[Gomez]

Sorry I'm late. Traffic Okay, no really, I had a long week, got a bit preoccupied with the roster of my fantasy team(s) and once 11 pm came and I started nodding off I figured it better to wait until this morning to talk about ALL THESE COMEBACKS

A: They played two in Clinton. With a doubleheader earlier in the week, Clinton's bullpen has to be feeling a bit worn.

Game 1: Cedar Rapids 5, Clinton 1, 7 innings

Jon Hesketh blanked the Kernels in dominant fashion until they blew him up in the 6th. Daniel Cooper relieved Hesketh with no outs and had a heck of a time getting out of a five run inning that pretty much put the front ender on ice. The Lumberkings did get a run in on a sac fly in the bottom half but that was all they'd get.

Steven Baron dropped a throw during the five run inning, his 9th error of the year.

Jon Hesketh: 5 IP, 6 H, (4 R) 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K... 9 GB, 1 FB, 3 LD
Daniel Cooper: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K... 3 GB, 3 FB

Dennis FREAKING Raben: 0-1, sac fly, BB
Rest of Lumberkings: 2-23, 3 BB, 8 K

Game 2: Clinton 5, Cedar Rapids 1, 7 innings
CLI: 17-18... CED: 19-15

James Gilheeney got bit by a walk and wild pitch in the top 1st, but Vinnie Catricala doubled home a run to tie it in the bottom half. The big damage came in the 4th when Kalian Sams hit a 3 run bomb with one out to put the Lumberkings ahead for good. They added a cheap insurance run in the 6th with help from three free passes by Kernels reliever Tyler Kehrer.

James Gilheeney: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K... 7 GB + 2 bunts, 2 FB, 3 PU
Brian Moran: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K... 2 GB, FB

Vinnie Catricala: 1-3, double, RBI
Kalian Sams: 1-3, 3 run HR, 4 RBI total, K

Fortunately for the bullpen, Clinton only used two relievers in the doubleheader. Their only concern now is keeping the SPs rested and on schedule.

Clinton season stats

A+: High Desert 10, Stockton 9, 11 innings
Mavs: 20-15... The 209: 15-21

Two years removed from knocking on the door of the Majors, Ryan Feierabend is pitching for the High A Mavs and boy does he look thrilled to be here.



He must be really thrilled after getting pounded for four runs in his first four frames and getting chased by a 2 run home run in a 5 run 5th. Ryan Moorer came in and also got hammered, and I don't mean with gin. After the 5th, it was 9-2 Stockton.

But no lead is ever safe in the Cal League, and the Mavs opened the bottom 6th with a leadoff double down the LF line by Johermyn Chavez. Two walks later, Juan Diaz hit a grand slam to make it 9-6. Yes, JUAN DIAZ. His 2nd of the year. There was a 12 mph wind out to center. Do the math.

With two outs in the 8th, Juan Diaz came up and he WENT YARD AGAIN. Diaz's 3rd of the year made it 9-7 Stockton. For some reason, Kyle Seager came up next and tried to bunt himself aboard. He succeeded, but... dude. There's a stiff wind to the fences. You can USE THAT. I suppose there was a shift on by Stockton or something and he just took advantage, and there's nothing terribly wrong with that.

But the Mavs got no more runs that frame and they came into the bottom 9th down 9-7. Nate Tenbrink got a leadoff walk, but the next two batters went quietly. With Tenbrink going, Johermyn Chavez hit a grounder to SS Grant Green, who got cute and tried to catch Tenbrink off the bag as he rounded 2nd but he couldn't because he's Nate Tenbrink, and Tenbrink ended up on 3rd as Chavez snuck to 2nd. Jake Shaffer pinch hit for Luis Nuñez and dropped a flyball in left field to plate both runners and TIE THE BALLGAME at 9. Scott Savastano grounded out and we headed to extra innings, the happiest place in the Cal League.

Steven Richard came in and went groundout strikeout groundout for the top 10th. Kyle Seager led off the bottom 10th by once again bunting himself on (Memo to Stockton: The Seager Shift isn't working). Edilio Colina bunted him over... except he didn't and the pitcher fielded the ball with plenty of time to throw Seager out at 2nd. Nate Tenbrink also grounded into a force out, failing to move the runner over. Rich Poythress grounded out as well to send us to the 11th.

