Huntsville 4, Montgomery 1. We got nuthin’
Stockton 14, Visalia 4. We still got nuthin’…no…wait…yep…that’s what we thought…SS Reid Brignac committed 2 errors and now has 13 on the season.
SW Michigan 3, Beloit 1. nuthin’…squat.
Add those three stinkers to the fact the Durham Bulls game was rained out and the only good thing that happened on the farm yesterday was B. J. Upton did NOT commit an error. That’s what we like to call the poo-poo platter.
Boston 10, Baltimore 3. Mr. Anna Benson surrendered a first inning grand slam to Jason Varitek, and the beantowners cruised to their 4th straight win to keep pace with the Spankees. Baltimore is now 6 back and have lost 8 of 10.
New York 8, Texas 5. Hideki Matsui was the DH so that he could maintain his consecutive games played streak. Some seem to think the streak should include his playing days in Japan. If those games are included his streak now stands at 2089 straight games or 41 games shy of Lou Gehrig’s former record. Matsui rewarded Joe Torre’s decision with a 3-run homer in a 5-run 4th inning that broke a 1-1 tie and gave Torre his 1,000 victory as Yankee manager.
Toronto 3, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim near Disney Land 1. Rookie Casey Janssen earned his first career victory with 7.1 innings of shut out baseball, allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk. Troy Glaus hit his 10th home run. Toronto stays within 2.5 games of Boston and New York.
Indianapolis 8, Durham 2. B. J. Upton went 1-4 with a double and 3 strikeouts. Darnell McDonald went 1-4 with a double a run scored and an RBI. He also stole his 8th base. Elijah Dukes returned to the team after being away for “personal reasons”. He was used as a pinch hitter and went 0-1. SP Chris Seddon had a rough night giving up 8 runs in 4+ innings.
Montgomery 7, Mississippi 5. 2B Elliot Johnson hit his 7th home run and went 2-4 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. He now leads the league with a .345 average and is 3rd in home runs. Jason Pridie went 2-4 and stole his 6th base. Marcos Carvajal who came to the Rays in an early season trade with Seattle earned the win out of the bullpen striking out 4 in 2 innings of work.
Visalia 9, Stockton 1. SS Reid Brignac continues to swing a hot bat, as he went 2-5 to raise his average to .359. He is now 3rd in the league in hitting and 3rd in the league in home runs (6). Teammates Shaun Cumberland and Patrick Breen lead teh league with 7 home runs each. James Houser was strong, going 6 innings and giving up 2 hits 2 walks and 1 run to pick up his first win of the season.
SW Michigan 6, Beloit 5. OF James Hall went 4-5 with 2 RBI and a double.
Oakland 2, D-Rays 1. Look, it’s not in our nature to be mysterious. But we can’t talk about it and we can’t talk about why.
Boston 9, Baltimore 3. The Sox have taken 5 straight from the O’s on the season, and 3 straight overall. ManRam, Manny Ramirez hit his 5th home run to support Tim Wakefield and his flutterball.
New York 6, Texas 1. The Bronx Roiders broke open a 1-1 game with 5 in the 6th to give Shawn Chacon his 4th victory of the year. Jason Giambi hit his 10th and Alex Rodriguez added his 6th home run.
Los Angeles 3, Toronto 0. Somebody finally found the Kryptonite for the Jay’s offense. Apparently it is in the right arm of Kelvim Escobar.
Durham 6, Indianapolis 1. Big night for several Bulls. SS B. J. “don’t call me Melvin” Upton went 1-4 with his 3rd home run of of the year. CF Darnell McDonald went 3-4 with 2 doubles and is now hitting .342. On the mound SP Jamie Shields struck out 9 in 8 innings, giving up 7 hits, no walks and 1 run.
Mississippi 8, Montgomery 7, 13 innings. Jason Pridie went 1-5 with a run scored and is now hitting .224. 2B Elliot Johnson continues to swing a hot stick. Johnson went 2-5 with 2 runs scored, his 5th triple and 6th home run of the season. He is now hitting .339. C Chairon Isenia hit his 3rd home run.
Stockton 13, Visalia 9. Another big night for SS Reid Brignac. The Cajun God Of Baseball went 3-5 with a walk and his 5th and 6th home runs. He scored 3 times and drove in 3 and is now hitting .357. We are not sure how much longer the organization can wait to promote him to Montgomery. Despite an errorless game last night, he has struggled mightily with the glove, but he could still work on that at the AA level. We still believe that if Brignac ever develops as a fielder he will be the one that forces the organization to move Upton to another position. DH John Jaso went 3-5 and scored 3 runs, raising his average to .342.
SW Michigan 3, Beloit 1. Wade Davis struggled a bit with his control as he walked 6 and hit a batter in 5 innings, but he only surrendered 2 hits and 1 run. His ERA actually went UP to 0.85. A sure sign that Davis is on the team’s radar as a future member of the big league rotation is that he is on a very strict pitch count right now. We are to lazy to check, but we think Davis has only worked into the 6th inning once this season.
