Luis Jimenez And His Weird Routine

Someone asked me for a video of Luis Jimenez doing his pre-game routine that I talked about yesterday. 

Here ya go, in downloadable .mpeg format…

Luis Jimenez VIDEO

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

4/10: Around the EL

** Eddie Kunz picked up his third career Double-A save, sealing the deal for the B-Mets, who beat the Akron Aeros, 6-3.

Kunz, listed as the Mets fifth best prospect by Baseball America, got the last four outs of the game without allowing a baserunner.

Another highly touted pitching prospect, Akron’s Chuck Lofgren, didn’t fare as well.  His record fell to 0-1 after he allowed four runs on six hits and two walks over six innings.

Fernando Martinez and Mike Carp both homered for the Mets, with Carp going 3-for-4 on the evening.

** In a game that saw a grand total of four hits, the ever-exciting fielder’s choice off the bat of Jeff Natale in the seventh inning allowed the Sea Dogs to escape Connecticut with a 1-0 win.

Portland nearly extended their lead to two, but Connecticut’s Ben Copeland gunned down Zach Daeges at the plate.

Dan Haigwood got the start for Portland and allowed two hits in four innings while striking out seven before he came out of the game.

Beau Vaughan, who may have had one of the creepier baseball cards in the Eastern League last year, got his second save of the year for the Sea Dogs.  Also, his name rhymes with Mo Vaughn.  So he’s got that going for him working against him too. 

For the Defenders, Adam Cowart was the hard luck loser, allowing the unearned run on only two hits and two walks in six innings.

Connecticut used 12 position players in the game.

** Led by a quality start from Bobby Brownlie, the Harrisburg Senators beat the Erie Seawolves, 2-1, in 10 innings.

Jorge Padilla drove in both runs for the Senators, going 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI.  He hit a walk-off single off of Matt Rusch to score Michael Daniel to get the win.

Pepperdine alum Daniel Worth had Erie’s only multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 on the night.

** New Britain fought off a late rally from New Hampshire, and kept the Fisher Cats winless after the Rock cats 4-3 win.

Ben Julianel got the second save of his Eastern League career and first since May 17, 2005 against those same Fisher Cats at Waterfront Park.

Dustin Martin got three hits for the Rock Cats as well – if his name sounds familiar, he was dealt from the Mets in the Johan Santana deal.  His .538 average is good for second best in the Eastern League, behind only New Hampshire’s Scott Campbell, who did not play tonight.

The Fisher Cats made things interesting off of Julianel in the ninth, as he gave up a leadoff triple to Jacob Butler.  Pinch hitter Ryan Patterson then reached on an error by Matt Moses, scoring Butler and cutting the lead to one.

Eric Kratz (sadly, not Stone Temple Pilots drummer Eric Kretz) then singled Patterson to second.  But Julianel retired the next three batters in order, and the Rock Cats walked away with the 4-3 victory.

** Former Yankees farmhand Jeff Nettles had two hits for Bowie, helping the Baysox to a 3-2 win over Reading.

Ex-big league catcher Ben Davis is also in Bowie, but he went 0-for-3 in trying to throw out attempted base stealers.

Chorye Spoone, the O’s eighth ranked prospect according to BA, got his first Double-A win after allowing only one run while scattering five hits in five and a third.

Greg Golson went 2-for-4 in the losing effort for the R-Phils.

** Eastern League Notes **

Just to follow up on the Chris Smith story from yesterday, Portland called up Miguel Asencio from extended spring training to take his place.  The former Royals hurler is now the only player up in Maine with big league time.

** Eastern League Standings **

NORTH

Portland, 5-1
Connecticut, 4-2
Binghamton, 4-3
Trenton, 4-3
New Britain, 2-3
New Hampshire, 0-5 

SOUTH

Erie, 5-2
Harrisburg, 4-2
Reading, 4-3
Akron, 2-4
Altoona, 2-5
Bowie, 2-5

** Eastern League Leaders **

AVG

1 – Scott Campbell, NH, .563
2 – Dustin Martin, NB, .538
3 – Joey Hammond, REA, .438
4 – Jonel Pacheco, ALT, .435
5 – Mike Carp, BNG, .409

HR

1 – Luis Jimenez, HAR, 4
2 – Mike Carp, BNG, 3
3 – Yurendell De Caster, HAR, 3
4 – Eight tied with 2

RBI

1 – Luis Jimenez, HAR, 12
2 – Yurendell De Caster, HAR, 11
3 – Mike Carp, BNG, 8
T4 – Jeff Frazier, ERIE, 7
T4 – Armando Camacaro, AKR, 7

 Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

4/9: Around the EL

A lot of tight games last night in the Eastern League, and one semi-blowout.  Here’s some quick recaps…

** Eastern League Scores

**  Erie defeated Harrisburg, 3-2, despite former Portland Sea Dogs infielder Luis Jimenez hitting two solo home runs to increase his league leading total to four.

