Minor Postseason Observations: 9/4/2008

Odd factoid: Mitch Talbot posted a 13-9 W/L record for the second season in a row at Durham. I’d have to do some research to find out the last time that happened in the minors, where a pitcher posted the same record over two full seasons at the same level. Probably not since the end of the free minors. Talbot did make some improvements this year (HR rate down, BB rate down, K rate up) but probably not enough to land himself a major league job, at least in this organization.

David Price had his best AAA outing last night, throwing five innings of shutout ball, but still threw way too many pitches (92, of which just 57 were strikes). Neither offense did much, but the Bulls got three solo HRs, which were enough. Matt Maloney deserved a better fate. Talbot faces Homer Bailey tonight; Homer’s had a tough season all aroound, and his stock has dropped a ton, with good reason.

Yankees 2, Red Sox 0: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre won 7-1 at Pawtucket, Trenton beat Portland 2-1. Jason Lane got tossed in the first inning for arguing a (pretty bad) strike 3 call from RJ Thompson with a runner on third and one out, and it went downhill for the PawSox from there; they’ll try to rebound with Devern Hansack against Ian Kennedy. Kris Johnson pitched pretty well for the Sea Dogs, but Eric Hacker was better. Clay Buchholz faces Jeff Marquez tonight in Game 2. The Red Sox moved some pitchers around: Adam Mills went up to Pawtucket and will start Game 3 for the PawSox, while Miguel Ascencio went down to Portland and Bryce Cox came up to the Sea Dogs from Lancaster.

In the Battle of the Matts, Matt LaPorta won Round 1, going deep twice as Akron held on to defeat Bowie 6-5 in 12 innings. LaPorta added two singles to the Aeros’ cause, the second of which drove in the winning run, his 4th RBI on the night. The BaySox came back twice in the late innings from one-run deficits but couldn’t do it a third time in the 12th. Matt Wieters managed a single and two walks as Akron pitched him carefully. Brad Bergesen, the EL’s pitcher of the year, will face the Aeros’ JD Martin in Game 2.

Lake Elsinore carried a 10-5 lead into the ninth inning of their first-round game against Inland Empire, only to have a power outage shut everything down. The game will resume tonight with two outs in the top of the 9th and a runner on 2nd for the Storm, and will be followed by Game 2.

Potomac went 15 innings before defeating Wilmington 2-1 in first-round action in the Carolina League. The Nats’ Michael Burgess was booted by HP umpire Andy Dudones in the 10th for arguing balls and strikes; replacement Boomer Whiting wound up scoring the winning run in the 15th on a two-out wild pitch.

Augusta managed just one hit in its SAL playoff opener against Asheville’s Connor Graham, an infield single by Angel Villalona which did not figure in the scoring, but defeated the Tourists 1-0 anyway as Madison Bumgarner pitched eight shutout innings, allowing three hits, walking no one, and fanning 10. The Greenjackets’ run came in the sixth, when Graham issued his only two walks of the game and added a throwing error on a bunt attempt for good measure; Nick Noonan’s SF plated the lone run.

Nothing particularly notable in the other postseason games. Kane County’s game with Burlington tonight in the Midwest League has already been called off due to weather, and with Hanna coming through this weekend and Ike and Josephine close behind several series could be disrupted.