Archive for the ‘Minor League Baseball’ Category

Cubs win/record 8-1

Posted: April 14, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Jason Hammel gets his second start of the season hoping to improve to 1 – 1. His last start in AZ was a solid outing where the Cubs bats were silenced for the evening post Schwarber’s season ending injury.  With the fastest guy in the league Billy Hamilton, leading off with a base on balls. He gets an out with Eugenio Suarez and with Joey Votto batting Hammel throws to first to pick off Hamilton!  He would give up a single to Votto but would get out of the inning.  In the second he’d give a double to Jordan Pacheco but would get out of the inning. Hammel would get support in the bottom of the second Rizzo would fly out but Kris Bryant would launch his second homer to left center off Raisel Iglesias.  He was able to keep the Cubs at bay until the bottom of the fifth when Russell would reach on a line drive to center.  Hammel would help himself with a double scoring Russell, he would score on a sac fly by Ben Zobrist.  Blake Wood came into the sixth giving up two hits.  

Hammel would come out after six, with 4 walks, 4 hits and 3 strikeouts.  Travis Wood would cruise through the seventh and would come out in the eighth for Pedro Strop who would get s 1-2-3 inning also.  

J.J. Hoover would start the bottom of the eighth walking three, giving up three with four earned runs managing only one out.  Montero, Russell and Szczur would rack up an RBI each.  Fowler would get two on a grounder to right.   Jumbo Diaz would come in to get the last two outs.  

Justin Grimm would come into the ninth and make it exciting.  He would give up a single to Jay Bruce. Adam Duvall would double.  With one out Tucker Barnhart would ground out to short scoring Jay Bruce.  With two outs, Scott Schleber would pinch hit for Jumbo but would watch strike three as the Cubs win thier fifth straight game putting them up in the standings at a league leading 8-1!  

Combined the team is showing patience at the plate only striking out 4 times.  The bullpen would hold the lead together giving Jason Hamel his first victory of the season and dropping his ERA to .75.  After 3 hours and 7 minutes, 34,898 fans were singing “Go Cubs Go!”

Scoring not Lackey-ing in Wrigleyville

Posted: April 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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What can I say, other than I haven’t seen the Cubs this good in April since ever in my life??? 

John Lackey gets off to a rough start with a leadoff double to Billy  Hamilton, he would move over to third and then score on a sac fly by Jay Bruce to put the Reds up 1-0.  He would settle down and hold the Reds through six but would be broken up by a leadoff triple to center that Fowler completely miss judged to be a homer run by Scott Schebler who would score on a ground out by Ivan De Jesus. 

Dexter Fowler would lead off the Cubs hitting with his 3rd double of the season, Zobrist would walk.  While Rizzo stood at the plate, both men would advance with stolen bases.  Rizzo would reach on a base on balls as well as Bryant, getting the Cubs first run of the night.  Montero would single to left, bringing in Zobrist.  Rizzo would score on a sac fly by Soler to left.  Addison Russell would bring in Bryant on a soft hit to right.  Lackey would help himself with a RBI single. Alfredo Simon would be pulled after a 49 pitch first inning with 2 outs.  Dan Straily would come in and load the bases by hiting Fowler but would get out of the first with Heyward’s second strikeout of the night.  Straily would have a 1-2-3 second but would start the third by walking Montero.  Soler would single and the bases would get loaded with a walk to Russell.  Lackey & Fowler would strikeout but Heyward would get his first hit with two RBI’s. 7-1 at the end of three.  Chris Brysnt would get his first home run of the season in the eighth by the third pitcher of the night, Keyvius Sampson, who would walk Montero and allow him to score on a wild pitch.  At the end of four, the Cubs up 9-1. 

After 6 2/3 innings he would be replaced Trevor Cahill, who would end the inning. Clayton Richard would step into the eighth give up one hit but with no runs, maintains a 0 ERA. Neil Ramirez would come into the ninth to close out the Reds with two outs, he walks De Jesus, making this interesting but with a fly out to Fowler by catcher Tucker Barnhart,  would be all she wrote for Cincinatti and the Cubs win 9-2. 

