Yanks Following Chad Qualls

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 03 July 2009 11:56:53 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

Fox Sports writer Jon Paul Morosi is reporting that the Yankees are monitoring Diamondbacks[...]

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Dusty Baker has no idea what the hell he's doing,
the bullpen loses this one 7-4

post from Red Reporter on 03 July 2009 11:39:00 PM. © Red Reporter

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

Instead of checking the stats of his relievers against Albert Pujols, Dusty Baker holds his starting pitcher in a loving embrace. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

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Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

The obvious choice here would be Albert Pujols, but you know what, I'm going to say it's Homer Bailey. Homer went 7 1/3 innings, and left the game with a goose egg on the board before the manager decided he didn't deserve to win. His line showed 2 runs, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts, but it doesn't do his performance justice. After putting two on base to start the game, he put down 13 Cards in a row before hitting Joe Thurston by a pitch, and retired the next 7 before giving up a double to Yadier Molina. He had all three pitches working well, with his fastball getting up to 95 consistently and his new splitter working as advertised. He deserved this one.

Key Plays

After letting the first two runners on, Homer struck out Albert Pujols to start a string of 21 batters without giving up a hit.
In the bottom of the inning, the Reds struck quickly with Chris Dickerson leading off with a double and an error on a Willy Taveras bunt driving him in to take an early lead.
With Homer rolling in the 6th inning, doubles by Brandon Phillips and Jerry Hairston, Jr, gave the Reds a 3-0 lead. That should have been enough.
After Homer had two runners on with one out in the 8th, Dusty brought Arthur Rhodes in to pitch, and he walked the bases loaded.
The next move is completely inexplicable to me. Despite being 9-for-18 against Pujols with 2 home runs given up, Dusty brought David Weathers in to face him. As one could have predicted, Pujols hit a 2-2 pitch over the fence for a grand slam and a 4-3 lead for the Cardinals.
In the bottom of the inning, a little small ball helped the Reds tie the game, with Ramon Hernandez hitting a sac fly to drive in the tying run.
In the 9th, Nick Masset got the first out before taking a liner off his pitching arm to get taken out of the game. Daniel Ray Herrera then gave up the leading run after the slick-fielding Paul Janish makes an error that could have got them out of the inning. Carlos Fisher was the next pitcher brought in to face Pujols, who doubled to make it 7-4. Meanwhile, the Reds' best reliever, Coco Cordero, got to the final boss playing Guitar Hero on his Nintendo DS.
In the bottom of the inning, Edwin Encarnacion, who wasn't starting the game because he wasn't ready to play in the majors yet, hit a double to start a rally. With two outs, Willy Taveras hit for himself while the Reds' two best pinch hitters, Micah Owings and Jonny Gomes, played Go Fish on the bench. Despite Dusty's best efforts to lose right there, Willy inexplicably drew his first walk since May 23rd and brought the tying run to the plate.
Joey Votto walked, and Brandon Phillips struck out with a swing that blew out some poor kid's sparkler out in West Virginia. Game over.

via www.fangraphs.com

Other Notes

It's a really tough night when one of the team's best strengths throughout the season ends up beating them. Nobody in the bullpen had a good night.
I'm still wondering what Dusty's thought process was bringing in David Weathers to face Pujols in the 8th. if anyone can explain this, I'd love to hear it. 9-for-18 with 2 HR is not a recipe for success, no matter how good Weathers has pitched this season
There's still the argument that they should have intentionally walked Pujols to avoid pitching to him, but hindsight is 20/20. I think it would have been a risky move, and there's no telling what Ludwick does after him.
This is arguably one of the biggest "stomach punch" games for the Reds so far this season. They were rolling until Dusty made some questionable moves, and it's hard to argue that using the roster efficiently doesn't give the Reds a better chance to win tonight.
I would imagine fan confidence would be at a season-long low at this point. Friday night, sold out crowd, against a division rival, and they blew it. In the long run, it's only one game, but the effect of this one will be felt much harder than the increase in the "L" column alone.
The Cardinals are one of the few teams in baseball with one player that can singlehandedly beat you on any given night. A good manager doesn't let that guy drive in 5 runs in the final two innings of a game where they've only scored 4 runs. Period.
Okay, enough ranting. Jerry Hairston, Jr. was 3-for-4, which is great to see. With his game, and Paul Janish probably earning himself another month in the doghouse, we're going to be seeing a lot more of Cherry.
Brandon Phillips had two hits, as did Willy Taveras. Taveras got on base 3 out of the 5 times he was up, buying him another two months in CF batting leadoff.
Who the hell wants to see fireworks after a loss like this?

