9/2/13 Indianapolis Indians 5, Louisville Bats 7

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY
Game 2 of 2

Sometimes, you have to take the good with the bad.  A one-hour, 44-minute rain delay in the 4th was bad; the Bats were down 2-0 and after play resumed, they tried to chip away at the lead but met with response by the Indians every time.

In the bottom of the 9th, with the Bats still down 5-2, the Indians leave pinch-hitter Matt Hague in the game as a PITCHER, "trying for a save."

Well, Denis Phipps would have none of this.  Hague allows the first two batters to reach base on singles, strikes out the next two, then walks two in a row to meet Phipps at the plate, who took a 1-0 changeup deep into left field for a walk-off GRAND SLAMMO.

BALL GAME.  A remarkably #wet end to a wacky season.

Mystery Rookie Cards
Me: 2004 Topps T128 Hector Made

Guest: 2006 Upper Deck 1208 Dustin McGowan

Guest: 2001 Fleer 529 Mark Prior

My scoresheets, using my new pitch-counting method! Read about it HERE, download the scoresheets for free HERE!

Official Program (featuring Greg Reynolds) and Scorecard

BONUS: How about some FUN TIMES with Buddy Bat? Just check out that #chin.

Louisville is finally adding some #sparkle to their season tickets, with several players (and a mascot) featured on different dates...I believe I have one of each this season, so here's tonight's ticket with Denis Phipps (wearing number 21, as he did during the 2012 season) -quite the coincidence, no?

Bat Chat and Gameday Stats

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8/29/12 Columbus Clippers 4, Louisville Bats 2

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY
Game 2 of 2

It's our last game of the season, as I bring both Chihiro and Kei to Slugger Field by redeeming a pair of unused season tickets and splurging for an extra seat, all in the lawn section, where I enjoy sitting from time to time.  The Columbus Clippers are back in town, we saw them here last week as they fell to the wayward Bats 10-7.  Tonight, as we make our way around the concourse and the starting lineups are being posted, I notice a familiar face on the Pepsi Vision jumbotron...a friendly, smiling face staring down at us, larger than life, pictured in his Padres cap...that face belonged to Aaron Cunningham; it was this very same shot:

Yes, Aaron was a Padre...but not anymore.  I had lost track of him, and was genuinely shocked to see his face way up there.  As we took our seats and I shriveled with glee over Cunningham in the lineup, my girls wanted to know why I was so excited...beyond the fact that he was a Padre, that is.  They aren't really much into statistics, but in Cunningham's case, that story isn't a good one.  

As the game ensues, and Cunningham prepares for his first plate appearance in the 3rd (the game is still scoreless), I've reviewed Cunningham's numbers and my daughter Kei notices by abject cringing.  Sure, hew was a Padre, and gave that his best shot, but he batted .243/.301/.396 in 2 years and 105 games in 2010-2011...his 2011 season alone he posted a dismal .178/.257/.367 in 52 games, and was pretty much on his way elsewhere when he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in late 2011 for Cory Burns.  Cunningham spent the better part of 2012 with the Indians, again choking at the plate to the tune of .175/.245/.247 in 72 games, heading to the Clippers to clear a roster spot in late July.  As of tonight's game, he's not doing any better, hitting .135/.237/.173 in 16 games.  

As I'm explaining OBP, SLG, and OPS to Kei (and trying to think of some other way to defend my adoration of Cunningham other than his lowly OPS), Cunningham is working Bats SP Pedro Villareal into a full-count.  On the 6th pitch, Cunningham connects for a lofty HR to left-center, one that fell in the left-field boxes, only a few feet from where we were sitting.  One more ricochet off of an empty seat, and we would have had a serious chance at catching that ball.

It was more than interesting that this event occurred just as I was using Cunningham's performance of record to not only explain why he was batting 9th in the lineup, but also to explain why nobody could count on him to do anything outrageous tonight.  As to further send my review and dissertation of his tendencies to my daughter, he promoted his feats at the plate by eventually nearly hitting for the cycle, a triple shy of doing so. He was not eligible for this opportunity as he approached the plate in the top of the 9th, with one on and no outs, and was instructed to bunt...which he effectively did.

Certainly tonight's performance isn't going to signal a turnaround for the 26-year-old, who needs to find something to grow on very soon or else his career will be in greater jeopardy...but for a guy like this, tonight was definitively a game he could truly hang his hat on.  As for me, it justified in many ways why I really really adore some players, even if their numbers don't add up to anything more than a bomb and a few goose eggs.

During the 5th inning, we noticed many empty seats in our usual spot in the upper deck, so the girls persuaded me to pack up and move on up there to join our friend Jimmy for the rest of the game.  Foul balls were literally raining in our section, and a lot of souvenirs made a lot of folks happy.  Jimmy was kind enough to share some of the great photos he's been taking with me, here are a couple from this game.

Denis Phipps in the 1st inning, as he cracks a lead-off double to left field.  Photo by Jimmy Bessar.

Didi Gregorius strikes out swinging.  Photo by Jimmy Bessar.

It's worth mentioning that I was lucky enough to see Loek Van Mil pitch an inning for the Clippers.  At 7' 1" he is the tallest player in professional baseball, right now...or so I'm told.

We all played the Mystery Rookie Card game, of course.  My pick was a dud, this 2008 Topps Chin-Ling Hu RC.  Chihiro picked another one of his cards earlier in the season, I kinda teased her a little about it...so I suppose this is payback. 

Chihiro picked this 2006 Bowman Mike Pelfrey RC.  Sweet.

Kei has a prime component of the Rookie Card game worked out...I always let my guests pick first, and Kei knows not to pick by color, but by weight.  She nailed a bonus, first of all, this 2007 Bowman Dennis Dove RC.  Dove was a 3rd round draft pick in 2003 by the St Louis Cardinals, and spent 5 seasons in their Minor League system with a 14-24 record and 4.54 ERA before getting called up to the Majors after the tragic death of Josh Hancock in an auto accident.  Dove needed something better than his two pitches to succeed, but never found them in time before injuries sidelined him, appearing in only 3 games and accruing a blistering ERA of 15.00; the Cardinals optioned him back to AAA at the end of the season and he hasn't pitched professionally since.

Kei's bonus card in her envelope was this 2007 Topps Carlos Guillen AL All-Star Copper Parallel, number 14 of 56, with a book value of $6 or so.  She wouldn't trade this for my Chin-Lung Hu card...I think she's on to me.

Fun times, fun season...despite the failings of the Bats.  Thanks again to Jimmy for sharing the photos!

Official Program #4, featuring Didi Gregorius...still misspelled, inside and out. 

Official Scorecard #3, featuring Corky Miller, and autographed by Corky Miller.

Bat Chat and Gameday Stats (never mind they meant nothing to Aaron Cunningham tonight)

5/7/12 Norfolk Tides 4, Louisville Bats 2

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY
Game 1 of 4

I was excited at my first chance to see Jeff Francis in Louisville this season, but this almost didn’t happen…the weather forecast was pretty darn nasty looking, with a 100% chance for thunderstorms right about the time of first pitch threatening. My wife, being the good sport she is, decided we should brave the possibility for a rain delay just the same, so we solidered on. The good news: the thunderstorms did come (we could see them across the river) but never threatened the game at all. The other news: Jeff Francis, he of “future greatness” several years ago, is still working on a few things.

So really, is Jeff Francis not his old self anymore, or was his old self that great to begin with? I’ve only really followed him since he became a Royal last season, and while I fell in love with his “stuff,” the fact of the matter is, he wasn’t much help for the Royals last year, and is now working out in AAA Louisville for the Reds


Not saying the Reds don’t need any help in pitching, but is Jeff Francis the answer? Is age catching up to him, or is his ability to miss bats getting there first?

Well, hang on just a second…Jeff Francis may be 2-3 so far this season for a Louisville squad that is at the bottom of their division with a 10-21 record, but you know what…tonight he looked pretty damn good, for the most part. Here’s a breakdown of his work this evening:

Other than a rough 3rd inning, he faced no more than 4 batters (faced 3 batters in 4 innings), induced 8 groundball outs, struck out 6 and only walked one. So what happened in the 3rd inning?

