Sunday, April 22, 2007

Scoreboard for April 21, 2007

Syracuse 2 at Rochester 5

Record 6-3

W: J. DePaula (1-1, 3.86); L: I. Ramirez (0-3, 7.71); SV: B. Korecky (1)
HR: SYR: J. Hattig (2). ROC: G. Jones (1).

From redwingsbasball.com: Denard Span went 3-for-5, including a double, and scored one run as the Red Wings beat the Syracuse Chiefs, 5-2, Saturday night at Frontier Field in the opener of a five-game homestand.

Garrett Jones hit a solo home run to dead center field in the seventh to add an insurance run. Chris Heintz, Jose Morales and Trent Oeltjen also scored runs in the win.

Rochester opened up the scoring in the first inning. Span hit a single and stole second, Glenn Williams walked and Jones hit an infield single to load the bases. Span crossed the plate on a wild pitch by Chiefs' starter Ismael Ramirez.

In the bottom of the third, Heintz hit a long ball to the center field warning track for a stand-up double, then advanced to third on Morales' single up the middle. Morales moved to second on Wayne Lydon's throw home. In the next at-bat, Oeltjen drove a two-RBI single between third baseman John Hattig and shortstop Ray Olmedo to bring home Heintz and Morales. Matt Tolbert hit a single to second baseman Russ Adams; the ball stuck in his mitt as he tried to toss it to first, allowing Tolbert to reach first safely. Oeltjen - who stole second - scored on the play, putting the Wings up 4-0.

Brian Bass relieved starting pitcher Jeremy Cummings in the fifth inning. Syracuse's Chad Mottola hit a single just beyond third baseman Matt Moses' reach, followed by a two-run home run by John Hattig in the top of the seventh inning to bring the Chiefs within two. After Sal Fasano hit a single, Julio DePaula replaced Bass on the mound and got the next three batters out.

Span and Heintz each stole a base with Ramirez on the mound. Jones hit his home run in the seventh inning off of Brian Tallet.

Cummings struck out eight Chiefs and allowed just three hits in four innings pitched. DePaula (1-1) earned the win, pitching 2.0 innings and striking out three, and Bobby Korecky got the save with one inning pitched.

For the Chiefs, RHP Ismael Ramirez (0-3) took the loss in three innings, yielding four earned runs on eight hits and one wild pitch. Beau Kemp made his first appearance against his former team, pitching three innings and fanning three Wings.

NOTES: First pitches: Morrie Silver, son of Naomi Silver and grandson of Morrie Silver, who saved baseball in Rochester by leading the 1956-57 stock drive to purchase the club; season seatholder and shareholder Joe Paris... With a win Sunday afternoon Rochester will hold a 7-3 record through their first 10 games of the season. It will only be the seventh time (2006 7-3, 2004 8-2, 1994 7-3, 1990 7-3, 1989 7-3 and 1988 8-2) since 1979 that Rochester has started a season with at least a 7-3 record through their first 10 games. Rochester made the playoffs in 1988, 1989, 1990, and 2006 while reaching the Governors’ Cup finals in 1988, 1990, and 2006... LHP Jon Lester, who went 7-2 in 15 games as a rookie for Boston last season, is scheduled to start for Pawtucket on April 25 at Frontier Field. Lester was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma near the end of last season, and underwent six chemotherapy treatments. He was the first Red Sox rookie pitcher to win seven or more games since 1993 (Ken Ryan and Aaron Sele)...

Double-A New Britain RHP Anthony Swarzak was suspended Friday for 50 games for testing positive in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

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Connecticut 10 at New Britain 0

Record: 3-6

W: C. Begg (1-0, 2.89); L: J. Floyd (1-2, 6.75)
HR: CT: J. Bowker (2).

E: Buscher (3, fielding), Hughes (1, throw).

From rockcats.com: Chris Begg and Ryan Sadowski combined for nine brilliant scoreless innings and the Defenders broke out the bats for 11 hits to shutout New Britain 10-0.

Begg (1-0) fired seven shutout innings, limiting New Britain to two hits and striking out five. Sadowski allowed just two hits in two innings of relief.

