Happy Birthday–April 8

John Peters (1850)
Kirby Higbe (1915)
Stan Wasiak (1920)
Charlie Maxwell (1927)
Turk Farrell (1934)
Takao Kajimoto (1935)
John Hiller (1943)
Catfish Hunter (1946)
Randy Marsh (1949)
Mac Scarce (1949)
Gary Carter (1954)
Alex Gonzalez (1973)
Timo Perez (1975)
Jeremy Guthrie (1979)
Matt Ford (1981)
Chris Iannetta (1983)
Bobby Wilson (1983)
Felix Hernandez (1986)
Carlos Santana (1986)
Yonder Alonso (1987)
Jeremy Hellickson (1987)
Zach Eflin (1994)
Jo Adell (1999)

Stan Wasiak holds the record for most wins as a minor league manager, 2,530.  He managed from 1950-1986, managing at levels from Class D to AAA.

Pitcher Takao Kajimoto won 254 games in Japan and was a twelve-time all-star.

Randy Marsh was a major league umpire from 1981-2009 and is currently a director of umpiring.

Yonder Alonso was drafted by Minnesota in the sixteenth round in 2005, but did not sign.

We would like to wish a happy birthday to the brother of Daneeka's Ghost.

Dad A passed away on this date six years ago.  I'm not asking for sympathy--he lived a long, full life, he was ready to go, and I'm confident about where he is.  Still, I felt that I should at least acknowledge the anniversary somehow.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 8

First Monday Book Day: Ali Smith

I did it.  I read the full Seasonal Quartet by Ali Smith last month.  And then I realized that I enjoyed her writing so much, that I read a bunch of her other books too.  She is a writer that is perfectly in my sweet spot of wordplay and art and invention.  I read 7 of her novels in March, and I truly enjoyed every single one.

Ali Smith books read last month with my star ratings: Not a bad one in the bunch.

  • Autumn (5 out of 5)
  • Winter (4.5 out of 5)
  • Spring (5 out of 5)
  • Summer (4.5 out of 5)
  • Gliff (4 out of 5)
  • Companion Piece (4.5 out of 5)
  • How to be Both (5 out of 5)

I have to compliment my past self for deciding to keep buying books by authors that I enjoy even though I don't always read them right away.  In the past year I've done a deep dive into Jeff Vandermeer (October), N. K. Jemisin (January) and now Ali Smith (March) just because I had a bunch of their books un-read on my bookshelf.  I got to revisit the books of theirs that I liked in the past and add on more reading experiences.  It's a good way to do it.

Not sure that I have a real goal in mind for reading in April.  It's the end of the semester, so I'll probably just end up reading whatever comes across my path without a real plan.

Currently, I'm reading Worry by Alexandra Tanner - I just started it, but it's supposed to be witty and fun.

Which author would you dedicate a month or two of your reading to if you had the chance?


Books Read in March:

"You Dreamed of Empires" was a real trip of a book - the meeting of Moctezuma and Cortes imagined through a hazy mushroom trip.  I've read two books of Enrigue's (both translated by Natasha Wimmer) and both have been surreal and captivating.

Also, Natasha Wimmer is becoming a must-read translator for me, her hits/misses ratio is spectacular. She's done Bolaño, Enrigue, Nona Fernández - all great.  I see that she has also tranlated a Fresán book, which I now pretty much have to read.

I did not enjoy my first experience reading Kathy Acker.  No more of that for me, thanks.

Minor Details: Games of April 6

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 3, ST. PAUL SAINTS 2 IN COLUMBUS (10 INNINGS)

Once again the Saints scored two early, and once again it was enough until it wasn't.  In the third, Emmanuel Rodriguez singled home a run and a bases-loaded walk brought home another.  The Clippers got one back in the sixth, but it was still 2-1 going to the bottom of the ninth.  Angel Martinez led off the inning with a double and scored on a Petey Halpin single to tie it.  The Saints failed to score the Manfred Man in the tenth, and it cost them as Will Brennan, who apparently kills the Twins even when he's in the minors, singled home the deciding run.  The Saints stranded twelve men and were 1-for-10 with men in scoring position.  They drew ten walks, but could manage only five hits.

BattersRyan Fitzgerald was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitchers:  Randy Dobnak pitched five shutout innings, giving up one hit and four walks and striking out three.  Travis Adams struck out three in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk.

Opposition:  Will Brennan was 2-for-5 with an RBI.  Ryan Webb struck out five in 4.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up two hits and walking three.

St. Paul is 2-4, tied for eighth with Indianapolis, three games behind Columbus.

SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 5, WICHITA WIND SURGE 0 IN SPRINGFIELD (GAME 1)

Springfield scored three in the second on a double and three singles.  Wichita managed only one hit, a two-out single by Rubel Cespedes in the second inning.

Batters:  None.

Pitchers:  Starter Aaron Rozek struck out five in four innings, but allowed four runs on six hits and a walk.  Jaylin Nowlin pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition:  Jacob Buchberger was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.  Max Rajcic pitched five shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out four.

WICHITA WIND SURGE 10, SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 2 IN SPRINGFIELD (GAME 2)

Apparently the Wind Surge saved all its offense for the second game.  They scored six runs in the second inning on a walk. three singles, a double, and a two-run homer by Kala'i Rosario.  They added two more in the third, aided by three walks, and were never threatened.

Batters:  Tanner Schobel was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, a run, and four RBIs.  Ricardo Olivar was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Kala'i Rosario was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.  Ben Ross was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.

Pitchers:  Trent Baker struck out three in three shutout innings, also walking three but allowing no hits.  Joel Cesar pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.  John Stankiewicz pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Opposition:  Chase Davis was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Record:  Wichita is 1-2, tied for third with Arkansas, two games behind Northwest Arkansas.

WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 7, CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 6 IN WISCONSIN

It was another see-saw game, as the Kernels led 2-0, trailed 3-2, led 4-3, and trailed 5-4.  They tied it 5-5 in the seventh on doubles by Billy Amick and Gabriel Gonzalez, but Blake Burke's RBI double in the bottom of the seventh gave the lead back to Wisconsin and Hedbert Perez' RBI triple gave them an insurance run.  They needed it, because Gonzalez led off the ninth with a homer, but Cedar Rapids could not get the tying run on base.

Batters:  Billy Amick was 3-for-4 with a triple, two doubles, a walk, three runs, and an RBI.  Gabriel Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, and three RBIs.  Kaelen Culpepper was 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk, and a run.  Kyle DeBarge was 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Pitchers:  Starter Tanner Hall struck out six in five innings, but allowed five runs on five hits and a walk.  Juan Mendez struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning.

Opposition:  Blake Burke was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, two runs, and three RBIs.  Yophery Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a triple, a double, a walk, and three runs.  Jadher Areinamo was 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs.  Jeferson Figueroa pitched two shutout innings, walking three and striking out one.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 2-1, in third place, one game behind Beloit and Quad Cities.

PALM BEACH CARDINALS 11, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 10 IN PALM BEACH

The Mussels led 2-1 through five, but Josh Kross hit a two-run triple in a four-run sixth to give Palm Beach the lead.  Won-Bin Cho hit a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 7-2, and it looked like Fort Myers was done.  But no, they came back to score six runs in the eighth to take an 8-7 lead.  They had only two hits in the inning, but took advantage of five walks and three errors.  In the ninth, Poncho Ruiz followed three walks with a two-run single, and the Mussels were looking good with a 10-7 lead.  But an error and two walks loaded the bases with none out in the ninth.  A wild pitch scored one and a ground out plated another.  With two out, Cade McGee hit a walk-off two run homer to end the game in favor of the Cardinals.

Batters:  Poncho Ruiz was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Daniel Pena was 1-for-4 with a home run and a walk.  Dameury Pena was 1-for-2 with a home run.

Pitchers:  Michael Ross struck out five in five innings, giving up one run on four hits.

Opposition:  Won-Bin Cho was 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and three RBIs.  Christian Martin was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Jose Cordoba was 1-for-4 with a home run and two runs.  Cade McGee was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer.

Record:  Fort Myers is 1-2, tied for third, one game behind Clearwater and Tampa.

