FL Joliet Slammers

June 9 Joliet Slammers Game Notes

June 9, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Joliet Slammers News Release


JOLIET SLAMMERS (10-9) @ LONDON RIPPERS (9-10)

Saturday, June 9 - 6:00 p.m. CT

Labatt Park - London, Ontario, Canada

Game #20 - Road Game #11 (10-9), (5-5)

RHP #39 Tommy Mendoza (2-1, 2.84 ERA) vs. RHP #23 Jamie Richmond (2-1, 3.33 ERA)

Last time out...

The Joliet Slammers (10-9) got a rude welcome to Canada as the London Rippers (9-10) beat them by a final score of 4-0 Friday night. London scored one run in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings respectively. Two of the London runs scored on wild pitches from Joliet starter Eric Binder (2-1). London stole five bases and the Slammers left seven men on base despite only recording two hits. Joliet drew six walks against London starter Justin Mazur but none of them came around to score. The last 11 hitters of the game went down in order for Joliet. Their best scoring opportunity came in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases with two outs. Initially a balk was called against Mazur, which would have scored a run, but it was overturned. Then Erik Lis popped out to end the inning. The Slammers also had two men thrown out between third and home during the game.

For Starters...

Tommy "The Barber" Mendoza is coming off a rough outing against the Washington Wild Things on June 3. He went three innings, giving up five runs (three earned) on four hits. Overall this season Mendoza has been excellent for the Slammers as in his first three starts he gave up a total of three earned runs. Mendoza made his first start for the Slammers on June 27, 2011 and went on to post a 6-2 record during the regular season. He won both his starts in the playoffs while posting a 1.50 ERA. Mendoza was a 5th round draft pick of the Angels in 2005. He has a career ERA of 3.97 over six seasons in affiliated baseball. The right-handed pitcher rose to the Triple-A level at the age of 21 in 2009. He was 7-7 with a 3.36 ERA for Double-A Arkansas and was named a Texas League All Star before earning the promotion to Salt Lake. With the Bees he went 2-1 with a 2.91 ERA. Mendoza suffered from multiple injuries in 2010 which only allowed him to pitch in 10 games.

Shut down...

The Slammers were shut-out for only the second time this season last night. The only bright spot in the game was Plainfield native Tony Sanchez recording his first professional hit.

Best of the best...

The Slammers have the best team ERA in the Frontier League at 2.96. The Slammers pitching staff has held opponents to a .216 batting average, the lowest in the league.

Out-hit...

When the Slammers out-hit an opponent they are 9-3, but when the opponent out-hits the Slammers Joliet has a record of 0-6.

Lead-off man...

Catcher Ben Hewett has been batting lead-off a lot in recent games, and for good reason. He's hitting a team-best .429 when leading off an inning.

Mr. Clutch...

David Fox is hitting .245 on the season but with men in scoring position he's hitting a scorching .400 with a home run and 11 RBI.

Road Warrior...

Zach Mandelblatt is hitting a team-best .344 on the road this season with all four of his home runs coming away from Silver Cross Field.

Movin' on up!

RHP Gaby Hernandez became the fourth Slammers player to move on to affiliated baseball when his contract was purchased by the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 21. He joins LHP Aaron Dott, Joliet native RHP Ryan Quigley and Darien native RHP Chris Pack as former Slammers in MLB organizations.

Transaction Wire...

The Slammers traded RHP Jeremy Tietze yesterday to the Abilene Prairie Dogs for a Player to Be Named Later.

Check out the Joliet Slammers Statistics



Frontier League Stories from June 9, 2012


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