IL1 International League

International League News and Notes

Published on July 31, 2008 under International League (IL1) News Release


BUFFALO BISONS

CROWE FLYING: Bisons OF Trevor Crowe has had a fantastic Triple-A debut this week. The Cleveland Indians 1st round selection (14th overall) in 2005 has reached base safely in each of his first six games (hits in last five) with Buffalo. He homered to lead off his second game with the team on

July 26 in Charlotte and had a triple and a home run on Tuesday in Durham. Overall, the 24-year old is hitting .286 (8-28) with three RBI, two walks and six runs scored. Crowe began the season with Double-A Akron and hit .323 (64-198) with 16 doubles, four home runs, 28 RBI and 13 stolen bases in

49 games.

THE ENS IS JUST THE BEGINNING: Veteran INF Morgan Ensberg has become a big run producer in the middle of the Bisons order with 12 RBI in his last eight games. He knocked in four on July 21 with a two-run double and an 11th-inning two-run home run. On Sunday, he hit the Bisons first grand slam of the season in a win over Charlotte. On Tuesday, Ensberg plated four more to help the Herd win in Durham. Ensberg, a 2005 National League All-Star with Houston, is hitting .200 (21-105) with three home runs and 16 RBI in 33 games with Buffalo.

NEW FACES IN THE HERD: The Herd continues to grow as more players made their debut with the team this week. OF Trevor Crowe has hit .286 with six runs scored in his first six Triple-A games while INF Walter Diaz (2-15) has joined the Bisons after just 24 games as a professional.

RHP Anthony Reyes, acquired in a trade with St. Louis, won his Bisons debut with five innings of work on Tuesday. RHP John Meloan has pitched a pair of shutout innings since coming over to the Herd in the Casey Blake deal with the Dodgers.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS

HOME RUNS RAISING MONEY: This season New Dominion Bank is tipping their caps to the Knights for their help to Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Charlotte. New Dominion Bank donates $77 per Knights home run and $377 per Knights grand slam to Big Brothers and Big Sisters. INF Brad Eldred alone has helped raise $2,756. Eldred has 28 homers on the season including two grand slams. In total the Knights have helped raise $8,762.

WHISLER GETS 11TH WIN: With the win in Monday afternoon's game Knights LHP Wes Whisler picked up his 11th win of the season. That makes three straight seasons the Knights have had a pitcher win at least 11 games. Whisler is now tied for 2nd in the IL in wins, and is 1st on the Knights.

BULLPEN NOTES: RHP Jason Childers got his 10th save of the season Monday afternoon. It was also Childers' longest outing of the season; he pitched 2.1 innings...RHP Adam Russell has shown an improvement in his drop down slider since being optioned from Chicago. Tuesday night vs. Louisville, Russell threw the slider from his 3/4 arm angle for a strike to Adam Rosales and followed it up with a running fastball that Rosales popped up to the shortstop.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS

TERRIFIC ON TUESDAYS: With a 5-2 win over Richmond two days ago, the Clippers picked up their 14th Tuesday win this season. So far, they are a perfect 10-0 away from Cooper Stadium on Tuesdays (14-2 overall) and averaging a 4.9-3.3 win (79-53). Columbus is currently on a six-game Tuesday winning streak.

WINNING WITHOUT HOMERS: Columbus continues to have the fewest home runs for all teams in Triple-A Baseball with a winning record. Of the 14 teams in Triple-A with more wins than losses, only the Las Vegas 51's join Columbus as the two teams with less than 100 HR and a winning record (Las Vegas has 99 HR). Yurendell de Caster was recently placed on the temporarily inactive list to participate in the Olympics, taking his team leading 10 HR with him. The Clippers on the active roster have combined to hit 19 of the team's 59 HR.

RUNNIN' ROGER: Since joining the Clippers, Roger Bernadina has been a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts. Bernadina's running has been contagious as his top-of-the-order mates have each been swiping bags at a higher pace. Jorge Padilla has 6 SB (over half of his season total) in his last 15 games and Emilio Bonifacio has 4 SB in his last six games. As a team, the success rate has gone up as well, with the Clippers having stolen 21 bases in 29 attempts in the last 15 games (72%), compared to 106 SB in 164 attempts (65%) in 94 games before Bernadina's arrival.

