Minor League Highlights 5/13

by FreeZorilla on May 14, 2010 4:17 AM EDT

AAA Durham Bulls W 6-1

Carlos Hernandez hurled a gem as he allowed just one unearned run on three hits and a walk while striking out five in seven innings of work. 10 of 15 batted-outs came on the ground and generated 9 whiffs on 82 pitches. RJ Swindle pitched another scoreless inning with one hit allowed and a strikeout, while Winston Abreu slammed the door in the ninth by striking out the side including 7 whiffs on 20 pitches. Desmond Jennings went 3-5 with his third double and eighth stolen base. Dan Johnson was 3-4 with his 11th home run and 7th double. Alvin Colina chipped in a pair of doubles giving him seven on the year, and Hank Blalock was 0-4 with two strikeouts. Jeff Bennett was released and will be replaced in the rotation with Aneury Rodriguez.

AA Montgomery Biscuits W 2-0

Alex Torres had another excellent night going seven strong shutout innings and allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out three. Torres induced just six swinging strikes on 95 pitches, but 12 of 17 contact outs came on the ground. Dane De Rosa was solid in relief striking four in two scoreless innings to preserve the shutout. The offense was a quiet balanced attack featuring John Matulia's third triple and Chris Nowak's second double.

A+Charlotte Stone Crabs L 4-2

While Leslie Anderson's future position remains unclear, one thing we have quickly learned is he destroys clubhouse chemistry as the Crabs have scored five runs in the last four games since his arrival. The good news is Anderson followed last night's home run with a 2-3 effort including a walk. Matt Sweeney went 2-4 with his fifth home run of the season, while Tim Beckham was 1-5 with a strikeout. Sweeney committed his eight error of the season on a throw Joe Cruz made the start lasting five innings while allowing four runs on six hits and two walks. Cruz struck out four batters. Zach Quate pitched a perfect eighth striking out two.

A Bowling Green Hot Rods L 5-4

Jason McEachern allowed four runs on nine hits while striking out two and walking none in six innings. Scott Shuman pitched three scoreless innings of relief and recorded three strikeouts. Tyler Bortnick was 2 for 6 including his first home run, while Chris Murrill and Mayo Acosta each added three hits. Mark Thomas went 1-4 in his return from the disabled list.

Shane Dyer has been promoted to Port Charlotte per Michael Compton of the Bowling Green Daily News (@mcompton428)

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.

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Added Shane Dyer's promotion to Charlotte to the post.

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by FreeZorilla on May 14, 2010 7:19 AM EDT reply actions

Watched parts of the Bulls game yesterday

Deezy’s double in the 1st was a few feet shy of a homer, then he laid down a nice bunt single in his next AB advancing Eldridge to 3rd. About all I saw.

by Doug09 on May 14, 2010 7:31 AM EDT reply actions

Any word on McEachern's problem areas?

C. Hernandez is really n all or nothing pitcher isn’t he?

Arms a plenty in the minors

by sternfan1 on May 14, 2010 9:10 AM EDT reply actions

Hank Blalock 0-4 huh?

What’s the story on Dan Johnson outside of his trip to Japan. Any realistic expectations from him?

As you can always expect come from behind victory is when you least expect it.

by Buc Wild on May 14, 2010 9:12 AM EDT reply actions

0-4? 2Ks?

KEEP BURRELL!

On a serious note, I would love to see DJ get a chance eventually.

Free Dan Johnson!

by Sveet on May 14, 2010 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions

As you can tell by my sig

Free Dan Johnson!

by Sveet on May 14, 2010 9:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Always has some power.

Although 11 HRs this early in the season is insane for him, even if it is AAA. (He did his 25 in AAA in 08 though).
A lot like Jaso in the sense that he won’t strike out much and walks plenty. (84/75 BB/KK in 08; 165/181 in ML career)
Serviceable, if not above average, glove at first.

He was hurt in Japan last year, other than that I can’t tell you much.

I’ve got every confidence he could step in now and at least be a league average first baseman, in the field and at bat.

If he was sent through waivers at the end of ST last year (instead of this year coming off that poor season in Japan) I’m sure he’d be holding down a ML job somewhere. Really a good player in my opinion.

by Vin on May 14, 2010 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Always had*

by Vin on May 14, 2010 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Please forgive the amount of typos in this post.

I have no excuse either. Wow.

by Vin on May 14, 2010 10:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Dan Johnson on his year in Japan

Link

Dan Johnson spoke very candidly about his time in Japan last year. Why did he go there? “Money.” What did he think of it? “It was terrible. I didn’t like it at all.” Johnson explained that, although he enjoyed it culturally (he took his family with him), he found the actual playing of baseball a drag. As an American, he was subject to what he called a “huge” strike zone—he struck out 78 times in 325 at-bats, a much higher rate than usual for the normally selective Johnson. “I felt completely cheated… They made it as unfair as possible.” He played for Yokohama, a bad team that finished last in the league, and said that they benched him to keep him from reaching incentive bonuses and finally sent him back to the US two weeks before the season ended: they wanted to make sure that a Japanese player would lead the team in home runs, apparently. Johnson’s contract with Yokohama included a club option for a second year, but the team tried to re-negotiate the terms and Johnson opted to return to the US. Although he had been with Tampa (and Durham) just before he left for Japan—he hit a memorable homer in the Rays’ September 2008 surge to the pennant—Johnson said that the Rays weren’t the first team to come calling. “There were a couple of other teams that I was about to sign with, and then the Rays came.” Johnson acknowledged that the situation wasn’t ideal—there’s really no room for him on the big-league roster unless a player (or two) gets hurt—but “the thing is,” he said, “if you do get a chance with this team, you’ve got a chance to do something special.”

RaysProspects.com

by DAM on May 14, 2010 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions

Thanks for that.

Johnson said that the Rays weren’t the first team to come calling. "There were a couple of other teams that I was about to sign with, and then the Rays came." Johnson acknowledged that the situation wasn’t ideal—there’s really no room for him on the big-league roster unless a player (or two) gets hurt—but "the thing is," he said, "if you do get a chance with this team, you’ve got a chance to do something special."

And now I like him even more.

by Vin on May 14, 2010 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions

This part is pretty common in Japan

they wanted to make sure that a Japanese player would lead the team in home runs

I remember a few years back, Tuffy Rhodes was about to break the league record for home runs in a season, and his team was in the playoff race, yet his manager benched him for the last week so he couldn’t break the record held by Sadaharu Oh (who, ironically, was half-Korean, but is still thought of as being Japanese by the fans there).

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on May 14, 2010 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions