Cats, Wings end seasons on a winning note

Binghamton 1 at New Britain 3

W: K. Aselton (8-6, 4.24); L: M. Antonini (1-3, 3.74); SV: R. Delaney (5)
HR: None.

The New Britain Rock Cats finished up their 2008 regular season with a win over the Binghamtom Mets, 3-1 at New Britain Stadium. Former Miracle Kyle Aselton picked up is eighth AA win while Rob Delaney recorded his 5th AA save.

Aselton and Binghamton's Michael Antonini worked four scoreless innings, engaging in a pitchers duel for the earlier part of the game. Toby Gardenhire would end that when he singled on a ground ball to first, then moved to 3rd, one out later, on Rocky Palacios' line drive to right. Brandon Roberts would ground into a force out that nabbed Palacios at 2nd, but Gardenhire crossed the plate for the first Rock Cats run.

Jose Mijares would take over in the sixth for Aselton, who left the game having given up only 3 hits and a walk while striking out 9. MiJares would allow a double to Fernando Martinez in to sixth, but struck out Shawn Bowman and Mike Carp to keep the B-Mets off the board.

Dustin Martin knocked a line drive to left with 2 outs on the board in the bottom of the sixth. A wild pitch by Antonini moved him to second. Danny Berg's line drive to center sent the former Mets' prospect home to give the Rock Cats two.

Jonathan Malo would single off Mija in the top of the 7th with one out on the board. Mijares then walked Salomaon Manriquez. After a fly out to Peeter Ramos, Emmanuel Garcia singled a ground ball out to right that deflected off Gardenhire at first, scoring Malo for the lone B-Mets tally. Armando Gabino would replace Mijares at that point, getting Jose Coronado to fly out to retire the side.

Casey Hoorelbeke replaced Antonini for the bottom of the 7th, allowing a single to Felix Molina and a walk to Palacios. Roberts' bunt singled advanced the pair. Brian Dinkelman ground into a force out which took Molina out at home, but Matt Tolbert followed that up with a line drive that brought in Palacios, making the score 3-1 New Britain.

Delaney would walk two and allow a single in the top of the 9th, but got Martinez to fly out with the bases loaded to end the contest.

Molina finished up the game 2-for-3 with a walk, while Gardenhire was 2-for-4 with a run. Roberts ended the game 1-for-3 at the plate with a RBI, while Palacios, who was also 1-for-3, added a walk and a run.

Tolbert, Martin and Berg were all 1-for-4 in the contest, Tolbert and Berg with a RBI each, and Martin with a run.

New Britain finished their season with a 64-77 record, fifth in the six team North Division, having won their last 3 and 7 of their last 10.

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Rock Cats/OSC

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Rochester 9 at Buffalo 6

W: D. Graves (4-6, 6.30); L: B. Slocum (3-7, 4.85)
HR: BUF: T. Crowe (5), C. Gimenez (3). ROC: G. Jones (23), J. Pridie (13), M. Macri (11).

Danny Graves picked up his fourth AAA win of the season for the Rochester Red Wings who downed the Buffalo Bisons, 9-6 at Frontier Field to end their 2008 season on a winning note.

Former Miracle Garrett Jones hit a 3 run home-run in the ninth inning, his 23rd of the year, to propel the Wings to victory over the Cleveland farm team. Jason Pridie and Matt Macri hit solo shot home runs; Pridie's 13 of the year came in the 2nd inning while Macri's 11th yard ball came in the 8th inning.

Howie Clark was 3-for-4 at the plate, as was Jones, Clark with a pair of runs, and Jones with one run and 5 RBIs.

The win gives the Wings a 74-70 Record for the season, 3rd place in the North Division, 14 games behind the wildcard Pawtucket Red Sox.

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RD&C

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Burlington 7 at Beloit 3

W: J. Augustine (4-2, 3.77); L: S. Hunt (1-4, 5.46)
HR: BUR: C. Robinson (17), K. Martin (9).

Shooter Hunt gave up 4 runs, all earned, on 4 hits and 4 walks, striking out only one to suffer his fourth loss at the Low A level. The highly touted prospect lasted only 2 innings before giving way to Henry Reyes.

