Jason Motte is on the comeback trail, although in not an all-together effective way this evening.
With Colby Rasmus out for a majority of the time and Randy Winn/Allen Craig not stacking up runs from the RF position, the Cardinals have lost 4 of the 5 games Jake Westbrook has started. We’ve been exactly 1 win better than we would have been with an injured Jeff Suppan. Can we get Ryan Ludwick back?
On to the DFR!
- Tyler Greene went 3-for-4.
- Daniel Descalso went 1-for-1 and walked.
- Joe Mather went 3-for-3 with a 2B, RBI and BB.
- Mark Hamilton went 2-for-4.
- Lance Lynn threw 6 shutout innings giving up 3 H, 4 BB and 4 K.
- Jason Motte picked up a hold despite giving up 1 ER, 1 BB and 2 H while only getting 2 outs.
- Eduardo Sanchez recorded 4 outs with 1 K.
- Josh Kinney picked up his 11th save throwing an inning that featured a BB and 2 K.
- Matt Carpenter went 2-for-4 with a 3B and RBI.
- Andrew brown went 1-for-2 with 2 R.
- Aaron Luna went 1-for-4 with a 3 R HR, his 14th.
- Xavier Scruggs hit his 6th HR, a 3 R HR.
- Brian Broderick went the distance, only giving up 2 R (1 ER) on 4 H, 0 BB and recording 5 K. He did it on 104 pitches.
Muckdogs 4, Willaimsport 3 (7 innings) Game 1
- Nick Longmire hit his 9th HR, a 3 R HR.
- Victor Sanchez went 1-for-2 with a 2B, RBI and BB.
- Patrick Biserta, Juan Castillo, and Matt Valaika also picked up hits.
- Zach Russell gave up 3 ER over 4 IP on 5 H, 4 BB and 3 K.
- The bullpen combined to throw a no-hitter the rest of the way with Matt North striking out 1 for the win, Justin Wright striking out 1 for the hold and Keith Butler striking out 2 for his 5th save all in their innings of work.
Muckdogs 4, Williamsport 1 (7 innings) Game 2
- Nick Longmire went 1-for-3 with a 3B.
- Mick O’Neill went 1-for-1.
- Patrick Biserta picked up the other 2 H in his 3 ABs with a 2B and 3 RBI.
- John Gast was strong again going 6 IP and giving up 4 H, 2 BB and 1 ER. He struckout 6. He also had another pickoff.
- Chase Reid recorded his first save with a strikeout in 1 IP.
- Greg Garcia went 1-for-4.
- Oscar Taveras went 3-for-4 with a 2B and 3 RBI.
- Cody Stanley went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI.
- Patrick Elkins and Cesar Valera both went 2-for-3.
- Kevin Siegrist took the win with 5.1 IP of 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB and 4K ball.
- Francisco Guzman recorded 2 outs.
- Charllan Jimenez recorded 6 outs but gave up 2 H, 1 ER and 1 K.
- Aiden Lucas picked up his 3rd save with 1 perfect inning.
- Colin Walsh went 1-for-4 with a HR and RBI.
- Devin Goodwin went 3-for-4 with a 2B.
- Matt Adams went 1-for-4 with a HR, his 22nd.
- Rainel Rosario went 1-for-3 with a HR and 2 RBI.
- Edgar Lara was 1-for-4.
- Ivan Castro was 2-for-2 with a 2B and 2 BB.
- Jorge Rondon only lasted 5 outs but was charged with 5 H, 8 R (6 ER) and 5 BB.
- Nick Greenwood pitched 3.1 IP giving up 3 H and 2 UER, while striking out 4.
- LaCurtis Mayes threw 2.0 IP with 4 H and 2 ER to go along with 1 K.
- Aaron Terry gave up 2 more ER for good measure on 3 H in 1 IP.
Entries (RSS)
The 3 best position prospects (sans cox), at each level, continue to produce. I can honestly say I am tremendously excited to see Matt Carpenter produce and impress the experts at the same time. His upward ceiling is the type of player the Cardinals need to produce on a regular basis. Next year, maybe?
Longmire is solid, too. Does he profile to stick at center? Next year, a split between PB and Springfield might be the best hope for next year.
Count me as on the Cody Stanley bandwagon. Catchers with decent hitting skills and relatively solid ceiling are a good asset to have. Better than Stock right now.
