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June 6, 2006 - Eastern League (EL1) News Release


Akron's Kevin Kouzmanoff Named Eastern League Player of the Month For May

The Eastern League has announced that Akron Aeros third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff has been selected as the Eastern League Player of the Month for the month of May. After recording a .390 average during the first month of the season, Kouzmanoff was even more impressive in May, batting .440 (37-for-84) with eight doubles, six homers, 26 RBI, 20 runs scored, one stolen base, five walks and a .750 slugging percentage in 23 games.

The 24-year old, who was ranked by Baseball America as the 23rd best prospect in the Cleveland organization entering the season, had a hit in 18 of the 23 games he played in last month and also recorded 11 multi-hit games, including going 5-for-5 against Binghamton on May 4.

Kouzmanoff, a native of Evergreen, Colorado, currently has a league-best .416 batting average and is also ranked among the league leaders in slugging percentage (.630-1st), on-base percentage (.462-1st), hits (64-1st) and RBI (33-5th). If Kevin continues to hit at his current pace, the 6'1", 200 lb. slugger will break the Eastern League single-season record for batting average, which was set in 1925 by Joe Munson when he hit .400 as a member of the Harrisburg Senators.

Kevin was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the sixth round of the June 2003 draft after hitting .361 (84-for-233) with 12 doubles, 17 homers, 67 RBI, 55 runs scored, a .420 on-base percentage and a .631 slugging percentage in 54 games during his senior season at the University of Nevada.

R-Phlis Open Gordon Hoodak Stadium

This past Saturday Baseballtown Charities, the charitable arm of the Reading Phillies, celebrated the realization of a dream, the grand opening of Gordon Hoodak Stadium at Lauer's Park. Gordon Hoodak Stadium at Lauer's Park was built by Baseballtown Charities and will be the home field of the Olivet Boys and Girls Club's RBI leagues and the school.

The new $850,000 youth ballpark is nestled in a neighborhood that is quickly returning to its glory days. It sits on the grounds of Lauer's Park Elementary School, named for the former stadium where Babe Ruth and Shoeless Joe Jackson both played. The original housed several professional teams and hosted barnstorming tours from 1907-1941. Reading's own 93-year old icon, "Broadway" Charlie Wagner, former Red Sox pitcher and roommate of Ted Williams, began his career there.

Attendees at the ceremony included Mike Norris, Jim "Mudcat" Grant and Al Downing, all 20-game winners in the Major Leagues, and Wagner.

Alfonzo Homers In His Major League Debut

On June 3, Connecticut Defenders catcher Eliezer Alfonzo was promoted to the San Francisco Giants and made his Major League debut in the first game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets.

The 27-year old collected his first Major League hit with a home run off of Orlando Hernandez in the Giants 6-4 win.

Pauley Makes His Major League Debut

Portland right-hander David Pauley was promoted to Boston last week and made his Major League debut pitching in place of the injured David Wells on May 31.

Pauley allowed six runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings of work as the Red Sox defeated the Blue Jays 8-6.

Pauley, who will make his second Major League start at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, is the 126th Sea Dog to reach the Majors.

Eastern league Team News and Notes
For the week ending 6/4/06

Akron Aeros
E.L. Player of the Month Kevin Kouzmanoff is batting .444 with five doubles, six homers, 20 RBI and 14 runs scored over his last 14 games. 2B Eider Torres has reached base safely in 10 straight games. Over his last three starts, LHP Rafael Perez is 2-1 with a 0.41 ERA. Perez has struck out 14 batters while giving up seven hits and nine walks during that span.
Altoona Curve
OF Vic Buttler hit his 10th triple of the season Saturday against New Hampshire and is already just two shy of Tike Redman's club record of 12 set in 1999. Buttler's total of 10 triples currently leads all of Minor League Baseball. The Curve dropped five consecutive games from May 30-June 3, marking the club's first five-game losing streak since the 2003 season.

Binghamton Mets
Ray Navarrete got off to a great start with the Binghamton Mets, hitting safely in his first nine games with the club, a streak that ended on Sunday. Ray batted .323 (11-for-34) over that nine-game streak, the longest hit streak by a B-Met this season. Last Tuesday, former B-Met Lastings Milledge made his Major League debut for the NY Mets. Milledge ('05) is the sixth former B-Met to make his Major League debut this year.

Bowie Baysox
OF Noah Hall, who hit his first home run of the season on May 28, is hitting .400 over his last 10 games. During the month of May, OF Cory Keylor hit .337 (34-for-101) with four doubles, three homers, 16 runs scored and 11 RBI.

Erie SeaWolves
Erie took two of three in Bowie last week and won a series against the Baysox for the first time this season. RHP Nate Bumstead won his third consecutive start in a rained shortened game at Bowie last week. Bumstead was credited with a complete game, his second of the season which leads the league. RHP Humberto Sanchez struck out nine batters last week, to overtake Reading's Scott Mathieson for the top spot in the league in strikeouts with 86.

Harrisburg Senators
The Senators finished their longest road trip in five seasons on Sunday and went 5-5 on the trip. They finished .500 on a road trip for the first time this season, and with wins Saturday and Sunday in Binghamton, they also won their first road series of the year. During the 10 game road trip, the Senators came from behind twice in the ninth inning to win games. Over his last five games 3B Kory Casto is 8-for-21 with nine RBI.

