Game 111: Harrisburg @ Trenton

Game 111 – Harrisburg Senators @ Trenton Thunder
August 7, 2009
Waterfront Park – Trenton, NJ

Pitching Matchup: HAR Jeff Mandel vs. TRE Ryan Pope

Starting Lineups:

HARRISBURG

Mike Daniel, CF
Freddie Bynum, SS
Leonard Davis, LF
Joel Guzman, 3B
Bill Rhinehart, 1B
Marvin Lowrance, DH
Francisco Plasencia, RF
Sean Rooney, C
Greg Veloz, 2B

Jeff Mandel, P

TRENTON

Austin Krum, CF
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Chris Malec, 1B
Richie Robnett, RF
Noah Hall, DH
James Cooper, LF
Marcos Vechionacci, 3B
Ryan Baker, C
Justin Snyder, 2B

Ryan Pope, P

Radio Links: Click here for the links to each team’s broadcast.

Live Box Score: The MILB.com direct link is here.

Around the Eastern League: For scores from around the EL, go here.

In-Game Updates (LIVE from the ballpark):

Not that you’d know it with the top half of the scoreboard having gone dark, but Ryan Pope has kept the Senators off the board through two.  Bill Rhinehart has a double to the gap off of him, but that’s it so far.  0-0, heading into B2.

45 pitches, 29 strikes for Pope through three.  Four strikeouts, no walks, and the one double so far.  Looks really good right now…

57/36 for Pope through four.  Meanwhile, Jeff Mandel has 30 pitches through three.  The Thunder lineup continues to be impatient at the plate.

The biggest news so far is that it’s 8:30 and we’re in the seventh.  OBVIOUSLY I’m jinxing things — don’t think it’s just me, either…there’s a sportswriter code where you don’t talk about how quickly the game is moving or say “extra innings,” etc. — but this game is moving along very, very quickly.  86/59 for Pope through seven.

Ryan Pope is flat out getting it done tonight.  11 K’s through 7 2/3, a career high and a season high for a Thunder starter.  They absolutely needed this.  Great, great effort by him.  The kid works hard, and the results may not always show it…but it’s not uncommon to see him running stadium steps when I get here early enough.

98/65 for Pope through eight.  That’s likely it for him.  Can’t say enough about how well he pitched.

Pope out after eight, Wilkins Arias in.  Pope’s line: 8 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 11 k

Jeff Mandel, who also spun an absolute gem for the Senators, is out after eight in favor of Carlos Martinez.  His line?  8 ip, 3 h, 0 r, 0 er, 2 bb, 4 k.  He’ll face Austin Krum, Eduardo Nunez and Chris Malec…Trenton’s 1-2-3 hitters.

Chris Malec with a soft single through the middle, and the Thunder win it in walk-off fashion, 1-0, in about two hours.  Can’t ask for much more than that.

In-Game Photos:

Ryan Baker

Matt Cusick

In-Game YouTube Videos: Check out my YouTube account for videos updated throughout the game…

Final Score: 1-0, Thunder.

Thunder Thoughts:

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Game 111: Pre-Game Notes

5:35 PM — Jason Stephens is listed as pitching one of the two games tomorrow on the posted rotation in the clubhouse.

Spoke to Zach McAllister as well.  He’s really excited — well, McAllister doesn’t particularly get excited — about getting a shot to get back out there.  He said that he didn’t have that extra zip on his fastball when he needed, and that was the best way he could describe the tired arm feeling.

5:25 PM — Yup, I’m wrong.  Humberto Sanchez has been placed on the Temporarily Inactive List…his wife is having a baby.

McAllister will start one of the games tomorrow, sounds like a bullpen start for the other.  Bush apparently has a cracked fingernail and isn’t ready just yet.  To be honest, I figured it was a phantom injury.

Kyle Anson is recovering from a shoulder injury but is not throwing yet.  Jorge Vazquez is out for the year.

4:00 PM — Here’s my guess on what happens tomorrow…Zach McAllister and Paul Bush come off the DL to start the doubleheader, and Humberto Sanchez goes to…Scranton?  Can’t wait until I go down there in an hour and a half and come back feeling like a dope and being totally wrong.

3:55 PM — Don’t forget to follow me on the Twitter thingamajobber as well.  Click here to do that.  Tweet at me and such.

3:35 PM — Hmmm…well, it isn’t Sanchez.  Not yet, anyway.  Reegie Corona has been promoted from Trenton to Scranton and Matt Cusick has been promoted from Tampa.