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Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 7/3

post from Talking Chop on 03 July 2009 11:12:00 PM. © Talking Chop

Gwinnett 0, Norfolk 5

J. Schafer 0-3 K
S. Marek 1IP 1H 0R 0BB 1K

So the Gwinnett Braves just can't muster any offense without Brooks Conrad. He must have been holding them afloat. Jordan Schafer has fallen off a bit and I wonder if he is still not fully healthy, or just not as good as we thought he was. I didn't know Stephen Marek had been promoted, but after some serious struggles in Mississippi early this season he calmed down a bit in his last few outings.

Mississippi 3, West Tenn 4

M. Young 2-4 RBI
C. Rodriguez 2-4 RBI

No Frederick Freeman or Jason Heyward yet in this game. I am sure we will see them tomorrow. I am also a little disappointed that with all the shuffling going on Matt Young didn't get the call up to Gwinnett. The guy has paid his dues and has been very solid for two season now in AA. Give the guy a chance.

Salem 10, Myrtle Beach 0

L. Sumoza 2-4 K
G. Rodriguez 1-3 K

Maybe the Pelican's really felt the hole that losing both Heyward and Freeman left in their lineup. The two new guys, Gerrardo Rodriguez and Luis Sumoza, appeared to handle it well in their first game at least. Sumoza is a guy we need to keep our eye on. He has just started to do it, but I would love to see him really tap into the wealth of tools he has.

Bowling Green 2, Rome 0

JJ Hoover 7IP 4H 1R 1BB 8K

Wow, another shutout? Hoover has just been getting better and better and he is making a case for himself being our top pitching prospect when the season is done. That is a race which is wide open at the moment and JJ Hoover has been the most consistent pitcher the Braves have run out there (apologies to Scott Diamond who has been solid and consistent as well).Also RSF did not get the promotion to Rome.

Princeton 3, Danville 2

RSF 2-4 HR(4)
J. Teheran 7IP 8H 2R 1BB 5K

You have to imagine that Teheran was incredibly efficient in this game to have been allowed to pitch 7 innings. He has been pretty impressive so far this season and if he keeps this up he might be the guy at year's end. I don't really understand why RSF didn't get the call. He is hitting a smooth .538 right now. Granted it is only 10 games, but most people don't usually do that through 10 games even when they are hot.

GCL Braves 2, GCL Yankees 5

K. Rose 3-4 RBI
E. Mejia 1-2 BB, K

Finally, one of my favorite players from last season gets back on the field. Ernesto Meji hit 73 XBH last season for Myrtle Beach but has been on the DL all season after what I think was a leg injury of some sort? (Little help on that one if anyone knows). Anyways, he doesn't walk a ton and he strikes out a lot, but the guy hits everywhere he goes. He is 24 at this point so he needs to get back playing if he wants to make an impact in the organization. I could see him having some useful major league seasons but not making any lasting impact unless he really turns around his plate discipline.

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Burnett Shines for Yanks in 4-2 Win

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 03 July 2009 10:48:50 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

A.J. Burnett provided a strong start, and Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano homered in the Yankees[...]

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Game 79 Recap: Braves 9, Nationals 8

post from Talking Chop on 03 July 2009 10:41:00 PM. © Talking Chop

More photos » by Nick Wass - AP

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That ended up being a close game, as the Braves closer Rafael Soriano battled some wildness in the ninth inning to get the save after allowing 2 runs to score. But thanks to the newest Braves player, Brooks Conrad, Atlanta had a 3-run lead going into the ninth.