Alex Requena gave the Defenders an early 1-0 lead with heads up base running. Requena ledoff the inning with a walk and stole second. Brian Horwitz drew another walk and the Defenders pulled off a double steal. With two outs, Carlos Sosa reached first base on another walk to load the bases. With Stephen Holm batting, Requena pulled off a steal of home to put the Defenders on the board.

John Bowker hit a solo shot to right field for a 2-0 lead.

Things only got worse for Rock Cats’ starter Jesse Floyd in the fourth inning. Sosa opened the inning with a single and Holm reached base after being hit by a pitch. Rock Cats’ third baseman Brian Buscher then mishandled a ball off the bat of Simon Klink. The error led to a run by Sosa. Jake Wald delivered an RBI single and Requena knocked in Klink on a fielder’s choice for a 5-0 lead. The Defenders pulled off another double steal, including Requena’s fourth steal of the game, before a double play ended the inning.

The Defenders tacked on three more runs in the fifth. Klink (3-for-5) and Wald (3-for-5) each delivered an RBI single. Klink then scored on a passed ball by catcher Kyle Geiger. Eddy Martinez-Esteve added a two-run double in the sixth inning.

Floyd (1-2) lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing six runs (4 ER) on four hits and three walks. Tim Lahey allowed four runs (2 ER) in 1 2/3 innings. Brian Forystek stopped the bleeding with three shutout innings for the Rock Cats.

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Fort Myers 2 at Tampa 1

Record 8 - 7

W: K. Waldrop (2-0, 2.11); L: A. Claggett (0-1, 1.08); SV: F. Mata (1)
HR: None.

From miraclebaseball.com: On Saturday night it was great pitching along with a little small ball for the Fort Myers Miracle leading them to a 2-1 win over the Tampa Yankees. Miracle starter Kyle Waldrop tossed seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out six to pick up his second win of the season. Frank Mata would pitch a perfect eighth and ninth to record his first save on the year. With the win, the Miracle grab their fourth-straight series win by taking two of three at Legends Field.

Tampa struck in the first with their only run as Hideki Matsui grounded into a 5-4-3 double play that scored Reegie Corona from third. Corona led off the inning with an infield single and moved to third on a Luis Nunez single to right. Making his final rehab start, Matsui played seven innings on Saturday going 1-for-3 with a single. Matsui is scheduled to rejoin his big league teammates on Monday at Tropicana Field.

The Miracle would tie things at one just a half-inning later. Whit Robbins led off the second with a single to center, followed by an Erik Lis double to left. With the runners at second and third, Edward Ovalle would groundout to Nunez at second bringing home Robbins with the tying run.

Things would stay the same until the Miracle eighth. Small ball executed perfectly by the top of the lineup gave the Miracle their decisive second run. Steve Tolleson led off with a walk and moved to second on Dwayne White’s sacrifice bunt. Trailing with a 1-2 count, Juan Portes would slice a single to right scoring Tolleson with the go-ahead run.

Four hitting steaks continued for the Miracle on Saturday night. White pushed his to a season-high 11 games with a single in the third. Robbins, 3-for-3 on the night, advanced his streak to seven games, while Lis moves to five-straight and Jeff Christy extended his to four.

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Beloit 0 at Lansing 4

Record 6-6

W: N. Starner (2-1, 1.50); L: J. Lugo (0-1, 5.25)
HR: LAN: B. Pettway (4), M. Liuzza (1).

From Snappersbaseball.com: The Lansing Lugnuts winning streak reached double digits on Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 victory over the Beloit Snappers before 4,992 fans at Oldsmobile Park. It was the second shutout tossed by the Lugnuts pitching staff this season, as Lansing has won ten straight.

Lansing scored two runs in the first inning to take the lead for good. Travis Snider ripped his fourth triple of the season off of the wall in right field to plate Chris Gutierrez and give the Lugnuts a 1-0 lead. Brian Pettway followed that with a double to deep cented to score Snider and make it 2-0.

That turned out to be all of the offense that Nate Starner (2-1) would need. Lansing's starting pitcher tossed seven masterful innings of shutout baseball, scattering just three hits along the way while whiffing seven. Seth Overbey pitched the last two innings for the Lugnuts. Beloit failed to have a runner reach third base in the game.

The Lugnuts added two more runs in the seventh to salt the game away. Pettway led the frame off with a solo homer, his fourth of the year, to make it 3-0. He has now homered in three straight games.

Matt Liuzza followed that with a solo blast of his own to end the scoring at 4-0. It was Liuzza's first dinger of the season.

Lansing (11-1) will host Beloit (6-6) in game two of the four game series on Sunday afternoon at Oldsmobile Park. Kyle Ginley (0-0, 2.08) will take the mound for the Lugnuts, while Cole Devries (0-0, 1.23) will get the ball for the Snappers.

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Lansing State Journal

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Scoreboard for April 20, 2007

Rochester 6 at Pawtucket 2

Record 5-3

W: S. Baker (1-0, 1.69); L: B. Corey (0-2, 4.05)
HR: None.

E: Tolbert (4, fielding), Span (1, throw), DePaula (1, throw).

From redwingsbasball.com: Scott Baker dominated the Pawtucket Red Sox lineup, as the Red Wings won 6-2 Friday night in Rhode Island. Denard Span's bases-loaded triple was part of a six-run eighth inning. The Wings return home Saturday night to open a five-game homestand.

Baker and Pawtucket's David Pauley were ahead of the hitters all game. After Brandon Moss's single in the second, Baker (1-0) set down the next 17 hitters he faced - until Moss singled again in the eighth. Baker needed just 73 pitches to get through the first seven innings, and left after eight innings with a 99-pitch night. Baker fanned eight and did not walk a batter; he threw a first pitch strike to 18 of the 23 batters he faced.

Pauley allowed just two hits over six innings, striking out nine Wings and walking two. Bryan Corey (0-2) worked around a Red Wings threat in the seventh, when Rochester had runners on first and second with two outs but couldn't score.

The Wings finally got on the scoreboard in the eighth; Garrett Jones' two-out single up the middle scored Tommy Watkins, who had singled and stolen second base. Jose Morales singled to center to plate Jones, making it 2-0 Wings. An RBI hit by Matt Moses boosted the lead to 3-0; Span's triple into the right field corner with the bases loaded capped the scoring.

Bobby Korecky ran into a jam with two outs in the ninth; Mike Venafro allowed a two-run hit to Moss before retiring pinch-hitter Bobby Scales to end the game.

NOTES: Rochester had four stolen bases in the game - two by Watkins, and one each by Moses and Trent Oeltjen... LHP Jon Lester, who went 7-2 in 15 games as a rookie for Boston last season, is scheduled to start for Pawtucket on April 25 at Frontier Field. Lester was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma near the end of last season, and underwent six chemotherapy treatments. He was the first Red Sox rookie pitcher to win seven or more games since 1993 (Ken Ryan and Aaron Sele). Lester started for Class A Greenville Friday against Savannah; he gave up six hits and three runs while striking out five in five innings. Lester is scheduled to pitch a bullpen session at Fenway Park Sunday before joining Pawtucket... In their first nine starts, the Wings' starting rotation has a 3-1 record with a 1.29 ERA. In 48 2/3 innings of work, the starters have allowed 13 runs (seven earned) on 32 hits while walking 14 and striking out 39...

Double-A New Britain RHP Anthony Swarzak was suspended Friday for 50 games for testing positive in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

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Connecticut 7 at New Britain 4

Record: 3-5

W: A. Hinshaw (1-0, 0.00); L: D. Powers (0-2, 21.60); SV: J. Hedrick (1)
HR: NBR: M. Allegra (1).

E: plouffE 2 (2, fielding, fielding), Blackburn, N (1, throw).

From rockcats.com: The Defenders pounded out 13 hits, including four in a three-run seventh inning, to down New Britain 7-4 at New Britain Stadium.

Carlos Sosa (3-for-4) knocked in John Bowker with a single to right field to give the Defenders a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh inning. Simon Klink (2-for-4) added a two-run double.

In a game of miscues that included a total of five errors – three by the Rock Cats – the inter-state rivals exchanged runs all night long. The Defenders broke out for two runs in the second inning. Alex Requena (0-5) grounded into a force out to score Todd Jennings. John Bowker followed with a single before Requena scored on a wild pitch by Nick Blackburn.

