Detroit Minor League Games - 5/5/2006

[redshark63]

A morning school day tilt with the L-Tigs highlights today's action


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Lakeland Tigers @ Fort Myers Miracle

10:35 am

Matchup: Kevin Slowey (1-0, 1.53) vs. Kevin Ardoin (2-2, 3.86)




Audio Feed: http://www.sportsjuice.com/broadcast...2fzH4cwYBjA%3d

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Richmond Braves @ Toledo Mudhens

7:00 pm

Matchup: Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Chad Durbin



MiLB TV:http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...edia/video.jsp
Radio: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...edia/audio.jsp

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Erie Seawolves @ Harrisburg Senators

6:05 pm

Matchup: Oscar Alvarez (1-0, 2.70) vs. Virgil Vasquez (1-3, 4.39)


Radio: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...edia/audio.jsp


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Burlington Bees @ West Michigan Whitecaps

6:35 pm

Matchup: Ramon Garcia 4-1, 1.45 vs. David Henninger 1-1, 4.57

Radio: www.wbbl.com
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...edia/audio.jsp

[redshark63]

I guess Slowery WAS really geeked about starting today!

2 innings - 4 whiffs.

0-0 after 2.

[redshark63]

Thru 3 1/2.

Still 0-0.

Slowery now has 7 whiffs in his 4 innings of work.

Only hit allowed, a bunt single by Andrew Graham

[redshark63]

Sac Fly by Frazier plates the 1st run of the game.

1-0 L-Tigs

Ardoin is rolling.

6 shutout innings so far.



BTW, Kevin Slowery is definitely a guy to keep an eye on...

6 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 10 strikeouts!
84 pitches

[redshark63]

Whelan pitching.

Bases loaded for the Miracle in the 9th.

[TonyJM]

Originally Posted by redshark63

Bases loaded for the Miracle in the 9th.

Ack...Larish is 1-3 with a double. And Jim Essian (Independent league signee) has a homer.


-Tony

[redshark63]

Mendez makes a running catch on the warning track to end the game.

Great outing for Ardoin (3-2 3.32)

7 2/3 ip, 6 h, 1 r, 0 bb, 6 k

Shaky outing for Whelan.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...akafa_ftmafa_1

[P. Elite]

Thanks for the links, redshark... Get get enough Tigers' action.

[Ron Burgandy]

As excited as many of us were over the early results of the '05 draft class last year, this season has really tempered that enthusiasm...

[redshark63]

Tonight's Games:

Erie -
Up 4-1 after 4 1/2. Virgil Vasquez with a good start so far.

Uber-prospect Ian Desmond is struggling at .165 for Harrisburg.

Robert Fick who is still on his rehab, is batting lead off and catching for the Senators tonight.

[redshark63]

WM is thru 2 1/2 and are up 1-0.

Ramon Garcia has struck out 5 in 3 innings and Maybin has an rbi single and a swipe in his only plate appearance.

[Edman85]

Originally Posted by Ron Burgandy

As excited as many of us were over the early results of the '05 draft class last year, this season has really tempered that enthusiasm...

How so more than a typical draft class?

Cameron Maybin is off to a great start in West Michigan.
Chris Robinson has been awful, but he was awful last year.
Kevin Whelan has been very good, but has been human the last couple of weeks.
Jeff Larish has also been very good (.395/.469 line through yesterday is nothing to scoff at)
Clete Thomas has been a bit of a disappointment, but he really didn't hit much in West Michigan last year.
P.J. Finigan is in Lakeland's bullpen pitching very well.
Brendan Wise will be in Oneonta this year, still not even 20 yet, way too soon to pass judgement
Kevin Ardoin got off to a rough start in Lakeland, but has pitched very well of late.

So of our first 9 picks, 7 are in Lakeland, and 5 are not disappointing. I'd say this draft class is still fairly strong.

Anthony Claggett has been almost flawless thus far.
Matt Joyce got off to a slow first couple of weeks, but is coming around in a big way of late.
Holliman and Rhymes are certainly holding their own, and they are later round picks.

