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I’m 0-6 over my last two minor league updates, as the three affiliates in action all lost, with two of them being held to one run. The only bright spot came with New Hampshire’s offence, as Travis Snider continued to look good while Scott Campbell demonstrated that even when he isn’t getting hits, he’s still contributing and getting on base. Meanwhile, the Florida State League All-Star Game took place and three Dunedin players were in action.


Syracuse 1 @ Toledo 4 - Boxscore

Davis Romero didn’t have his strongest start against the team that finished second in the A-Rod sweepstakes this offseason. Romero went 4 innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits and two walks. He struck out four and is still looking up at a major league bullpen with four lefties in it, all of whom are performing well and none of which, outside maybe Downs, have significant trade value. Jo Matumoto struck out four over his 2 innings and only allowed two baserunners. Jordan de Jong and Mike Gosling each pitched scoreless innings with a strikeout, but Toledo had done enough damage against Romero.

Four Toledo pitchers, including Joel Zumaya and former SkyChief Blaine Neal, combined on a three hitter. Lauren Gagnier, the starter, gave up all three hits and the lone SkyChief run, which came on a Kevin Melillo homer to lead off the third inning. Buck Coats got both of the other hits and Gregg Zaun was 0-4 with two strikeouts.

New Hampshire 5 @ Erie 9 - Boxscore

Scott Campbell didn’t get a single one of the nine New Hampshire hits on the afternoon. But he made up for it by drawing three walks and finishing with an OBP of .600 for the game. In fact, those were the only three walks the entire team drew during the game. Travis Snider went 3-4 with a run and a double and is now hitting .282. Jacob Butler, playing at 1B, went 2-4 with a double and a home run and 3 RBI. Kyle Phillips added a pair of singles, while Ryan Patterson and Josh Kreuzer each added a hit of their own. Aaron Mathews went 0-4, but scored a run and made an outfield assist at home plate, while Anthony Hatch and Chris Gutierrez went hitless.

Brett Cecil got the start, his 10th of the season for New Hampshire, and it was almost a duplicate of his first career Double-A start. Cecil went the same number of innings (3) and gave up the same number of runs (3), hits (4) and free passes (3). The only difference was he struck out five batters yesterday and only struck out four in his first outing. Seth Overbey relieved him and didn’t have one of his best games either, as he took his first loss of the year. Overbey also went 3 innings, but gave up six hits and three runs. Two of the runs came on a two-out homer by Erie catcher Dusty Ryan, who has a .500 slugging percentage. Not bad production from your backstop. Jamie Vermilyea pitched an inning and gave up a solo homer, while Zach Dials gave up two runs on three hits in his inning. Deik Scram made a pinch-running appearance.

West All-Stars 8 @ East All-Stars 3 - Boxscore

It was the Florida State League All-Star Game yesterday and the Western Division All-Stars won behind a 2-run homer from game MVP and Cincinnati farmhand Drew Stubbs. Cale Iorg hit the other homer for the West, with it coming in the ninth inning off formed first-round pick Jeff Allison, who is trying to salvage his professional career after addiction problems. Rick Porcello started for the West and got the win and the team used nine relievers. The eighth of those nine relievers was Dunedin’s Connor Falkenbach, who retired the two batters he faced. JP Arencibia and Brian Dopirak both started for the West, with Arencibia batting fifth and Dopirak seventh. Dopirak went 1-3 with a strikeout before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter, while Arencibia went 2-3 with a run scored and an RBI and was one of only three West Division All-Stars to finish with a multihit game.

Lansing 1 @ Great Lakes 5 - Boxscore

Marc Rzepczynski started for Lansing and went 5 innings. He struck out a season-high eight and walked a season-high four. He also surrendering three runs on four hits. Rzepczynski gave way to Brian Letko, making his second appearance of the year. Letko’s second outing went much better than his first, as he allowed an unearned run over two innings while striking out three. Michael Barbara pitched the last inning and gave up the fifth run to Great Lakes.

Lansing only got six hits in the game and only one went for extra-bases CJ Ebarb went 1-4 with a double and scored on one of Michael McDade’s two singles in the game. John Tolisano went 2-4 and Justin Jackson picked up a single in the 9-hole. There really isn’t much more to write about.