Starting pitcher Kenshin Kawakami struggled through his four-plus innings while throwing a lot of pitches, and was ultimately unable to get out of the fifth inning. Every time Kawa would give up a run or runs, the Braves would come back the next inning and tie it up. The Nats scored 1 in the first, we came back and tied it in the second. They score 2 in the second, we score two in the third. They score 1 in the third, and we finally take the lead in the fourth.

The Nationals tied it in the fifth as Kawakami exited the game. The bullpen kept it close and that allowed pinch-hitter Brooks Conrad to slug a three-run homerun to right field in his first at-bat as a member of the Braves. It was Conrad's first major league homerun. Washington added another run in the bottom of the seventh, but Atlanta got it right back in the eighth.

Nate McLouth was back in the lineup, and looked a little slow in the batters box and in the field, but did end up with a hit late in the game. Martin Prado stays hot with 3 hits on the night, and Chipper, McCann, Escobar, and Diaz all had 2 hits a piece.

Should I even harp on the Lilburn Flash-in-the-Pan? He was 0-for-4 with a strikeout and 6 men left on base, and was again pinch-hit for in a critical situation late in the game.

Mike Gonzalez struck out the side in the eighth and was hopping off the mound after each K, hopping almost half way to the third base line -- he is a funny guy. That reminds me somewhat of Mitch Williams, the closer for the Phillies several years ago, who is now an analyst for the MLB network.

Hey! This is now a 5-game winning streak. Let's keep it going tomorrow afternoon.

Final - 7.3.2009 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Atlanta Braves 0122003109141 Washington Nationals 121010102881WP: Boone Logan (1 - 0)
SV: Rafael Soriano (8)
LP: Jesus Colome (1 - 1)

Complete Coverage >

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Padres expected to extend Blacks deal (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 03 July 2009 10:25:53 PM. © MLB News Blog

It looks like Padres manager Bud Black is going to get a contract extension. Despite having an overall losing record in three seasons, Black apparently has done enough to impress new CEO Jeff Moorad, the head of an ownership group that has acquired 35 percent of the team from John Moores. An extension for Black [...]

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Phillies 7 Mets 2 July 3, 2009

post from The Mets Report on 03 July 2009 10:21:17 PM. © The Mets Report

The story of this game is that Livan Hernandez got lit up by the Phillies for 7 runs in 3 innings. When that happens, the game is usually over. And it was in this case. The bullpen came in and threw five shutout innings, only giving up one hit.On offense, Ryan Church was 3 for [...]

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Lawyer: Clemens not among positive tests (AP)

Roger Clemens' lawyer says the pitcher was not among the more than 100 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. Rusty Hardin tells The New York Times that Clemens obtained the results from the drug-testing company and provided them to Congress before his 2008 testimony by waiving his right to keep them private.

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Jose Molina is making progress

Jose Molina went 1 for 2 today for Scranton with a double and a walk. He will take off tomorrow and then play Sunday and Monday and if everything goes well he should be activated Tuesday in Minnesota.Eric Hinske hasn’t been used yet at all and it will be interesting to see how they fit [...]

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Remember the name Aroldis Chapman

According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the big off-season free agents won't be Matt Holliday, Jason Bay or even John Lackey.

It will be 21 year old left handed pitcher Aroldis Chapman, who just recently defected from Cuba..

His fastball has been clocked at 101 - 102 MPH with a plus curve and plus slider..

Chapman pitched for Cuba during the World Baseball Classic in March, where he posted a 5.68 ERA in 6 1/3 innings. Reports during that tournament listed Chapman's age as 26.

In an interview with the Times, Yale University professor Roberto González Echevarría, the author of The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball, called Chapman "the most promising young pitcher" to leave Cuba since Fidel Castro took over in 1959.

"He throws at a 100 miles per hour, he is more polished than most young pitchers at his age," González Echevarría told the Times. "He is a really hot property, and it will be interesting to see how much teams pay to sign him."

Hopefully it will be the Mets...But the Yankees also have interest..

video details and more

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