DURHAM BULLS

CLOSE CALL: The Bulls are 8-6 since the All-Star break, with eight games decided by two runs or less (Durham is 4-4), and 12 of the 14 contests have required a save. 

FOUR TO GO: Durham has 32 games left, just four of them (at Louisville August 19-22) against a team currently with a winning record.  While on paper that may seem like a good thing, the Bulls have dropped eight of their last 10 at home against teams with losing records.

HOME SWEET HOME?: With a loss yesterday, Durham fell to 27-31 at the DBAP this year. The Bulls are 32-22 on the road this season.  The big difference is in pitching.  The Bulls have a 3.46 ERA at home, 4.57 on the road, and have allowed 36 road homers, 71 at home, while teams are batting .253 against the Bulls at their home, .268 at the DBAP.

STORY OF THE SOUTH: Durham has an 8.0 game lead in the South Division over Charlotte with 32 games left (14 at home).  The lead was 4.0 at the All-Star break.  The two teams have 6 games left head-to-head, including the last 4 of this season, as well as two this weekend in Fort Mill, SC. 

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS

THE FANS ARE POURING IN: While the local spotlight was on the Brickyard 400 and Colts Training Camp last week, nearly 83,000 people watched professional baseball at Victory Field. During an eight-game homestand from July 21-28, the Indians drew 82,939 fans for two four-game series against Charlotte and Syracuse. Over the past 14 home games, the Tribe has averaged over 10,000 fans per game, including a crowd of 12,047 on Monday night.

HOT HITTING THIS MONTH: Indianapolis C Michel Hernandez (.339, 20-59, 11 R, 3 RBI), INF Josh Wilson (.325, 26-80, 8 R, 8 RBI), INF Luis Ordaz (.315, 17-54, 4 R, 6 RBI) and OF Nyjer Morgan (.311, 33-106, 21 R, 9 RBI) are all hitting better than .300 during the month of July. As a team, the Tribe is hitting .268 in July -- its most-productive month this season.

LET'S GO STREAKING: Indians INF Josh Wilson extended his hitting streak to seven games by going 2-4 with two runs and one RBI on Wednesday evening at Toledo. The 27-year-old has now his safely in 14 of his last 15 games and is batting .352 (19-54) during that stretch.

THE BEST TANDEM IN TRIPLE-A: Tribe OFs Nyjer Morgan (32) and Andrew McCutchen (27) own the most stolen bases of any tandem in

Triple-A Baseball. McCutchen has already eclipsed the best single-season total in his four-year professional career, while Morgan swiped 55 bases for Class-A Hickory in 2004.

LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS

RED HOT PIGS: With a 5-4 win Wednesday, the IronPigs have tied their franchise-record with a four-game winning streak (and are 8-2 in the last 10 games). LHV won four in a row June 25-28 -- the longest by a Phillies' Triple-A affiliate since Ottawa won four straight April 14-19, 2007 (the Lynx longest winning streak of 2007). The Phillies' Triple-A affiliates have not won five straight since Scranton/Wilkes-Barre won five-straight games

August 11-15, 2006. They've also won four consecutive road games for the first time in franchise history and for the first time since June 3-6, 2006. With a .429 winning percentage, LHV is at its highest PCT in franchise history.

CHANCE TO GAIN GROUND: LHV is now 5-1 on an 18-game stretch in which it plays the teams with 4 of the worst 5 records in the IL (not including themselves). Through Tuesday, opponents Richmond (45-65), Norfolk (48-62), Rochester (52-60) and Buffalo (50-61) are a combined 195-248 (.440).

 

SONG OF THE SOUTH: The 'Pigs have a winning record vs. the South (19-11) with a 29-53 record vs. the rest of the IL.

 

LES IS STILL MORE: LHP Les Walrond had his franchise-record 28.2 scoreless IP streak snapped on Tuesday when an unearned run scored from first on a two-out, E-7 in the 8th. He still has not allowed an ER in his last 29.0 IP. In his last 7 GS, Walrond has gone 4-0, 1.06, 2 SHO (51 IP, 6 ER) -- and now leads the IL in ERA (2.61).

