IL1 International League

International League News and Notes

Published on April 17, 2008 under International League (IL1) News Release


BUFFALO BISONS

BACK HEALTHY: RHP Brian Slocum missed nearly all of 2007 because of a forearm injury. The starter is back healthy with the Bisons and proved what he could do in his second start of the year. On April 12 against Toledo, Slocum pitched no-hit baseball over five innings. He allowed just one base runner (2nd inning walk) and struck out three. He was only pulled because the team is keeping an innings-limit on him as he returns from injury. With his first start, Slocum is now 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA.

SWEET AND SOWERS: Don't let his 0-2 record fool you, Bisons LHP Jeremy Sowers has pitched good enough to be 3-0. He has the League's only complete game, allowing just one earned run in six innings in the first game of a doubleheader on April 6 in Norfolk. The southpaw also worked six solid innings on April 11 against Toledo and April 16 vs. Syracuse. Unfortunately for Sowers, the Bisons have scored just four total runs in his three starts.

GONE STREAKING: Infielder Danny Sandoval has the longest active hit streak in the International League. After going 0-4 on Opening Day, he has hit in his next nine games. Sandoval has hit .303 (10-33) over the streak with a pair of doubles and four runs scored. In 2005, Sandoval won the IL Batting Championship with a .331 batting average with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS

SOLO DANCE: Outfielder Jason Bourgeois' solo home run Monday night in the 4th inning was his first of the season and the eighth for the Knights. All eight of the Knights home runs this year have been solo home runs. Seven different players have hit home runs. The only player with more than one home run is shortstop Mike Rouse.

ROSTER MOVE: Prior to Monday night's game against Columbus the Knights placed RHP Joe Winkelsas on the disabled list, retroactive to April 10. LHP Shaun Babula was activated from the disabled list and took Winkelsas' spot on the roster.

WHOA ONELI: Oneli Perez pitched two innings of scoreless relief Tuesday night vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Perez struck out four of the eight batters he faced. Of the 29 pitches that Perez threw, 21 of them were strikes. Perez leads all Knights relievers in strikeouts with 9. Perez is being used by manager Marc Bombard as a set up man after serving as the closer for Double-A Birmingham last season.

RUNNING START: Rehabbing White Sox outfielder Jerry Owens showed off his speed Tuesday night by picking up his first stolen base since joining the Knights. Owens stole a combined 55 bases last season for the Knights and White Sox. Owens has gone 4-of-20 (.200) with an RBI, walk, and run scored on his rehab assignment.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS

THE 'PEN IS MIGHTIER: The Clipper bullpen in averaging 12.5 K/9. Of the seven men in the pen, only Mike Bacsik (5.9) is averaging less than double figures. Brian Sanches leads the way with 15.4 K/9, followed by Charlie Manning (14.7), Steven Shell (13.5), Chris Booker (13.5), Dennis Tankersley (12.7) and Jason Stanford (12.3). Recently released Eude Brito was averaging 14.8 K/9.

CLOSING THE BOOK: Since the 2007 Triple-A All-Star Game, in which he pitched a scoreless inning, Chris Booker has been a perfect 8-for-8 in save opportunities. He owns a 1.08 ERA in 25.0 IP over 22 appearances during the stretch with 40 strikeouts. He picked up his first save of this season on April 15 at Durham, striking out all three batters faced. Booker currently sits at 6th all-time on the Clippers saves list with 31, 4 behind Curt Kauffman.

BREAK OUT THE TURNSTILE: With six roster moves yesterday, the Clippers have now made 23 transactions this year. Last season the Clippers made 25 moves in April on their way to 123 total moves (2nd most in team history). Garrett Mock (injury), Wil Nieves (Washington) and Eude Brito (released) all came off the roster while Jason Stanford (Vermont), Patrick Nichols (Vermont) and Chris Schroder (Washington) all joined the Clippers. It is Stanford's and Nichols' second go-round with Columbus this season. Schroder was with Columbus for much of last season and started this year in Washington.

DURHAM BULLS

SHORT HANDED: Durham is off to a 5-9 start, in part because of injuries at the big-league level that have nine players on the Major League disabled list for Tampa Bay. The nine players include: outfielders Rocco Baldelli and Cliff Floyd, infielders Willie Aybar and Ben Zobrist, catcher Dioner Navarro, and pitchers Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, Chad Orvella and Al Reyes. In addition, pitcher Juan Salas is on the restricted list because of visa issues. He was expected to arrive in St Petersburg today. Since the season started, the Bulls have lost one third of their lineup to the majors (Mike DiFelice, Evan Longoria and Justin Ruggiano) and starting pitcher Jeff Niemann. In addition, pitchers Salas, Kurt Birkins, J.P. Howell and Orvella may have otherwise begun the year with the Bulls, as would have infielder Elliott Johnson. Birkins was to join Durham this week, were it not for Reyes going to the DL yesterday.

