Chatter from the Pressbox

Off Topic: New Playoff Format--- Fixing Something That Isn't Broken

2012-03-02T17:15:00.003-06:00

Major League Baseball has announced that the new playoff format that was agreed upon with the new CBA will go into immediate effect in 2012. There will be two additional playoff teams, one in each league, in the 2012 postseason. People have had different view points on the new format. I will first go into some of the facts and then give my opinion on why I believe they are trying to fix something that was never broken and why I think they should have gone a much easier, cleaner route if they actually wanted to change things.

Facts:

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/03/02/playoffs-expand.ap/index.html

- MLB will have 2 Wild Card teams from each league beginning in 2012.
- The two wild cards from each league will play a 1 game playoff and the winner will go against the top seed in the LDS.
- MLB will no longer go by the rule where two teams in the same division cannot play each other in the first round.
- The Houston Astros will switch to the AL West beginning in 2013.
- For just 2012, MLB will have a 2-3 playoff format in the LDS, which means the team that has "home field advantage" will begin on the road. This new format cut back on travel time, which allowed the 1 game Wild Card format and tie breakers to fit into the schedule.
- Unlike past years when head to head records were used to break division titles, the tie breaker will be on the field in a one game tie breaker. This could make things extra complicated, more on that later.

With the facts out there, my thought from the beginning that I heard this was "wow, what is major league baseball doing." I've listened to some of the positive points of this, the "extra drama", keeping fans of some teams that never have a chance more interested. But even with those there are FAR too many negatives and reasons to not like this.

Point #1: By Having Two Wild Cards, MLB is Making the Postseason More Mediocre

The American League Perspective

Since 1996, the American League Wild Card has had at least 90 wins 15 of the 16 years, including 15 seasons in a row dating back to 1997. Over those 16 years, the Wild Card spot in the American League has ONE less win than the 2nd best American League team does cumulative with 1,515 wins compared to 1,516 wins. They are well ahead of the 3rd best division winning team, which has 1,454 wins during that span of time. If everything broke down, you would have to go further down to 1,422 wins for the 5th place team, which would be the 2nd Wild Card winning team. The Wild Card has had the 2nd most wins in the league more times (5) than it has been 4th in wins (3).

Over the last five seasons in the American League, the Wild Card has belonged to the AL East with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox each taking two and the Tampa Bay Rays taking another. They have had 3 95 win seasons, a 94 win season, and in 2011 the Rays had 91 wins. The Wild Card spot has 15 90+ win seasons, the 2nd Wild Card spot would have 7 90+ win seasons.

Over the last twelve seasons, there would have been a gap of five or more wins between the Wild Card winning team and the second Wild Card winning team in eight of the seasons.

The National League Perspective

While the American League has been much more defined as being dominant from the Wild Card spot, but less so from the 2nd Wild Card spot, the National League has not been so dominant. Over the last 12 years, there has only been 1 case of a 5 or more game gap between the first Wild Card and second Wild Card.

Again, however, the Wild Card has more wins than the 3rd best division winner (1,461 wins to 1,438), and once again the second Wild Card team would make the process more mediocre coming in at 1,425 wins over the last sixteen seasons. The second Wild Card spot would only have had 5 seasons with 90+ wins, which is even less than the 3rd division winner (8 times). The National League Wild Card winner over the last 16 years has had 90 or more wins in twelve of the sixteen seasons, including four straight.

The National League Wild Card spot has had the fourth most wins in six of the sixteen seasons. They've had the second most wins in two of the sixteen seasons.

Point #2: Was There Actually Something Wrong?

By adding the second Wild Card spot, MLB was basically saying that there was something wrong with the way that Wild Cards were able to win in the postseason. Beyond the fact that this was probably a ploy to make more money and drama, I believe that MLB really thought they needed to make more of a challenged for the Wild Card teams. But was there ever really an issue?

Since the Wild Card has come into existence, roughly 25% of the World Series teams have been Wild Card teams, and roughly 25% of the World Series winners have been Wild Card teams. Yet every postseason 25% of the teams are Wild Card teams. Now they get to boost that % to 40%, granted only 25% will actually go into the first non-one game playoff format.

Point #3: The Oakland Athletics Factor--- The One Game Playoff Format Is Really Ridiculous

I do not like the fact that there are more Wild Card teams, but if they're going to add another one to each league, couldn't they have at least made it a 3 game playoff format? The problem with a 1 game playoff format is that you're going to have situations where the two Wild Card teams play each other with a legitimate spread of games between them in the regular season. A one game playoff format proves even less than a 3,5, or 7 game playoff format in the postseason does. Any team on any given day can beat a team for a one game series. Heck any team can beat any team in a seven game series, but that's for another day.

Imagine for a second that this had actually started when the Wild Card took form. Now imagine that you're a fan of the 2001 Oakland Athletics. Your team just finished with the 2nd best record in baseball that season, second only to the 116 win Seattle Mariners. Are you really telling me that you wouldn't be as upset as anybody can ever be if you now know that your team has to go into a 1 game playoff against the mediocre 85 win Minnesota Twins? Now continue telling me that it will never happen, but in 2001 it would have happened. And if it's happened before, chances are something similar will appear down the road. If that doesn't change your mind about this, then I'm pretty sure nothing will.

Point #4: What Major League Baseball Should Have Done

Now, I've given some points that I believe are problems for this. I'm not a complainer, and I won't complain about something that I don't at least have a pretty good solution for. If MLB really saw a problem in the whole Wild Card race thing, then I believe they really should have taken three simple steps that could have easily been changed, ruined pretty much nothing, and immensely helped bridge the gap that they want to close where Wild Card teams actually have a chance in the postseason.

A) Get rid of the rule that said two teams in the same division couldn't play each other.

This was the easiest of the three and the one that they actually did. It was one of the best moves they made this offseason and one that should have been done a long time ago. No longer will you have the Red Sox or Yankees avoiding the other in the first round and playing some worse team despite being the Wild Card team.

To go a step further, I'd actually want the Wild Card team to get homefield advantage if they have a better record. I understand that you want to award the division winner, but why? Why award them if they are an 84 win team and the Wild Card winner is a 95 win team? That makes little sense.

B) Change the LDS to a 7 game round

This would have effectively given advantage to the better team, while not adding the extra Wild Card winner. In the end it also probably would have worked out the same, since now you have the chance of even more tie breaker games.

C) Change the LDS/LCS format to 2-4-1 or 1-4-2

This may be the craziest and one that people don't agree with, but by giving the home field advantage team 4 games in the middle, you really emphasize the advantage. As it works out right now, the team without the advantage simply needs to win 1 on the road and they have 3 at home and could sweep home. The advantage really doesn't become one until game 7 as well, which outside of 2011 has not happened all that often. Not enough to justify it as "home field" advantage anyways.

In the end, Major League Baseball doesn't care what I think, but I believe that the move to add the second Wild Card has a chance to water down the postseason even more. I am and always will be a big baseball fan, but I don't want to see baseball become like the NBA or hockey where it's actually more of an accomplishment to not make the postseason than it is to actually make it.

Baseball is a game that is played on the field and if MLB tries to make it so that the Wild Card has no chance, they will never succeed in their quest because it is impossible to guarantee anything. And to try to compete with the NFL in TV ratings would be a mistake. The sports are so different with the NFL being a 17 week (16 game) season with 1 game a week and then a one and out postseason. If the NFL tried to adapt a 162 MLB schedule with best of 7 postseasons, their ratings would suffer greatly as well.

Delving Into 2011 Statistics: Texas Rangers minor leagues- Offense

2012-02-19T16:25:00.000-06:00

In continuing with the recent work, below are the same statistics. Difference is instead of Texas League rankings, these are using the four full season minor league teams of the Texas Rangers from 2011.

Bolded players indicates one that spent time in 2011 in Frisco

Highest WAR:
1. 1B Andrew Clark (Hickory/Myrtle Beach)- 5.4
2. SS Jurickson Profar (Hickory)- 4.7
3. OF Jared Prince (Myrtle Beach)- 3.6
4. 3B Christian Villanueva (Hickory)- 3.3
5. 1B Chris Davis (Round Rock)- 3.3

Lowest WAR (min. 350 PA):
1. OF Engel Beltre (Frisco): -1.3
2. OF David Paisano (Myrtle Beach/Frisco): -0.9
3. 2B Santiago Chirino (Myrtle Beach): 0.3
4. SS Guilder Rodriguez (Frisco/Round Rock): 0.3
5. UTIL Mitch Hilligoss (Myrtle Beach/Frisco): 0.5

Stolen Bases of 2nd:
1. UTIL Esteban German (Round Rock)- 31
2. OF Ryan Strausborger (Myrtle Beach)- 27
3. 3B Christian Villanueva (Hickory)- 26
4. 2B Odubel Herrera (Hickory)- 25
5. SS Leury Garcia (Myrtle Beach)- 24

Stolen Bases of 3rd:
1. UTIL Esteban German (Round Rock)- 13
2. 2B Odubel Herrera (Hickory)- 9
3. OF Julio Borbon (Frisco/Round Rock)- 7
4. C Tomas Telis (Hickory)- 7
5. SS Leury Garcia (Myrtle Beach)- 6

Total Bases:
1. DH Mike Bianucci (Frisco)- 251
2. 1B Chad Tracy (Round Rock)- 250
3. 3B Tommy Mendonca (Frisco)- 248
4. 1B Brad Nelson (Round Rock)- 232
5. OF Joey Butler (Frisco/Round Rock)- 227

Least Total Bases (min. 350 PA):
1. OF David Paisano (Myrtle Beach/Frisco)- 111
2. SS Guilder Rodriguez (Frisco/Round Rock)- 130
3. OF Engel Beltre (Frisco)- 131
4. 2B Santiago Chirino (Myrtle Beach)- 143
5. OF Jared Hoying (Myrtle Beach)- 149

Lowest K% (min. 350 PA):
1. C Tomas Telis (Hickory)- 7.1%
2. OF Jared Prince (Myrtle Beach)- 8.3%
3. UTIL Esteban German (Round Rock)- 9.9%
4. 2B Santiago Chirino (Myrtle Beach)- 10.6%
5. SS Renny Osuna (Frisco)- 11%

Highest K% (min. 350 PA):
1. OF Jonathan Greene (Frisco)- 29.8%
2. OF Joey Butler (Frisco/Round Rock)- 29.1%
3. 3B Tommy Mendonca (Frisco)- 28.8%
4. OF Jake Skole (Hickory)- 27.5%
5. 1B Jared Bolden (Myrtle Beach/Frisco)- 23.6%

Highest BB% (min. 350 PA):
1. 1B Andrew Clark (Hickory/Myrtle Beach)- 16.1%
2. OF Jake Skole (Hickory)- 13%
3. SS Jurickson Profar (Hickory)- 12.6%
4. UTIL Esteban German (Round Rock)- 12.3%
5. 1B Brad Nelson (Round Rock)- 11.3%

Lowest BB% (min. 350 PA):
1. OF David Paisano (Myrtle Beach/Frisco)- 3.4%
2. C Tomas Telis (Hickory)- 3.6%
3. 2B Santiago Chirino (Myrtle Beach)- 3.9%
4. 2B Odubel Herrera (Hickory)- 4.8%
5. OF Jonathan Greene (Frisco)- 5.6%

Highest wOBA (min. 350 PA and at specific level):
1. 1B Andrew Clark (Hickory)- .407
2. SS Jurickson Profar (Hickory)- .397
3. OF Joey Butler (Round Rock)- .389
4. UTIL Esteban German (Round Rock)- .373
5. 1B Brad Nelson (Round Rock)- .369

Lowest wOBA (min. 350 PA and at specific level):
1. OF Engel Beltre (Frisco)- .269
2. 2B Santiago Chirino (Myrtle Beach)- .292
3. SS Leury Garcia (Myrtle Beach)- .300
4. OF Jared Hoying (Myrtle Beach)- .308
5. 1B Jared Bolden (Myrtle Beach)- .325

Sources:
WAR: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/11/10/1123343/woba-to-war-conversion-spreadsheet
WAR: http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/how_to_calculate_war/
wOBA- http://www.fangraphs.com/
General- http://www.milb.com/index.jsp

Delving Into 2011 Statistics: Texas League

2012-02-18T15:20:00.000-06:00

I recently did some work in taking a look at the hitters in the Texas League using different sources and thought I would share the rankings of players in random statistics.

WAR:
1. Tim Wheeler, Tulsa Drillers- 5.0
2. Mike Trout, Arkansas Travelers- 4.6
3. Jermaine Mitchell, Midland Rockhounds- 4.6
4. Blake Tekotte, San Antonio Missions- 4.5
5. James Darnell, San Antonio Missions- 4.5

Lowest WAR (min. 350 PA):
1. Engel Beltre, Frisco RoughRiders: - 1.3
2. T.J. Steele, Corpus Christi Hooks: -1.2
3. Angel Castillo, Arkansas Travelers: -1.0
4. Tyler Ladendorf, Midland Rockhounds: -0.5
5. Jon Gaston, Corpus Christi Hooks: -0.3

Stolen Bases of 2nd:
1. Derrick Robinson, NW Arkansas Naturals- 41
2. Blake Tekotte, San Antonio Missions- 30
3. Anthony Seratelli, NW Arkansas Naturals- 27
4. Mike Trout, Arkansas Travelers- 26
5. Jimmy Paredes, Corpus Christi Hooks- 22

Stolen Bases of 3rd:
1. Derrick Robinson, NW Arkansas Naturals- 13
2. Anthony Seratelli, NW Arkansas Naturals- 8
3. Mike Trout, Arkansas Travelers- 7
4. Blake Tekotte, San Antonio Missions- 6
5. Jimmy Paredes, Corpus Christi Hooks- 6

Total Bases:
1. Tim Wheeler, Tulsa Drillers- 300
2. Matt Adams, Springfield Cardinals- 262
3. Mike Bianucci, Frisco RoughRiders- 251
4. Tommy Mendonca, Frisco RoughRiders- 248
5. Luis Jimenez, Arkansas Travelers- 238

Least TB (min. 350 PA):
1. Angel Castillo, Arkansas Travelers- 107
2. Brandon Wikoff, Corpus Christi Hooks- 117
3. Derrick Robinson, NW Arkansas Naturals- 118
4. Jonathan Villar, Corpus Christi Hooks- 125
5. Engel Beltre, Frisco RoughRiders- 131

Lowest K% (min. 350 PA):
1. Brandon Wikoff, Corpus Christi Hooks- 8.5%
2. Christian Colon, NW Arkansas Naturals- 9%
3. Daniel Robertson, San Antonio Missions- 10%
4. Renny Osuna, Frisco RoughRiders- 11%
5. Scott Beerer, Tulsa Drillers- 12.2%

Highest K% (min. 350 PA):
1. Jonathan Greene, Frisco RoughRiders- 29.8%
2. Tommy Mendonca, Frisco RoughRiders- 28.8%
3. Angel Castillo, Arkansas Travelers- 27.3%
4. Jonathan Villar, Corpus Christi Hooks- 27.2%
5. T.J. Steele, Corpus Christi Hooks- 25.7%

Highest BB% (min. 350 PA):
1. Jaff Decker, San Antonio Missions- 16.8%
2. Jermaine Mitchell, Midland Rockhounds- 15.0%
3. Anthony Seratelli, NW Arkansas Naturals- 14.3%
4. Blake Tekotte, San Antonio Missions- 13.5%
5. Darwin Perez, Arkansas Travelers- 13.4%

Lowest BB% (min. 350 PA):
1. T.J. Steele, Corpus Christi Hooks- 3.6%
2. Jimmy Paredes, Corpus Christi Hooks- 3.7%
3. Hector Gomez, Tulsa Drillers- 4.2%
4. Wilin Rosario, Tulsa Drillers- 4.5%
5. Roberto Lopez, Arkansas Travelers- 4.5%

Highest wOBA (min. 350 PA):
1. Jermaine Mitchell, Midland Rockhounds- .443
2. Mike Trout, Arkansas Travelers- .426
3. J.D. Martinez, Corpus Christi Hooks- .418
4. Alex Castellanos, Springfield Cardinals- .411
5. Blake Tekotte, San Antonio Missions- .400

Lowest wOBA (Min. 350 PA):
1. Engel Beltre, Frisco RoughRiders- .269
2. T.J. Steele, Corpus Christi Hooks- .269
3. Angel Castillo, Arkansas Travelers- .270
4. Tyler Ladendorf, Midland Rockhounds- .288
5. Jon Gaston, Corpus Christi Hooks- .292

Sources:
WAR: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/11/10/1123343/woba-to-war-conversion-spreadsheet
WAR: http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/how_to_calculate_war/
wOBA- http://www.fangraphs.com/
General- http://www.milb.com/index.jsp

Taking a Look at Prospect Lists: Texas Rangers related

2012-02-13T16:58:00.000-06:00

For people who love minor league baseball and looking at their team's future down the road, this time of the year is one of the better ones. Football is over, which means Spring Training is coming closer, and with it the baseball season. There also are the annual Top 100 Prospect lists that come out where many different sources create their lists of the best players that minor league baseball has to offer based on projection and future value. The top 5 prospects in the game are usually a consensus list, while the rest is up for debate based on personal bias and views. Every major independent scouting source is going to have different views and opinions of players and with it come different lists.

The ones that I pay particular attention to are Kevin Goldstein (Baseball Prospectus), Keith Law (ESPN), Baseball America, Jonathan Mayo (MLB.com), and Scout.com. I enjoy John Sickel's opinions as well. His list of top 20 prospects in the Texas Rangers can be found here.

I recently put together a spreadsheet of seven different top 100 prospect lists. Baseball America has not come out with their list yet, so it will eventually be 8 different lists. In the seven that have been done so far, there have been 194 different players rated in the top 100 prospect lists. The sources are:

Kevin Goldstein (BP)
Keith Law (ESPN)
Jonathan Mayo (MLB.com)
Scout.com (magazine)
Project Prospect
Scouting Book
Seedlings to Stars

The Texas Rangers once again have a highly rated farm system by virtually everybody and with it, the versatility and depth that an organization wants. Below is a listing of the top 5 teams with the most prospects in the top 100 prospects lists (out of 194 players remember):

1. San Diego- 15
2. Boston- 11
3. Toronto- 11
4. St. Louis- 10
5. Texas- 10

Two of the Texas Ranger's prospects, Jurickson Profar and Martin Perez, were also rated in the top 100 by every source. Another, third baseman Mike Olt, was rated in the top 100 by 6 of the 7 lists. Pitcher Neil Ramirez and outfielder Leonys Martin made at least 3 of the 7 lists.

Taking the first four sources that I pay attention to (Kevin Goldstein, Keith Law, MLB.com, and Scout.com), I also put together a list of the 68 players that came in every top 100 list of those four sources. I then took the 68 players and put together the list by average ranking. The list is as follows, with Texas Rangers prospects in bold:

1. LHP Matt Moore, Tampa Bay
2. OF Mike Trout, Los Angeles (A)
3. OF Bryce Harper, Washington
4. SS Jurickson Profar, Texas
5. RHP Shelby Miller, St. Louis
6. SS Manny Machado, Baltimore
7. RHP Julio Teheran, Atlanta
8. C Jesus Montero, Seattle
9. RHP Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh
10. RHP Jameson Taillon, Pittsburgh
11. RHP Dylan Bundy, Baltimore
12. C Devin Mesoraco, Cincinnati
13. OF Wil Myers, Kansas City
14. RHP Jacob Turner, Detroit
15. RHP Manny Banuelos, New York (A)
16. RHP Trevor Bauer, Arizona
17. 3B Nolan Arenado, Colorado
18. 3B Miguel Sano, Minnesota
19. C Travis D'Arnaud, Toronto
20. LHP Danny Hultzen, Seattle
21. LHP Martin Perez, Texas
22. OF Bubba Starling, Kansas City
23. RHP Carlos Martinez, St. Louis
24. RHP Archie Bradley, Arizona
25. LHP Drew Pomeranz, Colorado
26. 3B Anthony Rendon, Washington
27. RHP Jarrod Parker, Oakland
28. RHP Taijuan Walker, Seattle
29. RHP Arodyz Vizcaino, Atlanta
30. RHP Zack Wheeler, New York (N)
31. SS Hak-Ju Lee, Tampa Bay
32. SS Francisco Lindor, Cleveland
33. RHP Matt Harvey, New York (N)
34. OF Jake Marisnick, Toronto
35. SS Jean Segura, Los Angeles (A)
36. SS Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati
37. OF Gary Brown, San Francisco
38. OF Christian Yelich, Florida
39. 1B Anthony Rizzo, Chicago (N)
40. C Gary Sanchez, New York (A)
41. OF Brett Jackson, Chicago (N)
42. 1B Jonathan Singleton, Houston
43. OF Michael Choice, Oakland
44. RHP Jarred Cosart, Houston
45. SS Xander Bogaerts, Boston
46. RHP Zach Lee, Los Angeles (N)
47. RHP Dellin Betances, New York (A)
48. RHP Jake Odorizzi, Kansas City
49. 3B Mike Olt, Texas
50. OF George Springer, Houston
51. RHP Wily Peralta, Milwaukee
52. 3B Nick Castellanos, Detroit
53. OF Anthony Gose, Toronto
54. RHP Randall Delgado, Atlanta
55. RHP Casey Kelly, San Diego
56. OF Rymer Liriano, San Diego
57. OF Starling Marte, Pittsburgh
58. RHP Trevor May, Philadelphia
59. RHP A.J. Cole, Oakland
60. LHP James Paxton, Seattle
61. RHP Sonny Gray, Oakland
62. C Yasmani Grandal, San Diego
63. OF Josh Bell, Pittsburgh
64. SS Javier Baez, Chicago (N)
65. 1B Yonder Alonso, San Diego
66. OF Mason Williams, New York (A)
67. 3B Jedd Gyorko, San Diego
68. RHP Addison Reed, Chicago (A)

In case you had missed it as well, I have put out a few tweets over today and on Thursday related to the lists and the Texas League.

Of Keith Law's top 100 prospects, 14 of them played in the Texas League in 2011. When the rosters are put out, likely late in Spring Training or after it's over altogether, I will have a list of the top prospects in the league put together as well.

Of Kevin Goldstein's top 101 prospects, 18 of them played in the Texas League in 2011. Five Texas Ranger's (Jurickson Profar at #4, Martin Perez at #36, Mike Olt at #45, Neil Ramirez at #77, and Jorge Alfaro at #101) were in Kevin Goldstein's top 100 prospect list. You can find the list at the link above.

- Michael Damman

Texas League Best of the Best: Left Field

2012-02-07T13:01:00.000-06:00

Team Rankings

1. Corpus Christi Hooks

Statistics: .303/.369/.492/.861 59 Extra Base Hits 99 RBI 74 Runs 55 BB- 95 K

The Corpus Christi Hooks began the season with J.D. Martinez taking the field in left field, but by the middle of the year Martinez was promoted to Houston and from there Brandon Barnes and Jake Goebbert took over most of the playing time in the second half. Martinez used a .348 average, .412 on base percentage, and .577 slugging percentage along with 36 extra base hits and 64 RBI in 72 games to get the promotion to the big league club. After productive time in the major leagues (.274/.319/.423/.742), Martinez looks like he will remain the starting left fielder for the Astros going forward. Jake Goebbert played left field for 31 games as well and batted .283/.377/.453/.830 over 123 plate appearances. Brandon Barnes chipped in a .237/.306/.382/.687 batting line over 20 games (86 plate appearances), while Adam Bailey, David Flores, Andrew Simunic, Jon Gaston, and James Van Ostrand combined for 25 games played as well.

2. San Antonio Missions

Statistics: .232/.367/.409/.777 53 Extra Base Hits 92 RBI 101 Runs 106 BB-144 K

In April there was no hotter hitter in the Texas League than Jaff Decker. The 21 year old outfielder batted .316/.449/.759/1.208 for the month of April with 17 extra base hits and 27 RBI over 21 games. Over the final four full months of Texas League play, however, Decker played cat and mouse with terrible and above average having OPS's of .593-.875-.554-.838 over that time. After hitting 8 homeruns in the 1st month of the season, Decker hit 11 over the final 4+ months. He still finished with a solid season overall (.222/.361/.408/.769 with 91 BB-128 K and 15 SB-20 SBA), but nothing like the machine he looked like out of the gate. Daniel Robertson also saw playing time in left field for 17 games and batted .333/.440/.452/.892 over 51 plate appearances. Dean Anna, James Darnell, Kyle Blanks, Oscar Garcia, Andy Parrino, and Danny Payne combined for 17 games played.

3. Springfield Cardinals

Statistics: .282/.351/.458/.809 48 Extra Base Hits 62 RBI 88 Runs 52 BB-109 K

The Springfield Cardinals used 10 different left fielders during the 2011 season with none of them getting more than 37 games played in left field. Five of the ten outfielders had at least 10 games played as well. Chris Swauger led the Cardinals with 37 games played and batted .287/.338/.434/.772 over 134 plate appearances. Eric Duncan proved to be the most productive of Springfield's left fielders as the former top prospect of the New York Yankees batted .303/.360/.590/.950 when he trotted out to left field. He had 16 extra base hits in 136 plate appearances. Jermaine Curtis was the third member of the 100 plate appearance club as he batted .312/.398/.419/.817 over 110 plate appearances with more walks (13) than strikeouts (9). Daryl Jones batted .295/.348/.508/.857 in his 66 plate appearances (17 games) in left field, while Jose Garcia (12 games) was the 5th player with at least 10 games and batted .263/.333/.447/.780 during that time. Tyler Henley, Aaron Luna, Charles Cutler, Alan Ahmady, and Allen Craig combined for 26 games as well.

4. Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Statistics: .287/.351/.421/.772 37 Extra Base Hits 68 RBI 77 Runs 50 BB-96 K

Former Frisco RoughRider Tim Smith led the Northwest Arkansas Naturals left fielders in games played in 2011 with 34 and batted .344/.398/.574/.972 over 134 plate appearances for the Naturals. Anthony Seratelli was the only other player to have 100 or more plate appearances for the Naturals in left field as he had 110. Seratelli batted .247/.336/.320/.656 over the time as well. Nick Francis hit .293/.341/.390/.731 over 93 plate appearances during 27 games played, while Nick Van Stratten batted just .179/.258/.286/.544 over 25 games (63 plate appearances). Brazilian native Paulo Orlando batted .347/.392/.583/.976 during 19 games in left field and stole 6 bases in 8 attempts. Derrick Robinson added even more speed as the switch handed hitter batted .268/.328/.268/.596 but stole 13 bases in 16 attempts over 14 games in left field. Top prospect Wil Myers chipped in 6 games of his own in left field as well.

5. Tulsa Drillers

Statistics: .251/.310/.433/.743 49 Extra Base Hits 71 RBI 77 Runs 37 BB-103 K

Scott Beerer started 73 games in left field for the Tulsa Drillers and batted .292/.334/.466/.800 over 300 plate appearances with 27 extra base hits and 36 RBI. The rest of the left fielders, however, were not so great. Mike Mitchell had the 2nd most games in left field for the Drillers with 41, but batted just .180 with a .264 on base percentage and .305 slugging percentage during that time. In 145 plate appearances, Mitchell had 9 extra base hits and 16 RBI. Brian Rike batted .214/.267/.529/.796 over 75 plate appearances as he had 8 extra base hits, including 7 homeruns. However, he walked 4 times to 30 strikeouts. Mike Daniel, Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha, and James Cesario combined for 15 games in left field as well.

6. Midland Rockhounds

Statistics: .277/.357/.379/.737 37 Extra Base Hits 65 RBI 73 Runs 57 BB-97 K

Local Dallas product Matt Sulentic led the Midland Rockhounds in games played in left field with 54 and batted .292/.340/.363/.703 with 9 extra base hits over 245 plate appearances. Shane Peterson appeared in left field for 35 games as well and batted .260/.378/.389/.768 over 156 plate appearances. Adam Heether shows up for the fourth time on Midland's positions as he had 30 games and 119 plate appearances in left field. Heether batted .287/.387/.436/.823 as a left fielder. He has had 100+ plate appearances at both second base and left field. Kent Walton also saw 24 games in left field and hit .250 with a .649 OPS in 89 plate appearances. Jose Rivero had 1 game in left field to round out the Midland Rockhounds.

7. Frisco RoughRiders

Statistics: .250/.301/.415/.716 54 Extra Base Hits 74 RBI 83 Runs 29 BB-115 K

The least patient team in left field in the Texas League in 2011, the Frisco RoughRiders were led in games played by Mike Bianucci with 54 games played. Over 236 plate appearances in left field, Bianucci batted .218/.263/.473/.735 with 28 extra base hits and 42 RBI. He had just 8 walks to 56 strikeouts though. Travis Adair and Mitch Hilligoss each spent time in Myrtle Beach and each had 27 games played in left field for Frisco. Adair batted just .229/.270/.284/.554, while Hilligoss batted .257/.288/.371/.659. Jonathan Greene was the most productive left fielder for Frisco as he batted .408/.491/.612/1.103 in left field. However, he did only have 14 games and 57 plate appearances there. David Paisano, Engel Beltre, top prospect Leonys Martin, and Guilder Rodriguez combined for 20 games in left field as well.

8. Arkansas Travelers

Statistics: .227/.310/.372/.683 45 Extra Base Hits 59 RBI 69 Runs 54 BB-123 K

The least productive group of left fielders in the Texas League, the Arkansas Travelers were led by Clay Fuller, Chris Pettit, and Roberto Lopez for much of the season. Fuller led the Travelers with 54 games played (181 plate appearances) and batted .231/.294/.350/.644 in left field. He had just 9 extra base hits and 18 RBI. Pettit was the least productive of the trio as he hit just .183 with a .269 on base percentage and .303 slugging percentage over 163 plate appearances. Roberto Lopez had a productive 28 games in left field, however, as he hit .303/.395/.525/.920 over 115 plate appearances with 16 extra base hits. Blake Gailen, Ryan Mount, Chris Giovinazzo, Rian Kiniry, Marvin Lowrance, Gabe Jacobo, and #1 prospect Mike Trout combined for 29 games played in left field as well.

