Power Pros Forum

RED SOX

4/10/09: The Hickories wasted a golden opportunity against Jon Lester in the first inning when their first two batters reached base but failed to score, as the next three batters popped out. The Hickories Sid Fernandez was pitching a great game, but David Wright laced a split fingered fastball that hung up in the zone into right-center field for an RBI double and then Wright scored when the next batter singled. The Hickories tied it up the following inning when Lebowski drove in runners from second and third with a two-out single. Fernandez did not come out to start the fifth inning, leaving with a solid pitching line, although the innings thrown were short (4 IP, 2R, 5H, 5K). Lester was pitching well, but using up a lot of pitches and began to tire in the sixth inning. He was removed after allowing one run in the sixth and throwing 77 pitches. Okajima was brought in and surrendered two more singles, one of them resulting in an RBI. David Banner drove in a run the following inning when Braun, who doubled, scored when Banner's solid hit ricocheted off the shortstop's glove and rolled into shallow centerfield. Final score: 5–2, Jacksonville

4/11/09: The Hickories had mixed success against Tim Wakefield in 2008 – winning against him on a day when he was wild, and looking like a junior varsity team later in the season when he was on top of his game. The Hickories wound up scoring two runs in the first, as Wakefield was little wild, but they stranded runners at second and third. A Manny Ramirez homerun with David Ortiz on base against Morris Buttermaker tied the game. In the third, Wakefield, who was having trouble getting his fastball and drop curve into the strike zone when he needed them, struggled and was pulled after throwing 65 pitches in less than three innings and after giving up a double to Jeff Lebowski followed by an RBI single from Buck Rogers. The Hickories loaded the bases in the fourth, and would have come away completely empty except for scoring on a wild pitch from the Red Sox Chad Buckholtz. Buttermaker was too tired to start the bottom of the fourth, so Manzanilla entered and after getting Ortiz to pop out, surrendered the second homerun of the day to Manny Ramirez. The Hickories also loaded the bases in the fifth, but came away with nothing when Enoch's lined a shot to the first baseman who initiated a rare 3–2 – 6 – 4–3 triple play. David Ortiz hit a game-tying homerun the following inning and the Sox pulled ahead when reliever John McClain gave up three consecutive hits and another home run from Ortiz. In the top of the eighth, the Hickories scored a run but stranded runners at second and third. Final score: 8–5, Red Sox

4/12/09: The Hickories put it all together this game, belting three homeruns among their 17 hits, stealing two bases, and only allowing two runs against a powerful Boston lineup, both coming in the first inning when starter Duane Schneider gave up a two run home run to David Ortiz. Pelfrey entered and pitched four innings of shutout ball with Manzanilla closing out the game. Final score: 11–2, Hickories

For the week ending 4/12/09, David Banner was one of the players of the week. He batted 433 with three home runs and eight RBIs in that span

BATTLE FOR LEFT FIELD

The battle for the starting left field position is still being fought between Art Vandelay (CC120 CEDE) and Geordi Laforge (EC128 CDDD). They have each played in seven games so far this season, with Vandalay generally batting third and Laforge gently batting seventh. Their key offense of stats so far this season –

Vandelay: 32 at-bats, 281 BA, 9H, one HR, three SB

Laforge: 28 at-bats, 286 BA, 8H, three HR, three SB

Drama in Jacksonville, eh? I'd have to imagine Laforge's batting average will start to decline eventually.

You would think so, but for some reason I hit much better with Laforge last year when Laforge had F contact and Vandalay had C contact, and it is hard for me to not swing for the fences with Vandalay's C contact, while I am more conservative when hitting with Laforge

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

4/13/09: The Hickories scored the first run of the game against Roy Halladay in the fourth inning when Lebowski doubled in Banner. The Blue Jays almost tied the game in the top of the fifth, loading the bases, but Hickories starter Mike Pelfrey worked his way out of the jam. Halladay was forced into a lot of deep counts with the Hickories and the pitcher with the iron arm exited after 7–2/3 innings of work and throwing 99 pitches while Pelfrey closed out his half of the inning with 71 pitches thrown. Perhaps Pelfrey was left in the game winning too long, as he served up the game-tying homerun to Scott Roland on a one – two changeup. The score remained tied into the bottom of the 11th inning when David Banner hit a walkoff homerun. Final score: two – one (11), Hickories

4/14/09: A three run homerun from Ryan Braun in the fourth followed by a solo shot from Vandelay was more than the Hickories would need with starter David Cohen pitching a complete game and surrendering only two runs – one on a home run to Greg Zaun in the fifth and another run surrendered as he tired in the ninth inning. Final score: 4–2, Hickories