Most drafts are going to look worse as time rolls on. That is because players are drafted by their upside, and it becomes evident over time that they aren't the player that they could be. That hasn't happened so much with this draft, which is still very strong at this point. Most importantly, such a college heavy draft will allow us to go strong on a high school strong draft this year without our full season depth hurting next year.

[redshark63]

Matt Mantei update:

Let's not annoint his return to the majors too quickly.

tonight:

0.2 ip, 3 bb, 1 unearned run.

[whitecapwendy]

Whitecaps won tonight 3-2 and with Lansing's loss earlier today, are now in first place .5 game up on Lansing. Yes!!

[TonyJM]

Toledo is shut out 2-0 - Durbin gave up 5 hits, 1r/er, struck out 7 over 7 innings. Hannahan went 1-3 with a walk.

Erie wins 8-3...Clevlen launched a home run, as did the immortal Kurt Airoso. Clevlen finished up 2-5.

Lakeland wins 3-1. Nice outing by Kevin Ardoin: 7.2IP 6H 1R/ER 0BB/6K, Larish 1-3, 2B, BB.

West Michigan wins 3-2. Hollimon, Laster, Maybin and Justice all finish the day 1-3 with a BB. Garcia strong again: 6.0IP 4H 1R/ER 2BB/9K. Clagget got the hold and Perdomo gave up a run in relief but got the save.

[baseball3]

Sorry for the late report from Ft. Myers yesterday, I JUST woke up from my wild last 24 hours of baseball !!

Kevin Slowery was UNBELIEVABLE, especially with him taking advantage of the widened strike zone of the umpires. Kevin Ardoin was equally impressive, but, doesn't have the fastball of Slowery, but, the results matched Slowery pitch for pitch. Slowery's day............10k's in 6 innings of work. He gave up a bunt single to Grahm that no one made an attempt on up until the 6th inning. In the 6th, Mejia got a solid single between the 3/4 hole and Thomas followed up with a hard hit line drive single past the first baseman to move Mejia to third. Frazier had an OUTSTANDING at bat to get the sac fly after fouling off 3 or 4 very good 2-strike pitches to avoid the K.

After the pitching change, which there was a marketed difference, Larish got the walk, moved to 2B on a wild pitch and moved to 3rd on a very nice 2 strike ground ball to 2B by Rameriez after a tough day at the plate. Then, a well executed 1-strike squeeze bunt by Dlugach followed by the insurance HR by Essian..............

VERY good game, the L-Tigers capitalized on FINALLY getting to Slowery a little as he gave up ONLY those 3 hits described. Ardoin, while not as mechinally sound nor having as much velocity was sharp, avoiding extra base runners due to the walk. There was no ball really hit hard of Ardoin, which was a good sign of his "stuff" working for him and keeping the batters off balance.

I wonder if Whelan's struggles was due to him throwing an inning the night before ? If one looks closely, he typically doesn't throw as well the next night after an outing, which is somewhat concerning.............

Honestly, Ft. Myers has the BEST starting pitching by far in the league, but, their hitting is abismal.

On a personal note, it was a great joy to watch the two games, Rojas called a wonderful game, Dlugach is amazing defensively at SS and the team capitalized when given the opportunity and was patient to let the game come to them instead of pressing when Slowery was mowing them down. The night before, they hit Swarzack (missspelling I'm sure) with authority which was a welcomed surprise. The L-Tigers pitching was outstanding both games, with the exception of Whelan's outing yesterday.

From the Ft. Myers game yesterday, I left immediately to venture to a 4 p.m. meeting with a baseball client and his agents in Kissimmee, followed by dinner and the LONG drive back from Kissimmee to Panama City, arriving at home this a.m. at 4:30.....wonderful 24-hours of baseball, can't wait until I get yet another kitchen pass.

BEST of luck to the L-Tigers tonight !!

[Sidney_N_OK]

Thanks B3, that is a really good report. It is promising that Ardoin pitched that well against very good competition (more of the pitching matchup than the hitters faced). Did Thomas, Frazier, Larish and Rameriz look overmatched against Slowery? Thanks again for the excellent writeup.

