- In the do-or-die game of their playoff series, the DSLMs could not get much going at the plate against the Twins in Boca Chica. However, neither could the Twins, and the DSLMs workhorse Felix Bautista, aka The Other Felix, pitched into the 6th without allowing a run. After Victor Ozuna popped in the first run of the game in the top 6th, and Bautista done, manager (Not That) Jose Guillen turned to another horse: Henry Perez, who pitched brilliantly in a 1-0 loss in Game 1. Henry was up to the task, finishing the 6th and not allowing more than a single hit over the rest of the game to seal the Twins' doom and move the DSLMs into the DSL semis.

The DSLMs now get a juggernaut in the DSL Gigantes, the Boca Chica South campeones whose .742 OPS is best in the DSL, though as previously mentioned, their pitching and defense leaves some to be desired. They walk far more batters than the Twins and their pitchers' control problems frequently get Los Gigantes into trouble. This should play opposite to the low scoring series the DSLMs just completed with the low-scoring Twins. The DSLMs will have a bit of a pitching edge (which may be neutralized some as top pitcher Henry Perez will need some rest), and the key will be if the DSLMs bats can score enough runs against the iffy Gigantes pitching/defense... because chances are likely the DSLMs pitching can contain, to some extent, the high scoring Gigantes offense.

Gigantes bats of death include 1B/DH Hector Sanchez (348/458/502), corner OF Sundrendy Windster (268/356/460 with a team leading 10 HR, huge in the DSL) and an on-base machine in IF Julio Izturis (284/471/355). Most of the team runs an OPS in the 720-750 range, pretty good for the dead-ball DSL.

Key starters include workhorse Edward Concepcion (14 GS +1, 4.20 ERA, 75 IP, 2 HR, 20/64 BB/K), the erratic Argenis Sanchez (14 GS, 3.57 ERA, 70.2 IP, 1 HR, 30/61 BB/K), and strike throwing out machine Miguel Ferrer (11 GS +2, 2.44 ERA, 62.2 IP, 1 HR, 16/42 BB/K). Marcos Prada (13 GS, 4.60 ERA, 58.2 IP, 2 HR, 29/39 BB/K) also starts but isn't that great and I doubt we see much of him in this series. The bullpen, almost to a man, takes advantage of the large DSL strike zone and nets a lot of K's but walks a ton of guys as well. The DSLers, by and large, are patient, and if they can get to the Gigantes bullpen, they can probably sit on their bad control and chunder forth a few extra runs.

- Meanwhile, the PMs are now in the hole after Nick Czyz bombed and got pulled before the 3rd inning, leaving the PMs in a 4-0 hole from which they never quite emerged in a 7-4 loss. The PMs got within 5-4 in the 5th, but the bats quieted down and the bullpen let 2 more slip.

- Sign Number Umpteen That the Mavs Have Officially Said "Screw It" To This Season: 3B Ronnie Prettyman started yesterday at SS. (Triunfel played 2B)

- Joe Woerman got a mulligan from me after his last crappy start, but the bad one against Mississippi yesterday does not get a pass: he walked 6 in 4 innings and only recorded 4 groundouts and a K.

1st: Flyball, strikeout (swing), walk, line drive, walk, flyball
2nd: Line drive, groundball, flyball, groundball
3rd: Pop up, groundball, walk, line drive, flyball, groundball, groundball
4th: Line drive, walk, bunt groundball, walk, walk, groundball, flyball

Groundballs: 6 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs: 5
Line Drives: 4
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 6
Strikeouts: 1

- Luis Valbuena is on fire, 19 for his last 45 with 6 walks. Granted, all but one of those hits are singles (and the other was a double), and his LD rate this month has actually slid over the last few weeks, so he's largely benefitting from positive variance. But given this guy was hitting everything into the ground in June, I'll take it.

Stats below the jump.

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- With Tropical Storm Gustav having passed, the DSLMs and DSL Twins played Game 2 of their playoff series in Santo Domingo, and the DSLMs bats finally awoke. Rudy van Heydoorn doubled in a run in a 1st and later scored on a wild pitch. Rudy doubled home another run in the 3rd, and the Twins did not respond off of a strong Miguel Celestino until getting a gift run in the 7th off a muffed catch in LF by Angel Zapata with a man on 2nd. But the DSLMs loaded the bases in the 8th and Hector Mercedes cleared them with a one out double to stretch the lead out to 6-1.

Bruno Mercedes pitched for the 2nd time in 3 days and struggled, giving up a couple runs on a 2 out double to make it close. But catcher Hassiel Jimenez caught runner Carlos Vasquez off the bag between 1st and 2nd, threw to 2nd and 2B Bertin Sanon ran him down to end the game and tie the series at one game apiece.

The DSLMs will see if they can bring their bats to Boca Chica this time, as they face the DSL Twins in the decisive Game 3 today.

- How's this for a name: the Vancouver Canadians reliever who pitched the 8th and 9th innings of Vancouver's 5-1 win over Everett was Mathieu LeBlanc Poirier. The last two names are his surname and would go on the back of his jersey... if NWL teams did that sort of thing. Other than that, there's isn't much else to say about the lefthanded Quebecois, who is getting a brief test run in the NWL after an unlucky but productive stint with the AZLAs.