Longmire projects to be a rock solid RF. He has above avg or better skills across the board on defensive for a RF.
I like what I see from Stanley but a few little things bother me. Why haven’t they moved him up? He also plays DH as much or more than he catches.
Stanley and Taveras are my two favorite players to follow in the DFR. They’ve been raking this year, although it does seem like Stanley should jump up a level
Zack Cox was the DH for the GCL Cards last night. He went 4-5 w. a double. So he’s hitting .800. Too bad we didn’t sign Wilson. I’ll bet he’d be hitting 8.000 right now.
Also, Jose Martinez has returned to baseball, after 2 years away because of a family tragedy (and I do mean tragedy). He’s also playing for the GCL Cards. He has 2 hits in 7 AB.
He looked like a pretty good MI prospect until he hit the wall in 2008 in Springfield. He’s still only 24.
Cox went 4-4 last night in his GCL debut.
Woops – looks like you beat me to the reply Lou. Feel free to delete my post mods.
Did Zach Cox play yet?
I’ve looked all over this blog and have yet to see an update.
I’m just licking my chops thinking about Matt Carpenter batting in the 2 hole sometime next season. I know it is only AA, but still, the kid has been impressive. I hope his development does’nt stall, but continues. Will he play in the AFL this offseason?
I’d consider him a strong AFL candidate except for one thing — Cox is going to the AFL and they play the same position. Carpenter could go and play 1B probably but you’d think they’d want him to get 3B defensive work.
It seems odd, but the way its manned right now, there’s an odd imbalance in the way the Cardinal farm system is constructed –almost like there was some sort of chromosomal imbalance. We have a dearth of left-handed pitching in the upper levels–keep having to bring in left-handed journeyman fringe types all the time. Yet most of our potential infusion into the parent club– for the nearer future (with the possible exception of Craig) seem to largely be left-handed hitters–Cox, Carpenter, Hamilton, Descalso. I suppose there are a few right-handed bats at Springfield. Odd. Must have been something in the water.
Not that I think it should happen, but hasn’t Mo/Luhnow mentioned the possibility of Cox playing 2B. Seems the AFL would be the best time to get a look and see if he could do it.
Keeps saying he could but at the same time saying he wont. Doesn’t really make sense to me.
Is there any chance Allen Craig could play 2nd for the Cards? I know the thought is he can’t play 3rd, but he came up as a ss. He couldn’t possibly be any worse than Skip at 2nd and how good would his bat look at 2nd. Also, I know he’s obviously blocked but for you guys that see them in person, what are Mark Hamilton’s major league prospects? The guy has 19 HR’s in 400 AAA ab’s with good average to boot.
The Tyler Greene link is to a Tyler Green that played with the Phillies
It links wrong in every post — problem with the linker not the writer.
Ludwick is hitting .229 with a .689 OPS. He is not the answer.
Lynn has been very good in seven of his last nine starts. Good to see him closing the season on a high note.
With a strong finish it should ensure him of getting an extended look in ST next year. Still doubt he breaks camp with the team but I also said that about Garcia this year. We will almost certainly see Lynn in STL at some point next year barring an injury.
Anyone going to the JC game tonight? Tyrell Jenkins will be starting in his first action since signing. Just curious if anyone will be present.
Didn’t think the Tyler Greene link was the writer, just weren’t sure if you were aware. Thanks for the response and thanks for the DFR. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on Mark Hamilton as a ml prospect.
Mark Hamilton needs to be traded. (Preferably to an AL team.) If he is, I think he plays in the big leagues. He’s really blocked here, though, as he’s a 1B/LF and we’ve got those. If you want more detail, though, I really like Hamilton’s swing. Not a whole lot of length, but he packs a real wallop. Surprising opposite field power. Nice plate discipline. He strikes out a fair amount, but in that patient-so-I’m-in-deep-counts way that Adam Dunn strikes out, not the hack-away-until-the-ump-tells-me-to-sit-down way that’s so painful to have around.
Defensively, he really needs to be traded to an AL team.
Jorge Rondon needs to be released or the very least shipped to the bullpen. QC has no shot to win everytime he pitches.
NIce to see Lynn and Broderick have impressive starts for the top 2 minor league teams
Someone posted last night that Motte was only reaching the low 90′s last night. If true hopefully he is healthly and not rushing back too soon.
Thanks for the report on Hamilton. I was curious if he could actually be an answer at 1b if Pujols doesn’t end up staying.