Previous Positions:
Catcher
First Base
Second Base
Third Base
Shortstop
Left Field
Center Field
Right Field
Designated Hitter
Starting Pitcher
Relievers

Texas League Best of the Best: Shortstop

2012-02-01T15:42:00.000-06:00

Team Rankings

1. San Antonio Missions

Statistics: .272/.348/.459/.807 56 Extra Base Hits 93 RBI 77 Runs 55 BB-120 K

At a position where the Texas League struggled to get stellar production from, the San Antonio Missions still got good production. Beamer Weems led the team with 77 games appeared at shortstop and hit .246/.331/.415/.746 with 27 extra base hits, 46 RBI, and 38 runs scored over 309 plate appearances. He would have been there longer if not for a horrendous injury that he suffered when he was hit by a pitch in the face on July 5th. Andy Parrino played the second most games at shortstop for the Missions as he appeared in 38 games and hit .326/.413/.582/.995 over 168 plate appearances. He had 17 extra base hits, including 9 homeruns and drove in 32 runs as well. Parrino crushed Frisco pitching in particular as the switch handed hitting infielder hit .347/.484/.673/1.157 against the Riders with 4 of his 9 homeruns over 62 plate appearances. Amadeo Zazueta and Dean Anna each got over 10 games at shortstop as well, while Anthony Contreras, Pat McKenna, and Bryan Altman combined for 11 games at shortstop.

2. Springfield Cardinals

Statistics: .280/.336/.420/.756 51 Extra Base Hits 80 RBI 70 Runs 45 BB-97 K

Ryan Jackson led all shortstops in the Texas League in both games played (134) and plate appearances (599) and helped quiet concerns over his bat that have surrounded him early in his career with a very solid season at the plate. Jackson hit .278/.334/.415/.749 with 48 extra base hits, drove in 73 runs, and scored 65 runs. Jose Garcia, Domnit Bolivar, and Donovan Solano combined for sporadic playing time at shortstop with a combined 9 games played.

3. Tulsa Drillers

Statistics: .245/.299/.433/.732 60 Extra Base Hits 70 RBI 66 Runs 33 BB-126 K

The Tulsa Drillers games leader at shortstop was Hector Gomez, who appeared in 101 games for Tulsa. What the shortstop lacks in patience (just 19 walks over 452 plate appearances), he makes up with a combination of power (42 extra base hits) and speed (16 steals). He led Texas League shortstops in homeruns and triples. He came in 2nd in steals and extra base hits. Thomas Field also saw playing time at shortstop as the 24 year old hit .310/.400/.556/.956 over 34 games (145 plate appearances). Field had 18 extra base hits and 20 RBI during that time as well. Warren Schaeffer, Jeffrey Squier, and Erik Wetzel combined for 6 games at shortstop as well.

4. Corpus Christi Hooks

Statistics: .270/.341/.387/.728 40 Extra Base Hits 47 RBI 86 Runs 53 BB-123 K

Despite being one of the youngest players in the league, Jonathan Villar earned 86 games and 365 plate appearances at shortstop for the Corpus Christi Hooks in 2011. The 20 year old hit .232/.300/.387/.687 over that time with 16 doubles, 2 triples, 10 homeruns, and stole 14 bases in 20 attempts. Wladimir Sutil also saw time at shortstop early in 2011 as he appeared in 39 games at the position and batted .309/.378/.395/.773 over 183 plate appearances. Brandon Wikoff also played 20 games there and had a .422 on base percentage, while Clint Barmes played 2 games there on MLB rehab.

5. Arkansas Travelers

Statistics: .255/.363/.339/.702 27 Extra Base Hits 61 RBI 68 Runs 78 BB-117 K

What the Arkansas Traveler's shortstops lacked in power, they made up for in patience and speed. Darwin Perez saw the majority of playing time at shortstop for the Travelers as he played 117 games there and earned 501 plate appearances. Perez batted .255/.361/.332/.693 with 22 extra base hits, 22 steals in 28 attempts, and walked 65 times to 100 strikeouts. He also had 49 RBI and 59 runs. Jon Townsend was the other Traveler with over 10 games as he played 12 games at shortstop (41 plate appearances) and hit .273/.390/.394/.784. Adam Younger, Dwayne Bailey, and Jesus Campos combined for 13 plate appearances.

6. Frisco RoughRiders

Statistics: .293/.345/.373/.718 31 Extra Base Hits 70 RBI 65 Runs 45 BB-66 K

One of two teams with less than 70 strikeouts from their shortstops, Frisco got solid production from Guilder Rodriguez (75 games) and Renny Osuna (66 games) at shortstop. Don't expect any walkoff homeruns from Guilder Rodriguez, but what he lacks in power he made up for in solid play day in and day out whether it was speed (12 steals in 15 attempts), plate discipline (24 BB-34 K in 293 PA) or contact (.284 hitter). Very similar to Guilder you could expect the same from Frisco's all-time hits leader, Renny Osuna. Osuna batted .301 with a .757 OPS as a shortstop, including 20 extra base hits, 30 RBI, 13 steals in 16 attempts, and 21 BB-30 K in 300 plate appearances. Davis Stoneburner and Jimmy Swift each had a game at shortstop as well.

7. Midland Rockhounds

Statistics: .262/.333/.362/.694 36 Extra Base Hits 63 RBI 70 Runs 56 BB-110 K

Former first round pick Grant Green led the Midland Rockhounds with 79 games at shortstop before he was moved to centerfield in the middle of the season. As a shortstop, Green hit .284/.347/.395/.742 with 27 extra base hits, 41 RBI, and scored 43 runs over 366 plate appearances. Tyler Ladendorf earned playing time at shortstop once Green was moved and appeared in 57 games at shortstop in all. He batted just .228/.312/.307/.619, however, with just 8 extra base hits and 18 RBI over 218 plate appearances. Jason Christian and Wes Timmons combined for 8 games at shortstop as well.

8. Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Statistics: .262/.339/.340/.679 27 Extra Base Hits 59 RBI 78 Runs 57 BB-59 K

Like Midland, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals saw a former first round pick (Christian Colon) spend the most time at shortstop. Colon, who was a first round pick (#4 overall) in 2010 out of Rice, played 99 games at shortstop and had 436 plate appearances in his first full pro season. Colon batted .261/.338/.352/.690 with 20 extra base hits, 47 RBI, stole 15 bases in 22 attempts, and walked more (40 times) than he struck out (36 times). Jeff Bianchi also had 38 games at shortstop and hit .265/.343/.313/.656 over 173 plate appearances. Anthony Seratelli appeared in a game at shortstop as well.

Previous Positions:
Catcher
First Base
Second Base
Third Base
Shortstop
Left Field
Center Field
Right Field
Designated Hitter
Starting Pitcher
Relievers

Texas League Best of the Best: Third Base

2012-01-31T14:21:00.000-06:00

Team Rankings

1. San Antonio Missions

Statistics: .315/.405/.522/.927 65 Extra Base Hits 103 RBI 108 Runs 81 BB-99 K

Without a doubt the strongest team from the third base position, the San Antonio Missions received outstanding production from James Darnell for the first half of the 2011 season and then received good production from Jedd Gyorko for most of the second half of the 2011 season. Darnell hit .342/.441/.615/1.056 with 40 extra base hits and 57 RBI in 313 plate appearances en route to a promotion to AAA Tuscon. Gyorko replaced Darnell as best as he could hitting .298/.368/.444/.812 with 19 extra base hits and 39 RBI over 253 plate appearances following a monster first half in high-A Lake Elsinore where the then 22 year old hit .365/.429/.638/1.067 with 55 extra base hits and 74 RBI in 81 games (382 plate appearances).

2. Midland Rockhounds

Statistics: .282/.371/.418/.789 47 Extra Base Hits 81 RBI 87 Runs 73 BB-114 K

Stephen Parker spent the majority of the 2011 season as the Midland Rockhound's primary third baseman and the patient hitter gave no reason for him not to be. Over 118 games, Parker hit .293/.383/.427/.810 as he had 38 extra base hits, 68 RBI, and walked 64 times over 514 plate appearances. Adam Heether, Jason Christian, and Mitch Canham combined to appear in 24 games at the position as well. At third base, Midland finished 2nd in the league in walks, 4th in RBI, 2nd in runs scored, Tied for 4th in extra base hits, 4th in OPS, and 3rd in batting average.

3. Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Statistics: .281/.355/.446/.801 47 Extra Base Hits 71 RBI 80 Runs 46 BB-103 K

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals had 3 players appear in at least 27 games at third base during the season. Mario Lisson led the group with 78 games and 300 plate appearances. The 27 year old hit .302/.386/.547/.933 with 35 extra base hits, 42 RBI, 55 runs, and stole 13 bases in 14 attempts as a third baseman. Rey Navarro and Kurt Mertins filled in with the other playing time, but both had an OPS below .700 at the position and combined for just 12 extra base hits over 235 plate appearances.

4. Frisco RoughRiders

Statistics: .271/.327/.472/.798 58 Extra Base Hits 92 RBI 81 Runs 38 BB-169 K

You would have a hard time finding a player that had a better comeback year in the Texas Ranger's system than Frisco RoughRider's third baseman Tommy Mendonca. After struggling in the hitter friendly California League in 2010 to a tune of (.248/.331/.391/.722 with just 10 homeruns), Mendonca broke out with a .278/.335/.492/.827 25 homerun campaign in 2011). As a third baseman, Mendonca hit .276/.335/.492/.826 with the 25 homeruns and 87 RBI, both of which were the most by a third baseman in the Texas League. The interesting thing, which I haven't mentioned on here though, is that the Rangers will be trying Tommy Mendonca out at catcher in 2012. You can read more about it here.

5. Arkansas Travelers

Statistics: .285/.332/.433/.765 52 Extra Base Hits 88 RBI 61 Runs 30 BB-98 K

The Arkansas Travelers got good production out of Luis Jimenez, but struggled to get a lot out of the rest of the other 5 players that appeared in games at third base. Over 101 games (440 plate appearances), Jimenez hit .290/.342/.455/.797 with 44 extra base hits and 69 RBI. The 23 year old in 2011 hit especially well in the first half of the season when he was hitting .297/.341/.521/.862 at the Texas League all-star break en route to a Texas League all-star appearance. Jon Townsend, Gabe Jacobo, Adam Younger, Jay Brossman, and Jesus Campos combined for 43 games played at the position.

6. Springfield Cardinals

Statistics: .274/.343/.421/.764 47 Extra Base Hits 72 RBI 75 Runs 47 BB-104 K

Zack Cox, a first round pick in 2010, spent his first season in minor league baseball split between high-A Palm Beach and AA Springfield. Cox started slow (had as low as a .565 OPS a month into his time in Springfield), but he adjusted to AA and finished strong. As a third baseman, Cox batted .294/.357/.429/.786 with 27 extra base hits and 43 RBI in 367 plate appearances. Niko Vasquez also appeared in 38 games at third base for Springfield, but hit just .221 with a .291 OBP and .404 SLG%. Jermaine Curtis, Eric Duncan, Nick Derba, and Donovan Solano combined for 25 games played at third as well. Of those, Curtis hit the best with a .933 OPS over 19 of the games.

7. Corpus Christi Hooks

Statistics: .240/.299/.343/.642 32 Extra Base Hits 52 RBI 72 Runs 45 BB-94 K

No third baseman was as unproductive (minimum of 200 PA) in the Texas League as David Flores of the Corpus Christi Hooks. Flores spent 2011 as a 24 year old and batted just .199/.259/.280/.538 over 205 plate appearances. He had 9 extra base hits and 16 RBI in the time as well. Jimmy Paredes also received 194 plate appearances at third over 43 games and hit .269/.298/.434/.732 with 15 extra base hits, 22 RBI, 33 runs, and 9 steals in 17 attempts. As mentioned in the second base part, Paredes spent time in 2011 with the big league club, the Houston Astros and figures to be a part of their starting lineup in 2012. Brandon Wikoff appeared in 24 games at third for Corpus Christi as well and hit .278 with a .663 OPS. Andrew Simunic, Jose Altuve, Wladimir Sutil, Jose Thompson, Jose Vallejo, and Jimmy Van Ostrand all received sporadic playing time at third, combining for 29 games played.

8. Tulsa Drillers

Statistics: .240/.308/.319/.627 31 Extra Base Hits 57 RBI 53 Runs 47 BB-102 K

The Tulsa Drillers used 6 different players at third base and none of them shined too well. Darin Holcomb received the most playing time as he appeared in 60 games and had 261 plate appearances. Holcomb batted .272/.337/.384/.721 and had 19 extra base hits, 28 RBI, and 30 runs. Erik Wetzel, however, was more unproductive as he hit just .210 with a .524 OPS over 162 plate appearances (45 games). Warren Schaeffer was even worse, however, as he hit just .141 with a .403 OPS over 96 plate appearances (29 games). James Cesario, Jeffrey Squier, and Ben Paulsen combined for 15 games played as well.

Previous Positions:
Catcher
First Base
Second Base
Third Base
Shortstop
Left Field
Center Field
Right Field
Designated Hitter
Starting Pitcher
Relievers

Texas League Best of the Best: Second Base

2012-01-30T15:36:00.001-06:00

Team Rankings

1. Corpus Christi Hooks

Statistics: .296/.349/.425/.774 42 Extra Base Hits 53 RBI 83 Runs 43 BB-86 K

The Hooks led the Texas League in batting average and stolen bases from the second base position. They finished 2nd in OPS, slugging %, runs scored, and total bases. They finished 3rd in on base percentage as well. Brandon Wikoff appeared in the most games at second base for Corpus Christi with 50. He batted .307 with a .403 on base percentage in those 50 games. The Hooks also received 312 of the team's 594 plate appearances at second base from Jimmy Paredes (.283/.315/.424/.739 with the Hooks) and Jose Altuve (.387/.409/.613/1.022 with the Hooks). Both of those players spent time with the major league club in 2011 and figure to be starters in 2012.

2. San Antonio Missions

Statistics: .270/.355/.419/.774 49 Extra Base Hits 69 RBI 86 Runs 69 BB-93 K

A staple at the top of each position so far, the San Antonio Missions received no less of top production from second base than any of their other positions. There is little doubt as to why the Missions were the top team in the Texas League in 2011. Vincent Belnome earned the most games played at second base for the Missions, despite missing time with injury. Belnome appeared in 52 games at second base, one of three infield positions that he played for San Antonio. In those 52 games, Belnome hit .314/.411/.573/.984 with 25 extra base hits (11 homeruns) over 220 plate appearances. Anthony Contreras also appeared in 48 games at second base and hit .246/.284/.339/.623 for the Missions. Late in the year, Dean Anna made an impact with 31 games (118 plate appearances) for San Antonio. He batted .250/.398/.359/.757 with 23 walks to just 8 strikeouts. Overall, Anna walked 41 times to just 19 strikeouts in 246 plate appearances in AA.

3. Springfield Cardinals

Statistics: .295/.346/.430/.776 48 Extra Base Hits 74 RBI 82 Runs 38 BB-92 K

The Springfield Cardinals led the league in OPS and RBI and ranked near the top in extra base hits and runs. They received good production from both Jose Garcia and Eric Duncan, who combined for 391 plate appearances at second base. Garcia hit .331 and reached base at a .379 clip for the Cardinals. He slugged .421 giving him an even .800 OPS for the season at second base. Former New York Yankees top prospect Eric Duncan signed with the Cardinals on April 19th and finished with his first .800 or higher OPS season since 2004. As a second baseman, Duncan hit .263/.293/.526/.819 with 7 homeruns in 123 plate appearances. Overall, he batted .274/.322/.527/.849 with 22 homeruns in 385 plate appearances. Donovan Solano, Jermaine Curtis, and Domnit Bolivar each appeared in at least 10 games as well. Curtis led the trio with a .340/.468/.500/.968 clip at second base.

4. Frisco RoughRiders

Statistics: .277/.342/.410/.752 43 Extra Base Hits 67 RBI 86 Runs 45 BB-94 K

Two players for Frisco saw nearly all of the playing time in 2011. Davis Stoneburner led the team with 96 games at second base with Renny Osuna finishing 2nd with 43 games played. Stoneburner's 406 plate appearances were the most by a second baseman in the Texas League. Only the Tulsa Driller's Thomas Field (395 PA) came close to Stoneburner. In those 406 plate appearances, Davis hit .273/.346/.425/.771 with 8 homeruns, 40 RBI, 17 steals, and 30 BB-66 K. The Frisco RoughRider's career hits leader, Renny Osuna, also had 199 plate appearances at second base in 2011. He batted .294/.343/.400/.743 as a second baseman, which was very similar to his overall line of .294/.341/.404/.745. Mitch Hilligoss, Edwin Garcia, and Erik Morrison combined for the other 15 plate appearances.

5. Arkansas Travelers

Statistics: .275/.374/.387/.761 35 Extra Base Hits 53 RBI 62 Runs 73 BB-94 K

Led by On Base machine Ryan Mount, the Arkansas Travelers second basemen got on base better than any other team in the Texas League in 2011. In 130 plate appearances, Mount batted .361/.442/.583/1.025 as a second baseman. Matt Cusick, who led Arkansas in games at second base, also got on base well as he walked 38 times to 25 strikeouts, and hit .245/.374/.342/.716. As the team excelled at getting on base, however, they struggled at hitting for power. Only two teams had fewer extra base hits from second base in the league and no team had fewer homeruns, total bases, RBI, or runs scored.

6. Tulsa Drillers

Statistics: .283/.353/.411/.764 34 Extra Base Hits 63 RBI 74 Runs 48 BB-111 K

The only team in the league to have more than 100 strikeouts from their second basemen, what the Tulsa Drillers did negatively via strikeouts and power (34 XBH were tied for the lowest in the league), they overcame with solid production elsewhere. The team's .283 batting average was the 3rd best in the league, their .353 OBP was 4th, and the 48 walks were 4th. Thomas Field led the team with 395 plate appearances. Eventually promoted to the big league club in September, Field batted .259/.342/.399/.741 for the Drillers as a second baseman. His 11 homeruns were tied for the most with Belnome among second basemen and his 41 RBI led the league at the position. James Cesario appeared in 40 games as well and hit .321/.380/.440/.820, while Erik Wetzel and Warren Schaeffer appeared in a combined 12 games.

7. Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Statistics: .272/.356/.384/.740 34 Extra Base Hits 61 RBI 79 Runs 59 BB-93 K

Five players earned playing time at second base in 2011 for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and all five appeared in at least 15 games there making the position almost a revolving door. Only Jeff Bianchi did not have at least a .700 OPS in his time at second base, but he also led the team with 62 games there, or nearly half of the games in a Texas League season. Anthony Seratelli played 25 games at second base and batted .306/.479/.569/1.049. Like he did at first base, Seratelli walked a good amount with 22 walks, while limiting his strikeouts (13). In a breakout year, Seratelli (28 years old), had a full minor league season career best .790 OPS overall. He stole 35 bases in 40 attempts as well and showed power that had not been seen in full season ball with a career best 9 homeruns. Kurt Mertins also showed solid production at second base as he had an .817 OPS in 79 plate appearances.

8. Midland Rockhounds

Statistics: .271/.343/.392/.735 38 Extra Base Hits 57 RBI 73 Runs 43 BB-98 K

Coming in last in the league at second base, the Midland Rockhounds weren't terrible at the position, but it was so solid all-around that someone had to finish last. Amazingly, there were two teams that had sub .700 OPS's at a usual offensive position like first base, and zero with an OPS sub .730 at a usual non-offensive position like second base. Anyways, Tyler Ladendorf earned the most playing time at second base for the Midland Rockhounds with 64 games (245 plate appearances). In that time, he batted just .202/.278/.289/.567 with as many extra base hits (13) as RBI (13). Wes Timmons led the team with RBI at the position with 23. Timmons appeared in 34 games at second base and hit a ridiculous .400/.442/.533/.976. The longtime minor league player had the best season of his career to date as he hit .341/.420/.468/.888 with career bests 8 homeruns and 62 RBI between AA Midland and AAA Sacramento. Adam Heether was also productive in his short playing time at second base as the utility player hit .253/.374/.471/.845 over 107 plate appearances. Jason Christian appeared in 21 games as well and hit .273/.325/.364/.689 while Josh Horton finished up the second base position with 1 game.

Previous Positions:
Catcher
First Base
Second Base
Third Base
Shortstop
Left Field
Center Field
Right Field
Designated Hitter
Starting Pitcher
Relievers

Texas League Best of the Best: First Base

2012-01-28T14:38:00.000-06:00

Team Rankings:

1. Springfield Cardinals

Statistics: .304/.356/.586/.942 73 Extra Base Hits 128 RBI 100 Runs 47 BB-125 K

The Springfield Cardinals received 111 games from the Texas League Player of the Year at first base in 23 year old slugger Matt Adams. As a first baseman, Adams hit .301 with 22 doubles, 32 homeruns, 99 RBI, and posted a .931 OPS. Overall he finished with a .300 average, 32 homeruns, 101 RBI, and a .923 OPS. Adams started out the season very strong as he was hitting .357/.397/.685/1.082 at the Texas League All-Star break. Steven Hill added a .309 average with 9 homeruns in 89 plate appearances at first base for the Cardinals. He had a 1.027 OPS as a first baseman.

2. San Antonio Missions

Statistics: .270/.345/.476/.821 61 Extra Base Hits 101 RBI 88 Runs 61 BB-135 K

The San Antonio Missions had an outstanding season as a team and they were no different at first base. They finished 2nd in the league in RBI, 3rd in runs, 3rd in OPS, 2nd in extra base hits, 3rd in walks, and 2nd in slugging %. They were one of two teams in the Texas League to have 8 players appear in a game at first base with the Arkansas Travelers being the other team. Kyle Blanks and Sawyer Carroll were tied with the most games played at first base on San Antonio with 33 games a piece. Vincent Belnome produced the best among the Mission's first basemen as the 23 year old hit .382/.481/.691/1.173 there with 9 extra base hits in 81 plate appearances. Cody Decker batted .260/.321/.550/.871 with 14 extra base hits (7 homeruns) over 109 plate appearances.

3. Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Statistics: .284/.372/.435/.806 39 Extra Base Hits, 79 RBI, 92 Runs, 62 BB-102 K

Northwest Arkansas saw two different styles of players get about half the playing time at first base throughout the season. They received 70 games from Anthony Seratelli, a speedy player who showed very good plate discipline and also saw time at second base, shortstop, right field, and left field. Seratelli hit .299/.396/..390/.786 as a first baseman with 13 extra base hits, 34 RBI, stole 24 bases in 27 attempts, and scored 54 runs. He walked 36 times to 42 strikeouts. Then Jamie Romak had 68 games at first base and provided the power. Romak hit .273/.356/.482/.838 with 25 extra base hits (13 homeruns), 43 RBI, and scored 36 runs. He walked 26 times to 52 strikeouts. Mario Lisson chipped in 7 games at first base of his own.

4. Corpus Christi Hooks

Statistics: .295/.364/.467/.831 49 Extra Base Hits 78 RBI 66 Runs 58 BB-98 K

The Texas League's worst team in 2011, Corpus Christi got unusually good production out of first base for a team that ranked last in the league in runs scored per game. James Van Ostrand, a 4 year Texas League veteran, led the Hooks with 87 games played at first base. He batted .300/.372/.472/.844 with 31 extra base hits in 347 plate appearances. Van Ostrand walked 36 times to 48 strikeouts. Kody Hinze added 46 games at first base and batted .278/.351/.402/.753 with 11 extra base hits over 191 plate appearances. David Flores, former Frisco RoughRider Emerson Frostad, and Jake Goebbert added in 15 games as well. The Hooks had the 2nd best team OPS in the Texas League, but finished 5th in RBI, 6th in runs, and 5th in extra base hits. They were the only team in the league to have less than 100 strikeouts from their first basemen though.

5. Midland Rockhounds

Statistics: .287/.383/.426/.810 49 Extra Base Hits 80 RBI 73 Runs 73 BB-120 K

An affiliate of the organization that is known most around baseball for relying on On Base Percentage, the Midland Rockhounds lived up to that organization's name in 2011 as they had the 2nd best OBP in the Texas League overall with a .349 OBP. At first base, in particular, the Rockhounds excelled in plate discipline. They led the league in walks with 73 and their .383 OBP was the tops among first basemen in the league. Michael Spina had nearly all of the games played at first base for Midland as he appeared in 126 games at first base. Spina produced 45 extra base hits over 555 plate appearances and walked 68 times to 107 strikeouts. The 24 year old hit .288/.386/.432/.818 for Midland. Stephen Parker, Adam Heether, and Wes Timmons combined to appear in 17 games at first base as well.

6. Frisco RoughRiders

Statistics: .274/.345/.433/.778 50 Extra Base Hits 77 RBI 64 Runs 54 BB-104 K

Frisco had a good year by most measures, although their production at first base did not live up to that. Frisco had the 6th best OPS in the league, the 7th most RBI, and the least amount of runs in the league from first base. They had tied for the 3rd most extra base hits, however, and their slugging% was the 5th best in the league. Jose Ruiz led the Riders with 101 games played before being promoted to Round Rock. He had 41 extra base hits in 429 plate appearances, including 12 homeruns. Ruiz walked 40 times to 61 strikeouts and hit .281/.352/.457/.809 as a first baseman. Jared Bolden appeared in 21 games, while Jonathan Greene appeared in 16 games as well. Mitch Hilligoss and Matt Leeds each got 1 game there.

7. Tulsa Drillers

Statistics: .236/.295/.396/.692 50 Extra Base Hits 76 RBI 69 Runs 44 BB-137 K

Tulsa Drillers received poor production from first base as the team ranked 7th in RBI, 7th in OPS, 7th in walks, 5th in runs scored, tied for 3rd in extra base hits, and had the worst stolen base percentage among first basemen. Ben Paulsen appeared in 134 games at first base for the Drillers and batted .238/.293/.404/.697 with 18 homeruns, 76 RBI, and 68 runs in 592 plate appearances. James Cesario, Mike Zuanich, and top prospect Wilin Rosario combined for 7 games appeared at first base for the Tulsa Drillers.

8. Arkansas Travelers

Statistics: .239/.298/.358/.656 32 Extra Base Hits 62 RBI 66 Runs 38 BB-114 K

The worst team in the Texas League at first base, the Arkansas Travelers ranked worst in the league in nearly every stat. They had the lowest batting average, the 2nd worst OBP, the worst slugging%, worst OPS, least amount of extra base hits, lowest amount of RBI, tied for 2nd least runs scored, and lowest walk total. Their 186 total bases were the worst amount in the league as well. Like San Antonio, the Travelers had musical chairs going at first base all season. Eight players appeared in at least one game at first base for Arkansas, with Gabe Jacobo leading the pack with 67 games played. Jacobo batted .254/.295/.417/.711 over 209 plate appearances with 20 extra base hits (9 homeruns), 33 RBI, and 31 runs scored. He led the Traveler's first basemen with 12 walks. Dillon Baird, Chris Pettit, Jay Brossman, and Roberto Lopez each appeared in at least 10 games a piece. Orlando Mercado, Jon Townsend, and Adam Younger appeared in a combined 5 games. Of the five players that played in at least 10 games at first for Arkansas, Gabe Jacobo was the only player with an OPS above .700.

Texas League Best of the Best: Catcher

2011-11-28T21:14:00.000-06:00

For the next couple of weeks, I am going to do an article series that rates how the 2011 Texas League teams compared to each other at each position. To begin the series, I will begin with the captain of the field, the catcher position.

Team Rankings: Offense

1. Northwest Arkansas Naturals: .291/.353/.460/.813 48 Extra Base Hits, 83 RBI, 51 R, 38 BB-78 K

The best team in the Texas League North got a big boost at the catcher spot as the team's catchers were the best in the league by quite a wide margin. Salvador Perez led the Natural's catchers with 300 plate appearance as the 21 year old started in Northwest Arkansas at the beginning of 2011 and finished up in Kansas City. In AA, Perez batted .289 with 14 doubles and 9 homeruns in 280 at bats and had a .769 OPS. He batted .333 over 12 games with the Omaha Storm Chasers and hit .333 with 3 homeruns over 158 plate appearances for the Royals. Ben Theriot only had 130 plate appearances for the Naturals, but he batted .322 and had 15 extra base hits, including 5 homeruns. As a catcher, Theriot had a .940 OPS, the best among the Natural's catchers.

2. Tulsa Drillers: .250/.313/.449/.762 49 Extra Base Hits, 62 RBI, 73 R, 43 BB-121 K

The Tulsa Drillers used the fewest catchers among the Texas League teams this season, but the Drillers also got the most homeruns from their catchers, and it wasn't even close. Top prospect Wilin Rosario is a big reason why the Drillers had so many homeruns as the 22 year old catcher followed up his 19 homerun campaign for Tulsa in 2010 with 21 homeruns in 2011. Offensively, he wasn't as sharp in 2011 as 2010, but Rosario was still by far the most powerful catcher in the league. Unfortunatley for Rosario though, the power didn't translate into run production as he drove in just 48 runs. This is due to 16 of his 21 homeruns coming with the bases empty. Rosario also struggled with RISP as he hit just .173 with men in scoring position and just .236 with runners on. Lars Davis was the other catcher that Tulsa used and what Rosario lacked in patience, Davis made up for as the backup catcher hit .255 with a .380 on base percentage and .783 OPS overall. Davis walked 25 times to 37 strikeouts. Over 336 plate appearances in Tulsa the last 2 seasons, Davis has combined for a .393 on base percentage.