- The Montgomery Biscuits sent their B lineup out against Edward Paredes, making his 2nd AA start, and go figure he had himself a good night, throwing 6 shutout innings and striking out 6 with 9 groundouts on only 3 hits and 2 walks.

1st: Line drive, groundball, groundball
2nd: Groundball, groundball, hit batter, strikeout (swing)
3rd: Groundball, pop up, strikeout (called)
4th: Flyball, groundball, groundball, walk, strikeout (swing)
5th: Hit batter, strikeout (swing), walk, groundball
6th: Groundball, strikeout (swing), flyball, strikeout (swing)

Groundballs: 9
Flyballs: 2
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 2 (plus 1 hit batter)
Strikeouts: 6

As the 1st half North division champs, the DIAMOND JAXX will likely face the much improved Mississippi AA Braves (I blame the brief but inspiring veteran presence of Jeff Francoeur's cameo appearance) in the Southern League playoffs, and chances are likely that they're going to get creamed, but their hopes will rest on the abilities of guys like Paredes, so if they can finish strong... never say never.

- Speaking of never saying never... you can say 'never' now to the Rainiers PCL playoff chances: the Salt Lake Bees, who matched the Rainiers step for step in the win column once they got within 5 games, have officially clinched the PCL Pacific North division.

The Rainiers shouldn't have even been in the race, with Salt Lake starting the season 21-1 and the Rainiers playing a hair under .500 ball most of the way. But then the Bees cooled off and played .500 ball, the Rainiers rattled off 12 straight wins, and suddenly, with about two weeks left, the Rainiers were 5 back and people suddenly pushed the idea of a Rainiers pennant race.

Sure enough, however, though the Rainiers stayed hot, the Bees woke up, kept pace all the way, and 5 games was as close as the Rainiers would get before the Bees locked it up. I'm a Rainiers fan as much as anyone and I would have loved to see them come all the way back, especially against the Angels' AAA affiliate... but I think the small sample size of the Astros miracle 2005 NL Central run (where they went from 8 back to tied in 8 days), the Phillies comeback on the Mets in the NL East last year, and the M's famous run in 1995... have colored some perspectives on how unlikely it is to make up a 5 game deficit in such a short span of time. Even after their winning streak closed the gap, the probability of the Rainiers making up 6 games (there is no one game playoff if tied, and the Bees have the tiebreaker) in less than two weeks, given a wealth of statistical precedence, was remote at best. Great run, Tacoma Rainiers, but the pennant race was over long ago, and in the big picture of the division title race, this excellent run is akin to making a 10-1 deficit a 10-7 loss. It looks better at first glance in the newspapers... until you take a closer look at the boxes.

But that is not to detract from what the Rainiers did this past month. Winning games and playing great in August? That's awesome. Winning streaks despite half the team getting called up to the Mariners failboat? That's awesome. A lot of awesome things happened in Tacoma this month, and the comeback in the standings, though not enough to prevent a walkover, was a statement in itself.

And hey, there are still games left, so if you live in Puget Sound and want to be reminded what winning baseball looks like, take the chance to head to Cheney Stadium one more time before the season ends.

- Chris Jakubauskas became the latest injury-lister to come back. He relieved another fellow Team DLer, Robert Rohrbaugh, in the 5th, worked through the 6th, and though he allowed 2 unearned runs on 4 hits, he struck out 5 on 48 pitches, 34 for strikes. We'll see if he finished strong, and then we'll see if the org keeps him around or cuts him loose. Normally, these Indy vets come and go, but the 29 year old Jakubauskas appeared to be on his way to forcing himself into the 25 man conversation when he got hurt.

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- After getting rocked his first time out, 3rd round pick Ben Pribanic looked far better in a 3 inning relief stint with the AZLMs yesterday.

4th: Strikeout (swing), flyball, flyball, strikeout (called)
5th: Strikeout (swing), bunt groundball, groundball, hit batter, line drive
6th: Groundball, flyball, strikeout (called), walk, flyball

He's still showing flyball tendencies, but given he just got hammered his first time out, this is a relief.

- Jarrett Burgess in August: 309/356/420... 10% LD rate, .424 BABIP, 25.3% K/PA. He certainly needed a good month, but there's a lot of luck involved here.

- Robert Rodriguez in August: 107/138/161... 10% LD rate, .207 BABIP, 46.6% K. He's just blown.

- Pulaski's last regular season game got rained out, but congratulations to the PMs on winning the Appalachian League's East Division title in Pulaski's first year back in the league. Their reward? A 3 game Championship Series with the West division champions, the Elizabethton Twins. The Liz Twins led the league with 6.33 runs per game, an .823 OPS, 142 doubles, 263 walks, and 88 HR. No, really, they led the league in all those respective categories.

The Liz Twins home park, Joe O'Brien Stadium, is possibly a contributing factor, as they have also allowed the 3rd most runs in the league (5.27). Their 181 walks issue is tied for the lowest total in the App League, while their 52 HRs allowed is the most. Maybe it's the park, maybe not: their .602 defensive efficiency is lowest in the App League.

