Sunday, April 20, 2008

Brummett, Myers lead 'Claws

The Lakewood BlueClaws defeated Delmarva 9-2 on a picture perfect afternoon Saturday, behind strong pitching from Tyson Brummett. Brummett, 23, out of UCLA, has been very consistent in his 4 starts and was overdue to post a victory. He went 7 innings Saturday, giving up just 1 earned run on 6 hits, striking out 7. Tyson's ERA is now an impressive 2.63. Lakewood's 14-hit attack was spearheaded by D'Arby Myers, who had a break out game with 4 hits, scored a run, stole a base, and drove in a run. The 19-year old from Los Angeles had been struggling, but is now 6 for his last 9. He was rested on Sunday. Travis "Moose" Mattair had his second consecutive 2-hit game. Moose is starting to look more comfortable, and if these 2 young guys can join the core of Brown, Durant and Taylor, Lakewood will be a tough team to beat. Speaking of Michael Taylor, he had 3 more hits on Saturday.

Lakewood managed just 3 hits on Sunday, dropping the finale of the series and the home stand, 7-2. Even here, I will find some positive. As is typical of a Steve Roadcap team, the BlueClaws did not pack in a game where they trailed 7-0 going to the bottom of the 9th inning. They squeaked out 2 runs and did not go quietly. The RBI's went to Taylor (his 6th) and Durant (his team leading 10th). The 'Claws head for Hagerstown Monday for 3 games with the Suns.

Clearwater dropped games Saturday, 5-3 to Dunedin and Sunday, 3-0 to Tampa. Joe Savery pitched well enough Saturday, but Andrew Cruse continued to give up just enough runs to lose again. Savery lowered his ERA to 1.73, but Cruse suffered his 4th loss this early season, and watched his ERA balloon to 10.80. OUCH!! P.J. Antoiato had 3 hits for Clearwater, then added 2 more on Sunday. PJ is 8 for his last 16, and hitting .333 for the year. Darren Byrd pitched very well Sunday, but fell victim to lack of support. Byrd went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on just 4 hits. Carlos Monasterios goes Monday against Tampa.

Reading lost both games Saturday and Sunday in Norwich, as the Connecticut Defenders prevailed 5-4 and 6-5. Jeremy Slayden (.291) had 2 hits in each game, and Jake Blalock (.444 since promotion from Clearwater) had a 3-hit game on Sunday. I think there will be more roster moves among Lehigh Valley, Reading and Clearwater, because the Phillies disabled 2 players on Sunday, calling up outfielder T.J.Bohn from Lehigh Valley and Brad Harman from Reading. This leaves the IronPigs short one outfielder and Reading short one infielder. I will keep my eye on the wires and report as soon as I see something.

Saturday in Iowa City, Robinson Tejeda made his 3rd appearance for Oklahoma, pitching 2 more scoreless innings for the Red Hawks. He has yet to give up a run in 4.1 innings of work, all this week.

Sunday's action included:
Bobby Korecky picking up his 4th save of the year in Rochester's 10-7 win over Scranton. Bobby pitched another 1-2-3 inning to lower his ERA to 0.73.
Kevin Howard had 2 hits for Las Vegas to raise his average to .304 in the 51s 13-5 win over Sacramento.
Andy Baldwin made a start for Tacoma, throwing 4 strong innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and 4 walks, striking out 5, in the Rainiers 5-4 win over the SkySox.

I found another one, HomeSiders. Juan Richardson, the all time BlueClaws home run king, is playing in the Texas League, for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Juan is hitting .241 for the Royals AA affiliate.

I will be home Monday night, monitoring the games before I head for New Britain, Connecticut to watch Reading take on the Rock Cats Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I think I will catch Carrasco's turn on Wednesday.

No comments: