Thursday’s News & Notes – Playoff Edition
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Harrisburg | Postponed | Postponed | N/A |
| Potomac | Lost, 5-1 (6 inn.) |
@ Frederick, 7:00 p.m. |
Sammy Solis (6-2, 2.72) vs. Richard Zagone (4-2, 2.97) |
| Auburn | Postponed | vs. Vermont, 7:05 p.m. |
Taylor Hill (0-2, 3.16) vs. Brent Powers (4-2, 3.84) |
Rain forced a postponement in Auburn and complete series shift in Richmond yesterday, while the Potomac Nationals might have wished for more with a 5-1 loss to Frederick in six innings.
Both Auburn and Frederick have more rain forecast for today. The Doubledays and P-Nats both trail their series 1-0, with Auburn facing elimination tonight and Potomac staring at a possible 2-0 deficit.
Meanwhile, the tenor of the E.L. West Divisional series has changed dramatically with the two-day postponement and series shift to Richmond for Games One and Two. Simply put: The Squirrels have owned the Sens at the Diamond, winning 10 of 15 games played there this season. Ironically, Richmond was one of the few that Harrisburg couldn’t handle on the road, with a 38-19 record against the rest of the Eastern League.
Thus, instead of the chance to go up 2-0 and hit the road needing to win just one, it’s the opposite: They have to take at least one on the road and hope to come home with the series tied. Statistically, the chances are the same; psychologically, the game has changed.
Back to Frederick… Paul Demny’s season-long bugaboo — the big fly, he led the Carolina League with 18 surrendered — came back to bite him in the [prosterior] with two given up in the four-run 4th that overcame an early 1-0 deficit, courtesy of a Steve Souza home run in the top of the 2nd.
Much like Auburn in its Game One, the woulda-coulda-shoulda game that fans like to play doesn’t apply. The P-Nats were stifled by Jacob Petit (again, he beat them twice in two regular-season starts) with just three hits and two walks given up over six innings and only two reaching second base — Souza and Sandy Leon on a double two batters later. That kind of offensive production might win a game in soccer, but in baseball, it’s too much to ask for a 1-0 win in the playoffs. Particularly against a lineup with nearly 300 games of AA experience.
Sue, I get the impression that Frederick is a much older team than Potomac. The good news this year was that Potomac was a full 1 year younger than last year.
That might be a disadvantage this week.
Where would you get that impression?
09/07/2011 Sean Gleason assigned to Frederick Keys from Norfolk Tides.
09/07/2011 Jacob Julius assigned to Frederick Keys from Norfolk Tides.
09/07/2011 Ryohei Tanaka assigned to Frederick Keys from Norfolk Tides.
09/07/2011 Aaron Baker assigned to Frederick Keys from Bowie Baysox.
Wow! What a scam!
How is this legal.. I was told that Erik Davis was not eligible to be on Potomac’s playoff roster and he was assigned to Potomac on 8/2/2011? Is it possible to get a list of eligibility requirements from the league office? How does Rick Zagone qualify, he’s been with Bowie a good part of the year..
I asked the league office about this and this was the response I got:
“(j) Postseason rosters must be transmitted to the League Office and opposing club not later than noon on the first scheduled day of postseason play. Roster openings may be filled with players assigned from any other league of equal or lower classification at any time during the postseason. Postseason players who become disabled may be replaced from equal or lower classifications at any time, provided the change is a position-for-position change (i.e., pitcher for a pitcher, infielder for an infielder).
(k) Players may not be assigned from a higher classification at any time after the final regular season game without the prior approval of the President.”
The one thing you always need to understand with MiLB.com transacations is that the date listed is *not* always the official date; frequently, it’s simply the date it was listed. Will Flemming spoke quite a bit about this during his broadcast last night, mentioning how all these players were dropped down in the final week or so. In other words, it appearst that they were moved legally but just barely. Given that Xavier Avery got special permission last year, I don’t have any doubts that these guys would have gotten a waiver, too.
Personally, I think the rule ought to be tied to service time for the playoff team, i.e. eligible if you were on the active roster for X # of games during the second half, probably 30 or so, which would make it harder to maneuver a guy downward and be closer to the more accepted norm of ~August 1st. I had thought that that was the case with Davis, but as you can see from above he was technically eligible.