4/15/09: The Blue Jays had a big fourth inning, scoring four runs on five hits, while the Blue Jays starter, McGowan, kept the Hickories off-balance. The Hickories seemed poised for a big inning, but Crash Davis was thrown out at home and they wound up stranding a runner at second. The Hickories did push a 3 runs across, but the Blue Jays scored twice more. Final score: 6–3, Blue Jays

4/16/09: another low-scoring game until the Hickories pulled ahead in the fourth on a David Banner solo homerun, and then three consecutive two-out singles brought in a second run, while Sid Fernandez was unhittable through the first five innings. The Hickories pushed another run across and then, in the seventh, Jeff Lebowski hit a three run homerun against a tiring Blue Jays starter. David Banner tacked on another solo homerun in the eighth. In the meantime, Fernandez pitched a three hit complete game shutout with 8 strikeouts. Final score: 7–0, Jacksonville

ORIOLES: The Orioles took their offense, which always looked potent on paper with Brian Roberts, Aubrey Huff, and Luke Scott, and improved on it this off-season by adding Carl Crawford, although most analysts are surprised that last year's trade pick up Matt Kemp (DCCDFG) was unable to beat out the aging Jay Payton (EDEDCD) for the centerfield spot in spite of Kemp's shaky defense.

4/17/09: The Hickories had a big fourth inning, highlighted by three homeruns, including a three run homerun by Vandelay and Mays Hayes' first homerun of the season, which was important because the Hickories Buttermaker did not have his best stuff. David Banner hit his AL leading ninth homerun with Lebowski on first in the top of the fifth. Glass Joe started off the fifth and surrendered a two run home run to the second batter he faced, but the game was never in question. Final score: 13–6, Hickories

4/18/09: The Hickories and their starter, Duane Schneider, got off to a rocky start as they stranded a runner on third in the first inning and then a fielding error by Lebowski led to one of two runs for the Orioles. Homeruns from Braun and Crash Davis tied the game in the second, and in the third Buck Rogers singled home Vandalay before Braun hit his second homerun of the day. Both teams scored additional runs, with Braun adding a 492 foot home run to his tally, and Robert Plant hitting his first home run of 2009. Braun's fourth at bat resulted in an RBI, but not a homerun, as his shot had the distance but not the height and bounced off the high right-field wall of the stadium. Final score: 10–5, Jacksonville

NOTE: After the game, it was announced that starter Duane Schneider, who collected his first major-league win, would be shifted to the bullpen. "His stamina makes him just able to reach the fifth inning if things go well - he really can only be expected to hit the 4th - and he'll do better by coming out of the pen and being able to increase his stamina with every appearance rather than just once every six days if he lasts to the sixth or seventh inning, which is not going to happen regularly. That being said, we are very happy with his performance today and can tell he belongs at the major-league level." It is expected that John McClain, the current long reliever, will take his spot in the rotation, but when Roy Hobbs (put on the disabled list after pitching the 3rd game of the season) returns, it is unclear.

4/19/09: Buck Rogers drove in Robert Plant in the first inning and Geordi Laforge homered with David Banner on-base in the second. Cool Junior followed with a triple and scored on a Sasser sacrifice fly. Mays Hayes followed with his own triple (his first of two triples today) and came home on a Robert Plant single. Pelfrey did not have his best stuff and surrendered a homerun to Luke Scott in the second, but had an otherwise excellent performance. Two innings later, when Jeff Lebowski homered with Robert Plant on second, this game had the makings of another blowout. Final score: 9 – 1, Hickories

For the week ending April 19, Ryan Braun was one of the weekly MVPs named. He batted 517 with six homeruns and 13 RBIs. In comparison, the other hitters named were Frank Thomas, who batted 520 with four homeruns and 10 RBIs for the Athletics, and Matt Holliday who batted 500 with three home runs and eight RBIs for the Rockies.

