Monday, November 16, 2009

Sunday's highlights

In Mexico-

John Mayberry belted his 5th home run of the winter season on Sunday, raising his average to .301 and his RBI total to 20, but Obregon's 3-run 9th innings was not enough to overcome Hemosillo, who took a 4-3 decision.

Brian Schlitter gave up a run on a hit and 2 walks, striking out 2 in 1.1 innings of work for Mexicalli, in the Aguilas' 9-5 win over Guasave.


In the DR-

Zack Segovia threw another scoreless inning for Escongido, lowering his ERA to a splendid 0.71 as the Leones topped the Gigantes, 5-0 on Saturday. Walter Tejeda tossed a scoreless/hitless inning for Oriente in their 15-5 loss to Licey. Juan Richardson was 1 for 4 in that game.

Puerto Rico-

Quintin Bery had a single, a walk and stole a base for Caguas, but the Criollos lost to Arecibo 9-3.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Nothing like fall in Arizona!


Domonic Brown, Julian Sampson, Troy Hanzawa, Tuffy Gosewisch, Bob Milacki , Scott Mathieson and Travis d'Arnaud in Scottsdale over the weekend. How did Steve Susdorf escape this opportunity? Photo courtesy of HomeSide correspondent Kathy Palamara.

Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican winter league kicked off this week, and the HomeSide is represented here, also. Quintin Berry is playing for Caguas, and has 2 hits and 2 walks in the first 2 games. Also playing for the Criollos is Andy Baldwin, who spent 2009 in Tacoma in the Mariner's system. Andy started game 2 for Caguas and went 3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in Caguas' 6-3 loss to Carolina.

Darren Byrd made his first start for Mayaguez on Friday, and was roughed up by Arecibo. Byrd gave up 5 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in just 2 innings of work.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Bourn golden


The National League awarded their golden glove awards for 2009 this afternoon and Michael Bourn is a first time recipient. Michael had 11 assists and a .992 fielding percentage for the Astros this year.


Congratulations, Michael!!

Dominican

Zack Segovia is having a fine winter playing for Escongido, allowing just 1 run in 9.2 innings of work (0.93 ERA) , recording 5 saves and 2 wins for the Leones.

Original BlueClaw (and Lakewood home run king) Juan Richardson is spending this season with Oriente and is hitting .294 in 20 games so far. Walter Tejeda is also on that roster, being used a left handed specialist to get out 1 or 2 hitting at a time, logging just 2 innings of work in 5 appearances.

Fabio Castro (5 starts, 24 IP, 2.63 ERA) and Alex Concepcion (0-1, 5 runs allowed in 6.2 IP) are toiling for Cibao.

Venezuela

Harold Garcia is spending this fall playing for Zulia, hitting .274 so far in 21 games. Also on that roster are Erick Arteaga (3.86 in 11.2 innings) and Freddy Ballestas (0-3, 10.24 in 3 starts).

Carlos Monasterios is leading the league with 5 victories in 5 appearances, 4 starts, with an excellent 2.45 ERA in 25.2 innings of work for Margarito.

Yoel Hernandez is 2-0, 2.50 with 1 save in 18 innings of work for league-leading Magallanes. Cedric Bowers, who spent last summer mostly in Lehigh Valley, is seeing limited action, logging just 3.2 innings in 7 appearances. Jesus Merchan is also playing with Magallanes, batting .337 with a .416 on-base percentage.

Kevin Howard is hitting .263 playing for La Guaira with 2 home runs and 11 RBI in 25 games so far.

Victor Moreno (3-0, 4.32 in 13 appearances) and Francisco Butto (0-3, 11 earned runs in just 10 innings) are pitching for Aragua.

Mexico

Some familiar names in the Mexican Winter League playing for Obregon. Niel Sellers in the Yaquis' leading hitter. Sellers, who played 3rd base in Reading last summer, is hitting a torrid .371 with 18 RBI in just 23 games. Michael Taylor continues to hit .300 wherever he plays, posting a .308 mark in 19 games played, and John Mayberry has popped 3 home runs and driven in 14 runs, hitting .268 in 21 appearances.

B.J. Rosenberg has saved 2 games in despite giving up 5 runs in 7 games. The fact here is that 4 of those runs were surrendered in 1 game.

Brian Schlitter has made 14 appearances for Mexicali, saving 5 games and picking up a victory. Brian was a BlueClaw in 2007 and spent the 2009 summer playing in the Southern League for the Cubs affiliate, saving 22 games.

Sebastian Valle is tearing the league up, belting 8 home runs and driving in 21 runs to post a .333 average in just 19 games playing for Mochis. Valle, who was a NY-Penn League All Star this summer for Williamsport, will probably be the everyday catcher for Lakewood in 2010.

Chris Roberson has just joined the Hermosillo team, going 0 for 3 in his debut on Tuesday.

Scottsdale Scorpions

The HomeSide has 6 members playing in Arizona for Scottsdale this year. Phillies #1 prospect Domonic Brown, who I saw on TV last Saturday night in the "Rising Stars Game", which is essentially the AFL all-star game, is the most prominent. Domonic was 1 for 4 and a walk in the contest, the one was a bullet line drive double down the right field line in his team's 7-run first inning. He also hit another hard line drive in his final at bat, a shot down the left field line which was caught. Dom is hitting .256 in 90 at bats for the Scorpions with 8 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs and is tied for the team lead with 16 RBI.

Also playing for the Scorpions is Tuffy Gosewisch (.313 in 8 games) and Troy Hanzawa. Troy is very young to be in the AFL, and is not playing much. Although 0 for 12 in his 4 appearances, Hanzawa has managed 1 walk, 3 runs scored and 2 RBI in his limited play.

Among the pitchers, Edgar Garcia has logged the most innings, making 8 appearances including 1 start, and posting a 2-2, 6.75 mark in 13.1 innings of work. Mike Cisco has thrown 11.2 frames in his 4 starts, going 0-1, 3.68 in the process, and Scott Mathieson has given up just 2 runs on 6 hits in 9 innings of work (2.00) and seems to have fully recovered. Scott has once again been placed on the Phillies' 40-man roster. Also playing with the Scorpions is Mike Schwimer, who spent most of 2009 with Clearwater before being moved up to Reading in August. The University of Virginia alum posted 20 saves for the Threshers last summer, and has made 8 appearances for Scottsdale, throwing 10.2 innings for a 3.38 ERA.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Fall Ball

The fall and winters leagues are heating up and our boys are all over the place. First off, the all- star game from the Arizona Fall League will be televised tonight at 8:00 on MLBN.

In the coming days, I will try to catch up on where our boys are and how they are doing. Baseball has become a year round sport and some of our guys are still going at it

Congratulations to

1.-the Phillies for giving us another good post-season, falling just 2 wins short of repeating as World Champions.

2.- Jay Happ for being named NL rookie of the year by the Sporting News.

3.- Ryan Howard for being named MVP of the NLCS.

4.- Mike Durant on the birth of his daughter, Milan, this week. Mother (Aimee) and child are both doing well!!