TUESDAY'S TILTS

6:05  Tampa at Fort Myers
6:35  Beloit at Cedar Rapids
6:35  Midland at Wichita
6:37  Omaha at St. Paul

milb.com did not list probable starters at press time.

Happy Birthday–April 7

John McGraw (1873)
Oral Hildebrand (1907)
Bobby Doerr (1918)
Jerry Hoffberger (1919)
Tom Phoebus (1942)
Bill Stoneman (1944)
Pete Van Wieren (1944)
Bobby Mitchell (1955)
Ricky Bones (1969)
Brett Tomko (1973)
Ronnie Belliard (1975)
Adrian Beltre (1979)

Jerry Hoffberger was the principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles from 1965-1979.

Pete Van Wieren was a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves from 1976-2008.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to the Philosofer's wife.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 7

Minor Details: Games of April 5

ST. PAUL SAINTS AT COLUMBS CLIPPERS

Rained out.  Will be made up April 29.

SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 6, WICHITA WIND SURGE 2 IN SPRINGFIELD

Springfield scored one in the first, three in the third, and two in the fifth to build a 6-0 lead.  Wichita got both of their runs in the ninth.

Batters:  Tanner Schobel was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.

Pitchers:  Starter Connor Prielipp pitched just two innings, allowing two runs on two hits and a walk, striking out three.  He threw 47 pitches.  Mike Paredes pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition:  Dakota Harris was 2-for-4 with a double, a run, and two RBIs.  Leonardo Bernal was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Jeremy Rivas was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer.  Tekoah Roby struck out five in four shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Edwin Nunez struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and two walks.

Record:  Wichita is 0-1, tied for third with Arkansas, 1.5 games behind Northwest Arkansas.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 6, WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 4 IN WISCONSIN

Cedar Rapids trailed 1-0, led 3-1, and trailed 4-3.  It was a three-run homer by Rayne Doncon that game them the short-lived lead.  An RBI ground out tied it in the seventh.  In the eighth, the Kernels scored twice without a hit. two walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases with none out.  A wild pitch brought home the go-ahead run and a ground out scored an insurance run.

Batters:  Jaime Ferrer was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Danny De Andrade was 2-for-4.  Rayne Doncon was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer, two walks, and two runs.

Pitchers:  Starter Alejandro Hidalgo struck out six in four innings, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk.  Gabriel Yanez struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Paulshawn Pasqualotto struck out two and walked one in two shutout innings.

Opposition:  Eduardo Garcia was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a run, and an RBI.  Yophery Rodriguez was 2-for-5.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 2-0, tied for first with Beloit.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 6, PALM BEACH CARDINALS 4 IN PALM BEACH

Angel Del Rosario hit a two-run double in a three-run second that gave Fort Myers a 3-0 lead.  They would never trail, but Palm Beach cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth.  Jose Rodriguez homered in the sixth to make it 4-2.  Fort Myers scored two more in the eighth on just one hit, benefiting from a walk, a hit batsman, and three wild pitches.  Palm Beach came back to score two in the bottom of the eighth and had men on second and third, but a lineout to first ended the inning and they went down in order in the ninth.

BattersByron Chourio was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Jose Rodriguez was 1-for-4 with a home run.

Pitchers:  Dasan Hill struck out seven and walked none in four innings, giving up one run on one hit.  Ivran Romero struck out three in two shutout innings, allowing only a hit batsman.

Opposition:  Cade McGee was 1-for-2 with a home run, two walks, and two runs.  Jason Savacool pitched four innings, giving up three unearned runs on three hits and one walk and striking out two.

Record:  Fort Myers is 1-1, tied for second, one game behind Tampa.

TODAY'S TILTS

11:30  Fort Myers (Michael Ross) at Palm Beach (TBD)
12:05  St. Paul (Randy Dobnak, 0-0) at Columbus (TBD)
1:05  Wichita (Trent Baker and Aaron Rozek) at Springfield (Max Rajcic and TBD)
1:10  Cedar Rapids (Tanner Hall) at Wisconsin (Chandler Welch)

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.