The Rock Cats’ bats came alive in the bottom of the second, with consecutive singles by Brock Peterson, Matt Allegra, and Korey Feiner. Brandon Roberts then drew the bases-loaded walk to score Peterson from third and put the Rock Cats on the board 2-1.

Allegra led off the bottom of the fourth with his first home run as a Rock Cat, a solo shot to left field, to even the score 2-2. Korey Feiner followed with a walk. Brandon Roberts bunted and reached first on a throwing error by pitcher Darren Sack. Trevor Plouffe delivered another bunt that was fielded by Sack, whose second throwing error allowed Feiner and Roberts to score and give the ‘Cats a 4-2 lead.

The Defenders retaliated in the top of the fifth, when Requena scored on an RBI groundout by Brian Horwitz to close the gap to 4-3. Jennings’ RBI single in the sixth tied the game 4-4.

Blackburn lasted five innings, allowing six hits and three runs (two earned). Daniel Powers suffered the loss for the Rock Cats. Powers (0-2) allowed two runs on four hits in one inning.

Alexander Hinshaw (1-0) picked up the win with three shutout innings in relief. He struck out five. Justin Hedrick notched his first save with two scoreless innings to closeout the game.
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Fort Myers 9 at Tampa 1

Record 7 - 7

W: J. Rainville (2-2, 1.17); L: E. Abreu (0-1, 9.82)
HR: FTM: E. Lis (2).

Erik Lis cracked his second home run of the season and finished with four RBI to lead the Fort Myers Miracle to a 9-1 victory over the Tampa Yankees Friday night.

Besides Lis (2-for-4), Edward Ovalle went 2-for-5 with three RBI as the nine runs by the Miracle are a season-high.

Steve Tolleson led off the game with a single to left, scoring on a wild pitch later. After a two-out walk to Whit Robbins and a single by Lis, Ovalle delivered a run-scoring single.

In the third, White pushed a double down the right-field line to extend his hitting streak to 10 straight games. Juan Portes was hit by a pitch before Lis connected for a three-run blast to right for a 5-0 Miracle lead.

The Yankees scored their lone run of the night in the fourth on a bases-loaded single by Francisco Cervilli. Hideki Matsui, on a rehab stint from the parent Yankees, scored from third on the play.

Four more insurance runs came home for the Miracle (7-7) in the sixth and seventh.

Matt Betsill reached base in the sixth on a fielding error by Kevin Russo at second base, allowing Caleb Moore to score on the play. Lis drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh and Ovalle delivered a two-run single to center.

All three Miracle pitchers looked sharp. Jay Rainville tossed 5 1/3 innings allowing just one run on six hits with six strikeouts. Yohan Pino hurled 1 2/3 innings striking out two, while Zach Ward wrapped up the night with two scoreless innings.

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Wisconsin 3 at Beloit 8

Record 6-5

W: S. Land (1-0, 1.50); L: J. Souza (0-2, 7.88); SV: D. Leatherman (1)
HR: BEL: D. Valencia (4).

E: Ortiz (3, fielding), Benson (1, missed catch), Olson (2, fielding).

From www.snappersbaseball.com: The Snappers' bats finally woke up tonight as they beat the Timber Rattlers for the second consecutive day. Danny Valencia helped the Snappers improve their record to 6-5, going 2 for 4 with a home run.

Beloit struck first with two runs in the bottom of the third inning. Yancarlos Ortiz scored from third on a passed ball by catcher, Jair Fernandez. Brian Dinkelman was later drive home by a single off the bat of Chris Parmelee, giving the Snappers a 2-0 lead.

Wisconsin came back to tie the game at two in the top of the fifth inning and eventually took the lead with a run in the top of the seventh inning. Timber Rattlers' catcher, Leury Bonilla, hit a sacrifice fly to right and made it a 3-2 Wisconsin lead.

The Snappers took control in the bottom of the seventh inning with four runs of their own. Garrett Olson hit an RBI single to left, scoring Yancarlos Ortiz. Danny Valencia then followed with his fourth home run of the season. Valencia's homer was a three run shot that gave the Snappers a 6-4 lead.

Beloit added two more in the bottom of the eighth and headed into the ninth inning with a five run lead. Dan Leatherman pitched a scoreless ninth inning and closed the door on the Timber Rattlers.

Sean Land pitched an inning and a third to pick up his first win of the season. Dan Leatherman collected his first save of the season going one and two third's innings.

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Friday, April 20, 2007

Scoreboard for April 19, 2007

Rochester 3 at Pawtucket 0 (7 Innings)

Record 4-2

W: K. Slowey (2-0, 0.00); L: D. Hansack (1-1, 1.69); SV: M. Venafro (1)
HR: ROC: M. Tolbert (1).

From redwingsbasball.com: Kevin Slowey recorded nine strikeouts in 5 2/3 scoreless innings as Rochester blanked Pawtucket 3-0 in the first game of a doubleheader Thursday afternoon. The Paw Sox topped the Wings 4-0 in the second game. The Wings played for the first time since Saturday afternoon.

Slowey (2-0) scattered three hits and did not walk a batter. The 22-year-old has allowed only six hits over 11 2/3 shutout frames this season, and opponents are batting .130 against him. Mike Venafro worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief and picked up his first save of the season.

Matt Tolbert led off the third inning with a home run, giving the Red Wings all the offense they would need. Trent Oeltjen doubled to lead off the fifth and eventually scored on Denard Span's infield single. Span later scored on second baseman Chad Spann's throwing error. Pawtucket's best chance to score came in the third inning, when Spann doubled and Ed Rogers singled to put runners on first and third with two outs. Slowey then struck out Alex Ochoa to end the threat.

Devern Hansack (1-1) took the loss after yielding three runs -- two earned -- on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings. The native Nicaraguan whiffed three batters and now leads the International League with 23 strikeouts on the season. Craig Hansen followed with 1 1/3 scoreless frames.

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Rochester 0 at Pawtucket 4 (7 Innings)

Record 4-3

W: C. Breslow (1-0, 2.45); L: M. Garza (0-1, 2.77); SV: E. Martinez (1)
HR: PAW: B. Moss (2).

E: Tolbert (4, fielding), Span (1, throw), DePaula (1, throw).

From redwingsbasball.com: In the second game Brandon Moss went 2-for-3 with a home run, double and two runs scored for Pawtucket. Moss homered to lead off the fourth inning, but it was a play that occurred two batters later that generated more excitement. Luis Jimenez circled the bases on a ground ball to second base, as Tolbert and Span both made throwing errors on the play.

Moss struck again in the sixth inning. The 23-year-old doubled to lead off the frame and eventually scored on a single by Jimenez.

Pawtucket (6-7), which snapped a five-game losing streak, received a strong effort from a quartet of relievers. Mike Burns started the game and tossed two perfect innings, and Craig Breslow (1-0) followed with three shutout frames of his own. Edgar Martinez recorded the last four outs of the ballgame and picked up his first save.

The Red Wings' best chance to score came in the sixth when they loaded the bases with two outs. Martinez struck out Doug Deeds on a full-count breaking ball to escape the jam.

Matt Garza (0-1) took the loss, yielding three runs -- two earned -- on six hits over five innings while striking out five. The Red Wings dropped to 4-3 on the season.

NOTES: INF Glenn Williams will not be with the team the next two days, so he can attend a funeral for a family friend. Williams will rejoin the club for Saturday night's home game... LHP Jon Lester, who went 7-2 in 15 games as a rookie for Boston last season, is tentatively scheduled to start for Pawtucket on April 25 at Frontier Field according to MiLB.com. Lester was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma near the end of last season, and underwent six chemotherapy treatments. Lester starts for Class A Greenville Friday.

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Connecticut 4 at New Britain 5

Record: 3-4

W: B. Duensing (1-0, 2.16); L: B. Cox (0-2, 6.30); SV: J. Mijares (2)
HR: CT: S. Holm (1). NBR: B. Peterson (1).

From rockcats.com: Brian Duensing tossed 5 2/3 strong innings and Brian Buscher drove in two runs as New Britain edged visiting Connecticut, 5-4, on Thursday.

Duensing (1-0) allowed two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out four. The left-hander, who threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in his first start against Portland on April 9, went 5-10 with a 3.49 ERA between Class A Beloit, Class A Advanced Fort Myers and New Britain last year.