D-Rays 3, Oakland 1. The bullpen didn’t suck last night. We have to admit that when the A’s had 1st and 3rd with one out in the 8th and when Shawn Camp gave up the leadoff single in the 9th and Joe Maddon brought in Tyler Walker, our first reaction was, “here we go again.” Three batters later, Walker had his 2nd save and and Scott Kazmir had earned his 4th win. Kazmir (4-2) did not have his best stuff last night, but good pitchers find a way to win even when they don’t have their best stuff. Kazmir also managed to do what most other members of the rotation have failed to do this year. He protected an early lead. The Rays scored two in the first inning and that was all they needed as Kazmir scattered 9 hits and 2 walks over 5.2 innings. Julio Lugo batted leadoff and went 1-5 in his first action since opening day in Baltimore. Aubrey Huff in his first game back from the DL went 1-4 and scored a run.
Boston 6, Baltimore 3. Curt Schilling improved to 5-1 and Jonathan Paplebon earned his 12th save in 12 opportunities as the Red Sox keep pace with the Yankees. The Sox and the Spankees are beginning to a put a little distance between themselves and the rest of the division.
New York 8, Texas 7. The Bronx Roiders almost blew the game and an outstanding performance by Mike Mussina. Up 8-1 in the 8th, three Yankees relievers gave up 6 runs before Mariano Rivera finally stopped the bleeding. New York and Boston are tied atop the division, 2 games ahead of Toronto.
Toronto 13, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Near Disney World 3. The world is still round, Toronto is still scoring lots of runs and winning pitcher Gustavo Chacin still has no body hair…Seriously…none.
Probable Pitchers
Friday, 10:05 et
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (3-2, 3.72)
Oakland Joe Blanton, RHP (3-2, 6.14)
Saturday, 4:05 et
Devil Rays Seth McClung, RHP (1-4, 7.67)
Oakland Barry Zito, LHP (2-2, 4.63)
Sunday, 4:05 et
Devil Rays Mark Hendrickson, LHP (1-2, 2.66)
Oakland Brad Halsey, LHP (1-0, 2.50)
The Trop is featured in a video today on Deadspin. The video is a humorous, albeit brief look at a Devil Rays game from one fan’s perspective. The actual video is below the link.
One Night At The Trop [deadspin]
Indianapolis 7, Durham 4. Rough night for B. J. Upton. Upton committed 3 of the team’s 5 errors. As usual, it was his throws that got the best of Upton. Two of the errors were on throws and the third was a dropped catch. Upton went 0-2 with 2 walks and a run scored. He did steal his 14th base. CF Darnell McDonald hit his 4th home run of the season and is now hitting .327 after going 1-3 with 2 RBI. Edwin Jackson is not doing much to convince the organization that he belongs in the big leagues, as he continues to struggle with his control. He went 5.1 innings giving up 5 hits, 4 walks and 4 runs (3 earned).
Montgomery 7, Mississippi 4. Big night for C Ryan Christianson, as he went 2-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI. He now has 8 home runs and is hitting .257.
San Jose 10, Visalia 9. Aubrey Huff had his second rehab assignment game with the Oaks. He went 2-5 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. SS Reid Brignac went 2-4 with a double and an RBI but committed his 11th error of the season.
The Devil Rays offense should get a shot in the arm tonight when two of the teams regulars return to the starting lineup. At some point Joe Maddon is going to have to make some decisions regarding playing time and at bats, but not yet. Julio Lugo will slide right back into his usual shortstop position. Lugo’s return will bump Tomas Perez to the bench. Perez has been steady with the glove but he is only hitting .190/.229/.304. More importantly Lugo will be back to his custom spot at the top of the batting order. Maddon has used Carl Crawford and Joey Gathright as leadoff hitters in Lugo’s absence. While Gathright may develop into a strong leadoff hitter, he is not there yet. Crawford is a good leadoff hitter, but he is such a good hitter that he is more valuable in the #2 or #3 spots in the lineup. Aubrey Huff also returns to the lineup tonight. His return will move Sean Burroughs back to the bench. In 7 games since returning from the DL himself, Burroughs has batted .190/.320/.238. Huff and Lugo will instantly upgrade the offense. Where Maddon will have a decision to make is when Jorge Cantu returns and to a lesser degree when Rocco Baldelli returns. Ty Wiggington shifted to second base when Cantu went on the DL. Wiggington has been hitting the ball too well to be sitting on the bench everyday. One option is to shift Huff over to first base, move Wiggington back to third base and sit Travis Lee. This is not very likely as Lee has been outstanding with the glove and regularly saves the other infielders from errors. In fact, members of the Devil Rays public relations department put the unofficial total of “saves” for Lee at 13. When Baldelli returns, he will return to center field, which means Gathright goes to the bench. Gathright does not necessarily warrant a position as an everyday starter, but Maddon will be hard-pressed to get some at bats for him as he causes havoc when he gets on base. The most likely scenario has Wiggington filling in at various positions to give guys a day off. He probably won’t start everyday but we would not be surprised if he starts 4-5 games a week. As for Baldelli…The team is going to be very cautious with him and we expect to see him taking a lot of days off the first month or two after he returns.
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