Starting again

[gehrig38]

RECORD: 1-6
RUNS SCORED: 25 (11)
RUNS AGAINST: 45 (10)
SP ERA: 6.10 (10)
BP ERA: 9.19 (12)
DEFENSE: .669 (7)

0-3 @ Oklahoma City 1-3 @ Houston
SUMMARY
Feltman strikes out 10 in an opening day loss to OKC 3-2. Kept in a hitter too long. Hofferber goes 3-4
Birkett and Moorehead give up 5 in 1.1 IP to blow a 5-3 lead and Matt Larsen of OKC goes 5-5 in a 9-5 loss.
Merritt gives up 6 in 4.1 IP in an 8-3 loss. Chris Shirah (OKC) tosses a CG punching out 5.
Brian Burkett gives up 3 more in just 2/3rds of an inning, former Devil Aaron Knight homers and wins POTG honors in our first meeting since the trade and we drop to 0-4.
Chris Buford went 6.1-6-3-3-2-3 and took the loss.
Robby Salazar gets hammered for 7 runs in 4 innings, walking 6 in a 12-6 loss. Mark Ricksecker goes 3-4 hammering 2 HR's and driving in 6.
Ryan Feltman drops to 0-2, striking out 9 over 7 allowing 11 hits and 4 earned in a 4-1 loss. John McCaslin (HOU) throws 2-hit ball over 7.1 IP to move to 2-0.
0-6 to start the year, not a good look.
Finally.....
Dillon Tiemeyer works around a bases loaded 9th inning jam to save the seasons 1st win. Robby Spinelli throws 6.1 strong innings, 5 hits 2 runs and Dean and Moorhead bridge to the 9th. Blake Fischer goes 3-4.
Aaron Knight came out of the game after 'tweaking' his back, word is he's dtd for a few weeks. His career has been dtd.

SUMMARY
No knee jerk reactions. Obviously a terrible week by any metric. Hit a total of 2 HR's. Ryan Feltman threw two very good games. Hofferber, who started the year banged up a bit had a good week hitting .364. No one else did much of anything. Fischer did hit .321 with a HR and 4 RBI. Still underwhelming.
On Wednesday of this week we put in two waiver claims. SP Adam Cano and IF David Jimenez.
Chris Buford will be sent down and Cano will take his rotation spot and start Monday.
We will try to slip Jimenez through waivers ourselves.
Kevin Mancinelli was DFA's on Monday and cleared. He was sent down before asking for his release, which we obliged.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
POTW
Fred Reneau 1B (DEN) .423-3-7
Nick Floyd RF (PIT) .500-3-10

[gehrig38]

Here's a look at where players are with relation to top-end salaries
Gerrie Mets LF (OKC) 13,700,000
Erik Frits SP (DEN) 12,900,000
Jim Shadley SP (SD) 12,000,000
Juan Ortiz C (BAL) 11,900,000
Jon Orihuela C (SEA) 11,600,000

[gehrig38]

The top 8 teams are entered into a draft lottery with the 8 teams having progressively worse odds to get the top pick.
Here are this years results. We were the third highest chance for the top pick
PICK TEAM (SLOT)
1- Pittsburgh (6)
2- Denver (5)
3- San Francisco (2)
4- Phoenix (3)
5- Boston (4)
6- Anchorage (1)
7- Brooklyn (7)
8- Wyoming (8)

Pittsburgh and Denver lucked out, we did ok but Anchorage got shafted. Being who we are, and where we are, we will look to draft an elite arm with that first pick, if we aren't happy with what's there we go best available every round of the draft.

This years top 10 consists of 2 JuCo OF'ers and 8 HS players.

[gehrig38]

RECORD: 2-11
RUNS SCORED: 34 (12)
RUNS AGAINST: 65 (6)
SP ERA: 5.50 (7)
BP ERA: 4.96 (10)
DEFENSE: .713 (2)

