Friday’s News & Notes
Syracuse stumbles, but the rest win on Thursday
The Quick Rundown…
| Team | Yesterday’s Result | Today’s Game | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse Chiefs | Lost, 7-2 | vs. Toledo, 7:00 p.m. | Craig Stammen (1-0, 1.93) vs. Adam Wilk (0-2, 2.95) |
| Harrisburg Senators | Won, 6-2 | @ New Britain, 7:00 p.m. | Brad Meyers (3-1, 2.95) vs. Steve Hirschfeld (1-0, 2.40) |
| Potomac Nationals | Won, 8-6 | @ Salem, 7:05 p.m. | Evan Bronson (0-0, 0.00) vs. Pete Ruiz (0-0, 9.69) |
| Hagerstown Suns | Lost, 14-2; Won, 3-2 | @ West Virginia, 7:05 p.m. | Bobby Hansen (1-1, 6.17) vs. Zack Von Rosenberg (0-0, 7.24) |
Toledo 7 Syracuse 2
∙ Milone (L, 1-3) 3⅔ IP 10H 7R 7ER 1BB 2K
∙ Mandel 2⅓ IP 2H 0R 0BB 2K
∙ Whiting 2-5, R, CS (5)
∙ Marrero 1-4, R, 2B
The curse of the GBI may be alive and well as Tom Milone suffered his worst outing of the year as the Chiefs fell for the fifth straight time, 7-2 to Toledo. A five-run third chased Milone, who only had one scoreless inning out of his three and 2/3rds, allowing all seven runs on 10 hits and one walk. The ‘Cuse bullpen held Toledo down the rest of the way, but the Chiefs offense was held to just eight hits, leaving eight men on base. Boomer Whiting went 2-for-5 but was caught for the fifth time this year against just two steals. Lee Hyde cleared waivers and rejoined the team, pitching a scoreless 7th inning.
Harrisburg 6 Altoona 2
∙ Peacock (W, 3-1) 7IP 5H 1R 1ER 1BB 7K 1HR
∙ Mattheus (S, 2) 1⅓ 0H 0R 0BB 1K
∙ Moore 2-4, 2R, 2HR, 3RBI
∙ Rhinehart 1-2, R, HR, BB, RBI
The Sens went yard three times, with Tyler Moore’s second longball capping a three-run eighth as the Senators flattened the Curve, 6-2. Brad Peacock won his third game with seven strong innings, with just one run allowed on five hits and one walk, and seven strikeouts to jump to 2nd place in the Eastern League with 28Ks in 24 innings. “Dolla” Bill Rhinehart and Moore went back-to-back in the third inning as the Sens scored six runs on just six hits.
Ryan Mattheus got the last four outs fir his second save of the season.
Potomac 8 Myrtle Beach 6
∙ Holder (W, 1-2) 6IP 8H 4R 3ER 2BB 3K
∙ Lehman (S, 5) ⅔ IP 1H 0R 0BB 1K
∙ Dykstra 3-6, 2R, 2-2B, RBI, SB
∙ King 3-5, R
∙ Ramirez 3-5, R, 2B, 2RBI
The P-Nats bats came alive last night, peaking with a five-run third, as they smacked 15 hits in an 8-6 win over Myrtle Beach. Steven King, Cutter Dykstra, and J.P. Ramirez each collected three hits, as the trio combined for four runs, three doubles, and three RBI. Starter Trevor Holder earned his first win with a four-run, six-inning outing with eight hits and two walks allowed. He also struck out three. Pat Lehman was summond for the second straight night to put out a late Pelican rally to earn his fifth save.
West Virginia 14 Hagerstown 2 — GAME ONE (Completion of Suspended 4/27 game)
∙ McKenzie (L, 1-3) 1⅓ 4H 7R 6ER 4BB 1K 1HR
∙ Kelso 2-5, R
∙ Harper 2-3, R, HR, RBI, BB
The beating from Wednesday night continued on Thursday as the West Virginia Power piled on another seven runs and doubled up the second-inning score of 7-1 to 14-2. Every Suns pitcher was roughed up, much of it self-inflicted, as the four pitchers combined for nine walks. Bryce Harper’s first-inning home run highlighted the eight-hit output from the Hagerstown offense.
Hagerstown 3 West Virginia 2 (7 inn.) — GAME TWO
∙ Jordan (W, 5-0) 5IP 5H 1R 1ER 2BB 4K
∙ Manno (S, 3) 1⅓ 0H 0R 1BB 2K
∙ Harper 2-3, 2B, 2RBI, SB
∙ Sanchez 2-3, 2B
∙ Kelso 2-4, 2R, 2B
Game two of the doubleheader was much more even, as the Suns edged the Power 3-2. Bryce Harper, who was involved in a much ballyhooed exchange of words on Tuesday night, led the offense with a 2-for-3 night and 2 RBIs. Since the incident, Harper has gone 4-for-8 with a double, a homer, a walk, a stolen base, and three RBI. Starter Taylor Jordan went to 5-0, pithcing five innings and allowing one run on five hits and two walks while striking out four. Blake Kelso and Adrian Sanchez joined Harper on the hit parade as the 1-2-3 bats went 6-for-10 with three doubles on the evening. Chris Manno struck out two while nailing down his third save.
Guys as stated the cream always comes to the top. Pay attention to Harper the next week. He is getting his swing in order, and still has to be more selective but watch these numbers pump up. Also I have said it more then once, Kelso is someone everyone should keep an eye on
excited to see Tyler Moore getting hot again. I really hope he continues where he left off last year because I am not sold on Marrero as a big league first baseman.
What would be Kelso’s best position? (if he were to make it to the majors)
Kelso spent a good chunk of time at 2B last summer in Vermont, but having seen him play in person just once, I’d defer to our Hagerstown watchers until he gets to Woodbridge.
Sue – what’s your take on Brad Peacock’s start? He’s never held a winning record until this year and his ERA is surprisingly low. Is he finally “getting it”, has he been facing bad teams or is it too soon to say?
His lack of a winning record previously was, as Sickels put it, an anomaly. It’s probably too soon to say definitively, but you have to like seeing 70%+ strike:ball ratios as he has in his past two starts.
Holder has a 6.75 ERA, but his hit rate is alarming.
If you please: I scanned the Newses and Noteses for this week, and looked at the headlines on Nats Journal, and I can’t find anything on the much-ballyhooed exchange referred to above. Perhaps it was covered in the comments here? If so, I hope someone might point me to the info, or just recap it. Thanks much.
(On another note: if something is much ballyhooed and involves a Nats prospect, might it make sense to give it its own post on Nats Prospects? After all, we don’t all read the same things, so I might not know what you think is common knowledge. Now, I have no idea of your constraints, and what you do provide is just terrific. Just sharing one li’l thought I had; use it as you wish.)
There’s a hint of sarcasm there because it was much ado about nothing. Harper struck out, the opposing pitcher was apparently trash-talking on his way to the dugout, Harper turned to give him some lip, benches emptied, but no punches were thrown.
You’re right in that I probably could have thrown a link and that I presumed more than I should have. So here’s the YouTube video. Fireworks start around 1:36 mark.
As for constraints, it’s a low-budget operation here consisting of me, my volunteers, a couple spies in Hagerstown, and my unreliable personal assistant. (Long-time readers can smell the setup for that link).
Your recap is more than enough for me, though I appreciate the link. If it had been real news, I’m sure you would have given it a bigger mention. Really, you and your immense staff do a bang-up job around here.
I once had a personal assistant just like the one pictured. I had to let him go.
Agree on the Harper “fireworks”. If it had been anyone else no one would have even bothered or noticed I suppose. Chalked up as more entertainment for the sparse minor league crowds.
Harper is doing his job and doing it well. In point-of-fact he is again exceeding expectations. What I am wating (desperately hoping) to see is if he can raise the level of play of his teammates. That would immediately ecsonce him in the category of leader.