Tennessee Smokies 2 @ Mississippi Braves 3 (11 innings)
Matt Szczur drew the start in center, going 0-5 with a walk. He's been really frigid as of late. Ronald Torreyes continues his impressive start with a 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI performance. He also struck out once. Arismendy Alcantara has had a really rough patch, but had a double and a strikeout to go with his 1-5 line. Ty Wright went 2-4 with a double and an RBI, and Christian Villanueva went 1-4 with a double and a walk (and 2 strikeouts). Everyone else had a day I'd rather not talk about, except that pitcher Alberto Cabrera had a stolen base. The Smokies as a team struckout 17 times, which is fucking disgraceful (but at least it was 11 innings).
Alberto Cabrera is ready for Iowa. He went 6.0 IP, allowing 2 walks and 2 hits and striking out 8. He's been dominant his last two starts. AJ Morris shat himself in relief; as is his custom, he allowed 2 R in just 0.1 IP (Trey McNutt allowed one of his 3 inherited runners to score). McNutt allowed 3 baserunners in 1.2 IP and struckout 3, allowing no runs. Marcus Hatley struck out 3 in his inning of work (allowing a hit and a walk); Frank Batista sent the home crowd away happy by allowing a run with one out in the 11th. The Smokies are now 2 games back of the Birmingham Barons in the Southern League North.
Bowling Green Hot Rods 2 @ Kane County Cougars 4 (11 innings, Game 1 of doubleheader)
This was a nice little game. Oliver Zapata went 1-4 with a run, walk, and strikeout. Gioskar Amaya went 2-5 with a double, a walk, and 3 sombreros. He never put the ball in play for an out. Daniel Vogelbach went 1-2 with an RBI and 2 walks and a strikeout. He was lifted for a pinch runner, Pin-Chieh Chen, who would score, draw a walk, and go 1-1 in his own right. Rock Shoulders went 2-6, playing LF-1B, wtih a 2-run homer in the 11th to win it. Favorite performance of the night is Chadd Krist, who was 1-2 with a run and 3 walks. Krist has 4 consecutive games with a walk now, and he has looked good all season. If he keeps it up (he has a .807 OPS at the moment), he could play his way into fringe-prospecthood. He's 23, but in only his second year of professional baseball. Combine that with the inherent longer development of catchers, and it doesn't look so bad. As a team, the Cougars walked more than they struck out (9 to 8). Do that and the wins will come.
Tayler Scott took the bump for the Cougars and had a non-descript day. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks over 5.2 innings. He also only struck out one. His strikeout rate is so low (and has been his whole career) to make any talk of him becoming anything basically moot. Steve (who?) Perakslis had a nice 2.1 innings of no-hit, one walk ball. Matt Iannazzo filled the rest of the game with 3 innings of shutout baseball.
Bowling Green Hot Rods 1 @ Kane County Cougars 3 (Game 2 of doubleheader)
Pin-Chieh Chen went 0-2 with a walk and a strikeout in LF and leadoff. Gioskar Amaya had a single out in the game. Daniel Vogelbach was similarly quiet. Jeimer Candelario went 1-2 with a double, a walk, and 2 runs scored. Rock Shoulders again had a good game, going 1-2 with a double, a walk, an rbi, and a strikeout. Marco Hernandez was 1-3 with a run scored. As a team, the Cougars only walked 4 times, but they also only struck out 4 times (and in 7 innings, those numbers aren't really low).
Ian Dickson had the start and allowed 1 unearned run (on Shoulders' first error of the year) over 4.2 innings. He struck out 4, walked 2, and coughed up 2 hits. Brian Smith got the win in relief, going 2.1 strong innings with 2 hits, no runs or walks, and 5 strikeouts. The Cougars took both games of the doubleheader against the very good Hot Rods; they were leading the division until yesterday. The Cougars' winning streak now sits at 4 and is the longest in the Midwest League.
Oklahoma City and Iowa was postponed due to snow in May.
Daytona and Lakeland was postponed due to rain.
Comments
Still can’t believe the Cubs moved Cabrera into the bullpen last year. He had a rough 2011, but was pretty decent before that. It’s not that I think he’ll ever be a top of the rotation starter, but he could fill out the back of a rotation. There was really no harm in keeping him in the rotation last year, but the Cubs didn’t.
dmick89Quote Reply
So Stewart was activated and then sent to AAA. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
I feel like I’m in the minority here, but I actually supported the move (and still do). Cabrera simply doesn’t have a secondary offering. He throws a 4-seamer and a 2-seamer, with a slider that sucks (he can’t control it) and a changeup he hasn’t thrown in years. He might max out as an innings-eater as a starter, but it doesn’t seem incredibly likely.
On the other hand, he can throw the ball 96-98 miles an hour. That’s a real skill, for a closer. He doesn’t need to have any other pitches, which is good because Cabrera doesn’t have any. He could succeed as a reliever without too much trouble just on stuff.
MylesQuote Reply
F7 getting squeezed
WaLiQuote Reply
Game going to end like 11-8
MylesQuote Reply
@ Myles:
False.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Marmol’s about to come in.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Bosio is even slower to the mound than Lou.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Jeebus.
uncle daveQuote Reply
This is all Aisley’s fault for telling the Cubs that relief pitching doesn’t matter.
WaLiQuote Reply
Not to worry. We got Borbon, Sappelt and Ransom coming up.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
I swear I turned the game off for less than ten minutes with the Cubs in the lead. Can’t say I’m surprised though… *sigh*
Rice CubeQuote Reply
That ump called a small strike zone.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I wasn’t watching the game at that point but I doubt it mattered to Marmol.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
This team is funny
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Eh, he threw the first few out of the zone and then the ump wouldn’t give him a couple of borderline strikes.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Nobody gives Marmol borderline strikes. I don’t think they did even when he was “good” Marmol.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Anyway, Sori more than double his seasonal HR and RBI totals today.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
He also drew his fourth walk of the season.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
That’s partly because even many of his strikes miss his spots. Also, the movement of his slider is hard to track when it’s on.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Freddy Garcia is doing something against a lineup that has two former MVPs and one former MVP finalist.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Lied about the two former MVPs as one of them is sitting for not being an MVP this season.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
How long has he been doing it?
Suburban kidQuote Reply
urgh, bullpen meltdowns.
I’m annoyed with the mlb.tv app on the ps3 – you have the option to hide scores if you’re starting a game late, but they still tell you the inning on their game selection screen. Three times I’ve inferred Cubs bullpen meltdowns thanks to this (dying laughing). It was the bottom of the ninth when I started today’s game, so I already knew they weren’t winning at that point.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Six innings, but it’s over now.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Random thought – Thoyer are probably rooting for the DH to get to the NL soon, since it would give Dan Vogelbach a lot more value.
BerseliusQuote Reply
A little late to the party today as I’m getting ready to watch the Bulls game, but I just learned how to make a real mint julep today. How the hell did I make it to 23 years old without having had one before?
AkabariQuote Reply
And yes I AM talking about drinks because I don’t know what else there is to say about the Cubs today (dying laughing)
AkabariQuote Reply
@ Akabari:
At least we got to see some Adolfo HRs. I predicted he’d have a big game against Cingrani in the last series, I just spoke a start too soon (dying laughing).
BerseliusQuote Reply
It’s seemed like every Reds hit this series has been right down the foul lines
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Akabari:
Apparently one should always drink while the Cubs continue their rebuild.
At least the Bulls aren’t sucking.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
new shit:
http://obstructedview.net/news-and-rumors/a-banner-year-for-international-free-agents.html
GWQuote Reply