Three weeks into the minor league season and I was already resigned to writing about four losses and exactly no intriguing performances. But the first Sunday in May threw that theory for a complete loop with three wins and the unexpected return of a legend.
Alright, so the first game doesn't exactly jump out as good news. But it sure was interesting. Through six innings, newly demoted David Purcey had thrown 92 pitches, only 45 of which were strikes, walked three and hit two. Oh, and he also had a no-hitter going. Things started to unravel in the seventh, though as Purcey walked the first two batters on 8 straight balls. The next batter singled home a run to break up the no-no and end Purcey's day. T.J. Beam came in and proceeded to give up a whole whack of hits to make it 4-2. And that's the way things ended.
Purcey finished with a line of 6.1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K. Almost completely what you'd expect. That's the thing that's kinda cool about watching Purcey. You may see, like four different pitching performances in one outing. And by "kinda cool" I mean "frustrating as all hell."
At the plate, catcher Kyle Phillips supplied most of the offense going 4-for-4 with a run scored. The younger brother of Jason is now 8-for-14 in his AAA career for a cool OPS of 1.286. He only just turned 25 which took me by surprise. Scott Campbell went 1-for-3 with a walk and is now hitting .235/.311/.272
The Fisher Cats went up 3-0 early in this one and then held on for the victory. In the first, Brian Dopirak singled home a David Cooper double for a 1-0 lead. The second inning brought RBI singles from Luis Sanchez and Adam Calderone.
Cooper has now hit safely in five straight games to bump his line to .247/.337/.353. Give him a few more weeks and I bet we'll see that OPS in the .830 range. Dopirak, on the other hand, is proving that he can handle being away from home in Dunedin. The 25 year-old is up to .330/.380/.571 and has hit three HRs in his past six games. It's still too soon to tell but the Jays really might have unearthed something here.
On the mound, Randy Boone improved to 3-0 with five solid innings. Boone allowed two runs on six hits while walking one and striking out five. The outing lowered his ERA to 2.66.
But the most exciting news of the day was the fact that Bubbie Buzachero is back in the organization. How this news escaped me, I have no idea. Bubbie, who seems to want to be called Edward, but that's not happening on my watch, was traded in 2006 for Brian Tallet. That worked out nicely. In any event, Bubbie, who pitched well in AAA for Buffalo last year, went two hitless innings to pick up a hold. Leon Boyd worked a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.
The D-Jays finished the Tampa sweep on Sunday thanks to five doubles and a bunch of runs late in the game. John Tolisano continued his hot hitting going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Tolisano's .245 average is deceiving as he's OPSing .852 thanks to a 8:9 BB:K ratio. Darin Mastroianni went 0-for-5 in the leadoff spot but still managed to steal his 18th base of the year in 21 tries. Eric Thames and Raul Barron each pitched in two hits, as well.
On the mound, Scott Gracey started and struggled going 4.2 innings and allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks. Gracey was relieved by Cody Crowell who seems to be taking Jason Frasor's lead on vulturing wins. Crowell moved to 3-0 on the year. Danny Farquhar pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
The Lugnuts made the most of their 10 hits scoring 8 times to secure a 3-1 day for the affiliates. Johermyn Chavez and Mike McDade homered for Lansing. Chavez's blast was his fifth of the year and is now OPSing 1.036. A trip to Dunedin may be needed to see what the Jays have in Chavez.
McDade has always profiled as a big, fat guy (6'1", 260) who could hit a lot of dingers. Unfortunately, last year he was just a big, fat guy with five homers in 112 games. 2009 has been a different story, though as McDade now has four homers and is slugging .519. He'll turn 20 later this week.
Kenny Wilson had two hits and three stolen bases to give him nine on the year. He needs to steal a lot, though as his slugging percentage is hovering around the .200 mark.
On the hill, John Anderson picked up the victory going 6 innings and allowing three runs on a walk and eight hits. He also struck out seven. Matthew Daly put out the fire that two other relievers started and picked up his second save of the year.
Three Stars:
3rd Star (tie): David Purcey; 6.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 6 K & John Tolisano; 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
2nd Star: Kenny Wilson; 2-for-4; 3 SB
1st Star: Kyle Phillips; 4-for-4, R
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20090504090109476