 

WHO'S HOT: Up until his promotion to Philadelphia on July 29, INF Mike Cervenak has a 14-G hitting streak (24-57, .421-0-9, 5 2B) -- the longest current streak in the IL and the 2nd-best in 'Pigs history (behind his own 18-gamer)... OF Rich Thompson has hit safely in his last 5 G (11-20, .550-0-2) with a 3-G 2B streak (4 2B). He's also hit in 15 of his last 17 G (28-65, .431) and has been successful in his last 15 SB attempts... OF Brandon Watson has hit safely in 8 of his last 10 G (16-44, .364-0-5, 7 R)... OF Jon Knott has hit a HR in 6 of his last 17 G... INF Oscar Robles is batting .338-1-8

(25-74) in his last 22 G... RHP John Ennis has an 11.2 scoreless IP streak retiring 33 of 38 BF (87%) & has allowed just 1 R in his last 11 G -- going 1-0, 3 H, 0.51 (17.2 IP, 1 ER). He has stranded 16 of his last 18 inherited runners... RHP Jason Anderson is 3-0, SV, 1.88 (14.1 IP, 3 ER) in his last 7 G.

LOUISVILLE BATS

SWEET SURPASSES MILEY: With last night's 9-0 victory over the Charlotte Knights, Louisville manager Rick Sweet passed Dave Miley for the franchise record of games managed. It marked 542 games for Sweet, surpassing Miley's 541.

PETTYJOHN JOINS AN ELITE GROUP: With his 11th victory Tuesday night, Bats LHP Adam Pettyjohn became the first Louisville pitcher to win more than 10 games in a season since 2002. Pettyjohn is the third pitcher since 1998 to win more than 10 games in a season. In 2002, Jared Fernandez and Jose Acevedo each won 12 games.  He has won his last four starts (4-0, 1.12 ERA, 3 ER, 24.1 IP, 15 K, 2 BB).

BARKER NEARS ANOTHER FRANCHISE RECORD: Tuesday night Kevin Barker swatted two home runs, the fifth multi-home run game in his Louisville career (1998-two, 1999-two). Barker is one multi-homer game off the franchise record (6) held by Brandon Larson.

RED HOT ROSY: Even though INF Adam Rosales' 12-game hitting streak (July 11-25, .458, 22-48) came to an end Friday night, he is still on fire.  He has hit safely in 18 of his last 21 games (July 7-present, .369, 31-84) and has a multi-hit game in seven of his last 12, including four straight (July 19-22).  Since June 1, Rosales has raised his average from .204 to its current mark of .265.

ROAD WARRIORS: With 34 road wins on the season, the Bats need just one more road win to equal their  2007 total (35-37).  The franchise record for road wins in a season is 38, accomplished in the championship year of 2001 (38-34).

NORFOLK TIDES

DAZZLING DOZEN: Over his last 12 games, Chris Roberson has collected nine multi-hit games, and he's hit an astonishing .522 (24-46) with a homer and nine RBI. Remarkably, in the seven games prior to his current hot stretch, Roberson had hit .034 (1-29), but he's upped his season average from .234 to .272 over his last dozen contests. Roberson has also displayed a fantastic arm this season, as the 28-year-old has registered an International League leading 18 outfield assists, a total that is tied for 2nd in all of Minor League Baseball. Class-A Hagerstown outfielder Michael Burgess has 22 assists, while Class-A Burlington outfielder Adrian Ortiz has 18.

CENTURY CLUB: The Tides currently have three players who have collected over 100 hits this season, as Oscar Salazar (112 hits), Luis Terrero (107 hits) and Eider Torres (105 hits) have each cracked the century mark. Norfolk has three other players who are also close to reaching the 100-hit mark, as Tike Redman (99), Mike Costanzo (97), and Chris Roberson (95) are each within five hits of accumulating 100 for the year. Only once since Harbor Park was built in 1993 has a Tides team had six players reach the 100-hit plateau, when seven different Tides accomplished the feat in 2000.

CHERRY ON TOP: Over his last 15 outings, Rocky Cherry has posted a 0.92 ERA (2 ER, 19.2 IP) with 24 strikeouts. The 28-year-old has yielded just five walks and 14 hits over that span, and he's held batters to a .203 average against (14-69). Cherry hasn't allowed an earned run in 13 of those 15 outings, lowering his ERA from 5.74 to 3.06.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX

JULY FINALE REASON TO CELEBRATE: The 1st-place Pawtucket Red Sox conclude the month of July tonight when they play the Rochester Red Wings at McCoy Stadium. No matter the outcome this evening, the PawSox have already posted their fourth consecutive winning month marking the first time they have accomplished that feat in 17 years since they began the 1991 season with four straight winning months (from April - July of 1991). Pawtucket is 14-12 this July with the finale on tap for tonight and that follows on the heels of a 15-12 April, a 19-11 May, and a 20-9 June. In 1991 the Sox went 9-8 in April, 21-9 in May, 15-14 in June, and 17-15 in July before settling for a 16-16 month of August that year. They had not had four straight winning months since then - until the first four months of the 2008 season. Leading the way individually for the PawSox in July are OF Chris Carter (.311 with 6 HR & 18 RBI) and INF Gil Velazquez (.303 with 3 HR & 10 RBI) along with RHP Charlie Zink (5-1, 3.11 in 6 GS) and reliever Hunter Jones (3-0, 2.13 with 1 SV in 8 RA).

IT'S CROWDED BUT EVERYONE STILL GOES THERE: Yesterday the PawSox posted their seventh consecutive home crowd of more than 10,000 fans to establish a new franchise-record in that category. The attendance numbers in the last seven games here at McCoy have been 10,222 on July 5, 11,460 on July 17, 11,140 on July 18, 10,675 on July 19, 10,315 on July 20, 11,157 on July 29, and 10,502 on July 30 - the first time in club-history that the Sox have accomplished that feat. Furthermore, the PawSox were just 79 fans short (9,921 on July 4) of having 10 straight crowds of 10,000+ as the attendance on both July 2 & July 3 was over 10,000 as well.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Pawtucket's 67th win this year came on July 27 - they had 67 victories all of last year when they finished 67-75. The PawSox earned win #68 Tuesday night to go past their victory total from last season.

DUSTIN A SPOT ON YOUR SHELF: The PawSox are pleased to present the first-ever Dustin Pedroia Bobblehead Doll Night at McCoy Stadium this Saturday when the PawSox take on Scranton/WB at 6:05 p.m. The first 4,000 fans (aged 14 & under) will receive this popular collector's edition Bobblehead Doll of current Red Sox and former PawSox standout Dustin Pedroia who was the starting second baseman on the American League All-Star team this July. The "Pedro" Bobblehead follows in the recent tradition of other PawSox Bobbleheads such as OF Trot Nixon, RHP Derek Lowe,

C Jason Varitek, RHP Tim Wakefield, RHP Jonathan Papelbon, and 1B Kevin Youkilis - all former PawSox players who have gone on to star in Boston.

RICHMOND BRAVES

LUCKY 13: Clint Sammons became the 13th Richmond Brave to earn a promotion to Atlanta this year when he was promoted Monday.  Seven members of Atlanta's current active roster have played in Richmond this season: Jorge Campillo, Buddy Carlyle, Mike Gonzalez (with Richmond on rehab), Mike Hampton (rehab), Charlie Morton, Clint Sammons, and Omar Infante (rehab).  Eight members of Richmond's active roster have played in Atlanta this season (Chuck James, Vladimir Nunez, Jo-Jo Reyes, Phil Stockman, Brent Lillibridge, Josh Anderson, Brandon Jones, and Jason Perry.

OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOR: Although the Braves are struggling on the scoreboard in their current homestand (1-5 record through Wednesday), they are piling up the hits.  Richmond is averaging over 11 hits a game on this homestand (68-227, .300).  Leading the way are Josh Anderson (12-28, .429), Diory Hernandez (11-26, .423 7 RBI), and Brent Lillibridge (6-25, .320, 2 HR, 5 RBI).  Richmond has had 10 or more hits in five of the six games on the homestand.

