They say, momentum in baseball is only as good as your next day’s starting pitcher. All the momentum the IronPigs had when they left for Rochester wasn’t enough to overcome the Vanimal. BJ Rosenberg pitched well (4.0IP/2H/1ER/4BB/5K) on his return from the Bigs, but it wasn’t enough. The pitching never got back on track, and you know the rest.
As the IronPigs opened a weekend series with the Braves last evening, it fell to veteran Zach Miner to restore order. And while he opened the season in the IronPigs’ bullpen, it should be noted that Zach has 35 Major League starts under his belt. Miner threw a lot of pitches over five innings last night, but emerged unscathed allowing but 4 hits with no runs, 2BB, 2K. He got the Win in the IronPigs 2-0 victory.
Miner Brings It
Photo (c) Cheryl Pursell
JC Ramirez pitched two clean innings to lower his ERA to 7.66. I’ve been saying for a while that Ramirez is more of a thrower than a pitcher. However, when he’s ‘on’ and pounding the strike zone, he can be difficult to hit. Credit Steven Lerud for calling a couple good innings for him. Ramirez turned it over to newcomer Mauricio Robles who also pitched a clean inning. I believe he may owe Jermaine Mitchell a cold beverage for the catch he made in center, but we’ll get back to that in a minute. Jake Diekman continues in his leverage role as the closer. He struck out the side in the ninth around two 2-out singles. Diek was pounding the strike zone with his fastball, which is normally a pretty good thing, but a couple right-handers got some looks at that pitch a few times and were able to square up some singles. No matter, Jake mixed in a couple breaking pitches and the next batter had no chance.
DIEK!
Photo (c) Cheryl Pursell
Most times, you’re not going to win a close-game shutout without some nice defensive plays and this game was no exception. Steven Lerud cut down three would-be base-stealers, and called a great game behind the plate. Troy Hanzawa continues to live up to his scouting report (“immediately upgrades our defense”); he made two excellent plays at shortstop, converting one to an out. And, he made a superb pick on a bounce-throw from Lerud for one of the CS. Darrin Ruf made a diving catch in Left in the top of the sixth. Jermaine Mitchell outdid them all, though: He made two diving catches in center. The first was in the top of the third with two on and two out (following a walk to the pitcher, and a single–walking the pitcher is something I could do without, especially with the bases empty. But I digress.) and the second brought the house to its feet: He went full extension, after a long run back and to his left, to make a two-out grab.
Here’s a link to the video:
I’ve been really happy with Steven Lerud, offensively and defensively.
Photo (c) Cheryl Pursell
You’d better give him more than a high-five, Mauricio. Perhaps a cold beverage.
Photo (c) Cheryl Pursell
At the plate, the IronPigs threatened several times, but only managed two runs. It was enough, of course, and Jermaine Mitchell–call him J-Mitch or call him the J-Train–was once again in the middle of it. He scored, following a double, on a Leandro Castro bunt-single and throwing error. Castro then came around to score on a Ruf sac fly. The ‘Pigs were without two top hitters: Josh Fields and his .328 average (and .892 OPS) were on the bench, and Cesar Hernandez and his .305 average (.810 OPS) are in Philly.
The J-Train Double
Photo (c) Cheryl Pursell
The Castro Hustle
Photo (c) Cheryl Pursell
The Ruf Drive
Photo (c) Cheryl Pursell
Joe Savery was called back to Philadelphia before the game, as the Phillies parted ways with Chad Durbin. The Phillies now have three of the good, young, relievers who started the season with the IronPigs: DeFratus, Stutes, and Savery. Quotes from Joe this morning suggest that his EZ-Pass may get a rest; as long as he performs he should stay in Philadelphia for some time now. The move leaves the IronPigs short one spot on the roster, and one arm in the bullpen. Here in Kramskorner, we continue to refresh our Twitter page every five seconds (kidding. well, kinda.) waiting for the Big Z to arrive (that’s Zambrano, not Zagurski. Our old friend gave up 4 runs in 1 2/3 innings to the Reds yesterday, pitching for the Pirates).
Zambrano pitching for Clearwater.
Photo courtesy Clearwater Threshers
And now it comes full circle: Momentum once again rests on the right arm of BJ Rosenberg as he takes the mound tonight.
See you at the park,
@Kram209
PS: two more quick things: it was revealed after the game last night that young Adam Morgan has a slight tear in his left rotator cuff. He may have an injection of Platelet Rich Plasma or Cortisone and has been shut down for at least the next three weeks. I was talking to MPS before the game about this very thing–that things on the Morgan front had been awfully quiet and that to me it was an ominous sign; I half expected to hear that he was having surgery. To me, perhaps, this was a slight relief. But, hoping Morgan heals well and I know the Phillies will take every precaution with the young arm.
Lastly, on the radio recap we got to hear the Provence call of the third Lerud CS throw. It was a classic, and it went something like this, “Got him! They say, fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Fool me three times, well, maybe you should stop trying to steal on Steven Lerud!”
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