The series will wrap up tommorow evening and then the Rockies will be in town for the weekend before the Cubs head to St Louis to start a seven games road series ending in Cincinatti.  

#AnyoneAnytime

#ItsOnlyApril

@danzeeeman
@sportstimeradio

Opening Day @ the Freindly Confines!!!

Posted: April 11, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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I really try to keep my emotions out of these recaps but damn this one is difficult to contain because well spoiler alert, CUBS WIN, CUBS WIN!!!  Now they’ve one on opening day in Anahiem and won 3 out of 4 in Arizona but there’s nothing like a win for the Cubs at Wrigley.  Now I wasn’t there but the excitement deep within my gut was still there watching them get their first win at home today!  

So let’s go!  John Lester opens up the season at home with a single to leadoff man Zack Cozart who would advance to third on a Joey Votto single to left field.  He would then score the first run on a ground out by Brandon Phillips.  He would make it through the second but would give up a home run to Billy Hamilton putting the Reds up 2-0.  Brandon Phillips would lead off in the fourth with a single and would reach 2 on Devin Mesoraco’s ground out that was scored 1-6-3, which means Lester touched it, Addison Russell picked it up and threw it to Anthony Rizzo.  Phillips would then steal third and score on Brandon Finnegans single to center.  But that would be all she wrote for the Reds as Lester would allow one base runner in the fifth and sixth.  Trevor Cahill would start the seventh off with a double to Adam Duvall but would stop him from advancing and would close out the inning.  

Reds starter Brandon Finnegan would coast through six only allowing base runners on walks with out any real damage until the seventh, which he would get through two but would give up a line drive single to center by David Ross.  After a visit to the mound, he would walk Matt Szczur and get pulled for Caleb Cotham, only to walk Fowler and get replaced himself by Chicago area native Tony Cingrani.  Jason Heyward would send a line drive to right scoring Ross & Szczur.  He would get out of the inning to come back in the eighth.  The top of the eighth would see former Yankee Adam Warren come into the game giving up a single to Joey Votto but finishing the inning out strong.  

Cingrani would get Rizzo to ground out but would walk Zobrist then hit Soler.  Jumbo Diaz would come into the game and all but almost immediately give up a two-run home run to left center, putting the Cubs up 5-3.  Ross would ground out and the guy that would take Starlin Castro’s crowd exciting, player clapping, mascot dancing walk up music, Munenori Kawasaki would line out to right.  

But the excitement doesn’t stop there!!!  Hector Rondon would come into the ninth getting Jay Bruce, Adam Duvall & Scott Schebler to not only strikeout but would recieve three backwards K’s to get his second save of the season, giving Adam Warren his first win in front of 40,882 people all singing “Go Cubs Go, Go Cubs Go, Hey Chicago, Whattaya Say, The Cubs Are Gonna Win Today!” 

@danzeeeman
@sportstimeradio
Sports Time Radio Podcast

Cubs, Angels game 2

Posted: April 5, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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U It’s game 2 of 162 and Jon Lester gets the nod.  There’s big expectations for this team, especially the top 3 in this rotation.  If you were listening to the Big Jack & I on the podcast, he asked me what I’d like to see out of Lester.  Being that #ItsOnlyApril, I’d be happy with him completing 6 innings with a max of 6 hits possibly 2 runs.  You’d hope he’d not go passed 100 pitches and get at minimum 5 K’s. Now he ended going a full 7 innings giving up only one run on four hits.  He only had four strike outs but walked no one.  He ended up only throwing 93 pitches.  Very solid outing. At first it appeared, that he might night come out but he was relieved in the eighth by Trevor Cahill, who struck out one in 2/3. Daniel Nava was announced as the pinch hitter, which prompted Maddon to call Travis Wood to the rubber who closed out the eighth inning.  Pedro Strop would come into the 9th, striking out Mike Trout, getting Pujols and CJ Cron to ground out to sweep the Angels in this two game series.

