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News and Notes on the Nationals Minors since 2009

Thursday’s News & Notes

Nats lose two of three 2-1 decisions, split a pair of slugfests

The Quick Rundown…

Team Yesterday’s Result Today’s Game Pitching Matchup
Syracuse Chiefs Lost, 2-1 @ Louisville, 7:05 p.m. Craig Stammen (5-2, 3.65) vs.
Edison Volquez (0-0, 2.35)
Harrisburg Senators Won, 10-8 vs. New Hampshire, 7:00 p.m. Ryan Tatusko (1-3, 5.85) vs.
Joel Carreno (4-3, 3.44)
Potomac Nationals Lost, 2-1 (10 inn.) @ Winston-Salem, 7:00 p.m. Paul Demny (1-5, 4.66) vs.
Andre Rienzo (1-1, 2.68)
Hagerstown Suns Lost, 14-12 vs. Greenville, 7:05 p.m. Taylor Jordan (6-1, 2.79) vs.
TBD
DSL Nationals Won, 2-1 @ DSL Marlins
(10 inn.)		 vs. DSL Yankees1, 10:30 AM TBD vs. TBD

Louisville 2 Syracuse 1
• Milone (L, 3-4) 7IP 5H 2R 2ER 0BB 9K
• Balester 1IP 1H 0R 0BB 2K
• Antonelli 4-4, R, HR, RBI, SB
• Milone 2-2, SAC

Usually when a team gets double the number of its opponents hits, it’ll win. Not so with Syracuse, who got 12 hits to Louisville’s six, but fell 2-1 for their fourth straight loss. Matt Antonelli had four of those hits, driving in the long Chiefs run with a solo HR in the first and leading off the inning with a single in his next three ABs. Tom Milone took the hard-luck loss with both runs allowed on five hits, no walks, while striking out nine. He also went 2-for-2 at the plate with a sacrifice.

Harrisburg 10 New Hampshire 8
• Arnesen (W, 3-0) 5IP 5H 4R 4ER 2BB 4K 2HR
• Zinicola (S, 1) 1IP 0H 0R 0BB 0K
• Lombardozzi 2-5, 2R, HR, RBI
• Rahl 2-5, 2R, 3B, RBI
• Rhinehart 2-4, R, 3B, 2RBI

It’s now 10 in a row for Harrisburg, who outslugged the New Hampshire, 10-8. Six Senators collected multiple hits, with Steve Lombardozzi homering while Chris Rahl and Bill Rhinehart both tripled to lead the 14-hit attack. Erik Arnesen got the win in his spot start with four runs allowed in five innings on five hits (two were HRs) and two walks while striking out four. Zech Zinicola got the save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Winston-Salem 2 Potomac 1 (10 inn.)
• Holder (ND) 6IP 4H 1R 1ER 0BB 3K
• Frias 2IP 1H 0R 0BB 2K
• Bloxom 2-4
• Leon 2-3, 2B, 3B, BB

A walk, misplayed bunt, and a wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth sent the P-Nats to their 11th straight loss by a 2-1 decision to the Winston-Salem Dash. Trevor Holder bounced back from the narc-at-a-biker-rally beating he suffered in his last outing to pitch six strong innings, with one run given up on four hits, no walks, and three strikeouts. Justin Bloxom and Sandy Leon led the P-Nats hitters with two singles by the former and a double and triple by the latter. Josh Smoker took the loss with the final run allowed on the one hit and one walk in the tenth.

Greenville 14 Hagerstown 12
• Hansen (ND) 6IP 5H 4R 4ER 0BB 11K 1HR
• McCatty ⅓ IP 4H 4R 4ER 0BB 0K
• Graham (BS, 2; L, 1-2) 1⅓ IP 5H 5R 5ER 2BB 1K
• Newsome 4-5, R, 2B, RBI
• Kelso 3-4, 2R, 2B, 2RBI, 2BB, SB
• Harper 2-5, 2R, HR, 3RBI, BB, SB

Bobby Hansen left the game after six with a 9-4 lead and what seemed like a decent chance for his sixth “W.” The lead vanished with a five-run seventh as the Greenville scored in each of the last six innings for a 14-12 victory. The Suns actually outhit the Drive 18-17, with four players collecting three or more hits, led by Brett Newsome’s 4-for-5 effort. Bryce Harper homered, singled, drove in three, drew a walk and stole a base in the loss.

DSL Nationals 2 DSL Marlins 1 (10 inn.)
• Marcelino 4⅓ IP 3H 1R 0ER 1BB 4K
• Suero 3⅔ IP 0H 0R 0BB 4K
• Heredia (W, 1-0) 2IP 0H 0R 1BB 2K
• Difo 2-3, 3B, BB
• Gonzalez, E 2-3, R, BB, CS

Aladin Reyes’s sacrifice fly after two walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases in the 10th was the difference as the DSL Nationals downed the DSL Marlins 2-1 in extra innings. Inocencio Heredia picked up the win by with the last two innings pitched in relief. Watchlist pitcher Anthony Marcelino went the first four and 1/3rd innings, allowing the lone D-Marlin run on three hits and walk to go with four strikeouts. Wilmer Difo and Edgar Gonzalez both went 2-for-3 to pace the offense.

