Catching up

There is much to cover today, so let's get to it.

After dropping a 4-3 decision to West Virginia on Tuesday, the BlueClaws rebounded with a 5-3 win Wednesday afternoon. Jim Murphy had 2 doubles on Tuesday, and continues to hit the ball hard. The other strong performance in that game came from Santo Hernandez, in relief of Jesus Sanchez. Hernandez gave the team 4 scoreless ( and hitless) innings, giving Lakewood an opportunity to get back into a game in which they trailed 4-0.

I cannot say enough about Hernandez performance so far this year, in particular lately. In his last 7 outings, Santo has worked 19.1 innings, allowing only 1 earned run on just 7 hits. He has struck out 23, walking 10. His ERA for the season is an excellent 2.42, and the bullpen in general continues to be very strong.

In Wednesday's victory, the BlueClaws maximized 6 hits into 5 runs, as Jon Velasquez recorded his team leading 6th win of the season. J.C. Romero (who seems to be following me!) threw 2 scoreless frames and B.J. Rosenberg picked up his 7th save. Anthony Gose swiped his 27th base, and is on a pace to break the team record of 59 set in 2003 by Chris Roberson.

The Clearwater Threshers played an exciting game in the first of a doubleheader Wednesday night. Let me set the stage for you. Despite Mike Durant's 6th home run, a 2-run shot in the 2nd inning, Clearwater entered the bottom of the 7th trailing 5-3. Remember, doubleheaders are 7 inning games. Cody Overbeck and Jesus Villegas hit back-to-back home runs to start the 7th to tie the game. When Chris Kissock gave up 2 runs in the 9th, the Threshers found themselves behind again, but a lead-off single by Joel Naughton was followed by Overbeck's second dinger of the game and play continued until the 11th when Dominic Brown singled in Villegas with the game winning run in an 8-7 win. Charlotte gained the split with a 2-1 victory in the nightcap. Drew Naylor was the hard luck loser, but pitched great. 2 runs, 4 hits, NO walks, 7 Ks.

Tuesday night in Akron, Vance Worley (4-2, 2.83) and Mike Zagurski combined on a 4-hit shutout, leading Reading to a 5-0 win. Tuffy Gosewisch was 3 for 3 with a walk, scoring a run and driving one in. Tuffy has reached base in 10 of his last 11 plate appearances (7 hits, 3 walks). Michael Taylor (.324) added 2 more hits for the R-Phils. Wednesday's game was rained out.

Tuesday night in Buffalo, Drew Carpenter had his good stuff, giving the IronPigs 7 solid innings in a 2-1 Lehigh Valley win. Carpenter allowed just the 1 run, on 6 hits, 1 walk, striking out 4 to improve to 2-0, 3.61 on the year. Sergio Escalona retired 4 hitters (2 on strike outs), recording a "hold". Lou Marson and Jeremy Slayden each had a double and a walk, with Lou scoring both runs for the Pigs. On Wednesday, Slayden hit his 3rd home run, and David Newhan and Paul Hoover had 3 hits each as Kyle Kendrick went 6 innings (3 runs, 9 hits, NO walks) to pick up his 4th win of the year in a 5-3 victory.

Outside the system, Matt Maloney pitched very well, but Louisville did not give him any run support and the Bats lost to Pawtucket, 2-0. Matt went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Matt is 3-3, with a stellar 2.31 ERA so far for the Cincinnati affiliate.

It was the same story last night in Anaheim for Gavin Floyd, who threw a complete game, 8 innings, 3 runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, 8 strike outs in the Angel's 3-1 win over the White Sox. In Cincinnati, Michael Bourn (.286) was 1 for 3 with a walk, stealing his 16th base, in the Astros 6-1 loss to the Reds, and in Philly, Ryan Howard (.263) had a single and a double, and Carlos Ruiz hit his 2nd home run of the year, but the Phillies dropped a 6-2 decision to the Marlins.