With no park factor data below A ball, there's no definite stats to point at and say yes or no. I'll have to do some research this offseason on the subject, but in any case, the PMs are facing a team that can score a lot of runs and surrender a lot of runs. Win or lose, this should be a fun series.

- Pulaski's playing for a championship, but Everett's just trying to stay out of the division cellar. Going into yesterday tied with Vancouver for the bottom slot, they eked out a rain shortened 4-2 win to move out and leave the Canadians by themselves.

The culprit for Everett has been consistent weakness across the board: their .702 OPS and 4.69 runs per game are 3rd least in the Northwest League, their 573 K's are tops, their 249 walks are 2nd least, their 5.41 runs allowed per game tied for worst, their 44 HRs surrendered 2nd most, and the kicker: their .617 defensive efficiency is worst in the league by a comfortable margin. They can't even make the youth excuse, as they have one of the NWL's more veteran rosters, with the majority of their team in the 22-23 year old age range (whereas the average NWLer is 21-22) with only a handful of teenagers.

- One guy that's going to get on M's fans' nerves in a few years is Venezuelan pitcher Jose Perez. He struck out 10 T-Rats in yesterday's 4-0 Cedar Rapids win. He had struggled in his first 3 starts with the Angels affiliate since his callup from Orem of the Pioneer League, where he struck out 77 in 58.1 IP with only 8 walks but also surrendered 7 HR and ran an ERA in the 4's with a 17% LD rate. The guys is a strikeout machine that doesn't walk anybody once he gets the hang of things, and if he can do a better job of keeping the ball down... I suspect he'll be another in a long line of useful Angels SPs.

- West Tenn had 11 hits total in their doubleheader sweep defeat to Montgomery. Mark Kiger (227/356/294) had 5 of them.

The M's are allegedly trying to keep the DIAMOND JAXX roster loaded for the playoffs, but I'm not sure it's worth it. The current team as is just isn't very good, let alone competitive in a short series. They're far too flat, the pitching far too hittable, too many inconsistent, struggling arms, far too many empty lineup spots, and the hitters who can hit aren't consistently productive enough to offset any of this. Whoever they face in the Southern League playoffs will probably take the series in a walkover. What use is Shawn Kelley in the 8th inning of a 3-0 deficit or a 10-2 rout? You may as well call him up to AAA and be done with it. But if they want to load a playoff-bound roster and take their best shot, even if it's a longshot, then go for it.

- The first game of last night's Rainiers doubleheader was resumption of a scheduled game from way back on April 6. I love how, with two outs in the bottom 1st, a flurry of substitutions takes place for players who are no longer with the Rainiers, and in a couple of cases not even with the org anymore.

Defensive Substitution: Chris Denorfia replaces center fielder Nicholas Blasi, batting 1st, playing center field.
Defensive Substitution: Matt Murton replaces left fielder Todd Linden, batting 4th, playing left field.
Pitcher Change: Vincent Mazzaro replaces Brad Knox.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Luis Valbuena replaces Bronson Sardinha.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Michael Saunders replaces Greg Norton.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch hitter Victor Diaz replaces Wladimir Balentien.
On-field Delay (of about 4 months and 3 weeks).
Victor Diaz strikes out swinging.

Also, Nick Blasi, subbed out for on the River Cats side, was at one point on this Rainiers roster. He's currently with Charlotte, his 3rd AAA team this season.

- After his awesome start last time, Brandon Morrow threw 79 pitches (47 for strikes) after picking up where Robert Rohrbaugh left off in the suspended game, but took a bad beating in the 5th.

2nd: Strikeout (called), flyball, groundball
3rd: Walk, pop up, strikeout (swing), flyball
4th: Flyball (HR), strikeout (swing), groundball, flyball
5th: Line drive, walk, flyball (HR), walk, flyball, groundball, flyball, flyball, pop up
6th: Groundball, groundball

Groundballs: 5
Flyballs: 8 (2 HR)
Line Drives: 1
Pop Ups: 2
Walks: 3
Strikeouts: 3

The two HRs were his 1st and 2nd long balls allowed in Tacoma as a starter. His LD rate going in was only 12.5%, and obviously wasn't affected too much, but Morrow certainly hasn't been a groundball pitcher. His rate there was 40.6% and that certainly went down a bit yesterday.

Stats below the jump.

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- In Game 1 of the DSLMs playoff series with the DSL Twins, Henry Perez pitched one of the best games of his career, striking out 11 while pitching into the 7th. Unfortunately, the one run he allowed was one run too many, as the DSLMs got shut out in a 1-0 loss. But the lanky 18 year old lefthanded Perez, clearly the ace of this year's DSLMs, pitched one of his best games of the season when the DSLMs needed it the most. Unless he's got some character or logistics issues we're not aware of, the M's org may want to consider getting Henry Perez the necessary visa and paperwork, and bringing him stateside next season.

The big issue I can see is a low groundball rate, which hangs around 30-31%. I'm not as worried about the 9ish% walk rate (per PA) as the DSL generally sees high walk rates, plus he runs a consistent 26-27% K rate (though granted that's with the big DSL strike zone). According to Churchill, Perez is a fastball (87-89), slider, changeup guy to whom the coaches are trying to teach the curveball to. His command is considered 'average', though whether that's average in general or average relative to the DSL isn't known. If it's the former, that's pretty good, given Perez is only 18. Even if it's the latter, you're talking a projectible talent that's pitching above his competition.