SEEKING SOLID START: Durham has played 14 games, and has only two victories from its starting pitchers (2-9 record). During that time, the Bulls have one quality start (three earned runs or less, six innings or more). It came from Jeff Niemann, who's now with the Rays.

STRUGGLING TO SCORE: Durham has felt the effects of Longoria, Ruggiano and DiFelice going to the majors. The Bulls have scored just 17 runs in their last 7 contests (2.43 runs per game), dropping 6 of those games. Durham has been held to 24 hits in the last 4 games.

FIRST IS BEST, MOST OFTEN: In only one game has Durham scored first and lost (5-1). Durham is 0-8 when the opponent scores first.

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS

FIRST-PLACE TRIBE: Indianapolis has occupied 1st place in the International League's West Division for five straight days. The Indians began a streak of 69 consecutive days atop the division around this time last year (April 16-June 23). In 2006, the Indians spent 119 days in either 1st place or tied for the top spot.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE: The Indians started the season 5-0 at home -- their best home start in over 70 years. The franchise's day-by-day archives go back to 1938, and, during that period, the Tribe has never opened the campaign with five straight home victories.

STAYING ABOVE .500: In four seasons as a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate, Indianapolis has spent 453 of 466 days (97%) at .500 or better. The streak includes 281 consecutive in-season days from April 22, 2006 to Aug. 28, 2007. The Indians stayed above .500 for 145 straight days (April 5-Aug. 28) during the 2007 campaign.

A BULLPEN THAT'S ON A ROLL: The Indianapolis bullpen has allowed just three runs over its last 37.2 innings (10 games). Four different relievers - RHP Jonah Bayliss (5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 SO), RHP Jesse Chavez (6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 10 SO), RHP Marino Salas (6.0 IP, 5 H, 6 SO) and RHP Romulo Sanchez (7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 SO) - have kept the Tribe's opponent off the scoreboard during the stretch.

PITCHING PROWESS: The Indians pitching staff ranks 2nd in the International League with a 2.83 team ERA through 14 contests. The Tribe hurlers are also tied for 1st in the IL with six saves and two shutouts.

LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS

THE KEY-AVACCI: Monday, RHP Ron Chiavacci became the first ever IronPigs pitcher to record a victory in a 3-1 defeat of Richmond (6.0 IP, 3 H,

0 R, 3 BB, 8 K). The 30-year-old Scranton native now leads the IL in ERA (0.52) and he currently holds a 16.1 scoreless IP streak. He also has recorded the only two 'quality starts' by the IronPigs pitching staff this season.

STRUGGLING TO SCORE: The IronPigs have scored just 27 runs in 14 games, an average of 1.9 R/G. The next lowest total in the IL is 49 (Norfolk & Syracuse). The IronPigs are still last in the IL in AVG (.199) and the team is batting just .133 (13-98) with RISP; and .177 (33-186) with runners on base. The cleanup hitters in the LHV lineup have 0 HR and 2 RBI (0 in the first 11 G) in the 14 games and are batting just .135-0-2 (7-52). The IronPigs have been shutout in 3 of 14 games.

SLOW START: The IronPigs' 0-11 start was the worst start in all of Minor League Baseball (the South Bend Silver Hawks started 0-9) and the slowest in IL history in the last 30 years (the 2000 Richmond Braves and the 2001 Columbus Clippers both started 0-8). The first win in franchise history -- a 3-1 victory April 14 vs. Richmond -- also snapped a 14-game losing streak (dating back to last year) for a Phillies' Triple-A affiliate and was the first win for an affiliated team in the Lehigh Valley since the 1960 Allentown Red Sox.

THIRD TIME'S NO CHARM: The IronPigs 6-4 loss vs. Toledo on Wednesday ended the team's first 'winning streak' at two games. Amazingly, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies has not won three consecutive games since May 3-5, 2007 - a span of 130 games. The last time the affiliate had won back-to-back games was when Ottawa took two straight August 20-21 - a span of 26 games.

