Link Report for Thursday 8/25

[Eye Black]

Final: Clearwater 5, Brevard County 2

 

Clearwater takes down Brevard County in series finale

By Donald Rieber, Jr., 27 Outs Baseball

 

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Brevard County Box Score

 

As documented in the game story Bubba Derby had an up and down outing. Derby ran into trouble in the 1st and 6th innings, but had a strong performance in between. In the 6th inning he gave up his 16th home run this season which is tied for second most in the Florida State League.

 

No multi-hit performances for the Manatees. Corey Ray had one hit, but also struck out three times. Ray did swipe his 8th base on the season. Blake Allemand had the only extra base hit for the Manatees, a 4th inning home run.

 

Brevard County Game Log

[TheCrew07]

Big Hit by Belonis Gives Wisconsin a Walkoff Win

Rattlers pick up ground in Wild Card race

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/5/6/197749956/cuts/8_25_PlayerOfTheGame_CarlosBelonis_VERSION_2_blwjxcsu_tc6vaxeo.jpg

Carlos Belonis drove in two runs with a two-out, walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth inning for the Rattlers 5-4 win over Peoria on Thursday night. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica)

 

Wisconsin Boxscore

WOOHOO!

 

I'm going to start out with Matt Erickson, whom I took to task last night for his sac bunt call in the 3rd, but tonight he managed the 9th masterfully. After the Lucas Erceg double the Rattlers were 2nd and 3rd with no out, Monte Harrison struck out a pitch high and away, Erickson pitch hits Luis Ortiz who Peoria walks, then he was able to turn around and pitch hit Isan Diaz with the bases loaded and 1 out. Just a masterful job of manipulating the situation in the T-Rats favor. It didn't work out for Diaz as he swung through a very fat pitch for strike 3, but Carlos Belonis delivered to pick up Diaz and Erceg finished the play to pickup the team.

 

I rarely bag on the umpires because when they are bad, it's typically bad both ways, but I thought the base umpire cost the Rattlers at least 2 outs on the bases, and he initially missed the Erceg HR as well. I was watching the 9th thinking the Rattlers didn't catch a break all game, Belonis hits the ball to shallow RF, the throw is on line but to the 1st base side, and it beats Erceg to the plate by a good 2 steps. I thought he was out watching live but ruled safe, the Peoria manager went ballistic, the Rattlers celebrate, and the TV crew jumps to the replay. The replay showed that Erceg was actually safe as he got under the tag, I was shocked. Very few umpires will stick with the play all the way through and not assume an out when the ball gets there that far ahead of the runner, especially at this this level, but somehow the home plate ump slowed it down enough to see the entire play and make the correct call. Maybe it was just a lucky guess, but he was gesturing that Erceg got under the tag from the start so I"m reasonably sure he saw it the whole way, and correctly. I was impressed.

 

Conor Harber didn't dominate by any stretch, but was effective, and he has a pretty decent pick off move, it's very quick. Christian Trent gave up a HR to the deepest part of the ball park in his first MWL action, it was crushed. Nate Griep did what he does and picked up the win, with a slight uptick in velo he could be interesting down the road, like Jacob Barnes.

 

Jonathan Oquendo (2-4), Jake Gatewood (2-3,BB), Erceg (2-4,HR,2B), and Belonis (2-4) had the multi hit games for the Rattlers. This was supposed to be Diaz' 1 and only game off in the 2nd half as Erickson thought he was starting to look sluggish, but he was needed in the 9th. Isan leads the league in games played.

 

Wisconsin Recap

 

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Postgame Post – August 25, 2016

 

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[Mass Haas]

Five, count' em, five videos from Thursday's Sky Sox game -- unfortunately, no audio from the Oklahoma City feed except for oddly-placed music

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, that's Andy Wilkins' first game at third base this season (62nd in his career).

 

[Mass Haas]

Helena lost 8-5 (game story and box score).

 

Maryvale won 3-0, box score (nice job on the mound by three hurlers, and by RF Jay Feliciano, with his 7th HR of the season).

 

I'll detail the games later today, but at least wanted to put the basics out there for you before hitting the road this AM, thanks.

[JohnBriggs12]

Credit where credit is due. Burgos with a great start.

Is there any reason we don't think about giving Burgos a shot? To pick one scenario, which yes plays into a longtime bias of mine, wouldn't we get better potential value by giving Burgos five starts to see what he has than by dejectedly rolling Matt Garza out to numb our senses and dreams every five days?

 

Couldn't agree more. Garza's a sunken cost. They will likely go to 6 man rotation after Sept. 1 to make room for Guerra. Why not stick Hiram in there and give him a look too?

[gregmag]

So I talk smack about Garza, and of course he proceeds to go toss his best five innings since the Bush administration. Maybe Bush I.