International League News Notes

International League News & Notes May 8, 2008 BUFFALO BISONS SARDINHA ADDED: The Cleveland Indians signed OF Bronson Sardinha on Tuesday and assigned him to Buffalo. The 25-year old was a non-roster invite to Seattle’s spring camp and hit .323 (10-31) with one double, one triple and 5 RBI with Triple-A Tacoma before being released. Sardinha was a 1st round pick (34th overall) of the New York Yankees in the 2001 draft and spent the first seven years of his professional career in the Yanks system. In 2007, he appeared in 10 games with the Yankees and hit .333 (3-9, 2 RBI, 6 R). TOUGH DECISION WITH NO WRONG ANSWER: There was a lot of interest this off-season around who would win the Indians’ #5 rotation spot. Turns out the Indians could do no wrong. LHP Cliff Lee won the spot and all he’s done is go 6-0 with a Major League-best 0.81 ERA in six starts. LHP Aaron Laffey pitched great with Buffalo (3-1, 2.77) and is now with Cleveland. He has started two games with the Tribe and had no-hitters in the 5th inning of both (0-2, 2.84). Buffalo’s LHP Jeremy Sowers is 2-2 with a 2.21 ERA (7th in IL) and also pitched great in a spot start with the Indians last month (ND, 5.1 IP, 3 ER). AUBREY COMES TO TRIPLE-A: First baseman Michael Aubrey made his Triple-A debut on Thursday night and has hit .313 (5-16) with three RBI in his first four games with the Bisons. It’s been a tough road for the Indians 1st round pick (11th overall) of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft. Aubrey entered the 2008 season a career .301 hitter in the Minor Leagues but has played just 243 games in five pro seasons because of injuries. Aubrey hit in 22 of 24 games with Double-A Akron this year before his promotion (.282, 2 HR, 16 RBI). CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS BRINGING GETZY BACK: INF Chris Getz hit a pair of doubles yesterday as he continues to hit well against IL pitching. This is Getz’s first year at the Triple-A level. Getz has raised his batting average to .289. Getz now has the 2nd highest batting average on the Knights. Getz entered the season as the best hitter for average in the White Sox farm system according to Baseball America. ANOTHER RBI FOR ELDRED: INF Brad Eldred picked up another RBI last night. Eldred knocked in OF Jason Bourgeois in the 8th inning with a double to right-center field. Eldred now has 30 RBI on the season. Eldred leads the IL in RBI; he has three more than the next closest hitter. ROSTER MOVES: The Knights received RHP Adam Russell from the White Sox. Russell was recalled to Chicago on May 2. Russell was on the White Sox roster for 4 games but did not appear in a game for Chicago. Russell was 1-0 in 9 games with a 3.27 ERA for Charlotte with 11 strikeouts and 5 walks. RHP Joe Winkelsas has been transferred from Charlotte to Birmingham. The White Sox signed LHP Ray King to a minor league contract and assigned him to Charlotte. King began the season with the Washington Nationals and was designated for assignment on April 24. The Knights also placed 3B Josh Fields on the disabled list effective May 5. Fields has hit .240 in 25 games with the Knights with 4 home runs and 14 RBI. The Knights received infielder Travis “Gookie” Dawkins from the Phillies organization today in exchange for infielder Mike Rouse. Dawkins was with Double-A Reading and is a native of Newberry, South Carolina. BROADWAY GETS 300TH MILB STRIKEOUT: RHP Lance Broadway picked up 300th career Minor League strikeout on Tuesday night when he struck out Brett Gardner looking in the 3rd inning. Broadway struck out 4 batters on the night and now has 23 strikeouts this season and 302 career strikeouts. COLUMBUS CLIPPERS POWER SURGE: Ray Olmedo's solo homer Tuesday night marked the second game in a row and the seventh time in the last eight games that the Clippers have hit a home run. Prior to their 5-game homer streak from April 28-May 3, Columbus had not gone deep in back-to-back games all year. On the season, the Clippers have hit just 15 HR, good for 12th in the IL, and have gone 8-5 in games when hitting a long ball (won six of last seven). As a team the Clippers have had homer droughts of 150 AB (April 3-7), 161 AB (April 7-12) and 192 AB (April 16-22) this year. The 15 HR by the Clippers have been hit by 12 different players, as Ryan Langerhans (3) and Larry Broadway (2) are the only Clippers with multiple HR. SEASON-HIGH STREAKS: For the fourth time this season a Clipper has hit safely in seven consecutive games after Ryan Langerhans singled in the 5th inning of Tuesday night's game to extend his streak. He is tied with Ray Olmedo (April 22-May 1), Tommy Murphy (April 23-29) and Pete Orr (April 13-19) for the longest hitting streak this season. Langerhans is also currently enjoying the longest on-base streak by a Clipper this year (10). DUKES PROVIDING A BOOST: The Clippers received Elijah Dukes on Friday, continuing his rehab from a pulled right hamstring suffered on March 30 (Washington's first game). He played an instrumental part in each of Columbus' first two wins since his arrival; knocking in the game-tying and go-ahead runs with a 2-run single in the 4th on Friday and providing the decisive run with an RBI triple in 7th on Saturday. The five wins since Dukes joined the squad are the only wins this season when the Clippers have had a rehabbing Major Leaguer in the lineup (5-6). Three other Washington Nationals (Johnny Estrada, Shawn Hill and Wily Mo Pena) have come through Columbus on rehab assignments this season. DURHAM BULLS SHUTOUT STORY: The Bulls shut out Pawtucket 1-0 on Monday, and 3-0 on Tuesday. Durham now has had back-to-back shutouts twice in the last week-and-a-half. Durham is 4-5 during that stretch, with all of the victories by shutout. Durham has a League-leading six shutouts, accounting for nearly half of their 14 victories. While the Bulls have six shutouts, they’ve also allowed double digits in runs in five of 33 games. Durham has scored double digits three times (only once since April 9). WALKING WOUNDED: Starting pitcher Ben Hendrickson left Tuesday’s game with shoulder tightness. J.K. Ryu, yesterday’s originally scheduled starter, went on the DL because of triceps tendonitis. Reliever Calvin Medlock was unavailable yesterday due to illness. That’s why infielder Josh Labandeira threw a scoreless 8th inning yesterday. It was the second time a position player has pitched for the Bulls this year. Jeff Bannon was the other player to do so. REINFORCEMENT READY: Veteran Colter Bean joined Durham yesterday. Bean, a veteran at this level, has pitched in 243 games in the last 5 years in the International League, plus 6 more outings in the majors with the Yankees. Bean was in spring training with Atlanta on a Minor League contract, and most recently pitched in Mexico. The addition of Bean was one of six moves for the Bulls yesterday, giving the team a total of 44 transactions. TOUGH SCHEDULE: An eight-game road trip that wraps up today began a stretch where the team is playing 18 of 28 games on the road. Meanwhile the Bulls are playing 19 straight games against clubs with winning records (Richmond, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pawtucket, Syracuse and Toledo). Durham is 4-6 during that stretch. In fact, of 32 games played this year, the Bulls have had only six games against teams currently with a losing record. Durham is 4-2 in those games. INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS PUTTING UP SOME NUMBERS: Indianapolis OF Kevin Thompson enters Thursday afternoon’s tilt with a 13-game hitting streak (.385 BA, 20-52, 14 R, 9 RBI) and 24-game on-base streak (.368 BA, 32-87, 23 R, 12 RBI). The hitting streak is the longest of Thompson’s nine-year professional career. The 28-year-old owns a team-best .344 batting average with four HR and 12 RBI in 28 games this season. I’LL BE ON BASE, TOO: OF Andrew McCutchen, who is hitting .288 and leads the Indians in seven major offensive categories, saw his career-best 27-game on-base streak (.309 BA, 34-110, 20 R, 14 RBI) come to an end on Wednesday night. The streak was the International League’s longest this season. AMONG THE BEST: Indianapolis OFs Andrew McCutchen and Kevin Thompson rank among the International League leaders in several offensive categories. McCutchen places in the top 10 for runs (T-3rd, 23), doubles (T-4th, 9), extra-base hits (T-4th, 15), total bases (5th, 63), walks (T-5th, 18), stolen bases (T-6th, 9), hits (T-6th, 36), home runs (T-6th, 6) and on-base percentage (9th, .389). Thompson ranks in the top 10 for batting average (3rd, .344), slugging percentage (5th, .570) and on-base percentage (7th, .408). “ME-SHELL” AND THREE-HIT GAMES: Indians C Michel Hernandez has recorded three hits in five of his first 20 games this season. The 29-yearold is 10-19 with four runs and five RBI on the current road trip. He is hitting .338 with one homer and six RBI on the campaign. STEALING THE SHOW: The Tribe ranks 2nd in the International League with 37 stolen bases. LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS IN THE MA-ZONE!: Steve Carlton, anyone? ‘Lefty’ Brian Mazone has won 3 consecutive starts and now owns 80% of Lehigh Valley’s wins. In his last 5 GS, Mazone is 4-1 with a 1.65 ERA (32.2 IP, 27 H, 9 R, 6 ER, 8 BB, 13 K). In 1972, Steve Carlton won the NL Cy Young Award winning 27 G for a team whose final record was 59-97 (46% -- a modern-day ML record). In his IL career, Mazone is 20-8 with a 2.26 ERA in 33 GS (210.2 IP, 53 ER). As a pro, he has gone 76-46 -- a .623 winning%! WHO’S HOT: 1B Andy Tracy has a 10-G hit streak (12-39, .308-2-7) -- matching Jason Jaramillo’s franchise-high 10-gamer. Tracy has also reached base safely in his last 16 G and homered in 5 of his last 14 G... OF Rich Thompson has hit in 4 straight G (8-20, .400-1-3, 2 2B, 3B, 5 R)... DH Mike Cervenak has reached base safely in 20 of the last 22 G and hit safely in 12 of his last 15 G (21-63, .333-2-8) with 7 multi-hit G (leads the club with 9)... Newcomer OF Jon Knott (8-20, HR) has hit in 4 straight G and reached base safely in all 5 games since joining the IronPigs. HAPPY DAYS: In his last 3 games started, LHP J.A. Happ is only 0-1 but with a 0.45 ERA (20 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 18 K) and a .152 OBA (10-66). He had his scoreless streak snapped at 14.0 IP Sunday. LOUISVILLE BATS KELCH GETS THE CALL: The Reds have announced that Bats radio announcer Jim Kelch will join Hall of Famer Marty Brennaman or Jeff Brantley on 14 Reds on Radio broadcasts this season. Kelch is in his 20th season as the play-by-play voice of the Louisville club. He previously worked Major League games as a fill-in for the Reds and St. Louis Cardinals broadcast teams. The Peoria, Illinois native began his broadcast career with the Class-A Peoria Chiefs in 1984 and he joined Louisville in 1989 after a 2-year stint as broadcaster for the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. Kelch also is the radio voice of the University of Louisville's women's basketball team. For the Reds, he is scheduled to work May 12-15, May 30, June 1, July 18-19, Sept. 2-4 and Sept. 18-20. APRIL RECORD: The Bats matched the franchise record for wins in the month of April with 16. The then-RiverBats were 16-6 (.727) in April, 2000. REDS MINOR LEAGUES: As an organization, the Reds rank 5th in the standings with an overall Minor League record of 73-57 (.562). Louisville’s 19-15 (.559) record is 2nd in Cincinnati’s organization, behind Class-A Dayton (18-12, .600). PHILLIPS STREAKING: INF Andy Phillips is currently on a 10-game hitting streak (April 27-present) which ties OF Chris Dickerson’s 10-gamer that ended May 3. Phillips is batting .372 (16-43) with seven runs, two doubles, eight RBI and two home runs during the streak and has raised his average from .277 to .314. He is 2nd on the Bats with 10 multi-hits games, one behind leader Jay Bruce’s 11. SOUTHERN CHARM: Louisville’s game on Thursday, May 1 started a 12-game stretch (3-4) where the team will face all IL South opponents. Last season, the Bats were 21-27 versus the IL South and 4-8 against the R-Braves (1-5 at The Diamond). NORFOLK TIDES TERRERO ON A TEAR: With two more hits in Wednesday night’s game, outfielder Luis Terrero continued his strong start to the season. Terrero has hit .339 this year, an average that is 2nd among all Orioles minor leaguers and 4th in the International League. The 27-year-old is tied for the organizational lead and tied for 5th in the IL with 25 RBI, and his .415 on-base percentage ranks 4th in the League. He has hit .417 (15-36) with runners in scoring position this year, and an even better .545 (6-11) with runners in scoring position and two outs. Terrero has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, hitting .385 (20-52) with two home runs and 14 RBI over that stretch. SALAZAR STREAKING: Infielder Oscar Salazar has hit safely in each of his last six games, hitting .524 (11-21) with a homer and six RBI over that stretch. Salazar has driven in 20 runs over his last 18 games, and he is tied for 1st in the O’s system and tied for 5th in the International League with 23 RBI. Salazar’s six-game hit streak is just one game shy of Norfolk’s season-high, set by Salazar during the first seven games of the season. THIS IS BIRDLAND: Over the first month of the season, the Tides have already had eight players appear on a roster with both Norfolk and Baltimore. That list includes five pitchers (Greg Aquino, Lance Cormier, Jim Johnson, Bob McCrory, and Garrett Olson) and three infielders (Brandon Fahey, Scott Moore and Eider Torres). Last season, Norfolk had 19 