RED SOX

4/20/09: with the Hickories David Cohen taking on the Red Sox Boof Bonser, the Hickories scored first when Banner tripled home Ryan Braun and LaForge doubled in Banner. Ortiz doubled home Pedroia in the fourth and moved to third on fielders choice, but was stranded when Cohen struck out the next two batters. A big fifth inning extended the Hickories lead to four runs that a sixth inning Manny Ramirez homerun cut to 3. An even bigger seventh inning that included a David Banner two run homerun, a Geordie LaForge homerun, a Buck Rogers three run homerun, and 4 doubles resulted in 12 runs for that one inning and an unbelievable 17–2 lead. David Cohen tired and exited with one out in the eighth. The Red Sox scored a few runs in the ninth that did nothing but perhaps affect the future of Hickories pitcher John McClain, who surrendered them. Final score: 17–5, Hickories

Note: Geordie Laforge missed hitting for the cycle by a single

4/21/09: The gray, rainy conditions were fitting for today's game against the Red Sox since the weather made the field sloppy and the ageless Tim Wakefield made the Hickories offense, which had been humming for the last week, look sloppy. Manny Ramirez got things going offensively with a leadoff homerun in the second inning, and scored three more with some timely two-out hitting. Hickory starter Gabe Kotter tired and exited in the third inning, replaced by Roy Hobbs who had just come off the disabled list. Hobbs closed the 3rd uneventfully but gave up a homerun to start the fourth. Wakefield left with runners at first and second and two outs in the seventh and the Hickories brought in a run before Okajima closed out the inning. Final score: 5 – 1, Boston

4/22/09: in the rubber game of this three-game series, Hickories starter Sid Fernandez had a strong first-inning, receiving soft comebacker's from the first two batters before striking out David Ortiz, but a tough second inning, surrendering a homerun to Manny Ramirez and several singles to bring in another run, and ended up needing to be pulled in the third inning with two outs and a runner on third. In the meantime, Red Sox graybar starter Norton (92 DC KNC – two, FO–two, CB – two) pitched very well, although he allowed a run in the first inning, and the Hickories seemed fortunate that he began to tire in the third inning, giving up the game-tying homerun in the fourth inning on a poorly thrown a curveball to David Banner. In the sixth, Glass Joe hung a knuckleball to David Wright, who hit the go-ahead homerun, and in the eighth, Ramirez found a small hole between the Hickories first and second baseman for an RBI single. Jacksonville finally pulled ahead as Red Sox reliever Craig Hansen tired in his fourth inning, surrendering an RBI single to Ryan Braun and an RBI double to David Banner. Final score: 5–4, Jacksonville

ORIOLES

4/24/09: The Hickories grab edit he lead with a six run third inning, in which the Hickories hit five home runs, including one of Jeff Lebowski's three homeruns on the day. The Orioles had a big five run seventh at the expense of rookie Duane Schneider to make the score respectable, and then another four against Manzanillo in the eighth to leave the Hickories clinging to a two run lead. A Braun homerun extended the Hickories lead to three, and Montoya closed out the ninth easily. Final score: 14–11, Hickories

Note: with this win and the Yankees 6–1 loss to the Texas Rangers, the Hickories are tied for first place in their division

4/25/09: The Orioles score 7 runs over the course of three innings and the Hickories cannot keep up. Final score: 7–5, Orioles

4/26/09: The Hickories offense failed to get their second hit until the sixth inning and did not even force the Orioles to go to their bullpen. Final score: two – one, Orioles

For the week ending April 26, Jeff Lebowski was one of the MVPs named. During this week he batted 591 with three homeruns and nine RBIs

TWINS SERIES PREVIEW

The Hickories close out April with a four game series against the 17/7 Twins, who are tied with the Yankees for the best record in baseball. Relying mainly on pitching, journeyman Matt Morris joins a staff that includes Livan Hernandez (88 CA SL – three, CB – three, CH – two, SFB – two), Scott Baker (93 CA CU – one, CU – one, CB – three, CH – four), and Chris Carpenter (95 FB HSL – five, DCB – four, SP – three). Set up man Juan Rincon (96 CE SL – five) has an ERA under two with 16.2 innings under his belt, and Jonathan Papelbon (98 BE SL – two, SP – one) is a perfect 8 for 8 in save opportunities. Offensively, Hunter Pence, picked up in a trade last season, leads the team with seven homeruns and first baseman Justin Morneau (DBECDB) leads the team with 24 RBIs. Perennial All-Star Joe Mauer has been productive, but relatively quiet, while light hitting third baseman Nick Punto (EFBBCD) leads the team with a 351 batting average, including five doubles and six triples. He also leads the team in runs scored and stolen bases.

TWINS

4/27/09: with a matchup of Livan Hernandez against Gabriel Kotter, the Twins struck first in the fourth inning when Delmon Young led off with a double and scored on a Cuddyer single. In the bottom of the fourth, the Hickories put together a string of four hits and a fielders choice, taking a 3–1 lead. Hunter Pence cut the lead in half with an RBI double. Crash Davis singled in Jordi Laforge in the sixth, and Ryan Braun hit his major-league leading 13th homerun to put the Hickories up by three and send Hernandez to the showers. Joe Mauer brought in a run in the eighth but Montoya closed out the ninth in order. Final score: 5–3, Hickories

4/28/09: Cuddyer singled in the first run in the third inning against a David Cohen who was struggling with his pitches. Chris Carpenter was masterful, but in the bottom of the fifth, Buck Rogers, who has been struggling at the plate, tripled and then scored on a fielders choice. The very next inning, Brendan Harris tripled in a run and then scored on a base hit from Brady Clark. That would stand as a final score. Final score: three – one, Twins

4/29/09: The Twins Kyle Lohse allowed three singles to start the game before clamping down and ending the inning, while Fernandez cruised through his first inning, but struggled in the second inning, allowing runners to reach first and second, but escaping the jam unscathed. Ryan Braun had a solo homerun to give the Hickories a 2–0 lead in the fourth, and after Buck Rogers singled, Banner hit a solo homerun when Lohse grooved a fastball right down the heart of the plate. Fernandez pitched very strong, but had to escape another jam in the fifth when the Twins put runners at first and second, but Fernandez got a force-out at third before striking out the next batter and inducing the following batter to fly out to centerfield. The Twins finally scored in the sixth inning when Cuddyer hit an RBI double. The Twins second run came in the eighth when Delmon Young hit a one out triple and scored on a fielders choice. Fernandez tired in the eighth, but closed out the inning, ending his night with an impressive two runs allowed over eight innings on eight hits with six strikeouts. Montoya easily close out the ninth. Final score: 4–2, Hickories

4/30/09: with two singles, a fielders choice, and the wild pitch, the Twins scored a run in the first inning, while the Hickories leadoff batter made it to second with no out, but was stranded there. The Hickories also stranded a runner at second in the second inning. Twins added another run in the third when Brendan Harris drove the ball down the left-field line, and Hunter Pence added his own RBI single against reliever Manzanilla. Hickories finally scored a run in the fifth with the help of a fielders choice and two singles, but it was still a disappointment as they stranded a runner in scoring position. In the seventh, the Hickories tied the game against Pat Neshick, but Justin Morneau led off the next inning with a homerun off of reliever Glass Joe, and added another run later in the inning. When Hickories failed to score in the bottom of the eighth and the Twins tacked on another run in the ninth, the game was all but over, but the Hickories actually tied up the game with three singles and a double against Jon Papelbon. Mickey Schuler did not allow a run in the 10th – his third solid inning of work, which set up Buck Rogers for a dramatic walkoff homerun off of a Rincon fastball. Final score: 7–6 (10), Hickories

SEATTLE MARINERS

5/1/09: An exciting pitching duel that saw 5 lead changes in the first 7 innings and entered the 8th with the Hickories clinging to a 4-3 lead. A two run homerun from Jordy Laforge in the eighth gave the Hickories some cushion. Final score: 6–3, Hickories

5/2/09: Roy Hobbs (94 EB HSL – three, SCB – two, SP – three, HSK – three) recently improved his slow curve to level two and he showed it off today, pitching 5–2/3 shutout innings while racking up six strikeouts and getting out of a jam in the fifth in which the Mariners had runners at second and third with one out. The Mariners starter, Oliver Perez (95 DA SL – two, SP – two), pitched very well – throwing a complete game (8 innings) in which the Hickories were fortunate to push three runs across the plate. Duane Schneider was excellent for the Hickories in relief, not allowing a hit in his 2–1/3 innings of work while recording two strikeouts, while Enigo Montoya made things interesting by allowing two runs ninth-inning before closing out the game. Final score: 3–2, Hickories

5/3/09: The Mariners took a close game and blew it open with a four-run sixth inning, While Erik Bedard (98 CA 2SF - two, CU – two, CB – three, CH – two) pitched like an all star, allowing just one run in 8–1/3 innings and striking out five while allowing only seven hits. Final score: six – one, Mariners

TWINS

5/4/09: David Cohen looked like he had pretty good movement on his pitches but the Twins absolutely hammered him in the second inning with singles, infield singles, bunt base hits, and solid baserunning, forcing his exit with two outs, runner in scoring position, and six runs on the board. The Hickories hit three home runs and some timely base hits to finally catch up in the top of the seventh when a double off the centerfield fence by Jeff Lebowski put them up by two and Rogers drove in Lebowski for a three run advantage. The Twins scored in the eighth and the ninth, but could not catch up. Final score: 9–8, Hickories

