Colorado Springs: Triple A, and to some extent Double A get weird for me late in the season as I set certain transactions aside in my head and forget some players, like Mike Venafro are even in the organization. Well, Venafro picked up the victory last night as a more pleasant reminder than the alternative.
Okay, explain this to me:
Player A: 21 AB, 3 H (all singles), 0 BB's 8 K's .286 OPS
Player B: 33 AB, 10 H, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, .930 OPS.
The first was Kaz Matsui's July line, the second is how he's been doing in August. Apparently the back is feeling quite a bit better, and Clint Barmes should be keeping an eye on his job. I mentioned the other day that I'd rather see Tulo in the starting SS position more as a way to get a head start on 2007 than what will happen in 2006, but if we're only looking to win in '06 maybe we ought to give Kaz a look here down the stretch. Then again, nine of the ten Sky Sox games in August have been played in the Springs, so maybe we can wait to see if he can duplicate his performance on the road. At any rate, both Matsui and Closser hit home runs yesterday, two of six extra base hits by the Sky Sox as they beat Salt Lake six to five.
Tulsa: Speaking of extra base hits, Seth Smith hit his fifty-seventh on the season, a solo homerun off Craig James in the eight inning. Smith's got kind of an odd line for the season in that he only has 60 RBI for all his hitting. Part of that comes from batting first or second most of the year (434 out of his 440 AB's) but I would think he'd still be getting more opportunities than that. His splits show a drop in OPS from .906 with none on to .767 with runners aboard, which seems to explain the rest of that low RBI total. Tulo tripled, Czar went two for three with two runs scored, Ian Stewart had an RBI on a sac fly, Alvin Colina doubled and Joe K went two for four with a run scored in the five to one win. Pitching was Steven Register, who was effective but not really impressive through six innings.
Modesto: Corey Wimberly went two for four with a stolen base and a caught stealing, system role players Doc Brooks, Michael Davies and Duke Sardinha all had big games but it wasn't enough to overcome nine runs from the opposition as the Nuts lost.
Asheville: Shane Lindsay has started turning his Asheville performance to more in line with what we would expect from the Bacchus Marsh native, he pitched five innings last night with nine K's and two walks, four hits and zero runs. Good thing, because Asheville could only muster one run of their own on a Chris Nelson sac fly in the sixth. Nelson also doubled in the one to nothing win. Andrew Johnston pitched the ninth for his twentieth save on the season, after struggling a little in July, Andrew hasn't allowed a run thus far in five appearances in August.
Tri-City: Aneury Rodriguez lasted only one third of an inning, giving up six runs on five hits and a walk. Most damaging was the Jesus Lopez triple with the bases loaded right before Rodriquez was pulled. Simon Ferrer allowed Lopez to make it home for the sixth run, but Eugene wouldn't score again after the first. Tri-City tried to scratch back at first, plating five runs over the next five innings, but went zero for nine with five K's in the last three to lose by the final score of six to five. Michael McKenry hit his third homerun of the season.
Casper: Lost seven to three. Kevin Clark hit his fourth home run of the season and Hecotr Gomez went two for five. Esmil Rogers got roughed up in an inning and a third, giving up five runs in that span.