Future Redbirds

First , I hope you all like the new look to the site. It’s nothing fancy, but I was tired of the “red alert”. It was a little hard on the eyes for me, so I figured it had to be the same for you readers. The side bars seem totally huge, unfortunately there’s no way for me to shrink them down.  I switched it back. It looks fine on Firefox, but upon checking the site on Explorer it’s a little messed up. Sadly, not enough people are hip to Firefox yet, so back to “red attack”.

l boros had a revealing interview with tonight’s starter for Palm Beach, Adam Ottavino. He speaks on how he’s improved his change up and how it’s helped him neutralize lefties, and the stats bear that out. Adam allowed a .892 OPS against southpaws last year, this year so far just .596. There’s also that whole sinker ball controversy. Says Ottavino:

Now, I’m not saying that I don’t agree with the philosophy of pitching to contact, and I guess that’s what the 2-seamer’s all about. But to me, the whole key is not to leave pitches over the fat part of the plate. And I can control my 4-seamer right now a heck of a lot better right now than I can control my 2. So right now, I’m just a work in progress. The 2-seamer’s gonna come, but right now I’m trying to refine the package I already have before I throw something else in there and totally rely on something different.

I wish someone would find a way to get that over to Dave Duncan re:Anthony Reyes. After witnessing Todd Wellemeyer walk 6 batters tonight, it’s painfully obvious to everyone Reyes doesn’t belong in Memphis. Sorry, no more Reyes soapboxes, I promise.

6 Swing players have been named to the Midwest League All Star game. Brandon Buckman and Christian Lopez have both been named starters. Joining them are pitchers P.J. Walters, Elvis Hernandez, Kenny Maiques and Brandon Dickson. (No love for Shaun Garceau or Tyler Herron?)

Speaking of the Swing, Dan at Get Up, Baby! has the stock report for the Quad Cities roster in the beginnings of a promising new series he’s doing. On to the games-

Memphis 2, Las Vegas 4

• Mike Parisi allowed 4 runs on 7 hits, which included 2 homers. He gave up 4 walks with 6 K’s over 7 frames. He extracted 9 ground ball outs.
• Ryan Christianson and Tagg Bozied drove in the Cardinal runs.
• Rick Ankiel went 1 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• John Rodriguez went 1 for 4 with a double.
• Mark Worrell pitched 2 innings of 1 hit ball, striking out 2.

Springfield 5, Tulsa 4

• Joe Mather drove in 5 runs on a double and a HR. He seems to have regained his power stroke as of late, as that’s his 2nd homer in 2 games. Since June 1, Mather is hitting .385/.471/.923.
• Mitchell Boggs allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 5. He got 10 ground ball outs.
• Chris Perez picked up his 13th save of the season, albeit was a rocky one. He allowed a 2 run homer.

Palm Beach 0, Clearwater 8

• Adam Ottavino got knocked around a bit tonight. He allowed 3 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks while striking out 6. The 3 runs came off a 3 run homer.
• While you could say Ottavino got hit, Matthew Trent got hammered. He allowed 5 runs in 1 inning.
• James Rapoport went 2 for 4 with a steal.
• Nathan Southard went 2 for 3 with a double.

Quad Cities 13, Wisconsin 5 (Game 1, 7 innings)

• Brandon Buckman went 3 for 4 with a homer.
• Jaime Landin, Luke Gorsett and Christian Reyes all had two hit, and all had doubles.
• Elvis Hernandez allowed just 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5.
• P.J. Walters had an off night, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits, including a solo HR. He walked a batter and threw 2 wild pitches while striking out 5.

Quad Cities 3, Wisconsin 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)

• Tyler Herron is really on a roll as of late. He allowed just a hit in 3 innings, while striking out 6.
• Brad Furnish was also pretty dominant, he allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk over 4 innings while striking out 9 batters. He did however throw 3 wild pitches, perhaps catcher Christian Reyes had something to do with that.
• Tommy Pham hit a single, drew a walk, stole a base and was picked off at 1st.
• Wilmer Alvarado went 1 for 3 with a double and walk.
• Brandon Buckman went 2 for 4 with a double.
• Chris Grossman went 2 for 4.