Jose Mijares retired all five batters he faced, striking out two, to pick up his second save.

Buscher and David Winfree hit consecutive RBI doubles in the first to give the Rock Cats (3-4) a 2-0 lead. Brock Peterson hit his first homer of the season in the fourth, while Garrett Guzman lifted a sacrifice fly and Buscher delivered an RBI double in the fifth to cap the scoring for New Britain.

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Fort Myers 3 at Tampa 4

Record 6 - 7

W: J. Valdez (1-0, 1.50); L: A. Garcia (0-1, 2.57)
HR: None.

Steven Tolleson coaxed a two-out walk out of Tampa starter Chien-Ming Wang, then stole second and went to third on Dwayne White's infield single.

Whitney Robbins' single and a double by Erik Lis staked Fort Myers (6-7) to a 3-1 lead, but that was about all the Miracle got against Wang, a Cy Young runner-up who was making a rehab start for the Class A Tampa Yankees.

Miracle starter Alex Smit struck out seven while giving up two runs on six hits and a walk. Robbins led Fort Myers at the plate with a 2-for-3 night.

Angel Garcia (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up two runs on two hits and one walk in 1 2/3 innings. With runners on second and third, Reggie Corona pulled a pitch from Garcia to right field deep enough to score both runners and get Tampa to a .500 record.

Ticket Errata: Monday, April 23rd Miracle vs Clearwater Threshers - this game IS NOT at Terry Park

Wednesday, May 16th Miracle vs Clearwater Threshers - we are NOT playing the Palm Beach Cardinals

Friday, June 22nd Miracle vs Sarasota Reds at 12:05pm - this game IS NOT at 7:05pm (it is are annual Big Splash game)

Tuesday, July 3rd Miracle vs Lakeland Flying Tigers - we are NOT playing the Tampa Yankees

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Video (not mine):
Video: Meet Javi Sanchez

Although I'm thinking of doing something like this with the GCL boys.

The 2007 Miracle program is a study in bad printing and we've been playing Mystery Miracle since the start of the season. The picture shown next to Javi's profile information is actually Danny Santiesteban. My innital reaction was to blame the printer, but now I've decided it's not just them. Without Sean Arenson around, I doubt that anyone proof-read anything (witness all the printing errors on the tickets).

Wisconsin 2 at Beloit 3

Record 5-5

W: D. Hernandez (2-0, 0.00); L: J. Kantakevich (0-1, 1.08)
HR: None.

From snappersbaseball.com: The Snappers returned home and returned to their winning ways with a 3-2 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Thursday. Catcher, Greg Yersich, was the deciding factor again for the Snappers as he reached on a throwing error by third baseman Leury Bonilla in the bottom of the ninth inning. With Yersich reaching on the error, Joe Benson was able to score the winning run from third base.

Chris Parmelee got things going for Beloit in the bottom of the second inning with a double to left. Parmelee later reached third on a pick off attempt gone bad by pitcher Ricky Orta. Chris, however, had to leave the game after injuring himself on the play. One batter later, Mark Robinson had an RBI sacrifice fly, scoring pinch runner, Danny Santiesteban, from third. Robinson's RBI made it a 1-0 Snappers lead.

The game would remain scoreless until the eighth inning, when the Timber Rattlers would get on the board. Alex Liddi singled, Leury Bonilla double, and Jair Fernandez had a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-1 Wisconsin lead.

The Snappers would not lie down, however. They battled back to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out, Johnny Woodard RBI single to right. Woodard's single opened the door for Yersich, as he was the hero at Pohlman Field for the second straight home game.

Jeff Manship pitched a strong seven and two third's innings of two run, three hit baseball. Manship recorded another seven strikeouts in the Snappers' win. Danny Hernandez pitched an inning and a third of scoreless relief to pick up his second win of the season.

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Appleton Post Crescent

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Miracle top Jays in controversial game

Dunedin 6 at Fort Myers 7

Record 3 - 5

W: D. Shinskie (1-0, 0.00); L: E. Estanga (0-1, 11.57)
HR: DUN: J. Butler (1), B. Jeroloman (1). FTM: E. Lis (1).

E: Lis (1, fielding), Portes (1, fielding).

Former Miracle catcher Kyle Phillips is now playing for the Blue Jays, he was their first baseman last night.