Three Stars:

3rd Star – JP Arencibia, 2-3, R, RBI, 2 TB

2nd Star – Travis Snider, 3-4, R, 2B, 4 TB

1st Star – Jacob Butler, 2-4, R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 6 TB
West is Best in Florida | 12 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
peiscooter - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 08:49 AM EDT (#187188) #

Not only is Romero looking up at 4 lefties in the Toronto bullpen, if by chance an opening came up for a left handed pitcher, he has the likes of Parrish, Purcey, Gosling and Murphy to compete with.

Yesterday's game was the 50th of Jonathan Jaspe's 50 game suspension.  The Lugnuts have an opening on their roster.  I wonder if they'll activate him or send him down to Auburn for a few games first. 

There will be a lot of roster shuffling over the next few days as both Auburn and Gulf Coast fill out their opening day rosters while Lansing gets ready for the second half having secured a playoff spot.  May be a few Lansing promotions to Dunedin.

Marc Hulet - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 10:31 AM EDT (#187189) #
I'm sure Jaspe will be in Lansing... The two short season teams have at least eight catchers to contend with as is: Chris House, Jon Talley, Joel Collins, Antonio Jimenez, Jonathan Valdez, Karim Turkamani, Luis Hurtado and Henry Rodriguez.
Kelekin - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 04:47 PM EDT (#187192) #
Kevin Nelson (Arencibia's back-up) is now in the Phillies organization, thus there is no actual back-up in Dunedin since Corrente is still on the DL.  I would think either Liuzza or Collins would end up in Dunedin.

It's definitely going to be a struggle and that's why I was surprised we took so many catchers this year.

My opinion on the most likely situation:

NH: Jeroloman / Arencibia
DUN: Collins / Liuzza or Jaspe (Jaspe is the better player offensively, and would most likely be in Dunedin right now if it wasn't for the 50 game suspension)
LAN: Liuzza or Jaspe / Ebarb
AUB: Turkamani / ?

As far as the remaining guys go, House/Talley/Jimenez/Valdez all need playing time.  Hurtado and Rodriguez were not that impressive in the DSL, and Turkamani is known for his glove and not his bat. 

So what do we do? Do we end up releasing one or two guys (such as Ebarb)?
Thomas - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 05:46 PM EDT (#187194) #
I'm waiting for the Blue Jays to cut Jaspe, as, after all, steroids are a primary factor why the team is not signing Bonds, so some consistency would be nice.
Kelekin - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 06:41 PM EDT (#187197) #
Yeah I'm sure they would have cut him by now if they wanted to get rid of him.  But I agree with your point.
Gerry - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 06:58 PM EDT (#187198) #
Lansing won today, scoring 18 runs, to clinch the division title for the first half. 
Ryan Day - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 07:12 PM EDT (#187200) #
I'm waiting for the Blue Jays to cut Jaspe, as, after all, steroids are a primary factor why the team is not signing Bonds, so some consistency would be nice.

On the other hand, Jaspe isn't costing the team $10 million (or more), and no one outside Lansing really knows or cares who he is. So he's got that on his side.
timpinder - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 07:21 PM EDT (#187201) #
Snider was out of the lineup in New Hampshire today and Lind was out of the lineup in Syracuse.  I'm probably reading into it too much, but maybe they're each getting a one-step promotion.  Snider has caught up to AA pitching and Lind can't hurt the Jays' offence in Toronto.
China fan - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 08:04 PM EDT (#187202) #
  Come to think of it, Snider couldn't hurt the Toronto offence either...    Why not go the whole hog and promote Snider to the Jays (he suggested only semi-facetiously)?   It might have some shock value on the under-performers in the Toronto lineup.  If a 20-year-old would improve the team's lineup, the message should be pretty clear to the rest of the team -- perform or perish.
Kelekin - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 08:22 PM EDT (#187203) #
Timpinder: I'm sure it was just a resting day.  Campbell and a couple other regulars were out too.
ayjackson - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 08:39 PM EDT (#187204) #
Heading to a NL park, maybe Lind is coming up for another bench bat.
Mike Green - Sunday, June 15 2008 @ 11:13 PM EDT (#187210) #
The Lugnuts moved Eiland to the top of the order, and he responded by going 3-3 with 2 walks, stealing 2 bases and scoring 5 runs. 
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