and 2B. Scobee, Santana and Mastroianni each had two hits.

GCL Indians 9 at GCL Jays 2

The Jays made 5 errors in this one - two Big Balbino fielding and three throwing errors. Surprisingly only 3 runs were unearned.

Eric Eiland scored both runs. He was 0-2, but drew two walks and had a stolen base. He was also picked off. The rest of the team managed just 4 singles.

3 Stars!
3 - Joey Metropoulos
2 - Travis Snider
1 - Paul Franko

Posted by Pistol on Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 08:13 AM EDT.

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FranklyScarlet - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 09:59 AM EDT (#170698) #

I am hoping they let Mastoianni run in Auburn....He has the only stolen bases so far but it sounds like he more than capable of many more.

I tuned into the D2 College World Series in Montgomery, and he moved around the bases almost comically. His college site, Southern Indiana, lists his junior season in that category, as a school record....64 out of 67 stolen bases.

Makes me think we have another Reed Johnson -type hustler on our hands, and that would be alot of fun to follow, wouldn't it?

Mike Green - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 11:37 AM EDT (#170707) #

Here's an interesting piece on Travis Snider.

Gerry - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 12:48 PM EDT (#170710) #

Thanks Mike. That game the report references is the same game I attended. The reporter talks about the same things I noted with Snider. It also appears from the story that Snider is still adapting to being a professional baseball player. When you look at the Lansing roster he is the youngest player and most players are a couple of years older. That might also make it tougher to adapt.

Mike Green - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 01:14 PM EDT (#170714) #

I did not know that Snider has dropped 20 lbs. Not that 5'11", 225 lbs is too small.

MatO - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 01:17 PM EDT (#170715) #

I'm not sure that dropping 20lbs is such a good thing to do during the season but it doesn't seem to have bothered him too much. I am a bit concerned about the drastic rise in K's recently though.

Pistol - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 01:49 PM EDT (#170718) #

I'm not sure that dropping 20lbs is such a good thing to do during the season

If it's excess weight (ie - fat) I don't see how it's anything but a good thing. As most people who have lost 20 pounds can tell you, you can do a lot more things and feel a lot better with less weight to carry around.

danjulien - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 01:57 PM EDT (#170719) #

As a person who gained twenty pounds because of the Sens long playoff round and all the sitting at my desk/crap eating I did because of it, I can tell you that the opposite of what Pistol said...when you gain twenty, you feel worse and can do less things...

ayjackson - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 02:00 PM EDT (#170720) #

I thought I remember reading something months ago that 240 lbs was a "football weight" for him and once his football career ended, he had no reason to carry that excess bulk. I don't recall whether that excess bulk was muscle, fat, water or fecal matter.

ramone - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 02:20 PM EDT (#170722) #

Looks like league has been recalled, interesting, last I heard he was throwing around 92-93 mph. This section is found at the bottom of the page of the link provided.

Notes

Reliever Brandon League, in Syracuse on rehabilitation assignment, was recalled to Toronto on Tuesday. League, the Blue Jays' potential setup man, appeared in six games for the Chiefs. He was 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA. In his last outing, Monday at Scranton-Wilkes Barre, he pitched one inning and did not allow a hit or a run. "

http://www.syracuse.com/articles/chiefs/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1182935052159730.xml

MatO - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 02:24 PM EDT (#170723) #

I didn't mean losing weight was a bad thing just that it changes your body and might make you dizzy etc. which might affect your hitting. You would think it was something he could have done in the off-season.

Maldoff - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 02:55 PM EDT (#170724) #

League is no longer listed on the Chiefs roster on minorleaguebaseball.com, but also isn't on the Jays roster yet.

Has anyone seen him pitch lately? The boxscores didn't seem all that impressive, and if he is only throwing 92-93 mph (wow, I wish I could only throw 92-93 mph), he might not be ready for the show just yet.

gottywhat - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 03:00 PM EDT (#170727) #

Agreed, also the article Mike found suggests it might have zapped his power a bit.

Does losing weight make you more prone or less prone in injuries? Less prone because there's less to lug around, or more prone because you don't have the muscle to suppose and protect your parts?