As for the lineup, Maddon switched it up for game 2, was he listening to us today?  The Big Jacks biggest question was Ben Zobrist in the three hole.  He stayed with Dexter Fowler and Jason Heyward in the one, two but put Chris Bryant in at three, followed by Zobrist, Jorge Soler, Addison Russell, Matt Szczur and catching David Ross.  

Pitching for the Angels, Andrew Heaney held was able to hold the Cubs to nothing in two innings despite an injury delay due to a bloody nose.  But in the top of the third it was Szczur who got things going with a lead off home run. Ross would go on to double and move over to third on a Fowler single to short stop.  Heyward would ground into a force out at second but scoring Ross.  Bryant’s fly ball to left would advance Heyward but it was Anthony Rizzo’s brute strength that would score Heyward on 400 foot home run to dead center.  

In the 7th inning Mike Scioscia, would bring in 24 year old, right handed Mike Morin to face Matt Szczur who reached on a soft liner to Mike Trout.  David Ross would like out to Trout but it was Dexter Fowlers line drive home run to right that would bring Szczur home and secure the Cubs lead at 6-1.  After that, the Angels bullpen would hold the Cubs from creating anymore damage. 

The Cubs were able to stop the Angels biggest stars combined Albert Pujols & Mike Trout went 0 for 15 with 5 strike outs.  I think someone needs to remind the Angels that spring training is over…sorry had to steal that line!  Overall I think we will start to see the Cubs settle into a groove over the next month.  Last night we saw three less strikeouts but Schwarber wasn’t in the line up, which may have given them one or two more but with I’m sure with one bomb, but Szczur filled that spot.  I still think down the line pitching may be an issue which is why I’d love to see Soler perform better than 1-8.  I believe that if he’s able to get going he would be the guy to bring back some value by the trade deadline.  Hence why Maddon is going to do what he has to, to get him the lineup. Just hoping he doesn’t lose his value like Javier Baez has done. 

Game 2 and the Cuns and Pirates are tied for 1st but like I said earlier #ItsOnlyApril

@danzeeeman
@SportsTimeRadio
STR podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

Took a trip

Posted: July 13, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Minor League Baseball
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Dan the Man and I visited South Bend Indiana yesterday (Sunday) to see the South Bend Cubs play the Lake County Captain at Four Winds Field. It took me about 40-45 minutes to go from my house to Dan the Man’s house. He had never invited me to his house before; so I wanted to make sure I was going the right way and that took me a little longer than it should’ve. From Dan the Man’s house it took us a couple of hours to get into South Bend. As we got into South Bend I think Dan the Man and I were thinking the same thing and that we had driven past the stadium because we where actually in the town of South Bend. Dan the Man’s GPS told him to turn right and Four Winds Field was right there less than a block off the main drag. It’s a cool spot for a stadium, but we had no idea we where that close to the ballpark. We got to park as close to a ballpark as I ever had before. We where parked so close that even with my bad knees it took us about 3 minutes to walk into Four Winds Field. Dan the Man picked up our media passes and we where allowed to sit either in the press box or the scouts seats; we chose the press box. It was a sunny warm and humid day and the press box was much cooler. There were 5 guys in there already with pretty elaborate computer set ups covering the game for different web site; so I tried to stay out of their way. I wasn’t using a computer as I was keeping score by hand. Like a lot of minor league teams the South Bend Cubs do a lot of pre-game activities with the fans and even during the game they run contests. It was humorous to watch the fans do the different contests, but it’s a good way to keep the younger kids attention on the field. Then it was game time and they announced the South Bend Cubs line up and each player came out of the dugout with a kid who’s name was announced along with the players. If something like that had happened to me when I was a kid I would still be talking about it. The Cavalry Kids sang the national anthem and it was game time.

