Purple Row: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
New Blog: Backing the Pack for NC State Fans!


Thursday Pebble Report

Colorado Springs: W 11-4

Ths Sky Sox broke their two game losing streak to the 51's by hammering out seventeen hits, and had ten more baserunners via walk or HBP. They've been playing in two very offense friendly parks for these first two series -Tucson and Las Vegas- so I'm not sure how much stock to put into performances thus far, but the initial numbers are encouraging. Ian Stewart and Edwin Bellorin both homered and drove in four (all of Stewie's RBI came on his fourth inning grand slam). Six of Ian's ten hits on the year have gone for extra bases. Bellorin finished with four hits, Stewart with two plus two walks. Seth Smith, Jonathan Herrera and Cory Sullivan each also had multiple hit games.

The Sky Sox official site has an interesting two part series on hitting coach Rene Lachemann, part one can be found here, and the recently added part two may be found here. The Sky Sox are now four and three on the year, three games behind the undefeated Salt Lake City Bees.

Tulsa: off

I mentioned Alan Johnson's strong start yesterday, but didn't include a link to this 20 questions piece on Skeeter at the Drillers site. At any rate, after a travel day, Tulsa's set to make their Drillers Stadium home debut tonight. The team's in talks with the city to move downtown from its current fairgrounds home, so take advantage of the dwindling opportunities to see the team in their current yard if you're in the area. Tulsa's currently 2-4 and yet tied for first, as the TL's North Division continues to be the weaker sibling it appears. The Tulsa World has taken notice of the team's speed, and sees that Corey Wimberly, EY2, Dexter Fowler and company have a chance to break a couple of thirty year old records.

Modesto: W 4-0

The Nuts are coming around, winning their third straight on the strength of an awesome Aneury Rodriguez outing. Rodriguez struck out eight and allowed just three hits in six innings to pick up the victory. Rodriguez was followed by the as usual excellent work of James Burok, Tommy Baumgardner and Will Harris (Harris actually walked somebody? Strange.) Nuts pitchers now have a 26 inning goose-egg streak heading into tonight's game against the Stockton Ports. Oy. The Stockton Ports, didn't Modesto just play them? This isn't a good prescription to get the team's batting woes fixed, let's hope the Modesto pitchers have a few more zeroes in them. That blog link, btw, makes an important point about how the Giants run their minor league system that those new to watching the minor leagues should take note of. The Rockies go head to head with Giants prospects in four of their six minor league affiliations, and usually the Giants team will have a better record than our team. This isn't typically because they have better prospects (note- their SAL Augusta affiliate makes a probable exception this year) but instead because they use older guys to take advantage against the relative inexperience of other teams in the leagues they play in. I'll believe they've changed this practice when I actually see it. Anyway, Modesto's now 4-3 and a game behind Visalia in their division.

Asheville: W 11-3

Every now and then, somebody's stats pop out at me and I wonder why I never noticed them before. Today, Joey Williamson is that guy. Maybe I didn't want to notice him because he's from Notre Dame, maybe it was because he was a thirty-sixth round pick in 2007, but his fastball-slider combo is driving some impressive K rates thus far in his professional career. Yesterday he had his first start and struck out eight in four innings and now has thirteen K's in seven total innings this year, and he has yet to give up a run. Williamson started in place of Cory Riordan, no word yet on why (I'll let you know if I hear anything) but with more outings like yesterday, Joey may need more of a look.

Brian Rike continues to be a driving force for the Tourist offense, he hit his team leading third HR (two have been away from McCormick Field) yesterday. Everth Cabrera had three hits, a walk and scored three times. He hit his first HR of the year. Cabrera's OBP remains a sky-high .630 on the season and he's got a five to one SB ratio. I think he's becoming national revelation number two for the Tourists this year. Kevin Clark and Jeff Cunningham both also had three hits yesterday. Asheville's now six and one and tied for the division lead. Jason McGill has more on yesterday's game at his blog (and muchas gracias for the plug, btw) as well as everything else Asheville Tourist-y.

 

0 recs | Comment 7 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Tulsa

Why the Drillers want to move downtown is beyond me. The area they are talking about putting the stadium is just down the street from my office, and I don't even feel comfortable walking through there are noon to get some lunch, let alone on a friday night. I would have let them move to damn jenks

by ch3cooh1 on Apr 10, 2008 7:58 AM MDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

The Rockies went down under

and signed David Kandilas from Australia. Sounds like he's a outfielder, and may play center. He'll move stateside in '09, but he won't play until the summer when short-season leagues starts (the article says March). And it may not even be with Casper, unless they re-upped their PDC with the Rockies recently.

"Don't give up the ship!" - Capt. James Lawrence

by Russ on Apr 10, 2008 8:04 AM MDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Nice... but now I have to do math.

Frickin' Aussie metric system.

Kandilas, 17, was not "totally" focused on baseball as a youngster after being introduced to the sport by his older brother, Daniel. Kandilas has a superb throwing technique, able to throw a ball 115 metres and is also quick enough to cover the key centrefield position.

Okay, so maybe it's us who are in the dark ages. At least we know how to spell centerfield right. ;)

by Rox Girl on Apr 10, 2008 8:59 AM MDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Is it possible

that Riordan didn't start because of the rainout and subsequent doubleheader, so he wasn't on proper rest? If not I would be interested in knowing if there is an injury as well.

I was very excited to see Aneury pitch well, he is one I have been high on for awhile.

by smokinRox on Apr 10, 2008 8:56 AM MDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I'm guessing this was all it was

But I figure it doesn't hurt to check.

by Rox Girl on Apr 10, 2008 9:00 AM MDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Cory Riordan pitching tonight

His absence yesterday was simply due to the rainout bumping his schedule a little.

by Rox Girl on Apr 10, 2008 5:16 PM MDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

David Kandilas

I have seen the kid play here in Australia, and I’m sure he will be an asset to the Casper team. He is 6ft 2, 185 pounds, has terrific speed and a gun arm – 101 mph outfield throw measured at the Sports Institute of New South Wales. Plus he has terrific power at the plate and a good work ethic. Sorry that we here in the land of Oz use metrics, but all the baseball people still use feet, inches and good old miles per hour. Young Kandy as he is known is a quiet achiever. I know the family a little and wa stold he can’t wait to get over to the US next year and kick off his career with the Rox. He can also pitch, so that is something they can keep in reserve if his bat doesn’t work out down the track.

by Mark from Downunder on May 7, 2008 2:49 AM MDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about the Colorado Rockies, established 28 April 2005.

Community Guidelines

Start posting about the Rockies »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

P1_iannetta_small
At Bat/Entrance Music: 2009 Edition
Apt_visit_2_small
Some July Wallpaper Coming Soon!
Sleepy_jeff_small
Purple Row Fantasy League End of June Standings
Small
Manny being...cheap
Sleepy_jeff_small
Purple Row Prediction Competition Week 12
October_075-1_small
Making My First Trip to OAK and LA to Watch Rockies, Any Pointers?
Rockies_lost_americana_small
Shop PurpleRowCares!
Gvf_small
2009 Draft Pick Signings
Helton_small
What is Morales worth??
Small
Frontier promotion code?

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini


GM & Manager

Gvf_small Russ

Li_l_rox_girl_small Rox Girl

Coaching Staff

Liquid_small Silverblood

P1_iannetta_small RockiesMagicNumber

Coorsfield3_small theoldgrizzlybear

67880020--bled-slovenia_small Poseidon's Fist

Sleepy_jeff_small Jabberwocky

Official Partner of Yahoo! Sports