1-2 @ Las Vegas 0-3 @ Brooklyn
SUMMARY
Cano goes 7-4-2-1-1-1-1 for the win, Tiemeyer throws a perfect 9th for the save (2). Amari Jackson tosses a CG in the loss (1-1 4.20)
Salazar drops to 0-2 with a 14.09 ERA walking 5 in just 3.2 IP in a 6-3 loss at Vegas.
Ryan Feltman has his first clunker on Friday, walking 4, surrendering 3 homers in just 2.2 innings of a 5-1 loss to Brooklyn.
The week ends with back to back 2-1 losses to the Islanders. Spinelli goes 8-4-1-1-3-6 in a ND before Brooklyn walks off Tiemeyer and Cano gives up 2 over 6 to take the loss as the offense continues to sputter.
Should come as no surprise we end the week at 24 in the power rankings.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
POTW
Eric Lowder LF (SI) 13-26 HR 8 RBI
Alfredo Acevado 1B (PHI) 12-21 2 HR 8 RBI
The minor leagues opened their seasons (A-AAA) this week.
Fresno went 4-2 and Mike Burkholder tossed a CG SHO while top prospect Mike Alfred hit .333-2-4 on the week.

[gehrig38]

RECORD: 5-14
RUNS SCORED: 65 (12)
RUNS AGAINST: 100 (8th)
SP ERA: 5.83 (10)
BP ERA: 3.99 (5)
DEFENSE: .694 (3)

1-2 vs Ft Worth 2-1 vs Pittsburgh
SUMMARY
Opened at home on a dud. Hammered 12-3 by Ft Worth. Merritt hammered, 6 ER 3.2 IP 4 BB (0-3 10.95)
On Thursday Feltman needs 123 pitches to get into the 7th. Walks 6, K's 7 gives up 4 ER in a ND. Tiemeyer goes 3 up 3 down in the 9th and then gets hammered in the 10th for the loss.
Week ends with a 15 hit 8-5 win over Pittsburgh. Joel George goes 4-5, Selmon 3-5.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
POTW
Will Rodriguez 1B (BAL) 11-26 5 HR 8 RBI. 3-4 Last years NL HR champ went 3-4 and hit 3 HR's on Tuesday.
Josh Prewitt CF (SD) 12-29 2 HR 7 RBI 6 R

[gehrig38]

RECORD: 6-17 10.5 GB
RUNS SCORED: 92 (11)
RUNS AGAINST: 134 (9)
SP ERA: 6.55 (11)
BP ERA: 4.52 (6)
DEFENSE: .686 (4)


SUMMARY

• Robby Salazar went into Mondays start needing to seriously right the ship. He went 1 1/3 IP 4 BB 4 H and 6 ER in what ended up a 13-0 pounding. After the game we met, and he was handed a 1st class ticket to Fresno. He was great about it, understands what needs to be done. With 19 walks over 14.2 innings it was not sustainable. He has a ways to go but there was hope the control would at least be reasonable. He'll get innings in AAA Fresno. Recently signed 35 year old Milt Azevedo was recalled. He was on a split contract, added to the 42 man and called up. Drafted by Baltimore in 1993 he did not sign and ended up going to Phoenix College. In '96 he was taken in the 3rd round (78th overall) by Brooklyn. 2 years ago he won a GG and was an all-star, his lone appearance. He's 110-116 4.32 over his 10 year career and 310 starts. Just passed 2000 innings last year. 4 times has led the league in starts. He was part of last years world championship in KC.
• Azevedo got the nod Tuesday and promptly coughed up a 4-1 lead. Gave up 6 in 5 2/3rds in a 10-6 loss.
• Wednesday brought more of the same. Feltman walked 6 in just 2.2 innings allowing 7 runs in an 8-3 loss. The bullpen is getting worn out right now. Thursdays off day could not have come at a better time.
• Fridays series opener vs Boston was just what the doctor ordered. Robby Spinelli tossed a 136 pitch complete game to give the pen 2 full days of rest while the offense went season highs across the board. 18 runs on 21 hits in an 18-3 drubbing. Travis Hampton went 4-5 3B, HR 4 R and 3 RBI's while Craig Selmon, Brent Hofferber and Matt Holbert all enjoyed 3 hit days. Selmon and Holbert drove in 4 each. George, Hampton, and Holbert all hit their 1st HR's of the year.

23 games in we have 8 HR's, as a team.....

[gehrig38]

NL POTM-Will Rodriguez 1B (BAL) .373-12-24
AL POTM-Roberto Agaraz LF (SD) .455-8-20
NL PiOTM-Josh Barrentine (NYK) 3-0 1.14
AL PiOTM-Jay Kuhl (WYO) 3-0 7 Sv 1.35
NL ROTM-Derrick Kelly (LA) .325-5-12
AL ROTM-Gary Pitonyak (PHI) 3-0 4.74