Weekend before finals for me (and I graduate next weekend - scary) so we’ll just head straight to the report before I hit the books.
The Good
- Mike Smith was in control for the first 6 innings allowing just one run. The 7th got away from him and Matt Ginter let two inherited runners score not doing Smith any favors. Smith only struck out 2 and allowed 10 hits so he wasn’t dominant but he did have an 11:5 GO:AO ratio.
- Ludwick hit another homerun. I’m not sure what it’s going take to get him to the big league bench but he’s doing nothing but rake in Memphis.
- Brendan Ryan had 3 hits — but I’m reluctant to say this is a slump breaker as everyone was hitting the ball tonight. Still nice to see him make some noise.
- John Nelson and Ryan Christianson also hit a homerun.
- Dennis Dove pitched a scoreless 9th.
The Bad
- Matt Ginter isn’t much better in relief than he was starting allowing both inherited runners to score and giving up his own ER.
- Cubs starter Ryan O’Malley needed only 55 pitches to allow 10 ER. That’s impressive.
- Rick Ankiel went 0-for-5.
The Good
- Tyler Greene had 2 doubles and a walk.
- Mike McCoy had a double and a triple from the leadoff spot.
- Jaime Garcia did his thing going 5 innings including 8 strikeouts. He allowed 3 runs (2 earned) including a 2-run HR in the 5th. 3 groundouts and 3 flyouts completed a pretty good night for Garcia. He and Bryan Anderson have gotten off to good starts in AA while Johnathan Jay and Colby Rasmus have both scuffled.
The Bad
- Mike Cooper keeps his ERA in the 20’s allowing 5 ER in 2 IP.
- Juan Encarnacion went 0-for-4. He doesn’t look to be anywhere near ready to rejoin the big league team.
- Joe Mather had 3Ks in 4 hitless at bats.
- 4 errors on the night for the Springfield defense.
The Good
- Allen Craig, Mark Hamilton, Danilo Sanchez and Nathan Southard all went deep.
- Adam Ottavino had a mixed outing tonight going 4.1 innings allowing 3 runs (2 earned). He faced 23 batters though and allowed 7 hits and 3 BBs. He did have an impressive 8 Ks which probably allowed him to keep the game from getting really out of hand.
The Bad
- Shane Robinson went 0-for-5 from the leadoff spot.
- Ian Chruch went 0-for-4.
- Hamilton and Sanchez each recorded 3 strikeouts.
The Good
- Reaching base 4 times tonight for the Swing: Jim Rapoport, Christian Lopez and Daryl Jones.
- Multiple extra base hits: Mark Shorey (double, HR) and Daryl Jones (2 doubles)
- Brandon Dickenson went 4 innings allowing only one run to collect the win in relief.
The Bad
- Blake King only lasted 3 innings . . . and I don’t see any obvious reason for that. He struck out 4 against three walks and faced 14 batters, only 2 over the minimum. Nothing in that line jumps out at me as far as why he left — and there isn’t anything in the local wrap, but that strikes me as odd. Makes me wonder if he hurt something. . .
- Matthew Lane failed to retire a batter while allowing 4 earned runs.
- Armando Carrasco coughed up 3 earned runs in his inning of work.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
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roarke49
theredbaaron
Congrats on the graduation. I wanted to ask you guys this for awhile, some guy just added Joe Mather (OF) in our medium depth (8 players times 12 teams for 96 kept players) minor league system. Mather didn’t make Sickels book and didn’t make the BA book. Any history or thoughts on this guy? To me, he doesn’t seem like any kind of prospect but has put up good numbers this month leading me to believe this guy moved on the numbers.
Previously, Mather hasn’t hit for (much) power, hasn’t hit for average and hasn’t walked enough to be a corner outfielder . . . until now. I’m skeptical of his numbers after 19 games and I think you’ll see him level out to something like .280/.340/.550 which is very good but it’s also aberrant to his track record.
Maybe he’s taken a step forward; 9 HR and a .372 OBP are both nice but again it’s only 19 games. He reminds of Terry Evans in that he’s kind come out of no where and that leaves me wondering. Corner outfield positions are offensive positions (for the most part) so he needs his breakthrough to be legit if he wants to get a whiff of the majors.
I bought the super cheap ($29.99 for the season!) MiLB.tv on saturday and watched most of the memphis game (the video feed seemed to go down after the 7th inning) and O’malley had no stuff whatsoever. It definitely reminded me of mulder’s start in chicago last year; everything he threw was hit hard, nothing fooled anyone, and guys were drooling in the on-deck circle.
The guy did ok in 2 starts last year in chicago (3 ER in 12.2 IP), so it’s a shame to see him fail so badly at AAA, but it was fun to watch.
I missed Ludwick’s home run but he was robbed of a double in his next at-bat. The Cubs right fielder made a great play on a line drive smoked into the corner. It turned into a sacrifice fly, so it didn’t hurt his BA, but it would have been a web gem if the OF had been a big leaguer. Ludwick also had a bloop popup hit that would have been caught by a competent outfield but fell in for an rbi single in front of Pagan and the LF (who were playing at the warning track).
Stavinoha didn’t put up great numbers but he had some good at-bats, and ryan has surprising speed. The triple he hit was a double that he stretched out, though a good throw by the RF would have had him. It’s not a good sign that I don’t remember Ankiel at all, except for one nice catch in the outfield that was probably a routine catch that he made interesting by misplaying (came in on a line drive, then had to sprint back to catch it over-the-shoulder).