3. Springfield Cardinals: .255/.309/.397/.706 41 Extra Base Hits, 71 RBI, 71 R, 39 BB-95 K

The St. Louis Cardinals affiliate used 5 different catchers during the 2011 season with Audry Perez topping the team in plate appearances at the catchers spot with 215. Perez batted .262 with a low .279 OBP, but slugged .432 as he had 21 extra base hits (7 homeruns) in those 215 plate appearances. His .711 OPS was solid, but not anywhere near the team's best offensive catcher, Charles Cutler, who used 175 plate appearances at the position to garner a .327/.389/.478/.867 batting line. Cutler had 12 extra base hits, drove in 22 runs, and scored 29 as well. The 25 year old Cutler holds a career batting line of .305/.385/.412/.797 in the minor leagues. He has had productive periods at every level of the minor leagues. Still, the 22 year old Perez is considered the better prospect of the two, and his minor league line of .289/.319/.473/.792 has something to do with that. Nick Derba, Travis Tartamella, and Steven Hill also saw time at catcher for Springfield and combined for 179 plate appearances between the three of them. Hill's bat has gotten him to the majors, but his defense is a reason he saw more time away from catcher than at catcher.

4. Frisco RoughRiders: .251/.297/.369/.667 36 Extra Base Hits, 62 RBI, 65 R, 29 BB-71 K

Frisco fans watched two different catchers carry most of the weight behind the plate in the 2011 season and I'm not sure that I can put more emphasis on "different". One catcher, Jose Felix, is a 23 year old catcher who's defense is the reason that he's gotten to AA, while the other, Elio Sarmiento, is a 25 year old catcher who's bat the last three years or so has had some success and his defense is not a strong suit. Sarmiento's bat carried the Rider's catchers as the switch hitter batted .278 with 20 extra base hits in 225 plate appearances. Jose Felix hit just .220 with a .535 OPS for the season, and also did seem to take a step back defensively. Both players drove in 27 runs, despite Felix getting 44 more plate appearances. Former major league catcher Robbie Diaz also spent time with Frisco as he rode the shuttle between Frisco and Round Rock in 2011. Diaz batted .306 and had 3 homeruns (2 in one game) in 59 plate appearances.

5. San Antonio Missions: .249/.304/.361/.665 38 Extra Base Hits, 61 RBI, 62 R, 35 BB-119 K

While he didn't make the best impression in Frisco, Ali Solis did produce pretty solidly for the season. Solis batted .267 with a .402 slugging percentage (21 extra base hits in 269 plate appearances) for the league champion San Antonio Missions. The Missions led the league with 8 different catchers used, including 2 former major league catchers, one on rehab (Nick Hundley). Kyle Phillips hit .316 in 81 plate appearances with the Missions. He spent most of three months with the big league club in 2011. While the Missions weren't great at the catcher spot, this might be the last time we see the team this low on the list on offense as San Antonio led the league in runs with 801 (5.72 runs per game).

6. Arkansas Travelers: .246/.301/.332/.633 24 Extra Base Hits, 53 RBI, 45 R, 34 BB-64 K

The Arkansas Travelers used 5 catchers in 2011 and the production from most on offense was not very good. Orlando Mercado did have 13 extra base hits (4 homeruns) and drove in 25 runs, but he also only had 188 plate appearances. His .279 average and .726 OPS were by far the best on the team. Alberto Rosario led the team with 320 plate appearances and it's clear his defense was the reason he played so much, because his .577 OPS was not a reason. Carlos Ramirez, Ikku Sumi, and Jeff Bandy were the other three catchers used and combined for 17 plate appearances.

7. Midland Rockhounds: .212/.308/.297/.605 23 Extra Base Hits, 52 RBI, 59 R, 59 BB-131 K

The only team in the league to have the catchers spot have a higher on base percentage than slugging percentage, the Rockhounds also were the only team in the league to get more than 50 walks from their catchers. Of course it didn't help a lot, because the Rockhounds still got bad production from their catchers as they were the only team in the league (albeit only 8 teams are in the league) to not have a player with a .700+ OPS in 100 or more plate appearances from the catchers spot. Petey Paramore led the Rockhounds with 179 plate appearances as a catcher, while Ryan Ortiz added 173 and Texas League veteran Mitch Canham had 138. Ortiz hit .250 with a .370 on base percentage, but had just a .318 slugging percentage. He had 6 extra base hits in 173 plate appearances. Paramore also hit just .192, but got on base at a .307 clip. His .585 OPS, however, was not good. Canham's .599 was not much better, while Yusuf Carter had a .460 OPS in 68 plate appearances, and Juan Nunez added 1 more plate appearance to give the Rockhounds 559 plate appearances from 5 catchers.

8. Corpus Christi Hooks: .185/.260/.261/.521 21 Extra Base Hits, 50 RBI, 39 R, 48 BB-116 K

It's interesting how the two worst Texas League teams at the catchers spot also were 1-2 in walks, but that's how it works sometimes. The Hooks spent the early part of the season with Federico Hernandez as their starting catcher and the process did not go well. Hernandez batted just .139 with a .426 OPS in 164 plate appearances, including 7 extra base hits. Former Frisco RoughRider Emerson Frostad was second on the Hooks with 148 plate appearances as a catcher. "Frosty" hit .203 with a .311 OBP, but slugged just .234. He had just 4 extra base hits and 6 RBI as a catcher, although he walked 20 times to 25 strikeouts. Chris Wallace was the Hook's best option offensively in 2011 as the 23 year old hit .244 with a .739 OPS in 136 plate appearances. Wallace, taken in the 16th round out of the University of Houston, skipped high-A to reach Corpus Christi. He began in A ball and hit .285 with 33 extra base hits in 275 plate appearances, to bring him to a .902 OPS there. Brian Esposito and Jonathon Fixler combined for 111 plate appearances, 3 extra base hits, and 5 RBI for the Hooks.

Team Rankings: Defense

1. Frisco RoughRiders: 1,074 Putouts, 128 Assists, 14 Double Plays, 7 Passed Balls, 32.3% Thrown Out%, 6 Pickoffs

The Frisco RoughRiders catchers displayed the best defense among the 8 teams in the Texas League in the 2011 season as the Riders got solid defense from both catchers in the 2011 season. They had the 3rd best thrown out %, 2nd most putouts, double plays, and pickoffs, while having the most assists and least amount of passed balls. They were the only team in the league with less than 10 passed balls. Jose Felix had just 2 passed balls in 70 games and threw out 35.6% of the potential basestealers. He also added a pickoff on May 9th. Elio Sarmiento also provided solid protection, although he had 5 passed balls in 57 games. Sarmiento also picked off 5 players throughout the season and threw out 29.4% of potential basestealers. Frisco catchers also had the least amount of stolen base attempts on them of any team in the league, which speaks to respect.

2. Northwest Arkansas Naturals: 982 Putouts, 115 Assists, 12 Double Plays, 12 Passed Balls, 35.6% Thrown Out %, 5 Pickoffs

In the first of what is really five closely contested teams over the next five slots, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals had the best all-around catchers. The Naturals had the best thrown out % and were top 4 in every other important catchers statistic. Their starting catcher, Salvador Perez, was by far the best catcher in the Texas League in terms of shutting down a running game as the catcher threw out 43 of the 90 would be basestealers. His 47.7% thrown out% was the best in the league of those with at least 100 plate appearances. Perez also was among the leaders in pickoffs as the team had 5 total with 4 coming from Perez. With 1 in AAA and 3 in the majors, Perez finished the season with 8 pickoffs. With 115 team assists from the catchers spot, the Naturals were also 3rd in the Texas League behind Frisco and Tulsa.

3. Arkansas Travelers: 940 Putouts, 109 Assists, 10 Double Plays, 10 Passed Balls, 30% Thrown Out%, 10 Pickoffs

The other team from Arkansas, the Arkansas Travelers had five catchers combine to give them the 3rd best defensive catchers in the league. Alberto Rosario, who saw the most time on the roster, displayed very good defense behind the plate and led the league in pickoffs with 7. The Travelers as a whole led the league in pickoffs, were 2nd in passed balls allowed, and committed the second least amount of errors (11).

4. Springfield Cardinals: 1,002 Putouts, 94 Assists, 16 Double Plays, 11 Passed Balls, 31.6% Thrown Out%, 2 Pickoffs

The Springfield Cardinals didn't have one particular starter catch a lot more than any other and due to that they might have been better off. The team finished consistently solid all-around, including a league leading 16 double plays and the 4th best thrown out% with 31.6%. Among the two with the most times behind the plate, Charles Cutler was a better defender than Audry Perez. Nick Derba also provided good defense behind the plate, which is no surprise coming from a player who was listed as the "best defensive catcher" in the Cardinal's system in the 2009 Baseball America Prospect Handbook.

5. Tulsa Drillers: 931 Putouts, 116 Assists, 10 Double Plays, 21 Passed Balls, 33.3% Thrown Out%, 1 Pickoff

The Tulsa Driller's defensive marvels in 2011 were inconsistent as the team was 2nd in assists and thrown out% and had the 2nd least amount of errors, but they also had the 2nd highest total of passed balls and the least amount of pickoffs and putouts. But if you're going to look in directions for who to blame the blame would be more likely to go with Lars Davis than top prospect Wilin Rosario. Armed with a strong arm, Rosario threw out 37.8% of potential basestealers, which was actually his lowest % since 23 games in rookie ball in 2007. Rosario did have 13 passed balls, however, but also had 652 putouts and a league best 82 assists.

6. San Antonio Missions: 1,085 Putouts, 111 Assists, 9 Double Plays, 13 Passed Balls, 29.7% Thrown Out%, 4 Pickoffs

Armed with the 8 catcher brigade, the San Antonio Missions defense from the catcher position was not among the best in the league, although they led the league in putouts. The Mission's 9 double plays were the 2nd lowest total, the thrown out % of 29.7% was the 3rd lowest total, and the 13 passed balls was right in the middle. The Missions catchers also committed tied for the 2nd most errors with 16 on the season. Of those 16, 12 came from Ali Solis, who spent 72 games behind the plate.

7. Corpus Christi Hooks: 1,047 Putouts, 76 Assists, 10 Double Plays, 15 Passed Balls, 17.9% Thrown Out%, 3 Pickoffs

In a season when most went wrong for the Corpus Christi Hooks, the team couldn't get hitting or fielding from an important spot on the field in the captain of the defense. Only the Rockhounds threw out less potential basestealers. Only San Antonio had less double plays. Only Midland and Tulsa had more passed balls than the Hooks. No team had less assists from their catchers than the Hook's 76. Corpus Christi had 4 catchers appear in at least 29 games at catcher and of those 4, only Federico Hernandez threw out more than 20% of the potential basestealers and his was 26%. He also led the team with 7 passed balls which was 1 short of the amount for the rest of the catchers.

8. Midland Rockhounds: 1,006 Putouts, 77 Assists, 5 Double Plays, 27 Passed Balls, 17% Thrown Out%, 2 Pickoffs

No group of catchers was worse in the Texas League than the Midland Rockhounds in 2011. Three different catchers allowed more than 40 steals as the team gave up a league high 166 stolen bases for the season. The team also had the 2nd least amount of assists, the least amount of double plays, the most passed balls, and the most amount of errors with 21. Ryan Ortiz, in particular, was bad as he led the team in errors (9), passed balls (12), and lowest thrown out % (13.5%). Allen, Texas native Petey Paramore gave up 61 stolen bases in 45 games behind the plate. All four of the catchers that caught more than a game, gave up more stolen bases than games played.

- By Michael Damman

Playoffs Game Four: San Antonio Missions (Robbie Erlin) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Adalberto Flores)

2011-09-10T16:21:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Series: San Antonio up 2-1
Starting Pitchers: Adalberto Flores(0-0 0.00 ERA; 5-4 3.32 ERA regular season w/ Frisco) vs. Robbie Erlin (0-0 0.00 ERA; 1-0 1.38 ERA regular season w/ San Antonio)
Season Record vs. San Antonio: 14-21

Loss Puts Frisco on Brink of Elimination: Frisco never led in Friday's game, but tied San Antonio three times before eventually losing the tie and the game for a final time. Neither team scored more than 1 run in an inning in San Antonio's 5-3 victory over the Riders. The loss means Frisco is a loss from being eliminated in the playoffs in 2011. Former Rider Robbie Erlin will take the mound for San Antonio with the chance to eliminate his former team.

Pimentel Struggles With Command Early: It took 55 pitches for Carlos Pimentel to get through 2 innings, which included a 13 pitch battle by Jason Hagerty, who ended up drawing one of 4 walks by Pimentel. Pimentel lasted 4 innings in the start and gave up 2 hits, 4 walks, and 2 runs with 2 strikeouts. He threw 80 pitches, 47 of which went for strikes. He got a no decision in the start after leaving with the game tied 2-2.

Mitch Hilligoss Comes Up Big: The offensive performance of the night for and postseason so far for Frisco, surely goes to Mitch Hilligoss, who finished the game 3 for 5 with a double and 2 RBI. Hilligoss, who had 14 of his 15 extra base hits at home this season, came up with a 0 out game tying RBI single in the 3rd inning after Renny Osuna stole 2nd and wound up at third on a wild pitch. Hilligoss doubled to lead off the 5th inning as Frisco then put 2 on with 0 outs before hitting into a fielders choice and a double play to end the threat. Hilligoss tied the game again with a single to score Jared Bolden in the 7th inning.

Osuna Gets Two Hits: Renny Osuna also broke out of a mild funk with a 2 for 3 game including a RBI, a walk, and a run scored. Osuna batted just .250 over his last 10 games of the regular season and is batting .250 in the postseason through 3 games. The Rider's hits leader has been one of the most consistent producers over the season, however.

Greene Walks Twice: For just the second game this season Jonathan Greene walked more than once in a game. In fact, he walked twice in a row to begin the game, which was a first for him. No matter who the player is, it's rare to have 2 walks in a row, but the fact that it was only the 2nd time he walked at least twice in a game this season is quite amazing. Greene hit .292 during the regular season and had 2 hits, including a double, in Frisco's 2-1 win over San Antonio in game two. He went 0 for 2 with the 2 walks on Friday.

Erlin Takes Mound in Game Four: It was fate really that the Riders playoff hopes would come down to beating former teammates Robbie Erlin and/or Joe Wieland. The moment that both were traded to San Diego on July 31st, Frisco had to know that the Mission's already strong rotation just got even stronger. Beating them in the postseason would have been a difficult task with Erlin and Wieland, let alone going up against the tough Missions and the two pitchers. Erlin, who went 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in 6 starts for San Antonio, finished the 2011 season with a 9-4 record and a 2.99 ERA between high-A and AA. Erlin had a remarkable 154-16 K-BB ratio during the regular season, including a 92 K-11 BB ratio in 17 games/16 starts in the Texas League for the Frisco RoughRiders and San Antonio Missions. Erlin faced Frisco in Dr. Pepper Ballpark on August 8th and gave up 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings with 9 strikeouts and 0 walks. He picked up a no-decision in the start.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Sandwich, MA!

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

Playoffs Game Three: San Antonio Missions (Casey Kelly) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel)

2011-09-09T16:16:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Series: Tied 1-1
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (0-0 0.00 ERA; 7-9 4.74 ERA regular season w/ Frisco) vs. Casey Kelly (0-0 0.00 ERA; 11-6 3.98 ERA regular season w/ San Antonio)
Season Record vs. San Antonio: 14-20

Frisco Comes Home Tied 1-1: Like Wednesday the storyline on Thursday was the pitching of the Frisco RoughRiders and the San Antonio Missions. Unlike Wednesday, however, it was the Frisco RoughRiders who came home as the victors in the game. A 2 run 4th inning was just what Frisco needed to come back to Dr. Pepper Ballpark and a likely electric crowd tied 1-1 with a chance to seal it in Frisco. The Riders are 7-7 in their last 14 games against the Missions since beginning the season 7-13 against them. With already one win under their belt on the road against the Missions, the momentum has to be with Frisco right now as the team won just 5 games in San Antonio over 16 road games.

Snyder Struggles Early, Recovers Terrifically: Ben Snyder threw 63 pitches over the first 3 innings, but was able to escape a 2 on, 2 out jam in the 1st inning, a bases loaded 2 out jam in the 2nd inning, and a 2 on 2 out jam in the 3rd inning to preserve the shutout through 3 innings. Snyder then settled in and was able to go 6 innings in the start without allowing a run. Snyder gave up 3 hits and 4 walks with 4 strikeouts against a tough, patient San Antonio Misisons lineup.

Middle of the Order Proves Key: I stated it before the series that I thought that the Rider's key to winning the series against San Antonio was the middle of the order and on Thursday they proved that once again. Jonathan Greene went 2 for 4 with a double and a RBI, Tommy Mendonca went 2 for 4 with a double, and Mike Bianucci added a hit and a run in 4 at bats. After going 0 for 9 with 5 strikeouts on Wednesday, they went 5 for 12 with two doubles on Thursday. The trio produced most of the damage from the Frisco RoughRiders in the regular season and will need to continue that the next two or three nights for Frisco to win.

Players to Watch on Friday: It would be nice to see Davis Stoneburner's bat get going. The infielder had a productive season for Frisco in 2011 and when his bat is going strong it makes the Rider's tough to beat... Frisco continues to struggle with RISP as of late. Frisco is just 2 for 12 with RISP in the two games so far after going into a tailspin in such situations since the All-star break... Vincent Belnome hit Frisco very well during the regular season, but is batting just .200 early on in this postseason series. Frisco needs to continue to hold his bat down as he is one of San Antonio's best run producers...It will be interesting to see if San Antonio continues to have Ali Solis catch in Frisco. The Texas League All-star catcher has hit very poorly in Frisco this season despite a pretty decent season overall at the plate.

Pimentel Looks to Continue Productive Starts Lately: Carlos Pimentel doesn't always look like he is going to pitch well out there on the mound, but lately it hasn't really mattered because he has. The 22 year old right hander finished off an up and down season with a spurt of 6 starts where he posted a 1.60 ERA. Over his last two starts against the Missions, Pimentel is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA as he has gone 6 innings in both starts. In fact, Carlos Pimentel has pitched better against the San Antonio Missions than most pitchers could say in 2011. Pimentel has made 7 appearances against San Antonio and is 2-0 with a 2.97 ERA in those appearances. Considering San Antonio has had arguably the best offense in the Texas League from start to finish, that is quite impressive from the right hander.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Bear, DE!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Playoff Game Two: Frisco RoughRiders (Ben Snyder) @ San Antonio Missions (Simon Castro)

2011-09-08T16:51:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium (San Antonio, TX)
Series: San Antonio up 1-0
Starting Pitchers: Ben Snyder (0-0 0.00 ERA; 11-5 3.87 ERA regular season w/ Frisco) vs. Simon Castro (0-0 0.00 ERA; 5-6 4.33 ERA regular season w/ San Antonio)
Season Record vs. San Antonio: 13-20

Missions Take Game One in Pitching Duel: The stage was set on Wednesday for a terrific possible pitching matchup and the two teams lived up to those expectations with flying colors. Joe Wieland navigated his way through 7 outstanding innings for the Missions, while Robbie Ross set a career high for strikeouts in the start. Together the two went head to head as well as any pitching matchup this season. In the end, however, it was one mistake by Robbie Ross that nailed the coffin closed and literately just one mistake. Frisco fell 3-0 to the Missions with all 3 runs coming in the 6th inning or later.

Ross Outstanding for Frisco: Robbie Ross was as good as any pitcher in the Texas League down the stretch and on Wednesday he was no different. Ross struggled with command at times as he walked 4 batters in a start for the first time all year. In fact, in his 6 starts for Frisco prior to the start, Ross had only walked 5 batters combined. Ross did, however, strikeout a career best 12 batters and gave up just 1 hit, a RBI double to Cody Decker, over 6 strong innings. Ross went pitch for pitch against former teammate and good friend Joe Wieland in the start until one mistake gave San Antonio the lead and the momentum. Ross made 107 pitches, 63 of which were for strikes.

Strikeouts Galore: Pitching was definitely the story in the first game of the playoffs between the two best teams in the Texas League this season. And the best way to tell was the amount of strikeouts that took place in Nelson Wolff Stadium. There were nine players that struck out 2 times or more in the game, including two with 3 strikeouts. Frisco's Tommy Mendonca and San Antonio's Ali Solis were a combined 0 for 7 with 6 strikeouts in the game. The only starters who did not strikeout in the game were Renny Osuna, Mitch Hilligoss, Mike Bianucci, Jared Bolden, Blake Tekotte, and Dean Anna. There were only 6 combined hits in the game as well and for the majority of the game Frisco led in hits.

Snyder Brings Road Record to San Antonio: Ben Snyder takes the mound for Frisco tonight and with him will be his 7-0 record with a 1.96 ERA away from Dr. Pepper Ballpark. Obviously statistics from the regular season mean nothing at this point, however, it should still be watched for. Snyder has pitched considerably better on the road than at home and he pitched especially good down the stretch for the Riders. Snyder has won three consecutive starts as well, including an August 23rd start against the Missions where he gave up 2 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings. Snyder has made 147 pitches over his last 14 innings picking up two victories against the Midland Rockhounds and the Corpus Christi Hooks on the road.

Yan extends First Pitch Streak and Ends it: Johan Yan extended his first pitch strike streak to 23 batters on Wednesday before throwing a first pitch ball to Sawyer Carroll in the 8th inning.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Goodfood, MS!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Playoffs Game One: Frisco RoughRiders (Robbie Ross) @ San Antonio Missions (Joe Wieland)

2011-09-07T18:40:00.005-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium (San Antonio, TX)
Series: Tied 0-0
Starting Pitchers: Robbie Ross (0-0 0.00 ERA; 1-1 2.61 ERA regular season w/ Frisco) vs. Joe Wieland (0-0 0.00 ERA; 3-1 2.77 ERA regular season w/ San Antonio)
Season Record vs. San Antonio: 13-19

Frisco Faces Former Starter: One of the big story lines in the postseason series between Frisco and San Antonio will be that of the Riders going up against their former teammates Joe Wieland (tonight's starter) and Robbie Erlin (game 3 starter). Both pitchers began the 2011 season in Myrtle Beach, the high-A minor league team of the Texas Rangers. Joe Wieland made his first AA start for Frisco on June 27th against the Corpus Christi Hooks after using his dominant command to navigate his way through the Carolina League. Wieland gave up 6 hits and 1 run over 5 strong innings with 5 strikeouts and a usual 0 walks in his Frisco debut against the Hooks. Over 7 starts for the Riders, Wieland went 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA over 44 innings. Wieland gave up 35 hits, 11 walks, and struck out 36 batters. His stay in Frisco was culminated by his July 29th start against his current team, the San Antonio Missions, when Wieland threw a no-hitter against the Missions. Wieland was traded by the Texas Rangers on July 31st along with Robbie Erlin to the San Diego Padres in exchange for major league reliever Mike Adams. A strong San Antonio Missions rotation got a lot stronger at the deadline in exchange for a stronger Texas Ranger's team.

Ross Has Been Bonafide: While there was a lot of talk about the two arms going to San Diego, and rightfully so, there is one pitcher who has been able to step up and fill the shoes of one of those two arms, at least at the AA level. Robbie Ross, the starter for Frisco against Joe Wieland in game one tonight, has been as good as any starter in the Texas League since being promoted from Myrtle Beach and yet has somewhat gone under the radar. Over his 6 starts for Frisco, Ross has compiled a 2.66 ERA with a 1-1 record and has gone 7 innings in three of the six starts. Like Wieland and Erlin, Ross has had exceptional control this year and it hasn't gone away in AA. In his 38 innings pitched, Ross has walked just 5 batters and has struck out 36. Ross also has given up 33 hits leading to a 1.00 WHIP in AA. Left handed hitters are batting just .143 against the southpaw compared to the .267 average that right handed batters have against him. Part of the reason for the success has been Ross's exceptional production when facing runners on base. When runners are on base, opponents have just a .504 OPS against Ross in the 6 starts. Granted the sample size is small, but even in high-A it was .621.

Offense Will be Key: Obviously in baseball (and most sports outside of maybe golf), you have to score more than the other team to win. And with this series, Frisco will need to score runs and plenty of them. Matchups wise Frisco probably does not have the advantage from a starting pitching standpoint as San Antonio will throw three legitimate potential major league arms in the first three games against Frisco and then also has two or three more of them that could start, but might not. Frisco has not done well against San Antonio's pitching this season as the Riders carry a team batting line of .240/.296/.356/.652 against the Missions this season. If Frisco is to advance against San Antonio, they will need to get their big bats going against the Mission's pitching. Tommy Mendonca, Jonathan Greene, and Mike Bianucci, who combined for 73 homeruns and 251 RBI this season, had just 12 homeruns and 43 RBI against the Missions this season in 32 games. Only Bianucci had an OPS above .700 against the Missions and he was the only one of the three players to have an OPS under .800 this season. Mendonca and Greene combined for 51 hits, 22 extra base hits, 13 walks, and 78 strikeouts this season against San Antonio.

San Antonio, however, has not done a whole lot better against Frisco pitching this season as the Mission's, who scored 20 or more runs three times in the month of April, hit just .237/.328/.365/.692 against Frisco this season. Frisco is also 6-6 against the Missions in their last 12 games, although most of that came without one of San Antonio's best hitters, Vincent Belnome, who was hurt during that time. Belnome hit .327/.431/.655/1.085 against Frisco during the regular season when he was healthy and the left handed hitter is back healthy again. His impact, however, may be negated as Andy Parrino is now in the major leagues. Parrino put up a 1.157 OPS, including a .484 on base percentage in 14 games against Frisco this season.

Yan Finishes Strong: Johan Yan faced 4 batters in the last game on Monday and threw first pitch strikes to all four of them. With the four, Yan extended his consecutive first pitch strikes to 20 straight batters. In 19 appearances for Frisco, Yan went 0-0 with 2 saves and a microscopic 0.34 ERA. His WHIP with Frisco is 1.01 this season as well. Overall for the season, Yan finished 5-3 in 45 appearances with a 1.06 ERA. He gave up 51 hits, 22 walks, and struck out 66 batters over 68 innings pitched.

Frisco Faces History: The San Antonio Missions come into the playoffs after finishing the season with 94 wins. Not only were the wins the most by a team in the Texas League this year, but they were the most wins by a team since the Texas League went to a 140 game schedule in the early 1960s. That is an impressive win total for a major league team and probably good enough to get a team to the postseason most of the years. In the minor leagues, 94 wins is off the charts good.

2011 By the Numbers

509,331: The number of people to attend a Frisco RoughRider's home game this season. Once again, Frisco led the Texas League and AA baseball in attendance.

39,474: Pitches Seen by both Frisco and their opponents combined.

8,023: Strikeout total in the Texas League in 2011, which is a league record.

2,236: Pitches that Renny Osuna saw in 2011, which was the most on the team. Osuna averaged 3.91 pitches per plate appearance.

1,031: Amount of homeruns hit by the Texas League, which is the second most in the history of the league.

431: Amount of wins by the Texas Ranger's minor league system this year.

347: Hit total that Renny Osuna has in his career for the Frisco RoughRiders.

321: The amount of strikeouts by Jonathan Greene and Tommy Mendonca this season, the most by teammates in the history of the Texas League.

77: Total Starts that Frisco received from their starting pitcher with a game score of 50 or above this season.

56.1: Percentage of times that Tommy Mendonca swung at the first pitch in 2011, a team high.

20: Extra base hit total by catcher Elio Sarmiento, which is a career best for the switch hitting catcher.

19: The run total by Frisco on July 22nd against the Corpus Christi Hooks. The game featured 24 hits by Frisco, including 8 homeruns, both of which were franchise highs for a single game. Tommy Mendonca was the story of the game with 3 homeruns himself.

14: Number of strikeouts by pitcher Robbie Erlin, a Frisco RoughRider's single game record, on June 26th.

7: Winning streak total by the Round Rock Express (April 16th-22nd) and the Hickory Crawdads (June 11th-18th), the longest by a Texas Ranger's affiliate this season.

5: Amount of splash balls hit at Dr. Pepper Ballpark this season, which is by far the most in team history for a single season. It also is the amount of months that Frisco had with a winning record. After the 8-14 start in April, Frisco didn't seem to be heading very far, but they quickly turned it around with an 18-10 May and finished with a .602 winning% from May 1st to the end of the season.

2: Number of no-hitters or perfect games by a Frisco pitcher this season. Martin Perez threw a rain shortened 5 inning perfect game on April 19th and Joe Wieland mastered the San Antonio Missions for a no-hitter on July 29th.

5/12: No, that's not 5/12ths, that is 5/12 as in May 12th the day that Leonys Martin made his AA debut for Frisco when the outfielder went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, a RBI, and a stolen base. He finished with a .348/.435/.571/1.007 batting line for Frisco in 29 games before being promoted to AAA and eventually the big leagues. He was an impact bat for Frisco and gave the Rider's a big jolt when they needed it most.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Possum Trot, KY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 140: Midland Rockhounds (Sonny Gray) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Kyle Hendricks)

2011-09-05T13:55:00.000-05:00

Time: 6:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (39-30 5 games back in the Texas League South; 79-60 overall)... Midland Rockhounds (35-34 9 games back in the Texas League South; 62-77 overall)
Streak: Won 5 in a row
Last 10: 8-2
Homestand: 2-0
Series Record: 21-14-4
2011 Record against Midland: 18-9
All-Time Record against Midland: 121-106
Record on September 5th since 2004: 2-2
Starting Pitchers: Kyle Hendricks (0-0 0.00) vs. Sonny Gray (1-0 0.00)

Frisco Defeats Midland, Takes Final Regular Season Series: The Riders guaranteed another series win on Sunday with a 4-3 come from behind victory over the Midland Rockhounds. Frisco got solid pitching from Flores and Jake Brigham and got a key 2 RBI single from Mike Bianucci. Frisco remains a possibility for 80 wins this season and remains hot as the team rolls into the postseason beginning on Wednesday. Frisco is 12-3 in their last 15 games and improved their record to 71-46 (.607 winning%) since May 1st.

