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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Losing, 2-0
(Susp., 4 inn.)		 @ Lehigh Valley,
7:05 p.m.		 Roark (0-1, 1.50) vs.
Hyatt (0-0, 3.18)
Harrisburg Won, 7-2 @ New Britain,
10:35 a.m.		 Demny (0-0, 0.00) vs.
Albers (0-0, 0.00)
Potomac Won, 6-4 @ Myrtle Beach,
7:05 p.m.		 Swynenberg (0-0, 9.00) vs.
Font (0-0, 0.00)
Hagerstown Won, 16-8 vs. Lexington,
10:35 a.m.		 Dupra (0-1, 8.10) vs.
Foltynewicz (0-0, 6.75)

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 2 Syracuse 0 — SUSP. (4 inn.)
• Atkins 4IP, 4H, 2R, 0ER, 4BB, 2K
• Teahen 1-1
• Harper 0-2, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 0RBI, 0E

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was leading 2-0 when the rains came in upstate New York. The game will be resumed on Saturday, followed by a 7-inning game.

Harrisburg 7 New Britain 2
• Gilliam (W, 1-1) 7IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 5K, HR
• McCoy (H, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Kobernus 3-5, R, 2B, 2RBI, CS
• Leon 3-4, R, RBI
• Perez 2-5, R, RBI

After six innings, it looked rather bleak: Down 2-0, outhit 7-1. But Harrisburg racked up 11 hits and dialed up Dallas (214) over the last three innings to run away with a 7-2 win over New Britain. H/T to Geoff Morrow for pointing out Eury Perez, along with Jeff Kobernus, also has hit safely in every game. Combined the 1-2 batters in the Sens lineup are .411 (23-for-56) with 10 runs scored, six bases stolen, and eight RBI. Both are riding six-game hit streaks. Rob Gilliam got the win with seven strong innings, both Rock Cat runs allowed on seven hits (one HR) and no walks while striking out five. The Pats McCoy and Lehman finished out the game with two 1-2-3 innings.

Potomac 6 Myrtle Beach 4
• Grace (W, 1-0) 5IP, 5H, 2R, ER, 2BB, 2K, HR
• Selik (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Taylor 2-3, 2B, BB, 3RBI, CS(3)
• Freitas 3-5, 2B

Michael Taylor’s bases-clearing double in the top of the 2nd capped off a four-run rally as Potomac finally got a win, 6-4 over Myrtle Beach. Matt Grace got the win with five innings pitched, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks. He struck out two and allowed a solo HR. Cameron Selik pitched a three-up, three-down 9th for the save. Following the game, the P-Nats formally announced that 3B Anthony Rendon has been placed on the DL, replaced by minor-league FA Brent Greer, a native of Manassas, VA, who had been released at the end of spring training by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hagerstown 16 Lexington 8
• Estevez (W, 1-0) 5IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 7K, 2HR
• Martinson 3-3, 2R, 2B, 2HR, 2BB, 6RBI, E
• Ramirez 4-5, 2R, RBI, SB
• Nieto 3-5, 2R, 2B, HR, RBI
• Newsome 1-1, R, HR, 4RBI

Pitching and defense took a back seat to slugging as the Suns debunked the Legends, 16-8. Jason Martinson would not settle for a single, doubling once and homering twice, including a grand slam in the 2nd inning that turned an early 3-2 Lexington lead into a 6-3 Hagerstown advantage. Martinson drove in six runs altogether. Wirkin “For the Weekend” Estevez got the rulebook win with five innings pitched, four runs allowed on five hits and three walks, though he did strike out seven. The 20-year-old has an ERA of 10.00 with just three scoreless innings out of nine thus far. Rehabbing Rick Ankiel was a mere 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. OF Brian Goodwin has been placed on the DL with what’s being called an “upper leg injury” — groin, quadricep, or hamstring was not specified; Bill Belichek would be proud. OF Angel Montilla was also placed on the DL. Replacing Goodwin and Montilla on the Suns roster are OFs Narciso Mesa and Billy Burns. Both are on our watchlist. UPDATE: Byron Kerr once again has the nitty-gritty, reporting that Montilla is out with a broken hamate bone in his left hand.

12 Commments

  1. When a local kid plays for Potomac, does he simply go home after games? I don’t believe that A+ players stay in hotels in Northern VA, but with host families, right?

    +1/2St.

    1. Host families are the norm until roughly AA ball. After that, they tend to get the joy of living in close quarters in cheap apartments — partly because of the short-term nature of the rentals, partly because of their away-half-the-time work, but significantly because of the pay scale. Dirk Hayhurst wrote about that a lot in his first two books. Nats farmhand Ryan Tatusko wrote about it some last year in his blog.

  2. atta boy Luke, way to stick it to me with that Harper update.

    btw, I love your site and am a regular reader, can we be friends now?

    1. Anyone that can take a virtual elbow to the ribs like that and get what I was doing is a friend of mine.

  3. I beg to differ. Host families are not the norm after rookie/short season ball. While Booster clubs help a lot with food for bus trips or a pot luck dinner that tends to be the extent of it. In regular season A ball players typically rent their own apartments, pay club house dues, buy their own bats and cleats, and scrape by.

    1. Let me clarify, because that was sloppy: You’re more likely to see host families and similar support systems in the lower minors than in the higher minors. The point I was trying to make with the Tatusko link was, as you say, it’s scraping by.

  4. I’ve heard that Martinson is good defensively, but is one of those who, despite his skill, makes a lot of errors. What is your take on this, Luke? Or, of course, anyone else who knows something about the subject.

    1. The word on Martinson is that he’s got plenty of range and arm, but hasn’t mastered the skill of reading groundballs, which leads to poor jumps and rushed throws = errors. My man in Hagerstown is particularly concerned about the K’s (10 so far in seven games in ’12, 144 in 129G last year).

  6. Rob Gilliam seems to have had a good outing. Everyone was really down on him as the throw in on the Gonzales deal. In Bryon Kerr’s article: Senators pitching coach Paul Menhart said he thought Gilliam was “really good,” going seven innings, scattering seven hits, allowing two runs, no walks, striking out five and surrendering one homer. Menhart said Gilliam’s command was on target. “He had a sharp breaking ball,” Menhart said. “Gilliam threw his fastball for 50 strikes and only 11 balls. It was impressive.”

    1. Looks like Rizzo was cagier than everyone thought with the Gilliam acquisition. Apparently, he had an impressive spring. Maybe he should be added to the watch list? 😉

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