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Jammers lose opener of doubleheader
Quick notes here from Jamestown in between games as the Tri-City ValleyCats took Game 1 of the doubleheader by a final of 3-0. ValleyCats starter Brian Holmes had a no-hitter through 5 2/3, but Viosergy Rosa broke it up with a solid liner to right.
Ramon Del Orbe wasn’t bad for Jamestown. He allowed just five hits with no walks in six innings of work, but was let down badly by his defense. An unearned run in the fourth thanks to a missed catch fly ball by Jesus Solorzano — with two outs — ended up being enough for Tri-City. But, even the next batter Ryan Dineer hit a slow roller to third that scored the runner from second. Play was ruled a hit, but probably should have been made by Pedro Mendoza.
In the sixth, Austin Elkins ripped a one-out triple that scored a run. He came around to score on a sac fly. In all reality, Del Orbe only made two mistakes (both were triples to Elkins) and only one cost him. Regardless, he took the loss and is now 0-3 with a 4.61 ERA.
Not that the bats helped him, though. The Jammers loaded them up with back-to-back-to-back walks in the first inning, but Anthony Gomez grounded out to end the threat. After that, Brian Holmes sat down 14 in a row until the Rosa single. Solorzano worked a full count, but flew out to right to end the mini-threat. Jamestown then went down in order in the seventh against reliever Blake Ford.
We already know it will be Drew Steckenrider making his professional debut for the Jammers on the hill tonight. The rookie was activated earlier today.
The ensuing roster move sent Blake Logan to the disabled list. No word on why.
JAMESTOWN
1. Rony Peralta – 3B
2. Anthony Gomez – 2B
3. Felix Munoz – 1B
4. Jesus Solorzano – RF
5. Kentrell Dewitt – LF
6. Brian Dice – DH
7. Jose Behar – C
8. Yeison Hernandez – SS
9. Juancito Martinez – CF
SP — Drew Steckenrider
Jammers win 6th in a row
And we’re still going streaking. Make that six in a row as the Jammers finished off the sweep of the Vermont Lake Monsters, holding on to win 6-5 after nearly blowing a 6-1 lead heading into the ninth.
But, Nick Wittgren came on — allowed a double and walk in a shaky ninth — to get the final out. It was Wittgren’s seventh save of the year despite not being his usual self. The walk was the first one he’s issued in the 2012 season after 12 innings.
Jamestown has inched all the way to .500 after a 3-9 start and are only 2.5 games out of the wild card. Granted, it’s only 24 games into the season, but considering where the Jammers were just two weeks ago, they are certainly alive and well in 2012 after a grim start. They’ll continue the homestand with a three-game set with Tri-City tomorrow night. The ValleyCats own the best record in the NYPL at 18-7.
The good: Another good all-around effort from the offense but a big two-out rally in the sixth won the game for the Jammers. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Juengel grounded into a home-to-first double play that appeared to kill the inning. But, Anthony Gomez lined a single that scored two runs and was followed by Flynn’s double that plated Gomez.
Jamestown tacked on in the seventh and eighth and looked to be in control until Jake Esch fell apart in the ninth. Hard to fault Esch. It was his fourth inning of work (Jamestown has 10 guys in the bullpen) and righthander ran out of gas. He’s been utterly fantastic for the club this year, though.
The bad: Jose Behar went hitless and is down to .191. The catching position is turning into a disaster offensively.
What does it all mean: Well folks, the Jammers aren’t nearly as bad as we thought. One week into the season, I was convinced they could hit, but didn’t have the rotation to compete. Then a week later, I was convinced they couldn’t do much of anything. Another week, OK, they can pitch, but simply can’t hit. Well this was another game where they found ways to score.
So, I think they can contend. These next two weeks will still say a lot, though. Tri-City is an excellent team and then it’s Batavia, Mahoning Valley and Auburn, the three best teams in the Pinckney Division. It’s not neccessarily now-or-never, but it’s an important stretch as I outlined earlier in the week. Regardless, 3-0 is a nice way to start it.
Marlins News
The Miami Marlins signed first round pick Andrew Heaney earlier today. The No. 9 overall pick will report to Jupiter and after the team judges where he is at physically, they’ll assign him somewhere. But, according to this Marlins beat writer, it’s “likely Jamestown.”
Jammers-Muckdogs Recap
Jamestown drops their second in a row with a tough 4-1 loss to Batavia. Bats weren’t all that quiet with 10 hits, but the only run came via a solo homer from Jesus Solorzano. Ran themselves out of a few innings and couldn’t string enough hits together.
The good: Everything, sort of. 10 hits is nothing to be unhappy about. Del Orbe was solid enough for six innings and Manzueta threw three pretty good innings as well. The problem was nothing was great, all just OK.
The bad: 0-for-7 with RISP. Left nine on. Two guys got caught stealing. The little things killed Jamestown tonight.
Game was over when: Jamestown had a leadoff double in the eighth from Yeison Hernandez for the heart of the order trailing just 3-1. Rosa struck out, Juengel struck out and Nola grounded out weakly. Batavia added insurance in the ninth, but it didn’t really matter. A two-out rally in the ninth was alright, but still needed more fireworks to become dangerous.
HITTERS
Anthony Gomez C — 1-for for the DH. Not a whole lot to talk about here.
Yeison Hernandez C+ — Leadoff double in the eighth in desperate need of a rally was huge. The 3-4-5 hitters going down so easily wasn’t.
Viosergy Rosa D — 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts.
Matt Juengel B — Juengel was 2-for-4 but struck out in a big spot in the eighth. Also had a throwing error in the 9th, but that didn’t cost Jamestown.
Austin Nola C+ — I thought Nola would break out of it, but his 1-for-4 day kept his average at .115. I might give him a day off tomorrow to relax.
Jesus Solorzano B+ — Homered for Jamestown’s only run. Also made a nice running catch down the line.
Kentrell Dewitt C- — 0-for-3 and was hit by a pitch.
Jose Behar A- — I like Behar a lot. He went 2-for-4 and threw a runner out.
Juancito Martinez —
PITCHERS
Ramon Del Orbe B- — Not a bad day from Del Orbe but dropped down a peg or two when he couldn’t get out of the sixth. There were runners on the corners with nobody out, but after Behar threw a runner out and a soft grounder to Nola with the infield in suddenly had Del Orbe practically out of a jam. But after getting up 0-2, a wild pitch allowed Garrett Wittels to score. Tough cap to his night. Had retired 11 of 12 at one point.
Jheyson Manzueta B- — Was rudely welcomed to the game with back-to-back singles on the first two pitches he threw. But he struck out the next two before getting out of it with a fly ball. Threw a great eighth and had two down in the ninth before serving up a fastball that was crushed by Gary Apelian to give Batavia an insurance run. Probably a B+ if not for the homerun. Would have been three scoreless innings.
Jammers win 7-5, move to 3-2
I’ll recap this quick because there’s a lot I want to hit on today.
Jamestown won 7-5 thanks to another barrage of hits and a solid enough of a performance from the bullpen. The Jammers are over .500 for the first time this season and seem to really have their offense moving.
The good: The bats keep moving. 12 more hits Friday night and everybody in the lineup had one except for Cameron Flynn. Felix Munoz was the star with three hits and is now 5-for-10 on the season. Angel Espada has an interesting dilemma over at first with Munoz and Viosergy Rosa both hitting well.
The bad: Have I mentioned the starting pitching before? We knew Friday would be no different but it’s so hard to rely on your bullpen for 21 outs. Saturday will be interesting to see how long Helpi Reyes goes in his second start.
The game was over when: Batavia had cut the lead to 6-5 and had the tying run on third base with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh. Jheyson Manzueta got a groundout and strikeout before giving way to lefty specialist Frankie Reed to get the final out of the inning. Jamestown tacked on another run and Batavia never put together another rally.
Game 4 Recap
Well, that’s enough of Mahoning Valley for one month. The Jammers first four games (of 12) with the Scrappers ended in a 2-2 tie, but Thursday night was more of the same as the Jammers pounded out hits and received another stellar outing from the bullpen to win comfortably 6-2.
The good: Well a lot, which tends to happen in a 4-run win. Jake Esch was great in relief. He threw four innings, allowed just one hit and a walk while striking out four. And no runs as the Jammers kept adding to their lead.
Also, Jamestown had 13 hits. Five guys had multi-hit nights including Cameron Flynn who had been struggling mightily in the leadoff spot. He went 2-for-4 hitting eighth. Viosergy Rosa, Anthony Gomez, Yeison Hernandez and Jesus Solorzano also had two hits a piece. Everyone in the lineup had a hit except Austin Nola, who did at least draw a walk.
Sean Donatello also threw three solid innings, allowing just a run in the ninth, en route to grabbing an endurance save.
The bad: Nola. Only him and Solorzano have started every game, but Nola is just 1-for-17. It’s way too early to be concerned about the kid, though. Ryan Newell only went two innings and I just don’t understand the pitching patterns for the Jammers. If they only wanted two innings out of Newell, but were willing to go four with Esch, why not start Esch? Even Donatello threw three. Who knows, but the Jammers combined to throw a five hitter.
