Casper: It took a month and a half of the season and two full games worth of innings for Casper's closer Andrew Johnston to get in trouble, but the shoe finally dropped last night as he gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth to blow his first save. The Rockies came back to win, five to four in the eleventh after Trevor Allen walked, stole second and came around to score on a Maruis Loupadiere single. Loupadiere finished with three hits, as did Geoff Strickland.
Katz has no shortage of available work for Tri-City
Tri-City: David Patton missed his turn in the rotation due to shoulder stiffness [editor's note, thanks to poster David for the correction, here as I originally thought it was Lindsay] and thus, Ethan Katz got a rare start for the Dust-Devils, he was limited to three s0-so innings since he had just pitched in relief a couple of nights ago- and Andrew Kreidermacher followed with a fairly decent four innings of his own. The Dust Devils lost late, however, and had a hard time mustering offense outside of Travis Becktel (another four for five, two double night) and Brian Kirby (three for four with two doubles and a homerun). I wouldn't argue for either Katz or Kreidermacher in the top thirty although I like both as sleepers from this year's draft, but Becktel I'm starting to believe maybe might be worth including as he's putting up some sensational numbers and has the tools to make him worthwhile. I'm sure we'll discuss Lindsay as well in the thread just below this one. Daniel Carte regressed and struck out thrice in five at bats.
Asheville: The Tourists also went deep and eventually lost a game decided in the last frame (the thirteenth in this case) although Joe Koshansky hit his thirtieth and Chris Nelson had two hits and drove in three. Ryan Mattheus pitched and continues to give up some hits and runs, but his peripherals remain fairly solid and I'm still encouraged by his progress. Keep an eye on him for rapid development next season.
Modesto: Sure to debut fairly high on the PuRP List is Troy Tulowitzki, who homered for his only hit last night in one of the few offensive highlights for Modesto -who as a team hit the ball hard, but not often enough or in the right sequence. In addition to Tulo's smash, Michael Davies, Joe Gaetti, Christian Colonel and Ian Stewart each doubled for their only hits, but the Nuts wound up with just three runs.Juan Morillo went six deep, giving up just four hits and K'd nine while walking three.
Tulsa: The Drillers were off last night, but check out Anaheim's affiliate in Arkansas for another top tier prospect laden team. Wow, they're better than Modesto in the lineup, although a bit weak on pitching.
Colorado Springs: Justin Hampson came out with a nice start (6 IP 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 R) which hasn't happened that often for him in the Springs, so it was good to see the change. Meanwhile, Jeff Salazar hit a key three run shot and scored a pair and Jeff Baker and Tom Wilson added two hits apiece to fuel the win.