Monday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Won, 2-1 | @ Indianapolis, 7:05 p.m. |
Clay (3-2, 2.34) vs. Hollingsworth (6-4, 3.20) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 3-2 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Potomac | Won, 6-4 | @ Salem, 7:05 p.m. |
Purke (0-3, 8.34) vs. Pena (4-5, 4.91) |
| Hagerstown | Won, 5-1 | @ Lakewood, 7:05 p.m. |
Lee (4-2, 4.03) vs. Oviedo (1-0, 4.50) |
| Auburn | Won, 5-2 | vs. Jamestown, 7:05 p.m. |
Johansen (0-1, 1.21) vs. Lodge (3-1, 3.97) |
| GCL Nationals | OFF DAY | vs. GCL Marlins, 12:00 p.m. |
J. Rodriguez (3-0, 2.16) vs. Castellanos (2-3, 3.13) |
| DSL Nationals | OFF DAY | @ DSL Yankees1, 10:30 a.m. |
Reyes (3-2, 2.70) vs. Acevedo (1-0, 1.72) |
Syracuse 2 Indianapolis 1
• Roark (W, 9-3) 7⅔ IP, 5H, 0R, BB, 5K
• Crotta (SV, 4) 1IP, 3H, R, ER, 0BB, 0K
• Walters 1-3, R, 2B
• Rhymes 2-3, BB
Tanner Roark threw a season-high seven and 2/3rds scoreless innings as the Chiefs reeled off their fifth win in six games, edging Indianapolis 2-1. Roark walked one, let up five hits and struck out five while earning his ninth win of the season. Mike Crotta wobbled in the 9th, giving up a run on three hits, but got the three outs he needed for his fourth save. Six of the eight Syracuse position players hit safely, with Will “Don’t Call Me Buster” Rhymes the sole Chief to get multiple hits with a 2-for-3 afternoon.
Portland 3 Harrisburg 2
• Karns (L, 7-4) 8IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 8K, HR
• Jeroloman 2-2, 2B, 2BB, RBI
• Lozada 2-3, R, 2B, 2BB
• Rivero 2-4, RBI
The Senators outhit the Sea Dogs, 10-5, but lost the game, 3-2. Nathan Karns went the distance, giving up all three runs on five hits and four walks and striking out eight, but took the loss. Harrisburg led just once, 1-0, as Ricky Hague and Brian Jeroloman both doubled in the 2nd. Portland answered with two in its half of the 3rd for a 2-1 lead. Carlos Rivero knotted the score at 2-2 with an RBI single in the 7th, but a solo shot in the bottom of the inning proved to be the game-winner. The Senators were stymied the rest of the way, drawing just a two-out walk in the 8th and going down 1-2-3 in the ninth. Roster move: C Sandy Leon reassigned from Auburn.
Potomac 6 Salem 4
• Rauh ⅔ IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, K, 3WP
• Fischer 4IP, 4H, R, ER, 2BB, 4K, HR
• Bates (W, 3-4) 2IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 1K
• Keyes 1-4, R, HR(GS), 4RBI
• Oduber 2-3, R, 2B, RBI, BB
Kevin Keyes’s grand slam highlighted a six-run 8th in a 6-4 Potomac win over Salem. It came at the cost of eight-plus innings of bullpen work as starter Brian Rauh couldn’t make it out of the 1st, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks while getting just two outs. He also threw three wild pitches. Colin Bates got the win while Robert Benincasa got the save despite giving up a home run. The Keyes homer was the fourth hit of the inning as the P-Nats had been held to just two hits through seven innings (no-hit through 3⅓).
Hagerstown 5 Delmarva 1
• Dickson (W, 2-2) 6IP, 4H, R, ER, BB, 5K
• Thomas 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Mesa 2-4, R, 2B
• B. Miller 2-4, R, RBI
• Renda 1-2, R, BB, RBI, CS
Another strong pitching performance by the Suns pitchers coupled with a big inning on offense was the recipe to take the game, 5-1, and the series 3-1. Ian Dickson won his second straight start with six innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out five. Three Suns relievers followed with a goose egg apiece. Hagerstown put up four in the 4th with five hits, including back-to-back-to-back RBIs by Brandon Miller, Mike McQuillan, and “Help Me” Wander Ramos. Miller and Narciso Mesa both went 2-for-4, combining for four of the Suns eight hits.
