So, may I introduce to you, the farm authority you’ve known all these years… Sgt. Torgy’s Lonely Farm Authority Cl… oh, forget it, here he is!
Morning, all. First my editorial comment on Ned Colletti, aka Fucking Bonehead. I am sure that most are still trying to figure out why Carlos Santana was dealt for a journeyman third sacker. Of course, it could be the fact that the McCourt’s seem to be rolling change for payroll, but did we really need to overpay for a guy who’s second half splits are abysmal? At this point, one has to hope that Anthony Delmonico can follow the same path as Russell Martin, or we could be in deep when Russell gets close to free agency.
Okay, back to the week at hand. Overall a pretty good week on the farm. The 51′s and the Raptors both went 6-1 for the week and on the other extreme was Great Lakes who well 1-5 for the week. As of this evening, the 51′s upped their record to 58-51, 4.5 games behind Sacramento, in second place. The Suns turned in a 2-4 week, dropping to 15-21, 8.5 games behind Mississippi and they are in last place in the Southern League South Division. The Sixers had a good week, although their pen blew two games. They went 4-3 for the week and are now 19-17, 1.5 games behind Rancho Cucamonga in the California League South Division. The Raptors had a great week, going 6-1 and evening their record at 19, but they are still 6 games back of Orem. The GCL Dodgers had an uncharacteristic bad week, going 2-4 and dropping their record to 18-11 and seeing their lead fall to .5. Lastly, the sad sacks of the farm system, the Loons, went 1-5 and dropped their record to 13-23, eleven games behind South Bend and in last place in their division.
There were plenty of good games to choose from as our highlights with probably the best being Las Vegas coming back in the bottom of the tenth to score three runs to defeat Omaha, 4-3. After Mike Koplove gave up two runs in the top of tenth, it looked bad for the 51′s, but it only took three hitters to change the outcome. Jason Repko opened the tenth with a single off of Shake Yabuta, followed by a Terry Tiffee rbi double and the John Lindsey’s two-run bomb to close the game. Tiffee and Lindsey each had three hits in the game and Mike Koplove picked up the win. The 51′s are still getting great offensive production from Lindsey (.318/20/81 with .399/.563/.962), Terry Tiffee (.375/8/62 and .418/.559/.974) and John-Ford Griffin (.310/14/67 and .386/.527/.913) – all of whom would be better than Mark Sweeney off of the Dodgers’ bench. On the pitching side, Mike Koplove (2-1, 3.48 with nine saves, his WHIP is 1.12 and K/BB is 42/18), Dwayne Pollok (8-3, 4.56 with two saves, his WHIP is 1.20 and his K/BB is 53/16) and Eric Stults (5-6, 3.86 with a 1.34 WHIP and his K/BB is 72/30) are leading that contingent.
The Suns had a bad week, but James McDonald came through with a good outing to lead the Suns to an 8-3 victory over Mobile. McDonald picked up his fifth win, going five and only giving up three hits and two runs. Adolfo Gonzalez led the offense with three doubles, while Ryan Rogowski and Juan Gonzalez each hit homers. James Tomlin added three rbis on his two hits. The big hitters for the Suns, this season, are Jamie Hoffman (.282/9/54 with .359/.412/.771), Ivan DeJesus (.292/2/40 with .395/.356/.751) and Juan Gonzalez (.270/13/50 with .391/.478/.869). On the pitching side of the ledger, it is James McDonald (5-2, 3.04 with a WHIP of 1.19 and K/BB is 109/43), Jesus Castillo (7-4, 2.99 with a 1.33 WHIP and K/BB is 74/32) and Scott Elbert (1-1, 2.79 with a WHIP of 1.10 and K/BB is 26/15).
