Pretty Girl 06.12.11 - Rheagan Wallace

This one I found on a re-run of Malcolm In the Middle.  It goes to show you never can tell.

Hurricane Clip Joint

A day after the Clippers became the first AAA squad to reach 40 wins in 2011, the skies cracked opened and delay #41 at least another 24 hours.  I have never been out in, nay never seen live, weather such as what touched downtown Columbus last night.  After a 90 degree pre-game, clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped and the contest was eventually delayed in the third when the rains came.  Initially, the drops fell straight down, then, about 15 minutes in, the winds arrived.  Within about 5 minutes I was ensconced in what I have to image the gulf coast has nightmares of.  The rain was flying horizontally, swirling.  I was in an L-shaped hallway leading to a men's room and the precipitation found its way around two right angles to speckle me as I watched.  Wowza.

Suffice if to say, the Clippers did not complete their game last night.  That is quite as shame as the boys has put a five spot on the board in the first and Zach McAllister was in line for win #8 when mother nature intervened.  A couple of quick notes about the game that may never count for anything.  Lonnie Chisenhall laced an RBI double to bring home Columbus' first run.  He made an outstanding adjustment during the at-bat, having smoked the previous pitch down the right field line foul before straightening out the double into the corner.  The Chiz Kid is always more impressive in person than he is on paper.  Luis Valbuena, the hottest hitter in all of chistendom, had not yet extended his 19 game hit streak and looked to be pressing just a bit.  Luis took an awful cut on a 2-1 pitch during an AB that ended in a strikeout for him and the play on the field for everyone.  Shelley Duncan, who had walked in 3 of his first 8 PA's, added another 2 bases on balls, but, again, all of this is pending for the moment.

Should the Buffalo area remain calm, the Bisons host our Clippers at 7:05p with Corey Kluber scheduled to pitch.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

CC Lee completed his 5th straight scoreless outing for the Aeros yesterday.  A hit and a pair of walks accompanied two more punch outs for the 24 year old right hander.  Lee (1-1, 2.57) has thrown 8.1 innings over the stretch, surrendering just 3 hits and 3 walks while fanning 12.  His K/9 is a brilliant 12.60 on the season.

There has been a lot of chatter recently about Akron righty reliever Matt Langwell, who picked up his 3rd save of the season last night.  Lagwell (2-1, 1.27) was an 11th round pick in 2008 out of Rice and has not been score upon his last 10.1 innings.  Over the past three seasons (one each at Low-A, High-A, and AA) his ERA is an even 2.00, his OBA .217, his WHIP 1.05 and his K/9 a flat 9.00 (or one an inning).  He has been described as "still under the radar," but with a real opportunity to contribute as a big league middle reliever.  I will be digging to get a bit more information of the kid.

Rob Bryson took a 10th inning loss for the Lake County Captains.  Bryson (0-1, 3.38) put the game winning run into scoring position via a walk and a hit batter, then allowed a two-out walk-off single.  Control is not a huge concern for 23-year old RHP and more focus should be on keeping healthy a player who has missed significant time in each of the past four season.

Cheers.

Satire Of Satire

How deep does it go?  If Lonely Island mocks society and Julian Smith mocks Lonely Island, then someone will mock Julian Smith and when will it end?  Surely Julian could cash a bigger check voicing Batman for cartoons.  At least the bag pipes are cool.

A Quest Called Tribe

I did not watch it as I was too busy with the deluge at Huntington Park.

I can only consider myself lucky.

At least the boys hit, that is a damn good sign.  Unfortunately our 3-8 ace could not find the strike zone long enough (45 of 93 pitches for strikes) to get anybody out.  If I saw Fausto Carmona on the street and he was like 8 inches shorter, I would kick him straight in the nuts and ask him what the fudge he thinks that he is doing.  Come on man!  Is it too much to ask your "best" pitcher to keep the team in the game.  Maybe po Fausto got a little too much sand in his vagina.  Whatever the excuse is, I do not want to hear it.  Someone needs to slap the man in the face and tell him that he needs to pitch to his ability.  If he cannot, the Tribe should trade him some bubble gum and a good tarp.  Sheesh.