New Britain Rock Cats
After taking two out of three from Harrisburg last Tuesday and Wednesday, the Rock Cats had their next four games at New Britain Stadium rained out. They finally returned to action on Sunday afternoon and swept a doubleheader against Bowie, 3-1 and 1-0. In the opener RHP Matt Garza moved his record to 3-1 with a one-hitter and LHP Glen Perkins allowed two hits and fanned 10 in the nightcap.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats
OF Adam Lind hit safely in all six games he played in last week, extending his league-high hitting streak to 15 games. Lind hit .391 with nine RBI for the week. New Hampshire shut out Connecticut on back-to-back days last week. Those games were part of a streak of 19 consecutive innings in which New Hampshire pitching did not allow a run, a season high.

Connecticut Defenders
3B Brian Buscher is batting .319 over his last 22 games and 1B Tyler Von Schell is batting .316 in his last 16 games. Connecticut has lost four straight games overall and five straight at home. Over their last nine games the Defenders have been shut out four times and have scored more than one run only twice.

Portland Sea Dogs
The Sea Dogs have won five straight games and currently have a five game lead in the Northern Division standings. It is the fourth time the Sea Dogs have won five straight games this season. The Sea Dogs go for their sixth consecutive win and longest winning streak of the season Tuesday night at home against Altoona.

Reading Phillies
Joey Hammond had two hits on Sunday in Trenton to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, the longest streak by a Reading player this season. Hammond is hitting .429 (18-for-42) during the streak. The R-Phils followed up their season-high eight game losing streak by winning eight of their last 11 games.

Trenton Thunder
After winning just seven games in the month of April, the Thunder bounced back to win a league-high 20 games during the month of May and have moved to within 5.5 games of first place Portland in the Northern Division standings. OF Bronson Sardinha hit .326 with seven homers, 20 RBI and 20 runs scored during the month.

Transactions

Akron Aeros
None

Altoona Curve
Sent 1B Sean Casey to Pittsburgh Placed LHP Josh Shortslef on the DL Signed RHP Blaine Neal and Assigned to Altoona (AA) Received RHP Chad Blackwell from Extended Spring Training

Binghamton Mets
Sent RHP Chuck Smith to St. Lucie (A) Placed OF Bobby Malek on the DL Placed RHP Tim McNab on the DL Received RHP Miguel Perez from Norfolk (AAA) Received RHP Miguel Pi-ango from Brooklyn (A) Placed OF Carlos Gomez on the DL Activated OF Bobby Malek from the DL Placed LHP Ryan Cullen on the DL Received C Mike DiFelice from Extended Spring Training Sent RHP Miguel Pi-ango to Brooklyn (A) Activated RHP Henry Owens from the DL

Bowie Baysox
Received LHP Richard Stahl from Aberdeen (A) Sent RHP Tim Kester to Ottawa (AAA) Received INF Pete Shier from Frederick (A) Sent INF Brooks Badeaux to Ottawa (AAA)

Erie SeaWolves
None

Harrisburg Senators
Received RHP Billy Sylvester from New Orleans (AAA) Sent RHP Roy Corcoran to New Orleans (AAA) Sent RHP Justin Echols to Vermont (A) Sent RHP Beltran Perez to Vermont (A) Received RHP Brett Campbell from Potomac (A) Received RHP Dan Foli from New Orleans (AAA) Received RHP Devin Perrin from New Orleans (AAA) Sent LHP Brett Nyquist to Potomac (A) Sent RHP Chris Thompson to Potomac (A) Received RHP Justin Echols from Vermont (A) Received RHP Beltran Perez from Vermont (A) Signed OF Prentice Redman and Assigned to Harrisburg (AA) Sent OF Ender Chavez to Potomac (A)

New Britain Rock Cats
None

New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Sent 2B Edgardo Alfonzo to Toronto Activated 3B Eric Arnold from the DL Sent OF Maikel Jova to Syracuse (AAA)

Connecticut Defenders
Received 1B Travis Ishikawa from San Francisco Sent C Eliezer Alfonzo to San Francisco Received C Andy Busch from San Jose (A)

Portland Sea Dogs
Sent RHP David Pauley to Boston Received LHP Mike Rozier from Greenville (A) Placed INF Keoni De Renne on the DL Received INF Dustin Kelly from Greenville (A) Sent RHP Mike Rozier to Greenville (A) Received RHP Charlie Zink from Pawtucket (AAA)

Reading Phillies
Placed INF Carlos Leon on the DL Activated OF John Castellano from Bereavement List Sent C Trey Johnston to Extended Spring Training Received C Orlando Guevara from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) Sent LHP Allen Davis to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) Received RHP Nick Evangelista from Clearwater (A) Placed RHP Brian Reed on Bereavement List Received RHP Nate Johnson from Clearwater (A)

Trenton Thunder
Received RHP Shawn Chacon on a Major League Rehab Assignment Sent RHP T.J Beam to Columbus (AAA) Received RHP Jeff Kennard from Tampa (A)


Check out the Eastern League Statistics



Eastern League Stories from June 6, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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