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Minor League Recaps 9/5: Playoff Edition

post from Talking Chop: Front Page Posts on 05 September 2008 11:59:53 PM. © Talking Chop: Front Page Posts

Mississippi 3, Birmingham 2 - Final 11 Innings - Braves lead 2-0

K. Kaaihue 2-5 2 K
J. Schafer 1-4 RBI, SF
V. Pope 1-4 2B, RBI
T. Hanson 7IP 6H 2R 0BB 9K

You know I think the thing I like the most about Hanson is his size. Dude is like 6' 6". That means he is probably going to be pretty durable and will be able to eat some innings. Jordan Schafer hit a sac fly in the 11th inning to score Matt Young (whose stolen base had put him on second and then was singled over by Kala) to give the Braves the win. Luis Valdez got the save in the game, his second in the series. There are some very good relievers on this team, especially if you still consider Medlen one. One more win and Mississippi moves on to the championship series.

Myrtle Beach 5, Winston Salem 1 - Pelicans lead 2-1

E. Campbell 1-4 2B, BB
E. Mejia 2-5 2B, 2 RBI
T. Flowers 3-4 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB
J. Heyward 0-2 3 BB, K
C. Rohrbough 6IP 2H 1R 3BB 3K

So Tyler Flowers has got to be the MVP of this series already. Dude is hitting .538 in the series with a couple bombs and double. Heyward, I think, is doing a great job of contributing without having to get a bunch of hits. Cole Rohrbough showed up to this game and pitched like a man (or Tommy Hanson) as he only gave up 2 hits in his 6 innings. These teams play again tomorrow night and the Pelicans will have the chance to move on to the championship series. I think we will probably see Ryne Reynoso for the Beach.

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G142: Millwood stumbles, Rangers lose big, 8-1

post from Rangerfans.com on 05 September 2008 11:43:00 PM. © Rangerfans.com

After the last several outings, we wondered how well Millwood would do against the Red Sox, or at least I did. After three innings, he was down 1-0 on a solo home run to Mike Lowell, who just came off the DL this game. Nice for him to get back in the saddle that fast. However, going into the fourth, Joaquin Arias dropped a ball that was a routine grounder to second, and that opened the floodgates.

The Sox pushed across four runs in the fourth inning. Technically only one was unearned, but the fact that Millwood had to keep going seemed to rattle him - at least to me, this "guy on the couch at home".

Thing is, we were never really in this game anyway. Josh Beckett started, and like Lowell, was just coming off the DL. He allowed no runs in his five innings of work, striking out seven, and giving up just four walks. The guys who followed him were just as good. Manny Delcarmen pitched two innings, giving up nothing and striking out three. Justin Masterson followed with a scoreless frame (although he walked two). The Rangers finally got to a Sox pitcher, that being Hideki Okajima when he gave up two hits and a walk. That was a Nelson Cruz single which plated German Duran.

Bummer the Rangers lost. While the Sox are probably going to make the playoffs as the wild card, but it would have been nice for the Rangers to sweep the Red Sox and help 'em not make the playoffs. Be nice to have a playoffs without BOTH the Red Sox and Yankees.

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Short Sabathia

post from Baseball Musings on 05 September 2008 11:23:00 PM. © Baseball Musings

I don't understand this. After stretching Sabathia since they acquired him, Ned Yost takes out CC after 106 pitches and seven innings. He brings in Gagne with a 2-1 lead, and he immediately gives up the game tying home run...

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G141: Dustin Nippert stellar in 1-0 win over
Seattle

post from Rangerfans.com on 05 September 2008 11:08:00 PM. © Rangerfans.com

When the Rangers aquired Dustin Nippert from the Diamondbacks at the tail end of spring training, most fans (myself included) were thinking WTF. This was not a name that made you think "Hey, let's bring him in, he's so much better than what we have". His April performances were pretty godawful (6ER in 0.2IP in the first, and 8ER in 2.1IP a few appearances later). He was banished after that, not to appear again for awhile. The guy we saw in this game was nothing like the guy we saw earlier in the year. If THIS was the guy the Rangers thought they were trading for, then hell yeah - that was a decent move.

Granted, it's just one game, but how can you not get excited about this? Seven innings pitched, ZERO runs scored, no walks, and seven hits and 99 pitches. It was quite the performance, and if this version of Dustin Nippert can be harnessed, this is a great pickup, if a bit delayed in results. OK, I'm a bit jazzed about this, but wow, it's hard not to be. Was a great pitching performance.

The one run was a sac fly by Milton Bradley, his 74th of the season overall. It came in the first inning - and it held up. That's the surprising thing. We don't get 1-0 wins at home very often.

The bigger surprise was the lack of fans in the stadium. OK, it was a weekday 1:05 game. I work - I have just about zero chance for coming out for those (except opening day). But the announced attendance was 12,882, and from several local reports, it was way less than that. My thoughts on why so many empty seats have been chronicled a lot, so I won't go into it here.

Still, 1-0 is exciting, even if hardly anybody witnessed it.

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_over_seattl.html

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Everyone Should Numb Their Hands

post from Baseball Musings on 05 September 2008 11:06:00 PM. © Baseball Musings

Josh Beckett returned to action tonight. The Red Sox only let him pitch five innings, but in that time he shutout the Rangers on four hits and didn't allow a walk while striking out seven. As in 2007, the rest...

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Game Recap: Reds 10 - Cubs 2

post from Red Reporter: Front Page Posts on 05 September 2008 11:00:20 PM. © Red Reporter: Front Page Posts

Charles Dharapak/AP

Nice night at the ballpark this evening. Four Reds players had 2 hits each, including Jay Bruce and Joey Votto who both also homered. Bronson Arroyo had his 10th quality start in his last 13 games pitched and picked up his 14th win of the season. The Cubs lost their 6th straight game, though they may still take a game off of their magic number since Eric Gagne blows. Corey Patterson...uh, forget it.

Tonight's question of the night is, who will hit more home runs the rest of the season Joey Votto or Jay Bruce. Votto has 2 more on the season as a whole, albeit in 120 more PAs. I'd probably go with Votto since he has been white hot lately, but Bruce is starting to hit over the last week or so as well, so it could be interesting.

I've been misreporting this for a couple of days, so I wanted to clarify that if either player can reach 20 HRs, it will be the most by a Reds rookie since Bernie Carbo hit 21 in 1970. If either player tops that 21, it will be second to only Frank Robinson's 38 in 1956. I think it'd be pretty cool if both guys could top 21 this season, just for shits and giggles.

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Halladay Control

post from Baseball Musings on 05 September 2008 11:00:00 PM. © Baseball Musings

Roy Halladay earns his 18th win of the season, allowing three runs, one earned, over seven innings against the Rays. Roy struck out seven and walked none. That puts his strikeout to walk ratio well over five for the season...

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http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/028801.php

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The Schmidt Factor

Mike Schmidt sent the Phillies an email before the game telling them: In a pep talk via e-mail, Mike Schmidt reminded the Philadelphia Phillies of their big comeback to win the NL East last season and said "the Mets know...

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G140: McCarthy bounces back for the win, 6-4

The Rangers offense woke up a bit, getting fifteen hits in all. Two of our starters (Byrd & Davis) had no hits, so the hits were scattered amongst seven guys. Laird, Bradley, & Hamilton had three hits each. There were no home runs, but four doubles and one triple came off Rangers' bats. Josh Hamilton's RBI jump seems to be in gear again, getting three of them tonight. He got out to a massively quick rate, but has slowed down a bunch lately. Still leading the majors, but not as many as quickly now.

But the more important bit for me from this game is the line of Brandon McCarthy. After "a chat" with Nolan Ryan about his pitching, McCarthy was activated, and has done well this season in his limited sample. Tonight, he went six innings, giving up just two earned runs on four hits and (more importantly), no walks. Still too many pitches (102 in six), but the overall numbers were pretty good. This is a guy who need to get it together, as we could use one of these trades for pitchers to go right, and not go bad. :(

Still, one would think we should have beaten the Mariners by more than that. We're not the greatest team around, but the Mariners are horrible. Would have been nice to have a 18-4 game again.

Young 200 hit watch: one hit

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Picking Up the Power

The White Sox sluggers are picking up the slack for Carlos Quentin. Paul Konerko homered and Juan Uribe smacked two two-run shots and the White Sox lead the Angels 7-0 in the bottom of the third....

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http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/028799.php