- Game 2 of the DSL playoffs was supposed to go today but we'll have to wait: ANOTHER tropical storm is battering the island.

- Michael Saunders isn't the only Mariners prospect who left the minors to go play in the Olympics: Kuo Hui Lo left the team in late July to represent Taiwan, where he ran a 238/438/429 over his 7 games with Taiwan (Taiwan bricked group play with a 2-5 record). Lo returned yesterday for the Mavs and his patience didn't follow him across the water: though he knocked in the only Mavs run of the game, he struck out 3 times.

- You know who the Mariners should call up in September? That starting pitcher in Tacoma who pitched into the 8th inning yesterday. I hear he's pretty PHAT.

Stats below the jump.

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- I talked previously about his growing pains, but this year's 6th round pick, Jarrett Burgess, has actually hit the ball well lately. Burgess has 4 multi-hit games in his last 9 games, including 3 doubles and a triple. After struggling his first 5-6 weeks in pro ball, the 18 year old has managed a more respectable 286/329/377 in the month of August. His line drive rate has improved into the teens (from 7% in July), and a 55-60% GB combined with his speed always gives him a fighting chance on those pitches he doesn't drive. Speaking of footspeed, he swiped his 15th base of the year yesterday (in only 182 AB). The kid's got an uphill climb, but he's starting to gain traction as the season comes to a close.

- The last thing you want to do in a doubleheader is wear out your bullpen any more than you need to. The games are 7 innings in the minors, fortunately, and this is usually manageable. You get 4-6 innings from your starter in the front, have another guy finish, maybe 2 guys if the 1st one can't get that far... then try to do the same for the nightcap.

Kyle Haas and Blake Nation did just fine in a 3-2 PMs win on the front end (and Haas really needed a good start after an otherwise pitiful August). But the best laid plans of mice and men go awry when you can't score any runs in your nightcap. Reliever Andres Esquibel allowed the tying run in the 6th to blow a mammoth 1-0 lead, and thus we went into an 8th, then a 9th, then a 10th inning before Kenn Kasparek, dropkicked out of Everett after 8 reasonable starts and landed right in the PMs bullpen, served up a suck pitch for a walkoff solo HR with one out in the 10th.

The PMs managed 6 hits in the nightcap, only one of which was more than a single. They also used 3 relievers.

- While his stat line indicates that Tracy Thorpe has hit the wall, his last start actually didn't go too badly, save for a rough 1st and 3rd inning. He struck out 6 batters in just over 5 innings, and got 9 groundballs to 3 flyballs and 4 line drives (okay, that's a little much for 5+ innings). Unfortunately, he gave up 3 runs between those two frames, including a leadoff HR to start the game, and got tagged for another after he departed in the 6th.

1st: Line drive (HR), strikeout (swing), strikeout (swing), line drive
2nd: Flyball, strikeout (swing), groundball
3rd: Line drive, line drive, flyball, groundball, strikeout (swing), pop up
4th: Groundball, strikeout (swing), flyball
5th: Groundball, groundball, groundball, groundball
6th: Strikeout (swing), walk, groundball, groundball

Groundballs: 9
Flyballs: 3
Line Drives: 4 (1 HR)
Pop Ups: 1
Walks: 1
Strikeouts: 6

Stats below the jump.

Continue reading this post »

- Today's recap will be light on content.  Below are the dates of the last games of each team's respective season, among teams still playing this season.  An (x) denotes teams that will, or are likely to, make the postseason, and will play some extra games once their regular season slate ends.

AZL Mariners:  August 29
Pulaski Mariners (x):  August 29
Everett Aquasox:  September 3
Wisconsin T-Rats:  September 1
High Desert Mavs:  September 1 (what could be the last Mavs game in High Desert is August 29)
West Tenn DIAMOND JAXX (x):  September 1
Tacoma Rainiers:  September 1

- The Battle of the Hanns began with Philip Hann (Everett) ahead of Cheyne Hann (AZLMs) on the depth chart, but with a fine performance in Peoria, Cheyne has roared ahead, landing in Wisconsin, where he debuted with three scoreless relief innings in yesterday's 4-0 loss to the Quad Cities.  Granted, this could be nothing more than a congratulatory cup of coffee for Cheyne, but he's probably a few good season-closing performances away from solidifying his position for 2009.

- Carlos Triunfel got himself ejected in the 9th inning of the Mavs' 5-1 loss to San Jose last night.  Phenom did not concur with home plate umpire Masaki Nonaka's strike zone, and advised him of this perspective gap after swinging and missing strike three to lead off the top 9th.  Nonaka did not appreciate the criticism and sent him to the clubhouse a little early.  While Triunfel could have had legitimate issues with the strike zone, one has to imagine he's frustrated with being held back from a rumored promotion to AA after his groin injury last weekend.