Game was over when: Esch struck out Hunter Jones to end the sixth. Jamestown had just tacked on another run in the top half of the inning to make it 5-1 and the Scrappers had runners on the corners for one of their better hitters in Jones. The strikeout ended the inning. Brian Dice hit a homerun to start the seventh and it was all over except the crying.
Next up: Back up the 90 come the Jammers. They’ll play Batavia at 7:05 p.m. at Dwyer before returning home for two against the Muckdogs on the weekend.
Jammers fall in extra innings
No full recap tonight from me since I didn’t see or listen to the game, but here are a few quick notes from the box score.
The good: The pitching was solid again tonight, including another tremendous performance from the bullpen. Miguel Fermin tossed two hitless innings, which means the 27-year-old catcher-turned-pitcher has allowed just one hit and one walk in four innings. Frankie Reed also threw two scoreless innings. Meanwhile, the bats turned out 10 hits with two each from Viosergy Rosa, Matt Juengel and Jose Behar and a team-high three from Juancito Martinez. But…
The bad: They were all singles except one double from Behar. And as the Jammers spread out their hits, they went a combined 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. Also, top of the order Cameron Flynn (0-for-6) and Anthony Gomez (0-for-4) went o-f0r-10.
Game was over when: Last play of the game again. Bryan Berglund walked Juan Romero with the bases loaded for the ever-exciting walk-off walk in the bottom of the 11th.
Next up: Jammers finish off their four game set with Mahoning Valley with another road game tomorrow at 7:05 p.m.
Jammers 3, Scrappers 1 — Recap
With a complete contrast of lineups from Game 1 and Game 2, perhaps it’s only fitting it was a complete contrast in games from Monday and Tuesday. After a fairly sloppy performance Monday, Jamestown held Mahoning Valley to three hits en route to a 3-1 victory for their first win of the 2012 season.
The good: Jamestown’s bullpen. After a rough outing Monday, three Jamestown relievers combined to throw five innings of no-hit ball while walking just one. Jheyson Manzueta was the most impressive, retiring all six batters and striking out five. Brian Dice also went 3-for-3 in his 2012 debut out of the 6-hole.
The bad: Not much to complain about tonight. The two errors came from the pitchers and the Jammers pounded out nine hits. 3-for-12 with RISP isn’t terrible enough to complain about, but leaving 12 on is.
Game was over when: Well to be fair, this one wasn’t over until Nick Wittgren got Richard Stock to fly out for the 27th out. But, looking back on it, Mahoning Valley had the bases loaded with nobody out in the third. Del Orbe got the No. 3 hitter to strike out before getting a double play out of the cleanup hitter. The Scrappers didn’t have another chance — or another hit — the rest of the night.
Grades
Cameron Flynn (RF) B+ — 0-for-3 out of the leadoff spot, but walked twice. That’s all you want out of a leadoff hitter, no? Also was his first pro game for the rookie out of Kentucky.
Jesus Solorzano (CF) C+ — 0-for-4 with a walk and I could be wrong about this, but didn’t touch the ball at all defensively except for the final out. Weird night.
Felix Munoz (1B) B+ — Couple of singles from Munoz and it will be interesting to see how Espada uses his first baseman going forward. Rosa and Munoz are both lefties. It looked like Rosa (not just because he played Opening Day) was the guy but if Munoz keeps hitting, he’ll have to be in the lineup somewhere. Tough break when he lined into a double play to end the eighth.
Austin Nola (3B) B — First and foremost, the infield defense was great all around. 10 ground ball outs from Del Orbe and four more from the bullpen. Nola was busy down at third and showed he can play both positions on the left side of the infield. Started the fifth innings rally as well with his first hit as a pro.
Kentrell Dewiit (LF) A- — Another two hits from Dewitt, including his third double of the young season. Really fueled both rallies in the fourth and fifth, even though he only came around to score once. 4-for-7 with a walk this year.
Brian Dice (DH) A — Probably the least known player on this team — at least for me. But Dice, who I assumed wouldn’t see much time this year, went 3-for-4 with a double. He’ll be in the lineup again soon, I can promise that.
Sharif Othman (C) B — Went 1-for-3 with a walk and also had an RBI. I think Behar is the everyday catcher for this team, but Othman had a nice day.
Rony Peralta (SS) B — Like Nola, he was a busy man defensively. Also laid down a nice sacrifice bunt that helped things out in the fourth. Jamestown has plenty of options at short, so we’ll see if he impressed.
