Minor League Discussion

[AdamDunn#44]

Tyler Pelland is looking great at Sarasota tonight

Pelland-2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

[AdamDunn#44]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sport...10dragons.html

Philippe Valiquette, Dayton's French-Canadian connection — an 18-year-old starting his first professional game — had some rough spots during his four innings of work, but showed some veteran poise getting out of much of it.

Valiquette, one of only two left-handers on the team, allowed a single in each of his innings and walked five, including three in the second when he walked in the first run with one out. He also left the bases loaded in that inning and left two on base following a high-bounce RBI single by Emilio Bonafacio in the fourth that gave the Silver Hawks a 2-1 lead.

"Valiquette threw the ball well," Dragons manager Alonzo Powell said. "The kid's got tremendous stuff."

[AdamDunn#44]

Louisville
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...ttaaa_louaaa_1

Stratton 3-4 with 2 HR and 3 RBI.
EdE 1-4
Sardinha 3-4 2B, HR, 3 RBI

E. Ramirez 7 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K


Chattanooga
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...ttaaa_louaaa_1

Denorfia 2-3 HR and walk
Howard 2-4 HR

Gardner 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K

Game 2
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...ngaax_wtdaax_2

Denorfia 1-4


Sarasota
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...arafx_ftmafx_1

Votto 1-3 HR and walk

Pelland 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K


Dayton
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...ayafx_souafx_1

Szymanski 2-5 double
Hernandez 2-4 2 doubles

Valiquette 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 3 K

[redsrbetter]

Valiquette with a lot of walks tonight. But good to see the top rated prospects getting some big hits tonight. Particularly Stratton. But Sardinha's numbers surprised me as well. Gardner, not bad especially with all the strike outs. And Ramirez looks like he pitched well too. I like it so far.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Stratton has 3 HR in 7 AB. Time to dump Aurilia off the roster, allow Lopez to play full-time, and use Stratton as a PH and backup outfielder.

[volzok]

I would dump Cruz before Aurilia. While I am not a big fan of Rich, he is a serviceable backup SS, where as Cruz is totally useless to me.

[CincyRedsFan30]

See, I'd rather keep Cruz because he proved last year he can get some PH. He led the team in PH last year.

[volzok]

Yeah, but thats kind of a misleading stat if you consider with the problems we had last year that he was the only guy always coming off the bench. I say the only thing he brings to the table is that he is lefty. If he was righty, Stratton would be on the team right now.

[CincyRedsFan30]

He actually had pretty good stats. as a PH though.

And I'm so sick of Aurilia already, I'd drop him before any other hitter currently on the team.

[volzok]

Well we can agree to disagree. But I think I would have Rich second on that list. I dont know one Red fan thats happy that hes playing right now. If Lopez isnt in the lineup for the last game of the Astros series, heads should roll.

It is good to see Sardinha hitting the ball. I wonder what the odds are of him coming up at any point this year? Not including September obviously.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I'd say Dane has very little chance of coming up. The team is too obsessed with Valentin, who I'd like to see off the team almost as quickly as I'd like to see Aurilia gone.

[volzok]

I'd say Dane has very little chance of coming up. The team is too obsessed with Valentin, who I'd like to see off the team almost as quickly as I'd like to see Aurilia gone.

haha thats good CRF. I totally agree with you there. At least Sardinha would catch a decent game.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Exactly.

The pitchers seem to be much more successful with LaRue catching. I think it's more than a coincidence. This year is proving that so far already:

Team with Valentin catching: (0-1)
Team with LaRue catching: (3-1)

Valentin has only had the one start, and Clemens was the opposing pitcher, but the point is still the same, especially considering the same type of numbers held true throughout last season.

[AdamDunn#44]

Wow. Read that part about Stratton's HR. Shattered his bat.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/...504100451/1036

'Easy' does it well for Bats, 9-0
Ramirez tosses 7 shutout innings

Elizardo Ramirez's nickname is "Easy," a reference to his near-effortless pitching delivery.

Last night, in his first Triple-A start, Ramirez made things look easy. He tossed seven shutout innings and got plenty of run support as the Louisville Bats rolled to, well, an easy 9-0 victory over Ottawa at Louisville Slugger Field.

The 22-year-old Ramirez came over from Philadelphia last summer in the Cory Lidle trade. He doesn't throw particularly hard, but his arm action makes it difficult for hitters to see what's coming.

"You see a lot of guys take bad swings or just take pitches because they don't pick him up real well," Louisville manager Rick Sweet said. "He's not overpowering. He's just got good stuff, and he throws strikes."

Ramirez went right after Lynx batters all night. He scattered seven hits while striking out four. He walked none.

"He knows what he wants to do, and he puts pitches where he wants to," Bats catcher Dane Sardinha said. "He pitches like he's a 30-year-old."

The youngster doesn't lack confidence. He appeared briefly in the majors last season for Philadelphia, so he said he wasn't nervous at all last night.

"I always try to maintain my focus and throw strikes," he said through a translator, teammate Luis Lopez. "I stayed very calm out there."

It helped, too, that the Bats gave him an early lead. With two out in the first inning, Rob Stratton hit a two-run home run to left. Nothing unusual about that for the big slugger, except that he shattered his bat on the swing, sending the head of the barrel all the way to the back screen.

Stratton said he can remember hitting two broken-bat homers in his career, and both came in winter ball.

In the third inning, Stratton found more of the sweet spot. He hammered a 1-2 slider from Eric DuBose (0-1) out to left, some 434 feet, or into the "Stratto-sphere" as the stadium scoreboard called it. That was the third home run in as many at-bats for Stratton, who had the game-winner in the 10th inning Thursday and did not play Friday.

"He is a very strong young man," Sweet said.

Sardinha was no weakling either. After striking out in his first at-bat, his final three trips produced an RBI double, an RBI single and a solo home run.

"I was a little too anxious at the beginning on some of those changeups," he said. "So I switched bats and went to a heavier one. Then I got lucky a couple of times."

Sardinha was an International League All-Star last season, but he batted eighth last night in a loaded lineup that pounded out 14 hits. Leadoff man Jason Romano also homered and added a double as the Bats improved to 3-0 on the young season.

"To be honest, we expected to come in and play this well," Stratton said. "That's what everyone's expectations are. Tonight we were hitting on all cylinders."

The Bats will go for the four-game series sweep today at 1:15 p.m. Steve Kelly will make his Triple-A debut for Louisville against right-hander John Maine, one of the Baltimore Orioles' top prospects.

[redsrbetter]

I'd say Dane has very little chance of coming up. The team is too obsessed with Valentin, who I'd like to see off the team almost as quickly as I'd like to see Aurilia gone.

We have proof that the team is obsessed with Valentin. Remember the name Estalella? Was far more deserving for the backup catcher's role, but lost to good ol Valentin. No way Sardinha could look good enough for a cll up now. Unless Valentin or LaRue get hurt, Dane will remain in Louisville.