The Seawolves Will “Busta” Rhymes (straight out of the jokes he’s certainly never heard before department) added the offense for the road team, hitting a three-run home run off of Ismael Ramirez.

** Akron came from behind to beat the Binghamton Mets in another 3-2 game.  

The Aeros used three solo home runs for their offense, the latter two spoling another good outing by Jon Niese, who allowed just one run on two hits (including one of the bombs) in six innings of work while striking out five.

Fernando Martinez went 0-for-5 in the game, lowering his average to .136

** In the third 3-2 contest of the evening, New Britain broke open a tie game in the bottom of the ninth and beat the visiting Fisher Cats.

David Winfree doubled home Matt Moses for the walk-off win.  That came off of Mike MacDonald, who had shut the Rock Cats down in the previous inning.

** It took the Defenders 11 innings, but someone finally knocked off the Sea Dogs…this time by a score of 2-1. 

Portland reliever Mike James gave up a walk-off home run to former San Francisco Giants slugger Travis Ishikawa to send the fans home happy.

Justin Masterson pitched five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven.

** Four-run innings in the second and fifth were enough to carry Bowie to an 8-3 win over Reading.

Former Thunder pitcher Gerardo Casadiego allowed Reading’s three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but they were unearned.

Jonathan Tucker drove in four of the eight Bowie runs, going 2-for-4 with a single and a double.

** Eastern League Notes

The Portland Sea Dogs lost pitcher Chris Smith after he was promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket to take the place of Bartolo Colon.  Colon was placed on the DL after an oblique strain.

Smith, who was 6-9 with a 4.41 ERA last season in Portland, hadn’t appeared in a game for Portland this season.

Making the spot start against Lehigh Valley last night, he pitched out of his mind, allowing two hits in four innings, all while getting seven of his twelve outs via the K.

This marks the third consecutive season that Smith has been called up to Triple-A.  He was picked in the fourth round by Boston in 2002.

** Eastern League Standings

NORTH

Connecticut: 4-1
Portland: 4-1
Trenton: 4-2
Binghamton: 3-3
New Britain: 1-3
New Hampshire: 0-4

SOUTH

Erie: 5-1
Reading: 4-2
Harrisburg: 3-2
Akron: 2-3
Altoona: 1-5
Bowie: 1-5

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Around the EL

** The Ruckle Shuffle made its debut in the Eastern League last night.  Jake Ruckle, who dazzled Brooklyn fans a few years back with his very unorthodox delivery, made his Double-A debut for Binghamton last night and threw 5.2 scoreless innings in a no-decision for the Mets in their 1-0 win over Akron.

Just wait until this kid comes to Waterfront Park.  You haven’t seen anything like him. 

Jake’s a nice guy, too…spoke to him a few years back over at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn.

An Emmanuel Garcia single scored Fernando Martinez in the eighth inning for the game’s only run.

** Dustin Richardson is apparently as good as advertised.  Perhaps one of the lesser known pitching prospects in the Red Sox system, that will all change if he keeps repeating the performance he put on in his Double-A debut last night.

Richardson allowed just two hits and struck out ten batters in just five innings of work, leading undefeated Portland to a 7-1 win over Connecticut, who suffers their first loss of the year.

** Bowie fell to 0-5 after an extra inning loss to Reading.

Chris Tillman, who was acquired by the O’s in the Erik Bedard trade, made his Double-A debut and left after just two innings due to a pitch count.  A Javon Moran bases-clearing triple was the difference in the 10th inning for Reading.

** Harrisburg crushed Erie, 12-3. 

They used an eight-run seventh inning to do the Seawolves in, led by run-scoring doubles from Luis Jimenez, Yurendell De Caster, Ian Desmond and Roger Bernardina.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com