Link Report for Games of Sunday, April 26th

[colbyjack]

Final: Brevard County 8, Dunedin 3

 

Dunedin Site Game Summary

 

Jays lose 8-3 as Manatees complete sweep

Jays fall to 5-11 overall and have lost all six games vs. Brevard

By Tim Livingston / Dunedin Blue Jays

 

At the end of the first inning, it looked as if the Dunedin Blue Jays were on their way to figuring out the Brevard County Manatees, having lost their first five games against the FSL North Division leaders so far this season.

 

But at the end of the ninth inning, the picture became clearer, and unfortunately for the Blue Jays, nothing really changed. The top of the Manatee order came through in big situations to lead Brevard County to an 8-3 lead and a second consecutive sweep of the Blue Jays.

 

The Manatees got started on right fielder Caleb Gindl's third homer of the season and his second of the series in the first inning, getting Brevard County out to a 2-0 lead.

 

Dunedin would rally for two of their own in the bottom half of the first, both on infield ground balls. Center fielder Chris Emanuele came in on left fielder Eric Thames' RBI groundout, and then second baseman John Tolisando scored on a fielder's choice by first baseman Jesus Gonzalez to make it 2-2.

 

The Manatees would get two more in the third thanks to a two-run single from shortstop Brent Brewer to make it 4-2 and give Brevard County a lead they would not relinquish.

 

Darin Mastroianni would come in as a replacement for Thames and lace a single in the fifth inning for an RBI single to make it 4-3, but even after Dunedin loaded the bases with two outs, third baseman Kevin Ahrens' bloop shot over second base was caught on a brilliant defensive play from Manatees second baseman Eric Farris to end the inning.

 

That would be the last time Dunedin found themselves in an opportunity to take the lead during the game.

 

Manatees first baseman Sergio Miranda would score in the sixth thanks to two throwing errors on two consecutive plays from Blue Jays pitcher Tim Collins and catcher Luis Hurtado, whose throwing error on a stolen base attempt by catcher Anderson De La Rosa allowed Miranda to score from third after a strikeout from center fielder Logan Schafer. This made it 5-3.

 

The Manatees would score three more times in the ninth to put the game out of reach, with two of them coming on a double from Brewer, who had four RBIs on the day.

 

The Jays now find themselves in the cellar of the FSL North Division at 5-11 and have lost five of their last six overall, all at home, where they are now 1-7 on the season.

 

Starter Alan Farina (0-3) went 2+ innings for Dunedin and left the game after a visit from Blue Jays pitching coach Darold Knowles. In the ninth, reliever Chad Beck came up lame after a pitch and was taken out of the game as well. The statuses for both pitchers are unknown.

 

Collins had an interesting line, with three innings of no-hit ball, but allowing the one unearned run. He struck out six, but walked three and allowed four stolen bases. He now has 26 strikeouts in only 14 innings pitched.

 

Josh Butler (3-0) got the win for Brevard, going five innings and giving up six hits with three earned runs while striking out six and walking three.

 

The Jays will stay in the Tampa Bay area for the next seven days, as they play a four-game home-and-home series with Clearwater starting Monday, April 27 with the first pitch set for 7 p.m. in Clearwater. The Blue Jays will then head into Tampa for their first look at the Yankees beginning on Friday, May 1.

 

Brevard County Box Score

The one-through-seven hitters lead to eight runs scored today for the 'Tees. You can look at the results for yourself, but Gindl hits his third homer, Brewer drives in four, while Wheeler walks four time and Miranda draws three free passes. The runs helped starter Josh Butler remain perfect at 3-0 despite giving up three runs over five innings.

 

Brevard County Game Log

Josh Butler, Roque Mercedes, Rigoberto Almonte and Brandon Rapoza do a nice job shutting down a prospect-laden lineup.

[colbyjack]

Rattlers rained out in Iowa

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

DAVENPORT, IA - Sunday's scheduled Midwest League game between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Quad Cities River Bandits was rained out.

The teams will make up the postponement as part of a doubleheader on Monday morning at Modern Woodmen Park. The first seven-inning game begins at 11:00am. Game two will follow.

 

Wisconsin has Trey Watten (1-1, 2.45) and Cody Scarpetta (0-0, 1.54) as the scheduled starting pitchers. Quad Cities was planning on Arquimedes Nieto (0-1, 2.70) and Hector Cardenas (2-0, 1.29) as their starters in the twinbill.

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's starsboxscore.com

 

A Dose of Vitamin "C"

Cody holds Chattanooga to 2 hits... Caufield single wins it

Chuckie Caufield snapped a 1-1 tie in the top of the 6th at AT&T Field with a two-out, two-run single to left while Chris Cody and Derrick Ellison plugged Chattanooga's offense for a 3-1 win. It was the Stars' 4th straight win and their 10th of the season. They sit atop the Northern Division, a half-game up on the Tennessee Smokies, who with the help of former Stars pitcher, Vince Perkins, edged Carolina, 4-3. Perkins pitched two innings of no-hit relief for his 1st save.

Although the Stars are hitting just .236 with runners in scoring position, Caufield has made quite an impression in the clutch, winning one game with a late-inning hit, coming up with a two-run double in the 7th in another victory, and hitting, get this, .545 with runners in scoring position! This from a .244 hitter!..... A .235 hitter last year at Brevard County, Caufield hit .273 with runners on and two outs! And with runners in scoring position and two outs, he hit .276! He was also 4-for-8 with the bases loaded last year...... If Stars fans don't know him as a clutch hitter by now, they should.

Another test of a good clutch hitter is how many runners he's leaving on in a game. Fortunately, the box scores help out in determining this. Adam Stern and Caufield have the best ratios of runners left on base to at-bats and runners left to hits. Stern is the only player with fewer runners left on than hits, but he's hit in the leadoff position in every game this season. Caufield's ratio of runners left to at-bats is the 2nd lowest on the team and next to Stern and Jonathan Lucroy, the 3rd lowest to hits.

[align=center]

		AB	H	LOB	LOB/H	LOB/AB
Anderson		33	9	18	2.0	.54
Caufield		41	10	12	1.2	.29
Errecart		50	7	31	4.4	.62
Justis		58	14	19	1.35	.327
Lucroy		52	15	16	1.06	.307
Melillo		47	14	20	1.43	.425
Parejo		24	3	12	4.0	.50
Perez		41	13	16	1.23	.39
Raburn		24	3	12	4.0	.50
Rottino		52	11	39	3.54	.75
Stern		70	24	11	0.45	.157

[/align]

Chris Cody is also emerging as a true Star this season....... Among the team's starting pitchers, Cody has moved out ahead of heralded Jeremy Jeffress in ERA, innings, wins and is two behind him in strikeouts. It's an extension of what he did this spring in exhibition games...... Cody might have been 3-0 if he had finished the 5th inning in his first start, but he threw 78 pitches. He threw 85 today, 54 for strikes (63.5%). Of the 317 pitches he's thrown in his four starts, 204 or 64.3% have been for strikes..... Here's how it compares to the rest of the rotation:

[align=center]

		STRIKES	PITCHES	PCT.
Jeffress		173	316	54.7%
Cody		204	317	64.3%
Bramhall		116	201	57.7%
Holliman		137	232	59.15
Welch		133	223	59.6%

[/align]

Cody tripled on a 1-1 pitch with one out in the 3rd and scored when Adam Stern followed with a single to center to give the Stars a 1-0 lead, extending his hitting streak to eight games, which is how he started the season. Stern's been held hitless only once this season. I think we have a leadoff hitter. His on-base pct. of .390 doesn't put him in the Top Ten in the league, but seven strikeouts in 70 at-bats is something you want your leadoff hitter to have...... The three-base hit by Cody was the first hit for the Stars' pitching staff this season.