5/5/09: Twins ace Chris Carpenter (95 FB HSL – five, DCB – four, SP – three) had good movement on his pitches and pitched himself out of a first inning jam in which the Hickories first two batters reached base. After also threatening in the third, the Hickories were able to push a run across in the fourth inning on a single, a double, and a fielders choice. The Twins had a chance to tie it up in the fourth, but Fernandez struck out Brandon Harris to end the threat. The Twins did tie the game in the fifth on back-to-back doubles from Hunter Pence and Adam Everett, and later that inning, the Twins loaded the bases with one out and Mauer at the plate. Fernandez appeared to get Mauer to hit a double play ball, but Cool Junior was slow in initiating the throw to second, so only one out was recorded and the Twins took a one run lead. The Twins starter tired in the sixth, but was still hitting his spots. Still, he exited after giving up the tying RBI to Buck Rogers, who singled in Ryan Braun, who had singled and stole second. Duane Schneider entered to start the sixth and gave up five runs on five hits, although three oddities contributed to the awful inning:

- the Hickories centerfielder thought the 2b was coming into shallow center to retrieve a fly ball and let it drop 2 feet in front of him,
- an infield hit happened when Schneider ran past a slow roller back to the mound to cover home plate, forcing the second baseman to run out to the pitchers mound to retrieve the ball,
- a ball that should've been caught by third baseman Lebowski went past him when he unnecessarily dove into foul territory and the "hit" wound up being an RBI double when it then rolled through Ryan Braun's legs.

The Hickories could not recover. Final score: 7–2, Twins

5/6/09: with all their starters in gray condition, the Twins were forced to turn to Yorman Bazardo, and the Hickories made them pay, scoring four runs (two on a double from Vandelay) in the first. The Twins scored two in the bottom of the first off of Roy Hobbs. Bazardo exited with one out in the second and the Twins next reliever fared much better. Hobbs also seemed to settle down, except for the fourth inning, when Hobbs allowed the first two batters to reach base, but escaped the inning with the Hickories two run lead in tact. Ryan Braun rewarded Hobbs' metal by hitting the 100th homerun of his career with Jeff Lebowski on first. Later that inning, the Twins brought in their third reliever of the day and David Banner greeted him with a home run off of a first pitch curveball. Hobbs was not able to finish the fifth inning, exiting with two outs, runners at second and third and one run in. The Twins did not score again that inning, and the Hickories relief core, including Duane Schneider, did not allow another run for the rest of the game while the Hickories David Banner and Ryan Braun hit their second homeruns of the game. Final score: 10–3, Hickories

5/7/09: The Twins scored a run in the second on three singles against Mike Pelfrey. C Mackey Sasser drove in the tying run against Twins starter Matt Morris. The Twins jumped on Pelfrey in the third, scoring three times. The Hickories tied the game with solo homeruns in the fourth, seventh, and eighth against Matt Morris and then Ryan Braun hit a go ahead homerun against reliever Pat Neshek. Hunter Pence tied the game with a homerun in the bottom of the eighth, but in the top of the ninth, Crash Davis hit a pinch-hit RBI single that would stand as the game winner, as the Twins threatened but did not score in the bottom of the 9th. Final score: 6–5, Hickories

BLUE JAYS

5/8/09: The Blue Jays immediately put Hickories starter Buttermaker in a jam (or should we say, in a butter churn), with runners at first and third and nobody out, but a strikeout and two infield groundouts allowed them to escape with no runs allowed. Buttermaker was not as fortunate in the second inning, as the Jay's pushed two runs across, and added a third run in the third inning. In the meantime, the Blue Jays Great Romero (96 CC SL – two, CB – one, CH – three) was hitting his spots and keeping the Hickories off-balance. The Hickories did score a run in the fourth on a Braun sacrifice fly, but the Jay's got that run back in the top of the fifth. The Blue Jays tacked onto runs in the eighth against the normally reliable Glass Joe. Final score: 6 – 1, Blue Jays

5/9/09: Way Cool Junior broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with an RBI single, and an RBI single from The Dude doubled the Hickories lead the following inning, while Hickories starter Gabe Kotter did not have his best stuff and seemed unable to finish off any batters with two strikes on them, but still maintained a four hit shutout entering eighth, when he tired and exited the game. Final score: 2–0, Hickories

5/10/09: The Blue Jays scored a run in the first and second innings against a David Cohen, who was not at his best, while the Blue Jays Roy Halladay did his impression of a buzz saw against the Hickories lineup, striking out the side in the fifth. Final score: 2–0, Blue Jays