Thursday’s News & Notes
The Suns fall into third place on a 2-3 Wednesday for the Nats farm
The Quick Rundown…
| Team | Yesterday’s Result | Today’s Game | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse Chiefs | OFF DAY | @ Charlotte, 7:15 p.m. | Brad Meyers (3-3, 4.95) vs. Deunte Heath (1-2, 3.96) |
| Harrisburg Senators | Won, 6-1 | @ Trenton, 7:05 p.m. | Tanner Roark (3-2, 6.67) vs. Craig Heyer (6-3, 2.97) |
| Potomac Nationals | Won, 5-4 | vs. Salem, 7:05 p.m. | Evan Bronson (1-2, 2.70) vs. Junichi Tazawa (0-1, 6.61) |
| Hagerstown Suns | Lost, 3-2; Lost, 9-5 | vs Delmarva, 5:05 p.m. (Comp., 7-inn. game) |
TBD vs. TBD |
| DSL Nationals | Lost, 9-5 vs. DSL Giants |
@ DSL Cubs2, 10:30 a.m. | Miguel Navarro (0-1, 10.80) vs. Jose Arias (0-1, 1.93) |
Syracuse Chiefs — OFF DAY
The Chiefs fly down to North Carolina (and boy, will their arms be tired) this morning for four games in Charlotte, followed by four in Gwinnett, Ga. before returning to New York next Friday. The Syracuse-DC pitcher carousel has recently spun again, with Yunesky Maya and Craig Stammen optioned back this week and Collin Balester recalled, as Tom Gorzelanny is slated to return to the rotation on Sunday.
Harrisburg 6 Trenton 1
• Martis (W, 4-2) 6IP, 2H, R, ER, 2BB, 5K
• Lehman (H, 1) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, K
• McCoy (H, 4) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Lombardozzi 2-5, R, 3B
• Rahl, 2-4, 2R, 2RBI, BB
In the first, Josh Johnson homered off starter Delin Betances. Chris Rahl scored when he was walked, Tyler Moore was hit by a pitch, and Bill Rhinehart reached on a fielding error. In the 6th, Harrisburg was glad to greet Brad Halsey with a two-out rally, as Stephen King walked, Lombardozzi singled, Johnson walked, and Rahl delivered with a clutch two-out single to score both King and Lombardozzi. Harrisburg put things out of reach in the 9th when the Godfather of the Bill Rhinehart Mafia landed a bomb in the right-centerfield seats. Sharion Martis delievered a strong six innings, allowing only one unearned run, to lower his ERA to 3.30. The Pats (Lehman and McCoy) and Zech Zinicola offered three innings of scoreless relief, yielding only one hit and one walk. Outside of errors by Gilbert, Johnson, King, and Norris (catcher interference), Harrisburg delivered a dominating win to silence the Trenton faithful and stop a four-game slide.
Potomac 5 Myrtle Beach 4 (10 inn.)
• Gaudin 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Rosenbaum 5⅔ IP, 9H, 4R, 3ER, 2BB, 5K
• Hood 2-4, R, 2B, HR, 2RBI, BB
• Bloxom 3-5, R, 2B, HR, RBI
The big fly sufficed when the clutch hit went missing as the Potomac Nationals edged the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in extras for a 5-4 victory. Destin Hood’s 5th home run was the sole P-Nat hit in 11 chances with RISP, capping off a four-run fifth. Danny Rosenbaum, who followed Chad Gaudin’s scoreless inning of rehab work, ran into trouble in the 7th and left with the game tied at 4-4. Rob Wort, Marcos Frias and Joe Testa combined for three and a 1/3rd scoreless innings, with Testa getting the win. Justin Bloxom’s walkoff HR to lead off the bottom of tenth gave Potomac the walkoff win. In the last seven games, the bullpen has posted a line of 21IP, 13H, 4R, 3ER, 9BB, 16K, 1HR, earning two wins, four holds, and three saves.
Lakewood 3 Hagerstown 2 (12 inn.) — COMPLETION
• Solis 7IP, 4H, 2R, ER, 2BB, 6K
• Manno 2IP, H, BB, 3K
• Freitas 2-3, R, 2R HR, BB
• Kelso, R, BB, K
Sean Nicol singled to “lead off” the suspended game in the 11th, and Randolph Oduber doubled with one out in the 12th, but Hagerstown fell in the bottom of the 12th on a throwing error, 3-2.
Lakewood 9 Hagerstown 5
• Grace (L, 7-5), 3IP, 9H, 8R, 8ER, BB, 3K, HR
• Applebee 4IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 5K
• Kelso 2-4, R, BB
• Sanchez 2-5, R, RBI
• Harper 1-4, R, 3B, 2RBI
The Blue Claws completed the four-game sweep with a 9-5 victory over the Suns. Starter Matt Grace was less than amazing, torched for eight runs on nine hits and a walk, including a three-run shot in the bottom of the first. Bryce Harper returned to the lineup after sitting out the past two games with a sore thumb and went 1-for-4 with a two-run triple, the second and third runs in a four-run fifth that got the Suns as close as 8-5. With the two losses, Hagerstown drops to third place as Hickory won its fourth straight to overtake both the Suns and the Grasshoppers. The Suns finish with five games at home against Delmarva, starting with a completion doubleheader tonight. Starters have not been officially announced, but A.J. Cole could potentially pick up where he left off in Game 1, and Bobby Hansen, if healthy, is a likely candidate for Game 2
DSL Giants 9 DSL Nationals 5
• Pineyro (ND) 5IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 7K
• Vasquez (H, 1) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 0K
• Read 3-4, 2B, RBI, SB
• Reyes 2-4, RBI
• Mercedes 2-5, 2B, 2RBI
The D-Nats bullpen collapsed, giving up seven of the nine D-Giant runs in the 8th and 9th innings to turn a 4-0 mid-game lead into a 9-5 defeat. Starter Ivan Pineyro went five scoreless innings with two hits and one walk allowed and seven strikeouts. Raudy Read led the 11-hit attack with a three hits, including a double and a stolen base, followed by Yermin Mercedes’ and Aladin Reyes, who collected two hits apiece.
