MMLR Player of the Day: Savannah starter Robert Whalen.
Las Vegas (11-3) knocks off Reno (6-8) 4-2.
Logan Verrett (W, 1-1) kept the 51‘s in front. 5.0 IP, 2 R, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 K.
Miguel Socolovich continued to dominate in relief: 2.0 IP. 0 R, H, 0 BB, K.
Vic Black pitched the 8th inning: 1.0 IP, 0 R, H, BB, K. Black is looking like the Black we expected in spring training. In 4 appearances so far, (3.1 innings) he has not allowed a run, only 1 hit.
Jeff Walters (S, 4) pitched a perfect 9th with 2 K.
Allan Dykstra: 2-3, 2B, BB, 3 RBI, R. Dykstra, off to an incredible start, has his avg. up to .417
Zach Lutz: 2-4, 3B, R.
Binghamton (7-4) @ Portland (7-4) postponed again - wet grounds.
Jupiter (6-7) drops St. Lucie (7-6) 8-6 with 2 in the 10th.
Uncharacteristically, Gabriel Ynoa gets rocked and doesn‘t make it through the 3rd inning: 2.2 IP, 6 R, 8 H, (HR) 3 BB, K.
Paul Sewald, (2.1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, K) Julian Hilario, (2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K) and Bret Mitchell ( 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, 2 K) were stallar in holding the Hammerheads scoreless through the 9th innng.
But, Randy Fontanez (L, 0-1) was brought in for the 10th, and came up short: 1.0 IP, 2 R, 3 H, (HR) 0 BB, 2 K.
Dilson Herrera, continuing to lead off: 3-5, 2 R. (has his avg. up to .364)
Brandon Nimmo: 2-4, BB, RBI, R. (now hitting .400)
T.J. Rivera: 1-4, BB, RBI, R. (.378)
Aderlin Rogriguez: 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI, R.
Savannah (9-4) tops Augusta (7-6) 4-1.
Robert Whalen (W, 2-0) shows us why he is so highly regarded. 5.0 IP, R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, K6. In his 2 starts, 9 innings, thus far this season, Whalen has allowed only 1 earned run and 5 hits.
Miller Diaz, (S, 1) completed the game, pitching as effectively as Whalen did: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 5 K.
This may be a pattern emerging with Savannah. For the second straight night they split the game almost evenly between two pitchers.
SS Gavin Cecchini, leading off: 2-3, 2B, BB, 2 R.
Jared King: 1-3, 2B, BB, RBI, R.
Stefan Sabol: 1-4, 2 RBI.
Dykstra in his first opportunity in AAA and finally getting to play is an on base machine. Something like 17 of 30. Somewhere, somehow, he'll get his chance in the bigs. Herrera and Nimmo on fire, and Cecchini also picking up the pace. Hopefully just an off nite for Ynoa, but overall a great nite. Even Walters and Black strong in relief.
ReplyDeleteThomas -
ReplyDeleteLove the fact that you read this report every day and see fit to comment. Don't know if you get around to looking back at the comments late in the day, but I hope you do.
It's tough to get excited about any hitting stats in the PCL, but you're right about Dykstra. He is 20 of 34 on base. But he has been exceptional at getting on base throughout his career. (career OBP .405) I'm impressed with the fact that Dykstra, Lutz and Campbell all have more BBs than Ks.
And while giving out kudos, how about Jacob deGrom. He has been a ground ball machine this year (G/F = 14.00) which is a major reason his ERA is 0.50 and WHIP is 0.778.
Thomas - Herb:
ReplyDeleteFirst, I have never seen Alan Dykstra play a game.
That being said, I have always been told that he only projects as a AAAA type first baseman. Those I know that have seen him on a nightly basis say he is defensively challenged and the word 'awkward' is used to describe how he plays the game (don't shoot the messenger).
People compare him to first basemen like Mike Jacobs, Val Pascucci, and/or Mike Hessman.
Look, I was pissed when the Mets drafted Ike Davis and didn't pick Dykstra, but those supposedly 'in the know' say he just misses.
(Yes I know... he had another great game tonight... so did Mike Jacobs who played against him and is hitting like .410)
Hi Herb - thanks. As time permits, I do try to look back for follow up posts, and recently noticed the arrows at the bottom to quickly go from post to post with a handheld device. You guys provide a lot of meaty stuffy, where a lot of other sites are either fluffy, nasty, or tardy. Any real fan should want to hit this site first.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of Dykstra, who had two more hits Thursday nite, some guys over-achieve. After his early career being less than hoped prior to Mets org picking him up, he seems to show more and more that he is capable of playing at big league level, even if only as a back up.
And to that point, you refer to his career on base % - but the last 3 years, including this one, it is .435 in AA and AAA. And that is with last year where in July, August, and Sept., he hit just .217, making me speculate (since he was well over .300 before that) if he was playing hurt. But even in those 2+ months of poor hitting, he walked 40 times in about 200 plate appearances, so his OB% was still about .375 during that slump. To do that when you're struggling is impressive.
Let's see how lofty his #'s are in a month. I am just real impressed that in playing sporadically over the first 10 games, due to the logjam, he was an-onbase machine nonetheless. That is the sign of a valuable utility player. Unfortunately, with a sub, you like to see versatility - all of his 357 games that he is listed as a fielder (I guess others, he DH'd) have been at 1B. And only 5 steals in almost 2400 plate appearances, so speed is in tortoise mode.