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Tuesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester OFF DAY @ Buffalo, 6:35 p.m. Rutledge (4-6, 6.93) vs. Kaprielian (0-1, 7.58)
Harrisburg OFF DAY @ Bowie, 6:35 p.m. Solesky (0-3, 2.89) vs. Van Loon (0-1, 3.57)
Wilmington OFF DAY vs. Jersey Shore, 6:35 p.m. Davis (0-1, 6.00) vs. Russo (1-0, 2.70)
Fredericksburg OFF DAY vs. Carolina, 7:05 p.m. Tepper (1-1, 2.61) vs. Cortez (0-2, 5.32)
DSL Nationals Lost, 7-6 @ DSL Mariners, 11 a.m.

Rochester Red Wings, 19-14, 2nd Place, 3½ GB, I.L. East – 57-49 Overall
The trade deadline produced far less movement than was hoped for with only Joan Adon moving back up to replace Dylan Floro and Alex Call, um, recalled to backfill Jesse Winker. On Sunday, Luis Reyes was sent packing after 11 seasons and nearly 1000 innings in the Washington minors. After splitting the series with Omaha last week, Rochester heads down I-90 to play Buffalo this week with a matinee tomorrow.

Harrisburg Senators, 12-21, 6th place, 10GB, E.L. Southwest – 50-52 Overall
The Senators split the series against the RubberDucks last week and weren’t blown out or shut out. Robert Hassell was activated and it would appear that Yoyo Morales should be joining the team soon. It’s five night games and a day game on Sunday against the BaySox in Bowie this week.

Wilmington Blue Rocks, 17-18, 4th Place, 2½ GB, Sally Lg. North – 48-53 Overall
Wilmington won twice in Greenville and was shut out twice, once in a no-hitter. But the Blue Rocks still scored 39 runs in the series, albeit against the Sally League’s #10 pitching staff. This week, they return to the great tax shelter state of Delaware for six against the BlueClaws.



Fredericksburg Nationals, 23-13, 1st Place, 2½ GA, C.L. North – 58-44 Overall
As predicted, the Hillcats played the FredNats tough, even getting a rain-shortened shutout. First-place Fredericksburg hosts second-place Carolina this week with a chance to expand the 2½ game gap between the two teams and hope Down East, winners of 10 straight, cools off since the two teams do not play each other in the second half.

DSL Angels 7 DSL Nationals 6
• J. Feliz 4IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 6K, HR, HBP, WP
• E. Robles 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• A. Martinez (BS, 1; L, 1-1) ⅔ IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 1K
• Cabrera 3-4, 2B
• E. Marmolejos 2-3, R, 2BB, 2B, RBI
• Tavarez 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI, E

The DSL Nationals ‘pen was unable to hold a 5-2, giving up two in the 7th and three in 9th to let the DSL Angels slip past, 7-6. Jose Feliz went four innings in his 10th start, allowing two runs on a 1st-inning HR and five hits total. He walked one and struck out six. The blown-save-loss went to Anel Martinez with the last three D-Angels runs allowed on three walks and two singles over 2/3rds of an inning. Manuel Cabrera led the D-Nats hit column with two singles and a double, followed by Eddy Marmolejos with a single, a double, an RBI, and two walks, and Feldi Tavarez with a single and a two-run HR. Dashyll Tejada swiped three more bases to reclaim a share of the league lead in stolen bases.

#     #     #

Boomer passed away yesterday morning. He had been diagnosed with bone cancer six months ago but the last round of chemo did something to his heart and lungs. Or maybe it was just a coincidence. The really shitty, shitty thing about bulldogs is how short their lifespans are. Spike lived to be almost 9. Lulu was somewhere between 11 and 12, but she was mixed breed. Boomer was only 7. I didn’t write much about Riley, our GSD, but she died in April. If you’ve got a four-legged friend at home, give ’em an extra treat in Boomer’s memory.