ROSTER MADNESS: The Braves have made 116 roster moves this season, including 17 in the last 10 days.  While Phil Stockman and Ray Serrano returned from the Disabled List,  Derrick Arnold (knee) went on the DL Tuesday.  The Braves currently have five players on the DL (Arnold, Wes Timmons, Zach Schreiber, Joe Borchard, and Jeff Ridgway).  Scott Thorman is on the Temporary Inactive List (Canadian Olympic Team).  Richmond also returned RHP Andrew Shibilo to Tigres de Quintana Roo for the Mexican League playoffs. The Braves have used 49 players this season.

ROCHESTER RED WINGS

REVENUE UP AND PROFITS DOWN: Despite the Red Wings 53-60 record they've outscored their opponents 534-528.  Rochester has been outscored in six of nine innings (outscored 386-329 in those six innings 1,2,4,5,6 & 9) while outscoring their opponents 205-142 in the other three innings (3, 7 & 8).  Rochester has scored the most runs in the 8th inning (74) while allowing the most opponents runs in the 1st inning (84).

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: The Red Wings have hit 233 doubles this season.  Randy Ruiz is tied for 1st in the IL with 33 doubles.  Rochester is on pace to hit 297 doubles as a team which would be the most a Red Wings team has hit in a season since 2004 when they hit 304 doubles.  If Rochester hits more than 304 doubles as a team this season it would be the most a Rochester team has hit in a season since 1930 when Rochester hit 325 doubles.

TODAY'S HISTORY LESSON: Outfielder Jason Pridie leads the IL with 14 triples.  Pridie is the first Red Wing to hit 14 triples in one season since outfielder Al Bumbry hit 15 in 1972.  The last Red Wings player to lead the IL in triples was outfielder Wayne Kirby (tied with Scranton/WB shortstop Jimmy Rollins with 11) in 2000.

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE YANKEES

BEST MONTH OF THE YEAR: With the 6-0 win over Syracuse on Wednesday, the Yankees surpassed April and May for the most wins in a month. SWB is now 19-8 in July improving on the first two months of the season for the most victories in a month of baseball. SWB won its final game in April to get to 18 and picked up wins in the final two games of May to reach the total. With one game remaining in the month, the Yankees have the possibility to reach 20 wins. SWB has been playing great baseball on the road during the month and it has had to. Out of 28 games during July, the Yankees are only home for nine. Thus far, SWB has gone 12-6 on the road and 7-2 at PNC Field. The SWB franchise record for wins in a month was set by the 2007 Yankees who went 22-7 during the month of August.

MUSCLING UP IN JULY: July has brought the Yankees more wins than any other month this season and a big part of the reason is the team's recent power surge. SWB has slugged 34 homers in July led by the seven homers each of team leader Cody Ransom (20) and Ben Broussard (8). The Yankees hit 26 in April, 20 in May, and 21 in June before the July long ball binge.

COMINGS AND GOINGS: The Yankees bullpen has a new face in RHP Mark Melancon (pronounced Muh-Lansen). The right hander along with new starter Chase Wright joined the team in Syracuse in time for the final six games of the Yankees current road trip. Melancon, who missed all of 2007 after Tommy John surgery, was a 9th round selection by the Yankees in the 2006 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Arizona where he set single season and career save records for the Wildcats. He began the season with Class-A Tampa in the Florida State League going 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in 13 games before earning a promotion to Trenton. In 19 games with the Thunder Melancon went 6-0 with 2 saves and a 1.81 ERA in 19 games. The righty struck out 47 and walked 12 in 49.2 innings. To make room for Melancon in the bullpen the Yankees sent Steven White to Double-A Trenton. White was 4-4 with a 6.28 ERA in 25 games.

RANSOM IN ELITE SWB COMPANY: With his 20th HR of the season on Monday Cody Ransom became the seventh Scranton/Wilkes-Barre player to hit at least 20 homers in a season, a feat which has been accomplished on eight different occasions.  With 31 games remaining, Ransom needs six to leave the yard to set a new SWB single season record. 