players that appeared for the both the Tides and Orioles. PAWTUCKET RED SOX THE MAYOR VISITS PAWTUCKET: The PawSox today added 1B Sean Casey on a 20-day injury rehab assignment from Boston. Casey, nicknamed “The Mayor” due to his huge popularity among fellow players, was placed on the Red Sox DL on April 26 with a right hip sprain. He is hitting .346 in 17 games for the Red Sox with 0 HR and 8 RBI. Casey is scheduled to DH for the PawSox this afternoon vs. Durham and then play 1B tomorrow night vs. Norfolk again at McCoy Stadium. Sean is among the top 15 active Major League players in career batting average (with more than 4,500 at-bats) as he has a career average of .302 (1,485-4,919) with 130 HR and 726 RBI in 1,353 big league games. His career fielding percentage heading into this season of .9955 ranked 6th best all-time among Major League first basemen. Casey, 33, has played in the big leagues with Cleveland (1997), Cincinnati (1998-2005), Pittsburgh (2006), Detroit (2006-07), and Boston (2008). He has played in the International League with Buffalo (1997), Indianapolis (1998), and Louisville (2002). HOORA(Y) FOR CORA: Boston Red Sox infielder Alex Cora began his rehab stint with the PawSox on Wednesday night as he played 2B and helped the PawSox to a 12-7 win over Durham by going 2-4 with a run scored. Cora has been on Boston’s disabled list since April 16 with a sprained right elbow. He is 3-3 with a walk in 3 games with the Red Sox this season. He is slated to play 2B for the PawSox again today and then play SS tomorrow night at McCoy. Cora, 32, has spent all of the past two full seasons with Boston hitting .246 in 83 games for the Red Sox last season and .238 in 96 games for Boston in 2006. He came to the Red Sox in a trade from Cleveland on July 7, 2005 in exchange for INF Ramon Vazquez. He split that ’05 season between Cleveland and Boston after spending the better part of 7 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2004). He last played in the Minor Leagues with Triple-A Albuquerque in 2000 when he batted .373 in 30 games to earn a permanent promotion to LA. Overall in 962 big league games he has a .245 career average with 34 HR & 233 RBI while making just 86 errors. A BOTTLE OF COLON: RHP Bartolo Colon had an encouraging outing this past Monday afternoon during his extended spring training start against the Orioles in Sarasota, FL. Colon, who has been on Pawtucket’s DL since April 4 with a right oblique strain, threw two scoreless innings allowing one hit with one strikeout in 19 pitches. He reported no physical problems and could be headed back to Pawtucket for a start this Saturday night vs. Norfolk at McCoy Stadium. Colon, the former Cy Young Award winner (2005), was Pawtucket’s Opening Night starter on April 3 here at McCoy when he earned the victory over Indianapolis, 3-0 with 5 scoreless innings – 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO. Shortly after that debut, however, Bartolo experienced soreness in his oblique and was placed on the disabled list on April 7 (retroactive to April 4). RICHMOND BRAVES MAKING IT LOOK EASY: INF Diory Hernandez has hits in all 12 games he has appeared in since joining Richmond from Double-A Mississippi. Hernandez is 21-45 (.467) with the R-Braves. He has six multiple-hit games (including three three-hit games) while splitting time between second base and shortstop. Only Josh Anderson (four) has more three-hit games for Richmond. Hernandez was a Southern League All-Star in 2007. IT ONLY TAKES ONE: The Braves played their 13th one-run game of the season last night, the most in the International League. Their nine one-run wins is also tops in the IL. The Braves last four wins have been by one run. THE COMEBACK KIDS: Braves opponents have scored the first run in six straight games. The Braves have won five of those. Richmond’s nine wins when opponents score first is the most in the IL. The Braves have overcome two three-run deficits (their largest comeback wins of the season) in the last six games. ROCHESTER RED WINGS BURN BABY BURN: Outfielder Denard Span is currently tied for 1st in the International League with 11 stolen bases (Josh Anderson (RMD), Fernando Perez (DUR) and Dewayne Wise (CHR)), including 8 stolen bases in a row without being thrown out. If Span can finish the season leading the IL in stolen bases he would become the first Rochester stolen bases champion since 1981 when Dallas Williams led the IL with 51. Since 1940 Rochester has had only three players lead the IL in stolen bases. MAC ATTACK: Outfielder