He gave up base hits to Joe Mahoney and Jai Miller to start, those were liners and grounders, respectively, hit to places just beyond the infield where there were no defenders; Mahoney’s shot went a bit deeper, yet still playable. Blake Davis struck out swinging next, then 2 more back-to-back soft liners towards right-and left-center field, both places “where they ain’t,” as Wee Willie Keeler would say. Another sharply hit grounder thru the gap between short and second and 2 runs had scored with one out. Bill Hall pops out weakly to Kris Negron in foul territory, then catcher Chris Robinson walks in a run in 5 pitches. DH Ryan Adams flies out to deep left-center to end the inning.

For the sake of argument, Francis was in trouble when the rookie defenders weren’t where they should have been; I’ll give some credit to the Tides for finding Francis’ pitches with their bats when they needed to, but in the world of nascent defensive metrics, you can’t ignore the fact that with better position play, at a minimum the shots fired by Avery and Antonelli would have been quick outs. This is stuff you can never see in box scores.

Francis’ FIP in this game was 4.63, a few ticks down from his 5.14 game ERA. Throughout his Major League career, Francis has been as high as 5.29 and as low as 3.88 in FIP. For the Bats this season, his FIP is 2.62 (ERA 3.96). So, that can’t really be the entire issue, can it?

I really don’t know what Jeff Francis needs to do to miss more bats, and I also really don’t know why I’m always drawn to pitchers like he, where the talent and application is there, but something just isn’t right. Whatever the issue, I’m not confident that the Reds can help him solve it.

That being said…BilLOL HalLOL.

Photos from the Game:

Warmup:
Bats LHP Jeff Francis

1st Inning:
Tides 2B Matt Antonelli faces Jeff Francis

Tides 3B Bill Hall (Major League veteran: 0-for-4, 2K, LIDP and a popout to 2B in foul territory) wobbles on deck

Bats 3B Chris Valaika faces Tides LHP Dana Eveland

Bats CF Denis Phipps faces Eveland

Dana Eveland on the mound

Phipps lines out to Tides CF Xavier Avery

2nd Inning:
Bill Hall “looking” vs. Jeff Francis

Bats RF Bill Rhinehart (3-for-3, stranded each time) faces Eveland

Bats SS Miguel Rojas (0-for-3, 3 LOB) faces Eveland

Rojas fouls one back…

Rojas lines out to Avery to end the inning, stranding 2.

3rd Inning:
Tides RF Jai Miller vs. Francis

Tides SS Blake Davis vs. Francis, 2 on and 2 out

Swingandamiss, he got ‘im!!

Matt Antonelli, bases loaded and 1 out

Ladies and Gentlemen: Corky Miller!!

6th Inning:
Bats 1B Neftali Soto faces RHP Brad Bergesen

7th Inning:
Jeff Francis: the wind-up and the throw…

(this picture is blurry, but it’s still very KOOL)

Francis checks Blake Davis at 2B

Xavier Avery vs. Jeff Francis

Matt Antonelli grounds out, SS Miguel Rojas to 2B Kristopher Negron to end the Tides’ 7th, stranding Davis

Brad Bergesen on the mound

8th Inning:
Bats RHP Scott Carroll, in relief

Tides RHP Miguel Gonzalez relieves Bergesen

9th Inning:
Bats LHP Travis Webb gets the ball in the 9th

Neftali Soto faces Gonzalez with 1 out

I was disheartened to find the Slugger Monkey stand only had 1 mystery baseball rookie pack, so my wife and I both couldn’t play the mystery rookie card game. I bought that one, and was further disheartened to find I drew a Hong-Chih Kuo RC.

Official Program, featuring new manager David Bell on the cover

Official Scorecard (with Danny Dorn) and Bat Chat

If you enjoy my work, I encourage you to spread the word via Twitter
(I am @yoshiki89), and also please leave a comment!