Lineups are in…

HARRISBURG

Mike Daniel, CF
Freddie Bynum, SS
Leonard Davis, LF
Joel Guzman, 3B
Bill Rhinehart, 1B
Marvin Lowrance, DH
Francisco Plasencia, RF
Sean Rooney, C
Greg Veloz, 2B

Jeff Mandel, P

TRENTON

Austin Krum, CF
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Chris Malec, 1B
Richie Robnett, RF
Noah Hall, DH
James Cooper, LF
Marcos Vechionacci, 3B
Ryan Baker, C
Justin Snyder, 2B

Ryan Pope, P

3:20 PM — Something’s up.  It doesn’t seem that Humberto Sanchez is here, and it seems at least one roster move is impending.  I’ll try to figure it out…

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Around the EL: Lars Anderson

Ask and ye shall receive. 

Lars Anderson was the winner of a recent poll on here, asking which Around the EL feature you’d like to see next.

The Sea Dogs slugger entered the season as the Red Sox top prospect, according to Baseball America.  During Portland’s last trip to Waterfront Park this year, I sat down with the laid-back California native for a few minutes and asked him a number of questions…

(Note: Friend and colleague Kira Jones, who works for MiLB.com, was also there for part of the interview and asked one of these questions as well…)

Mike Ashmore: The Boston Red Sox picked you in the 18th round in 2006, certainly a bit lower than I’m sure you thought you might go.  Thinking back to the day you got selected, what comes to mind?

Lars Anderson: “At the time, I was really indecisive about if I wanted to play pro ball or if I wanted to go to school.  I kind of felt some relief, because I was supposed to go a little higher than that and I slipped.  So I was like, ‘OK, I kind of want to go to school.’  Then the Red Sox picked me.  I was on my way to baseball practice and my brother called and said, ‘Hey, how do you like Boston?’  And I thought that was cool, so it just worked out nicely.”

Ashmore: Baseball America has got you rated as the Red Sox number one prospect this season.  Does being held in such high regard like that weigh on your shoulders at all, or do you not really think about it?

Anderson: “I try to not pay attention to that, and I think I would be able to do that, but people remind you of it.  So it’s there, and it’s a matter of managing that.  I don’t think it reflects on me as far as how I am as a ballplayer or as a person, it’s just a subjective opinion of the organization.  I don’t even know if that person who made that list has seen me play.  So it’s pretty arbitrary.  I know a lot of guys in this organization are at the top of their game, so I don’t really know how accurate that whole thing is.”

Ashmore: Can you give me a little scouting report on yourself for someone who hasn’t seen you play?

Anderson: “Offensively, when I’m going really well, I’m quiet, my swing is easy and I’m driving the ball up the middle and in the gaps.  When I struggle, I’ll start to pull off of balls.  And I think that’s true for a lot of hitters.  I like hitting fastballs, but I think I’m getting better at hitting offspeed stuff.  They always say that the best offspeed hitters are the guys that hit the fastballs, so it seems like it’s a nice approach to take.”

“Defensively, I’m pretty pleased with some of the strides I’ve made.  There’s some situational stuff that I’ve made mistakes on that it’s good to have that happen now.  There was a play last night where that happen, and I was like OK, next time I’ll be a little bit more aware of that.  I feel fundamentally a bit more comfortable on the field, which is great.  I’m working hard at it.”

Ashmore: You got to play in the Eastern League All-Star Game here in Trenton recently.  What was your experience like?

Anderson: “It was great.  I wish the All-Star break was about four days long so I could have a couple days to myself, but it was fun.  It was really cool meeting up with all these guys and kind of picking their brains and seeing where they’re at.  I really had some good connections.  A lot of times they’ll just come through first base and you’ll have a brief conversation, but there I was able to connect with them a little bit more.  That was a cool thing for me.”

Ashmore: You came into tonight’s game hitting around .270, and a lot of people consider that struggling for you considering what you’ve hit in the past.  Does that seem ridiculous to you at all?

Anderson: “No, it’s not.  I know I can do better than what I’m doing, and I always feel that way.  I think I’m going to look back on this year, regardless of what happens in the next month and a half, and be like, ‘Wow, that was a huge year for me, I learned a lot.’”

Ashmore: In reading a lot of scouting reports on you, it seems a lot of people feel like you can hit in the big leagues right now.  Is that an asssessment you’d agree with?

Anderson: “I don’t know, I haven’t really had much experience.  I had a few at-bats in spring training, but it’s just a handful.  I feel like if I was locked in, I could probably hold my own.  I don’t know.  I’m sure if they execute their pitches…those guys get big leaguers out, so it would probably be tough.  I don’t know, I’d like to try.”

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com