Richard kept the gas on and STRUCK OUT THE SIDE in the top 11th. Travis Scott had seen enough and lined a double to lead off the bottom 11th. Pitcher Scott Deal uncorked a wild pitch to move Scott to 3rd with no outs, and there's no way the Mavs can screw this up. Indeed, after Jake Shaffer was intentionally walked, Scott Savastano flew to left, Scott tagged up and scored the winning run. COMEBACK COMPLETE.

Ryan Feierabend: 4.1 IP, 7 H, (6 R) 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K... 9 GB, 5 FB, 3 LD, 1 PU
Ryan Moorer: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K... 2 GB, 3 FB, LD, PU
Maikel Cleto: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K... 3 GB
Marwin Vega: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K... 2 FB, LD
Steven Richard: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K... 2 GB

Kyle Seager: 3-6, R
Edilio Colina: 1-6, double, K
Nate Tenbrink: 1-5, R, RBI, BB
Travis Scott: 1-6, double, R
Johermyn Chavez: 2-6, double, 2 R, 2 K
Jake Shaffer: 1-1, 2 RBI, BB
Scott Savastano: 1-4, solo HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
Juan Diaz: 4-5, GRAND SLAM, solo HR

High Desert season stats

AA: West Tenn 4, Mobile 3
WTN: 18-16... MOB: 17-18

The JAXX struck first with help from some bad infield defense by Mobile to take a 1-0 lead. "Repentino" Mauricio Robles was all over the place and allowed few balls in play over his 5+ innings, which makes it hard to string together a lot of rallies provided the pitcher hits the strike zone and gets you to swing at bad pitches... which Robles did plenty of. However, he did allow a run in the 5th... but base hits by Joe Dunigan and Carlos Peguero gave the JAXX another run and a 2-1 lead before Robles departed.

Robert Rohrbaugh came in with runners on the corners and two outs in the 6th but got a groundout to escape. He strung together two more scoreless innings, but with a 3-1 lead in the 9th Rohrbaugh ran into trouble on a one out infield hit (thanks, Dustin Ackley), a two out walk and then a two run double by Bryan Byrne to tie the ballgame at 3. Aaron Jensen came in, Peter Clifford pinch hit for Mobile, and this exercise in drama ended with a pop out to end the top 9th.

Leyson Septimo made yet another appearance for the BayBears, and promptly plunked Alex Liddi to lead off. Dustin Ackley did his best to give the fans extra baseball by grounding into a 4-3 double play, but Jose Yepez walked, Joe Dunigan doubled to 3rd, and SS Jake Wald threw Carlos Triunfel's grounder YIKES AND AWAY to give the JAXX the win.

Mauricio Robles: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 8 K... 8 GB, 2 FB, 1 LD, 2 PU
Robert Rohrbaugh: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K... 5 GB, 5 FB
Aaron Jensen: pop up

Carlos Peguero: 1-3, RBI, BB, K
Guillermo Quiroz: 2-4, RBI
Joe Dunigan: 2-4, 2 doubles, R, RBI, K
Carlos Triunfel: 1-3, double, R

West Tenn season stats

AAA: Tacoma 4, Nashville 3
TAC: 16-17... NSH: 21-13

The Rainiers got a run in the 2nd with big help from an Eliezer Alfonzo double, but Nashville blew up David Pauley in the bottom 2nd with a three run frame to take a 3-1 lead that held up... until the top 9th, when Mike Carp and Matt Mangini both homered to give Tacoma a 4-3 lead. Chad Cordero came on and went flyout, strikeout, strikeout to finish off the victory.

David Pauley: 7 IP, 4 H, (3 R) 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K... 8 GB, 6 FB, 4 LD
Brian Sweeney: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K... 2 GB
Chad Cordero: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K... FB

Mike Carp: 2-4, 2 run HR, K
Matt Mangini: 1-4, solo HR
Eliezer Alfonzo: 2-4, double, R, K
Ramon Vazquez: 2-4, RBI

Tacoma season stats

[Lonnie]

I listened in on the end of the Diamond Jaxx game, and talk about drama! Dunigan didn't just hit a double, the ball he hit bounced off of the very top of the wall and came back into the field of play. The play by play guy was really rooting for Dunigan to hit a walk off bomb, and when Joe hit the ball the announcer went absolutely bonkers, but then had to retract his homerun call when the umps ruled it a double. Had Yepez been running on the hit rather than trotting the game would have been over then.

Lonnie