The playoff bound Burlington Bees topped Beloit 7-3, taking 3 more runs Reyes on 5 hits and a walk over the next five innings. Reyes would strike five during his time on the mound.

Chris Cates was 2-for-4 at the plate but did not factor into the scoring. Juan Richardson and Allan de San Miguel were 1-for-3 each at the plate, Richardson with a run and a run scored, and Dirty with a pair of RBIs. Greg Yersich, playing at 1st, was 1-for-4 in the contest with a run, while Ramon Santana was 0-for-4 at the plate, but picked up a run after he reached on a fielding error.

The Snappers end their season with a 71-67 overall record, and were five games behind Cedar Rapids for the league's wild card spot.

A number of players from the Snappers will be attending Fall Instructional League as they look to make he jump for Low to High A in 2009 including Reyes, Hunt and Richardson, plus Midwest league MVP Ben Revere. Snapper's field manager (and former Miracle catcher) Nelson Prada, who guided the Snappers to a .500 second half, will manage the four week fall league at the Lee County Sportscomplex.

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Beloit

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Outfielder Dustin Martin and infielders Danny Valencia and Steve Tolleson will join pitchers Jeff Manship, Rob Delaney, Tim Lahey and Anthony Slama on the Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League. Rochester Red Wings field manager Stan Cliburn will manage the Twins affiliated Desert Dogs who open their season Tuesday, October 7th, against the Mesa Solar Sox.

Snappers like Loons, win 7-5

Great Lakes 5 at Beloit 7

W: S. Hirschfeld (7-3, 3.25); L: T. Melgarejo (2-5, 4.02); SV: B. Martin (2)
HR: GLL: B. Taylor (5).

The Beloit Snappers found the Great Lakes Loons rather to their liking as they took a 7-5 win over the visitors at Pohlman Field Monday night in game that featured a combined 27 hits by both teams.

Steve Hirschfled took the start for the Snappers, allowing 4 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while fanning 3 in 5.2 innings. Beloit would get to Great Lakes' Thomas Melgarejo first however, snagging pair of runs in the first inning off the Dogers' affiliate.

With a pair of outs on the board, Yangervis Solarte singled and was doubled in by Rene Leveret. A wild pitch by Melgarejo moved Leveret to 3rd and a fielding error by Eduardo Perez allowed Mark Dolenc to reach and Leveret to score before Juan Richardson ground into a force out to end the inning.

Perez would single for the Loons in the top of the second, and Jaime Ortiz doubled. Kenley Johnson's ground out served to score Perez. After a fly out to Preston Mattingly, Brandon Taylor went yard to give Great Lakes a 3-2 lead.

The Snappers tie it up in the bottom of the 2nd when Chris Cates singled, moved to second on a Andrew Schmiesing single and came home on Jeanfred Brito's grounder to center.

They would extend their league in the bottom of the 3rd with Leveret and Dolenc both singling. Richardson hit into a force out which, combined with a throwing error Mattingly allowed Leveret to score. Allan de San Miguel doubled in Richardson and Cates singled to drive in Dirty.

The next couple of innings would be quiet. In the top of the sixth, Mattingly singled with a pair of outs on the board. A wild pitch by Hirschfeld put Mattingly on second and Taylor doubled him in. Parker Dalton would walk, and Snappers field manager Nelson Prada took a walk out to the mound, calling Charles Nolte in from the Snappers bullpen.

The top of the 8th saw Kenley Jansen double off Nolte and be replaced by pinch runner Jovanny Rosario. After Mattingly went down on strikes, Taylor singled to score Rosario, helped in part by Dolenc's fielding error. Dalton would go down on strikes and Prada called for another pitching change, putting Blake Martin on the mound.

The Snappers took the run back in the bottom of the eighth, with Dolenc singling, then moving to 3rd on Richardson's ground out. Dirty singled to score Dolenc. He'd try to get to second but would be tagged out at the base.

Melgarejo worked only 3 innings for Great Lakes before giving way to Miguel Sanfler, who finished the contest. Melgarejo still took the loss however, while Hirshfeld improved to 7-3 on the season.

Solarte, Leveret, Dolenc and Dirty were all 2-for-4, Solarte with a run, Leveret with a double, a pair of runs and a run scored, Dolenc and Dirty each with a run and Dirty with a double and a pair of RBIs as well. Cates was 3-for-4 with a run and a RBI. Brito finished up 1-for-4 with a RBI, and Schmiesing was 1-for-3, as the contest's one hit wonder.

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Loons
Tuesay:
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LSU: Blake Martin

From MiLB.com:

THE SEASON SO FAR: The Snappers are 17-17 in the second half and in fourth place in the Western Division.

WHO'S HOT: OF Ben Revere tied for sixth among league batting leaders last week, hitting .429 (9-for-21) with three RBIs and two runs scored in five games. In 69 games this season he's batting .399 (113-for-283) with 17 doubles, nine triples, 39 RBIs and 42 runs scored.

WHO'S NOT: LHP Michael Tarsi dropped to 4-11 with a 5.67 ERA after being tagged with a pair of losses last week. In 21 games (including 20 starts) he has allowed 84 runs (71 earned) on 151 hits (including 12 home runs) over 112 2/3 innings.

OLYMPIC GLORY: RHP Loek Van Mil left the team last week to represent his country -- the Netherlands -- in next month's Beijing Olympic Games. Van Mil (2-2, 3.22 ERA) is not expected to return to the Snappers until the last week of the season.

DID YOU KNOW: The 7-foot-1 Van Mil has struck out 42 batters while issuing 25 walks in 28 relief appearances. He was signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in 2005. He and 5-foot-3 teammate Chris Cates are the tallest and shortest players in baseball.

ROSTER MOVES: RHP Shooter Hunt, the Twins' supplemental first-round pick and the 31st overall selection in the June Draft, joined the Snappers last week after going 0-0 with a 0.47 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 19 innings for the Rookie-level Elizabethton Twins. He struck out nine batters in his debut against Wisconsin on Saturday.

IF Yangervis Solarte was received from Class A Advanced Fort Myers to fill Van Mil's roster spot. In 42 games with the Miracle, he hit .259 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.

The Elizabethton Twins had Tuesday off. They return to work on Wednesday as they travel to Greeneville to face the Astros.

Kingsport Times News
E-Star

How sweep it is

Tampa 1 at Fort Myers 2

W: M. Fox (4-3, 3.65); L: I. Nova (3-10, 4.92); SV: A. Slama (17)
HR: FTM: E. Tintor (3).

After 24 scoreless innings dating back to the June 30th game against the Palm Beach Cardinals, the Tampa Yankees were VERY happy to see C.J. Henry cross the plate at Hammond Stadium Thursday night in front of a sold out Independence Day crowd.

The Fort Myers Miracle didn't exactly sympathize with their joy.

Henry would take a walk off the Miracle's Matt Fox. After Fox got Tim Battle to strike out and Edwardo Nunez to fly out, Henry would steal 2nd. Luis Nunez tripled to drive him in amidst much celebration in the Yankees dugout.

The run however tied up the game. The Miracle had take a slim lead in the bottom of the 4th, when Edward Ovalle singled, then stole 2nd. Danny Berg took a walk before Eli Tintor singled to score Ovalle.

The Yankees happiness was short lived however. Tintor put this 3rd home run of the year over the left field wall in the seventh to give the Miracle the lead again.

Reliever Ozzie Sosa and closer Anthony Slama would ensure that they kept it.

Fox would pick up the win, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 3 over 7 innings. For Slama it would his FSL leading 17th save of the season.

Tintor finished up 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of RBIs. Ovalle was 1-for-4 with a run. Steve Singleton was 1-for-3 with a walk. Olson was also 1-for-3 and took one for the team when Tampa's Ivan Nova plunked him with a pitch in the 7th.

With the sweep, and their sixth straight win, the Miracle are now 8-6 in the second half, good for 2nd place in the FSL West division and trailing Dunedin by one game.

While the Miracle faithful will finish up their three-day holiday with Bar-B-Ques and Red, White and BOOM over the river, the Miracle will head over to Lakeland to face the Flying Tigers for three days worth of fireworks games. Friday's contest kicks off at 5:00 PM with Cole Devries (6-6, 2.77) on the mound for the Miracle.

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NDN - Notes

Correction: I reported yesterday that Whit Robbins had not been put on the DL. I was in fact incorrect and missed the transaction. He was placed on the 7 day DL on June 27th.



