Triple-A Scranton (6-1 loss Buffalo)
Brett Gardner: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 K, 1 CS, 1 E (throwing)
Eric Duncan: 0 for 5, 1 RBI, 1 K
Alberto Gonzalez: 2 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K- only 57 K in 128 games this year
Jose Cruz Jr., Angel Chavez, Kevin Thompson, Wil Nieves & Juan Francia: combined 0 for 16, 4 BB, 7 K – 3 of those K’s came courtesy of Crap Jr.
Raul Chavez: 2 for 4, 2 K
IPK: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – took the loss after being outpitched by a former 18-game winner
The guy would should be in the bigs: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 3-0 GB/FB – 16 of 22 pitches were strikes
Jim Brower: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Alan Horne named EL Pitcher of the Year
From the Thunder’s press release:
(Trenton, NJ)- The Eastern League of Professional Baseball announced today that Thunder RHP Alan Horne has been selected as the 2007 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year. A ceremony to present his award will be made prior to tonight’s game against the Binghamton Mets.
The 24-year old has been the ace of the Northern Division leading Trenton pitching staff, compiling a record of 12-4 with a 2.97 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP while striking out 158 batters and walking 51 in 142.1 innings of work this season. The 6’4”, 195 lb. hurler has been dominant for the Thunder all season, giving up one earned run or less in 13 of his 25 appearances and striking out at least six batters in a game 21 different times…
Bowie right-handed starter Radhames Liz finished second in the voting for the award and Portland right-handed starter Clay Buchholz finished third in the voting. The award was voted on by respective Eastern League team managers and coaching staffs, writers and radio and television broadcast personnel.
Introducing threaded comments
We’ve rolled out a new feature here at River Ave. Blues that will make it much easier to follow comment threads. Beginning now, we’ve got threaded comments. That means you can now reply to other people’s comments.
Here’s how it works:
1. Someone writes a post about a topic.
2. Someone else writes a comment about something mentioned in that post. At this point, you have two choices. You can write a different comment about the post or you can reply to the comment already on the site. If you want to reply to a comment, just hit reply. Your new comment will be nested. If you don’t want to reply to the comment, just leave a comment as you always would.
So there you go. Have fun with it. It’ll make for better conversations in the post, and we’re thinking of rolling out game threads too.
Update: We know of a few problems with the threaded comments, and we’re still trying to iron out the kinks. But for now, we’re keeping them up. Enjoy them.
Chris Britton watched this game in a hotel room surrounded by empty beer bottles and hot women
It’s 3:30 a.m. Do you know where your Chris Britton is?
This evening, I left work at around 6:30, had drinks and dinner and saw a show at the NYC Fringe Festival. I came home at 12:30 a.m. with all of the intention of going to bed. Instead, it was the 4th inning. So I watched 8 painful innings of baseball. Lovely.
Here’s your recap in convenient bullet-point form. Yes, I’m bitter at this game.
- From the “I’m Just Saying” Department: Chris Britton in the Minors this year: 56.0 IP, 49 H, 14 BB, 57 K, 2.41 ERA. Chris Britton in the Majors this year: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 1.80 ERA. And yet, Sean Henn?
- Mariano Rivera has now given up 15 hits over his 7.1 IP. Add three runners via the BB, and his WHIP during that stretch is an unsightly 2.53. This isn’t just a stretch of a few games. This is a stretch of seven appearances in which at least one runner is on base. Something is not right.
- Sean Henn should not be pitching in the bullpen for the New York Yankees. It’s that simple. He’s blown two games in extra innings this week, and whereas Chris Britton throws strikes, Henn has a 1:1 K:BB ratio. He can’t buy his way into the strike zone.
- I hate to be the one to write this, but the Yanks are looking mighty dead in the water right now. Because of Sean Henn, they are now four behind behind the Mariners in the loss column in the Wild Card race and are essentially finished in the AL East. They’re 6.5 behind the Red Sox, and it will take a six-game sweep of the remaining season series for the Yanks to have any shot at catching Boston. The Mariners also need to start losing.
- Can no Yankee reliever pitch more than one inning at a time?
- Do the Yanks have a strategy in the late innings? Bunting with Derek Jeter and not with Robinson Cano. Going inside on Carlos Guillen after he missed outside pitches. Pitching to Carlos Guillen with a horrendously ineffective Ivan Rodriguez on deck. Sure, hindsight is 20-20, but these were things I was shouting to my TV as the game unfolded. What does Joe Torre know that no one else does around here?
- Seriously. Inside pitches from Sean Henn are batting practice fastballs. Let me beat that dead horse for a few more bullet points.
- Roger Clemens has to pitch better than this if the Yanks are going to make it past the end of September this year. For $1 million a start, he can’t pitch like Mike Mussina every time he goes out there. With this lackluster effort tonight, six of his 14 starts have been pretty pathetic.
That’s it. I’m going to bed. What a way for the Yanks’ season to start heading down the drain.
Thanks to Emma for the inspiration behind the title of this post.
Another day, another pro debut
The Braves just DFA’ed Bob Wickman…at this point, with rosters set to expand in a week, how do the Yanks not take a flier?
Triple-A Scranton (6-2 loss to Rochester)
Brett Gardner: 1 for 4
Eric Duncan: 0 for 4, 1 K, 1 E (throwing) – don’t look now, but he’s 10 for his last 35 with 5 doubles, a triple, a homer & 9 RBI
Alberto Gonzalez: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
Jose Cruz Jr.: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B – 5 for Yankees
Angel Chavez: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 E (fielding)
Bronson Sardinha: 0 for 4, 1 K – 1 for his last 16
Kevin Thompson: 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 K
Steven White: 5 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 1 HB, 1 E (pick-off) – even with the error, he still picked another guy off
TJ Beam: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Ben Kozlowski: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K – team MVP threw 7 of 10 pitches for strikes
Bruney up as Villone DL’d
Roster changes abound before the Yanks face the Tigers this weekend. Brian Bruney’s exile to Scranton ended today as the Yanks recalled the righty. Bruney managed to give up 4 runs in 6 IP in AAA. In a corresponding move, the Yanks put Ron Villone on the DL with what Peter Abraham reports as a “lower back strain.” I prefer to call that a “You suck, but Joe Torre won’t let us release you” injury. Meanwhile, the Yanks’ best relief option continues to toil away at AAA while Bruney gets another chance to prove that he has no control.
Yankees Jeopardy!
Answer: Ian Kennedy, Steven White, Kei Igawa
Question: Who are the three candidates to replace Mike Mussina in the rotation if he struggles on Monday?