The sad bit is that Carmona looks like Cy friggin' Young compared to Chad Durbin.  Can anyone out there muster an argument as to why this man is still sucking the life out of a roster spot?  Oh, I know that he is our huge free agent signing, but, for pete's sake, if we cannot eat the $800K then the Indians should just shut down operations now and see if Brad Paisley can play every GD weekend.  ERA: 6.67.  Awful!  WHIP: 1.78.  Awful!  OBA: .321.  Good god man, how do you even accept the ball and go back to the mound?  Have some self respect.  You want more?  Over his last four outings, and remember that includes a duo of scoreless appearances in garbage time, his ERA is 17.18, his OBA is .474 and his WHIP is 3.54.  3.54?!  Durbin is putting three and a half guys on base every inning.  Oh, and Durbin has now surrendered 20 earned runs this season.  The sum total of Chris Perez, Tony Sipp, Joe Smith, Rafael Perez and Vinnie Pestano is 24.  I am unsure that release is enough.  We might need to shoot him and throw him into a wood chipper. 

Not to worry, Mitch Talbot is throwing tomorrow.  He is the stopper.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 06.11.11 - Brenda Strong

I dunno about the other roles, but Sally Sasser and Sue Ellen Mischke are the cat's meow.  And she's 5'11.5".  Dude.

It's A Freakin' Social Phenomenon

I smell a tour coming...

Minor Points Of Interest

Kinston
Drew Pomeranz earned his second pro win and showed no lingering signs of injury during a five inning start on the 6th.  Pom (2-1, 1.85) was erratic, walking four, but allowed just two hits and one run as he fanned five.  Barring any further injury setbacks, expect Drew in Akron no later than July.  Oh, by the way, his OBA is .185.

Giovanni Soto got knocked around but good in a June 5th loss that evened his record at 4-4.  Soto (3.02), who has sandwiched two stinkers around a six shutout, 10 K performance, allowed five earned on nine hits over five innings.  Soto just turned 20 in May.  You have got time, kid.

Lake County


LeVon Washington (.221) cracked his first professional home run on Wednesday, a two-run shot.  Although Washington is just 3-for-his-last-15, he has drawn six walks and stolen a base over those five games.  That on-base percentage rounds out to .429, exactly what you want from your leadoff man.

Alex Lavisky continues a growing pained first season that has seen him strike out 61 times in 170 at-bats.  Alex (.206) does have seven long balls to his credit and has hit safely in a modest three in a row.

Steven Wright produced the first truly awful start since his conversion to the knuckleballer.  Against Wisconsin on the 8th, Wright (1-2, 3.13) lasted just 3.1 innings in surrendering eight earned (11 total) on 12 hits.  That is the caveat of the knuckler; if you take the hill and it is flat, you are just throwing BP.

Rob Bryson, the lost arm from the CC Sabathia trade, has finally been activated, after missing the first two months with a broken foot.  Bryson has pitched twice, striking out four and giving up just one hit over two strong innings.  He made it as far as Akron in 2010 (13.5 K/9 overall) and should move quickly back up as soon as his stamina is proven.

With a name like Goodnight, he has to be good.  And so Michael was in hurling six shutout on Tuesday.  He allowed three hits and one walk, while whiffing four and inducing 11 ground ball outs.  Since a bum start on May 8, Goodnight (5-3, 2.14) is 3-0 with a 0.91 ERA and a .162 OBA.  I shall always be rooting for this kid to make it to the North Coast.

Since topping out at .358, local product Anthony Gallas (Strongsville, Kent St) has been mired in a 1-for-20 slump.  His average (.327) and OPS (.944) are still exceptional, but Gallas needs to stay strong mentally to avoid prolonging the downward skid.

TNT

Friend of the blog and all-around stand up dude, Tyler Tufts had a streak of six consecutive scoreless appearances ended last night.  Ty allowed a run on two hits over two frames and K'ed 3.  The most phenomenal number about Tyler is 30-2 K-to-BB ratio overall in 2011 and, following some near unhitability (he fanned all five he faced in over two early week games), he has raised his K/9 to a hearty 10.00 and dropped his WHIP to a glistening 0.96.  Ty seems to be completely integrated into AA ball, which means the next level is only a matter of time.  All the best, kid.

Cheers.

P.s. The Mahoning Valley Scrappers (or Crappers as they call them in Y-town) open their season next Friday, the 17th.

Pretty Girl 06.05.11 (Retroactive Replacement) - Diora Baird

So a thing happened... red tape... administrative oversight... and junk.  So... more boobies!

Clip Joint Offer Business Man's Special

And, boy, oh boy, was it fun to watch.

While I could not get down to Huntington Park this afternoon (I hope to be there tomorrow night), STO did show the game in prime time on tape delay.  It was my first opportunity to see Scott Barnes pitch from a quality angle (nice job with the cameras guys!).