Trevor Clifton was the starting pitcher for the South Bend Cubs while Jordan Milbrath started the game for the Lake County Captains. Both pitchers had 1, 2, 3 1st inning with Clifton striking out 2 batters and Milbrath getting 1 strikeout. Clifton had some trouble in the top of the 2nd inning. Bobby Bradley led off the inning with a walk for Lake County. After the walk Taylor Murphy hit a 2-run home run to rightfield. Dorssys Paulino singled after the home run, but Clifton got out of the inning with a strikeout and a double play grounder. The Cubs led off their half of the 2nd with a single  by Yasiel Balaguert, but he was wiped out on a double play and a strikeout ended the inning. 2-0 Lake County after 2 innings. Clifton struckout the lead off hitter in the top of the 3rd inning. Greg Allen doubled after that, but the next 2 hitters flew out to the leftfielder to end the inning. South Bend went down 1, 2, 3 in their half of the 3rd inning. In the 4th inning both teams where retired 1,2,3. Yu-Cheng Chang was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the 5th for Lake County, but he was thrown out trying to steal 2nd. After a fly out to centerfield Ordomar Valdez drew a walk and stole 2nd base. Greg Allen’s 2nd double of the game drove in Valdez to give Lake County a 3-0. A ground out ended the inning for Lake County. Wilbrath was able to retire South Bend 1, 2, 3 in the bottom of the 5th inning striking out hit batters. After 5 innings Lake County had a 3-0 lead. In the top of the 6th inning Clifton got a strikeout and a fly out before Taylor Murphy picked up his 2nd hit of the game; a single, but he was stranded there when Clifton struck out Dorssys Paulino the end the inning. After 2 fly outs to centerfield Rashad Crawford singled, but was stranded there as Charcer Burks grounded out to end the 6th inning. Clifton got the first out of the 7th inning via strikeout. Martin Cervenka singled after that, but Ordomar flew out to left for the 2nd out of the inning. Clifton then hit Greg Allen his 2nd hit batter of the game to out runners on 1st and 2nd. Dillion Maples was called out of the South Bend bullpen and got Yonathan Mendoza to ground out to the first baseman to end the threat. South Bend was able to get a 1 out single by Jason Vosler in their half of the 7th inning, but a fly out and a ground out ended the inning.Maples walked the lead off hitter Anthony Santander, but he was caught stealing. Maples struck out the next 2 hitters to end the inning. Lake County went to the bullpen for the 8th inning as Nick Pasquale took over for Jordan Milbrath. Pasquale got a ground out and a strike out for 2 quick outs in the bottom of the 8th inning, but Andrew Ely, Rashad Xrawford and Charcer Burks all singled with Burks single driving in Ely to get South Bend on the board. Burks stole 2nd, but a flu out to centerfield by Gleybar Torres stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd and after 8 innings the score was 3-1. Maples had a 1,2,3 top of the 9th inning for South Bend. Lake County made another call to the bullpen. Luke Eubanlk took over on the mound for the bottom of the 9th inning. Eubank struck out the first 2 batters he faced and then got Kevin Encarnacion to ground out to the shortstop to end the game.

Final Score Lake County 3 South Bend 1

For the Lake County Captains. Greg Allen had 2 hits; both doubles and an RBI. Taylor Murphy had 2 hit; one being a home run and 2 RBI’s. Dorssys Paulino and Martin Cervenka each had a hit.

Jordan Milbrath got the win pitching 7 innings. Milbrath gave up 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 4; throwing 86 pitches.

Nick Pasquale pitched 1 inning. Pasquale gave up 1 run on 3 hits with 1 strikeout while throwing 21 pitches.

Luke Eubank pitched 1 inning picking up a save. Eubank struck out 2 while throwing 16 pitches.

For the South Bend Cubs. Rashad Crawford had 2 hits. Andrew Ely, Yasiel Balaguert and Charcer Burks each had 1 hit while Burks had South Bend’s RBI.

Trevor Clifton took the loss pitching 6 2/3rd innings. Clifton gave up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 8 while throwing 97 pitches.

Dillion Maples pitched 2 1/3rd innings. Maples walked 1 and struck out 2 while throwing 31 pitches.

While Dan the Man and I got to see a very good game; sadly the South Bend Cubs lost, but Chris Hagstrom from the South Bend Cubs will join Dan the Man and I Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. on the Sport Time Radio podcast. While we’ll talk to Chris about the game and the team of course I’m sure we’ll find a way to ask him about leading the princess parade before the game. You can listen to Chris and us at BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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