Glad Harper is ok. As someone mentioned earlier in the week, should not there be news about some signings now? NATS appear to be slow in that departments as opposed to the last few years.
This guy tweeted something this morning, but what does he know? 😉
Might as well attribute the source and name drop in the site that is picking up where he left off?
Brian Oliver (Nationals Farm Authority) reports:
Nats have signed Skole, Dupra, Rodriguez, Ramsey, Molnar, Henke, Norfork, Cotten, Kreis, Ortega, & Mirowski from 2011 draft. All in Auburn
Onto SpringfieldFan …
Just some ‘off the cuff’ thoughts on a couple of the initial signings…
– Skole will probably get converted from 3B to LF-1B, just based on his size (6’4″ – 230).
– Henke is a BIG dude (6’6″ – 241); It will be interesting to see if he can keep his weight under control.
As far as the rest of the draft goes, I’d guess the Nationals sign around 32 of 51 total. Purke will probably be the toughest to sign of the bunch, and the Nationals will likely see him go back to TCU. If they can land the rest of their top-11 and a couple of high-schoolers, this will have been an awesome draft, imo.
watched the suns again last night completely flat and offense looks tired all teams go through this but the good one snap out in time . Think they need to take 4 of 5 to win the division
Grace can pitch , just had one of those days
Sue , Wally Mark Mel. A question Would you be at all surprised if both Harper and Manno skip Potomac and go directly to Harrisburg, just a thought no FACTS
Ask Bill Rhinehart how well that went for him.
Sounds like someone who wants to see them in Potomac? I should think Kelso and Harper and not Manno? The outfield in Potomac is a bit crowded with legitimate prospects. What do you do with them? While in Harrisburg the outfield is basically made up of AAAA organizational filler?
Do you think Destin Hood (the only All Star and many here question that) could handle Harrisburg over Harper?
Be nice if they signed Rendon early to find out where he stands injury-wise. He could probably start in Potomac.
Hood might get the AFL bump, but I don’t think he’s ready for the next level. I can live with Harper being “held down” until room is available, but Ramirez and Higley shouldn’t block Harper from being brought up if the FO deems him ready.
Manno should get the nod if/when a reliever is promoted or another pitcher is released.
Elliot — The biggest jump in all the minors is High A to AA, it’s just a huge jump.
To go from Low A to AA is a recipe for disaster. I could see Manno doing better than Harper but Harrisburg has Lehman now so that’s moot.
@Elliot – I wouldn’t be surprised for Manno if he went that route after the All-Star Break, but I don’t think it will happen because that’s usually just not done. I would be very, very, very surprised if Harper skipped. It’s been explained that Harper needs time, and he simply requires step by step maturing and seasoning that he might miss if he skips a level. The point with Harper is not to improve his skills first. It’s getting him some sense of regualrity, experience and seasoning… once he has that, his skills will then improve over time. Plus, I think it would be very helpful for him to be on a team that is not dominating and know what its like because the chances are great (near 100%) that he will be on a major league team that will not dominate and win all the time, and he needs to know that feeling and know how to repsond without too much pressure being put on him at 18, 19 years of age. There is no need to skip him, in fact every need to have a steady and level by level matruation.
Peric , I sorry I musunderstood where do u see Kelso Harper and manno
Not all of Manno’s numbers are off the charts…..11 BBs in 31 IP. Probably why he’s still in Hagerstown…
That (3.19BB/9) is still better than the Sally league average (3.31). Potomac has two (2) pitchers that have a better walk rate (Holder, Selik) than the league average. Suffice it to say, it might be worth looking at what a 22-y.o. college pitcher can do at High A.
I have no doubt he’ll be there eventually and deservedly so when you consider how he’s pitched overall. But when you consider Selik and Meyers, they had such miniscule walk numbers before they were moved up, it may explain why they got the call and Manno didn’t…..at least not yet.
And this is one year where good left-handed relievers are sorely needed at the major league level.
To give some credit to Manno, a lot of those BBs are on full counts… and I saw the umps. They weren’t giving him ANY leeway on most of those.
I would expect Harper to play center and right at Potomac, Hood to play left and right, Perrz to see a few additional days off, and Ramirez and Higley to see more bench and DH time. Outfield in Harrisburg isn’t blocking anyone, but also not clear anyone in Potomac would be well-served by promotion.
Agreed – The outfield in both Syracuse & Harrisburg isn’t holding anyone back at this point. In fact any of Gilbert, Rahl, or even Rhinehart could make the jump to SYR if the FO is ready to make some moves.
In Potomac, Hood is the closest to being ready offensively, but still has trouble reading some balls off the bat, imo. Maybe he moves after the AS break, maybe not.
In Hagerstown, both Kelso & Harper have gotten it done at the plate, but Kelso has some issues to be resolved defensively. The P-Nats have been starved for a decent fielding 3B almost all year since King was promoted; Maybe Kelso could settle in there for the 2nd half. If Harper comes up, a four-player rotation of Ramirez/Perez/Hood/Harper in the OF/DH spots (as Sue_D suggested earlier on) would suit me just fine.