The Lookouts tied the game in the 4th when Justin Sellers was hit by a pitch, moved to 3rd on a double by Andrew Lambo and scored on a Josh Bell grounder..... Cody retired the last nine to face him before manager Bob Miscik brought out Derrick Ellison to get his first save. It looks like closer by committee now that Juan Sandoval is up in Nashville....... Monday, lefty Bobby Bramhall faces right-hander Josh Lindblom (1-2, 7.62). Lindblom was a 2nd round pick by the Dodgers in the 2008 amateur draft.

Lorenzo Cain is back on the disabled list, and it could be for a long time. In Lorenzo's words: "I was in a 'no doubles' situation, playing deep, and on a fly ball I ran in and made a sliding catch on my knees... I banged my knee against the ground." ...... Lorenzo is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday...... Cain actually stayed in the game after the injury and came to the plate for his next at-bat, but when he hit a line drive to center, he felt his knee go out on him as he broke out of the box. He says it now hurts to move the knee.

Chattanooga's pitching coach, Glenn Dishman, pitched for the Stars in 2000....... Dane Sardinha, who worked behind the dish for the Lookouts in 2002-03, was called up by the Detroit Tigers, Sunday...... Friday, the Pirates called up former Montgomery Biscuit pitcher Evan Meek. Both Sardinha and Meek have a little major league experience behind them........ The Las Vegas 51s signed pitcher Chris Michalak to a free agent contract. The 51s are the top farm club of the Toronto Blue Jays. Michalak, who pitched for the Stars in 1995-96 when they were an Oakland affiliate, is in his 16th minor league season....... Cole Gillespie left Brevard County for Nashville last Thursday. Gillespie, who started the season at Brevard on a rehab assignment, hit .349 for the Manatees in 12 games...... The Mississippi Braves have sent J.C. Boscan to Class AAA-Gwinnett (IL), Atlanta's new top farm club.

[Mass Haas]

http://images.chattanoogan.com/article_images/article_149812_large.jpg

 

Photo from "The Chattanoogan" -- Chris Cody

[Mass Haas]

Manatees Road Series Recap: Dunedin

By Tyler Stover / Brevard County Manatees

 

The Brevard County Manatees continued their dominance of Dunedin, sweeping the Blue Jays for the second week in a row. The Manatees have now won 10 of their last 11 games.

 

Friday morning, Brevard County built an early 4-0 lead, then hung on for a 5-3 victory. Caleb Gindl led the way with a home run and four runs batted in. Steffan Wilson tacked on an insurance run in the ninth with his first homer of the year. Dunedin got to Manatees starter Mike Jones for three runs in the fifth inning, but he was still able to earn the win, improving to 2-0. Rob Wooten pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his third save.

 

After two consecutive morning games, the Manatees were able to sleep in before Saturday's night game. They responded well, blanking the Blue Jays, 3-0. Amaury Rivas evened his record at 1-1 by pitching five scoreless innings and allowing just three hits. Wooten took care of business in the ninth inning once again to earn his fourth save. Brevard County pitchers allowed just seven hits and zero walks in the game. Gindl, Wilson, and Brent Brewer each had two hits to lead the Brevard County offense.

 

On Sunday, Gindl blasted a two-run homer in the first inning, and the Manatees never looked back, cruising to an 8-3 win. Brewer had another strong day at the plate, with a single, double, and four RBI. Josh Butler (3-0) continued his strong year, allowing three runs in five innings while striking out six Blue Jays. Butler has already exceeded his win total from 2008.

 

The Manatees return home Monday to face their rival, the Daytona Cubs. Daytona is the only team that has had success against the Manatees so far this year, winning three straight in Daytona earlier in the month. The four-game series will be split between the two cities, with Monday and Wednesday's games being played at Space Coast Stadium, and Tuesday and Thursday's games being played in Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona.

 

Caleb Gindl destroyed Dunedin pitching, hitting .583 with 2 HR and 7 RBI in the series. (MiLB.com photo by Dennis Greenblatt)

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2009/04/27/FCEIXVRD.jpg