Azruavatar is traveling, so you get a bonus dose of me today. Memphis served as the backdrop for some candid remarks from Lance Berkman on the future of his career. A couple of our favorite prospects in Quad Cities were bitten by the injury bug. Details after the jump…
Memphis 9, Albuquerque 8
- Adron Chambers was 1-for-4 with a double.
- Lance Berkman, on rehab assignment, went 0-for-2 with a walk and told Joe Strauss that he’s leaning towards retirement after this season. Hope he can have one last hurrah as a pinch-hitter for St. Louis first.
- Brock Peterson replaced Puma and hit his 1st HR for Memphis.
- Pete Kozma was 3-for-3 with his 11th HR and 7th SB.
- Vance Albitz was 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Steven Hill was 2-for-4 with a double.
- John Gast was roughed up for 6 runs on 5 hits (1 HR), 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. He only lasted 3 innings.
- Nick Greenwood allowed an unearned run in 3 innings that included 2 hits and 2 strikeouts.
- Maikel Cleto walked 2 and struck out 2 in 1 inning.
- Adam Reifer allowed 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk in his inning.
- Eduardo Sanchez flirted with danger (1 H, 1 BB) but escaped the 9th inning unscathed for his 9th save.
Springfield 2, Arkansas 3 (Final – 14 innings)
- Oscar Taveras was 1-for-2 with a double. Does anyone know why he left the game after 2 plate-appearances?
- Kolten Wong had a tough night going 0-for-6.
- Jamie Romak was 2-for-5 with a walk and 2 SBs (5, 6).
- Mike O’Neill was 2-for-4 with a double and walk.
- Richard Castillo allowed 8 hits in 6 innings but limited Arkansas to 2 runs despite only striking out 1 batter.
- Michael Wacha continued to impress: 2 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts.
- Deryk Hooker (1 H, 3 K) and Keith Butler (3 K) each hurled 2 scoreless frames.
- Michael Blazek pitched a scoreless 13th but couldn’t get through the 14th before allowing a run and walk-off win to NW Arkansas.
- Alan Ahmady hit his 3rd HR.
- Luis De La Cruz doubled.
- Palm Beach only scrounged up 4 hits for the entire game. Zero walks.
- Kyle Hald pitched pretty well for 6 innings but had to work around quite a few baserunners (8 H, 3 BB). He struck out 3.
- Travis Miller (0.1 IP, 4 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 K) and Danny Miranda (1.2 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K) did not fare quite as well.
Quad Cities 10, Kane County 11
- After an infield single, Anthony Garcia was taken off of the field via golf cart with a left leg injury according to QC’s game story. I didn’t see any updates on QC’s official site.
- Nicholas Longmire was 3-for-5 with a double.
- Colin Walsh doubled and walked.
- Stephen Piscotty was 2-for-5 with a double.
- Nick Martini was 3-for-4 with 2 triples.
- Tyrell Jenkins struck out the first 2 batters he faced but then exited the game. According to the River Bandits’ Twitter feed, he grabbed his right side after his 1st pitch to the 3rd batter. Jenkins later tweeted, “Everything is ok… I’ll be back next year!!” Hope that’s true.
- Jonathan Cornelius was pummeled for 10 hits in 2.2 innings that produced 6 runs (5 earned). He struck out 2.
- Yunior Castillo also pitched 2.2 innings. Although he wasn’t charged with any damage, he allowed 2 inherited runners to score. He gave up 3 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 2.
- Ricky Martinez gave up 1 run on 1 hit and 1 walk in 1.2 innings.
- Kyle Barraclough surrendered 3 runs on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout. He only recorded 2 outs.
- Heath Wyatt blew the save by allowing an unearned run.
- Danny Stienstra was 3-for-4 with his 2nd HR.
- Patrick Wisdom was 1-for-4 with his 5th HR.
- Breyvic Valera was 2-for-3 with a double and walk.
- Garrett Wittels was 2-for-4 with a double.
- David Popkins doubled and singled.
- Tim Cooney was rocked for 5 runs on 6 hits (1 HR), 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts over 3 innings.
- Kevin Jacob allowed a run on 2 hits and a walk but struck out 6 in 3 innings.
- Michael Aldrete had an uneventful inning that included 1 hit and 1 strikeout.
- Jose Pasen pitched the final 2 innings and allowed 1 run on 2 hits and 1 strikeout.
- Bruce Caldwell had a monster night by going 3-for-4 with 2 HRs (5, 6) and a double.
- Ildemaro Vargas was 2-for-4.
- Adam Ehrlich singled. Jeremy Schaffer and Ricardo Lizcano walked.
- Victor De Leon struck out 9 in 6 innings. 3 runs (2 earned) scored on 6 hits and 2 walks.
