Tigres Tales

Hector Gimenez homered with two out in the bottom of the ninth to give Aragua a 2-1 victory over Lara.

Alex Nunez scored the other Tigres run, getting a double and a triple.  Joe Benson was 0-for-3.  Rich Rundles (St. Louis) got the win in relief, retiring both batters he faced.

For the Cardinales, Luis Antonio Jimenez (Seattle) had two hits and scored the only Lara run.  Starter Jarrett Grube (Seattle) pitched six innings, giving up a run on three hits and striking out seven.  Moises Hernandez (Seattle) took the loss in his second inning of relief.

Aragua hosts Margarita tonight.

Solar Sox Summary

Mesa's winning streak ended at one yesterday as Peoria took a 6-2 victory over the Solar Sox.

Scooter Gennett (Milwaukee) led the Javelinas with two singles and a double.  Juan Lagares (Mets) singled and homered.  Kentrail Davis (Milwaukee) singled and tripled.  Jefry Marte (Mets) had two hits.  Nick Franklin (Seattle) hit a home run.  The win went to Anthony Bass (San Diego), who allowed both runs on three hits and a walk in four innings.  Robert Carson (Mets) worked two shutout innings of relief.

Mesa was led by Junior Lake (Cubs), who had two of the four Solar Sox hits.  Aaron Hicks was 0-for-3.  Bruce Pugh took the loss, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk in 1.1 innings.  Dakota Watts worked 1.2 perfect innings.

Mesa travels to Peoria today.

Happy Birthday–October 13

Charles Somers (1868)
Bill Donovan (1876)
Rube Waddell (1876)
Pickles Dillhoefer (1893)
Frankie Hayes (1914)
Lou Saban (1921)
Charlie Silvera (1924)
Eddie Yost (1926)
Eddie Mathews (1931)
Bob Bailey (1942)
Randy Moffitt (1948)
Dick Pole (1950)
Frank LaCorte (1951)
George Frazier (1954)
Bryan Hickerson (1963)
Chris Gwynn (1964)
Trevor Hoffman (1967)
Damian Miller (1969)

Better known as a football coach, Lou Saban was the president of the New York Yankees in 1981 and 1982.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 13

Venezuelan Winter League Preview

The Venezuelan Winter League starts today.  There are eight teams in the league.  The teams are Aguilas de Zulia, Bravos de Margarita, Cardenales de Lara, Caribes de Anzoategui, Leones del Caracas, Navegantes del Magallanes, Tiburones de La Guaira, and Tigres de Aragua.

Once again there are a lot of Twins players on the roster for the Tigres de Aragua.  They are Cesar Ciurcina, Jhon Garcia, Edgar Ibarra, Jose Mijares, Miguel Munoz, Josmil Pinto, Oswaldo Arcia, Joe Benson, Jon Goncalves, and Yangervis Solarte.

It is unclear, however, which of those players will actually play or when they will play.  Rosters in winter leagues are different.  There are fifty-five players currently on the Aragua roster.  Players come and go.  Some are there for a couple of weeks, some are there for a month, some stay all season.  It seems logical that there would be an "active roster" of people who are actually available to play on a given night, but if it exists it is not easy to find.  As one follows the league, one gets the impression that if a good player just happened to show up in the fifth inning, they'd hand him a uniform and send him onto the field.

We hope at least a few of the Twins players will always be around at any given time, so that following Aragua will be more interesting to us.  If not, well, it's still baseball, and it will still be something to help us through the long winter months.  Let's play ball!

Solar Sox Summary

Mesa finally got its first win, defeating Scottsdale 3-2.  The Solar Sox once again got off to an early lead, as they were ahead 3-0 after six.  This time, however, they were able to hold on for the victory.

Brandon Short (White Sox) led Mesa with a single and a solo homer.  Junior Lake (Cubs) had two hits.  Brian Dozier was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt.  Chris Herrmann was 0-for-2 with a walk.  Aaron Hicks was 1-for-2 with a triple and a walk.  The win went to Terry Doyle (White Sox), who started and pitched four perfect innings.  Andrew Cashner (Cubs) worked a scoreless ninth, giving up one hit to get the save.  No Twins pitchers were used in the game.

For the Scorpions, Hank Conger (Angels) and Zach Walters (Arizona) each had two hits.  Starter Tyler Cloyd (Philadelphia) took the loss, giving up a run on four hits and a walk in three innings.

The Solar Sox try to make it two in a row as they host Peoria this afternoon.

Weekly Wild Whangdoodle – Games 1-3

Another season has kicked off for the Wild, with quite a few new faces.  A quick rundown of those who migrated to the State of Hockey to begin the 2011-2012 NHL season.

Dany Heatley - Traded to the Wild from San Jose for Martin Havlat as the search for Marian Gaborik's heir continues.  Heatley has the potential to pot quite a few goals and he can be a power-play wizard.  The question is whether he will get enough chances to make the difference that a top-notch goal scorer can.

Devin Setoguchi - Traded to Minnesota from San Jose on draft day as part of a big deal that sent Brent Burns to the Sharks.  He's averaged 24 goals/year the last 3 seasons, and the hope is that his pairing with Koivu and Heatley will yield him plenty of opportunities to match or exceed those totals.

Brett Bulmer - Made the jump from Canadian Juniors straight to the opening day NHL roster.  He was a 2nd round pick of the Wild's in 2010, and he's only 19.  More of an energy guy than a goal scorer, and I'd expect him to spend some time in Houston this year, but it's a fun story that he made the team.

Nick Johnson - Spent last year with the Pittsburgh AHL affiliate before coming to the Wild.  Nothing special, but could be a role-player.

Darrell Powe - Traded to Minnesota from Philadelphia for a 3rd round pick (2013).  Checking-line winger, adjusted plus/minus and Corsi don't think much of him, but I haven't seen enough to really say anything.

Contrast those additions with the loss of Mittens, Brunette, Burns, Havlat and Madden.  The biggest impact on the offensive side might end up being a healthy Bouchard and Latendresse.  If those guys are healthy and productive, I think this team could be somewhere around a league average offense, which would be a nice change.

Defensively, they are about the same, although they lose the puck-moving of Brent Burns, they look to Marco Scandella and some younger guys to provide that.   They should be alright but nothing spectacular in that respect.

So average offense, and a passable defense, does that spell playoffs?  It's within the realm of possibility, but I think things need to break right (no injuries, some breakout seasons, etc.).

Continue reading Weekly Wild Whangdoodle – Games 1-3

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.