Player                        HR      Year

Shelley Duncan     (25)     2007

Wendell Magee Jr.    (24)     1998

Torey Lovullo     (21)     1999

Gene Schall            (21)     2000

Eric Valent           (21)     2001

Wendell Magee Jr.   (20)      1999

Chris Coste         (20)     2005

Cody Ransom         (20)      2008

SYRACUSE CHIEFS

CECIL MAKES THE MOVE: The Blue Jays 1st round draft selection in the 2007 draft Brett Cecil will make his Triple-A debut on Friday night vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  Cecil, 22, spent last season at Short-Season Auburn and was 1-0 with a 1.27 ERA.  He began the 2008 season at Class-A Dunedin before his promotion to Double-A New Hampshire in May.

ANOTHER NUMBER ONE PICK JOINS CHIEFS: Left-handed pitcher Ricky Romero joined the Chiefs this week from New Hampshire after compiling solid numbers in the month of July.  Romero was the Blue Jays number one selection the June 2005 draft and has spent the past three years between Dunedin and New Hampshire.  In his first outing at Syracuse, Romero pitched 4.0 innings giving up 1 earned run before his pitch count forced him to leave the game against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  Romero, David Purcey (2004), and soon Brett Cecil will make it three first round selections that have pitched for the Chiefs this season.

PURCEY AND BANKS SHARE NIGHT: Former Chiefs pitchers David Purcey and Josh Banks, who both started in the Chiefs 2008 rotation back in April, each pitched last Saturday in the Major Leagues on the same day.  Purcey defeated the Seattle Mariners for his first major league win, while Banks defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates.

GUIDRY RETURNS TO SYRACUSE IN FRONT OF BIG CROWD: Former Chiefs pitcher and American League Cy Young Award Winner Ron Guidry returned to Syracuse on Tuesday before the largest crowd of the season when over 10,088 attended.  The former Yankee great pitched for the Chiefs in 1975 and 1976 and was inducted into the Syracuse Baseball Wall Of Fame in 2007.

TOLEDO MUD HENS

STEADY EDDIE PITCHER OF THE WEEK: After coming back from Detroit, RHP Eddie Bonine picked up right where he left off with the Mud Hens. He won his last two starts throwing a combined 14.1 innings, giving up only two earned runs and striking out 12 batters. In his last start, Bonine threw 7.0 scoreless one-hit innings to take a victory over the Pawtucket Red Sox. This is the third consecutive week a Mud Hens' player has received IL Player of the Week honors - OF Brent Clevlen and RHP Chris Lambert were the previous two.

STANDING ROOM ONLY: Wednesday, July 30 marked the 200th sell-out in the short seven-year history of Fifth Third Field. The Hens have always drawn flocks of fans to the park, but now it seems like it is at an even faster rate. Toledo loves baseball and to prove it Fifth Third Field has sold out the past seven nights, 14 of the last 16, and 17 of the last 20 home games.

TIMO ON A TEAR: DH Timo Perez is currently on a 12-game hitting streak and is hitting .337 (35-104) in the month of July. Timo also had a team-high 16-game hitting streak from June 28-July 13. Since being activated from the DL on June 25 he is hitting .346 (44-127) in 33 games. Prior to the injury, Perez was hitting .259 (48-185) in 50 games.

NEW FACES: With the departure of 3B Mike Hessman and RHP Blaine Neal to the Olympics, the Hens needed to fill a few roster spots. RHP Casey Fien was promoted from Double-A Erie and has shown a lot of promise for the back end of the Hen Pen. In his two appearances thus far, he already has one win under his belt. He has thrown 2.0 innings, giving up only one hit and one walk while striking out three batters. 3B Kody Kirkland has big shoes to fill in Hessman's corner. Kirkland though had a big night for the Hens on July 29 against Indianapolis. He belted his first two Triple-A home runs and finished the night 2-2 with two RBI. SS Danny Worth has played in one game with the Hens so far and is 1-2. Both Kirkland and Worth were promoted from Erie.

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International League Stories from July 31, 2008


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