[baseball3]

ALL hitters looked overmatched against Slowery until the 6th !! I do think part of it was due to the widened strike zone as the hitters had to expand, especially with 2 strikes. Frazier, Thomas, Mendez and Dlugach were absoutely HOSED on their 3rd called strikes. They all walked away with an amazement of the 3rd strike called that had the look, "there is NO WAY I would swing at that pitch, let's move on"................Slowery is the REAL DEAL, I would like to see the challenge of him facing the guys you mentioned with a REAL strike zone, but, YES, he was overpowering to ALL those hitters!!

p.s........I think Rameriez looked overmatched partially due to his having missed 5 or 6 games of seeing live pitching. Hamstring injury.............the 2 strike ground out to 2B and Frazier's 2-strike sac fly were fantastic AB's. Mejia and Thomas got first pitch fastballs in the 6th and both turned on them with authority. I think that's how to get a guy like Slowery, EARLY in the count, he's always around the plate. I think hitters have to be aggressive early in the count because he throws a LOT of strikes..............However, he was simply throwing fastballs by our hitters, with the attitude of here it is, there it goes, give me the next batter !!!

I sat in front of him on Thursday night's game (as he was charting for his outing the next day) and spoke with him quite a bit. He was PUMPED about the game, very engaging young man with an understanding of his skills. It was his 22nd birthday on Thursday night and when asked what he was doing after the game, he said, "there's no time to celebrate any birthday, I've got a 10:35 start in the morning and I need to be ready to go"..............DEDICATION, maturity, understanding................he'll be in the bigs for a long time !!!

[hueytaxi]

Baseball3, we have few posters closer to the Tigers than yourself and I love your analysis. Certainly not swayed by personal relationships and a you possess a keen eye toward all teams. Thanks.

Roger

[baseball3]

Thanks.........

Having had a lot of these players play for me, having played against a lot of them and having seen the good, the bad and the ugly parts of this game, I strive to be objective and truthful. Many times strongly opinionated, but, not personal.

I LOVE this game and like to share with others like you guys as I like to get your observations and crituique as well. How fortunante we are..........

p.s.......did you guys see one of our alumni, Scott Kazmir's outing last night vs. Oakland ? At 22, he's an ace already, how bad was that trade Mets fans ?
link:
http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/NA...kmlb_1&c_id=tb

[Ron Burgandy]

Originally Posted by Edman85

How so more than a typical draft class?

In the sense that some who shall remain nameless were predicting 4-5 MLB regulars out of this draft, including several all-stars. Those predictions have cooled off.

[baseball3]

Not sure what you are referring to, however, these players are extremely talented. Sure, they'll go through "cool", COLD and HOt times, but, remember, they're still only 19-23 years old and learning every day. The challenges they face everyday will provide an excellent learning ground if they can keep focused that the task is more of a marathon rather a sprint and their final destination is yet to come. Don't write these guys off --- they have a long way to go and being that all are hitting sub .300, it doesn't mean that any of them won't be major league players. Same prospective for pitchers...........

They'll be fine, patience is a virtue, which many posters on these boards do not posses nor understand.

[cajunblue]

Nice job on the details. I noticed from your profile that your birth date is August 6th. Good day, this is my son's, Ardoin's birth date also. My husband and I like to read and learn about the organization, both good and bad. Like my son, we as parents, are learning also. Are you in baseball for a living? I saw you are Clete's uncle also! I met him last year in Michigan, (nice fellow) as are all the guys I met there. I am happy that my son is surrounded by fine people. Our family will be in Lakeland during the week of June 5th, maybe we can meet some of my son's friends' families.

[hueytaxi]

Originally Posted by cajunblue

Nice job on the details. I noticed from your profile that your birth date is August 6th. Good day, this is my son's, Ardoin's birth date also. My husband and I like to read and learn about the organization, both good and bad. Like my son, we as parents, are learning also. Are you in baseball for a living? I saw you are Clete's uncle also! I met him last year in Michigan, (nice fellow) as are all the guys I met there. I am happy that my son is surrounded by fine people. Our family will be in Lakeland during the week of June 5th, maybe we can meet some of my son's friends' families.

Anolther batch of Leo's checking in here in Lakeland. We have had a couple of IM's and look forward to your visit. Please let me know you are here when you arrive..the guy from the Avatar by the dugout.

Roger