I wasn't all that impressed by Alex Smit. He got batted around a bit.

Alex Smit (Part 1)
Alex Smit (Part 2)

I need to convince Loek and Mushy to sit with me for his next outting and give me color commentary to go along with the video. It was way too crowded to try that last night.

I was even less impressed with Kyle Aselton in relief and was mildly ambivelant towards our fielding except for Erik Lis' error, which I screamed about. Toby Gardenhire didn't play and strangely enough, I didn't notice.

The fifth inning was pretty good.

4-Run 5th Inning (Part 2)
4-Run 5th Inning (Part 3)

(Part 1 is 103MB, so it needs to be edited and it not yet online.)

Whit Robbins looks funny from behind when he's batting. Part of the Hibbing branch of Eli Tintor fan club was at the game. He got a beauty hit for them and made several very nice catches in the field. I loved the T-Shirts!

Drew Thompson is having back problems. He said he's about a month away from playing, but I think he's being optimistic and is probably about 6 weeks out since he said he's not supposed to do anything for another 3 weeks.

Paul Kelly is having some knee issues and is not due back for a while. Jose Leger had surgery and is done for the season.

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Early season call ups may effect Miracle

Former Miracle oufielder Josh Rabe, second baseman Alexi Casilla, and left-hander pitcher Glen Perkins have all received early promotions to the Minnesota Twins.

While it's great to see former favorites progressing in the organization, it may not be good news for the Miracle. The Rochester Red Wings received catcher Chris Heintz from the Twins, but are still short two players and will be looking to the New Britain Rock Cats for help. That may well open an window for a couple of current Miracle players to earn trips to Connecticut.

And replacements might not be readily forthcoming.

Drew Thompson, Paul Kelly and Jose Leger are on the DL and nominally on the Beloit roster, but are expected to be re-assigned once they heal up. I have no word on the extent of their injuries so when they might be available to replace anyone lost to call ups is questionable. All three are currently attached to the Twins Minor League Complex at the Lee County Sportsplex.

Meanwhile, Rochester cancelled their game today against the Norfolk Tides due to poor field conditions following heavy rains in New York.

Beloit continues to lose games to snow, rain and poor field conditions, sitting out yesterday's game due to snow and then cancelling today's games, which would have been a double header. The team will make up the games in May and June.

The Miracle collected their first wins on the road against Lakeland yesterday in a double header. Juan Portes had two hits in the first game while Eddie Ovalle smacked one over the wall for two RBI's handing the Miracle a 5-4 win over the now Flying Tigers at Joker Marchent Stadium. Only Jeff Christy and Toby Gardenhire failed to record hits in the game, both going 0-for-3 at the plate.

In the second game, Frank Mata picked up the win in relief of Kyle Waldrop, while Erik Lis recorded two hits and batted in three to provide an offensive lift for the team. Steve Tolleson and Dwyane White were both 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs each while Portes continued to be hot, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs for the Miracle, who won the game 6-4.

The two teams play again tonight at 7:05 to finish off the three game series.

New Britain went 2-1 in a three game series against the Portland Sea Dogs. Former Miracle Brock Peterson, Luke Hughes and Kyle Geiger each had two runs batted in on Monday's game, which the Rock Cats won 8-6. Tim Lehay picked up the save in that one.

The hitting was more restrained in Tuesday's game, with Korey Feiner and Garrett Guzman getting the RBI's in a 3-1 victory. Jose Mijares had the save, while Korey Feiner and Brandon Roberts had two hits a piece in the game.

Last night was a different matter with the Red Sox AA affiliate roughing up Danny Powers for 4 runs in one inning. Trevor Plouffe and David Winfree each had two hits while Garrett Guzman batted in two runs, but the Rock Cats still fell 8-5 to Portland.

The Rock Cats open their 2007 season at home tonight against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Extended Spring Training continues at the Lee County Sportsplex. The Twins are at home against Pittsburgh today and Baltimore tomorrow and then take on the Red Sox in Fort Myers on Saturday. Game times are 12:30 pm for all contests.

Don't forget to check out www.miraclefans.com. We've added video clips of the game for the 2007 season including two of Oswaldo Sosa pitching for the home opener.