Scottie looked crisp in tossing seven shutout innings.  He allowed three hits and struck out 8.  The key was that he walked only two.  The most striking aspect of the performance was simply watching 6'4" Barnes (4-1, 4.21) throw the ball.  If you have not had the opportunity, let me tell you, it is a sight to behold.



The video does not even do him justice.  Imagine the same motion, except caricaturishly exaggerated. The arms and legs skit-skat and be-bop even more when the man throws a breaking ball.  This, of course, translates into some control issues (4.38 BB/9 @ AAA), but he has pitched very well recently.  Over his last four starts he is 2-0 with a 1.99 ERA.  This is another quality arm that we will see on the lake no later than 2012.

The bats were on hand as well.  Jared Goedert (.233) went yard and drove home three.  Jason Kipnis (.284), who seems to flourish in the leadoff spot, knocked three hits, including his sixth home run.  Still, all eyes were on the hottest hitter in baseball, Luis Valbuena.  Luis (.319) singled, doubled and scored as he extended his hit streak to 19.  Although he is hitting almost .450 during the run, Valbuena has been truly en fuego over his last four.  Batting a scorching .600 (9-for-15), he has delivered three doubles, a homer and driven in six.  His OPS has been [cough] 1.600.  And we still think that we need Adam Everett. 

Jensen Lewis, who pitched the 9th and surrendered the only run in a 7-1 win, may have his days numbered in the Tribe organization.  After a truly horrific spring, he still began the season as the Clippers' primary closer.  That experiment was short lived as Lewis proved wholly unreliable.  On the season his OBA stands at .349 with lefties clipping him at .404.  His WHIP is a disgusting 2.04 (how is that even possible?) when the league average is at around 1.40.  To top it all off, Jensen has saved his worst for the last two weeks.  Over four appearances, he is 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA and an even .500 (10-for-20) OBA.  As the younger pitching continues to develop it seems as if Jensen Lewis will soon be another casualty of mediocrity.

The Clips close out with Rochester tomorrow at 7:05p with stud Zach McAllister toeing the rubber.  See ya there. ;-j

Other Minor Points of Interest --

It has been awhile, so bear with me.  I am going to break it down by affiliate and hopefully deliver the prospect updates that you surely look to me for religiously.

Akron

We'll begin with Beau Mills.  The man has been on a gosh darn tear over the past week, hitting .429 (12-for-28) with a pair of dingers and five knocked in his last seven games.  Mills (.293) has driven in 17 in 23 games since returning from injury and may be re-emerging as an actual prospect.  Oh yeah, his OPS since June 2 is 1.214.

Chun Chen, too, has been stroking.  Chen (.292) is at .370 over his past seven with 3 doubles, 2 bombs and 7 RBI.  He is precisely where the Indians want him to be and a 54-13 K-to-BB ration is easy to excuse when accompanied by a .335 OBP.

Nick Weglarz has seen his first action of 2011, coming back from a knee injury, by mashing 3-for-10 with a pair of doubles, 2 RBI and 4 walks in three games for the Aeros.  The organization is expected to to play it safe, but his right-handed power, sorely needed at the Jake, may force a change in plans.

Kelvin De La Cruz, who I believe has been on the 40-man since he was 5 months old, continued a roller coaster season with a 3 inning, 3 run, 5 walk effort on the 2nd,  and then six innings of one hit shutout ball yesterday.  Here is how the numbers for Kelvin (4-3, 3.42) can be confusing.  Good - .199 OBA.  Bad - 4.94 IP per start.  Good - 10.90 K/9.  Bad - 6.51 BB/9.  Good - .093 OBA vs. LHB.  Bad - 0.56 GO/AO.  Go figure.  The big lefty turns 23 in August, so it is high time for him to get his act together.

Joe Gardner (3-5, 4.47) has been rocked in each of his past two starts, losing both and posting 9.82 ERA.  He has pitched a combined 7.1 innings allowing 15 hits and five walks, while striking out only 2.  Math time - WHIP: 2.73, OBA: 4.17.  Ouch.

Adam Miller (1-1, 7.20) has pitched well in two outings since taking the loss on the 1st of June.  Miller has allowed a run on three hits over three innings and has fanned three as well.  Baby steps, Adam, baby steps.

Dude, that is, like, totally enough for now.  Kinston and LC on the morrow.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 06.10.11 - Amanda Bynes

It's nice to see that she can carry some weight well.  Easy A kinda freaked me out. ;-j