The Memphis Redbirds completed their straight run through the playoffs crushing Brett Wallace and the Sacramento River Cats 6-0 behind lefty Evan MacLane.
- Jon Jay was 3-for-5.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir was 3-for-5 with a double.
- Mark Hamilton was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.
- Mark Shorey was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Evan MacLane is the story here striking out 8 River Cats over 8.1 innings. He allowed 9 hits (just 2 for extra bases) shutting down the Sacramento offense.
- Josh Kinney came in to record the last two outs of the game.
MiLB.com’s wrap-up of the game. Memphis Commercial Appeal’s wrap up. On Tuesday, the Redbirds will play the International League Champion in a one game Triple-A Championship match. (The game will be on ESPN2.)
Good Luck Redbirds!
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Congrats to the Redbirds!!! Their season and finish was somewhat like the 2006 WS run by the big club minus the Sept. collapse. A lot of good pieces on this team that I think will make positive contributions in the bigs…starting with Allen Craig or Freese as RH thump this year.
the 6:05 start time for Tuesday’s game with Duhurm on ESPN2, does anybody know if that is eastern time.
Could the Cards bring up some of these guys for the weekend and then send them back for the Tuesday game before bringing them back. If that is allowable, I think they should at least get some extra bats here so we do not have to have Skip PHing against a lefty.
Interesting contrast to the 2000 Memphis team. Pujols was a last-second addition, and obviously contributed (IIRC, he was MVP of the championship series). But most of those guys were AAAA players, signed as minor-league free agents.
This year’s team was not only the youngest in all of AAA, it had mostly players drafted by the Cards, or who (like Freese) were obtained in trades.
You have to think some of these guys will contribute to the Cards next year, obviously starting with Garcia. But the big problem is that the Cards are already overloaded with right-handed hitters, so if guys like Freese and Craig don’t win starting positions, they may get bumped from consideration for the bench in favor of one or more guys who hit lefty.
So a guy like Jay might have a slight edge over Craig for the final spot on the bench — he could be a cheaper version of Ankiel, and probably wouldn’t be any worse at the plate.
It seems like Gary Daley replaces David Kopp(injured) on the AFL roster.
Just imagine if Evam McClane had a 94 95 mph fb. This guy has been great! Just wonder if the Cards will give him a chance. I would really like to seem them clear out some of the dead weight on the team and give some chances to some of these guys at AAA. They can’t possibly be any worse than Troy Glaus, K Greene, Wellenmeyer, Thurston or Ankiel. By giving some of these guys a shot they would have the money to resign Holliday.
I’d really like to see the Cards bring back Pineiro and Holliday, then fill out the rest of the roster with guys who are ready to come up from AAA.
Freese and Craig for 3B and backup corner IF
Jay and Mather/Craig for backup OF
Greene to back up MIF
And a battle for 5th starter and long reliever/swing man between Hawksworth, Garcia, Boggs, MacLane, and Walters
congrats to the redbirds! great pitching and timely hitting, a recipe for success..i wonder if jamie garcia will pitch tuesday? i hope so
Interesting that T. Greene got benched in favor of Barden for this game…
Tyler was not benched, he was in Florida with his wife, who gave birth this morning to new shortstop.
^^Greene didn’t get benched. He and his wife had a baby so he was not there.
t greene, freese, craig and ring going to the big club …can’t wait to see what craig can do against major league pitching
Azru – did you ever publish your lance lynn eval? I know that was from the time you hurt your back, so I don’t know if I missed it or you weren’t up for it.
It would be good to discuss between now and tuesday.
I haven’t yet — it’s sitting on my desktop to review. I’ll see if I can get to it tomorrow.
Should be ready to post on Tuesday. Need to digest what I’ve seen, check my notes and write up a post.
Sadsushi, where did you read that? The article I read by DG said that he was speculating. They have not said who is going to be called up from what I have read.
Thanks azru.
Fwiw, goold was tweeting that the four number is fixed but that pagnozzi is another candidate for promotion (at the expense of one of the other four).
cardsfan1 right here
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/commishs-hot-stove/commishs-hot-stove/cardinal-beat-updates/2009/09/triple-a-reinforcements-will-come-friday/
dg says larussa plans on bringing them up next friday
Tyler Greene has a cheap(er) veteran in his way in the form of Julio Lugo.
I’d expect Greene to be a depth player at AAA for one more year w/ Lugo and Ryan on the roster.
Anyone know who’s pitching tomorrow night’s game?
It appears that Garcia gets the nod, according to:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090919&content_id=7046586&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp
don’t know if my linking works or not
Well, considering the guy says Tyler Norrick is a “decent option” to start for Memphis I’d take his info of Garcia starting with a grain of salt.
I just saw that Ottavino was getting it http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2009/09/dgs-1010-only-race-in-town-speeds-to-photo-finish/
“Adam Ottavino, the Cardinals’ former first-round pick, could have been pitching for Italy in the tournament. His turn with the team in the World Baseball Classic made him eligible, but the Cardinals would not permit Ottavino to hop the pond for the tournament. Makes sense. Ottavino is preparing to pitch Tuesday as the Pacific Coast League champion Memphis Redbirds prepare for the one-game, winner-take-all unification bout in Oklahoma City against International League champ Durham. …”
PJ is starting. Ottavino will be in the pen.