Flores Goes 5 in Second Start: Adalberto Flores doubled the length of his first start and extended through 5 innings of solid pitching against the Midland Rockhounds. Flores gave up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs (2 earned) with a strikeout as well. In what was his last appearance of the regular season for Frisco, Flores finished with 81 1/3 innings pitched, 72 hits given up, 38 walks, and 80 strikeouts. His 80 strikeouts mark a career best as do the innings pitched. In 141 2/3 innings for Frisco over the last 2 seasons, Adalberto has struck out 141 batters.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 17 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 4 Called- 0 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 7 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 Hit
2: 21 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 4 Called- 2 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 8 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit- 1 ROE
3: 15 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 6 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit
4: 6 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 0 Balls- 3 BPIP
5: 17 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 6 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits

Total: 76 Pitches- 49 Strikes- 15 Called- 3 Swinging- 11 Fouls- 27 Balls- 20 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB- 5 Hits- 1 ROE

Middle of the Order Production: For the second consecutive game, the middle of the order produced like they have for much of the season. Tommy Mendonca, Mike Bianucci, and Jonathan Greene, the 3 through 5 hitters in the Rider's lineup combined to go 5 for 12 with 2 RBI. All three hitters have at least a .773 OPS and two of the three are above .800. Mike Bianucci's 2 RBI give him the team lead now in RBI with 88 as he went 1 up on Tommy Mendonca, who has 87.

Bottom of the Order's Patience: While the middle of the order produced the hits, it was the bottom of the order that produced the patience and had key at bats. Engel Beltre, Jose Felix, and Jared Bolden, the team's 7 through 9 hitters combined to go 1 for 5 with 4 walks, a sac bunt, and a sac fly. They also had a RBI and 2 run scored. Jared Bolden, batting 9th, went 0 for 0 with 2 walks and a sacrifice fly. For Jose Felix it was just his 10th walk of the season, while it was Engel Beltre's 12th walk since August 1st.

Brigham Comes Through Big: Jake Brigham provided outstanding relief in the game as he breezed through his first 3 innings of relief. Brigham did hit a wall in the 9th inning after he loaded the bases with 1 out and just a 1 run lead. However, Brigham struck out both Matt Sulentic and Grant Green swinging to end the game. Brigham now has 114 strikeouts this season, which is best on the team by 4 over Carlos Pimentel's 110. Brigham did struggle to get ahead of the batters as he threw first pitch strikes to just 6 of the 16 batters he faced. Overall, as a reliever his first pitch strike% has been a less than stellar 45.7%. He is the only reliever for Frisco this season, no matter how many appearances, to have a first pitch strike% under 50%.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 1,022 homeruns in 1,106 games

Term of the Day: Horn- A mythical award given to a batter who strikes out six times in a game.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Midland Rockhounds 10-5 on the road. Travis Chick started for Frisco and gave up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs over 5 innings with 3 strikeouts. Tyler Tufts pitched 2 shutout innings of relief, while Mark Hamburger gave up 2 runs in 2 innings of relief. Renny Osuna led Frisco with a 2 for 4 game including 3 RBI. Emerson Frostad also went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI for the Rider's. Andy Jenkins added a 3 for 5 game with a double and a RBI. Marcus Lemon went 1 for 2 with a double and 3 walks. Guilder Rodriguez added a 2 for 3 game with a walk. Engel Beltre and Joey Butler each added a hit in the game.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Hazard, KY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 139: Midland Rockhounds (Sonny Gray) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Adalberto Flores)

2011-09-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

Time: 6:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (38-30 5 games back in the Texas League South; 78-60 overall)... Midland Rockhounds (35-33 8 games back in the Texas League South; 62-76 overall)
Streak: Won 4 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Homestand: 1-0
Series Record: 21-14-4
2011 Record against Midland: 17-9
All-Time Record against Midland: 120-106
Record on September 4th since 2004: 2-3

Starting Pitchers: Adalberto Flores (5-4 3.30 ERA) vs. Sonny Gray (1-0 0.00 ERA)

Frisco Takes Lead Early, Cruises to Victory over Midland: Frisco scored on 3 wild pitches and took a commanding 9-1 lead through 5 innings before holding on for a 9-4 victory over the Midland Rockhounds. Frisco's win keeps them within the realm of possibility of 80 wins for the season as they are at 78 wins with 2 games to go. The 5 run victory was Frisco's largest margin of victory since a 10-3 win over the Tulsa Drillers on August 14th.

Pimentel Effectively Wild In Victory: Carlos Pimentel kept his recent streak of solid pitching alive despite giving up 4 walks, 2 hit batters, and a wild pitch over 5 2/3 innings. Pimentel gave up just 3 hits, 1 unearned run, and had 5 strikeouts as well. Over his last 6 starts, Pimentel is 3-1 with a 1.60 ERA.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 20 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 8 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 HBP- 1 Swinging K
2: 7 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 1 Ball- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
3: 24 Pitches- 14 Strikes- 3 Called- 3 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 10 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 BB- 2 Hits
4: 22 Pitches- 14 Strikes- 4 Called- 3 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 7 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 HBP- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB- 1 Hit- 1 ROE
5: 18 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 0 Called- 1 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 9 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
6: 17 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 0 Called- 3 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 9 Balls- 1 BPIP- 1 Swinging- 1 BB

Total: 108 Pitches- 62 Strikes- 11 Called- 13 Swinging- 22 Fouls- 44 Balls- 16 BPIP- 2 HBP- 1 Called K- 4 Swinging K- 4 BB- 3 Hits- 1 ROE

Bianucci Reaches 60 XBH: Mike Bianucci has been struggling lately, but on Saturday Frisco's leading homerun hitter had a breakout 3 for 4 game with 2 singles and a double. His double marked his 60th extra base hit of the season, which leads Frisco's offense this season. Bianucci's 2 RBI also marked the first time he drove in a run since August 26th.

Top 5 Frisco RoughRider's Extra Base Hit Totals

1. 64- Steve Murphy (2008)
2. 62- Nate Gold (2006)
3. 60- Mike Bianucci (2011)
4. 60- Kevin Mahar (2006)
5. 59- German Duran (2007)

Greene Reaches Base Three Times: Jonathan Greene went 2 for 3 at the plate for Frisco with a double and was hit by pitch for the 19th time of the season. Greene is 1 hit by pitch from reaching 20 for the third time in four seasons and one double from reaching 30 for the first time in his career.

Overall Middle of the Order Production: Between Bianucci, Greene, and Tommy Mendonca, the Rider's 3 through 5 hitters combined to go 7 for 11 and reached base 8 times overall. The trio has combined for 75 homeruns and 248 RBI this season. They have more homeruns combined than the entire Frisco RoughRider's team had last season. The RBI are most by a Rider's trio in team history.

Century Sombero: As noted in the pressbox last night, Engel Beltre struck out three times last night to cross the 100 mark. In baseball, if a player strikes out 3 times in a game it is considered a "sombrero". With Beltre crossing the 100 mark, Frisco now has 4 players with 100 strikeouts for the first time in team history. Frisco had never had more than 2 players with 100 or more strikeouts in a single season before.

Johan Yan Continues Command: Johan Yan may not have the excellent command overall that you would like to see, but Yan has thrown first pitch strikes to 16 consecutive batters spanning three outings. Yan pitched 2/3 of an inning of relief in the 9th inning last night to close out the game.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 1,014 homeruns in 1,098 Games

Term of the Day: Make it look harder than it is- To make a routine play look spectacular, sometimes stemming from ineptness or the urge to show off.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Midland Rockhounds 5-0 on the road. Richard Bleier started for Frisco and gave up 2 hits and struck out 1 batter over 3 shutout innings. Beau Jones picked up the win with 4 innings of scoreless relief, while Fabio Castillo pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief. Guilder Rodriguez led Frisco's offense with a 3 for 4 game including a double and 3 runs scored. Andy Jenkins went 2 for 4 with a RBI for the Riders. Jose Felix added a 2 for 4 game with a double, while Emerson Frostad went 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Marcus Lemon and Renny Osuna each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Gripe, AZ!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 138: Midland Rockhounds (Anthony Capra) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel) ---TV Game---

2011-09-03T14:23:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (37-30 5 games back in the Texas League South; 77-60 overall)... Midland Rockhounds (35-32 7 games back in the Texas League South; 62-75 overall)
Streak: Won 3 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Road Trip: 5-2
Series Record: 21-14-4
2011 Record against Midland: 16-9
All-Time Record against Midland: 119-106
Record on September 3rd since 2004: 6-0
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (6-9 4.94 ERA) vs. Anthony Capra (1-6 5.26 ERA)

Riders Defeat Hooks, Take Series: For the third game in a row, Frisco rallied to defeat the Corpus Christi Hooks late in the game. This time it came a bit earlier, as Frisco scored 3 runs in the 6th inning to defeat the Hooks 3-1 on the heels of another tremendous pitching performance from southpaw Ben Snyder. Frisco now comes home for the final regular season series against the Midland Rockhounds knowing that they are in the playoffs next week.

Snyder Goes 7 Strong Again: For the second consecutive outing, Ben Snyder went 7 outstanding innings while maintaining a pitch count under 80 pitches. Over his past 2 starts, Ben Snyder has pitched 14 innings on just 147 pitches, including 100 strikes (68% strike%). He gave up 4 hits and 1 run, while he struck out 3 batters and did not issue a walk. Snyder earned his 11th win of the season, including his 14th as a Frisco RoughRider. Over his past 6 starts, Snyder is 3-2 with a 2.56 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. On the road this season, Snyder is 7-0 with a 1.96 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. If Frisco were to go with the scheduled regular starter in the playoffs, Snyder would be starting in the second game on the road against the San Antonio Missions. Over his past 3 starts against San Antonio, Snyder is 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 11 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 3 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 ROE
2: 10 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 4 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 2 Balls- 3 BPIP
3: 8 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 1 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 2 Balls- 3 BPIP
4: 14 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 3 Called- 4 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 3 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 2 Hits
5: 13 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 1 Called- 2 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit
6: 11 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 5 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Hit
7: 12 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 4 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K

Total: 79 Pitches- 56 Strikes- 15 Called- 10 Swinging- 10 Fouls- 23 Balls- 21 BPIP- 3 Swinging K- 4 Hits- 1 ROE

Beltre's Big Game: Engel Beltre may have only seen 4 pitches on Friday, but he made good use of those 4 pitches as the enigmatic outfielder went 2 for 4 at the plate with a triple and a single. Beltre also added his 16th stolen base of the season and scored his 7th run in his last 10 games. Over the last 10 games, Beltre is batting .265 with a .359 OBP and is 3 for 3 in stolen base attempts. In the second half of the season, Beltre is 13 for 17 in steal attempts after going just 3 for 5 in the first half.

Hilligoss Gets an Extra Base Hit: For the first time as a Frisco RoughRider this season, Mitch Hilligoss hit an extra base hit on the road. Hilligoss, who had hit his first 14 extra base hits at home, finished up a 7 for 27 road trip by going 1 for 3 with a double and a sacrifice bunt. The double was his 10th double in 50 games for Frisco. Hilligoss also has 2 triples and 3 homeruns. He is batting .286/.351/.548/.899 at Dr. Pepper Ballpark this season compared to .248/.276/.257/.534 on the road.

Greene Drives in 75th: Jonathan Greene became the third player on Frisco this season with 75 or more RBI when he reached on an error with nobody out in the 6th inning. Greene finished 0 for 4 with his 160th strikeout of the season as well, a first for a Frisco RoughRider. Greene is two homeruns shy of 20 homeruns for the season as well with three games to go.

Bianucci Hit for 12th time: Mike Bianucci is one of four Frisco RoughRider's who have been hit by at least 10 pitches this season, which matches the amount of players they had in team history entering 2011. Bianucci was hit for the 12th time on Friday, which marked the 81st time a Frisco RoughRider's hitter has been hit by a pitch. The previous high in team history was 77 coming in 2004. Greene leads the team with 18 hit by pitches this season, which is the most in team history in a single season. Greene was not new to being hit by pitches, however, as he was hit by 36 pitches in 2008 for Clinton, which is still a Midwest League record.

Texas League Breaks Record: Last season the Texas League set a league record for strikeouts in a season with 7,829. On Friday night, the 2011 Texas League surpassed that record with 56 strikeouts to get to 7,844 for the season. The Rider's Jonathan Greene leads the Texas League with 160 strikeouts this season, while teammate Tommy Mendonca is second in the league with 155 and Mike Bianucci is fifth in the league with 131 strikeouts. There are 14 players with 100 or more strikeouts this season in the Texas League. The Tulsa Drillers (1,082) and San Antonio Missions (1,062) both have more than 1,000 strikeouts this season as a team. At least three more teams are likely to cross the 1,000 mark before the season is all said and done.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 1,003 homeruns in 1,090 games

Term of the Day: Record Book- 1. The official document in which all numbers and statisitcs of players, clubs, and leagues are kept. The term is often used in the plural. 2. A mythical document containing such records.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks 2-1 on the road. Danny Gutierrez started for Frisco and earned the win after giving up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts over 6 shutout innings. Adalberto Flores gave up 1 unearned run in 1 inning of relief, while Tim Murphy pitched 2 scoreless relief innings for the save. Renny Osuna led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 4 game including a double and a run scored. Andy Jenkins went 1 for 4 for the Riders with a double. Johnny Whittleman and Elio Sarmiento each went 1 for 3 in the game as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Dinosaur, CO!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 137: Frisco RoughRiders (Ben Snyder) @ Corpus Christi Hooks (Erick Abreu)

2011-09-02T13:54:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Whataburger Field (Corpus Christi, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (36-30 6 games back in the Texas League South; 76-60 overall)... Corpus Christi Hooks (25-41 17 games back in the Texas League South; 50-86 overall)
Streak: Won 2 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Road Trip: 4-2
Series Record: 20-14-4
2011 Record against Corpus Christi: 17-14
All-Time Record against Corpus Christi: 112-103
Record on September 2nd since 2004: 4-2
Starting Pitchers: Ben Snyder (10-5 4.03 ERA) vs. Erick Abreu (6-7 4.51 ERA)

Osuna Leads Frisco Over Corpus Christi Again: A night after hitting a grand slam in the 8th inning, it was Osuna's bases clearing double with the bases loaded in the 8th inning that gave Frisco their second 9th win in their last 12 games. Frisco defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks 4-1 on Thursday to guarantee a split and a season series victory over the last place Corpus Christi Hooks.

Ramirez Has Hooks Fishing: Neil Ramirez was as good as he has been for Frisco on Thursday as the right hander gave up 3 hits, 2 walks, and a run over 4 2/3 innings with 7 strikeouts, the most he's had since striking out 9 on June 5th for the Round Rock Express. Despite making only 79 pitches, Ramirez got the Hooks hitters to swing and miss at 18 of the pitches, which is the 2nd most by a Frisco RoughRider this season. Only Robbie Erlin had more in a start when he got the Hooks to swing and miss 22 times in the game where he struck out 14 batters. In 6 starts for Frisco, Ramirez has given up 13 hits, walked 8, and struck out 24 batters over 19 innings.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 9 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 4 Swinging- 1 Foul- 1 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K
2: 14 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 4 Called- 3 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 5 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Called K
3: 23 Pitches- 19 Strikes- 2 Called- 6 Swinging- 7 Fouls- 4 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Hits
4: 20 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 4 Called- 4 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 7 Balls- 0 BPIP- 2 Called K- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB
5: 13 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 Hit

Total: 79 Pitches- 58 Strikes- 14 Called- 18 Swinging- 16 Fouls- 21 Balls- 10 BPIP- 5 Called K- 2 Swinging K- 2 BB- 3 Hits

Osuna Strikes Again: The day after hitting a grand slam, it was Renny Osuna's 3 RBI double in the 8th inning that gave Frisco the lead and win again. Osuna finished just 1 for 4 in the game, but the hit was the deciding factor in the game. Osuna also scored the 4th run when he came home on a Mitch Hilligoss single after hitting the double. Osuna now has 11 RBI over his last 5 games, including 8 in the first 3 games of this series with Corpus Christi. For the season, Osuna is batting a team leading .301 with 23 doubles, 10 homeruns, 64 RBI, and 70 runs scored. With the 70 runs, Osuna is now the 4th Frisco batter with 70 or more runs this season, which marks a first in team history.

Sarmiento, Bolden Multiple Hits: Elio Sarmiento and Jared Bolden each went 2 for 4 in the game for Frisco as Sarmiento knocked his 11th double of the season and 20th extra base hit of the season, a first in his career. Jared Bolden had his 5th multi hit game for Frisco in 17 games for the Riders.

Stoneburner Gets On Twice: For the third game in a row, Davis Stoneburner took a walk and it marked the fourth time in five games that Stoneburner has gotten on base at least twice. Stoneburner used the two times on base to steal second base twice in the game and he scored his 63rd run of the season as well on the double by Renny Osuna. Stoneburner is currently riding a 9 game hitting streak as well as a 15 game road on base streak.

Taking Relief to Heart: Richard Bleier continues to roll as a reliever this season. The 24 year old southpaw earned the win on Thursday with 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief, which extended his scoreless relief effort to 10 2/3 innings. As a reliever this season, Bleier has made 18 appearances over 33 innings. He has given up 31 hits, walked 6 batters, struck out 22, and has a 2.45 ERA. He is 4-2 as a reliever as well. He has inherited 10 runners and 3 of those have scored.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 1,001 homeruns in 1,082 games (0.925 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Run Support Index- An adjusted measure of a pitcher's average run support, proposed by CHris Jaffe at a research presentation during the 34th national convention of the Society for American Baseball Research, July 2004.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks 8-7 on the road in 12 innings. Clayton Hamilton started for Frisco and gave up 4 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run over 1 1/3 innings with 1 strikeout. Michael Schlact gave up 6 runs over 3 1/3 innings of relief. Fabio Castillo pitched 1 1/3 innings of shutout relief, while Mark Hamburger and Chris Mobley combined for 5 innings of scoreless relief. Mobley picked up the win, while Tyler Tufts pitched a scoreless 12th inning for the save. Joey Butler led Frisco's offense with a 4 for 5 game including a double, 2 RBI, and a walk. Marcus Lemon and Renny Osuna each went 3 for 7 for the Riders. Guilder Rodriguez added a 2 for 4 game with a walk, while Jose Felix went 2 for 6 with a RBI. Andy Jenkins, Emerson Frostad, and Engel Beltre each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Shoulderblade, KY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 136: Frisco RoughRiders (Neil Ramirez) @ Corpus Christi Hooks (Jake Buchanan)

2011-09-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Whataburger Field (Corpus Christi, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (35-30 6 games back in the Texas League South; 75-60 overall)... Corpus Christi Hooks (25-40 16 games back in the Texas League South; 50-85 overall)
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Road Trip: 3-2
Series Record: 20-14-4
2011 Record against Corpus Christi: 16-14
All-Time Record against Corpus Christi: 111-103
Record on September 1st since 2004: 2-6
Starting Pitchers: Neil Ramirez (1-0 1.88 ERA) vs. Jake Buchanan (0-0 0.00 ERA)

Grand Slam Carries Rider's Past Hooks: Frisco took a 2-0 lead into the 6th inning on Wednesday, but gave up 2 runs in the 6th and 3 runs in the 7th inning to the Hooks. With 6 outs remaining, Frisco got a rally in the 8th inning capped by a 2 out Grand Slam by Renny Osuna, who was not even in the starting lineup for Frisco. Frisco held on for the 6-5 victory over the Hooks despite a Hooks rally in the 9th inning where they loaded the bases with 2 outs. Frisco's 35th victory of the second half guaranteed at least a .500 second half and was their 75th win of the season, which marks Frisco's highest win total since 2008 when the Rider's won 84 games and lost in the championship to Arkansas. The team's 75 wins are the 4th highest total in the 9 years of the team's existence.

Ross Solid In No-Decision: Robbie Ross started out very strong by striking out the first two hitters he faced and he did not give up a run until the 6th inning, when the southpaw gave up a 2 out double to David Flores to score T.J. Steele from second, who had a 1 out double. Ross left the game with Flores on second, who later scored against Corey Young via an error by third baseman Mitch Hilligoss, who started the game at second base. Ross's final line was: 5 2/3 IP 6 H 2 R 1 ER 2 BB 6 K. In 6 starts for Frisco, Ross has pitched 38 innings and given up 33 hits and 5 walks with 36 strikeouts. On the season, the 22 year old is 10-5 with a 2.34 ERA in 27 appearances/26 starts between high-A Myrtle Beach and Frisco. In 161 1/3 innings, he has given up 135 hits, 33 walks, and struck out 134 batters.

Inning By Inning Count

1: 10 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 3 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 1 Ball- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K
2: 16 Pitches- 12 Strikes- 1 Called- 3 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 4 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits
3: 9 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 3 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits
4: 13 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP
5: 24 Pitches- 14 Strikes- 4 Called- 2 Swinging- 7 Fouls- 10 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 2 BB
6: 13 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 1 Called- 5 Swinging- 1 Foul- 4 Balls- 2 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 2 Hits

Totals: 85 Pitches- 59 Strikes- 12 Called- 14 Swinging- 16 Fouls- 26 Balls- 17 BPIP- 6 Swinging K- 2 BB- 6 Hits

Osuna Slams Way to Double Digits: Renny Osuna came into the 2011 season with a career high of 4 homeruns and a career total of 10 homeruns. In one season he has blown those right out of the water with a career best 10 homeruns, more than doubling his previous high and doubling his career total of homeruns. Osuna hit his 10th homerun of the season, a grand slam, in the top of the 8th inning on Wednesday to put Frisco up 6-5, which 10 outs later was the winning score. Osuna started the day with an off day, but came in to replace Tommy Mendonca's lineup spot when the third baseman left hte game early due to an injury. Osuna finished 1 for 2 with the slam. The homerun also gave Renny 61 RBI for the season, which is 5 short of tying a career best 66 RBI. Osuna's Frisco career totals now stands at 344 hits (1st), 128 RBI (4th), 164 runs scored (2nd), and 40 steals (4th). With 150 hits now, Osuna is 8 short of setting the single season record with 5 games to go.

Paisano Gets Three Hits: David Paisano played the unsung hero on Wednesday as the 9th hitter in the lineup went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored in the game. Paisano, who was playing in his second game for Frisco since getting called back up from Myrtle Beach, is hitting .235 as a Frisco RoughRider this season albeit in sporadic playing time. Paisano has 24 hits in 102 at bats this season for Frisco. For Myrtle Beach, Paisano hit .241 with a .610 OPS over 245 at bats (65 games).

Stoneburner Powering Up: Davis Stoneburner got Frisco's offense started with a 2-run homerun in the 3rd inning. Stoneburner finished the game 1 for 4 with the homerun, 2 RBI, a walk, and 2 runs scored. The homerun was his 2nd in 4 games and 3rd extra base hit in the last 4 games. Over his last 10 games, Stoneburner is batting .297 with a .366 on base percentage and .486 slugging percentage. On the season, Stoneburner now has 26 doubles, 5 triples, and 9 homeruns. Davis would be the 6th Rider with 10 or more homeruns this season if he can hit #10 in the next five games. Frisco has only had that many in one season one time, which came in 2007 when the Riders had 9 players with 10 or more homeruns.

A Bad Record to Hold: Frisco RoughRiders Jonathan Greene and Tommy Mendonca have struck out quite a bit this season and by quite a bit, I mean historically quite a bit. They struck out 2 more times on Wednesday to bring their season total to a combined 313 strikeouts. The total is the highest of two teammates in the history of the Texas League and is the sixth highest among two players in the history of the Texas League and they could finish as high as the 3rd most in history among two players. Only Willie Crawford/Don Wilkinson in 1966 (338 combined) and A.J. Zapp/Matt Allegra in 2003 (334 combined) are likely out of reach at this point.

Miller Makes Things Interesting, Gets Save: Justin Miller didn't go 1-2-3 on Wednesday and loaded the bases with 2 outs in the 9th inning against Corpus Christi, but in the end the right hander got the job done and earned his 12th save of the season. For Frisco, that is tied for the 3rd most saves in a single season and the save moved Miller up on the career saves list to tied for 4th all-time for Frisco. Miller ultimately could get as high as 3rd on the list this season as Scott Feldman's 14 saves is next on the list. Three current Frisco RoughRiders are on the all-time saves list with Miller, Fabio Castillo (9), and Tyler Tufts (9).

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 998 homeruns in 1,074 games (0.929 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Soft liner- A line drive without much force behind it.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco was shutout 9-0 by the Corpus Christi Hooks on the road. Martin Perez started for Frisco and gave up 6 hits, 3 walks, and 5 runs over 5 innings with 4 strikeouts. Adalberto Flores gave up 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning of relief. Tim Murphy gave up 1 run in 1 1/3 innings of relief, while Tyler Tufts pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Marcus Lemon led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 4 game at the plate. Emerson Frostad added the lone other hit for the Rider's in 4 at bats. Engel Beltre and Guilder Rodriguez each walked once in the game as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Dallas, NC!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 135: Frisco RoughRiders (Robbie Ross) @ Corpus Christi Hooks (Ross Seaton)

2011-08-31T16:30:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Whataburger Field (Corpus Christi, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (34-30 7 games back in Texas League South; 74-60 overall)... Corpus Christi Hooks (25-39 16 games back in the Texas League South; 50-84 overall)
Magic Number: 0
Streak: Lost 2 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Road Trip: 2-2
Series Record: 20-14-4
2011 Record against Corpus Christi: 15-14
All-Time Record against Corpus Christi: 110-103
Record on August 31st since 2004: 1-5
Starting Pitchers: Robbie Ross (1-1 2.78 ERA) vs. Ross Seaton (4-8 5.32 ERA)

Frisco Clinches Despite Loss: Frisco was down 1-0 after the first inning and Tuesday's game was all down hill from there on out. After tying the game 1-1 in the 3rd inning, Corpus Christi poured in 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, 1 more in the 4th, and 1 in the 6th to cruise to a 7-1 victory over Frisco. Still, the Riders are offiicially in the playoffs thanks to San Antonio's 90th win of the season on Tuesday, an 8-2 victory over the Midland Rockhounds at home. San Antonio, who clinched both the first and second half titles, will host Frisco for games 1 and 2 in the first round of the playoffs. Frisco will hold their first home playoff game on Friday September 9th, game 3 of the playoffs. Game 4, if necessary, will be on Saturday at Dr. Pepper Ballpark. This will be Frisco's 6th playoff trip in their 9 year team history. They won the 2004 Texas League Championship and lost in the Championship in both 2003 and 2008. This will be the 4th time that Frisco will play San Antonio in the playoffs. They are 1-2 vs. San Antonio in the previous three postseason meetings.

Flores Rocked In First Start: Adalberto Flores, normally a reliever, got a cameo start for Frisco on Tuesday and gave up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 5 runs over 2 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. In his second full season with Frisco, Flores has been much improved coming out of the bullpen. Over 78 appearances for Frisco, Flores has given up 128 hits and 57 walks over 136 2/3 innings with 140 strikeouts. This season Flores is 5-4 with a 3.30 ERA in 40 appearances (1 start). He has given up 67 hits and 37 walks over 76 1/3 innings with 79 strikeouts.

Inning By Inning Count

1: 12 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 4 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 2 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 Hit
2: 13 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 3 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 ROE
3: 25 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 4 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 12 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 BB- 3 Hits

Stoneburner Leads Offense: Stoneburner was one of two Frisco RoughRider's hitters to reach base more than once in the game as Stoneburner extended his hitting streak to 7 games. Stoneburner went 2 for 3 with a walk in the game and scored the lone run on a groundout from Renny Osuna. Over his last 10 games, Davis is batting .278 with a .366 on base percentage. Overall, for the month of August Stoneburner is batting .255/.361/.343/.704 with 7 extra base hits and 12 walks to 22 strikeouts. His previous high in walks for a month this season was 8 in June.

Bolden Gets On Base: Jared Bolden also had a good game as the 15 game AA veteran went 2 for 2 with a walk out of the 9th spot in the lineup. For Bolden, it was his 4th multi hit game for Frisco and the 3rd time he has gotten on base 3 times in a game.

Osuna's Patience String: Renny Osuna is not known for walking much, as his career walk% of 7.2% would indicate. But over the last 10 games, Osuna has walked 7 times to increase his walk total to 39, the second most he's had in a season. Osuna finished the game on Tuesday 0 for 3 with a RBI and a walk. He also swung and missed for the 100th time in the game as well. With 2 swings and misses in the game, Osuna has now swung and missed an incredible 101 times this season in 2,151 total pitches seen. Comparatively, he has seen 807 balls thrown to him, so nearly 8 balls for every swing and miss this season.

Brigham's Strikeouts: Jake Brigham inches closer to having the 3rd most strikeouts in a single season. With 5 more out of relief on Tuesday, Brigham has 111 strikeouts this season, which is 4 short of moving into 3rd in a single season alone. Brigham did give up 3 hits and 2 runs over 3 1/3 innings out of relief though and has a 4.00 ERA as a reliever.

San Antonio's Chase: As mentioned above, San Antonio won their 90th game of the season on Tuesday, a feat in and of itself in a 140 game schedule. Since the Texas League started going to 140 game schedules in the early 1960s, only 4 teams have won 90 or more games. With 3 more wins, San Antonio would have the most wins of any Texas League team in a 140 game schedule.

Chase For 1000: As I've been tracking all year, the Texas League has been on an incredible power surge this year compared to recent seasons. With 6 more homeruns yesterday, the Texas League now has 988 homeruns with 5 more games to be played for each team. The likelyhood that the league will break the record has gone from a good chance to basically no chance, but the total number of homeruns is still going to be very, very high and with one good day, today could be the day the league crosses 1,000 or tomorrow or the next day. Since 1950, the league has only crossed the 1,000 homerun mark three previous times. In 2006, the league hit 1,011 homeruns; in 1998, they hit a record 1,066 homeruns; in 1956, they hit 1,027 homeruns. It's a possibility that the league could still finish with the second most homeruns in a single season.

Congrats to Jurickson Profar: One of the top prospects in the Texas Ranger's system, shortstop Jurickson Profar, was named the South Atlantic League's Most Valuable Player on Tuesday. Profar is the youngest player in the league and has incredible upside. Just 18 years old, Profar has hit .283 with 35 doubles, 8 triples, 11 homeruns, driven in 63 runs, and has stolen 20 bases in the SAL. He has walked 64 times to 62 strikeouts in 417 at bats and has an .874 OPS. Profar also took part in the MLB Future's Game earlier this summer in Arizona over the MLB All-star Break. It will be only a matter of time before Profar is up in Frisco and then hopefully to the major leagues some day.

Rider's Heading to AFL: Every year in the month of October after the season is over, some of baseball's best prospects and some of the prospects for teams that need work will head to Arizona for the Arizona Fall League. It's a league that can be very useful for some prospects that need to work on specific areas of their game. The Texas Ranger's (and Lonestardugout.com) announced on Tuesday their eight participants, including three current Rider's and one former Rider.

The Minor Leaguers

RHP Neil Ramirez (Frisco)
RHP Johan Yan (Frisco)
C Elio Sarmiento (Frisco)
LHP Miguel De Los Santos (Myrtle Beach)
RHP Ryan Kelly (Myrtle Beach)
SS Leury Garcia (Myrtle Beach)
3B Mike Olt (Myrtle Beach)
OF Ryan Strausborger (Myrtle Beach)

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 988 homeruns in 1066 games (0.927 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Crown- 1. An honor figuratively won by a player or team that comes in first place, either in the standings or in the statistical counting of some aspect of performance; e.g., the "batting crown" goes to the player who has the highest batting average in his league. 2. To hit the ball

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 4-1 on the road to the Corpus Christi Hooks. Travis Chick started for Frisco and gave up 10 hits and 4 runs over 4 innings with 4 strikeouts and 0 walks. Beau Jones and Brennan Garr combined for 4 innings of shutout relief. Andy Jenkins led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 4 game including a double and a run scored. Joey Butler added a 2 for 4 game for the Riders. Guilder Rodriguez also added a 1 for 2 game with a RBI and a walk. Jose Felix and Jonathan Greene each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Horseheads, NY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 134: Frisco RoughRiders (Adalberto Flores) @ Corpus Christi Hooks (Jarred Cosart)

2011-08-30T14:47:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Whataburger Field (Corpus Christi, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (34-29 6 games back in the Texas League South; 74-59 overall)... Corpus Christi Hooks (24-39 16 games back in the Texas League South; 49-84 overall)
Magic Number: 1
Streak: Lost 1 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Road Trip: 2-1
Series Record: 20-14-4
2011 Record against Corpus Christi: 15-13
All-time Record against Corpus Christi: 110-102
Record on August 30th since 2004: 4-3
Starting Pitchers: Adalberto Flores (5-3 2.81 ERA) vs. Jarred Cosart (0-1 2.96 ERA)

Frisco Blows 2-0 lead, Will Wait Another Day to Clinch: Frisco and Midland were tied 0-0 through 7 innings before Frisco scored 2 runs in the top of the 8th inning to get within 6 outs of officially owning the second playoff spot in the Texas League South. Frisco's defense, however, had other ideas as the Riders committed 3 errors in the bottom of the 8th inning, all coming with 2 outs, which allowed Midland to score 3 runs with 2 outs and take a lead that they held onto. With San Antonio's loss to Corpus Christi as well, Frisco will wait until at least today to clinch the playoff spot. The magic number remains at 1, which means with one San Antonio Missions's victory the Riders would secure a playoff bid to San Antonio.

Pimentel's Strong Start: Carlos Pimentel seemed to be headed for his 7th win of the season and second straight victory, but an unfortunate blown lead cost Pimentel that win. Still, Pimentel had a terrific start as he gave up 3 hits and 2 walks over 7 shutout innings with 2 strikeouts. Since giving up 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings on August 2nd against Midland, Pimentel has been very strong on the mound for Frisco. Spanning over 5 starts, Pimentel has gone 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. He has struck out 29 batters in the 28 innings that he has pitched in as well. He has also gone at least 6 innings in 4 of the 5 starts with the only non 6 inning start being a August 13th start where he left early due to a strained groin. Pimentel continues to struggle with command at times, but he has certainly produced better over the last 5 starts.

Inning By Inning Count

1: 10 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP
2: 18 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 3 Called- 2 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 7 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB- 1 Hit
3: 9 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 1 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 3 BPIP
4: 10 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP
5: 19 Pitches- 12 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 7 Balls- 5 BPIP- 1 Hit- 1 ROE
6: 13 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 7 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 Hit
7: 13 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 4 Swinging- 1 Foul- 4 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K

Total: 92 Pitches- 56 Strikes- 15 Called- 9 Swinging- 11 Fouls- 36 Balls- 21 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 2 BB- 3 Hits- 1 ROE

Hilligoss Cruising: Mitch Hilligoss is heating back up again as he had another strong game going 2 for 3 with a RBI, a walk, and a run scored. Over his last 10 games, Hilligoss is batting .300 with an .814 OPS. He has 3 extra base hits, has driven in 4 runs, scored 6 runs, and walked 3 times during that time. On the season for Frisco, Hilligoss is now batting .271 with a .721 OPS. He is still waiting for his first extra base hit on the road. Perhaps it can come against Corpus Christi this week.

Osuna Ties Tracy: Renny Osuna went 1 for 3 in the loss on Monday with a walk and a run scored as well. His 2 out single in the 8th inning sparked Frisco's 2 run rally to take the lead as his single was followed by a single from Mitch Hilligoss and a double by Jonathan Greene. The single was Osuna's 149th hit of the season and 343rd as a Frisco RoughRider. The single season hit total is now tied for 3rd highest by a RoughRider with Chad Tracy, who had 149 hits in his big 2009 season. With 7 games to go, Osuna is 8 hits away from tying Joaquin Arias's single season Frisco RoughRider hits record of 157 in 2005.

Strikeout Kings: Jonathan Greene and Tommy Mendonca both added to their strikeout totals with 2 more each in the loss. The two players have combined for 307 strikeouts this season with Greene having 155 and Mendonca having 152. Since July 1st, Greene has 72 strikeouts and Mendonca has 68 strikeouts. To put that into perspective, Renny Osuna has 60 strikeouts all year. Mike Bianucci also struck out for the 127th time to give the trio a total of 434 strikeouts. Coming into this season, the highest strikeout total by a Frisco RoughRider was 126 by Jason Botts in 2004. Now, Frisco has 3 players with more than that in the same year. It's a common theme, however, around the league as the Texas League currently has 7,612 strikeouts, which is 217 behind last year's record breaking total of 7,829 strikeouts. With 7 games to go for each team, the league is on pace to break the record.

Wheeler Catching Fire In Tulsa: When Tim Wheeler hit his 29th homerun on July 25th he was pacing for a team best in homeurns for the Tulsa Drillers and was looking like a possible 40 homerun contender. But it would be nearly a month before he hit another homerun on August 24th to finally enter the 30 homerun club. By that point Matt Adams already had 31 homeruns and the same day Mike Bianucci would join Wheeler and Adams with 30 homeruns as well.

However, the homerun has gotten the centerfielder back on another tear as he has begun to make the impossible look possible for Tulsa. The Drillers entered a seven game stretch with the Arkansas Travelers and Northwest Arkansas Naturals on the brink of elimination as they were 6 back with 15 to play. A couple losses here or there would have put them out of the race. Now, 4 homeruns, 7 RBI, 10 runs scored, 13 hits, 4 walks, and 2 stolen bases later for Wheeler, the Drillers are riding a 7 game win streak, back to back sweeps, and a hot Wheeler bat into a series with Springfield with the Drillers only being 1 game behind the Naturals for first place in the Texas League North. With 7 games to go anything is possible, especially with Tulsa's last series coming at home against Northwest Arkansas.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 982 homeruns in 1058 games (0.928 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Tear- A winning streak for a team or a hot period for an individual.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 6-4 to the Midland Rockhounds at home. Richard Bleier started for Frisco and gave up 9 hits, 1 walk, and 5 runs (4 earned) over 6 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. Chris Mobley gave up 1 unearned run in 2 1/3 innings of relief. Marcus Lemon led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 5 game including a double and 2 runs scored. Renny Osuna had a 2 for 4 day for the Riders with a run scored. Ian Kinsler went 1 for 4 with a triple and 2 RBI on rehab. Emerson Frostad added a hit in 5 at bats including a double with a RBI. Andy Jenkins and Christian Guzman each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Bowlegs, OK!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 133: Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel) @ Midland Rockhounds (Anthony Capra)

2011-08-29T14:34:00.000-05:00

Time: 6:30 PM CT
Location: Citibank Ballpark (Midland, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (34-28 6 games back in the Texas League South; 74-58 overall)... Midland Rockhounds (32-30 8 games back in the Texas League South; 59-73 overall)
Magic Number: 1
Streak: Won 3 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Road Trip: 2-0
Series Record: 19-14-4
2011 Record against Midland: 16-8
All-Time Record against Midland: 119-105
Record on August 29th since 2004: 5-2
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (6-9 5.21 ERA) vs. Anthony Capra (1-6 5.70 ERA)

Frisco's Win Puts Midland on Brink of Elimination: Frisco took a 4-0 lead to the bottom of the 4th and never let up from there as they defeated Midland 8-4 on the road. With the win and a San Antonio win, the magic number for Frisco clinching a playoff berth has dwindled down to 1. An early victory over Midland on Monday would secure a series sweep and a playoff berth to go along with it. Frisco's 74-58 record overall is good for the second best record in the league behind the Missions, who could finish with the most wins of any team in Texas League history since they moved to a 140 game schedule if all they did was finish out .500.

Snyder Keeps Pitch Count Low, Goes Seven Strong: Ben Snyder pitched a season high seven innings on just 68 pitches en route to his 10th victory of the season and 13th career victory as a Frisco RoughRider. Snyder never needed more than 15 pitches to get through an inning, his average pitches per inning this season, and three times he was able to get out of an inning without even crossing 10 pitches. In all, he had almost as many balls put into play (22) as balls thrown (23). Snyder improved his season record against Midland to 5-1 as well.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 7 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 4 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 0 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Hits
2: 10 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 2 Balls- 1 BPIP- 1 HBP- 1 Swinging K
3: 12 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 6 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
4: 8 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 0 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 4 BPIP- 2 Hits
5: 15 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 7 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit
6: 6 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 1 Called- 1 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 1 Ball- 3 BPIP
7: 10 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 4 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit

Total: 68 Pitches- 44 Strikes- 14 Called- 4 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 23 Balls- 22 BPIP- 1 HBP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB- 6 Hits

Osuna Continues Hot Hitting: Renny Osuna went 2 for 4 with a double on Saturday and followed that up with a 3 for 6 game with 2 doubles and 3 RBI on Sunday. Overall, he has a 7 game hitting streak currently and is batting 15 for 40 (.375) over his last 10 games. The 3 hit game got Osuna within 9 hits of tying Joaquin Arias's single season RoughRider hit record and 10 away from breaking it with 8 games to go in the season. What looked like a difficult challenge a week ago is starting to look more achievable by the day. The 3 RBI marked Osuna's 13th multi RBI game of the season and a season high in RBI for a single game. The RBI also moved Osuna from 6th to 4th on the Rider's career RBI list.

Stoneburner Goes Deep: Davis Stoneburner went 2 for 5 with a double, a homerun, and 4 RBI against Midland on Sunday. The homerun was his first in over a month since July 26th. His 4 RBI were also a single game high for this season for Stoneburner and marked his 7th multi RBI game of the season. Stoneburner now has 39 extra base hits for the season and is batting .277/.356/.447/.803 away from Dr. Pepper Ballpark.

Bianucci Does Something Rare: Mike Bianucci is not known for his speed very much, so Mike Bianucci's game must have been at least something to laugh at for everybody. In the same game, Bianucci took a walk (34th this season), had an infield single, and stole a base (5th in 6 tries). He finished 2 for 4 with the walk, stolen base, and struck out for the 126th time this season.

Beltre's Multi Hit Game: Engel Beltre finished 2 for 4 with 2 runs and a stolen base. For Beltre, it was his 4th multi hit game in the month of August, but more importantly the 3rd game of his last 4 where he has reached base 2 or more times and also his second straight game with a stolen base. Amazingly, it was the first time this season that Beltre has gone back to back games with a stolen base. Since the all-star game, Beltre has stolen 12 bases in 16 attempts. Before the all-star game, he had stolen just 3 bases in 5 attempts.

Double Steal Works: Elio Sarmiento stole his third base of the season and it was a rare steal of home for the catcher. Sarmiento finished the game 1 for 3 with 2 walks in the process. He is batting .274/.335/.447/.782 on the season with 19 extra base hits in 190 at bats. With runners on this season, Sarmiento is batting .375 and .364 with RISP compared to .200 with the bases empty.

Riders Continue RISP Struggles: Frisco scored 8 runs on Sunday despite going just 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position. In the month of August, Frisco is batting .227 (50 for 220) as a team with RISP. They are hitting .245 (123 for 503) with RISP since the all-star break as well. For the season, their team average is down to .275 with RISP.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 976 homeruns in 1050 games (0.930 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Knee-Buckling- Said of an inside breaking ball (curveball or slider) that causes the batter to freeze or flinch in the belief that the pitch is about to hit him, and to bend his knees before bailing out. It occurs when a right handed pitcher faces a right handed batter, or a left handed pitcher faces a left handed batter.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Midland Rockhounds 6-4 at home. Dustin Nippert started for Frisco and gave up 1 walk over 2 1/3 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts. Michael Schlact gave up 2 runs (1 earned) over 4 2/3 innings of relief, while Fabio Castillo gave up 2 runs over 1/3 of an inning of relief. Mark Hamburger picked up the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Andy Jenkins led Frisco's offensive attack with a 2 for 4 game including a double, homerun, and 5 RBI. Emerson Frostad added a 2 for 3 game including a double, walk, and 2 runs scored for the Riders. Guilder Rodriguez went 1 for 4 with a double, while Ian Kinsler went 1 for 3 with a RBI on rehab. Jose Felix and Engel Beltre each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Big Rock Candy Mountain, VT!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 132: Frisco RoughRiders (Ben Snyder) @ Midland Rockhounds (Gary Daley)

2011-08-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

Time: 6:00 PM CT
Location: Citibank Ballpark (Midland, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (33-28 6 games back in the Texas League South; 73-58 overall)... Midland Rockhounds (32-29 7 games back in the Texas League South; 59-72 overall)
Unofficial Magic Number: 0... Official Magic Number: 3
Streak: Won 2 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Road Trip: 1-0
Series Record: 19-14-4
2011 Record against Midland: 15-8
All-Time Record against Midland: 118-105
Record on August 28th since 2004: 3-4
Starting Pitchers: Ben Snyder (9-5 4.21 ERA) vs. Gary Daley (6-5 4.50 ERA)

Frisco Takes First of Three, Playoffs on Horizon: Frisco scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning against the Midland Rockhounds and it was all they needed as the Riders used 3 pitchers to combine to give up 1 run to the Rockhounds on the road. With the 3-1 win, Frisco helped lower San Antonio's (and Frisco's) official magic number from 5 to 3 with 9 games to play.

Ramirez Goes Five Strong: Neil Ramirez gave up just 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run over 5 strong innings with 2 strikeouts for Frisco. It was his longest outing in 5 starts for the Riders and a needed boost to help the bullpen. Ramirez struggled to throw first pitch strikes, but was able to battle back and limited damage from the Midland hitters. For Ramirez, it was his first victory since June 5th for Round Rock spanning 11 starts. It was also his least amount of walks given up when going more than 4 innings since April 13th when he did not give up a walk over 6 innings for the Express in his AAA debut.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 21 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 3 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 10 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 ROE
2: 11 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP
3: 16 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 5 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 HBP- 1 Called K- 1 Hit
4: 12 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 4 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Called K
5: 10 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 5 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit

Total: 70 Pitches- 41 Strikes- 11 Called- 3 Swinging- 11 Fouls- 28 Balls- 16 BPIP- 1 HBP- 2 Called K- 1 BB- 2 Hits- 1 ROE

Osuna Reaches Base Twice, Helps Frisco's Offense: Renny Osuna climbed up the ladder some more in the hits column on Saturday when he went 2 for 4 with a double and stole a base. Osuna now has 145 hits for the season, which put him in 4th place alone on Frisco's single season list. He is now 12 away from Joaquin Arias's high of 157 with 9 games remaining on the season. The double gave him 20 for the season, which means that Frisco's 2011 offense has six players with 20 or more doubles for the first time in team history. The stolen base also puts Renny Osuna alone in 4th place on the career list. He was previously tied with Guilder Rodriguez, who is currently in Round Rock.

Greene's Game: Jonathan Greene went 2 for 4 for Frisco on Saturday and joined Tommy Mendonca and Mike Bianucci with 70 or more runs scored as he scored 1 run to get to 70 for the season. It is the third season that Frisco has had 3 players with 70 or more runs scored as the 2007 and 2008 teams both achieved that. Frisco has never had 4 players with 70 or more though, and Renny Osuna has 67 with 9 games remaining.

A Better Beginning: Jared Bolden added a 2 for 4 game with a double and 2 RBI for Frisco. His double was his first for Frisco and his second extra base hit. His 2 RBI marked his 3rd multi RBI game in 12 games for Frisco. To begin the season, it took Bolden 29 games for Myrtle Beach before he had his 3rd multi RBI game. He had 12 multi RBI games in 94 games for the Pelicans earlier this season. Bolden has hit .313 with RISP as a Frisco RoughRider, despite playing for a team that has struggled with RISP of late.

An All-Around Game: Engel Beltre showed what he can do when things are going right for him on Saturday when he went 1 for 3 with a RBI, a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored. The 21 year old outfielder is batting just .176 over his last 10 games and is batting .202/.272/.238/.510 in the month of August after hitting a season best monthly total .252/.310/.364/.675 in the month of July.

Yan Records First Save: Johan Yan came into the game in a crucial situation facing bases loaded and 1 out in the 8th inning in a 3-1 game. He struck out both Jeremy Barfield and Ryan Ortiz and finished off the 9th to earn his first AA save. Yan has been about as good (and probably much, much better) as anyone could hope for in his time with Frisco. In 16 appearances for Frisco, Yan has pitched 23 innings and has given up 17 hits, 9 walks, struck out 15 batters, and has a miniscule 0.39 ERA. Right handed batters are hitting just .182 against Yan in the Texas League and he has been perfect at home with a 0.00 ERA in 10 appearances. He has inherited 12 baserunners and only 2 have scored for a 16.7%.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 964 in 1042 games (0.925 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Middle of the Rotation- The position in a starting rotation occupied by the third pitcher.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 2-0 to the Midland Rockhounds at home. Clayton Hamilton started for Frisco and gave up 4 hits, 0 walks, and 2 runs over 6 innings with 6 strikeouts. Adalberto Flores and Tim Murphy combined for 3 innings of relief work allowing 0 runs. Engel Beltre went 1 for 2 with a double and a walk for Frisco. Nelson Cruz added a 1 for 3 game including a walk and a stolen base on rehab. Christian Guzman went 1 for 3 with a walk as well. Andy Jenkins added a 1 for 4 game.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Monkey's Eyebrow, KY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 131: Frisco RoughRiders (Neil Ramirez) @ Midland Rockhounds (Shawn Haviland)

2011-08-27T14:44:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Citibank Ballpark (Midland, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (32-28 6 games back in the Texas League South; 72-58 overall)... Midland Rockhounds (32-28 6 games back in the Texas League South; 59-71 overall)
Unofficial Magic number: 0... Official Magic Number: 5
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Homestand: 3-1
Series Record: 19-14-4
2011 Record against Midland: 14-8
All-Time Record against Midland: 117-105
Record on August 27th since 2004: 4-3
Starting Pitchers: Neil Ramirez (0-0 1.93 ERA) vs. Shawn Haviland (6-11 7.45 ERA)

Frisco Comes Back, Takes Series from San Antonio: For only the second time this season, Frisco won a series with the first place San Antonio Missions. The last time they did that was May 3rd-6th when they took 3 out of 4 from San Antonio at home. And the Riders followed that series by taking 10 of the next 12 games against the Midland Rockhounds and Corpus Christi Hooks, a similar look to what the Riders face the rest of the season as they finish with 10 games against those two teams. Frisco came back from down 3-1 to San Antonio at one point to tie the game in the 7th inning and won 4-3 on a walkoff walk to designated hitter Mike Bianucci with 2 outs in the 9th inning.

Ross's Solid Start: Robbie Ross wasn't particularly dominant, but he got the job done on Friday and kept Frisco in the game. Ross gave up 8 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs over 7 innings and struck out 7 batters. In 5 starts for Frisco, Ross has 4 "quality starts" and has gone 7 or more innings in 3 of the starts. He has walked just 3 batters over 32 1/3 innings, has given up 28 hits, and has struck out 30 batters. Essentially he has picked up right where the other Robbie (Erlin) left off. Limiting walks and hits, striking out a bunch, and going deep into games. Like Erlin, though, Ross has given up his share of homeruns. In fact while pitching for Frisco, the two Robbies have given up 14 homeruns to 10 walks.

Inning By Inning Count

1: 17 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 8 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
2: 17 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 2 Called- 6 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 6 Balls- 1 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Swinging K- 1 Hit
3: 11 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 3 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 2 Hits
4: 7 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 2 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit
5: 11 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 3 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit
6: 9 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Called K
7: 15 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 5 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K- 3 Hits

Total: 87 Pitches- 57 Strikes- 13 Called- 11 Swinging- 12 Fouls- 30 Balls- 20 BPIP- 3 Called K- 4 Swinging K- 1 BB- 8 Hits

Mitch Hilligoss's Clutch Hitting: Mitch Hilligoss went 2 for 4 at the plate and his double couldn't have come at a bigger time as Hilligoss drove a 3-1 pitch from Craig Italiano to the left field wall for a 2 RBI opposite field, game tying double with 2 outs in the 7th inning. Hilligoss's single in the 9th inning to left field also set up the bases loaded with 1 out. Over the 4 game set with San Antonio, Hilligoss was 5 for 16 with a double, triple, homerun, 3 RBI, and 2 runs. He is batting .286 with an .899 OPS at Dr. Pepper Ballpark this season.

Osuna Reaches Three Times: Frisco's all-time hit leader, Renny Osuna, went 1 for 2 with a sac fly RBI, 2 walks, and a run scored in the game. He is now up to 337 hits all time and 143 for the season, which tied Joey Butler for 5th on the single season hits list. With 9 games remaining in the season, Osuna is 14 hits away from the record of 157 set by Joaquin Arias in 2005. Osuna's .298 batting average leads the team and is his highest batting average since he hit .338 in 2008.

Riders Set Team Record for HBP: San Antonio Mission's pitchers hit 2 more Frsico RoughRider's hitters on Friday as Simon Castro hit Mitch Hilligoss and Nick Vincent hit Mike Bianucci. The two hit by pitches gives Frisco 78 for the season, which passed the previous team high of 77 set in 2004. They also were the 19th and 20th times a Frisco hitter has been hit by a San Antonio Mission's pitcher this season. It was Bianucci's 10th time being hit by a pitch this season joining Jonathan Greene (18), Davis Stoneburner (12), and Tommy Mendonca (11) as the Rider's players with 10 or more. They have the same amount of players with 10 or more HBP's this season as they had in the rest of the team's history combined. Only 2004's team had more than 1 player with 10 or more hit by pitches in the season.

Mendonca Named to League's Post Season All-Star Team: Tommy Mendonca has had a terrific season this year and the former 2nd round pick can add Texas League Post-Season All-star to the list as well. Mendonca earned the honor as the DH, which comes as irony due to his recent Baseball America honor as being named the best defensive third baseman in the league, but it is what it is. Mendonca is batting .283 with 25 homeruns and 87 RBI this season. You can see the team listed on here and read more from the Rider's Insider blog here. Among Mendonca's highlights this season were his 3 homerun game on July 22nd against the Corpus Christi Hooks and his multiple 4 RBI games as Mendonca has had 5 games with 4 or more RBI. Mendonca tied a season high 4 hits on June 13th against the Midland Rockhounds when he also drove in 4 runs.

Frisco Can Help Themselves: Perhaps among the issues of beating the San Antonio Missions, was the Rider's lack of cutting into the Missions's magic number. While it's still about a 99% surefire chance that Frisco will make the postseason, they have 6 games remaining with the Midland Rockhounds and they can help themselves now to a playoff berth. Frisco is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs as long as San Antonio wins the second half and by beating the Midland Rockhounds this coming series and next weekend in Frisco, they can ensure that the Missions will win the second half. Frisco is also 6 games back though and tied with Midland, so they sit in a pretty good position. Win and everything else will take care of itself.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 955 homeruns in 1034 games (0.924 HR/G)

Tracking Texas League Strikeouts: 7,438 strikeouts in 1034 games (7.19 K/G)

Term of the Day: Home plate is jumping around- The condition that describes a pitcher's location when he constantly misses the strike zone with pitches on the corners; e.g. the outside corner pitch is too far outside and the inside corner pitch is too far inside.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the San Antonio Missions 4-2 at home. Dustin Nippert started for Frisco in a rehab outing and pitched 1 shutout inning with 1 hit given up and 3 strikeouts. Martin Perez relieved Nippert and gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs over 4 innings with 6 strikeouts. He earned the win in the relief appearance. Brennan Garr, Beau Jones, and Tyler Tufts combined for 4 scoreless innings of relief. Nelson Cruz led Frisco with a 2 for 3 game including a double and a RBI. Christian Guzman went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI, while Osuna came in for Guzman and went 1 for 1 with a RBI. Joey Butler added a 2 for 4 game for the Riders. Marcus Lemon went 1 for 3 with a triple, walk, and 2 runs scored. Andy Jenkins, Engel Beltre, and Elio Sarmiento each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Monkey's Eyebrow, KY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 130: San Antonio Missions (Simon Castro) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Robbie Ross)

2011-08-26T11:03:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (31-28 7 games back in the Texas League South; 71-58 overall)... San Antonio Missions (38-21 1st place in the Texas League South; 87-42 overall)
Magic Number: Clinched/San Antonio Magic Number: 5
Streak: Lost 1 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Homestand: 2-1
Series Record: 18-14-4
2011 Record against San Antonio: 12-19
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 122-125
Record on August 26th since 2004: 3-4
Starting Pitchers: Robbie Ross (1-1 2.84 ERA) vs. Simon Castro (5-6 4.77 ERA)

Frisco Falls in Blowout: Frisco found themselves down 8-0 before they could even get the second out of the second inning and lost 8-3 on Thursday against the first place San Antonio Missions. Frisco still has a 2-1 advantage in this series and still is extremely likely to make the playoffs for the sixth time in nine years in the Texas League. Midland's game with Corpus Christi was rained out yesterday and they play a double header today with the Hooks. San Antonio's win dropped their magic number to 5. Both Frisco and San Antonio would then be officially playing each other in the playoffs as Frisco unofficially clinched on Wednesday.

Hankins Rocked In Fourth AA Start: Derek Hankins doesn't have a particularly good out pitch and on Thursday he showed what can happen when he can't command the strike zone well enough. Hankins gave up 8 hits, walked 2 batters, and gave up 8 runs (4 earned) over 1 1/3 innings pitched. He did not strikeout anybody. Over the 1 1/3 innings, Hankins threw 47 pitches and 32 of those went for strikes.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 19 Pitches- 15 Strikes- 4 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 4 Balls- 7 BPIP- 3 Hits- 1 ROE
2: 28 Pitches- 17 Strikes- 5 Called- 0 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 11 Balls- 6 BPIP- 2 BB- 5 Hits

Total: 47 Pitches- 32 Strikes- 9 Called- 2 Swinging- 8 Fouls- 15 Balls- 13 BPIP- 8 hits- 2 BB- 1 ROE

Greene Has 3 Hit Day: Jonathan Greene extended his hit streak to 9 games in the 1st inning and didn't stop there. He finished 3 for 4 with 3 singles and 2 RBI in the game. Greene is batting .308 over his last 10 games, including a 5 for 11 (.455) homestand so far . Since the all-star break in late June, Greene is batting .288/.344/.475/.819 with 10 homeruns and 29 RBI in 53 games. Greene is up to 73 RBI for the season with 27 doubles and 18 homeruns. He also struck out for the 150th time this season in his other at bat.

Osuna Gets Hit #336: Renny Osuna led off for Frisco again and went 1 for 3 with a walk. Unfortunately he was eliminated by double plays hit by Mitch Hilligoss both times he got on base, although one of the double plays was a single that was robbed by good Mission's up the middle defense. Osuna is tied with Greene for the team lead in batting average at .297. Osuna is also a hit from being tied with Joey Butler for 5th on the single season list at 143. He is currently 15 away from Joaquin Arias's single season record of 157 hits, but with 11 games to play it will take quite a hot streak from Osuna for him to tie or break the record.

