BARB!
Casselton---In the middle of a long home stand, the slow-starting Horned Toads have hit their stride in the Central just when the defending division champ (Pottsylvania) has been hit by a wave of injuries.
The result: an eight-game winning streak for GM Landon Bolt and his troops, keyed by an emergent-if-unheralded bullpen (Mike Adams, Sergio Romo, Brad Ziegler) taking up the slack for closer Bobby Jenks----and the inspired play of RF Justin Upton!
Upton is batting .400 in his last ten games, including three HR and 8 RBI, and kept his club's personal streak going Los Angeles in support of journeyman Dustin Nippert, making a spot start with the tempestuous Carlos Zambrano indefinitely suspended. Nippert was surprisingly effective (6 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER), but with the score knotted at 2-2 and five frames in the books, could not keep pace with Flyers starter Kevin Slowey and loaded the bases with two out in the sixth.
Lance Berkman, batting left-handed against the journeyman, went the other way, flaring the ball into short CF, where it kicked off the top of a diving Torii Hunter's glove, floating . . .
...and CAUGHT! by Upton, backing up the play, falling down and reaching behind him to snare the cue shot off Hunter's mitt, a remarkable play....or, depending how you look at it, just your routine 8-9 putout (!)
Thrilled by the defensive fireworks, setup man Mike Adams controlled the ball game over the next three frames, fanning four Flyers. Upton then led off the bottom of the ninth with a triple off Rafael Perez (0-1, 3.52). Scot Shields, summoned to punch out Hunter,instead yielded a fly ball....that sailed out of the park! Home Run! GAME OVER! Casselton wins, 4-2, in the bottom of the ninth, their eighth straight triumph!
The Horned Toads (39-26) have now taken a strong lead in the Central, and since June 1st are 16-8, the second-best mark in the league during that time. Pottsylvania, meanwhile, has lost eight of their last nine to fall eight games back, fourth place, and only ahead of cellar-dwelling Los Angeles, which sports the loop's worst mark.
In other BARB action:
ARIZONA 9, POTTSYLVANIA 4
WP: Ricky Nolasco (8-5, 4.55)
LP: Armando Gallaraga (5-7, 5.57)
Matt Kemp overthrew the cutoff man with the bases loaded in the top of the second, and hot-hitting Miguel Montero followed with a three-run home run to knock out fifth starter Armando Gallaraga, as the Thunder scored six times before he could record the fifth out of the game, and the host Creepers went on to be roundly booed by their fans in Pottsylvania.
With Jason Varitek and Ryan Ludwick on the DL, rookie Tyler Flowers and bench warmer Blake DeWitt rounded out the bottom of the Creepers nine with SS Erick Aybar, an easy target for pitcher Ricky Nolasco whenever the middle of the lineup got on. To make matters worse, the Creepers pen is exhausted after their record-setting 24-inning doubleheader with Casselton last week, and are now missing long man Manny Delcarmen. All in all, a tough time to be a Creeper: expect GM Jeff Moore to make a move any day now.
MADTOWN 2, ST. FRANCIS 0
WP: Jered Weaver (6-6, 4.23)
LP: Gavin Floyd (5-8, 3.09)
Gavin Floyd pitched eight solid innings, but there was simply too much Jered Weaver in this one, as the Murlocs probable ace racked up his second whitewash of the campaign, holding the Friars to just four hits, three of them by former teammate (and new Darwin second-sacker) Kelly Johnson. With Cesar Izturis traded to the Murlocs and Alexei Ramirez a scratch against the hard-throwing Weaver, Ben Zobrist got a start at short for the Friars, but went 0-for-4. Matt Holliday had an RBI single and Cecil Fielder a sac fly to account for all the scoring in the third,
to once again reach the .500 mark (38-38) while trying to keep pace in the West.
WORCESTER 7, BROOKLYN 5 (12 innings)
WP: Peter Moylan (3-1, 3.32)
LP: Francisco Liriano (1-2, 7.50)
In a wild affair that saw twelve pitching changes between the two clubs and one rain delay, the Moabs summoned fifth starter Francisco Liriano to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th. Liriano delivered there, and would fan five Worcester hitters, but Robinson Cano touched him with one out and a man aboard in the 12th for the Eliminators 43rd win, catching Brooklyn in the win column and taking a half-game lead in the Eastern Division.
Utility man Sean Rodriguez, getting to play regularly with both Tulowitzki and Utley sidelined, went deep in the top of the fifth with his fifth HR of the year, a two-run shot to give Brooklyn a 5-3 lead, but then the rains came. James Shields was forced to leave with a stiff arm, putting pressure on the Moabs pen, while five Worcester relievers combined to allow just one hit over the next seven innings.
INNINGS PITCHED IN MLB BY TOP 4 STARTERS:
The Horned Toads (39-26) have now taken a strong lead in the Central, and since June 1st are 16-8, the second-best mark in the league during that time. Pottsylvania, meanwhile, has lost eight of their last nine to fall eight games back, fourth place, and only ahead of cellar-dwelling Los Angeles, which sports the loop's worst mark.