BACON BITS: After a very slow start (4-28, .143), 1B Andy Tracy has hit in three straight games and also has an three-game RBI streak (6-14, 3 2B,

2 RBI)... 3B Brennan King has hit in five-straight games (6-18, .333, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and has gone errorless in nine straight games... RHP Matt Childers earned saves in the only two IronPigs victories on back-to-back nights, his first saves since August 26, 2005 at Durham - a span of 61 appearances...LHP Steve Kline, who ranks 11th on the all-time ML list for career appearances by a left-hander (796), made his IronPigs debut pitching a scoreless 0.2 innings. Coming into the season, Kline led the ML in appearances over the past 10 seasons... It may have taken six games, but DH Mike Cervenak became the first IronPigs to hit a home run at Coca-Cola Park (opponents have hit five)... Despite the 2-12 start, the pitching staff has yet to yield a double-digit hit total in a game this season.

LOUISVILLE BATS

BARKER HITS TRIFECTA: When Kevin Barker was activated from the DL on April 15 he became the second player, Mike Stefanski was the first, to participate as a member of the Louisville Redbirds, Louisville RiverBats and Louisville Bats. In 1998, as a member of the Redbirds, Barker played in 124 games and batted .278. He connected on 23 home runs and led the team in RBI with 96. In 1999, when the team changed its name to the RiverBats, he had another monstrous season. He played in 121 games that year, batting .278 with 23 home runs, 87 RBI and a team-leading 89 runs. He ended the 1999 season by playing 40 games in Milwaukee. After eight seasons, Barker returned to Louisville and in his first game he went 1-3, with an RBI single.

STARTING STRONG: To start off the 2008 season the starters (Bailey, Shearn, Lehr, Maloney, Pettyjohn, Belisle) are a combined 9-2, with three no decisions. In 81.2 innings pitched they have a combined 3.10 ERA, allowing 78 hits, 28 earned runs, 19 walks and striking out 58.

LEHR IS IL PITCHER OF THE WEEK: RHP Justin Lehr earned IL Pitcher of the Week honors. In his first career IL start at Scranton/WB, he took a perfect game into the 8th inning before giving up a solo shot to Jason Lane. The HR was the only hit that Lehr gave up in 8.0 innings of work, striking out five with no walks in the Bats 9-2 victory. He backed up that performance by allowing no runs in 7.0 innings against the Paw Sox five days later, striking out five and walking one in a 3-1 victory. The last Bats pitcher to be named IL Pitcher of the Week was Mike Gosling in August of 2006.

BRUCE DOUBLE AWAY FROM CICLE: In Wednesday Night's game against the Tides, OF Jay Bruce came up a double short of the cycle. In his first at-bat he hit an opposite field home run to left-center off of Tides starter Radhames Liz. Two innings later he would drive a ball to deep right-center and leg out a triple, leaving him half-way to the cycle. In the bottom of the 5th he looped one over the first baseman's head for a single. Unfortunately, he would not get a chance for the cycle as Adam Rosales entered the game as a defensive replacement to start the 7th inning. Bruce was forced to leave the game because he jammed his shoulder diving back to first as he was picked off. Louisville has had four cycles in their history; Stan Royer (July 19, 1991 vs. Denver), David Bell (August 11, 1995 vs. Iowa), Anderson Machado (May 18, 2007 at Toledo) and Chris Dickerson (July 26, 2007 at SWB).

NORFOLK TIDES

DAZZLING BULLPEN: The Tides bullpen has surrendered just 14 of the club's 58 earned runs thus far this season, posting a 2.93 ERA. Andy Mitchell leads the team in wins (2-1), Alberto Castillo leads the club with a 0.00 ERA, and Lance Cormier is 4th on the club in strikeouts with 9, all out of the pen. Tides closer Bob McCrory is tied for 3rd in the League with 3 saves. McCrory has converted on all three of his save opportunities and has surrendered just 6 hits on the season. Since joining the Tides on April 7, Ryan Bukvich has had made 3 appearances allowing just 1 earned run, striking out 4 in 3.0 innings of work.

TORRID TORRES: Tides infielder Eider Torres has had a fantastic start to the 2008 season. Torres has reached base safely in 12 of 14 games this year, having hit safely in 11 of those 14 contests. The 25-year-old infielder leads the club with nine RBI, as well as four multi-hit games. Torres ranks among IL leaders in hits (5th, 17), stolen bases (T-3rd, 4), and RBI (T-10th, 9). Torres is also hitting .474 (9-19) with runners in scoring position.