Clinton 7 at Beloit 2

W: J. Ortiz (1-0, 2.25); L: L. Van Mil (2-1, 3.03)
HR: CLI: J. Greene (12), M. Lawson (3).

Loek Van Mil might be 7'1" tall, but right now he probably feels somewhat shorter than a yard stick after giving up 4 runs on a pair of hit and a pair of walks in .2 innings.

The funny thing is, he pitch well enough in the 8th, allowing only one single and striking out 1.

The offensive outburst from the Clinton Lumber Kings gave them a 7-2 lead in the 9th inning, good for the win as the Beloit Snappers couldn't find five runs in the bottom of the final stanza to counter them with.

Clinton would get on the board first when Mike Tarsi would hit Jonathan Greene with a pitch. Timothy Smith singled and Christian Santana doubled to plate Greene before Tarsi could find the final two outs.

The Snapper answered back however with Allen de san Miguel singling his way onto base and moving to second on an Andrew Schmiesing single. Chris Cates sac-bunt moved the runners into scoring position, and a single by newcomer Jeanfred Brito pushed Dirty over the plate.

Greene would take Tarsi yard in the top of the seventh for this 12th home run of the year, putting the ball over the left field fence.

Fabio Castillo would replace Clinton's Derek Holland on the mound for the bottom of the inning and after getting Dirty out on strikes, walked Schmiesing and Cates. A wild pitch move the pair. Birto would line out and Estarlin De Los Santos would take a walk. Deibinson Romero's line drive would plate Schmiesing to tie up the game again.

Then came the top of the 9th. Mitchell Moreland would fly out before Greene took a walk off Van Mil. Timothy Smith flew out. Greene would then steal 2nd. Van Mil would walk Santana and then allowing a single to Carlos Domingues that scored Greene for the game winning run. A second single, this one to Kyle Murch brought in Santana. Danny Hernandez would then be called in from the bullpen and allowed a home run to Matthew Lawson. The ball, which cleared the left field fence, would mark Lawson's 3rd round trip of the season. Two of the runners were inherited and counted on Van Mil, Hernandez was only charged for Lawson's yarder.

Beloit managed only 4 hits in the game with Rene Leveret picking up the one hit wonder title without factoring into the scoring.

The Snappers will seek their Independence over Clinton on Friday with a 7:00 PM Fireworks game. Then then head out on the road for a three-game set against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

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Thursday:
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Wednesday:
Herald

Beloit, E-Twins both post wins

Clinton 5 at Beloit 7

W: S. Steedley (4-3, 2.28); L: K. Gomez (8-4, 3.04)
HR: CLI: T. Smith (4). BEL: D. Romero (2).

Deibinson Romero's 2nd home run of he season helped power the Beloit Snappers past the Clinton Lumber Kings, 7-5, at Pohlman Field.

Clinton would open up the scoring in the top of the 3rd when Andres James reached on a fielding error by Estarlin De Los Santos. A missed catch by Rene Leveret on the pick off attempt sent James to 3rd, and he'd be plated by a Mitchell Moreland single. Jonathan Greene would also single before Timothy Smith went yard over the right field wall to make it 4-0 L-Kings.

The Snappers got down to work in the fourth when De Lo singled, and Romero homered out to center, to cut the L-King's lead in half.

Chris Cates would single in the bottom of the fifth, and be tripled in by Ben Revere. A wild pitch by Clinton's Kennil Gomez brought Revere across the plate for the tying run.

Jose Felix would single in the top of the sixth, then move to 2nd on a Kyle Murphy ground ball. Engel Beltre's grounder to center would bring Felix in to put the L-Kings back on top again.

That also finished it for starter Santos Arias, who allowed an uncharacteristic 5 runs, 4 earned on 9 hits and 2 walks while striking out four.

Ozzie Lewis would single in the bottom of the inning, and Leveret would reach on a fielding error by Beltre. Mark Dolenc would bunt into a force out that took Lewis down at 3rd, but Schmiesing moved the runners again with a ground out of his own. Allan de San Miguel singled out to center to bring in the pair, giving the Snappers the lead again.

The bottom of the 7th saw a pair of back-to-back doubles by Romero and Lewis that brought in one more run to finish things off.