Brigham Passes Pimentel: A day after Carlos Pimentel passed Jake Brigham for the team strikeout lead (and a tie for 5th place on the single season strikeout list), Brigham passed Pimentel with a 4 strikeout relief effort. Brigham's 106 strikeouts are the most by a RoughRider's pitcher since Kasey Kiker had 120 in 2009. Brigham, who started out in the starting rotation, has pitched in the bullpen since June 23rd. Brigham had 68 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings as a starter and has had 38 over 32 2/3 innings as a reliever. Since July 1st, Brigham has struck out 37 batters over 30 innings.

Young Has Best Outing of Year: Corey Young has come up big at times in 2011, but none bigger than on Thursday when he relieved Derek Hankins after Hankins had gone just 1 1/3 innings and left 2 men on base for Young. Young got the first 2 batters he faced out to get out of the 2nd inning and kept rolling along for 3 more innings after that. In the appearance, Young pitched a season high 3 2/3 innings, gave up just 1 hit without allowing a walk or a run and struck out 2 batters. He began a relief effort that featured 7 2/3 innings of shutout relief pitching from Young, Brigham, and Johan Yan, which kept the game from going into laughable territory.

Wieland Shines In Return: Joe Wieland had a dominating start to the 2011 season in Myrtle Beach, and he's only gotten better since coming to the Texas League. In his 11th AA start, Wieland pitched 5 shutout innings against his former team and gave up just 2 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 3 batters. His only rough part came in the 2nd inning when he gave up a leadoff double to Tommy Mendonca, walked Beltre with 1 out, but he got out of it by getting Davis Stoneburner to ground into a force out and Jared Bolden to pop up to the shortstop. Wieland featured a low 90s fastball, curveball, and changeup in the start. He is now 7-0 with a 1.38 ERA in 11 AA starts and his team is 11-0 when he has started.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 951 homeruns in 1024 games (0.929 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Payback Pitch- A ball thrown by a pitcher to harm or intimidate a batter in revenge for a real or imagined transgression by the batter's team.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 7-6 to the San Antonio Missions in 14 innings at home. Travis Chick started for Frisco and gave up 5 hits, 5 walks, and 4 runs (3 earned) over 5 innings with 7 strikeouts. Adalberto Flores gave up 1 run over 2 innings of relief. Tim Murphy added 2 shutout innings of relief, while Mark Hamburger gave up 1 run over 2 2/3 innings of relief. Chris Mobley also gave up 1 run over 2 1/3 inning of relief and took the loss. Emerson Frostad led Frisco with a 3 for 6 game including a double, RBI, and walk in the game. Marcus Lemon led off with a 3 for 6 game including a double and walk. Andy Jenkins went 2 for 5 with a homerun, 2 RBI, and 2 walks for the Riders. Beltre added a double in 7 at bats, while Joey Butler, Guilder Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, and Jonathan Greene each added a hit as well. Engel Beltre was thrown at home trying to score the game winning run on a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. The game lasted 4 hours and 35 minutes long.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Possum Trot, KY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 129: San Antonio Missions (Joe Wieland) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Derek Hankins)

2011-08-25T14:07:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (31-27 6 games back in the Texas League South; 71-57 overall)... San Antonio Missions (37-21 1st place in the Texas League South; 86-42 overall)
Magic Number: Clinched Unofficially/San Antonio's magic number: 6
Streak: Won 4 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Homestand: 2-0
Series Record: 18-14-4
2011 Record against San Antonio: 12-18
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 122-124
Record on August 25th since 2004: 4-3
Starting Pitchers: Derek Hankins (1-1 2.70 ERA) vs. Joe Wieland (6-0 1.50 ERA)

Back to Back Homers Give Frisco Win, Guarantee Series Split: Frisco seemed to be out of the game for most of the night on Wednesday, but a 3-run homerun followed by a solo homerun in the 6th inning revived the night and gave Frisco a 4-3 win over the Missions. The win meant Frisco could at the very least salvage a split with the Missions and should give Frisco confidence as they prepare for the playoffs in early September. Frisco is now 12-18 against the Missions, but they are 5-5 against the Missions over their last 10 games against the team with the best record in minor league baseball.

Pimentel Starts Strong, Loses Focus, Ends Strong: It took Carlos Pimentel just 22 pitches to get through the first two innings and 27 pitches to get through the last 2 innings that he pitched, but in between it took him 54 pitches to get through the 3rd inning and 4th inning, and you couldn't help but wonder if the loss of focus in the 3rd inning and 4th was due to catcher Jose Felix almost running into the dugout with just 2 outs in the inning. Pimentel struck out the first 2 batters in the 3rd inning when Jose Felix ran off the field thinking the strikeout to Daniel Robertson was the third out of the inning when it was only the 2nd inning. It's rare that a catcher would lose track of the outs like that in an inning due to being such an integral part of each hitter. Pimentel went to 0-2 counts with 10 of the 25 batters he faced in the start, including 8 through the first 4 innings.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 13 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 3 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 5 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 BB
2: 9 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 4 Called- 1 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 1 Ball- 3 BPIP
3: 24 Pitches- 15 Strikes- 4 Called- 3 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 9 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Swinging K- 2 Hits
4: 30 Pitches- 12 Strikes- 3 Called- 3 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 17 Balls- 1 BPIP- 1 HBP- 2 Called K- 2 BB
5: 13 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 6 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
6: 14 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 5 Balls- 4 BPIP- 2 Hits

Total: 103 Pitches- 59 Strikes- 18 Called- 10 Swinging- 17 Fouls- 43 Balls- 14 BPIP- 1 HBP- 4 Called K- 3 Swinging K- 3 BB- 4 Hits

Bianucci Becomes 3rd Texas Leaguer with 30: Springfield Cardinal's first baseman Matt Adams was the only player in the Texas League with 30 homeruns this season entering Wednesday. Tim Wheeler joined the 30 club by swatting his first homerun since August 2nd in the 1st inning of Tulsa's 5-2 win over Arkansas. Mike Bianucci joined the club with a 3-run game tying homerun to left centerfield in the 6th inning. The blast also brought him to 83 RBI for the season, which is 7 short of matching a career high. It is Bianucci's 2nd time in 3 full seasons that he has hit 30 or more homeruns in a season. He had 30 homeruns in 2009 between Hickory (low-A) and Bakersfield (high-A). He is also 3 extra base hits short of matching a career high in that category as well. With 12 games remaining on the schedule, Bianucci sits 4 short of Nate Gold's team record 34 homeruns in a single season.

Mendonca Clubs #25: Tommy Mendonca joined Mike Bianucci as the only Frisco teammates with 25 or more in a season in team history. The go ahead and eventual game winning solo homerun followed Bianucci's 3-run blast in the 6th inning. The pitch by Oramas was a mistake fastball placed exactly down the middle of the plate and Mendonca didn't miss anything on the pitch. Mendonca's 25 homeruns puts him at 4th on Frisco's single season list, 1 behind Chad Tracy's 26 homeruns in 2009. Mendonca is also now at 87 RBI for the season. Both his homeruns and RBI are career bests, although this is his second full season in the minors.

Justin Miller 1st to 10 Saves: When Fabio Castillo earned his 9th save of the season on July 12th, it seemed like a given that it would be Castillo that would be the first to 10 saves for the season. Instead, on August 24th it was Justin Miller who earned his 10th save of the season to go along with a tied for team best 9 wins. He is one of three players in minor league baseball with 9 or more saves and wins. With one win he would be the only pitcher in minor league baseball with double digit wins and saves this season.

Chad Tracy Update: Chad Tracy had a great game yesterday in Round Rock's 16-9 win over the Albuquerque Isotopes. Tracy went 3 for 6 with 2 homeruns and 6 RBI. On the season he now has 23 homeruns and 100 RBI. It is his second minor league season with 100 or more RBI. His first came with Frisco in 2009 when he had a team record 107 RBI in a season.

Other former Frisco RoughRiders hitters in that game were:

Leonys Martin- 2 for 6 with a double, 2 RBI, run scored. Batting .270 for Round Rock
Joey Butler- 1 for 3 with 2 walks and a run scored. He's batting .330 for Round Rock this season
Robbie Diaz- 2 for 5 with a homerun, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored. Batting .309 for Round Rock
Jose Ruiz- 1 for 5 with a RBI. Ruiz was promoted a week and a half or so ago and is struggling to a .205 batting average so far.
Guilder Rodriguez- 2 for 4 with a RBI, walk, 2 runs, and a stolen base. He's batting .292 so far for Round Rock.

Andy Parrino Promoted to San Diego: Fresh off a 1 for 3 game with a homerun and a walk against Frisco, the 25 year old shortstop got the promotion to the San Diego Padres. According to the Rochester Democrat, Parrino is the 1st non-pitcher from Rochester, NY to make the major leagues in 65 years. I'm sure Frisco had nothing to do with the promotion of Parrino given his .347/.484/.653/1.137 line against Frisco this season.

Return of Joe Wieland: Joe Wieland will face his former team for the first time today. The 21 year old right hander was traded by Texas on July 31st to the San Diego Padres along with Robbie Erlin for major league reliever Mike Adams. Joe Wieland threw a no-hitter for Frisco in his last start for the Riders against the San Antonio Missions, the team he plays on now, on the road on July 29th. Wieland went 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 7 starts for Frisco this season. In the Texas League he is 6-0 with a 1.50 ERA in 10 starts and overall between high-A and AA this season, Wieland is 12-3 with a 1.85 ERA in 24 games/23 starts. In his 10 starts in the Texas League, Frisco/San Antonio is 10-0 when he starts.

Happy Birthday!: Frisco's pressbox would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Betsy Pry of Antioch, Tennessee! Betsy is the sister of Frisco's scoreboard operator extraordinaire Billy Cannon. So, Happy Birthday and hope you have a great day!

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 949 homeruns in 1018 games (0.932 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Shuttle System- The process of moving players back and forth between the major leagues and minor leagues.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the San Antonio Missions 4-3 in 11 innings at home. Richard Bleier started for Frisco and gave up 7 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs (2 earned) over 6 innings with 1 strikeout. Chris Mobley and Tyler Tufts each pitched 2 scoreless innings. Brennan Garr picked up the win with a scoreless 11th inning. Engel Beltre led Frisco with a 3 for 4 game including a double, RBI, and run scored. Jonathan Greene went 2 for 4 with a homerun, RBI, and 2 runs scored. Renny Osuna added a 2 for 5 game with a RBI for the Riders. Joey Butler, Emerson Frostad, and Andy Jenkins each added a hit as well. It was the middle game of three extra inning games in a row, which accumulated 38 innings over 3 games.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Antioch, TN!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 128: San Antonio Missions (Juan Oramas) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel)

2011-08-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (30-27 7 games back in the Texas League South; 70-57 overall)... San Antonio Missions (37-20 1st place in the Texas League South; 86-41 overall)
Magic Number: Clinched
Streak: Won 3 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Homestand: 1-0
Series Record: 18-14-4
2011 Record against San Antonio: 11-18
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 121-124
Record on August 24th since 2004: 5-2
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (5-9 5.24 ERA) vs. Juan Oramas (8-4 3.08 ERA)

Frisco Unofficially Clinches Playoff Spot With Win: For the 6th time in their 9 year team existence the Frisco RoughRiders will be playing postseason ball in the Texas League so long as San Antonio clinches the second half. Frisco defeated the Missions 5-2 on Tuesday in the first of a four game set and a Midland loss to Corpus Christi meant Frisco's magic number was brought from 2 to 0 in one day. San Antonio holds a 7 game lead over Frisco and 8 game lead over Midland in the 2nd half with 13 games remaining. San Antonio's magic number over Midland is currently at 6 to decide if Frisco will officially be in the postseason.

Snyder's Solid Start: Ben Snyder continues to pitch well against Frisco this season as the southpaw faced the Missions for the 12th time this season, although only 3 of the 12 games were starts. Snyder went 6 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), walked 1, and struck out 3. He is now 1-2 with a save against San Antonio, but has as 3.30 ERA and 1.27 WHIP against the best hitting team in the Texas League South. Snyder worked in and out of trouble well throughout his start and managed to get a quality start.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 17 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 4 Called- 3 Swinging- 1 Foul- 7 Balls- 2 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 BB- 1 Hit
2: 8 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 0 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 2 Balls- 3 BPIP
3: 10 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 3 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit
4: 22 Pitches- 16 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 8 Fouls- 6 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 2 Hits
5: 17 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 5 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 6 Balls- 6 BPIP- 2 Hits- 1 ROE
6: 13 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 6 Balls- 3 BPIP

Total: 87 Pitches- 57 Strikes- 16 Called- 7 Swinging- 12 Fouls- 30 Balls- 22 BPIP- 3 Swinging K- 1 BB- 6 Hits- 1 ROE

Hilligoss Leads the Way: Mitch Hiligoss got the offense rolling with a leadoff homerun to open the 4th inning for Frisco. The homerun was the beginning of a 3 run inning for Frisco, which gave them a lead they never let go. Hilligoss finished the game 2 for 4 with a triple and the homerun. It was the second game this season for Frisco where Hilligoss has had a triple and a homerun in the same game. The other game came on July 17th against Corpus Christi. All 13 of Hilligoss's extra base hits have come at Dr. Pepper Ballpark this season. In his career in AA, 16 of his 18 extra base hits have come at home (Dr. Pepper Ballpark).

Bianucci Inches Closer to 30: Mike Bianucci also added a homerun in the game against San Antonio, in fact it came two batters after Hilligoss's homerun. Jonathan Greene doubled after Hilligoss and Mike Bianucci gave Frisco the lead with a 2-run homerun to left field. The blast hit the roof of the Diamond Deck down the left field line. For the season, Bianucci now has 29 homeruns this season putting him 5 short of Nate Gold's single season Frisco record of 34. Bianucci is now tied for second in homeruns with Tim Wheeler and is 1 behind Matt Adam's league leading 30. Last season, Clint Robinson led the Texas League with 29 homeruns. Bianucci leads the league in extra base hits since the Texas League All-star break with 25 (13 homeruns, 11 doubles, and 1 triple).

Mendonca Adds to RBI total: Frisco had 3 homeruns against San Antonio and Tommy Mendonca was the third one. Mendonca's 2-run homerun in the 6th, gave them a 5-2 lead and gave Mendonca 86 RBI for the season, a team high. Mendonca is now tied for second in the Texas League in RBI with Arkansas's Luis Jimenez. Both are 8 behind Matt Adams, who also leads the league in RBI with 94.

Greene Adds to Hit by Pitch Record: Jonathan Greene got the single season record for hit by pitches on the road with 17 and he added his 18th against San Antonio on Tuesday. It was his 101st career hit by pitch as well in close to 5 seasons in the minor leagues. Greene has been hit by San Antonio Mission's pitchers 6 times this year now, which is more than any other team.

Ali Solis Continues to Struggle: One of the fascinating struggles to watch in Frisco this season has been that of catcher Ali Solis, who despite decent numbers, continues to not be able to hit at Dr. Pepper Ballpark at all. With another 0 for 4 game, Solis is now 3 for 31 (.097) at Frisco's home ballpark with 12 strikeouts. He is 60 for 202 (.297) everywhere else this season with 48 strikeouts.

Strikeout Record Position: With 13 games remaining in the season, the Texas League currently sits at 7,279 strikeouts as a league. The league record for strikeouts is 7,798 and definitely within striking distance. If every team in the league averages 5 strikeouts per game for the next 13 games, which is feasible by even the best team in this category (Northwest Arkansas Naturals have averaged a league low of 6.20 strikeouts per game), then the league would finish at a league record 7,799 strikeouts. More than likely, the league will finish with far more than that as the league average for strikeouts in a game this season is 7.21. At the current average, the league will finish with 8,028 strikeouts this season.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 940 homeruns in 1010 games (0.931 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Clean house- To trade or release many players on a team, especially when a new general manager or manager takes over.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated San Antonio 7-6 at home in 13 innings. Beau Jones started for Frisco and gave up 3 hits, 4 walks, and 4 runs over 3 innings with 1 strikeout. Michael Schlact gave up 2 runs (1 earned) over 4 1/3 innings of relief. Brennan Garr pitched 2/3 of an inning of shutout relief. Ben Snyder gave up 1 hit over 4 scoreless innings of relief. Adalberto Flores picked up the win with a scoreless 13th inning. Emerson Frostad led Frisco with a 2 for 5 game including a homerun, 4 RBI, and a walk. Guilder Rodriguez added a 2 for 5 game with a double and a walk for the Riders. Joey Butler went 2 for 6 with a walk as well, while Marcus Lemon went 2 for 5 with 2 walks in the leadoff spot. Renny Osuna and Engel Beltre also added 2 hits, while Johnny Whittleman went 0 for 4 with 2 walks and Jose Felix added 2 hits in 6 at bats. Frisco won on a walkoff single in the 13th inning by Joey Butler. This game was the beginning of three extra inning games in a row against San Antonio where the two teams played 38 innings over 3 games. Frisco won 2 of the 3 extra inning games.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Brainy Boro, NJ!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 127: San Antonio Missions (Pedro Hernandez) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Ben Snyder)

2011-08-23T12:13:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (29-27 8 games back in the Texas League South; 69-57 overall)... San Antonio Missions (37-19 1st place in the Texas League South; 86-40 overall)
Magic Number: 2
Streak: Won 2 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Road Trip: 2-4
Series Record: 18-14-4
2011 Record against San Antonio: 10-18
All-Time record against San Antonio: 120-124
Record on August 23rd since 2004: 5-1
Starting Pitchers: Ben Snyder (8-5 4.38 ERA) vs. Pedro Hernandez (3-0 2.08 ERA)

Frisco Gets Win, Takes Series From Tulsa: After losing the first game of the three game set, Frisco took the final 2 games from the Tulsa Drillers including a 4-2 win on Monday night in the rubber match. Frisco got outstanding bullpen work from Adalberto Flores, Richard Bleier, and Justin Miller and overcame a 2-1 deficit after 2 innings. With the win, Frisco wrapped up their regular season with the Texas League North with a record of 30-18, including 10-2 against the Tulsa Drillers.

Ramirez's Start: Neil Ramirez had no trouble at times with the Driller's lineup during his 3 innings of work and at other times he did have trouble. As Ramirez continues to work on his shoulder strength, he continues to dominate AA hitters at times. In 3 innings, Ramirez gave up 4 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs in 3 innings. He also struck out 5 batters during the outing. Ramirez got 9 swings and misses in the start despite only throwing 50 pitches. Almost 25% of his strikes (37) were swings and misses

Inning By Inning Count

1: 20 Pitches- 16 Strikes- 3 Called- 5 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 4 Balls- 2 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 2 Hits
2: 22 Pitches- 15 Strikes- 5 Called- 3 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 7 Balls- 2 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 BB- 2 Hits
3: 8 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 1 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 2 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K

Total: 50 Pitches- 37 Strikes- 9 Called- 9 Swinging- 13 Fouls- 13 Balls- 6 BPIP- 5 Swinging K- 1 BB- 4 Hits

Adalberto Flores Provided Huge Relief: Frisco certainly could have lost the game on Monday if not for the outstanding relief work by right hander Adalberto Flores. Flores entered the game to begin the 4th inning and left the game after giving up a harmless 2 out single in the 8th inning. Over his 4 2/3 innings of relief, Flores gave up just 1 hit and struck out 6 batters. In other words, Flores earned every bit of his 5th win of the season. It was Adalberto's 2nd 4 inning relief appearance this season and in both of them he has struck out 6 batters without issuing a walk.

Greene Goes Deep: Jonathan Greene continued a solid road trip with a 1 for 4 game including a homerun to right center field, 2 RBI, and a walk. For Greene the homerun was his 18th of the season and the 2 RBI gave him 71 on the season, which is tied for third on the club. With him getting over 70 for the season, it gives Frisco 3 players with 70 or more RBI in the same season for the first time in team history.

Stoneburner Continues to Show Patience: If there has been one weakness in Davis Stoneburner's game this season it has been his patience, or lack thereof. Through the first four months of the season, Stoneburner had walked 22 times, an average of 5.5 per month. Stoneburner used a 1 for 2 game with 2 more walks on Monday to get to 11 walks in the month of August (including 8 in his last 10 games) and 34 for the season. Stoneburner is batting .226 over his last 10 games, but his OBP over the same time is .415.

Bianucci Knocks #28: Mike Bianucci went 2 for 5 in Frisco's win, including hitting his 28th blast of the season. The homerun, a solo shot to right field, puts him 6 behind Nate Gold's team best 34 homeruns in a single season. Frisco has 14 games remaining, however, which puts Bianucci at a tough spot. He did hit 6 homeruns in a 13 game span from July 16th-July 29th, so it's not impossible.

Osuna's 3 Hit Game: Osuna had his 6th multi hit game in the month of August on Monday when he went 3 for 5 with a run scored. The game extended his on base streak to 12 games dating back to August 10th. Osuna is up to 139 hits for the season and sits 18 hits behind Joaquin Arias's single season Frisco record for hits with 157 with 14 games remaining. Osuna would need 19 hits to set the single season record. From July 10th-July 24th, Osuna had 26 hits over 14 games and Osuna will need a similar stretch to get the record. Already Frisco's career hit leader, Renny Osuna is in the midst of his best season with Frisco.

Joey Butler/Mark Hamburger Update: Former Frisco reliever Mark Hamburger started yesterday's game for Round Rock and picked up his 7th win of the season for Round Rock. It was Hamburger's 3rd start of the season for Round Rock, who moved Hamburger into the rotation on August 12th. He gave up 4 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs over 6 innings with 4 strikeouts in his 3rd start. As a starter, Hamburger is now 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA. He has given up 9 hits, 3 walks, and has struck out 13 batters in 15 1/3 innings.

Another former Rider, Joey Butler, is having a break through season for the Round Rock Express as well, in part thanks to an astronomically high BABIP (Batting average on balls in play). Butler added another productive game to his list yesterday when he went 2 for 4 with a double, homerun, 4 RBI, and a run scored. Butler is batting .333 for Round Rock with 27 doubles, 5 triples, 12 homeruns, 53 RBI, and 71 runs. He has a .390 on base percentage and .913 OPS overall. Butler was Frisco's RBI leader last season with 59 and was tied with Andy Jenkins for the team lead in homeruns with 10. He is also 5th on the all time hits list in a single season for Frisco with 143 last season.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 933 homeruns in 1002 games (0.931 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Drop down- To pitch with a lower arm angle; to pitch sidearm or underhanded.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Tulsa Drillers 2-1 on the road. Clayton Hamilton started for Frisco and gave up 7 hits and struck out 4 batters over 7 shutout innings without issuing a walk. Tim Murphy gave up 1 run over 1 inning of relief, while Mark Hamburger picked up his 5th save with a scoreless 9th inning. Johnny Whittleman led Frisco with a 2 for 3 game including a homerun and a run. Joey Butler added a 1 for 4 game with a solo homerun for the Riders. Jonathan Greene also added a 1 for 3 game, while Marcus Lemon led off with an 0 for 3 game with a walk.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Humansville, MO!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

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

2011-08-22T16:16:00.000-05:00

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)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 125: Frisco RoughRiders (Robbie Ross) @ Tulsa Drillers (Rob Scahill)

2011-08-21T18:21:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: ONEOK Field (Tulsa, OK)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (27-27 8 games back in the Texas League South; 67-57 overall)... Tulsa Drillers (25-29 5 games back in the Texas League North; 58-66 overall)
Magic Number: 5
Streak: Lost 4 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Road Trip: 0-4
Series Record: 17-14-4
2011 Record against Tulsa: 8-2
All-Time Record against Tulsa: 66-71
Record on August 21st since 2004: 3-3
Starting Pitchers: Robbie Ross (0-1 3.44 ERA) vs. Rob Scahill (9-10 4.31 ERA)

Frisco falls to Tulsa for first time since May 30th: Frisco made a late comeback attempt on Saturday's game, but fell 4-3 to the Tulsa Drillers to extend Frisco's losing streak to 4 games, the team's longest since they lost 5 straight from April 23rd-27th. Frisco still managed to move closer to clinching a playoff berth, however, as Midland also lost their 4th straight game. With a magic number of 5, Frisco will not clinch the playoff berth on this road trip, and have a 4 game homestand coming up this week against San Antonio.

Derek Hankins First Non Dominant Frisco Start: For the first time in his Frisco career, which is all of three starts, Derek Hankins wasn't at the top of his game. After giving up just 1 run over 5 innings in his first start and 6 shutout innings in his second one, Hankins gave up 4 runs over 5 2/3 innings on Saturday in the loss to the Drillers. Hankins gave up 8 hits, walked 2, and struck out 1 batter. His ERA "skyrocketed" to 2.70. Hankins faced 25 batters and threw a first pitch strike to 13 of them.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 8 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 1 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 1 Ball- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit
2: 14 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 6 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 Hit
3: 10 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP
4: 19 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 9 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits
5: 8 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 0 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 4 BPIP- 2 Hits
6: 15 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 7 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB- 2 Hits

Total: 74 Pitches- 44 Strikes- 8 Called- 4 Swinging- 10 Fouls- 30 Balls- 22 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 2 BB- 8 Hits

Mendonca Goes 2 For 4: Tommy Mendonca went 2 for 4 for the Riders on Saturday and drove in his 84th RBI on the season. Since the second half began, Mendonca is batting just .213 with 13 extra base hits in 46 games. His OPS during this time is .659 and his K-BB ratio is 65-15. This is after he batted .335 with 37 extra base hits in 65 games in the first half and posted a .983 OPS and 75-18 K-BB ratio.

Greene is HBP King: Jonathan Greene was hit by a pitch for the 17th time this season on Saturday during a game where he went 1 for 3 and stole a base as well. With the hit by pitch Jonathan Greene now holds the single season record by a Frisco RoughRider. The record was previously held by current Texas Ranger Craig Gentry, who was hit by 16 pitches in 2009. Being hit by pitches is no fluke for Jonathan Greene either, as Greene holds the Midwest League record for hit by pitches in a season with 36 in 2008. In 5 minor league seasons, Greene has netted exactly 100 hit by pitches.

Speaking of Kings, the Hit King...: Renny Osuna added 2 hits in 5 at bats on Saturday as well as the Frisco RoughRider's hit leader continues to pile up hits. Osuna is now up to 330 hits for his Frisco RoughRider's career with 136 coming this season. He is 21 hits away from Joaquin Arias's season high of 157 hits with 16 games to go. It's not likely, but it is possible so it's something to keep an eye on. He is currently on pace to finish with 152.5 hits for the season.

Making A Quick Impact: Matt Leeds has only been with Frisco for 3 games, but he already has 3 hits, 2 walks, a double, 2 RBI, and had 4 total bases. The switch handed hitter has given Frisco's offense a nice boost early on and has done so at a key time with Frisco's offense struggling a bit.

Just Dominant Pitching: Justin Miller pitched another 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief on Saturday, but that should come as no surprise really as the right hander has been mowing down hitters left and right out of the bullpen for Frisco. Since the second half began, Miller has made 18 appearances, pitched in 27 innings, allowed just 15 hits, walked 12 batters, struck out 30, and is 3-0 with 3 saves. On the season, Miller now sports a nifty 1.99 ERA and has allowed just over a baserunner per inning with 44 hits allowed and 21 walks in 63 1/3 innings. Since June 1st, Miller's ERA is 0.73 over 24 appearances. If the question is where would Frisco be without Justin Miller, the answer is pretty obvious... not far.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 919 homeruns in 986 games (0.932 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Killer Instinct- The desire or inclination to defeat or finish off an opponent when the latter is struggling.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Tulsa Drillers 5-3 on the road. Travis Chick started for Frisco and gave up 4 hits over 5 shutout innings with 3 strikeouts and 0 walks. Adalberto Flores gave up 2 runs over 2/3 of an inning of relief. Tim Murphy gave up a run over 1 1/3 innings, while Tyler Tufts and Mark Hamburger pitched 2 shutout innings of relief. Renny Osuna went 2 for 5 with a double to lead Frisco's offense. Jose Felix added a 2 for 4 game with a homerun and 2 RBI for the Riders. Elio Sarmiento and Johnny Whittleman each added solo homeruns. Marcus Lemon, Joey Butler, Engel Beltre, and Guilder Rodriguez added a hit a piece as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from What Cheer, IA!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 124: Frisco RoughRiders (Derek Hankins) @ Tulsa Drillers (Joseph Gardner)

2011-08-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: ONEOK Field (Tulsa, OK)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (27-26 7 games back in the Texas League South; 67-56 overall)... Tulsa Drillers (24-29 5 games back in the Texas League South)
Magic Number: 6
Streak: Lost 3 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Road Trip: 0-3
Series Record: 17-14-4
2011 Record against Tulsa: 8-1
All-Time Record against Tulsa: 66-70
Record on August 20th since 2004: 2-5
Starting Pitchers: Derek Hankins (1-0 0.82 ERA) vs. Joseph Gardner (0-2 4.76 ERA)

Frisco Swept for First Time This Season: Despite taking their first 3 series against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Frisco will finish with a .500 record against the first place team in the Texas League North after falling to the Naturals 4-0 on Friday. Northwest Arkansas became the first team to sweep Frisco since San Antonio swept Frisco on August 6th-9th in 2010. Frisco managed just 5 hits and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Frisco now takes on the Tulsa Drillers, who they swept in their last series with them.

Pimentel Starts Rocky, Ends Strong: In what has become a familiar theme in the 2011 season for the 21 year old right hander, Carlos Pimentel gave up 2 walks, 2 hits, and 3 runs en route to a 30 pitch first inning. Of those 30 pitches, 16 of them were balls. He faced 7 batters in the inning. However, it took Pimentel just 46 pitches to get through his next 4 innings as he gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 3 over those 4 innings. Pimentel was finished after a 21 pitch 6th inning where he walked 1 batter. Overall, the line wasn't tremendous, but most of the damage came in the first inning.

This season, Pimentel is averaging 4.191 pitches per plate appearance in the 1st and 4.288 pitches per plate appearance in the 6th. In between, he is averaging 3.79 pitches per plate appearance. Of his 23 starts this season for Frisco, Pimentel has made at least 18 pitches in the first inning in 11 of the starts, including two now with 30 or more. He has made less than 15 pitches in the first inning just 9 times.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 30 Pitches- 14 Strikes- 4 Called- 4 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 16 Balls- 3 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 2 BB- 2 Hits
2: 6 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 1 Ball- 3 BPIP
3: 16 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 3 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 7 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 BB
4: 14 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 6 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 2 Hits
5: 8 Pitches- 5 Strikes- 0 Called- 2 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 3 Balls- 3 BPIP
6: 21 Pitches- 12 Strikes- 4 Called- 2 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 9 Balls- 0 BPIP- 2 Called K- 1 BB

Total: 95 Pitches- 53 Strikes- 14 Called- 12 Swinging- 14 Fouls- 42 Balls- 13 BPIP- 2 Called K- 5 Swinging K- 4 BB- 4 Hits

Stoneburner Reaches Base Three Times: Davis Stoneburner led Frisco's offense as he reached base three times going 1 for 2 with a single, walk, and hit by pitch. Stoneburner's hit by pitch was his 12th this season for Frisco. He is one of three Frisco hitters with 10 or more hit by pitches this season. For Frisco it was their 74th hit by pitch this season, which is three short of tying a franchise most for a season.

Strikeouts Piling Up: With 2 more strikeouts in 3 at bats (4 plate appearances), Tommy Mendonca now has 140 strikeouts on the season. Along with Jonathan Greene, Frisco has 2 players with 140 or more strikeouts in a season for the first time in team history. They are one of two teams in minor league baseball with teammates with 140+ strikeouts. Visalia of the California League also has 2 with Bobby Borchering at 141 and Keon Broxton at 151. Frisco is in jeopardy of having 3 players have more strikeouts than their previous team high in a season (Jason Botts with 126) and is also in a position where four Riders could have 100 or more strikeouts in the same season for the first time in history.

Speaking of Strikeouts: The Texas League in general is up in strikeouts this season as the league already has had 7,058 strikeouts this season. The Texas League record for most strikeouts in a season is 7,798. The league is on pace for more than 8,000 strikeouts this season.

Wieland/Erlin Update: Joseph Wieland picked up his 6th AA win on Friday night for San Antonio. He held the Springfield Cardinals, who have arguably the best offense in the league, to just 1 unearned run and 2 hits over 5 innings. Wieland is now 6-0 with a 1.50 ERA in the Texas League and is 12-3 with a 1.92 ERA overall for the season. He has not lost a game since May 22nd for Myrtle Beach. In 10 AA starts, his team is 10-0 when he takes the mound. On the season, Wieland now has 141 strikeouts and 16 walks in 145 2/3 innings.

Robbie Erlin has received 3 no decisions with the San Antonio Missions, although San Antonio is 3-0 when Erlin takes the mound. Overall, in the Texas League Erlin's team is 11-3 when he takes the mound and overall they are 16-7 this season between high-A and AA. For the Missions, Erlin has struck out 16 batters, given up just 1 walk, and 8 hits over 14 innings. For the season, Robbie Erlin is 8-4 with a 3.13 ERA and has given up 13 walks to 139 strikeouts in 135 1/3 innings.The anti-Robbie Erlin seems to be Anthony Hewitt, a hitter in the South Atlantic League. In 423 plate appearances this season, Hewitt has struck out 139 times and walked just 13 times. It begs the question, I wonder how he would do in 100 at bats against Robbie Erlin.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 910 homeruns in 978 games (0.930 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Shoot the ball- To hit the ball through the infield tot he opposite field, e.g. for a right handed batter to "aim" the ball between first base and second base.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 5-1 to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on the road. Richard Bleier started for Frisco and gave up 9 hits, 1 walk, and 5 runs over 7 innings with 3 strikeouts. Brennan Garr pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Engel Beltre led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 4 game. Joey Butler added a 1 for 2 game with a RBI on a sacrifice fly and a walk for the Riders. Jose Felix went 1 for 3, while Marcus Lemon led off with a 1 for 4 game.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Happyland, CT!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 123: Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel) @ Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Mario Santiago)

2011-08-19T17:32:00.001-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Arvest Ballpark (Springdale, AR)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (27-25 6 games back in the Texas League South; 67-55 overall)... Northwest Arkansas Naturals (28-24 1st place in the Texas League North; 63-56 overall)
Magic Number: 7
Streak: Lost 2 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Road Trip: 0-2
Series Record: 17-13-4
2011 Record against Northwest Arkansas: 6-5
All-Time Record against Northwest Arkansas: 70-69
Record on August 19th since 2004: 5-2
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (5-8 5.28 ERA) vs. Mario Santiago (3-1 2.40 ERA)

Frisco Drops Second to Northwest Arkansas, In Jeopardy of Sweep: For the first time since April 17th-19th, Frisco is guaranteed of a series loss to a Texas League North team. After losing 14-2 on Wednesday, Frisco fell 5-4 to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Thursday and will try to avoid the sweep on Friday night. Frisco led 3-0 through 3 innings, but gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th. After going scoreless the next three frames, the Naturals scored 2 times in the 8th inning and withstood a 9th inning rally by Frisco to win 5-4. Frisco had the tying and go ahead runs in scoring position in the 9th inning with just 1 out, but Renny Osuna lined out to Wil Myers in right field and Tommy Mendonca struck out swinging to end the game.

Snyder's Start: Ben Snyder gave up 10 hits over 6 innings for Frisco with 3 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 3 runs (all earned). Snyder has not won a game since July 22nd, when he picked up his team high 8th win at the time and 11th career win for Frisco. He is tied for 10th on the all-time Frisco win list.

Bolden's Big Day: After going 1 for 11 in his first 3 AA games, Jared Bolden went 3 for 4 in Thursday's loss for Frisco with his first AA homerun and 2 RBI. Bolden also added his first AA stolen base in the game as well. The 22 year old first baseman now has 4 RBI in 4 games with 4 hits. He had 2 RBI, including the game winning RBI in the finale of the series with Tulsa on Monday.

Greene Goes Deep: Jonathan Greene added his 17th homerun of the season as part of a 2 for 4 game with a solo homerun. His homerun represented his 68th RBI of the season, putting him 2 short of joining Mike Bianucci and Tommy Mendonca in the 70 RBI club. Greene also struck out 2 times to add to his franchise high total of 141 strikeouts for the season.

Leeds First AA Hit: Matt Leeds, a 31st round pick by the Texas Rangers in this year's draft, had his 1st AA hit on Thursday in his second AA game. Leeds went 0 for 2 with a walk on Wednesday and followed that game with a 2 for 4 game on Thursday with a double as well.

A New Spot for Beltre: Likely in an effort to get the struggling top prospect going, Frisco moved Engel Beltre from the bottom of the order to the #2 spot in Frisco's lineup on Thursday. Beltre responded with a flourish going 2 for 4 with a RBI, a walk, and a strikeout. Over his last 10 games, Beltre is batting .281/.361/.344/.705 with 2 extra base hits and 4 walks to 11 strikeouts. For the season, Beltre is batting .242 with a .598 OPS. He was rated by Baseball America as the #5 prospect in the Texas Ranger's organization.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 908 homeruns in 970 games (0.936 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Early Bloomer- A rookie who looks particularly good in spring training or the early days of the regular season, but who fades quickly and must be dropped from the team.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 5-4 on the road. Beau Jones started for Frisco and gave up 2 hits, 5 walks, and 3 runs over 2 1/3 innings with 5 strikeouts. Michael Schlact earned the victory after giving up 1 run over 4 1/3 innings of relief. Tim Murphy, Tyler Tufts, and Mark Hamburger combined for 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Joey Butler led Frisco with a 3 for 5 game including a double, homerun, 4 RBI, and a run scored. Renny Osuna went 2 for 5 with a triple and a RBI for the Riders. Emerson Frostad added a 1 for 4 game with a walk and 2 runs scored. Elio Sarmiento went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. Engel Beltre added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Picnic, FL!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 121: Frisco RoughRiders (Neil Ramirez) @ Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Chris Dwyer)

2011-08-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Arvest Ballpark (Springdale, AR)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (27-23 4 games back in the Texas League South; 67-53 overall)... Northwest Arkansas Naturals (26-24 1st place in the Texas League North; 61-56 overall)
Magic Number: 9
Streak: Won 3 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Homestand: 6-4
Series Record: 17-13-4
2011 Record against Northwest Arkansas: 6-3
All-Time Record against Northwest Arkansas: 70-67
Record on August 17th since 2004: 2-4
Starting Pitchers: Neil Ramirez (0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Chris Dwyer (6-10 5.83 ERA)

Frisco Ties Game in 9th, Finishes Sweep in Extras: For most of the game on Monday, Frisco seemed out of the game and didn't look like they wanted to win it. However, the nice thing about baseball is that there is no timed clock and anyone can pull off a win at any time. Frisco scored a run in the 9th inning thanks to a broken up double play by a most unlikely hero and Frisco won 3-2 in the 12th inning. Frisco now has

Ross Outstanding Again: For the third time as a Frisco RoughRider, Robbie Ross kept Frisco in the game. The 22 year old southpaw gave up just 4 hits and 1 walk over 5 1/3 innings, struck out 5 batters and allowed just 1 run. He lowered his AA ERA down to 3.44 although he had his second no decision in three starts. Over his 3 starts, Ross now has 17 strikeouts to 2 walks in 18 1/3 innings for the Riders. Left handed batters are hitting just .067 against Ross for Frisco.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 14 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 7 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
2: 13 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 5 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 2 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit
3: 16 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 1 Called- 2 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 6 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
4: 21 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 10 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Hits
5: 19 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 0 Called- 2 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 10 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
6: 9 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 0 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 3 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Hit

Total: 92 Pitches- 54 Strikes- 11 Called- 9 Swinging- 19 Fouls- 38 Balls- 15 BPIP- 2 Called K- 3 Swinging K- 1 BB- 4 Hits

Unusual Circumstance Leads to Frisco First: The Frisco RoughRiders entered the game on Monday down their manager and best power hitter. Mike Bianucci, who leads the team with 27 homeruns, was out for not only Monday's game, but possibly more due to an eye infection. So Frisco, who has 10 position players to begin with, had just 9 to start Monday's game. For the first 6.5 innings everything was fine. But when starting centerfielder Engel Beltre got ejected by the home plate umpire after striking out looking, insanity for Frisco ensued. Jonathan Greene, who had already played left field, right field, third base, and first base this season for the Riders and has also played catcher in the minors, made a cameo in centerfield for the first time in his career. Not the fleetest of foot, Greene made every play he could, however. The other first however, was far more interesting...

Snyder Gets First Hit By Frisco Pitcher: Because the team was already using every position player available, Ben Snyder made an appearance in right field for the first time in his minor league career. Snyder came in with a career batting average of .235 and OPS of .631. The only reason he had those numbers, however, was because he began in the San Francisco Giant's organization. In the minor leagues the only way a pitcher bats is if both teams are National League affiliates. Ben Snyder singled in his first at bat in the 9th inning and then took Thomas Field, Tulsa's second baseman, out hard on a slide to break up a double play, which allowed the game tying run to score in the 9th inning. Snyder finished the game 1 for 2 and the hit was the first time a Frisco RoughRider's pitcher recorded a hit. The only other pitcher to get an at bat was reliever Jesse Chavez, who went 0 for 1 in 2005.

Felix Has Big Game: Jose Felix had the game winning RBI on Saturday when he got the game winning 2-run single in the 5th inning of a 2-1 win. On Monday, Felix went 2 for 5 with 2 doubles, drove in the game tying run on the fielders choice in the 9th inning, and scored the game winning run in the 12th inning after doubling and getting to third on a wild pitch. Overall Felix was involved in all 3 runs as he scored 2 and drove in the other.

Bolden's Big First Hit: Jared Bolden hasn't hit a ton in his first two games, but his first AA hit came on Monday and was the game winning, walkoff single in the 12th inning with 1 out. Bolden finished the game 1 for 4 with 2 RBI as he also had a sacrifice fly earlier in the game. Bolden, who was promoted on Sunday to Frisco from Myrtle Beach after Jose Ruiz was promoted to Round Rock (AAA) batted .271 with a .731 OPS for Myrtle Beach.

Miller Continues Strikeout Binge: Justin Miller came into Monday's game in the 11th inning and he struck out 6 consecutive batters in the game with five via swings. Including his appearance on Saturday, Miller has struck out 7 consecutive batters and 9 of the last 10 batters that he has faced.

Yan Still Has Not Given Up an Earned Run: Johan Yan did give up a run on Monday, but it went down as an unearned run. The 22 year old right hander with an interesting delivery, has not given up an earned run through his first 18 AA innings covering 12 appearances. He has given up 3 unearned runs during that time frame. Overall on the season, Yan is now 5-3 with a 1.06 ERA in 38 appearances between Myrtle Beach (High-A) and Frisco (AA).

Friedrich Takes No-Hitter Into 6th Inning: He may have come in having given up 15 hits and 17 runs over his last 5 1/3 innings spanning 2 starts, but in baseball that doesn't mean anything when you start a new game. Christian Friedrich instead took a no-hitter on Monday into the 6th inning before Frisco's all-time hits leader, Renny Osuna, broke up the no-hitter with a 1 out single in the 6th inning for his 325th career hit. Friedrich ended up going 6 innings, gave up 1 hit, walked 4, struck out 7 batters, and did not allow a run.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 894 homeruns in 954 games (0.937 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Hardball- A term that seemingly refers to baseball--- the game as well as the ball. When the term is used in the context of baseball it refers to a tough style of play.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco had the day off.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Cheesequake, NJ!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 120: Tulsa Drillers (Christian Friedrich) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Robbie Ross)

2011-08-15T14:54:00.001-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (26-23 4 games back in the Texas League South; 66-53 overall)... Tulsa Drillers (21-28 5 games back in the Texas League South; 54-65 overall)
Magic Number: 10
Streak: Won 2 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Homestand: 5-4
Series Record: 16-13-4
2011 Record against Tulsa: 7-1
All-Time Record against Tulsa: 65-70
Record on August 15th since 2003: 7-0
Starting Pitchers: Robbie Ross (0-1 4.15 ERA) vs. Christian Friedrich (6-8 4.68 ERA)

Frisco Defeats Tulsa, Guarantees Series Win: For the 9th consecutive series against the Texas League North, Frisco has taken at least 2 of the 3 games against their opponent. Frisco scored in six of the eight innings they stepped up to the plate and they defeated the Tulsa Drillers 10-3. It was the first time that Frisco scored more than 10 runs in one game since scoring 19 runs against the Corpus Christi Hooks on July 22nd.

Hankins Great in Second Start: After shutting down the San Antonio Mission's offense in his first start over 5 innings, Derek Hankins gave up just 4 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run over 6 innings with 6 strikeouts against the Tulsa Drillers in his second start. Hankins had no trouble getting ahead of the Drillers as he threw first pitch strikes to 19 of the 23 batters he faced.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 17 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 4 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 4 Balls- 6 BPIP- 3 Hits
2: 10 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 5 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 2 Balls- 1 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K
3: 15 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 4 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hits
4: 16 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 4 Called- 3 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 5 Balls- 1 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K
5: 11 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 0 Called- 4 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 3 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
6: 14 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 5 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB

Total: 83 Pitches- 60 Strikes- 18 Called- 12 Swinging- 14 Fouls- 23 Balls- 16 BPIP- 2 Called K- 4 Swinging K- 1 BB- 4 Hits

Mendonca Breaks Out: Struggling of late, Tommy Mendonca broke through with a 2 for 5 game including a homerun and 4 RBI. It marked his 5th game with at least 4 RBI and his 19th multi RBI game of the season. It was also his first homerun since August 3rd and just his 3rd since his 3 homerun game on July 22nd.

Five Riders With 2 Hits: Also joining Mendonca in the 2 hit club was Elio Sarmiento (2 for 4), Renny Osuna (2 for 3), Jonathan Greene (2 for 5), and Engel Beltre (2 for 4). Mike Bianucci, Mitch Hilligoss, and Davis Stoneburner all reached base twice in the game as well.

Osuna Goes Deep: Among Osuna's 2 hits was his 9th homerun of the season, which came in the 8th inning and gave Frisco their 9th and 10th runs of the game. Osuna is one short of having double digits for the first time in his career. His previous career high in homeruns before 2011 was 4. So needless to say, he's had a big year power wise. The homerun was Osuna's first since July 17th. It was also his 12th multi RBI game as he had 2 RBI for the game. With 51 RBI, Osuna became the fifth Frisco RoughRider with 50 or more RBI this season. They had 5 such players the previous two years combined.

Greene Leads Off Single in 2nd: At every home game the Frisco RoughRiders have a young kid announce the leadoff batter in the 2nd inning. The "junior PA" is what the kid is called before the kid announces it. At the urging of other pressbox members, I looked up how the batter that is announced has done this season for Frisco. So far this season, the batter that is announced is 16 for 60 (.267) with 6 homeruns, 1 triple, and 1 double. Their batting line is: .267/.290/.617/.907 this season as a result. Of the 6 homeruns, 3 of them have come from Mike Bianucci, who leads the team in plate appearances as the leadoff hitter in the 2nd inning. Bianucci is 3 for 17 this season with the 3 homeruns. Jonathan Greene, who led off the 2nd inning on Sunday with a single, is 6 for 11 with 1 homerun, 5 singles, and a walk to leadoff the second inning. He is the only player with a walk this season to leadoff the second inning at home for Frisco. Jose Ruiz, who got promoted on Sunday to AAA, was 0 for 7 with the lone hit by pitch to leadoff the second inning.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 888 homeruns in 946 games (0.939 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Solve- To begin getting hits off a pitcher, presumably after determining the trajectory and speed of his pitches and the way they are mixed.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Tulsa Drillers 11-4 at home. Richard Bleier started for Frisco and gave up 10 hits and 3 runs over 6 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts and 0 walks. Brennan Garr came in relief for Frisco and gave up 1 run over 2 1/3 innings. Renny Osuna led Frisco's offense with a 3 for 5 game including a homerun and a team high 5 RBI. Andy Jenkins added a 3 for 4 game with a walk for the Riders. Johnny Whittleman added 2 hits in 4 at bats with 3 RBI. Joey Butler added a 3 for 4 game while Marcus Lemon went 2 for 5 with a solo homerun and 2 runs scored. Jose Felix also had 2 hits in the game and Emerson Frostad added a homerun as well. Davis Stoneburner had 1 hit in 4 at bats.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Wainwright, OK!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 119: Tulsa Drillers (Rob Scahill) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Derek Hankins)

2011-08-14T11:57:00.000-05:00

Time: 6:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (25-23 5 games back in the Texas League South; 65-53 overall)... Tulsa Drillers (21-27 4 games back in the Texas League North; 54-64 overall)
Magic Number: 12
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
Homestand: 4-4
Series Record: 16-13-4
2011 Record against Tulsa: 6-1
All-Time Record against Tulsa: 64-70
Record on August 14th since 2004: 1-5
Starting Pitchers: Derek Hankins (0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Rob Scahill (9-9 4.13 ERA)

Frisco Wins Tight Game, Remains Undefeated on August 13th: Frisco scored 2 runs in the 5th inning on a 1 out single by Jose Felix and that was all they needed in a 2-1 victory over the Tulsa Drillers. Frisco came into play on Saturday 8-0 in franchise history on August 13th and did not tarnish the record with the win to move to 9-0 all-time.

Pimentel's Short Start: Carlos Pimentel started for Frisco and looked good through the first couple innings. However, he seemed to have hurt himself making a pitch and came out after just 3 innings. In the 3 innings, Pimentel gave up 1 hit and struck out 4 while he threw 34 of 50 pitches for strikes.

Inning By Inning Count

1: 24 Pitches- 15 Strikes- 4 Called- 5 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 8 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 HBP- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit
2: 12 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 4 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
3: 14 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 3 Called- 4 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 3 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K

Total: 50 Pitches- 34 Strikes- 9 Called- 9 Swinging- 10 Fouls- 15 Balls- 6 BPIP- 1 HBP- 4 Swinging K- 1 Hit

Pitching Dominates: Both sides displayed tremendous pitching on Saturday night and at one point both sides combined to retire 21 batters in a row spanning from the 1st inning after the leadoff double and hit by pitch through the top of the 4th inning. Carlos Pimentel and Adalberto Flores at one point combined to retire 18 in a row before Justin Miller gave up a homerun to the first batter he faced, Ben Paulsen, in the top of the 7th inning. In all Frisco and Tulsa's pitchers combined for 21 strikeouts and just 1 walk in the game, including 14 strikeouts and 0 walks by Frisco RoughRider's pitchers, which is a season best ratio for Frisco.

Felix's Game Winning Hit: Jose Felix hasn't had a ton of chances to be the hero this season, but on Saturday it was his 1 out 2 RBI single up the middle that was the difference in the game. It represented Felix's 26th and 27th RBIs on the season, although the catcher was out trying to advance to second on the throw. It was Felix's 7th multi RBI game this season.

Flores At his Best: Adalberto Flores had batters swinging at his curveball in his three innings and they seemed to have no chance. Flores pitched a crucial 3 innings of relief and was as good as he's ever been for Frisco. Flores didn't allow a baserunner and struck out 5 batters through 3 shutout innings of relief. He lowered his season ERA to 2.69 and picked up his 4th win of the season.

Riders Attendance: Frisco had 10,216 on Saturday marking the first time that Frisco has had over 10,000 since July 23rd this season. Frisco went 12 games between the 10,000 mark, which was the first time this season that they went a weekend without having over 10,000.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 885 homeruns in 938 games (0.943 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Draw a Throw- To make a fielder throw to a base; e.g., a runner at first base takes a large lead so that he can study the move of a pitcher with whom he is not familiar, or a baserunner pretends to advance to another base, forcing the pitcher to make a throw. The gist of this strategy is to give the fielder the impression that he can get the runner out.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 4-1 to the Tulsa Drillers at home. Erasmo Ramirez started for Frisco and gave up 4 hits and 1 run over 3 innings with 2 strikeouts and 0 walks. Chris Mobley and Mark Hamburger combined for 5 shutout innings of relief. Tyler Tufts took the loss after giving up 3 runs in 2 innings of relief. Stu Pomeranz, the brother of Drew Pomeranz, who will be with Tulsa soon, earned the save in Tulsa's win. Joey Butler led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 4 game including a solo homerun. Jose Felix went 2 for 3 with a double. Davis Stoneburner and Renny Osuna each added a hit.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Nowhere, OK!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 118: Tulsa Drillers (Alex White) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel)---- TV Game----

2011-08-13T13:22:00.001-05:00

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (24-23 6 games back in the Texas League South; 64-53 overall)... Tulsa Drillers (21-26 3 games back in the Texas League North; 54-63 overall)
Magic Number: 14
Streak: Lost 1 in a row
Last 10: 4-6
Homestand: 3-4
Series Record: 16-13-4
2011 Record against Tulsa: 5-1
All-Time Record against Tulsa: 63-70
Record on August 13th since 2003: 8-0
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (5-8 5.42 ERA) vs. Alex White (0-1 5.79 ERA)

Riders Shutout In Series Finale: For only the fourth time this season and only the second time since June 1st, Frisco was shutout by an opponent in their 2-0 loss to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. They lost 4-0 to the Corpus Christi Hooks on April 29th; 3-0 to the San Antonio Missions on May 6th; and 1-0 to the San Antonio Missions on July 20th. Frisco gave up a run in the 2nd and the 5th and that was all of the damage done against the pitching all night. Still, Frisco took 2 out of 3 from the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and looks to continue their success against the Texas League North as the Tulsa Drillers come to town in the final 3 games of a 10 game, 11 day homestand.

Snyder Struggles to Get Ahead, Keeps Team in Game: Ben Snyder didn't give up a ton of baserunners on Friday night despite struggling to get ahead of hitters all night. Through four innings he had thrown first pitch strikes to just 4 of the 15 batters he faced, but had still limited the Natural's hitters to just 1 run over the 4 innings. He finished with 10 first pitch strikes to the 24 batters he faced and gave up 2 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings. He walked 3, struck out 1 batter, and gave up 4 hits in the contest. He wasn't helped by 3 errors behind him, including 2 involved with Paulo Orlando up at the plate in the 5th inning. Snyder's 5th loss of the season means that he's still stuck at 8 wins for the season and 11 wins for his career with Frisco.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 12 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 5 Balls- 3 BPIP-
2: 25 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 5 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 12 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 BB- 2 Hits
3: 18 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 0 Called- 1 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 8 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 Hit
4: 12 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 4 Balls- 3 BPIP-
5. 21 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 8 Balls- 5 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 Hit- 1 ROE
6: 9 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Called K

Total: 97 Pitches- 57 Strikes- 15 Called- 4 Swinging- 18 Fouls- 40 Balls- 20 BPIP- 1 Called K- 3 BB- 4 Hits- 1 ROE

Brigham Reaches Magic #100: Jake Brigham struck out the side in the 9th inning, his one inning of relief in the game. His last strikeout came on a called strike three with Wil Myers, who was rated the #2 prospect in the Royal's system by Baseball America entering 2011, at the plate. Myers represented Brigham's 100th strikeout of the season, which is the most by a Frisco RoughRider's pitcher this season. Last season Martin Perez led Frisco with 101 strikeouts for the season. Only seven pitchers had reached 100 for a season for Frisco before Brigham this season. Of his 100 strikeouts, 32 have come as a reliever in 24 1/3 innings (11.84 K/9 ratio). Brigham first appeared as a reliever on June 23rd. He was 3-5 with a 4.96 ERA in 14 starts this season as a starting pitcher for Frisco.

Tulsa Comes To Town Amidst A Tight Texas League North: All season long the Texas League North has been far closer than the Texas League South. Each team has had their shining moments this season and all teams have remained close all season long. Currently in the second half, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals hold the first place honor, but are just 1 game up on Arkansas, 2 games up on Springfield, and 3 games up on last place Tulsa. The Naturals are the only team that are above .500 in the second half and they are 1 game over .500. Overall for the season, there is just a 6.5 game difference between the Arkansas Travelers/Northwest Arkansas Naturals (59-55 each) and Springfield Cardinals/Tulsa Drillers (54-63 each).

The Texas League North has probably also featured the higher touted prospects of the two parts of the Texas League as well. Currently, the Texas League North has 3 of Baseball America's top 15 prospects entering 2011 in Mike Trout (#2), Wil Myers (#10), and Shelby Miller (#13). Alex White (#47) and Willin Rosario (#49) are also on the Tulsa Drillers as well right now to round out 5 of Baseball America's pre-season top 50 prospects and 5 of the 6 top 50 prospects in the Texas League.

Speaking of Alex White: Taking the mound today for the Tulsa Drillers will be Alex White, who is likely the Colorado Rockie's top prospect now. White was one of the centerpieces in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade at the deadline. White was traded along with southpaw Drew Pomeranz, right handed minor league pitcher Joseph Gardner, and outfielder Matt McBride. White, Gardner, and McBride are all on the Tulsa Driller's roster and it is likely that Drew Pomeranz will be on Tulsa when he can officially be a part of the deal. Because he was drafted in 2010 and signed at the August 15th deadline, Pomeranz cannot officially be part of the deal until one year later, which would come this upcoming week.

White, 22 years old, was taken with the 15th overall pick in the 2009 draft by the Cleveland Indians. He was 1-0 with a 1.90 ERA in 4 starts for the Columbus Clippers (AAA International League) and made 3 starts for the Cleveland Indians this season. Today will be his third start for the Tulsa Drillers.

Frisco Undefeated Today: Frisco takes their franchise 8-0 record on the line in the TV game today. Frisco has never lost on August 13th entering today beginning with 2003, the first year of the team's history.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 876 homeruns in 930 games (0.942 HR/G)

Term of the Day: STUFF- A shorthand rating of a pitcher's demonstrated skills, relative to his age and level. Its primary use is to evaluate pitching prospects. A score of 10 for a minor league pitcher indicates he has the talent to develop into an average major-league starter. A score above 20 denotes an excellent prospects; that above 30 denotes an elite pitcher. The largest component of STUFF is the strikeout rate, but also considered are the walk rate, hit rate, earned run average, innings pitched per game, and age relative to that of the league.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 7-6 at home. Michael Schlact started for Frisco and gave up 9 hits, 2 walks, and 6 runs over 5 innings. Beau Jones picked up his second win with 4 scoreless innings of relief. Jonathan Greene led Frisco's offense with a 3 for 4 game including 2 RBI. James Tomlin went 2 for 4 with a double, RBI, stolen base, and run scored. Marcus Lemon added a 2 for 4 game with a RBI, walk, stolen base, and run scored for the Riders. Davis Stoneburner also went 2 for 4 with a double, RBI, and run scored. Andy Jenkins went 1 for 4 with a RBI, while Emerson Frostad went 1 for 3 with a walk. Joaquin Arias and Renny Osuna each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Greenville, NC!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 117: Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Jake Odorizzi) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Ben Snyder)

2011-08-12T14:04:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (24-22 6 games back in the Texas League South; 64-52 overall)... Northwest Arkansas Naturals (23-23 1st place in the Texas League North; 58-55 overall)
Magic Number: 14
Streak: Won 2 in a row
Last 10: 4-6
Homestand: 3-3
Series Record: 15-13-4
2011 Record against Northwest Arkansas: 6-2
All-Time Record against Northwest Arkansas: 70-66
Record on August 12th since 2004: 2-4
Starting Pitchers: Ben Snyder (8-4 4.57 ERA) vs. Jake Odorizzi (3-2 5.31 ERA)

Frisco Cruises to Guaranteed Series Win: Frisco jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 4 innings and after a glitch in the 6th where the Rider's gave up 3 runs, the offense tacked on 2 in the 6th and 1 in the 7th to defeat the Naturals 7-3. After going 0 for 8 with RISP, the offense went 5 for 13 in the win and helped the team to just their 4th win in 10 August games. It also guarantees at least a season series split with the Naturals and with one more win they would be guaranteed a season series win. Frisco has now won 8 consecutive series with the Texas League North.

Ramirez's Start: Neil Ramirez pitched 3 innings again in a start as he continues to be under a pitch limit. The 22 year old right hander struck out 5 batters, gave up 3 hits, and walked 2 batters over 3 innings without allowing a run. Over 5 1/3 innings for Frisco now, Ramirez has 8 strikeouts and has given up 3 hits and 4 walks. On the season, he has 102 strikeouts over 83 1/3 innings and is 4-3 with a 3.24 ERA. In the start on Thursday, Ramirez consistently hit 94 and 95 mph on the stadium radar gun, while mixing in his curveball in the 72-74 mph range and changeup as well.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 15 Pitches- 12 Strikes- 4 Called- 3 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 3 Balls- 2 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 Hit
2: 25 Pitches- 15 Strikes- 4 Called- 1 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 10 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Hits
3: 22 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 4 Called- 1 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 11 Balls- 0 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K- 2 BB

Total: 62 Pitches- 38 Strikes- 12 Called- 5 Swinging- 14 Fouls- 24 Balls- 7 BPIP- 2 Called K- 3 Swinging K- 3 Hits- 2 BB

Sarmiento Hits #5: Elio Sarmiento added another homerun to his stellar 2011 campaign to this point. The catcher has split time with Jose Felix, but that still hasn't cooled his bat as Sarmiento continues to hit when he gets playing time. The 25 year old switch hitting catcher's 5th homerun was his 18th extra base hit of the season, which ties a career best with 2009. He has 9 doubles, 4 triples, and 5 homeruns this season in 43 games (150 at bats). Of his 18 extra base hits, 16 of them have come since June 1st as he is batting .315/.374/.568/.942 since June 1st with 8 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homeruns.

Hilligoss Goes 3 for 4: Mitch Hilligoss continues to hit well in Frisco as the 26 year old went 3 for 4 with a double, 2 RBI, and 2 runs in Frisco's 7-3 win. He's now hitting .327/.400/.635/1.035 with 8 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 homeruns in 16 games at Dr. Pepper Ballpark this season. He has yet to hit an extra base hit in 13 games on the road.

Greene Reaches Base Three Times: Jonathan Greene continues to strikeout at an alarming rate, but also continues to produce at the plate. Greene went 2 for 3 with a RBI, walk, and strikeout in Thursday's win. He now has 65 RBI for the season, which is third on the team behind Tommy Mendonca (79) and Mike Bianucci (77). Greene is also batting .328 with a .960 OPS at Dr. Pepper Ballpark this season. He has struck out at least once in 15 consecutive games. His 133 strikeouts are the most by a Frisco RoughRider in the 9 year history of the team.

Speaking of Strikeouts: Tommy Mendonca went 1 for 5 at the plate with 3 strikeouts. His 3 strikeouts gives him 9 "sombreros" for the season, which ties Jonathan Greene for the team high.

Active Player's Sombrero Totals

1. Greene and Mendonca- 9
2. Bianucci- 6
3. Stoneburner- 4
4. Beltre and Ruiz- 2
5. Osuna- 1
6. Sarmiento, Felix, and Hilligoss- 0

One Step Closer: Jose Ruiz was hit by a pitch in the 1st inning by the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. For Ruiz, it was the 4th time he's been hit by a pitch this season, including his 3rd in the last 6 games. For Frisco, however, it was the team's 71st hit by pitch of the season putting them tied with the 2008 club for the 3rd most by a Frisco RoughRider's team. They are now 6 shy of tying the most by a Frisco RoughRider's team and 7 short of setting a franchise high. The current most was 77 set by the 2004 Texas League championship team.

Feast or Famine Texas League: The two league records that stand the best chance of going down in the Texas League this season are the league homerun record and the league strikeout record. Currently the Texas League sits at 873 homeruns and 6,613 strikeouts through 918 games. According to the 2011 Texas League Media Guide & Record Book, the records for those are 1,066 homeruns and 7,798 strikeouts. As of right now, the league is on pace for 1,058 homeruns and 8,018 strikeouts. Now a few games can change the league's pace quite a bit as we've seen in the last week or two as the league has gone from averaging around 0.97 HR/G to 0.95 HR/G which has brought them from on pace to break the record to falling just short. With the season getting closer to the end it will be interesting to see how these records end up falling.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 873 in 918 games (0.951 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Cheap Win- 1. A victory in which the winning team did nothing spectacular, but the losing team did even worse. 2. A victory for a pitcher when his game score is less than 50. The statistic was introduced by Bill James in his Baseball Abstract (1988).

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 7-1 at home to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Carlos Pimentel started for Frisco and gave up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 7 runs (5 earned) over 4 innings with 2 strikeouts. Adalberto Flores and Corey Young each pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief, while Tyler Tufts pitched the 9th inning scoreless as well. James Tomlin led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 4 game including a double. Joey Butler added a 1 for 4 game with a triple for the Riders. Andy Jenkins went 1 for 4 with a RBI, while Joaquin Arias had a 1 for 4 game as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Squirrel Hill, PA!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 116: Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Chris Dwyer) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Neil Ramirez)

2011-08-11T14:46:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (23-22 6 games back in the Texas League South;63-52 overall).. Northwest Arkansas Naturals (23-22 1st place in the Texas League North;58-54 overall)
Magic Number: 15
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 4-6
Homestand: 2-3
Series Record: 15-13-4
2011 Record against Northwest Arkansas: 5-2
All-Time Record against Northwest Arkansas: 69-66
Record on August 11th Since 2004: 2-4
Starting Pitchers: Neil Ramirez (0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Chris Dwyer (6-9 5.77 ERA)

Frisco Wins on Walk-off Wild Pitch: Frisco blew another late lead, but came back to tie the game in the 7th inning and won 4-3 in 10 innings after the Naturals gave up a single, hit a batter, and walked one to load the bases with 1 out and Jonathan Greene at the plate. It was only Frisco's 3rd win in the month of August and they hit .100 (3 for 30) in the game with just 1 RBI out of the 4 runs scored. Still, the Riders moved to 5-2 against the Naturals this season and continue to dominate the Texas League North teams.

Ross Great In Regular Season Rider's Home Debut: Robbie Ross came to pitch on Wednesday night and he pitched very well against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Ross gave up 7 hits, 3 runs, and struck out 6 without issuing a walk to the Naturals over 7 innings. He took the no-decision in the start, however, after Frisco tied the game in the 7th inning. Ross threw first pitch strikes to 16 of the 28 batters he faced and threw 63 strikes overall out of 94 pitches. All of his strikeouts were swinging.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 15 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 4 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 4 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 2 Hits
2: 10 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 1 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 2 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit
3: 13 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 4 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K
4: 8 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 2 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
5: 17 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 8 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits
6: 10 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 3 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
7: 21 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 4 Called- 0 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 8 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits

Total: 94 Pitches- 63 Strikes- 18 Called- 7 Swinging- 16 Fouls- 31 Balls- 22 BPIP- 6 Swinging K- 7 Hits

Osuna Gets Hit #320: Renny Osuna became the Frisco RoughRider's all-time hits leader in front of an attendance of 4,052. Osuna singled up the middle in the first inning to leadoff the game for Frisco with his 320th hit of his career for the Frisco RoughRiders. By getting hit #320, he passed Steve Murphy, who held the record of 319 hits before Osuna's leadoff single. Osuna tied Murphy on Sunday with his 319th hit of his career. He went 0 for 4 on Monday to set up the leadoff single on Wednesday.

Bianucci Hits #27: Mike Bianucci had a bit of an unusual game on Wednesday as he went 1 for 3 with his 27th homerun of the season and was hit by a pitch twice in the game with both hit by pitches coming from Natural's relievers. His 27th homerun of the season gave Bianucci sole possession of 2nd place on the single season homerun list for Frisco. He now trails Nate Gold's 34 in 2006 by 7 homeruns. Bianucci also tied Emerson Frostad for the 7th most career homeruns with 27. Next on the list is Jason Botts with 28.

Bianucci Not Alone: Mike Bianucci wasn't the only player that was hit by a pitch against the Naturals, as Davis Stoneburner and Jose Ruiz were each hit by a pitch as well. In total, Northwest Arkansas hit 4 total batters in the game. Frisco has now been hit by 70 pitches this season, which puts them 7 behind the 2004 team for the most times a Frisco RoughRider's team has been hit by a pitch in the season. With 25 games remaining in the season, it's still within legitimate reach.

Struggles With RISP: Wednesday was not a display of clutch hitting by either team as both teams couldn't get a hit with runners in scoring position. Frisco went 0 for 8 and Northwest Arkansas went 1 for 7 to combine for a 1 for 15 game. Frisco is now hitting .282 this season with RISP as a team. It wasn't long ago that the team was batting over .290 with RISP.

Attendance Down: Wednesday marked the 6th consecutive weekday home game with under 5,000 for Frisco, which is a franchise worst streak. It also was the 11th consecutive game with under 9,000, which includes weekend games. For a team that is used to drawing, the heat seems to be hurting attendance at the games.

Tracking Texas League Records: 868 homeruns in 914 games (0.950 HR/G)

Term of the Day: RBI opportunities- The number of runs batted in a player would accumulate if he hit a homerun at every plate appearance. It was tracked as an official statistic by the American Leageu for the first three weeks of 1918, and resurrected during the 1990s in STATS Inc.'s Baseball Scoreboard.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 11-1 at home to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Ben Snyder started for Frisco and gave up 9 hits, 6 runs (4 earned), and 0 walks over 4 2/3 innings with 4 strikeouts. Brennan Garr gave up 5 runs over 1 1/3 innings of relief, while Chris Mobley and Tim Murphy combined for 3 scoreless innings of relief. Andy Jenkins went 2 for 4 at the plate with a homerun. Joey Butler went 1 for 4 with a double, while Emerson Frostad went 1 for 4. Marcus Lemon and Joaquin Arias added 1 for 4 days as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Fish Haven, ID!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 115: Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Jeremy Jeffress) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Robbie Ross)

2011-08-10T14:54:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (22-22 6 games back in the Texas League South; 62-52 overall)... Northwest Arkansas Naturals (23-21 1st place Texas League South; 58-53 overall)
Magic Number: 16
Streak: Lost 1 in a row
Last 10: 3-7
Homestand: 1-3
Series Record: 15-13-4
2011 Record against Northwest Arkansas Naturals: 4-2
All-Time Record against Northwest Arkansas Naturals: 68-66
Record on August 10th since 2004: 3-3
Starting Pitchers: Robbie Ross (0-1 4.50 ERA) vs. Jeremy Jeffress (1-1 4.60 ERA)

Frisco Blows Lead, Loses Series to San Antonio: Frisco seemed to be on their way to a successful series split where they would manage to defeat both Casey Kelly and Robbie Erlin, but a late rally by the Missions beginning in the 8th inning defied the Riders their chance at a series split. Frisco lost 3-1 in the end to the Missions as the bullpen could not hold the 1-0 lead, which stood for 7 full innings.

Hankins Great In Debut: Derek Hankins, a former 10th round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2004 draft, made his debut for Frisco on Monday and pitched as well as one could have ever expected. The 28 year old right hander began this season in AAA Round Rock and was sent down when the Rangers promoted Tanner Scheppers from Frisco to Round Rock. For the time being Hankins is taking over Richard Bleier's rotation spot. Hankins gave up 1 hit and 1 walk over 5 shutout innings with 2 strikeouts and made just 54 pitches in total. He threw first pitch strikes to 10 of the 16 batters he faced in the game, one over the minimum.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 14 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 6 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
2: 7 pitches- 5 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 2 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Hit
3: 16 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 1 Called- 1 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 8 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
4: 10 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 2 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 Swinging K
5: 7 pitches- 5 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 2 Balls- 3 BPIP

Total: 54 Pitches- 34 Strikes- 8 Called- 5 Swinging- 8 Fouls- 20 Balls- 13 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 Hit- 1 BB

Bianucci Ties Tracy: Mike Bianucci blasted his 26th homerun of the season to leadoff the 2nd inning off of Robbie Erlin, which gave Frisco a 1-0 lead at the time and seemed like all they might need. Bianucci's blast tied him with Chad Tracy for the second most homeruns in a single season by a Frisco RoughRider and puts him 8 short of Nate Gold's franchise best 34 homeruns in a single season. It also moved Bianucci out of a tie with Jonathan Greene and Chris Davis and into a tie with Ben Harrison for the 8th most career homeruns by a Frisco RoughRider. Steve Murphy holds the career record with 41 homeruns as a Frisco RoughRider.

Mendonca Swings the Bat: Tommy Mendonca went 2 for 4 with a double at the plate for Frisco in the loss to San Antonio. He also tried to stretch his second hit into a double in the 9th inning, but was thrown out at second base to end the game. Mendonca has been struggling since July 1st as the third baseman is batting .234 since July 1st with 7 homeruns. Although his August hasn't been too bad with a .281/.343/.438/.781 batting line in 8 games so far.

Top 10 Texas League Hitters In 2011 in OPS+

1. 184 James Darnell, San Antonio (SD): .333/.434/.604/1.038
2. 171 Mike Trout, Arkansas (LAA): .325/.418/.534/.952
3. 162 Jermaine Mitchell, Midland (OAK): .355/.453/.589/1.042
4. 160 Blake Tekotte, San Antonio (SD): .298/.410/.534/.944
5. 152 J.D. Martinez, Corpus Christi (HOU): .338/.414/.546/.960
6. 148 Matt Adams, Springfield (STL): .321/.380/.609/.989
7. 141 Luis Jimenez, Arkansas (LAA): .297/.342/.501/.843
8. 140 Tim Wheeler, Tulsa (COL): .297/.377/.563/.940
9. 137 Tommy Mendonca, Frisco (TEX): .297/.357/.529/.886
10. 137 Alex Castellanos Springfield (STL): .319/.379/.562/.941

With Hit List On Line, Osuna Struck Out 4 Times: Renny Osuna is currently tied with Steve Murphy for the most hits by a Frisco RoughRider in their respective careers at 319. But on Monday, Osuna did something he had never done before, which was go 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts. He had never struck out 4 times in his career before, let alone go 0 for 4 with the 4 strikeouts. All of that being said, the hits quest continues on Wednesday as Osuna tries to become the first Frisco RoughRider with 320 hits in a career. He is just the second with 300 or more hits in his career.

Robbie Erlin Outstanding in Frisco Return: It was just a little over a week ago that Robbie Erlin was still wearing a Frisco RoughRider's uniform. But on Monday he showed no allegiance to the RoughRider's as Erlin mowed through the Rider's lineup stating to each batter that they really had little to no chance of doing anything. The 20 year old southpaw gave up just 2 hits, 1 run, and struck out 9 batters without issuing a walk in 6 innings. The only run came on the solo homerun that he gave up to Mike Bianucci to leadoff the 2nd inning. Even with the outing, however, Erlin was in line for the loss until the Riders bullpen and Mission's offense got him off the hook. In two starts for the Missions, Erlin has given up 7 hits, 1 walk, 1 run, and has struck out 15 batters over 12 innings. He has received no decisions in both starts. On the season overall, Erlin has now struck out 138 batters to just 13 walks over 133 1/3 innings while giving up only 105 hits.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 863 Homeruns in 906 Games (0.953 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Bat-Burning Ceremony- A mostly metaphoric ritual during which the useless bats of a baseball team are burned in a bonfire.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco had an off day.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from West Thumb, WY!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

2011-08-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (22-21 5 games back in the Texas League South; 62-51 overall)... San Antonio Missions (27-16 1st place in the Texas League South; 76-37 overall)
Magic Number: 16
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 4-6
Homestand: 1-2
Series Record: 15-12-4
2011 Record against San Antonio: 10-17
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 120-123
Record on August 8th since 2004: 4-3
Starting Pitchers: Derek Hankins (0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Robbie Erlin (5-2 3.96 ERA)

Frisco Scores Early, Holds On For Win: It wasn't the easy victory that Frisco seemed to be headed for when they scored 5 runs in the first 3 innings to take a 5-0 lead, but the Riders held on despite the Missions rallying for 5 runs of their own in the 7th and 8th innings. Frisco defeated San Antonio in the game 6-5 thanks to a 6th run in the 6th inning. Frisco is now 5 back of San Antonio in the 2nd half and moved their magic number to 16 as long as the Missions hold onto the second half lead.

Pimentel's Career Best Start: Carlos Pimentel was on about as well as he has been this season and the 21 year old right hander shutdown a San Antonio lineup for 6 innings that has seems to score runs with ease much of the time. Pimentel gave up just 2 hits and 4 walks over 6 shutout innings and set a career high with 9 strikeouts in the victory. For Pimentel, it was only his second win in his last 10 appearances. He moved to 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in 6 starts this season against the San Antonio Missions. Only Joe Wieland's 0.56 ERA for Frisco was better among starters with 2 or more starts against San Antonio. Pimentel has 4 "quality starts" in his 6 starts against the Missions as well.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 18 Pitches- 13 Strikes- 4 Called- 3 Swinging- 5 Fouls- 5 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 BB
2: 13 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 2 Called- 1 Swinging- 1 Foul- 6 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 Swinging K- 1 Hit
3: 16 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 4 Called- 0 Swinging- 1 Foul- 8 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
4: 17 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 4 Called- 2 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 7 Balls- 1 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 Swinging K- 1 BB
5: 18 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 10 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Swinging K- 1 BB- 1 Hit
6: 12 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 6 Called- 0 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 3 Balls- 1 BPIP- 2 Called K-

Total: 94 Pitches- 55 Strikes- 22 Called- 8 Swinging- 15 Fouls- 39 Balls- 10 BPIP- 3 Called K- 6 Swinging K- 4 BB- 2 Hits

Osuna Reaches Base 4 Times, Ties Murphy: Renny Osuna singled twice in the win by reaching in the 1st on a single to centerfield and in the third on a RBI single to right field where he was thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw. Osuna walked in the 2nd inning and walked again in the 6th inning. He was standing in the on deck circle when Jose Felix grounded out to end the 8th inning, so the quest to become Frisco's all-time hits leader will begin tonight, assuming he's in the lineup. Osuna is facing a team in the San Antonio Missions that he has batted .340 (35 for 103) against this season. Over his career, he is a career .304 (77 for 253) hitter against the San Antonio Missions.

Renny Osuna's Frisco RoughRider's Hit Chart (2009-Present)

vs. Team	Hits	AB	AVG	%	AB/H
San Antonio	77	253	0.304	0.241	3.29
Midland	61	245	0.249	0.191	4.02
Corpus Christi	78	267	0.292	0.245	3.42
Tulsa	21	88	0.239	0.066	4.19
Springfield	20	81	0.247	0.063	4.05
NW Arkansas	29	100	0.290	0.091	3.45
Arkansas	33	82	0.402	0.103	2.48

Riders Spreading the RBI: In the 6-5 win on Sunday, there were 5 different Frisco RoughRiders hitters that drove in a run in the game. Osuna, Mendonca, Ruiz, Greene, and Beltre all drove in a run. For Osuna it Riders Spreading the RBI: In the 6-5 win on Sunday, there were 5 different Frisco RoughRiders hitters that drove in a run in the game. Osuna, Mendonca, Ruiz, Greene, and Beltre all drove in a run. For Osuna it was his 49th and for Mendonca it was his 79th as the two inched closer to 50 and 80, respectively. Frisco has had only six players in their 9 year team history drive in 80 or more runs and with Osuna getting closer to 50, he would mark the 5th player that Frisco has had over 50. They had 5 with over 50 the previous 2 years combined.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 858 homeruns in 898 games (0.955 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Cut a Base- To fail to touch a base while running or advancing.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost to the San Antonio Missions 3-2 on the road. Erasmo Ramirez started for Frisco and gave up 7 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs over 5 innings with 3 strikeouts. Beau Jones and Chris Mobley finished with 3 shutout innings of relief. Andy Jenkins led Frisco with a 3 for 4 game at the plate with 2 doubles and a RBI. Johnny Whittleman went 2 for 3 at the plate with a double, walk, and run scored for the Riders. James Tomlin added a 2 for 4 day with a triple. Marcus Lemon and Davis Stoneburner each had a hit in 4 at bats.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Hungry Horse, MT!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109

Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter

Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540

And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 113: San Antonio Missions (Casey Kelly) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel)

2011-08-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

Time: 6:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (21-21 6 games back in the Texas League South; 61-51 overall)... San Antonio Missions (27-15 1st place in the Texas League South; 76-36 overall)
Magic Number: 17
Streak: Lost 3 in a row
Last 10: 3-7
Homestand: 0-2
Series Record: 15-12-4
2011 Record against San Antonio: 9-17
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 119-124
Record on August 7th Since 2004: 3-3
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (4-8 5.71 ERA) vs. Casey Kelly (10-4 4.15 ERA)

Frisco Gets Down Early, Falls to San Antonio: Last time Frisco faced San Antonio they split the road series against the Missions. If they are going to do that again they will need to win the next two after falling for the second game in as many days to the Missions by a score of 5-1. Frisco gave up 4 runs over the first 4 innings and found themselves down 4-1 early before giving up a run in the 7th. Now, Frisco will have to beat two of the top pitching prospects in the San Diego Padre's system in Casey Kelly and Robbie Erlin.

Snyder Struggles Early, Pitches Into 7th: Ben Snyder has 8 wins this season for Frisco and 11 overall in his career as a RoughRider, but on Saturday he wasn't able to push it to #9 and 12. Snyder gave up 4 runs over the first 4 innings and ended up giving up 5 over 6 2/3 innings in the start. He allowed 8 hits, 2 walks, and did not strikeout a batter.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 19 Pitches- 10 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 9 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
2: 21 Pitches- 14 Strikes- 3 Called- 3 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 7 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits
3: 20 Pitches- 12 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 8 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits
4: 10 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 0 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 2 Balls- 5 BPIP- 2 Hits
5: 13 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 3 Called- 0 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 5 Balls- 3 BPIP
6: 8 Pitches- 6 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 2 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Hit
7: 11 Pitches- 3 Strikes- 1 Called- 0 Swinging- 0 Fouls- 8 Balls- 2 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 HIt

Total: 102 Pitches- 61 Strikes- 13 Called- 4 Swinging- 17 Fouls- 41 Balls- 27 BPIP- 2 BB- 8 Hits

Stoneburner Gets Another Multi Hit Game: Davis Stoneburner finished Saturday's game with a 2 for 3 day including a hit by pitch in the 9th inning and the lone run scored. It was his 4th multi hit game in his last 10 as he is now batting .333 (9 for 27) in the month of August and .284 for the season (97 for 341).

Run Production Drought: Mike Bianucci drove in a run on Saturday, which was his 5th in his last 10 games and just his 21st over the 41 games since the second half began. That follows a first half where the designated hitter had 54 RBI in 67 games for Frisco.

Passed Ball Oddity: On Saturday the pressbox saw a first for the Frisco RoughRiders and their opponents. There were 3 passed balls in the same game by the two teams combined. But it wasn't just that, as there were 3 passed balls by 3 different catchers in the same game. Elio Sarmiento, Nick Hundley, and Ali Solis all had a passed ball in the game. It's very rare that there are 1 or 2 passed balls in a game at Frisco, let alone three by three different catchers.

Ali "See Ya Later" Solis: He only had one at bat on Saturday and did not play on Friday, but Ali Solis continued his struggles in Frisco on Saturday. Solis struck out in his one at bat, which was the 12th time that he has struck out in 23 at bats in Frisco this season. He is 1 for 23 in Frisco as well. In other words he has as many hits as trash cans hit in Frisco too.

Osuna Reaches 317: With 2 hits on Sunday Renny Osuna could tie Steve Murphy's franchise best of 319 hits as a Frisco RoughRider and with 3 hits he would pass Murphy. Osuna went 1 for 4 on Saturday to get to 317 for his career. This is Osuna's 2nd full season in Frisco as he came up late in the 2009 season.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 849 homeruns in 888 games (0.956 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Banner Year- A highly successful season enjoyed by a player, a team, or baseball itself.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 10-2 to the San Antonio Missions on the road. Michael Schlact started for Frisco and gave up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 5 runs over 5 innings with 3 strikeouts. Adalberto Flores gave up 5 runs in 2 innings of relief, while Tim Murphy pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Joey Butler and James Tomlin led Frisco with a 2 for 4 day a piece. Jonathan Greene added a 1 for 4 day with a double, RBI, and run scored for the Riders. Marcus Lemon and Davis Stoneburner each had a 1 for 4 day. Andy Jenkins went 1 for 4 with a run scored.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Magic City, ID!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)
Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109
Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter
Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540
And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman

Game 112: San Antonio Missions (Simon Castro) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Ben Snyder)

2011-08-06T14:59:00.000-05:00

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (21-20 5 games back in the Texas League South; 61-50 overall)... San Antonio Missions (26-15 1st place in the Texas League South; 75-36 overall)
Magic Number: 17
Streak: Lost 2 in a row
Last 10: 3-7
Homestand: 0-1
Series Record: 15-12-4
2011 Record against San Antonio: 9-16
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 119-123
Record on August 6th Since 2004: 4-3
Starting Pitchers: Ben Snyder (8-3 4.39 ERA) vs. Simon Castro (3-5 5.34 ERA)

Frisco Loses For First Time On August 5th: For the first time since 2004 Frisco lost on August 5th. It was the only day that Frisco had not lost on before Friday night's 4-2 loss to the San Antonio Missions. Frisco's batters struck out 15 times and their pitchers walked 10 times en route to the loss to the first place Mission's team. Due to Midland winning as well, Frisco's magic number remains at 17 making it harder for the Riders to clinch this homestand if the Missions are to stay in first place in the division in the second half.

Ramirez's Short Start: Neil Ramirez was only expected to make about 50 pitches on Friday in his Frisco debut, so the expectations were not for him to last too long in the game. He finished up going 2 1/3 innings in the start, did not allow a hit, walked 2 batters, and struck out 3, all in the first inning. He made 48 pitches, and 30 of them went for strikes. He also threw first pitch strikes to 4 of the 9 batters he faced.

Inning by Inning Count

1: 22 Pitches- 14 Strikes- 4 Called- 4 Swinging- 6 Fouls- 8 Balls- 0 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Swinging K- 1 BB
2: 17 Pitches- 9 Strikes- 3 Called- 1 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 8 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB
3: 9 Pitches- 7 Strikes- 2 Called- 0 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 2 Balls- 1 BPIP-

Total: 48 Pitches- 30 Strikes- 9 Called- 5 Swinging- 12 Fouls- 18 Balls- 4 BPIP- 1 Called K- 2 Swinging K- 3 BB

Sarmiento Gets #4: Elio Sarmiento came into 2011 with 7 career triples, including a career high of 3 in a season. On Friday night, Sarmeinto knocked his 4th triple of the season, which is one short of the team high of 5 held by Davis Stoneburner and Engel Beltre. The triple, hit to deep centerfield, was Sarmiento's lone hit for the game.

Twice Is Not Always Nice: Five Frisco RoughRider's hitters struck out at least twice in the game on Friday, including 3 times for both Tommy Mendonca and Jonathan Greene. Stoneburner, Mike Bianucci, and Sarmiento all struck out twice in the game as well. Greene and Mendonca are both over the 120 mark on the season for strikeouts, while Bianucci sits at 110. It is the first time that Frisco has had two players with 120 or more strikeouts in the same season. Since striking out 21 times in 18 games in April (1.17 K/G) , Greene has struck out 105 times over his last 83 games (1.27 K/G) The only Frisco RoughRider to not strikeout in the game was Jose Ruiz, who went 1 for 3 with a hit by pitch.

Speaking of Hit by Pitches: Jose Ruiz's hit by pitch was his 2nd of the season, but more notably it was the 63rd time that a Frisco RoughRider's hitter has been hit by a pitch this season. That is already the 4th most that a Frisco RoughRider's team has been hit by pitches in a season. The record is 77 set by the 2004 team. Jonathan Greene leads the team with 15 on the season, which is one shy of tying Craig Gentry's Frisco RoughRider season high of 16 in 2009.

Snyder Goes for #12: When he takes the mound today, Ben Snyder will be aiming for win #12 as a Frisco RoughRider. He currently is tied with 9 other pitchers at 11 wins for the 10th best total as a Frisco RoughRider. This season Snyder has 8 wins while splitting time between the bullpen and the rotation. Jonathan Greene and Mike Bianucci are also tied for 9th with Chris Davis for the most homeruns as a Frisco RoughRider with 25 each. Greene's 25 come over 3 seasons, while Davis's was over 2 and Bianucci's is over 1. Bianucci's 25 this season is the 3rd best season total by a RoughRider.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 840 homeruns in 882 Games (0.952 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Polished Deception- The use of style and grace by a pitcher to mask his mechanical weaknesses.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 8-4 on the road to the San Antonio Missions. Martin Perez started for Frisco and gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs over 2 1/3 innings with 2 strikeouts. Brennan Garr pitched in relief and gave up 5 hits and 2 runs over 2 2/3 innings of relief. Tyler Tufts pitched a scoreless inning of relief, while Mark Hamburger gave up 2 runs over 2 innings of relief. Johnny Whittleman led Frisco's offense with a 2 for 4 game including a walk. Andy Jenkins went 1 for 4 with a RBI and a walk, while Jose Felix went 2 for 4 with a RBI and Jonathan Greene went 2 for 5 with a run scored for the Riders. Marcus Lemon added a hit in 5 at bats with a RBI and Davis Stoneburner went 1 for 4 with a hit by pitch. James Tomlin and Joey Butler each added a hit as well.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Smileyberg, KS!

- By Michael Damman