Link Report for Games of Friday, August 8th

[batman]

I'm going to keep posting this until someone makes an argument disputing it. From an interview in Slate, Bill James:

 

"Well, no, there is no such thing as a Four A hitter. That idea, as I understand it, envisions a "gap" between the majors and Triple A, with some players who fall into the gap. There is no such gap. In fact, there is a very significant overlap between the major leagues and Triple A. Many of the players in Triple A are better than many of the players in the majors."

 

He continues:

 

"When there is a disconnect between a player's major league and minor league records, some people want to ascribe this to some mystical difference between major league baseball and minor league baseball. Unless you can say specifically what that difference is, this is akin to magical thinking - asserting that there is some magical "major league ability," which is distinct from the ability to play baseball. The same sorts of disconnects happen routinely in the middle of major league careers - not often as a percentage, but they happen. Everybody who plays rotisserie baseball knows that some guys you paid big money for because they were good last year will stink this year. It is not necessary or helpful to create some magical "major league ability" to explain those occasional disconnects between major league and minor league seasons."

 

That's all.

 

~Bill

[batman]

"Recently-signed first-round draft pick Rickie Weeks went 1-for-3 against rehabbing Brewers reliever Jayson Durocher in a simulated game on Friday in Phoenix." - Adam McCalvy / MLB.com

[MassBrew]

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com Huntsville Update:

 

TURN THAT BUS AROUND!

The bus had just left for Jackson, Friday morning, and was headed west on University Drive when manager Frank Kremblas got a call on his cell phone. The bus was directed back to the Stadium, 10 minutes away, to drop off Ryan Knox. He would be rejoining the Indianapolis Indians, rather than playing for the Stars that night....... The wheels were set in motion when Milwaukee put Wes Helms on the disabled list, calling up outfielder Mark Smith from Indy........ Knox hit just .128 (5-for-39) in his second stint with the Stars........

 

Indianapolis will have another vacancy to deal with soon enough. Luis Martinez stretched his consecutive scoreless inning streak to 26 1/3 innings Friday against Charlotte. Martinez will likely become the 140th Huntsville Star to make it to the majors. After going 8-5, 2.58 in 20 starts for the Stars, and 3-0, 0.00 in 4 starts for Indy, Luis, the flame-throwing, free-spirited Dominican lefty with the Bob Buhl bat, who started his pro career 0-18, is soon to make it.

 

While Knox was at Indy, the Stars were having their problems with Mike Nannini tonight at Jackson. Thirteen Stars would strike out this night (16 is the season high) and Dave Krynzel wore the golden sombrero for the first time as a Huntsville Star, going down four times...... Nannini, who beat the Stars the last time he faced them, became the 5th opposing pitcher to strike out 10+ Stars in a game this season......... But the Stars hung with the D'Jaxx at 2-2. Until the 9th.

 

The Stars erased an early 1-0 deficit on a monstrous home run in the 2nd inning by Noochie Varner that nearly reached I-40 beyond the hillside over the left field wall........ In the 5th, the Stars jumped ahead, 2-1 when Ken Ray drew a 2-out walk. After taking third on Alejandro Machado's single, he scored on a wild pitch........ The Diamond Jaxx tied it in the bottom of the 6th on an infield hit by Ray Sadler.

 

Sadler came back to haunt the Stars as the leadoff batter in the 9th. He popped up a Matt Parker 1-1 pitch to the middle of the infield. Kade Johnson called for it, but Corey Hart called him off and dropped it in front of home plate. Speedy Sadler took second base........ Jackson Melian, the former Star, was intentionally passed. Alan West followed, and after failing twice to execute the sac bunt on two breaking balls, lined to right on a 3-2 pitch. It took Varner to the track, but Sadler failed to advance because he made the wrong break, angering his manager, Bobby Dickerson........

 

It was the 5th consecutive time Parker had gone 3-2 to a hitter and won the battle by delivering a strike to retire the hitter. Parker wasn't so fortunate with the next hitter, Lukas McKnight. Parker missed badly inside and hit him with a pitch to load the bases........ That set it up for .239 hitter Blair Barbier, activated by the D'Jaxx on July 26. Barbier hit a fly ball deep to center, scoring Sadler easily for the win, as Krynzel back-pedaled to the track.

 

Ken Ray performed a magnificent clutch role from the pen, with his longest outing of his season. In his last three appearances, he has gone 11 2/3 innings, and given up just 3 runs on 14 hits, striking out nine........ Ben Hendrickson was lifted after one inning by pitching coach Stan Kyles as a precaution. Kyles had seen Hendrickson's velocity was down tonight. Hendrickson twice this season had DL stints because of soreness in his right elbow and forearm, and with the staff plagued by arm problems this year, there was no way Kyles was going to take a chance on his arm........

 

In the Stars' last 6 games, the bullpen has thrown 23 innings and come through with a 1.17 ERA. Half of the runs the bullpen gave up, however, were unearned. The Stars have now given up four final inning runs in their last six games........ Parker has not allowed an earned run in his last four appearances, covering 9 2/3 innings, but has now given up an unearned run in each of his last three.

 

Alejandro Machado is 7-for-17 (.412) in his last four games....... J.J. Hardy is now batting .217 since July with 2 HRs, 13 RBI and drawn 6 walks....... Kade Johnson is 1-for-25 in his last 8 games....... The Stars have averaged 3 runs a game in their last 11 games, and have not scored more than 5 runs in a game since beating Chattanooga, 7-3, on July 28. Only twice in their last 10 games, have the Stars tallied at least 10 hits.

 

Pedro Liriano (7-11, 3.63) will start game two of this series against Diamond Jaxx right-hander Jon Leicester (5-5, 3.74).