Welcome to "Chatter from the Pressbox", the website dedicated to the Pressbox of the Frisco RoughRiders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

Today's Matchups Around the Ranger's System

Today's (5/20) Match-Ups Around the Ranger's System

Round Rock: Martin Perez (3-3 5.27) vs. Fresno Grizzlies: Andrew Kown (3-1 2.61) @ 1:00 PM CT

Myrtle Beach: Kyle Hendricks (1-4 2.91) @ Wilmington Blue Rocks: Sugar Ray Marimon (3-0 2.65) @ 12:30 PM CT

Hickory : Santo Perez (2-2 6.19) @ Asheville Tourists: Daniel Winkler (4-2 6.06) @ 1:05 PM CT



Monday, August 22, 2011

Game 126: Frisco RoughRiders (Neil Ramirez) @ Tulsa Drillers (Christian Friedrich)

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: ONEOK Field (Tulsa, OK)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (28-27 8 games back in the Texas League South; 68-57 overall)... Tulsa Drillers (25-30 5 games back in the Texas League North; 58-67 overall)
Magic Number: 4
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Road Trip: 1-4
Series Record: 17-14-4
2011 Record against Tulsa: 9-2
All-Time Record against Tulsa: 67-71
Record on August 22nd since 2004: 3-3
Starting Pitchers: Neil Ramirez (0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Christian Friedrich (6-8 4.64 ERA)

Frisco Gets Dominant Pitching, Takes Game 2: After losing their 2nd game against Tulsa this season on Saturday, Frisco evened up the current series with a 6-2 victory over the Drillers on Sunday. With a rubber match coming on Monday, Frisco is 9-2 against the Drillers this season and improved their record against the Texas League North to 29-18 (.617 winning%). In fact they are now 58-39 (.598 winning%) against anyone not named San Antonio, who they play for the last time in the regular season this coming week at home.

Ross Continues to Roll: Frisco may have lost one Robbie at the trade deadline, however, they picked up another Robbie to replace him as well. In his fourth start for Frisco, Ross was as dominant as ever on the mound against the Tulsa Drillers. Ross gave up just 3 hits and 1 run over 7 strong innings with 6 strikeouts and 0 walks as well. In his 4 starts, Ross has pitched 25 1/3 innings and has given up 20 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 23 batters. Left handed batters are hitting just .043 against Ross (1 hit). He also got 16 swinging strikes on Sunday, which was the 3rd most in a single start by a Frisco RoughRider's pitcher this season.


Top 10 Swinging Strike Totals in 2011

1. 22- Robbie Erlin (6/26 vs. Corpus Christi)
2. 17- Miguel De Los Snatos (4/27 vs. San Antonio)
3. 16- Robbie Ross (8/21 vs. Tulsa)
4. 15- Martin Perez (5/16 vs. Midland)
5. 15- Jake Brigham (6/18 vs. Corpus Christi)
6. 15- Jake Brigham (4/9 vs. Springfield)
7. 13- Robbie Erlin (6/10 vs. San Antonio)
8. 13- Joe Wieland (6/10 vs. San Antonio)*
9. 13- Martin Perez (4/14 vs. Springfield)
10. 13- Martin Perez (4/8 vs. Springfield)

*= No-Hitter

Inning By Inning Count

1: 13 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 1 Called- 5 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 3 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K
2: 13 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit
3: 7 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 2 Balls- 3 BPIP
4: 16 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 1 Called- 4 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 7 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K
5: 12 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 3 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 4 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit
6: 10 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 1 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 3 BPIP
7: 9 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 0 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 2 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit

Total: 80 Pitches- 55 Strikes- 9 Called- 16 Swinging- 13 Fouls- 25 Balls- 17 BPIP- 6 Swinging K- 3 Hits

Boldening The Offense: Jared Bolden had a big game on Sunday when the team needed a game from him (or anyone in the lower part of the order) most. With the team on the heels of a 4 game losing streak, Jared Bolden went 2 for 2 with a RBI, walk, and sacrifice bunt out of the 9 hole of the order.

Speaking of the Lower Part of the Order: Jared Bolden wasn't alone in producing out of the lower part of the order. The last four hitters in Frisco's lineup combined to go 5 for 11 with 5 walks, all 6 runs, and 1 RBI. Davis Stoneburner went 0 for 3 with 2 walks, Mitch Hilligoss went 2 for 3 with a walk, Jose Felix added a 1 for 3 game with a walk, and Bolden's 2 for 2 game with a walk and a sac bunt.

Casey Weathers Pulls a Rick Vaughn: One of the classic scenes (and quotable phrases) from the movie "Major League" is when Ricky Vaughn, a pitcher who could throw hard without a whole lot of control, especially in the beginning, walked the bases loaded with 12 straight balls against the New York Yankees early on. On Sunday, Casey Weathers did his own version of that when he walked Davis Stoneburner, Mitch Hilligoss, and Jose Felix consecutively on 12 straight balls to open the 8th inning before being replaced by Adam Jorgenson. Weathers also had walked Bolden, Osuna, and Beltre to open up the 7th inning, so the former 1st round pick faced 9 batters and walked 6 of them... that isn't good.

Strikeouts Piling Up on Road Trip: Frisco has struggled all year to keep the strikeout totals down, but recently they have taken it to scary levels. On the road trip, Frisco's position players have struck out 50 times over the 5 games, an average of 10 a game. They have 3 games with 10 or more strikeouts, including Saturday when the team struck out 12 times, including at least 2 from each of their 2nd-5th hitters. Overall they have had players have games with 2 or more strikeouts 15 times on the road trip from 8 different players.

2 Strikeouts

3- Tommy Mendonca
2- Engel Beltre
2- Mitch Hilligoss
1- Elio Sarmiento
1- Jonathan Greene
1- Jared Bolden

3 Strikeouts

2- Mike Bianucci
1- Jonathan Greene

4 Strikeouts


1- Tommy Mendonca

Organizational Woes: Speaking of struggling, on Sunday the Texas Ranger's organization as a whole had a lot of trouble hitting with runners in scoring position. Frisco as a team went 2 for 16 with RISP, while the other three Ranger's minor league affiliates had similar struggles. In the month of August, Frisco is 38 for 166 with RISP (.229 AVG) and since the Texas League All-star break Frisco's offense is 111 for 449 (.247) with RISP. Despite the struggles, however, the organization managed to go 2-2 as Frisco and Spokane received dominant pitching performances.

Round Rock (AAA): 3 for 17
Frisco (AA): 2 for 16
Myrtle Beach (A+): 4 for 16
Hickory (A) canceled
Spokane (Short Season A): 1 for 11

Total: 10 for 60 (.167 AVG)

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 926 homeruns in 994 games (0.932 HR/G) 


Term of the Day: Ballplayer's ballplayer- A player who is widely respected and admired by other players.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 5-4 to the Tulsa Drillers on the road. Martin Perez started for Frisco and gave up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs over 3 1/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. Chris Mobley pitched 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief, but Ben Snyder and Tyler Tufts combined to give up 3 runs over 1 2/3 innings. Johnny Whittleman led Frisco's offense with a 3 for 4 game including a double and triple. Andy Jenkins went 2 for 4 with a homerun and 2 RBI for the Riders. Elio Sarmiento added a hit in 4 at bats with 2 RBI, while Joey Butler went 2 for 4 with a run scored. Engel Beltre added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Hot Coffee, MS!


Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)
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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

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