Romero finished off 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and 2 RBIs. De Lo was 2-for-4 with a run while Lewis was 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Dolenc, Schmiesing, de San Miguel and Cates all singled, while Revere was 1-for-4 with a triple and a run.

Former Snappers' bat boy, Kyle Murphy, was 1-for-4 for the L-Kings.

The two teams rematch Wednesday at 7:00 PM at Pohlman Field.

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Tuesday:
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BDN 2
Stillwater Gazette: Schmiesing



Elizabethton 11 at Burlington 4

W: C. Leavitt (2-1, 5.29); L: C. Bryant (0-1, 7.20)
HR: ELI: N. Romero (3).

Ho-Hum. Another day, another 2 billion runs for the Elizabethton Twins, who finished sweeping Burlington with a 11-4 win on Tuesday.

Juan Richardson would hit into a force out that took down Danny Rams to get on base in the top of the 2nd. Dominic De La Osa then singled, moving Richardson to third. Following a strike out to Angel Morales and a steal by De La Osa, James Beresford's fly ball would score the pair to put the E-Twins on the board.

The top of the 4th would see De La Osa single and then steal 2nd. Morales' single moved De La Osa to 3rd, and pitcher Carson Bryant would be replaced by Jacob Rodriguez. This made little difference as Beresford's ground out scored De La Osa. A passed ball by Miguel Moctezumo allowed Morales to move to 3rd. Adan Severino walked, but Rodriguez was then called for a balk which allowed Morales to score.

De La Osa walked in the sixth and used a single by Morales and a wild pitch by Rodriguez to get around to 3rd. A wild pitch would then bring him home.

Roque Colon bravely got on the mound in the top of the the seventh, and got Nick Romero to fly out. Jon Waltenbury would take a walk off him though, before he got Michael Harrington out on strikes. Rams then tripled to drive in Walt. Juan Richardson would go walkies on Colon as well, and De La Osa would reach on a fielding error by Fernando Cruz, which also plated Rams. Morales then double to clear off the bases, making it 9-1 E-Twins.

The Royals got a bit muscular on Danny Rondon, hitting him up for 3 runs, 2 earned on 3 hits and an error by Waltenbury.

Elizabethton's Romero then went yard over the right center field wall, and Rondon closed Burlington down in the 8th to take away any thoughts of a Royals rally.

Nathan Fritz replace Rondon for the 9th and allowed a single to Lifete Jones and a double to Angel Franco, but he'd get Julio Aparicio to pop out and Josh Vittek to ground out to strand the runners at second and third and end the game.

Curtis Leavitt earned the win, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6 in half a dozen innings.

Morales finished up 3-for-4 with a run and 2 RBIs, De La Osa was 2-for-4 with 4 runs. Beresford was 1-for-5 with a single, but picked up 3 RBIs in the contest.

Next up, the E-Twins look forward to pulverizing the Greeneville Astros Wednesday at Joe O'Brien Stadium. The game is set for 7:00 PM.

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Tuesday:
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SignOnSanDiego: Romero
Travis Talks Blog

Miracle down Vero Beach for 3rd straight

Vero Beach 1 at Fort Myers 3

W: H. Reyes (1-0, 1.93); L: C. Kelly (5-2, 5.23); SV: A. Slama (12)
HR: FTM: A. De San Miguel (1).

The Fort Myers Miracle broke open a scoreless game in the sixth inning Wednesday night, and went on to top the Vero Beach Devil Rays, 3-1.

Matt Fox worked 4 innings, allowing 3 hits while striking out 4 for his first start of the 2008 season. Henry Reyes would work the next 2.1 innings, picking up the win when the Miracle got onto the board.

Chris Kelly would replace Ryan Morse on the mound for the bottom of the 6th, and allowed a walk to Danny Valencia. Whit Robbins singled his way onto base. Wilson Ramos' ground ball to center sent Valencia scampering for the plate to give the Miracle one. A wild pitch by Kelly moved Robbins to 3rd, and a a sac-fly by Juan Portes brought in Robbins for the second run.

The Rays took one back in the top of the 7th, with J.T. Hall getting hit by a pitch. Following a strike out to Ryan Roystar, Nevin Ashley singled to put a pair of runners on. Manager Jeff Smith would get All-star closer Anthony Slama out of the bullpen. He would allowed a since to Garrett Groce which scored Hall before inducing Neil Walton to ground into a double play.

