Link Report for Games of Friday, August 15th

[MassBrew]

High Desert Site Game Summary:

Just the fact that Tommy Marx has had a decent outing or two and was relatively successful here tonight really brings in to question Tim Blackwell's decision to replace him with position player Johnny Raburn after two walks in the extra-inning defeat earlier this week -- MassBrew

 

Adelanto, CA - The Bakersfield Blaze took an early lead and never let go, defeating the High Desert Mavericks by a final score of 11-4 on Friday night at Mavericks Stadium, in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,808. The loss is the fifth straight for the Mavs, who are now just 13-42 in the second half, and 38-87 overall.

 

Mavs lefty Derrin Ebert (2-1), who had been outstanding in two prior appearances, was lit up for ten runs in five plus innings of work. He allowed three in the first and four in the third as the Blaze went up 7-0.

 

Bakersfield hit three home runs in the third, as Edgar Gonzalez led off the frame with his fourth of the year for a 4-0 lead. Eric Reece followed with his 15th of the season. Two batters later, Luis Mateo hit his first of two on the night, giving the Blaze a 7-0 lead.

 

The Mavs answered with three in the bottom of the third, cutting the Blaze lead to 7-3. Joel Alvarado led off with a single and scored as Ralph Santana?s RBI single was bobbled by Luis Mateo in left field. Scott Candelaria?s single plated Santana to make it 7-2. Jeremy Frost doubled to right, scoring Candy to make it 7-3. Blaze starter Jarrett Campbell settled down and didn?t allow any more damage from thereafter.

 

Campbell (3-3) went 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits He was relieved by Rob Cramer, who allowed just an unearned run in the seventh, as Santana?s single knocked in Alvarado, who reached on an error.

 

The Blaze chased Ebert in the sixth by scoring three runs to take a commanding 10-3 lead. Tommy Marx came out of the Mavs pen and despite allowing two inherited runners to score, worked three scoreless innings of relief.

 

Justin Backsmeyer allowed Mateo?s second homer of the night in the ninth, as the Blaze completed the scoring.

 

The Mavs and Blaze continue their series on Saturday night, as Dan Hall (6-11) goes against Bakersfield?s Greg Dukeman (2-4). Game time is 7:05 (9:05 Central).

[MassBrew]

Hey, Helena is now 36-20 on the season!

 

Huntsville is 70 - 52

 

Beloit is 67 - 53

 

Yeah, yeah, not listing the other three farm teams for now (hey, no organization is winning across the board), but with the Brewers heading towards 100+ losses again, I just needed to re-assure myself that Brewerfan has been associated with some winning baseball this season.

 

Just a reminder for fans who are new to the minor league scene this year, all the minor league regular seasons wrap up around Labor Day weekend, or in about two weeks.

[igor67]

What time did that second Indy game get done? I'd bet the hustled through the in between innings except their feet were probably dragging. If any of those kids ever have a manager question their intestinal fortitude they ought to shove last night right down his throat. Do you think Cecil told the guys they could come to the park a little bit later today?

 

 

 

OK so some people have had a chance to see Weeks play now. The question I have: were reports that Weeks wasn't as advanced as you would expect right?

[Frisbee Slider]

OK so some people have had a chance to see Weeks play now. The question I have: were reports that Weeks wasn't as advanced as you would expect right?

 

I thought Week's had a very nice swing and as far as the offensive portion of his game, it's probably "advanced" as far as hyped. I'd have to agree with others when they've said that Rickie looked awkward/clumsy turning double plays and that his defense could certainly stand to be polished. On a positive note...he's got a very strong arm.

[MassBrew]

Ed Sedar comes "home" to Ogden:

 

www.standard.net/standard...1531289986

[MassBrew]

Huntsville Times Game Story:

"I think he got a little cocky in the middle innnings, started feeling pretty good about himself and he started getting the ball up."

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...118512.xml

[homer]

Just wanted to express my appreciation fto MassBrew and Batman for the daily minor league summaries. I read them religiously every morning. You guys rock the Casbah.

[MassBrew]

You're welcome, homer. Heck, Brian, Bill and I are going to search for and read this stuff anyway, so what's another couple of minutes to post the info?