- He returned to AA and had three good starts, but Joe Woerman finally got lit up last night against the Montgomery Biscuits (which, incidentally, are the Rays' AA affiliate).  Most of the damage came in a big 7th inning, from which Woerman got chased.  He began and ended his start by giving up too many line drives for comfort, and the fateful 7th inning was a meltdown of walks and line drives.  So you could say it was an effective 6 inning start that just went on a few batters too long.  Woerman should take a page from Jarrod Washburn and learn how to give his manager the 100 Pitch Stare.  (That, however, is all he should take from Jarrod for what I hope are obvious reasons)

1st:  Bunt groundball, strikeout (swing), line drive, line drive, hit batter, strikeout (swing)
2nd:  Pop up, flyball, groundball
3rd:  Groundball, strikeout (swing), strikeout (called)
4th:  Pop Up, flyball, groundball
5th:  Strikeout (swing), strikeout (swing), groundball
6th:  Groundball, groundball, groundball, groundball
7th:  Line drive, line drive, walk, walk, line drive

Groundballs:  8 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs:  2
Line Drives:  5
Pop Ups:  2
Walks:  2 (plus 1 hit batter)
Strikeouts:  6

Doug FISTER exacerbated the issue by allowing all three of Woerman's inherited runners to score before getting out of the frame, wiping out a 7-2 DIAMOND JAXX lead.

Fortunately, the DIAMOND JAXX had a rally or two left in them.  Greg Halman blasted off on Roger Deago with nobody out and a man on in the bottom 7th to give West Tenn a 9-7 lead, and Adam Moore atoned for a gaffe I'll get to in a bit with an RBI single in the 8th to pile on.  FISTER was allowed to finish the game, vulturing the win (with his FIST) from Woerman.

- For his well developed skills, Adam Moore lets a lot of balls get by him.  He passed his 23rd ball of the season in the 1st inning of last night's game, and the passed ball was costly, as it came with the bases loaded, allowed a run, and moved the runners up a base.  (Joe Woerman fortunately struck out the next batter to end the frame)

Stats below the jump.

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- Congratulations to the DSL Mariners, who completed the DSL regular season with easily the best record in the Santo Domingo North division (42-24) and will be one of the 6 teams in the DSL playoffs.  The other DSL teams joining them are the DSL RangersUno (46-22, just ahead of the DSL Angels by a game in the San Pedro division), the DSL NacionalesUno (a runaway winner at 54-17 in the Santo Domingo West division and easily the best record in the DSL), the DSL Twins (45-24, winning the tightest division of the DSL, the Boca Chica North, by a game over the DSL CubsUno and DSL YankeesDos (GringosDos?), with the BlancoSoxUno 3 ames back and the DSL Reds Rojos, in 5th place, only 5 games back), the DSL Gigantes (49-20, an easy winner by 5.5 games in the Boca Chica South) and the wildcard DSL Angeles (46-24 in San Pedro for the best record among all non division winners).

Team OPS:

DSL Giants:  .742
DSL RangersUno:  .714
DSL NationalsUno:  .713
DSL Mariners:  .705
DSL Twins:  .671
DSL Angels:  .645

The Gigantes have the DSL's best offense, scoring 6.74 runs a game and running a .742 OPS, impressive in the dead-ball DSL.  The Nats lead the DSL with 198 stolen bases.  The two scrubs on this list, the Twins and Angels, don't hit for as much power as the others and don't steal as many bases.  The M's had the best offense in their complex but compared to the other teams, they aren't particularly spectacular.

Team ERA:

DSL NationalsUno:  2.29
DSL Twins:  2.36
DSL RangersUno:  2.47
DSL Angels:  2.57
DSL Mariners:  3.42
DSL Giants:  3.98

Team strikeouts:

DSL NationalsUno:  703
DSL Angels:  637
DSL RangersUno:  560
DSL Mariners:  559
DSL Giants:  521
DSL Twins:  512

Team walks allowed:

DSL Twins:  154
DSL Mariners:  232
DSL NationalsUno:  244
DSL Angels:  264
DSL RangersUno:  286
DSL Giants:  316

It's pretty easy to see how the teams with pop-gun lineups got this far: good pitching, which also indicates solid defense.  The Giants' relatively prolific offense allowed them to get away with relatively meh pitching, and the Nats' solid offense was more than enough given they had some of the best pitching in the DSL. The DSLMs are good overall, but not particularly spectacular at anything, and they'll probably need some luck to swipe the DSL title.

- One previously unsigned draft pick the M's did manage to sign is 14th rounder Luke Burnett out of Louisiana Tech, and Luke made his pro debut yesterday with the AZLMs, striking out two in a scoreless inning. Of their first 20 picks, 15 are signed and playing professionally for the M's, so not too bad so far... though one of those that isn't, unfortunately, is their 1st pick, reliever Josh Fields.

I still have no word on whether Fields signed or not.  Of course, if he doesn't, the M's get a compensatory pick in 2009, and given where the team is currently at depth-wise... losing Fields and having to take a make-up pick next year wouldn't be the worst fate in the world.  The pick was a bad one anyway, given the ease of finding relievers in baseball, and if the team can get a chance to fix their mistake by taking a more useful player with a similar pick in 2009, then why not do that instead of cave to silly over-slot demands from an unproven college closer?

- All three active Mariners-org rookie ball teams (DSLMs, AZLMs, Pulaski) combined for 12 hits yesterday.