Even though the Sixers lost their best player, they still played well, winning four of seven games for the week and one of those wins came from Steve Johnson, who shut down Lake Elsinore, 7-2 with a strong five innings, giving up two runs and six hits. Trayvon Robinson and Andrew Locke each had three hits, including a two-run homer from Locke and a double and triple from Robinson. Austin Gallagher added a pair of doubles, while Bridger Hunt had two hits and two ribs. This team will miss Santana, but there is plenty of offense to keep things going. Pacing the offense is Austin Gallagher (.324/5/46 and .366/.521/.887), Tommy Giles (.286/15/78 and .343/.434/771) and Andrew Locke (.321/8/58 and .384/.502/886). On the pitching end, Steve Johnson is having the best season at 12-3 with an ERA of 2.99 and a WHIP of 1.20. Paul Koss and Francisco Felix are leading the pen with Koss going (2-1, 3.43, a WHIP of 1.26 and K/BB is 52/23) and Felix, before he was sent up to Las Vegas is 5-3 with a 3.43 ERA and a WHIP of 1.14.
A really bad week for the Loons as they only could win one game, this week. The only win was a 7-3 decision over Clinton. Bryan Morris picked up the win, going five innings, giving up five hits and one unearned run. Morris did walk five, but struck out four in his outing. The recently activated Eduardo Perez belted a three-run homer among his two hits and Alfredo Silverio matched him by adding a three-run bomb and a triple. Pacing this offense is the Natural, Andrew Lambo, who is hitting .292/14/66 with .348/.483/.831. The rest of the offense is more pedestrian, but Kenley Jansen is improving on his early season struggles as he is now up to .243/9/21 with ..308/.448/.756 – not bad numbers for a defensive-minded catcher and Alfredo Silverio is hitting at .255/7/33 with .264/.396/.660. On the pitching side, it is much better with Victor Garate putting up a 6-3, 1.85 with a WHIP of 1.15 and K/BB is 103/28, Bryan Morris who is up to 2-4, 3.39 and a WHIP of 1.27 and K/BB of 70/27. Gabe White is the representative from the bench, with a 1-1 record, two saves and a 1.71 ERA, his WHIP is 0.81 with K/BB is 22/4.
Big week in Ogden as the bats were putting up good numbers and the pitching is starting to come together. In a week of six wins, it was difficult to pick out the highlight game, but a come from behind victory over Great Falls won the ballot. The Raptors were rolling along with a 6-1 lead going into the top of the eighth when the White Sox proceeded to plate eight runs over the last two innings to take a 9-6 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. But the Raptors opened with a single by Anthony Delmonico, followed by back to back doubles by Travis Vetters and Kyle Russell. A wild pitch and a walk put runners on first and third when Steve Caceres plated Russell on a ground out. After an Austin Yount ground out, Brian Ruggiano singled home Baez to win the game. It was hard to pick just three players to lead the offense, but I chose these three – Kyle Russell (.319/7/28 and .428/.575/1.022), Anthony Delmonico (.379/2/9 and .471/.755/1.226) and Pedro Baez (.294/6/30 and .327/.514/.841). On the pitching end, two lefties are holding down the fort with Geison Aguasviva (2-2, 3.67 and a WHIP of 1.49 and K/BB is 32/10), Michael Watt (4-2, 2.91 and a WHIP of 1.32 and a K/BB is 39/14). The best reliever is Luis Garcia who is 2-0 with a 2.65 ERA. His WHIP is 1.35 with a K/BB of 19/12.
A pretty bad week for the GCL Dodgers, but Edwin Contreras continues to impress. Contreras combined with Luis Ferraras and Jacob McCarter on a two hit shutout of the Mets, 7-0. Contreras went five, allowing both hits and walking only one. Leading the offense in this game was Garrett Green and Lennell McGee with three hits including a triple for Green and two rbis for McGee. Gorman Erickson added two hits and an rbi. The offense isn’t as potent as Ogden’s, but there is plenty to be happy about. Erickson is putting up the best offensive numbers with a .313/1/8 and .414/.438/.852, followed by Joris Bert at .295/0/4 and .466/.341/.807 and Jerry Sands at .219/6/19 and .326/.494/820. On the pitching side it is all about Edwin Contreras at 4-0, 1.20 with a WHIP of 0.87 and a K/BB of 16.5, ably abetted by Roberto Feliciano at 1-0, 1.08 and a WHIP of 1.32 and K/BB of 13/6 and Beyker Fructuoso at 2-1, 3.00 and a WHIP of 1.05 and a K/BB of 22/6.