In other BARB action:
ARIZONA 9, POTTSYLVANIA 4
WP: Ricky Nolasco (8-5, 4.55)
LP: Armando Gallaraga (5-7, 5.57)
Matt Kemp overthrew the cutoff man with the bases loaded in the top of the second, and hot-hitting Miguel Montero followed with a three-run home run to knock out fifth starter Armando Gallaraga, as the Thunder scored six times before he could record the fifth out of the game, and the host Creepers went on to be roundly booed by their fans in Pottsylvania.
With Jason Varitek and Ryan Ludwick on the DL, rookie Tyler Flowers and bench warmer Blake DeWitt rounded out the bottom of the Creepers nine with SS Erick Aybar, an easy target for pitcher Ricky Nolasco whenever the middle of the lineup got on. To make matters worse, the Creepers pen is exhausted after their record-setting 24-inning doubleheader with Casselton last week, and are now missing long man Manny Delcarmen. All in all, a tough time to be a Creeper: expect GM Jeff Moore to make a move any day now.
MADTOWN 2, ST. FRANCIS 0
WP: Jered Weaver (6-6, 4.23)
LP: Gavin Floyd (5-8, 3.09)
Gavin Floyd pitched eight solid innings, but there was simply too much Jered Weaver in this one, as the Murlocs probable ace racked up his second whitewash of the campaign, holding the Friars to just four hits, three of them by former teammate (and new Darwin second-sacker) Kelly Johnson. With Cesar Izturis traded to the Murlocs and Alexei Ramirez a scratch against the hard-throwing Weaver, Ben Zobrist got a start at short for the Friars, but went 0-for-4. Matt Holliday had an RBI single and Cecil Fielder a sac fly to account for all the scoring in the third,
to once again reach the .500 mark (38-38) while trying to keep pace in the West.
WORCESTER 7, BROOKLYN 5 (12 innings)
WP: Peter Moylan (3-1, 3.32)
LP: Francisco Liriano (1-2, 7.50)
In a wild affair that saw twelve pitching changes between the two clubs and one rain delay, the Moabs summoned fifth starter Francisco Liriano to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th. Liriano delivered there, and would fan five Worcester hitters, but Robinson Cano touched him with one out and a man aboard in the 12th for the Eliminators 43rd win, catching Brooklyn in the win column and taking a half-game lead in the Eastern Division.
Utility man Sean Rodriguez, getting to play regularly with both Tulowitzki and Utley sidelined, went deep in the top of the fifth with his fifth HR of the year, a two-run shot to give Brooklyn a 5-3 lead, but then the rains came. James Shields was forced to leave with a stiff arm, putting pressure on the Moabs pen, while five Worcester relievers combined to allow just one hit over the next seven innings.
INNINGS PITCHED IN MLB BY TOP 4 STARTERS:
Low ERA's. High win totals. Oodles of strikeouts. All of these are criteria by which we might rate starting pitchers. But, when looking ahead to the spring of 2011, when 2010 stat totals might matter most, there is one metric that is critical: innings pitched. Teams like Yuma and Frostbite Falls have built their track records on having a stable of healthy, durable starting pitchers able to go deep in games, and have thus won seven championships between them.
Yuma (613.2):
Halladay (171) + Sabathia (158) + Cain (151) + Price (133.2)
Frostbite Falls (587.2):
Hernandez (167.2) + Lincecum (145.1) + Hamels (139) + Garza (135.2)
Brooklyn (570.0):
Verlander (144.1) + Shields (142.2) + Lester (141.2) + Jiminez (141.1)
Casselton (563.1):
Santana (154.2) + Lackey (140.2) + Danks (140.1) + Saunders (127.2)
St. Francis (560.2):
Arroyo (148) + Carmona (138) + Floyd (137.1) + Richard (137.1)
Worcester (559.1):
Wainwright (160.1) + Dempster (144.2) + Cueto (130) + Sanchez (124.1)
Darwin (551.2) :
Johnson (147) + Greinke (145) + Kershaw (137.2) + Sanchez (122)
Madtown (548.0):
Weaver (148) + Niemann (134.1) + Wilson (133.1) + Garland (132.1)
Black Mesa (547.0):
Zito (143.2) + Santana (143) + Romero (138) + Rodriguez (122.1)
Pottsylvania (509.2):
Carpenter (156.2) + Lee (147) + Buehrle (132.1) + Gallaraga (73.2)
Arizona (509.2):
Nolasco (138.2) + Hanson (127) + Gallardo (126.1) + Latos (117.2)
Los Angeles(503.0):
Hudson (148.2) + Jackson (134.1) + Slowey (119.2) + Harang (100.1)
Oakland (458.1):
Haren (154.2) + Lowe (129.2) + Pettite (115.2) + Beckett (58.1)
Now, how does this ranking comport with our current league standings? Pretty closely! Of the six top-ranked teams in terms of SP durability, three are presently leading their divisions (Casselton, Worcester, Yuma) and two others (Brooklyn, Frostbite Falls) are above .500 and contending in their division. Only one such club, the expansion Friars, is below .500, and this is a recent development.
The take-home message is that IP matter in assessing your ballclub's competitive strength.
RB!
RB!
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