 

Beloit Daily News Game Story:

The writer and Don Money try to put a positive spin on this loss, but too many ugly things happened to allow that to happen; you'll notice a comment about the Snapper RBI record -- remember that Brad Nelson was about to smash that record prior to his promotion to High Desert last summer...

 

www.beloitdailynews.com/803/snap16.htm

[MassBrew]

Daily Press High Desert Game Story:

"It was a bad sign when I was in the bullpen and I couldn't throw anything below the belt"

 

www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-...489,97698,

[batman]

Two interesting tidbits from the Beloit Daily News Article:

 

Fielder went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs and scored twice. He now has 100 RBIs, five shy of the Beloit record held by Greg Vaughn, accomplished in 1997.

 

LOL. Vaughny was in San Diego in 1997 - that's the year before he hit 50 bombs. The record was actually set in 1987, when Vaughn (who signed as an undrafted free agent out of the U. of Miami) was only 22 years old. He hit .305 with 33 homers and 105 RBIs and his 31 doubles helped him rack up a gaudy .593 slugging percentage. He walked 102 times for a .492 on-base percentage (not counting HBPs, which I can't find a record of).

 

Prince is a full three years younger than Vaughny was and he is putting up comparable numbers. If Prince turns out to be the calibre player of Greg Vaughn, I don't think anyone will be complaining.

 

...Friday's attendance was 3,483, the highest attendance for a game played at Pohlman Field this season.

 

That's great to see... I'm sure the guys appreciate the support they're getting. It must be kind of disappointing to go to places like Kane County and Dayton where 7,000+ turn out every night. At the same time, drawing 3,000+ in Beloit is a bigger accomplishment than drawing 7k from Dayton or Chicago... so in a way, they should be very proud.

 

Good stuff. I think I'm going to investigate the Prince/Vaughn parallels a little more... might be fodder for a feature article, no?

 

~Bill

[hardytheman]

If Prince turns out to be the calibre player of Greg Vaughn, I don't think anyone will be complaining.

 

 

Yikes, Do you really mean that Bill? I hope not. Vaughnie Pop-up!

 

Nah, really. I fully expect Prince to be a much better hitter than Greg was in the pro's.

 

Greg only hit .240 for his career with an average of 24 HR's and 71 RBI's. Not terrible by any means, but I expect more from Prince. Like 280 35 110.

[Al the Thinking Man]

Actually, why would you not play the 2nd game? Anyone really think 25 innings wears you out that much more than 18?

 

Call me crazy, but I'd be happy to give Conti a shot at being my 5th OF. He's a defensive machine, runs well, plays all 3 OF spots, and if AAA had the sortable stats MLB does, I think he's been OK offensively since June 1st. His numbers seem to have been destoyed by a poor start.

 

Grag Vaughn had a career statline of about .350 OBP & .500 SLG until his two horrible years in TB. That's not a bad career for anyone, unless they are named Bonds or Williams.

[batman]

Greg Vaughn was an excellent player for a lot of years. Injuries certainly derailed his career... but when he was healthy, he was one of the better oufielders (offensively-speaking) in baseball.

 

While his career batting average isn't impressive, his OBP was .337 and his SLG was .470. Excluding this year, that was 14 years of mostly-productive playing. He averaged 33 homers and his year of 27 was probably about what we can expect from Prince: .267/.369/.482 with 30 homers. From 1993 to 2000, he was a very good hitter. If Prince has a "prime" that good and that long (8 seasons) I'll be very happy.

 

He was a four-time All-Star and finished fourth in the MVP voting in both 98 and 99.

 

I'll take that any day of the week.

 

~Bill

[batman]

Actually, why would you not play the 2nd game? Anyone really think 25 innings wears you out that much more than 18?

 

It's not the innings, it's the start time. They didn't get underway until well past 1AM... that seems kinda late.

 

~Bill

[Al the Thinking Man]

1AM...as anyone who has ever witnessed the baseball marathon at Carson Park knows...time for baseball!!

 

Does anyone else have no memory of Greg spending 1999 in Cincy? He had a fine year as well, but I simply have no recollection of him playing a game in a reds uni, never mind 150. I would have bet a sizeable amount he went from SD to TB.