CAN'T TOUCH THIS: Reliever Alberto Castillo has flourished with the Tides this season, as each of his four relief appearances have been scoreless. Castillo has held batters to a .087 batting average (2-23), and the 32-year-old southpaw has struck out eight while walking just one. Prior to his outstanding start this season, his last appearance in affiliated baseball came in 2001, when he hit .274 with 11 home runs, 12 doubles and 54 RBI as a first baseman for Class-A Bakersfield.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX

CALLING ALL INFIELDERS: The PawSox sent a pair of infielders to Boston in the last week. The first to leave was Jed Lowrie, who received an early birthday present (he turns 24 today) when he was promoted to Boston on April 10 to take the place of disabled Red Sox 3B Mike Lowell. Lowrie saw his first action for the Red Sox on Tuesday night in Cleveland and promptly became the first Boston rookie to have 3 RBI in his debut since September 12, 1947 when 3B Merrill Combs had 4 RBI in his first game with the Red Sox vs. the St. Louis Browns. Lowrie, Boston's Minor League Offensive Player of the Year last year when he hit .297 for Double-A Portland and .300 for Pawtucket, had a rather eventual day last week on April 10. It began with an afternoon game at McCoy Stadium as Jed started at 3B and had an RBI double in Pawtucket's victory over Lehigh Valley. After the game, Lowrie got word that he was needed at Fenway Park for that night's Red Sox game vs. Detroit in case Lowell was placed on the DL. When that indeed came true, Jed was activated by the Red Sox and was in uniform at Fenway for the night portion of his own version of a day/night doubleheader. On Wednesday of this week, the Red Sox dipped back into the Pawtucket waters for another infielder as 28 year-old veteran Joe Thurston got the call to replace the injured Alex Cora. Thurston, who hit .300 in 129 games for Ottawa, never received a promotion to Philadelphia last year despite his fine season. This season, however, it took less than two weeks for the former LA Dodger and Philadelphia Phillie (.259 in 55 big league games) to return to the big leagues - this time his stage being Yankee Stadium for the Red Sox vs. Yankees series.

RINGING IN THEIR CHAMPIONSHIP BLING: Five current members of the PawSox will receive their 2007 Boston Red Sox World Series rings from Red Sox Director of Player Development Mike Hazen in special pre-game ceremonies prior to this Saturday night's game vs. Buffalo at McCoy Stadium. RHP Kyle Snyder, who spent all of last season with the Red Sox going 2-3 with a 3.81 ERA in 46 relief appearances, and OF Bobby Kielty who went 2-5 in 2 games during the 2007 ALCS vs. Cleveland and then blasted a decisive solo HR in his only at-bat during the World Series in the Game 4 clinching victory at Colorado, headline the list of players who will receive their championship rings on Saturday. OF Brandon Moss, who had two stints with the Red Sox last August and again in September and batted .280 in 15 games for Boston, OF Jeff Bailey, who joined the Red Sox for three games last July in Detroit (making his Major League debut in his 11th professional season) and blasted a HR on July 8 for his first big league hit, and RHP Devern Hansack, who appeared in 3 games (1 start) for the Red Sox last May and then again in September, round out the current PawSox players who will be rewarded for their contributions with the ultimate prize on Saturday.

RICHMOND BRAVES

PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF: Barbaro Canizares, the reigning IL Batter of the Week, leads the League in hitting (.438) and on-base percentage (.471). He is tied for 2nd in RBI (12). Canizares is riding his second six-game hitting streak of the season (11-23, .478). Since last August 1, when he returned to the R-Braves after missing three months due to immigration paperwork issues, he is hitting .387 (60-155) with five HR and 32 RBI in 42 games.

MAKING THE MOST OF IT: 15 of the Braves 59 RBI (25.4%) have been knocked in by the three players on the club hitting under .200. Brent Lillibridge (.109) is 2nd on the club in RBI (8) and runs scored (9). Scott Thorman (.195) has four RBI. Wes Timmons (.167) has three RBI and leads the club in walks (11) and HBP (2).

YOU DON'T HAVE TO KEEP IT IN THE PARK: Braves pitchers went 70.2 innings between surrendering home runs (9th inning April 8 to the 7th inning of Tuesday night's Game 2). The Braves have allowed the fewest home runs in the IL (five). However, Richmond is 4-0 when opponents hit home runs and 6-4 when the opposition is held without a home run. Four of the opposition's five home runs have been solo shots.

ROCHESTER RED WINGS

BAD STARTS: The Red Wings starters have struggled the last five games, going 1-1 with a 5.12 ERA. In 19.1 innings of work, the starters have allowed 14 runs (11 earned) on 25 hits while walking nine and striking out 14. The starters haven't pitched 5.0 or more innings in eight of the first 14 games (3-5 record) this season.

HOT WING: Infielder Brian Buscher continues his hot hitting to start the season batting .360 with three home runs and nine RBI. Buscher already has seven multi-hit games in his first 13 games played. The Twins 2007 Minor League Player of the Year is tied for 3rd in the IL with 18 hits.