20 Commments

  1. Jose Feliz has been a nice story this year, not sure of the injury that caused him to miss all of last season but looking forward to ’25 in the complex and maybe more.

    1. Luke I’m letting my Boston lick my chin as much as he desires .
      The extra back yard patrols too
      Delino happy with Hassell 3 and Yo yo back
      Solesky actually an interesting find by scouts for AA.
      Keep cool y’all

  3. RIP Boomer. Always appreciate the pup pics, so please keep them coming to keep his memory alive 🙂

  5. In a follow up to yesterday’s comments, Sens desperately need Morales back at 1B. Both hitting and defense are desperately needed. On Sunday, Pineda was charged with his 13th passed ball. That seems high to me. Am I correct or off base?

    1. Definitely high. Nats catchers in Wilmington and Fredericksburg have combined for a total of 14 passed balls all season (nearly 2000 innings), while Pineda has allowed 13 PBs in 450 innings. What a sad collapse to Pineda’s career. It’s hard to believe that he was playing in the majors two seasons ago.

      On the brightside, the cavalry is one the way. Max Romero has also had a bitterly disappointing season. He looked like a younger Drew Millas, a very good hit tool and patient approach, but the walks have almost totally disappeared this year, and his bat evaporated too. He’s hitting only .191/.265/.367 in Wilmington, but the silver lining is that like much of the rest of the young, Wilmington line up, he’s heating up. Since July 3, he’s hitting .312/.394/.607 and looks very much his old self, with 8 BB almost the same number he’d accrued in his previous 45 games, and 4 HR. His timing is good, because with Lomavita and Bazzell arriving soon, his starting job will be under threat. I wonder how they’ll apportion these 3 guys and Nate Rombach in the mix too.

  7. So… when are we going to see the 2024 draftees? By neutering any utility of the FCL, which I can only ascribe to the next stage of the systematic dismantlization of minor league baseball by MLB, we’re in uncharted territory.

    Last year, we began to see players report in late July, but the draft was 5 days earlier in the year than in 2024, and almost all players ended up first appearing in the FCL. So far, among the 6 college bats selected before King in the 1st round, 3 have already been assigned (Bazzana, Wetherholt and Moore, with Moore having already been promoted from A to AA). But perusing through a few later first round picks, it seems that’s more of the exception than the norm. Still, we’re now several days behind last year’s timeline, so it’ll be interesting to see how, particularly, the non elite prospects are handled. Will we even see a bunch of 3rd-20th round college bats even appear this season (i.e. the guys who spent several weeks in the FCL last season, like Phillip Glasser, who remained with the FCL Nats for 3 weeks until the season ended and before getting a short cameo of 5 games in Fburg)? I have no expectations for any appearances of HS picks, both bats and arms, as well as all but a few very lightly used college arms, and even then only a handful of innings.

    No wonder HS picks, particularly arms, are becoming rarer in the draft. MLB has developed a system that is outwardly hostile to the development of HS players. But I guess that’s by design. Outsource amateur development to colleges or deprived Dominican academies if they’re going to be burdened with minimum wage salaries of their players.

    Hopefully we’ll get some sighting of King, Lomavita and Bazzell soon.

    1. RIP, Boomer.

      The Nats always seem slow in getting their draftees started. Maybe they have a longer in-processing program at the complex. Of course if it gives them some one-on-one time with the roving instructors, maybe that’s not a bad thing.

      It’s also reasonable to expect that they may go easy on the workload of the two college catchers and/or have them DH some.

  8. Sorry for your loss Luke. Yeah, bulldogs don’t live very long, unfortunately.
    I remembering a story of the U. of Georgia and their mascots; they said none of them over the years made it to 8 years old.

  12. Does Orioles RHP Van Loon seem like a version of JR we wish with the clean consistent mechanics and complete “ mastery of pitches ?

  13. St Jude otherwise known as Thaddeus . So Ward is not a lost cause after all …

  14. So maybe Rochester should play the Beatles Hey Jude when Thaddeus Ward warms up ??

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