- It seemed like his season was over, but Chris Jakubauskas took a drive up I-5 to make a rehab start in Everett and looked incredible, striking out 7 of the 9 batters he faced and getting two outs into the 3rd.  Given this fine head start, Walter Suriel proceeded to... throw suck pitches, allowing 4 runs in 4.1 IP to give Salem-Keizer the 4-3 win.

- Two interesting changes manifested in the Mavs pitching staff last night.  SP Anthony Varvaro came out of the bullpen to relieve Jake Wild in the 6th and worked through the 7th without allowing a hit or a run.

6th:  Groundball, groundball, pop up
7th:  Strikeout (swing), walk, flyball, groundball

Varvaro's obvious Achilles heel right now is his propensity for walks, so perhaps finishing the season by having him work from the bullpen against 4-6 batters, and focusing on hitting his spots in smaller doses, may be the best bet for now... though for all I know, they probably just used him on the spot on a throw day or something.

But one legitimate change is the return of Austin Bibens-Dirkx to the Mavs bullpen.  ABD came in and worked a hitless 8th, going groundout, pop out, swinging strikeout.  A most triumphant return.

- Edward Paredes got a carrot-callup to AA West Tenn and started yesterday.  It went about as badly as you'd expect for someone who was up-and-down in A ball making the leap to AA.  Paredes got shelled for 8 runs and did not finish the 4th in a 15-5 drubbing from Mobile.  For what it's worth, Ryan Ketchner wasn't much better, getting pounded himself for 6 runs in 1.1 IP.

Aaron Cotter also got a promotion from High Desert to AA, and looked far better than the other two, finishing the 5th for Ketchner, then working the 6th and 7th without allowing a run.

- The resumption of the suspended game in Portland allowed another returning player some action: Robert Rohrbaugh pitched the final 3 innings once play resumed for a curious "save", allowing only one hit while striking out three.  Also, order was restored in the Universe, as Kevin Howard did not hit a 4th home run.

Stats below the jump.

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- While the primary item of interest from the Rainiers was Brandon Morrow's start yesterday, there was another item that made the news: recently acquired reliever Jorge Sosa has tested positive for an amphetamine, earning himself a 50 game suspension from MLB.

The positive test came while Sosa was with the Rainiers... though the half life of drugs in your system can vary considerably. It could be residual presence from usage during his Mets time, or he may have used while with Tacoma. It could be either case, or both cases.  We don't know most of what goes on behind closed doors, though the fact that the Mets dropped him like a bad habit out of the blue in mid-May despite a meh but seemingly productive performance leads me to wonder if the Mets let him go because they 'had a hunch' that Sosa was going to 'run into problems'.

Sosa and the Mariners will have quite a bit of time to think about it either way.

- With one game left in the DSLMs regular season after yesterday, manager (not that) Jose Guillen emptied the bench, using 14 different position players and 6 pitchers in yesterday's 6-4 win over those failed roiders from the DSL Cardinals. The DSLMs are heading to the DSL playoffs after this, so Guillen probably wanted to make sure as many players as possible got the chance to shake off any rust.

- Either Ben Pribanic has a long way to go, or he doesn't handle 105 degree desert weather very well. His ERA currently looks like a grocery bill.

- Paging Two R's and Two L's. Paging Two R's and Two L's:

Daniel Carroll hit his first career professional home run against Quad Cities yesterday. Carroll took a Ryan Kulik suck pitch over the LF wall with one out in the 3rd.

Sadly, the breakthrough blast did not key a T-Rats win, as starter Keith Renaud sucked more than Kulik, failing to finish the 5th inning in helping faciliate a 5-3 Quad Cities win.

- GOOD LORD JAMIE McOWEN. Three more hits makes him 10 for his last 17. Two doubles yesterday too. And stolen base #27... swiping 3rd base, no less. Someone's making a season-ending statement.

- On a lesser Mavs note... with 4.2 nausea-worthy innings yesterday, Alfredo Venegas became only the 2nd High Desert Mavs pitcher this year to surpass 100 innings pitched on the season, with Anthony Varvaro and his 116 facepalm-inducing innings being the other.

- Shawn Kelley got rocked in the 8th inning last night, blowing a 5-2 DIAMOND JAXX lead and setting up Mobile's extra innings walkoff victory. It's the second straight appearance in which the previously untouchable kelley got pounded, and I don't want to say he's wearing down: he HAS struck out 9 in those 3.2 combined innings, and the first outing against the Mudcats was all groundballs, though the Baybears did tee off on him in the 8th. If the season wasn't almost over, I'd say it's adjustment time for Kelley. As it stands, it should roll off his back, and he should reload, work on his game between now and next Spring, and be ready to own hitters again in 2009, whether it's at AA or AAA.

- Marshall Hubbard started this game in left field. This is actually the 5th game he's started in LF, and this time he looked far better. Balls in air hit to Marshall Hubbard:

1st: Double
4th: Flyout!
6th: Flyout!
7th: Flyout 7-3 double play!
8th: Double
10th: Single, moving runner to 3rd, which set up the winning run on the next AB

The double play is the only outfield assisted double play from LF by the DIAMOND JAXX this season.

