Cardinals' 2005 1st round Mark McCormick got off to a good start for Quad Cities: 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 7 K (but with 4 BB and a HBP).

Also a good day for Syracuse, where John-Ford Griffin went 3 for 4 with a double and a homer, and Brandon League pitched 3 perfect relief innings.

Add Buffalo/Richmond, Durham/Norfolk, and Augusta/Charleston to the rainout list.
Chattanooga and Jacksonville are in a rain delay.
Wilmington and Myrtle Beach ended in the 8th with the Pelicans winning 1-0.

Lots of wet weather on the East Coast.

-- MWE

Charlotte and Toledo finished 9 innings scoreless. The Kinghts picked up a run in the top of the 10th, and Chad Bentz is trying to nail it down. Brian Peterson gambled trying to stretch a single to start the bottom of the 10th and was nailed on a strong throw from Darren Blakely.

Jeff Farnsworth is now in for the Knights to pitch to Ryan Raburn with two down and no one on.

-- MWE

Down goes Raburn, and the Knights win 1-0.

-- MWE

My wife and I went to the Tampa-Lakeland game tonight at Joker Marchant Stadium. I'm not going to go into a boxscore-like report, as anyone that wants it can get that info online.

Starting pitchers: Jeffery Marquez (Tampa) and Kevin Ardoin (Lakeland)

Neither pitcher was particularly impressive-looking. Both had good command until their last inning of work, when Ardoin walked his only batter of the night, and Marquez walked three in a row, including throwing 8 balls in a row.

The two pitchers I was most impressed with were both for Lakeland; Freddy Dolsi and Eddie Bonine. Dolsi had a plus fastball and the hitters were behind it. He walked two and struck out one in two innings, but the eight hitters he faced went K, P6, BB, 43 and 13, BB, P4 and F7.

Bonine, on the other hand, threw slow, slower and slowest. We were in the front row right behind the plate, and Bonine threw nothing but junk when he was warming up. He came in with a man on first, one out, and threw nothing but breaking pitches and a change (I hope to hell it was a change), and induced a 643 DP from SS Eduardo Nunez, who'd homered in his previous AB and would triple in his next one (and no, he wasn't the player of the game). It was the only batter Bonine faced. Bonine threw like a 37 yr old LOOGY, but will be 25 in June (and is the oldest member of the pitching staff), and a righty.

The two players that stood out for all the wrong reasons were Lakeland catcher Christopher Robinson and losing pitcher Ed Clelland. Robinson, was terrible behind the plate. Even my wife noted that a lot of balls were being deflected rather than caught. On one inside pitch, the batter bailed out, and Robinson actually moved as if he were expecting an outside pitch, and the umpire took a fastball directly on the thigh. That bruise is gonna have stitch marks. He went 1-4 with a double, but the other three balls were infield outs (including an unusual 4-1 putout at first).

Clelland gave up four hits and four runs in a inning of work. He is the only lefty on the roster.

Player of the game was Cory Ehlers, the Yankee 1B. His AB's:

2nd inning: Towering home run to right field. It's 340 down the line, 380 to the alleys and 420 to dead center. In right, there is a 30-foot scoreboard and he hit it over the scoreboard. Estimated distance (by me): 440 ft.

4th inning: Triple off the side of bullpen roof in right center. Had the ball been 2 feet higher, or hit anywhere else, it would have been his second homer of the game.

6th inning: Sharp single to right.

7th inning: With runners on 2nd and 3rd and up 6-4, two outs, and needing a double for the cycle, hit a bermuda triangle blooper between the 2B, CF and RF. He got himself caught in a rundown between 1st and 2nd long enough to allow the runner on 2nd to score. Made the score 8-4 at that point, and a good thing, as Lakeland scored 3 more later for a final of 8-7.

4-4, with 2 singles, a triple and a homer. Not a bad night.

Gio Gonzalez pretty solid for Reading.

5 IP, 7 K, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB.

Couple of hits for Michael Bourn.

But lose 2-1 in 11 innings.

Lakewood lost 1-0 in 7 innings to Lexington. Twice.

Lots of good pitching performances and poor offensive performances for both teams in the doubleheader.

It's hard to get excited about Ehlers. He's 24 (in a week), has yet to play an inning above A-ball, and hasn't yet developed much in the way of a power stroke. He'll have to move pretty quickly to have a career.

-- MWE