Sorry that this – the April 17th installment of Down on the Pond – is a bit tardy. The same goes for the April 18th recap that will follow shortly. I spent yesterday afternoon working on the Francisco Liriano article I published yesterdayand as a result I had to get in the rest of my work hours last night.
By about 10:30 pm I was finally free and able to get back into writing mode but then I got sucked into watching the movie Eagle Eye. Given the quality of the film, this pursuit was pretty much a complete waste of time. I’ll never get those hours of my life back and that upsets me a little but it could be worse.
While the movie was not good, it did give me some time to relax and unwind so from that standpoint I suppose there was some value there. The same cannot be said for the time I spent watching the movie 100 Feet start to finish. If you haven’t seen that gem of a film, well let’s just say you’re really missing something. It was so inherently worthless that it easily claimed a spot in my top-5. As in, the 5 worst movies I have ever seen in my life.
But you didn’t come here for movie reviews so let’s get to the minor league games from Sunday April 17th.
Record for the Day: 2-3 / Record for the Year: 23-18
Rochester Red Wings:
Won 6-3 over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Box Score)
When Jesus Montero is behind the plate it’s very clear that teams are going to take advantage. Through 9 games opponents have swiped 12 bases against the defensively challenged catcher. On the flip side Jesus has only managed to throw out 2 and I don’t things are going to get any better for him when he reaches the majors. Up to the task the Red Wings stole 4 in 5 attempts. Brian Dinkelman grabbed his 2nd and 3rd SB of the year, Rene Tosoni pilfered his 1st and Ben Revere snatched his 4th. The one guy that did get gunned down was Dustin Martin.
Beyond the running game, Rochester’s offense was hitting on all cylinders as well. They went 13-39 with 4 walks and everyone – save 1B Jeff Bailey – got at least one hit. In addition to his 2 SB, Dinkelman also went 3-5 with a run scored but he was no match for Rene Tosoni in the player of the game race. Tosoni went 2-4 with 1 BB, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR and 3 RBI in addition to the previously mentioned stolen base. 3B Chase Lambin and newly promoted C Danny Lehmann also went 2-4 in the game.
From the bump, RHP Andrew Baldwin bounced back from his awful start on April 11th to put together a solid 7.0 inning, 8 stirkeout outing. He allowed 4 H (2 of them were HR), 3 R and 0 BB. Yorman Bazardo and Phil Dumatrait each pitched a scoreless inning to finish the game off.
Current Record: 4-6
New Britain Rock Cats:
Lost 11-6 to the Portland Sea Dogs (Box Score)
New Britain matched Portland in hits with 13 apiece, but the Sea Dogs won the XBH battle 8 to 5. Several Rock Cats had multi-hit games including: 2B Steve Singleton (2-5), LF Yangervis Solarte (2-5), RF Joe Benson (2-4) and CF Mark Dolenc (2-4). But 1B Chris Parmelee was New Britain’s offensive star of the day going 3-5 with his 1st HR of the year.
The offense was up to the task, but Liam Hendriks had a rough go of things. He went 5.0 IP with 5 H, 5 ER, 0 BB and 4 SO. Brett Jacobson and Santos Arias each gave up 3 runs of their own. LHP Michael Tarsi was the only one of New Britain’s 4 pitchers to get into the game that did not give up a run.
Current Record: 7-3
Fort Myers Miracle:
Lost 4-1 to the St. Lucie Mets (Box Score)
The Miracle managed just 4 hits, all singles. The most notable single came off the bat of C Chris Herrmann. Why is his single more special than all the others? More on that at a later time.
RHP Kane Holbrooks took the loss and is now 0-2 on the season. It’s just more proof that wins are a team stat and not indicative of the quality of any given pitcher. Kane’s support on this day amounted to only 4 hits and 1 run, but that certainly had nothing to do with what he did on the mound. He went 7.0 IP with 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB and 3 SO. In 17.2 IP this season he’s allowed only 5 runs. RHP Dakota Watts gave up a run in his single inning of work.
Current Record: 6-5
Beloit Snappers:
Beloit split their doubleheader with the Cedar Rapids Kernals. In game one they lost 5-3 (Box Score) but came back to win game two 9-1 (Box Score).
Game 1: RHP Adrian Salcedo got the start and went 4.2 IP with 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB and 2 SO. LHP Ryan O’Rourke followed and in 1.2 IP gave up 1 H and 1 ER. RHP Michael Tonkin got the last two outs of the game with 1 H and 1 SO.
DH Oswaldo Arcia was the offensive star of the game. He went 2-3 with a solo home run and a walk. The only other Snapper with a multi-hit game was LF Daniel Ortiz who went 2-4 with 2 doubles.
Game 2: Andrei Lobanov started the second game of the day and set a much different tone than that of Salcedo in game one. The Russian lefty threw 4.0 innings with 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 5 SO. He was followed by LHP Martire Garcia who threw 2 scoreless innings before giving way to fellow lefty Jose Gonzalez who threw a scoreless inning of his own.
Beloit’s offensive attack was very balanced. C Josmil Pinto and LF Derek McCallum each went 2-3 and were the only two Snappers to have multi-hit games. 5 other players chipped in with hits including doubles from 2B Gunner Glad and SS Jamaal Hawkins. 1B Michael Gonzalez hit a 3 run HR. As a team Beloit also drew 7 walks.
Current Record: 6-4