26 Commments

    1. Antonelli had a rough recovery from hamate / wrist surgery, which required a 2nd operation IIRC. Still relatively young at 26, he could make a nice add-on in a trade toward the deadline to pry away a better prospect. In the meantime, the fans in SYR can enjoy and appreciate him.

    1. Game is in Hagerstown, though Fluor Field is worth the trip no matter the opponent (and yes, I fixed it).

  3. When does the 1st half end for EL, CL and SAL?

    Curious to know how close Harrisburg and H’town are to clinching titles.

    1. Eastern League is full season. CL and SAL both end June 19.

      The magic number for Hagerstown is 16, with three at home against 2nd-place Greensboro starting on Sunday, followed by three on the road against 3rd-place Delmarva, four on the road vs. 4th-place Lakewood, the four against Delmarva again.

      The tragic number for Potomac is seven — it’s mathematically possible for them to be eliminated before coming home on Monday.

  4. Antonelli really wants it bad it seems … I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it goes as its still a small sample size but he definitely bears watching.

  5. 1) Keep it up, Tommy. 9K:0BB will get to the majors somewhere. Nice to see him pitching so well. He’s hitting too? Maybe he’s watching Jason Marquis!

    2) Ten in a row for the Sens? Folks are getting spoiled there in City Island. If they get Harper before the end of this year as part of a playoff run, there hearts may explode with joy.

    3) “the narc-at-a-biker-rally beating ” That’s journalism right there. Real journalism! 😉 Roger Angell would be proud.

    4) Eyewitness reports say that Bryce Harper fed the 5000 with fish and loaves of bread as compensation for witnessing a losting Hagerstown effort.

  6. I sat at the Muni last night with this absolute look of shock on my face. What a terrible game to lose for the Suns. You could see them just give up when the Drive got ahead in the last few innings. What fans were left at the end of the game were leaving with this “what the he– just happened” stare….

    Harpers HR was an absolute smash. McCatty was HORRIBLE, Michael Taylor looked like he just came from t-ball practice playing in CF. Two overthrows to home (air mail city), one 3-run error on a terribly misplayed ball (I don’t think he was paying attention), and fell on his rear attempting to play one off the CF wall. Even steady-eddy Kelso made an error. Sanchez was slightly shook up on the last play of the game sliding into 2nd.

    I’m not sure why Sean Nicol is still around and thinking he’s fodder to be cut at the break. He just doesn’t seem to fit anywhere.

    I think this is the first game i’ve been to with 12 runs and 18 hits for the home team and they LOST. And then added insult to injury to sit there for almost 3.5 hours to watch them blow it. Ugh. LOL

    This is a game i’d like to forget – – and i’ll make my best attempt at it with $1 beer tonight. 🙂

    1. They do $1 beer night there??? If somebody volunteers to be DD I am totally down with a roadtrip.

      1. Yep, $1 for a 10oz cup. At least I think it’s 10oz….

        Bring your ID. Even if you look and ARE 99 years old they won’t serve you unless you have your armband. Blame that mess on some stupid teenagers.

        1. TBR: I might be a minors-wide policy, as they’re doing the same thing at the Phitz. I’d rather have them doing wristbands than instituting more draconian measures.

    1. More like high 80s. I will keep repeating until somebody notices… he has only surpassed 2BB/9IP twice in his pro/college career (2007, 2009) and has a 1.52BB/9IP rate as a pro over 425+ IP. With control like that, velocity is an afterthought.

      1. At this point, would it make ANY sense to call up Milone to DC, but to put him in the bullpen (perhaps for Slaten)? Years ago, the thought was to bring up the SP prospects, but have them start their big league careers in the bullpen. Would something like this at this point in the season harm the progress of someone like Milone? Or if they were to call him up, would it just be in September?

      2. Sue, that reminds me of the great Greg Maddox quote that “The perfect pitch in baseball is tha low/outside corner regardless of speed”.
        He threw with Milone-like speed to a 1st ballot Hall of Fame induction!

        1. Good point. Watching Greg Maddux throw a baseball was like watching a high-level dart shooter; Always the same motion, and almost always within an inch (or so) of where he intended the pitch to go. The truly amazing thing was, he was doing that from 60 feet away from his target, while a dart player does it from nine feet. Milone is much the same way, mixing his targets, but almost always hitting them. He doesn’t throw hard, but he throws very well.

      3. I totally agree. I’ve spilled many a gallon of virtual ink on the virtues of Mr. Milone.

        Yes, stuff needs to play at the MLB level… but when you’re as accurate with your pitchers as Milone appears to be, they need to be given a shot, radar readouts be damned!

  8. I think the best we can hope for is a September call-up for Tom Milone, with an outside chance of being asked to do an up-and-back for a doubleheader. That, of course, will mean that someone like Mock, Severino, or Slaten is DFA’d, an event for which a box of Kleenex would go unopened.

  9. Interested in reading how the Stammen / Volquez matchup plays out in Louisville tonight. On paper, it’s an overmatch (Volquez is a purported #2 MLB SP, while Stammen is looked on as a #5 SP or LR at best). Small sample, but some drama nontheless.

  10. While we are winning 3-0 in th fourth I just thought I would take a second to rant. Why, why, why, does Tatusko pitch for us? With 5 ER over 6 IP he now has an ERA at 6.07. WTF! And I love Chico. Wow, 4 ER over 1 IP…your ERA is now at 11.25. I can’t wait for you to take Gorz’s place.
    Can we win some games?

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