- Breakthrough: Brandon Morrow positively owned the Portland Beavers, striking out 11 of them over his 4 2/3 innings, the longest outing that he's managed yet, and easily his best.

According to Ian Ruder of the Tacoma News Tribune, Morrow threw 72 pitches, struck out 5 of the last 6 batters he faced with only one well-hit ball, and regularly hit 98 on the gun in PGE Park. Morrow, on his outing last night:

Tonight was the first time that I’ve felt comfortable out of the windup. I got a good rhythm and I stayed back out of the windup and felt comfortable finally.

I was initially ambivalent about whether or not we should see Morrow in September... but a big step forward like this has me on board with the team's intentions of test-driving him in the rotation next month on an 85-90 pitch count. Routinely hitting 98 already? Mixing his pitches well and feeling comfortable from the windup? Razzing Daren Brown for pulling him after 72 pitches, instead of feeling bushwhacked and being relieved about getting pulled? I say go for it!

He'll get at least one more Tacoma start... and then, when rosters expand in September, he'll likely be among the few September callups.  I'm guessing he'll take Dickey Time's spot in the rotation, though anything can happen, especially with this organization.

Unfortunately, the game was suspended after the power went out at PGE Park. Reportedly, the cause of the malfunction was a rift in the space time continum caused by a violation of the natural order of the Universe, aka Kevin Howard's 3rd home run of the game.

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- A lot of DSLers draw walks at a heavy clip, but one guy with a truly uncanny walk rate is the curiously named Rudy van Heydoorn. After a puke-worthy 194/288/313 season last year, the 19 year old returned with a newfound ability to work the count, currently sporting a healthy 18.7% walk rate and having cut his K rate from 28.5% during that dismal 2007 to 19.8% this year. With 3 walks yesterday, he upped his season total to 42 in 193 ABs, which over a full 162 games would be well over 120. He's 13 for his last 31 ABs, with 14 walks vs only 7 K's. Five of those 13 hits were XBHs, and he drew multiple walks in 5 of those 10 games.

The DSL mantra is that you don't get off the island with a walk, and 38.5% of his plate appearances end at the plate... but he's also added power, with 7 home runs in the dead-ball DSL over 151 AB to go with 5 doubles. It's not huge power but it's enough to possibly make him interesting enough to bring to the mainland. He may have a very European looking name, but Rudy's profile at the plate, so far, looks a lot like Brad Wilkerson... not that he's anywhere close to replicating Wilkerson's performance in the bigs, but that's the impression that I get from looking at a bunch of integers on a spreadsheet.

- After putting up good numbers in the VSL last season, I was surprised that Mexican hurler Jose Rios started 2008 in the Pulaski bullpen. After a spot start yesterday in which he threw 6 strong innings, walked 2 and struck out 8, I was curious why an otherwise effective pitcher was bullpenned.

Turns out he wasn't as effective as he seemed. In 2007, he ran an average-ish 16.1% K rate with an okay-ish 8.6% walk rate. As one would expect, in the PMs pen, his K rate improved in 2008 (26.5%), which tends to happen when you can throw max effort to a few batters instead of having to face a lineup twice and being expected to take a team into the 6th. His walk rate came down slightly (7.4%) and his groundball rate remained similar (54% to 57% last year). Being an unknown quantity as a starter and facing a meh Greeneville lineup (team .688 OPS, 3rd worst in the App League) gave him an edge yesterday. If he started every five days, he probably would remain reasonably effective but wouldn't come across as much more than what Kyle Haas or Taylor Lewis gives the PMs every 5 days. Those guys are just bikes in the prospect peloton, and the org made the choice to develop Rios in the pen.

It's not a huge difference, and if anything, he likely fits into the Alfredo Venegas category of productive swingman that's a breakthrough or two from becoming a prospect.

- The Aquasox got absolutely owned by Salem-Keizer Volcanoes pitching. Starter Andrew Reichard struck out 11 Aquasox over his 5 innings, strikeout reliever Michael Eifel added 4 more in the 6th and 7th, lefthander Eric Neitz added another, and four of Justin Fitzgerald's five outs were strikeouts.

That's 20 strikeouts over the 10 innings it took to complete this game, and it's a minor miracle that Luis Nuñez managed to drive in a run in the bottom 5th given how pwned the Aquasox lineup was yesterday. This could have easily been a 1-0 shutout. Nuñez and Anthony Phillips were the only Aquasox hitters who didn't strike out. Ryan Royster tried on a Golden Sombrero, and three Aquasox netted themselves a hat trick: Nate Tenbrink, Brandon Fromm (Fromm even got lifted in the 9th, saving him from joining Royster in the Sombrero fitting room) and Jharmidy De Jesus.

Looks like home plate umpire Javier Cantu got a lot of practice with his right jab calling all those punch-outs, as the Aquasox also struck out a lot of batters, a bullpen relay combining for 15 K, a total of 35 strikeouts in all. THIRTY FIVE. And the vast majority of them were swinging strikeouts, though no word on how big Cantu's strike zone was. The game, even with 1 hour and 18 minutes in rain delays, took 3 hours and 10 minutes despite extra innings.

Thirty five strikeouts in one game. Only four Aquasox have more than 35 K on the season: reliever Eddy Fernandez, reliever Matt Renfree, Doug Salinas and team strikeout leader Walter Suriel.

Everett reached base 6 times in this game, and stole 3 bases. They certainly did everything they could to get anything they could.

- After his 3rd straight multi-hit game, Jamie McOwen is 7 for his last 13. Only one hit, however, was an XBH (a double on Tuesday against Lancaster). He's been making a lot of impact in August, where he's running a 289/372/408 line despite only 5 XBH, with help from 10 walks, tied with April for the most he's had in any month. With speed-assisted doubles/triples power to the 23 year old Florida International grad's hitting, his key need to develop as a hitter will be to draw more walks and get on base to use his speed (26 SBs in 37 tries this season). Work the count, Jamie. Don't be Juan Pierre. You don't want to be Juan Pierre when you wear that jersey.

- Well, they certainly paint him in a different light than I "do", but PHAT ANDY 22 is the subject of a feature in the Tacoma Weekly.

Just for you, JI, because I know you'll love this paragraph:

Baldwin is a real fan of as well as a participant in sports. "I grew up liking all sports, but I never had anybody I wanted to model myself after in any sport. I liked the Giants and Barry Bonds and the Vikings were the only NFL team I followed." He also loves Brett Favre and said it would have been "fantastic" if the former Packers’ quarterback had wound up his career in Minnesota.

We also learn that he's under contract through next year, and will probably reprise his epic phatness in Tacoma in 2009.

Unfortunately, he did not have a good outing in PGE Park last night against Portland. PHAT ANDY 22 gave up 5 runs over 7 frames, and the Rainiers eventually lost in extra frames when Hubertime gave up a walkoff bomb to Paul McAnulty.

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- Turns out the 'Carlos Triunfel to West Tenn' information was ultimately not the case, as either the info was leaked before the org made an official decision, or the org suddenly changed their mind. The latter is possible: Triunfel reportedly had a pulled groin anyway and wasn't going to play Monday no matter what... and the org might have decided to hold up on that intended plan once Triunfel got hurt. We don't know where exactly the org stood on the move, but at the least they are seriously considering it. He'll be back in the Mavs lineup in a day or so, and it looks like he'll likely finish the season there. Somewhere in Jackson, Erick Monzon breathes a sigh of relief.

- Phillipe Aumont made another start for Wisconsin yesterday and gave the T-Rats 4 reasonable innings in a 3-2 win over lowly Kane County. He started the 5th, but walked the leadoff batter and manager Terry Pollreisz gave him the hook for Natividad Dilone after that.

1st: Groundball, walk, line drive, strikeout (swing)
2nd: Walk, groundball, popup, groundball
3rd: Strikeout (swing), flyball, groundball, flyball, groundball
4th: Line drive, groundball, strikeout (called)
5th: Walk

Dilone got credit for the win after throwing 3 hitless innings in relief of Aumont.

- One of Travis Mortimore's best starts was wasted by a bullpen meltdown in High Desert's 8-5 loss to Lancaster, but it still deserves note. Mortimore, plagued by flyball tendencies since July as a Mavs SP, got 12 groundballs without walking a batter, and worked into the 6th while allowing only two runs (one earned) and striking out four. Mortimore is definitely not as bad as his run totals would indicate, as much of it is a result of getting Cal Leagued. You can't give up flyballs at this level... but at a higher level, even if he doesn't improve his groundball rate, he should be capable of getting guys out over long relief or as a starter. The one thing he will need to cut down on is his 5.0/9 walk rate, though like the 12 groundballs, the 0 walks over 5.1 IP is a big step forward, especially against a Lancaster team that's 3rd in the Cal League in walks drawn.

1st: Groundball, groundball, groundball
2nd: Flyball, flyball, groundball, strikeout (swing), groundball
3rd: Strikeout (swing), groundball, strikeout (called), line drive, groundball
4th: Flyball (HR), groundball, groundball, flyball, strikeout (swing)
5th: Flyball, flyball, groundball
6th: Flyball, groundball, groundball

Groundballs: 12
Flyballs: 6 (1 HR)
Line Drives: 1
Walks: 0
Strikeouts: 4

- Tracy Thorpe hit the ground with a thud. As you'd surmise, the Earth shook, and 5 runs later, the 1st inning came to an end. Thorpe lasted 5 more frames, to his credit, matching his 6 inning outing on August 13, but unfortunately, he allowed 6 more hits and 6 more runs than he did on that start.

1st: Line drive, line drive, flyball, hit batter, popup, flyball (HR), strikeout (swing), flyball
2nd: Flyball, strikeout (swing), groundball
3rd: Groundball, flyball, line drive, groundball
4th: Groundball, flyball, popup
5th: Popup, groundball, walk
6th: Flyball (HR), popup, flyball, groundball

Groundballs: 6
Flyballs: 7 (2 HR)
Line Drives: 3
Pop Ups: 4
Walks: 1 (plus 1 hit batter)
Strikeouts: 2

Also, to cap it off, an oddity: Thorpe, who began this season as a reliever, started this game, and the two relievers who finished it, the returning Ryan Ketchner, and Doug FISTER, began the year as starters in the West Tenn rotation.

Stats below the jump...

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