Well, needless to say it’s been a rough couple of days for the big league club. And I don’t have anything particularly insightful to add to what’s already been said here and elsewhere. It’s a very unfortunate situation. . .
The Good
- Troy Cate had a decent outing for Memphis giving up 3 ER in 5IP. He scattered 9 hits and 1 BB so it wasn’t necessarily an outing that he was in control but he also kept the team in the game.
- Mark Worrell and Hugo Castellanos combined for three scoreless relief innings.
The Bad
- The hitting was ugly up and down the lineup. The two players most likely to help the STL Cardinals, John Rodriguez and Ryan Ludwick, went 1-for-3 and 0-for-3, respectively. Rodriguez has had a really bad slump that’s been going on for sometime now. Ludwick seems most likely to get a callup (if one ever comes).
- No Memphis batter reached base more than once on the night and the team only managed 6 baserunners.
The Good
- The offense was good (never would have guessed that from the score, eh?). 3B Juan Richardson was the offensive star going 4-for-5 with a HR.
- Joe Mather continues to hit. 2-for-5 with a double. erik discussed him in his April wrap-up of the minors and the real question is: Has Mather made a legitimate breakthrough? He does seem like the Terry Evans of this year but it’s hard to say if this is tools coming together or just a hot start. Mather’s track record isn’t great. He’s definitely worth watching though. If his raw power is finally translating into HRs then maybe he’s got a future in the big leagues.
- Colby Rasmus went 2-for-4 with a double and his 2nd stolen base.
- Mike McCoy went 3-for-4.
The Bad
- Mitchell Boggs gave up 9 runs (8 earned) in 5 innings. The relief corp of Michael Cooper, Matthew Scherer and Jason Motte gave up 7 runs in the remaining 4 innings.
- Juan Encarnacion went 1-for-4. He’s hitting .100 during his rehab assignment thus far.
- Bad nights for Tyler Greene, Bryan Anderson and Mike Ferris as they combine to go 0-for-13.
Palm Beach 6, Brevard County 5
The Good
- Allen Craig continues to rake with 2 HRs.
- Catcher Brandon Yarbrough raises his average to .354 going 2-for-4 on the night.
- Nick Webber and Luke Gregerson shut the door with scoreless innings of relief to get the win and the save.
The Bad
- Dan Nelson went 0-for-5 with 3Ks from the leadoff spot.
- Tyler Norrick allowed 5 runs in 7 innings of work.
The Good
- Quad Cities had 5 doubles on the night.
- Every position player reached base at least twice.
- Brandon Dickson allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in 5 innings for his 5th win.
- Brian Schroeder struck out 3 in 1.1 innings of relief.
The Bad
- Blake King pitched in relief. If you remember, I noted on Saturday that King only went 3 innings in his start and it struck me as odd. Well, now I’m left to wonder if he’s been dropped to relief permanently — nothing on the QC website except for this profile on King (for the faint of heart, be careful, he’s a Cubs fan). It didn’t seem to help tonight as he walked 4 and allowed 3 runs in 2.2 innings with just a single strikeout.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
you must not have been paying very close attention to the swing this year. they are using a piggy back rotation with 8 “starters.” you pitch half of your games from the bullpen and you start the other half. that is why king can’t get very deep into a start b/c he reaches his pitch count, and that is why he pitched in relief yesterday.
fewgoodcards — you’re right, I hadn’t heard that. which surprises me because it strikes me as a relatively unique way to handle developing pitchers. I’ll have to look into that some more.
And it’s hard to get any insight into the pitch count part of why he’s leaving since milb doesn’t provide them below the AAA level. Could be that he’s reaching his pitch count, but there’s no way to know what the pitch count is or how many pitches he’s actually throwing.
Erik, Allen Craig must have read your comment about his walk rate, he picked up 4 BB’s tonight