Where’s Waldo Alan Horne?

To the best of my knowledge, the tentative plan is to start Alan Horne on the road on Saturday.

The players were all talking about it, and although Tony Franklin wouldn’t officially confirm the move, there were rumors flying around the ballpark all day that Horne would be filling the Thunder’s empty spot in the rotation.

But hold on a minute…

If Ian Kennedy is experiencing numbness in one of the fingers of his pitching hand and Jason Johnson has a partially torn labrum, then three pitchers are going to be needed from somewhere to fill two spots in Triple-A and one spot in Double-A.

And if the guys filling the spots in Triple-A are from Double-A, then guys from Single-A will need to fill the spots in Double-A and so on.

But anyway, with all that said, there’s been some talk that Horne may be heading to Scranton instead.  Not sure if any of this is going to be any more clear by tomorrow, but I’ll be at the ballpark and will be sure to pass along any information I come across…

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Connecticut Gets Sanit-ized In The Ninth

29-year-old Cuban defector Amaury Sanit (pronounced sah-neet, so the headline joke doesn’t actually work) finished up the game in Trenton tonight, walking one and striking out another to hold on to a 2-0 lead in a win against Connecticut.

Sanit relied a lot on a heavy 93 MPH fastball that showed some movement.

Here’s a video…

And here’s a photo…

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

AUDIO: Kontos Dominates In 2-0 Win

Listen to George Kontos address reporters following his outing against the Connecticut Defenders. 

Download the file here (MP3, 1m 30s, 715kb).

Kontos allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out eight over six innings of work.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Game 16: Connecticut @ Trenton

Game 16 – Connecticut Defenders @ Trenton Thunder
April 28, 2009
Waterfront Park – Trenton, NJ

Pitching Matchup: TRE George Kontos (0-1, 3.77) VS. CON Jesse Foppert (0-0, 8.44)

Starting Lineups:

Connecticut

1- Brock Bond, 2B
2- Bobby Felmy, LF
3- Brett Pill, 1B
4- Eddy Martinez-Esteve, RF
5- Andrew D’Allesio, DH
6- Mike Mooney, CF
7- Brad Boyer, 3B
8- Jackson Williams, C
9- Brian Bocock, SS

Trenton

1- Eduardo Nunez, SS
2- Reegie Corona, 2B
3- Colin Curtis, LF
4- Jorge Vazquez, 1B
5- Marcos Vechionacci, 3B
6- Francisco Cervelli, C
7- Seth Fortenberry, CF
8- Kevin Smith, DH
9- James Cooper, RF

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): Scoreless through one…

George Kontos is blowing through this Defenders lineup. Only one hit allowed through three. The Thunder offense, of course, is equally inept…0-0, B3.

Jorge Vazquez — who else? — gives the Thunder a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th, with an RBI single to right.

Kontos has 6 K’s through 4…

That’s it for Foppert after four innings. Geivy Garcia now in for the Defenders to start the bottom of the 5th. 1-0, Thunder.

Eduardo Nunez just missed a home run by about a foot…and ended up flying into a 7-6-3 DP as a result. That’s a new one.

Mike Dunn’s in for Kontos in the 7th…nice 1-2-3 inning out of him. Still 1-0, B7.

Quite an outing for Kontos…6 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts.

Back to back 1-2-3 frames for Dunn.

Marcos Vechionacci drives in a much needed insurance run with an RBI single to left, scoring Reegie Corona. 2-0, Thunder. Looked like there was going to be a play at the plate, but the left fielder made a horrendous throw…B8

Amaury Sanit in here in the 9th to close this one out…

Sanit with a one out walk here, making things a bit interesting…

In-Game Photos:

In-Game YouTube Videos:

Final Score:  2-0, Thunder

Thunder Thoughts:

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Game 16: Pre-Game Notes

6:45 PM — Sounds like Edwar Gonzalez is going to be out at least another week. Tony Franklin said Gonzalez can’t swing a bat yet…Gonzalez himself seems pretty disappointed about the way things have gone for him so far this year.

5:40 PM — Unofficially, Alan Horne will be joining the club. Officially…uhhh, I know nothing.

4:20 PM — Lineups are in…

DEFENDERS

Brock Bond, 2B
Bobby Felmy, LF
Brett Pill, 1B
Eddy Martinez-Esteve, RF
Andrew D’Alessio, DH
Mike Mooney, CF
Brad Boyer, 3B
Jackson Williams, C
Brian Bocock, SS

THUNDER

Eduardo Nunez, SS
Reegie Corona, 2B
Colin Curtis, LF
Jorge Vazquez, 1B
Marcos Vechionacci, 3B
Francisco Cervelli, C
Seth Fortenberry, CF
Kevin Smith, DH
James Cooper, RF

4:10 PM — There are some rumors flying around that the team is set to add a fifth starter by tomorrow. If my sources are correct, it would be someone who has pitched for the Thunder before.

Connecticut is sending Jesse Foppert to the hill today. Henry Sosa on Wednesday and Daryl Maday on Thursday.

No concrete news as of yet, but stay tuned…

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Looking Forward To Your Indifference On The Following…

– You may have seen the Dan Giese piece that was posted earlier today.  With the team set to be on the road starting Friday, I’ll have stories on Ramiro Pena, Steven Jackson and Phil Coke coming then.

– The stuff I did last year…the stuff where you get to ask players questions, the “Getting To Know” features, etc…all that stuff is going to come back this year.  Also, if there’s anything else you want to see on here that I’m not doing…and I know about people wanting more “scouting report” type stuff…feel free to let me know.  Anyone who’s read this blog over the past year knows I’m pretty accomodating when it comes to getting you specific answers or specific stuff, so let me know what you want.  Worst I can tell you is no.

– Me?  Sarcasm?  Nooooooo.  But yes, that was me being a bit sarcastic at the beginning of the Vazquez piece.  For as long as I’ve been covering baseball, I’ve never understood how being from a Latin country doesn’t get you an interpreter but being from one of our Asian friends does.  Vic Valencia’s job isn’t to tell me what Jorge Vazquez is saying, it’s to coach a professional baseball team.  It’s always incredibly awkward to have to ask someone to do that when someone should be there to do that in the first place.  I’m obviously all for these guys learning English…but until they do, they should have someone helping them communicate with the fans, media and teammates.

Also, from a writing standpoint, you can’t really use quotes from someone who does a second-hand interpretation, if that makes any sense.  I’d rather have someone telling me exactly what was said — “I sure do love Strike” — instead of — “He says he loves Strike.”  Can’t particularly use the latter for a feature.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com