Allan de San Miguel would go yard in the bottom half of the stanza, a fly ball out to left field. It was the light-hitting Aussie's first of the year.

That would be it however. Slama allowed 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 4 over the next 2.2 innings for his 12th save of the season. Reyes pitched well during his short stint on the mound.

Robbins hit 3-for-4 with a triple and a run in the contest.

The two teams conclude the series Thursday night with the long awaited match up of Cole Devries (5-5, 3.11) vs. David Price (2-0, 1.16) on the mound.

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· The Win allowed the Miracle to tie the 2003 record for most wins in a half-season. There are still 4 more games to go in the first half of the FSL 2008 season. The prior record was 44-26.

· The game was delayed by one hour due to a late afternoon thunderstorm.

· Milt Cuyler reported that pitcher Mike Allen was suspended, which more or less coincides with what Cole told me, which was "something happened". I do not know if this was substance related or not, but if so, there won't be many games left in Elizabethton's season when he returns.

· The Twins may have picked up a player from try out camp, but have not signed him to a contract yet. He played with current GCL catcher Andres Diaz in West Palm Beach last year. His contract will depend on whether there is a need for him at the GCL level or not.

· Lots of autograph opportunities at the game tonight, including several GCL players (Andres, Lara) and E-Town bound players (Rams, Waltenbury) in the stands. I think I gave Diaz and Lara a kick by asking for their autographs.

Short Porch

With all they Hype over Erik Lis' recent home run streak (7 in the last 11 games) one fact is not generally mentioned in the news articles. He's hitting in smaller parks.

Miracle catcher Allan De San Miguel mentioned that little bit about Legends' field yesterday. "Dirty" is on the DL, having broken his pinky finger. He had surgery to have it pinned. He was not wearing a brace when I saw him.




"Aren't you supposed to be..."

"Shhhhh," he says, looking around. "I wear it at night when I sleep. I don't really need it now."

Granted, it's not the most comportable thing in the world. In any case, we got to talking about the current Miracle win streak, naturally.

I said the Miracle were good, as long as Lis kept hitting home runs to which Dirty replied that Tampa is a good place to do it in.

"It's a 312 shot down the line." I had not remembered that little fact. He goes on to tell me it's built to the exact dimensions of Yankees Stadium in New York. Only they don't have as much seating. He'd know. Dirty is a real smart kid.

He could be a rocket scientist, if he wasn't busy being the best defensive catcher in the Twins organization.

So, okay, I looked the stats for this last streak.

Daytona (RF 325)
Erik Lis homers (10) on a fly ball to right center field.
Erik Lis homers (11) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (12) on a fly ball to right field.

What's interesting is the short porch in Jackie Robinson is left field (317 feet), but Lis hardly ever hits out to left.

Tampa (RF 314)
Erik Lis homers (13) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (14) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (15) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (16) on a fly ball to right field.

I'm not sure I wanted to look up all of them for the season, but curiousity got the better of me:

April 13 at Fort Myers (404) Erik Lis homers (1) on a fly ball to center field.
April 20 at Tampa (314) Erik Lis homers (2) on a fly ball to right field.

May 18 at Tampa (314) Erik Lis homers (3) on a fly ball to right field.

June 4 at Jupiter (325) Erik Lis homers (4) on a fly ball to right field.
June 6 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (5) on a fly ball to right field.
June 14 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (6) on a line drive to right field.

July 6 at Dunedin (325) Erik Lis homers (7) on a fly ball to right field.
July 16 at Vero Beach (340R/300C) Erik Lis homers (8) on a fly ball to center field.
July 27 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (9) on a fly ball to right field.

He likes those right field walls, doesn't he? Unless of course center field is a shorter reach.

I also said it was kind of funny, because at the beginning of the month, the guy hit 4-in-21 and could contact hardly anything.

"It's always streaky like that," Dirty says. "You get one and it gets your confidence going and they all come after that."

And of course, playing in short parks doesn't hurt either. It will be intersting to see how he fairs in the much larger Joker Marchant Stadium tonight.

Which is not to diminish his accomplishment in any way. Dirty, for example, has only hit 5 home runs in his career, and none of them were at Tampa.