Yefri Perez (2B) C — He was actually the only Jammer not reach base tonight, but the infield did such a great job, you have to bump his rating up.
PITCHERS
Ramon Del Orbe (SP) C+ — It may just be a pitch count thing, but Del Orbe only got them through four. Three hits and two walks, but he scattered them effectively. Pitched out of a bases-loaded, nobody out jam that preserved the game. Just need another inning or two in the future to be a quality start.
Sean Donatello (RP) A — Started the run of greatness by relievers by throwing two hitless innings. Walked one, struck out two. Got the win.
Jheyson Manzueta (RP) A+ — 2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 K. Enough said.
Nick Wittgren (RP) A+ — 1-2-3 ninth for the save. Struck out one.
Jammers return the favor to the Scrappers as they travel to play Mahoning Valley for two in Niles, Ohio. First pitch tomorrow is at 7:05 p.m.
Opening Day Wrapup
It wasn’t pretty, but certainly to be somewhat expected, as some sloppy baseball from both teams ended in an 8-5 win for Mahoning Valley. Playing from behind most of the night, Jamestown erased deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 before finally falling short on Opening Day.
The good: Kentrell Dewitt went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and 2 RBI and rookie Anthony Gomez also had two hits in his professional debut.
The bad: Jamestown allowed 10 hits, walked seven and allowed three errors.
Game was over when: Juan Romero broke a 4-4 with a 3-run homerun that really looked like a routine fly that carried out of the park.
Grades
Yeison Hernandez (2B) C+ — Sure he went 0-for-5 but Hernandez hit the ball hard, just happened to not be in the right places. He led off the game with a shot up the middle, but was absolutely robbed by Jose Ramirez who went to his right and threw across his body all in one motion to nab Hernandez. Hit the ball on the ground, he’ll be fine.
Anthony Gomez (DH) B+ — Had two hits in his pro debut including an RBI double that scored Dewitt in the third. Also scored a run.
Austin Nola (SS) C- — 0-for-4 with a walk and also had an error. Tough to be too hard on the kid, didn’t arrive in Jamestown until two days ago. Should be the No. 3 hitter and played fine at short otherwise.
Matt Juengel (3B) B- — 1-for-5 with a nice piece of hitting in the fifth when Angel Espada put the hit-and-run on. Juengel ripped one into center with Gomez running. Mahoning’s CF Aaron Siliga’s throw to third was errant, allowing a run to score and moved Juengel to third.
Viosergy Rosa (1B) B — Rosa worked two great at bats for walks in his first two plate appearances. Did pretty well on two tough grounders, but did boot one to his right then went down for an error, but didn’t come back to haunt Jamestown.
Jesus Solorzano (RF) B — Went 1-for-3 and was also hit by a pitch. Came around to score twice. Wasn’t tested defensively.
Jose Behar (C) B- — A lot of good and not so good from Behar. Did a nice job behind the plate early as Helpi Reyes was rather wild. Threw out a runner on a wild pitch and also picked a runner off trying to steal third. Also allowed a passed ball to let a run score and went 0-for-3 at the plate. Overall, Behar looks like a fine defensive catcher. Jamestown will take any offense they can get from him.
Kentrell Dewitt B — Same goes for Dewitt. He cracked two doubles, knocked in two runs, walked and scored. But he badly misplayed a ball in the top of the fifth that probably could have been kept to a single, but he dove and the ball got by him moving the runner to third. Would have been an A+ if not for that.
Juancito Martinez (CF) C — Went 1-for-4 with a RBI. Didn’t notice defensively.
Helpi Reyes (SP) D — I don’t like to give F’s, especially not on Opening Day, but Reyes simply didn’t have it today. 5 hits, 1 walk in three innings for three earned runs. A two out walk to Siliga on four pitches in the first (with nobody on) derailed him early.
Jake Esch (RP) B — One inning of work, allowed a single, which turned into a double play one batter later.
Beau Wright (RP) D+ — Wright took the loss but was the victim of bad luck and was probably left in a bit too long. Also wasn’t helped out by his defense who committed three errors in his two innings. Allowed a three-run homerun to Juan Romero, but that was a routine fly ball that carried out. Wright can throw, but has to cut down the walks.
Miguel Fermin (RP) B+ — Fermin looked outstanding retiring the first five he saw with ease, but then grooved a fastball to Romero, which was crushed for a homerun. Still, he’s been pitching for three months. He might have a future as a short reliever.
Bryan Berglund (RP) B — Berglund came on in the ninth and threw a scoreless inning, while walking one.
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