APRIL WINS BRING SEPTEMBER PLAYOFF GAMES....SOMETIMES: The Red Wings look to get off to a fast start in April for a third consecutive season. Since 2006 Rochester has a 32-20 record in the month of April. The last eight times Rochester has had a winning April record the Red Wings have made the playoffs in five of those years (2006, 1997, 1995, and 1993). The only exceptions are 2007, 2005, and 1994.

NAIL BITERS: Last night's one-run loss to Richmond was the Red Wings fifth one run loss of the season. Rochester has lost 12 of the last 16 one-run games and holds a 1-5 record in one-run games this season. Rochester holds a 114-112 record in one-run games since 2003.

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE YANKEES

BULLISH ON RELIEF: If you're going to score against the SWB Yankees in 2008, you'd better do it early. After the 6th inning of the game, generally the time that manager Dave Miley goes to the bullpen, opposing bats have a tendency to go quiet. In 33 combined appearances, the Yankees bullpen has a 4-0 record with three saves and a sparkling 1.75 ERA. In 51.1 innings of work the pen has struck out 57, walked only 13 and has held the opposition to a .182 batting average against.

GIESE, GIESE BABY: With RHP Alan Horne on the DL with a biceps injury, RHP Dan Giese has taken over Horne's spot in the starting rotation. Prior to his first start on Monday, April 14 at Durham, Giese, a 34th-round selection by the Boston Red Sox in the 1999 amateur draft, had pitched in 385 games and amassed 613.2 innings of work between the minor and major league levels, but had never started a game. Of those 385 games, 142 (about 37%) have come with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise. Giese was a member of the Red Barons during the 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons. He pitched in the San Francisco Giants' organization in 2007.

DUNCAN GO NUTS: After getting optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre from the New York Yankees, Shelley Duncan has been taking the move out on International League pitching. In the seven games with the Triple-A Yankees since getting sent down, Duncan is hitting .393 (11-28) with 3 HR, 7 RBI, 9 R, 5 2B, and 6 BB. Despite not having enough at bats to qualify for the League lead in average, Duncan is still in the top five in several categories including HR (T-5th), doubles (T-5th), and extra-base hits (T-4th).

SYRACUSE CHIEFS

BUCK COATS JOINS CHIEFS: The Toronto Blue Jays optioned outfielder Buck Coats to the Chiefs this week and recalled infielder Joe Inglett . Coats joined the Chiefs in Rochester and was hit by a pitch in his second game but was back in action on Wednesday as a pinch hitter. Coats was scheduled to start the season with the Chiefs but was added to the Jays Opening Day roster when third baseman Scott Rolen was injured.

ROLEN ON REHAB: The Chiefs are expected to receive Blue Jays third baseman and Major League All-Star Scott Rolen on rehab later this month as he begins his return from a broken finger.

DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB: The Syracuse Chiefs have played nine of their 14 games this season during the day and are 7-1 as opposed to 0-6 at night.

LEAGUE RETURNS TO SYRACUSE AGAIN: RHP Brandon League returned to Syracuse this week and picked up a save in his first appearance. League has appeared in a Chiefs uniform during the past four seasons and has pitched in 62 games (both as a starter and a reliever).

WWE DIVA APPEARS IN JUNE: Lillian Garcia will appear at Alliance Bank Stadium on June 25 and perform the National Anthem and sign autographs during the game. The WWE Diva will be part of WWE Night at the stadium along with other stars from World Wrestling Entertainment.

TOLEDO MUD HENS

3B MIKE HESSMAN INCHES CLOSER TO RBI MILESTONE: Fourth-year 3B Mike Hessman is nearing a Toledo Mud Hens RBI milestone. Hessman has 232 career RBI with Toledo. The modern-era (1965-present) record is 233 RBI held by Scott Ullger (1982, 1984-86). The all-time Toledo RBI record stands at 388, accomplished by Bobby Veach (1926-1929).

THESE GUYS HAVE SOME POP: The Toledo Mud Hens have 21 HR which leads all of Triple-A baseball (Albuquerque has 20). Leading the way for Toledo: 1B Jeff Larish (5), RF Matt Joyce (4), 3B Mike Hessman (2) and OF Brent Clevlen (2).

NO WALK IN THE PARK: The Mud Hens batters are last in the IL in the walk category. As a team they have only taken 34 walks (tied with Louisville). Columbus leads the League with 55 free passes.

COMINGS AND GOINGS: With the promotion of Armando Galarraga to Detroit on Wednesday, Toledo has now made 15 transactions since Opening Day. In 2007, Toledo made 2 moves by April 16 and it took them until May 13 to make their 15th transaction.

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International League Stories from April 17, 2008


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