Darnell McDonald has been on fire the last 11 games batting .409 (18-44) with six doubles, two triples, three home runs and 20 RBI. McDonald has seven multi-hit games and 12 runs scored in those 11 games. Darnell started the season on the DL with a strained back but since coming off on April 15 he’s got 24 RBI in his first 22 games this season. BAD RELIEF: The Red Wings bullpen was rolling along until the last three days. The pen has a 0-2 record with a 9.64 ERA the last three games. Prior to these three games the bullpen was 7-2 with eight saves and a 1.82 ERA in their previous 23 games. Rochester’s pen allowed just 17 earned runs in those 23 games (84.0 innings) but has allowed 10 earned runs in their last 9.1 innings of work. SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE YANKEES WE’RE NUMBER FIVE!: At 24-10, the Yankees have the best winning percentage in the IL and the second-best in Triple-A Baseball (Salt Lake Stingers 25-7, .781) in 2008. The club’s .706 winning percentage is 5th in all of Minor League Baseball amongst the 120 teams currently playing. As impressive as that may be, SWB can’t lay claim to the best record and winning percentage within the Yankees organization. That belongs to the Charleston RiverDogs, the Yankees Class-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League. The Dogs are 24-9, one half-game ahead of the SWB Yankees with a winning percentage of .727. MR. CONSISTENCY: Wednesday night’s winning pitcher, Steven White, has if nothing else been consistent. In his last 16 starts for the Yankees, dating back to the 2007 season, he has gone 5.0 innings or more in 15 of them. White did manage to sneak a relief appearance into his 2007 season, which resulted in a 3.0 inning save vs. Louisville. In his last 16 starts, White has put up a 6-3 record with an ERA of 2.63. His lone start of under 5.0 innings during that stretch was an April 9 start (also against Louisville) where he lasted 4.2 innings. SYRACUSE CHIEFS HE’S BACK…..: Two weeks ago Adam Lind left Syracuse with a career .341 batting average in 98 games over parts of three years and became Toronto’s starting left fielder. Well after a 1-19 stint, Toronto decided to send their prize hitting prospect back to the Chiefs on Thursday. VELANDIA MOVES UP: After being released by the Pittsburgh Pirates at the end of spring training shortstop Jorge Velandia signed with the Chiefs as a free agent on Opening Day and after batting .287 in 28 games was promoted to Toronto on Wednesday. Jorge was 2nd on the team in RBI (12) and onbase percentage (.385). DIAZ SAVES GAME HURTS ANKLE: Chiefs catcher Robinzon Diaz was injured on May 2 vs. Pawtucket as he blocked home plate on the last play of the game. Diaz tagged out Pawtucket second baseman Joe Thurston who collided with Diaz for the final out of the game. The next day Diaz was placed on the disabled list and will be out at least three weeks. TOLEDO MUD HENS MOVERS AND SHAKERS: The Mud Hens promoted OF Freddy Guzman to Toledo from Double-A Erie Wednesday. He was hitting .281 with 2 HR, 19 RBI and 15 SB this season with Erie. Guzman is tied for 2nd with the most triples (6) in all of Minor League Baseball. Guzman was acquired from the Texas organization (INF Chris Shelton trade) over the offseason. He played with Oklahoma last season where he hit .269 with 4 HR, 34 RBI and 56 SB. The 26-year-old also played 8 games with the Texas Rangers last season, hitting .167 (1-6) with a home run. Guzman replaced OF Matt Joyce’s spot on the roster. Joyce was promoted to Detroit on May 5. LHP Jon Connolly was sent down to Erie on May 5 to make room for RHP Virgil Vasquez’s return from the disabled list. HOT HOMERIN’ HENS: The Mud Hens have hit 50 home runs on the season. They currently lead the International league and are 3rd in all of Minor League Baseball, behind Albuquerque (53) and Omaha (51). The Hens have hit home runs in 29 of their 33 games played. 3B Mike Hessman leads the IL with 11 home runs and 1B Jeff Larish is 2nd with nine. FRIENDLY FIFTH THIRD: The Mud Hens are averaging 6,316 fans per game at Fifth Third Field which is ranked 5th in the International League. The Hens have drawn 132,633 fans so far this season which ranks them 1st in the IL. PERFECT PITCHING: RHP Eddie Bonine leads the IL in wins. He is 6-0 with a 3.43 ERA. In his last start which was against Rochester, he went 7.0 innings giving up 4 ER on 6 H while striking out 4. RHP Blaine Neal leads the League in saves (11). Neal is a perfect 11-11 in save opportunities, with a 0.75 ERA over 12.0 innings.