Monday, May 28, 2007

Horne-y Rocket

Injuries/News:

Roger Clemens made his final rehab start as a member of the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Clemens’ final line was 6-2-0-0-2-6-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) and while he looked good, he didn’t look that good. Maybe this is just depression from the way the Yankees as a team are playing creeping into my overall outlook, but I think that a 3.50 ERA with 6 innings a start is a best case scenario for Clemens. That’s worth something, but definitely not 28 million and I don’t think it’s enough to make a huge difference in the overall playoff outlook. I hope I’m wrong.

AAA:

Alberto Gonzalez was 0 for 3 and Eric Duncan was 1 for 3. Duncan’s single was kind of a luckily placed hit, but at this point, he deserves the luck. Balancing out the good luck on that hit was a hard hit ball deep to the outfield for his second out of the game.

Edwar Ramirez came out of the bullpen and dominated, as has been the case all season. Ramirez throws a terrific change-up and the rail-thin righty has done a great job keeping hitters off balance with the pitch all year long as shown by his AAA line of 6.1-3-0-0-2-10-0 and season line of 23-9-1-1-10-43-1.

AA:

Alan Horne picked up the win for Trenton while being impressive without his best stuff. The final line for Horne was 6-7-4-1-2-7-0. A combination of bad defense and well-placed hits lead to the unearned runs that Horne gave up. It didn’t help that Horne seemed to struggle with his secondary pitches all game. The change, slider, and curve were all difficult for him to get over for quality strikes on this afternoon. Fortunately, Horne’s fastball was enough to get the job done, which is a testament to the quality of the pitch. This is getting a bit repetitive, but Horne really needs to be promoted. Today was a day when he didn’t have it and he was able to just go to his fastball and get by, if that doesn’t say that a guy should be promoted to a more challenging level, I’m not sure what does. As I’ve said in the past, the minor leagues are for learning and you can’t learn if you’re not getting punished for mistakes.

A+:

Nothing scheduled.

A-:

34. Mitch Hilligoss’ hit streak reached 34 games as he got himself 3 singles in 6 at bats. That should show me for speculating the streak was coming to an end soon. I’m starting to notice people clamoring for Mitch’s promotion, and while I wouldn’t have a problem with that move, I don’t think Hilligoss has done enough where such a move is a no-brainer, despite the flashy AVG and hit streak. Seth Fortenberry and Austin Jackson were both solid, going a combined 3 for 10 with 2 doubles, a walk, and a strikeout. Jose Gil was 2 for 5 with a homer and is now up to a whopping .233/.286/.359. In his last 10 games, which is stretch over the last 3 weeks, Gil has gone 11 for 36 with a double, 2 homers, 5 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Maybe he’s turning the season around or, maybe I’m just a fanboy. Hopefully, it’s the former.

Spotlight On:

Ivan Nova going against Columbus. Nova’s off to a nice start; let’s see if he starts striking out some more guys.

Upcoming Stuff:

At exactly noon today, the first part of my draft preview will be available.

Comments

Hey, check it out -- nobody's commented yet! You could be the first to comment on this AWESOME post! Hurry up and think of something to say! And not "First!", or anything like that, because that would be lame, and you'd be lame for doing it. Especially if someone beats you to it.

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