- Samuel Tuivailala struck out 2 but struggled to find the strike zone. 2 runs scored in his inning on 3 walks and 1 hit.
- Roberto Canache (1 BB, 1 K) and Ronald Shaban (1 BB, 3 K) pitched the final 2 innings.
Entries (RSS)
Just saw that reader DT Flush reported that Oscar Taveras was lifted from the game w/ a hamstring issue, but it didn’t look serious according to Flush. Thanks for submitting that observation.
You missed one singularly unimpressive stat line. In the Springfield game, Xavier Scruggs managed an 0 for 6 with every out being a strikeout. 4 is a golden sombrero… what’s 6?
Platinum sombrero. Quite an accomplishment.
Shave his head. . . .
I thought that was 5 Ks.
6 would have to be a Diamond sombrero.
Thanks for the up-date on OT.
Platinum sombrero?
Platinum… love it.
Gast looked bad the last time he was out. Velocity was all over the place, and the ball even more so. Grounded a lot of pitches before they passed the plate.
He ought to be shut down for the year.
Gast is just very rusty since being activated on the DL.
Some updates as reported by Scout.com: Jenkins has a shoulder injury. Garcia has a quadriceps injury, and his manager says he is likely out for the season. Longmire also had a leg injury running the bases in the 8th and appears to be out for the season. The severity of Taveras’s hamstring injury remains to be determined. On a brighter note, a fuller account of Bruce Caldwell’s “monster game” reveals that one of his homers was a first-inning grand slam and that he was involved in all six of Johnson City’s runs, driving in five and scoring a sixth after his double.
The news on Anthony Garcia just sucks. At least the season is almost over but I hope he does not require surgery.
So far Jenkins and Garcia have been put on DL, Apelain was added from Batavia and Stock was activated from DL. Not sure about Longmire.
I was at the game and he was holding his arm/shoulder, never his side.
So the twitter feed on Jenkins is he grabbed his right side, but Scout says a shoulder injury?
Good thing its the end of the year and they will get just some extra rest.
Still early, but it appears that Mike O’Neil’s batting eye is more than up to the test of AA. He’s walking in 40% of his plate appearances so far and has only struck out 1 time.
Victor De Leon showing some progression off his command/control this season. 18 total walks in 43.1 IP 9.8% Walk rate 3.74 BB/9 those numbers are more or less than a point lower than last season in GCL.
*refined command/control
Info on Deltoid muscle strains. a tear would be a type II or type III strain depending on severity.
http://www.sportsmd.com/sportsmd_articles/id/330.aspx
Some notes took from the Springfield/NWA game.
Oscar Taveras in his 2nd AB took a very aggressive swing on a 97 MPH fastball up in the zone offered from Yordano Ventura just roped it to the right center field gap showing that he makes consistent hard contact with that violent controlled swing. Defensively Taveras aligned shallow but he can sure cover some ground looks smooth in CF.
Richard Castillo once again didn’t showed overpowering stuff only sat 86-88 consistently touched 89-90 a few times on the gun. Castillo used his above average curve-ball mainly as his put away pitch really kept hitters off balance producing weak contact. Castillo was harnessing a two pitch mix (FB/CB combination) pretty much all outing long.
Michael Wacha sitting 90-94 topped 95 on his FB showed late life producing some swings and misses. Also displayed his curve a few times showed tight spin and 12-6 action with bite at the end 71-77 MPH and change-up was 80-82 MPH.
I thought you always said Wacha’s fastball was very straight?
How was Wacha’s command?
inconsistent a bit but painted down in the zone on a couple of fastballs that were well located.
Ramsey has been just dismal
I was hoping for better from him but feared that this may occur. Hopefully he turns it around next year.
Geez, 3 more errors tonight for Piscotty. Is he going to hit for enough power for a corner OF spot?
Let’s just hope some of his doubles his line drive swing produces, develops into more HR as he develops. Piscotty has room to bulk up some too.
I got to see him in QC and he has that wiry look to him that you like to project on.
I project that with 22 errors already, Piscotty won’t be playing 3b next year.
Taveras didn’t play again tonight. (8-25) Hopefully he is back in there tomorrow. In my opinion, it kinda stinks that Springfield is in the running for a championship. Taveras is getting all this rest and now with the injury, we aren’t really going to know what his numbers could have been if he was playing. Sat out August 17th, August 21st and 22nd, last night he was pulled in the 4th and didn’t play tonight. On the days he sat out because of rest why didn’t Wong do the same? Taveras is the youngest player on the team, why does he need the rest?
They were resting Taveras for the playoff run in Springfield but now since he pulled his hammy he could be out for a couple more days.
DT, I saw Gast last week in his first start off the DL. It isn’t rust, there is something wrong. He’s all over the place with location and velocity, and he’s grounding half his pitches.
He was on the DL for a bit, I won’t be surprised if he lands back on there.