Ryan Day - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 03:07 PM EDT (#170728) #

Even if League isn't 100% yet, he's still probably more useful than De Jong or Wolfe. (actually, Wolfe hasn't been half bad) There's no harm in bringing him up, as long as he's not going to fall into the role of "Guy who pitches once a fortnight" Gibbons seems to require.

Pistol - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 03:24 PM EDT (#170729) #

Does losing weight make you more prone or less prone in injuries? Less prone because there's less to lug around, or more prone because you don't have the muscle to suppose and protect your parts?

There's an old joke that you never see anyone on the DL with 'pulled fat'.

Unless you lower your body fat to an exceptionally low level I don't think you're anymore at risk for injuries with less weight.

I don't think anyone (qualified) recommends a person to gain weight to be less suspecptible to injury.

Gerry - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 03:49 PM EDT (#170730) #

There is a time limit on rehab assignments. He could be recalled because his rehab time is up, he still might not be reinstated for a few days though.

Mike Green - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 03:57 PM EDT (#170732) #

The time limit for pitchers on a rehab assignment is 30 days. League hasn't pitched too much over the last week, so the club would be wise to get him into action fairly soon. He is probably be suited to a low leverage role for at least the first outing or two.

MatO - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 04:06 PM EDT (#170734) #

This weight issue reminds me of Buck Martinez. Buck had a career year in 1983 with an OPS+ of 111 (92 and 90 the 2 prior years) but he was your typical rotund catcher and "Bengie Molina" slow. The stories coming out of spring training in 1984 were that he had come into camp in the best shape of his life and had dropped a number of pounds. I'm thinking why would would you change anything after having a season like that? So you can be thrown out at 1st base by 15ft instead of 20ft on a ground ball? Martinez had an OPS+ of 77 that year

BulletJayFan - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 04:16 PM EDT (#170735) #

92-93 sounds about right for League. I saw him pitch a couple times with Syracuse. His fastball still moves all over the place, and he's keeping it down, but he also had some control problems when I saw him. I think his 4.50 ERA is largely the product of having to throw the ball down the middle after getting himself into too many 3-1 type counts. The ERA may also be partly due to Syracuse's atrocious defense, too, though. He'll need some time, but he should be back. Whether he'll be better than Janssen, though, is another story.

Marc Hulet - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 04:35 PM EDT (#170738) #

League made his first appearance on May 29... So his rehab time is up. I surely hope he's just being optioned to the minors (you have to recall a player to do that in this situation) because his numbers (and reports) suggest he's not ready.

Craig B - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 04:36 PM EDT (#170739) #

The stories coming out of spring training in 1984 were that he had come into camp in the best shape of his life and had dropped a number of pounds. I'm thinking why would would you change anything after having a season like that? So you can be thrown out at 1st base by 15ft instead of 20ft on a ground ball?

Mat, I get where you're coming from - and I agree that players need to be careful about how they change their bodies (cf. Brandon League) but it's especially important for a catcher to try to keep his upper body weight down if he wants to have a career in his 30s. Guys who carry a lot of upper-body weight (whether it be shoulder muscle, belly fat or anything in between) are putting that much extra wear on their knees when getting up and down from the crouch.

Dewey - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 04:50 PM EDT (#170743) #

Buck was not a big guy; and he had one of the widest-beam butts I've ever seen in a uniform. If Snider is 5'11" and he weighs that much, he probably *should* lose some weight. I wonder what hank Aaron's weight was in his prime?

MatO - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 04:55 PM EDT (#170745) #

I was being a bit facetious but I really did think that at the time. Realistically, Buck was a pretty bad hitter most of his career and he was in his mid-thirties so a big regression was not unexpected.

I wonder if David Wells dropped 50lbs would he have been the same pitcher?

ayjackson - Wednesday, June 27 2007 @ 05:29 PM EDT (#170750) #

Brett Cecil is getting the start tonight for Auburn.

ayjackson - Thursday, June 28 2007 @ 12:14 AM EDT (#170757) #

Well Brett Cecil has definitely had the most encouraging start to his pro career of our recent draftees. He's pitched in two games, 7 IP, 2 hits, zero runs, zero walks and 9 strikeouts. Keep it up, kid!

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