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Only one win on the farm Wednesday and unusually it is the Chiefs who record it.  Jorge Velandia's two run home run in the eighth was the winning blow.  Davis Romero and John Parish pitched well in the win.  New Hampshire and Dunedin were easily beaten as starters Brandon Magee and Reidier Gonzalez took the losses.  Lansing lost although Justin Jackson had four hits.

Syracuse 4  Buffalo 2

The Chiefs took the lead against Jeremy Sowers in the second inning, Hector Luna led off with a single and Robinzon Diaz tripled him home.  After Russ Adams walked and Sergio Santos popped out Matt Watson singled Diaz home before Pedro Lopez hit into a double play.  Davis Romero retired the first seven hitters he faced before allowing a soft single and a walk in the third.  Romero was done after three innings and fifty pitches with another good start to his credit.  Syracuse had another chance to score in the fourth when Luna walked and Adams singled with one out but Santos popped out and Watson grounded out.

John Parish replaced Romero and recorded the first two outs before Adams made an error.  That was followed by a walk and a two run double as the two unearned runs tied the game.  The game settled down with fifteen straight batters retired from the bottom of the fifth through the seventh before the Chiefs got to Scott Elarton in the eighth.  Wayne Lydon led off with a triple and Jorge Velandia followed with a home run, his first of the year.  With two outs in the eighth Parish walked the hitter ending a run of fifteen straight outs.  Brandon League got the last out in the eighth and all three in the ninth with one walk allowed.  Parish got the win having pitched 4.2 innings allowing only the one hit that scored the two unearned runs. Buffalo had two hits in the game one off Romero and one off Parish.

Syracuse had six hits, no-one had two.  Lind and Diaz are the only hitters with averages above .250.

New Britain 4  New Hampshire 1

Brandon Magee has struggled this season and this start was an improvement although not great.  Magee allowed a walk in the first and a lead-off double in the second but with no runs allowed.  However in the third Magee put two on with walks then a double scored them both.  Magee gave up another run in the fifth on a couple of singles and through five it was 3-0 New Britain and to that point New Hampshire had only one base runner, a single by Aaron Mathews.  Magee gave up a two out double in the sixth and was pulled having pitched 5.2 innings and gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks.  Magee had only one strikeout.

Brian Jeroloman and Chris Gutierrez singled to start the sixth but never moved as the next three hitters went in order.  New Britain added a run in the ninth off Daryl Harang and the Fisher Cats broke the shutout in the ninth on singles by Kyle Phillips, Eric Nielsen and Ryan Patterson.

Mathews was the only player with two hits for the Fisher Cats.  Anthony Swarzak, the starter for New Britain, is Minnesota's #5 prospect and pitched six shutout innings in this game with 10 k's, no walks, and only three hits allowed.

Tampa 6  Dunedin 1

Tampa scored first in the third inning, Reidier Gonzalez gave up two singles and a double with one out to put Dunedin down 2-0.  Tampa tacked on three more in the fourth with a two run home run being the big blow.  Gonzalez was gone after four innings having struggled on this night, five runs allowed in four innings on nine hits.   Chris Emanuele had singled to start the game for Dunedin and their next hit didn't come until Matt Liuzza doubled in the fifth.  Singles by Emanuele and Jesus Gonzalez scored Dunedin's only run.  Conor Falkenbach pitched three innings and dodged trouble having given up three runs and two walks.  Zach Dials allowed a run in the ninth which could have been two but Emanuele threw out a runner at home.

The Jays had six hits, Emanuele had two.

Lansing 4  Burlington 7

Nate Starner retired nine of the first ten hitters he saw in this game, the only blemish a hit batter, before a walk and a home run put Burlington up 2-0 in the fourth.  Yohermyn Chavez solo home run in the fifth halved the deficit but Burlington got that back in the bottom of the fifth.  In the top of the sixth Justin Jackson singled, Darin Mastroianni singled and Jackson scored on a ground ball from Manny Rodriguez.  Alan Farina replaced Starner in the sixth and promptly walked the first two hitters, one of whom scored on a sac fly to restore the two run lead.

Raul Barron manufactured a run in the seventh, he singled, went to second on a passed ball, stole third base and scored when the pitcher threw the ball away.  Farina gave up a lead-off triple in the bottom of the seventh but retired the next two hitters and it looked like he could escape but the next three hitters singled and just like that Farina had given up four runs and Burlington led 7-3 after seven.  Mastroianni and Rodriguez singled to lead off the eighth but the Lugnuts just scored once on a ground out.  Jackson finished his day by tripling with two out in the ninth.

Jackson went 4-5 with a double and a triple, Mastroianni and Barron had two hits each.

3 star selection

3rd star - John Parish
2nd star - Justin Jackson
1st star - Jorge Velandia

Victorious Velandia | 8 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Alex Obal - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 04:15 AM EDT (#182843) #
Lind Watch (everybody's doing it): He DH'd and went 0-4 with two strikeouts. Jeremy Sowers was really tough on lefties in the majors.  Lind is now hitting .360/.411/.640, with 7 strikeouts and 5 walks in 57 PA. Against righties, he's .424/.472/.818, with 3 K, 3 BB, and 3 HR in 36 PA.
Pistol - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 09:08 AM EDT (#182847) #
Justin Jackson has probably been the biggest surprise for me so far this year.  He was drafted with a strong defensive reputation, but questionable hitting skills, particularly his strength.  He's hitting .311/.446/.511 this year, so he's showing a good eye and some pop.

Compare that to Mike Moustakas who was taken at the top of the draft last year (like Jackson who went at #45) and is hitting .194/.256/.194 so far.  I'm not saying that Jackson is or will be better, but his development is seemingly a lot further ahead of where it probably should be at this point, which is also a good reflection on the drafters and/or developers.

Mike Green - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 09:39 AM EDT (#182848) #
For me, too.  Jackson is also 5-1 in stolen base attempts in 12 games.  He has struck out 14 times in 12 games. His BABIP of .452 is unsustainable, but even if he loses 50-65 points on the batting average over the course of the season, he would still be an excellent prospect what with those walks, some pop, good speed and good defence at short. 

Jackson has been compared to Shawon Dunston (a 1st overall draft pick).  Dunston went through the Midwest League when he was 9 months older than Jackson and hit .310/.332/.409 with 7 walks and 51 strikeouts in 455 at-bats.  It looks like Jackson will do better than that, but with a different shape.


FisherCatsScribe - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 09:39 AM EDT (#182849) #
Could be a long year for the Fisher Cats, but at least the park looks nice.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Wt1Oan3GM&feature=related]




FisherCatsScribe - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 09:52 AM EDT (#182851) #
Let's try again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Wt1Oan3GM&feature=related
timpinder - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 10:10 AM EDT (#182853) #

David Purcey to start for the Jays on Friday???

Jeff Blair suggests that the Jays will likely bring up a starter to take Burnett's place on Friday.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/baseball

As fate would have it, Purcey's scheduled to start that day.  I'd love to see Purcey, but breaking him into the show against a Tigers' lineup that seems to have woken up might not be the best thing for him.  It's all just speculation now anyway.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#182869) #

speaking of potential callups......why isn't Lind playing for the Chiefs today?

 

John Northey - Thursday, April 17 2008 @ 02:36 PM EDT (#182871) #
Given Lind is the only one to play 14 games so far I figure it is just a day off.  Although if Stewart is more hurt than we know of then he could be called up.
Victorious Velandia | 8 comments | Create New Account
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