Auburn 5 Jamestown 2
• Ullmann (W, 1-1) 6IP, 6H, 2R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
• Mudron (H, 1) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 2K
• Yezzo 2-4, R
• Gunter 1-3, R, BB, RBI
Auburn put up three in the 3rd and two more in the 7th for a 5-2 win that snapped a four-game losing streak. Starter Ryan Ullmann rebounded from an eight-run pounding last week in Vermont with a quality start of two runs (both unearned) on six hits and no walks over six innings for his first NYPL win. Mike Mudron followed with two scoreless innings for the hold while Jake Joyce pitched around a pair of hits and a walk in the 9th for his first first professional save. James Yezzo led the Doubledays offense, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Roster move: RHP Ryan Ullmann reactivated.
GCL Nationals — OFF DAY
The G-Nats are nine games up in the GCL East with 29 games left to play, the magic number down to 21 after a 6-1 week. Thanks to the rain, it’s another seven games with a doubleheader on Wednesday vs. the Cardinals.
Roster move: RHP Michael Sylvestri reassigned from Auburn.
DSL Nationals — OFF DAY
The D-Nats are in 2nd place in the Boca Chica South, but a distant 6½games back of the DSL Cubs and 3½ games off the pace for the DSL Wild Card berth. They’ll play the Yankees1, Cubs, y Los Rojos esta semana, with home games on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
They’re really stretching Karns out recently. He’s now gone four straight starts throwing at least 104 pitches.
If they keep up this pace, he’ll finish the season with around 135 IP (12 of which were in the majors), a moderate increase on 116 the season before.
I’d actually expect the Nats to be doing the opposite. Jordan’s innings limit (or pitch limit) is coming very soon (actually, should have already come), and with Detwiler’s health always a huge question mark, I’d hope that they’d be using Karns as a contingency plan for when Ohlendorf stops channeling the undead ghost of Sandy Koufax and reverts back to being the worst SP in baseball from 2011-2012.
Dong be surprised if karnd is traded by Wednesday. The only reason to allow him to go so far in a game is so teams can see him.
Ohlendorf’s last start and the teams reaction to it would leave me mildly surprised.
And there’s no reason he won’t merely revert to his 2009 form and be a very effective 5th starter. He certainly seems to be on to something and he mentioned he feels healthy for the first time in a while.
Zac Walters named IL batter of the week for second time this season. Congratulations Zac!!!
Rizzo’s been talking about bolstering the bench. Karns would seem to be a perfect trade candidate towards getting that done. He looks more like a future MLB relief pitcher than a potential rotation stalwart.
Hagerstown’s at 7:05PM today. 😉
Kearns is worth a lot more then a bench player! Even Rizzo isn’t that stupid!I think.
I am thinking, and when I look at Karns I see a future middle reliever.
The kid had been one of the best pitchers in the minors the last two years as a starter and u see a reliever. I dont see that at all. With his strikeout rate he can afford to have a few more walks. For his sake I hope they trade him.
Karns has been excellent the last two years, but he was basically injured for the 2 years after he was drafted really delaying the start of his career. That means even though he’s only been on our mind every 5 days for 2 years he is already 25 and while its no fault of his own, nor is he especially old for his level he is a little old and that does matter. For instance check out Chris Manno’s stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=manno-001chr some around here were up in arms when he was traded for Jonny Gomes and 2 years later he has topped out as a AA reliever.
As for Karns he has already accomplished a huge amount making the big leagues after shoulder surgery as a 12th round pick is incredible. However the numbers I’m seeing to me indicate that he is a future relief pitcher. I actually think he can pitch late innings, not just middle or long. His numbers actually look pretty similar to Tyler Clippards though you have to keep 2 things in mind. 1 Clip was four years younger. 2 something really clicked for Clip in 2011.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=clippa001tyl
For other relievers with similar minor league numbers:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hernan002dav
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=bergma001jas
Not a bad comparison necessarily, but age-wise Clippard was 4 whole years ahead of Karns in development.
yeah, definitely not perfect, or even great. The improvement Clippard had in 2011 totally illustrates why age matters 95% of players are better at 25 then they were at 29.