Clip Joint Bluegrass

The Clippers (6-3) headed south yesterday to begin a weekend set with the Louisville Bats and came  up on the short end of a 4-2 final.  Despite outhitting Louisville 9 to 5, the Clips pitchers issued 6 walks in the first six innings and the Bats bats took full advantage.  Scott Barnes (4.09) started and looked good (5 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K) except for his control.  Hector Ambriz (1.93) further fueled the fire with two walk of his own before CC Lee (1.1 IP, H, 2 K, 3.38) was able to close the sixth inning.  Jeremy Accardo, yet to be scored on (and a helluva nice guy, met him the other day) pitched a perfect 8th, fanning one.

At the dish there was very little to write home about.  Chad Huffman (.375) continued his hot hitting with a pair of doubles and one of the two RBI.  Lonnie Chisenhall (.333) added a pair of singles, but more pertinent is the injury to Matt LaPorta (.314).  While the fastball that bruised Matty's right hand in the 5th did not break any bones, it remains to be seen just how it will affect his ability to handle the bat going forward.

Also on the injury front, both Luke Carlin (.357) and Andy LaRoche (.200) are headed to the DL with Michel Hernandez and Justin Toole replacing them on the active roster.

The Clipper ship docks in Louisville again tonight with lanky right hander Chris Seddon (0-0, 6.75) getting the 6:05p start.

Other Minor Points of Interest...

Akron
Although Jared Goedert (.308) and Nick Weglarz (.136) each had two hits for the Aeros last night, the similarities past that are few.   Both have shown little power, but Goedert has practiced excellent plate discipline (6 BB/5 K) to produce an .822 OPS, while Wegz has struggled (2 BB/ 11 K) and has posted an abysmal OPS of .345.

Steven Wright (1.59) and his ever improving knuckler got their second start and Trenton failed to meet the challenge.  Wright stymied the Thunder over 5 and 2/3 (2 H, ER, 4 BB), while punching out 7.  The opposition is hitting just .132 against Wright thus far.  Japanese import Toru Murata threw 1.1 innings of clean relief and has yet to be scored upon this season.  Cody Allen, just promoted from A+ Carolina, tossed the last two innings perfectly for his first career save.  The 2011 23rd round pick is blazing through the system and even made a couple of appearances with the big club during spring camp.  So far in 2012, opponents are hitting .053 off of Allen over 6 innings in which he has fanned 10 and walked none.

Carolina
While power prospect Jesus Aguilar (.407) is having no problems adjusting to the Carolina League, top infielder Tony Wolters (.138) is finding the slope a bit more slippery.  Aguilar has supplemented his first home run with a trio of doubles and has matched his strikeouts and walks at 3.  His OPS is a stunning 1.096.  Wolters, having fully skipped over low A Lake County, is just 4 for his first 29 with 10 Ks.  The same transition has yet to limit catcher Jake Lowery (.346).  He has produced a .952 OPS and 6 RBI in the season's first week.

Lake County
The Captains are the most talented of any affiliate this season and all of the boys are hitting in the early going.  LC played a afternooner today and the top two in the lineup certainly came to play.  Luigi Rodriguez (.324) doubled and tripled en route to scoring a pair of runs, while top prospect Francisco Lindor (.349) singled 3 times, scored one and drove one home.  Despite taking an 0-for-5 collar, Alex Lavisky (.308) still leads the club with 8 RBI.  All of this without LeVon Washington (.440), who got the day off.

Whew.  I kinda feel caught up now.  Watch out for A Quest Called Tribe, going live later this week.