Monday, July 20, 2009

Sunday's hurlers sparkle!!

Anyone who reads this regularly knows I will always come back to my mantra: "It is all about the pitching!!" On Sunday it started at the top and went right down the whole chain.

In Miami, J.A. Happ went for 7 shut out innings, allowing just 5 hits and 1 walk, and improved his rookie-of-the-year-wothy numbers to 7-0, 2.68 for the season and the Phillies won for the 8th straight game, 5-0 over Florida.

In Allentown, Andrew Carpenter also turned in 7 solid frames of work, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks. He received no decision for his work, lowering his ERA to 2.75 and keeping his record at 8-2. The IronPigs improved to .500 at 47-47 when David Newhan doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th, and are within striking distance of a wild card playoff spot in the International League. Lou Marson (.302) had a double, and scored a run for Lehigh.

In Reading, it was Mike Stutes (7-5) on display for the Phillies and 5.1 shut out innings was the result. When Alex Concepcion took over and finished with a strong 3.2 inning, save-earning performance, Reading had itself a 9-1 win. Kevin Mahar (10th), Jeremy Salyden (8th), and Tim Kennelly (2nd HR in 3 games with Reading) all went deep for the R-Phils and Neil Sellers (.317) had 4 hits.

The news was also good from Clearwater. Darren Byrd (2-3) went 6 strong innings, combining with Santo Hernandez and Scott Mathieson to blank Sarasota, 4-0. Outfielder Arlon Quiroz (.228) had 3 hits and stole his 15th base to lead the offense. Dominic Brown (2 more hits, 5 for 12 in 3 games since returning), Derrick Mitchell (double, HR #7), and Luis Arzeno (.231, 2 singles, 2 runs) with 2 hits each. There are now too many outfielders in Clearwater.

Back to our pitching, it was Hietor Correa's turn in Lakewood and big right-hander picked up his 7th win of the year, pushing his way through 5.1 innings allowing only 3 earned runs. He got some bad breaks, a couple of balls that could have/should have been turned into outs produced some unearned runs against, but Ryan Bergh stopped the bleeding and B.J. Rosenberg picked up his 15th save, as Lakewood (55-37) notched a 6-5 victory over Lexington. Travis d'Arnaud had 2 more hits, he is on an 11-game streak now, and is 16 for 38 (.421) over the last 8, hitting .342 since June 13. D'Arby Myers continues to be hot, picking up 2 more hits to raise his average to .245 by hitting .324 in his last 10 games!! Jeremy Hamilton reached base all 4 times at bat, with 3 walks and a hit, scored twice and drove in a run.

Finally, in Lowell, Joshua Zeid threw 5 good innings for Williamsport in the Cutters 8-1 win over the Spinners. Josh allowed only 1 run on 3 hits, and 3 walks, and is now 2-2, 2.93 for Williamsport. Sean Grieve (1 IP) and Austin Hyatt (3 IP, 5th save) threw scoreless relief. Anthony Hewitt shows some more signs of life: a single, a triple, 3 RBI, stolen base #6, and David Doss had a single and a double and is 4 for 12 (.333) the last 4 games.

No comments: