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June 2, 2010 · 20:55

Tides Defeat Rochester 4-3 as Cla Meredith gets the “Unsave”

Chris George pitched a great game but was left with a no-decision

The Norfolk Tides took the second game of their four game set against the Rochester Red Wings behind solid pitching by Chris George and Denis Sarfate.  With the game time temperature at a comfortable 75 degrees and a light 5 mile and hour wind blowing out to center field under clear skies it was a beautiful western New York night for baseball in front of just under 5000 fans.

The game began on the wrong foot for the Tides when on the second pitch of the game Jason Repko hit a ground ball to third which Josh Bell mishandled and was charged with an error. Repko stole second and took third on a ground out by Brian Dinkelman. He would score on a single by Trevor Plouffe.  This would be the only run allowed while George was pitching and was unearned.  The Red Wings did not score again until the bottom of the 8th inning.

In 6.2 innings work George gave up 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 Red Wing batters. Rochester starting pitcher Glen Perkins held the Tides in check until the 4th inning. In the fourth Josh Bell hammered his 16th double of the season and Nolan Reimold still digging out of his horrific hitting slump on his arrival in Norfolk then singled.  Paco Figueroa came up next and singled to score Bell and was followed by Adam Donachie who singled to drive in Reimold giving the Tides a 2-1 lead.  George would get the first two batters of the 7th inning but after hitting Brian Dinkelman with a pitch was relieved by Ross Wolf who got the next batter, Trevor Plouffe to ground out to Brandon Snyder at first.  In the top frame of the 8th inning the Tides scored again.  Robert Andino doubled to lead the inning off of Red Wings reliever pitcher Brad Hennessy.  Hennessy intentionally walked Josh Bell and got Nolan Reimold to pop up to first base for the second out. Brandon Snyder came up to the plate and singled the first pitch delivered by Hennessy into center field which scored Andino.

In the bottom of the 8th the Tides brought in newly activated relief pitcher Cla Meredith who had been optioned to Norfolk from the O’s late last week. Matt Macri singled to lead off the inning and Meredith walked Brock Peterson.  Wilson Ramos advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt to first base and Meredith struck out Jose Morales.  On a 0-2 count Dustin Martin singled to drive in Macri and Ramos to tie the game, which netted Meredith his first blown save in Norfolk.  He was able to retire Jason Repko to end the inning.

In the top of the 9th with one out Joey Gathright singled on a ground ball to second and advanced to second on a throwing error by second baseman Brian Dinkelman and Matt Angle singled to bring Gathright home to retake the lead for the Tides. In the bottom frame the Tides brought in Denis Sarfate sent the Wings down in order on 12 pitches for his 4th save of the season.

Cla Meredith got what I am going to start calling the “unsave” instead of a standard “blown save.” The definition that I give to the “unsave” is a blown save where the reliever who blows the save ends up getting the win.  It’s kind of like when 7-Up was called the “uncola” it’s not a save and yet it doesn’t have the same sting as a blown save, unless perhaps you are the pitcher that would have had a win had the reliever not blown the save. Unsaves are kind of wins that a pitcher falls into as he has to blow the save to get the win which if you think about it is not a way that you want to win if you can avoid it. But anyway I digress.

The Tides had 4 runs on 12 hits with 1 error and left 10 on base while the Red Wings had 3 runs on 8 hits and 1 error and also left 10 men on base.  Cla Meredith (1-0 18.00 ERA) got the win for the Tides and Denis Sarfate (0-0 S4 1.15 ERA) the save. Anthony Slama (0-1 1.80 ERA) took the loss for the Wings. Tonight the teams play game three of this series with Troy Patton (3-6 5.70 ERA) who dominated Pawtucket in his last start taking the hill for the Tides and Matt Fox (4-2 2.44 ERA) pitching for the home team.

The Orioles lost their sixth straight, this time to the New York Yankees as Miguel Tejada committed an error which allowed two runs to score giving the loss to Brian Matusz who only allowed one earned run to the powerful Yankees attack.  The loss dropped the O’s to 15-37with a .288 winning percentage.  Things do not look any brighter tonight as the Yankees have a 6-0 lead in the 5th having driven Brad Bergeson from the game.

Peace,

Padre Steve+

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May 29, 2010 · 10:10

Tides Roll: Patton and Sarfate Combine to Shut Out Pawsox 3-0

Troy Patton dominated Pawtucket on Friday Night

Troy Patton showed what he is made of last night in Pawtucket and why he is on the Baltimore Orioles 40 man roster. After a catastrophic outing last week where he was bombarded for 8 runs and 13 hits Patton (3-6 5.70) came back and showed tremendous poise, confidence and control and pitched a beauty.  Troy faced 23 batters in 7 innings of shutout work allowing just three hits and no walks striking out 4 Pawtucket batters.  Patton showed great pitching economy and control using just 86 pitches to shut down the Sox.  It was by far Troy’s best outing of the year and should allay fears that without Chris Tillman who was called up this morning that the Tides rotation could be in for trouble.  If Troy continues like this he will become one of the leaders of this young and talented staff and put himself in contention for a spot on the Orioles roster.  I say this because it takes a lot of guts for any pitcher to leave behind an outing like last week and focus on the game at hand. Many pitchers lose their edge and confidence but instead of that it looks like Patton has resurrected his season in this fine effort.

Reliever Denis Sarfate (0-0 S@ 1.32) also shined in two innings of solid relief work.  Sarfate pitched to 7 batters allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out three to complete the shutout of the Pawsox and get the save. It is the first time and I believe it is the first time this season that Tides Pitchers have not walked a batter, even Chris Tillman in his no-hitter gave up one walk.

Tides hitters scattered 11 hits and cobbled enough of them together to score three runs which was more than enough to put away the Pawsox.  The first run came in the 2nd inning on a series of singles which began with Josh Bell singling to center, Nolan Reimold hitting one to left and Brandon Snyder doing the same. With the bases loaded and no outs Paco Figueroa singled to left to drive in Bell for the early lead.  In the top frame of the 6th inning Brandon Snyder singled and came home on Paco Figueroa’s first double since coming to the Tides last week.  The Tides got their final run of the night on Jeff Salazar’s 7th home run of the year.

For the Tides they had 3 runs on 11 hits with 2 errors while stranding 8 and Pawtucket no runs on 4 hits and 1 error with 3 men left on base.  The winning pitcher was Troy Patton who notched his third victory of the season while Denis Sarfate got the save.  The losing pitcher was Felix Doubront (0-1 1.50). Tonight the teams play again in Pawtucket with Brandon Erbe (0-8 6.80) still seeking his first win of the campaign up for the Tides and Adam Mills (1-3 4.15) on the hill for the Pawtucket.

After lots of talk and speculation in the media Chris Tillman was recalled to the Orioles today

One the personnel side of the house the Orioles moved David Hernandez to a relief role and recalled Chris Tillman as expected from Norfolk.  They also recalled Jim Johnson to the team from the Tides.

Up in Toronto the Orioles were blanked by the Blue Jays by a score of 5-0 in a game where everything went wrong for the O’s.  With a the worst record in the Major Leagues (15-34) one has to wonder if Manager Dave Tremblay will survive the weekend. The team has far too much talent despite the injuries that it has had to be doing this badly in a year that they expected to return to respectability.

Peace,

Padre Steve+

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May 26, 2010 · 15:51

Tides Defeat Rochester 2-1 Split Series Arietta Wins 5th

Jake Arietta Notched his 5th win against Rochester

The Norfolk Tides recovered from the loss of the first two games to the Rochester Red Wings by taking games three and four of the series, each by a score of 2-1.  On Tuesday Afternoon the Tides evened the series with a win.  Once again it was pitching and defense that did the job for the Tides with just enough situational offense to win the game.  Unfortunately Padre Stevem had this little thing called work to do and could not attend in person but was able to catch parts of the broadcast on his computer in between group sessions and individual counseling sessions with patients at the Medical Center’s Substance Abuse Treatment Center.

It is likely that Chris Tillman could soon be called up to Baltimore as a starter

Jake Arietta took the hill for the Tides facing a Rochester team that until Chris Tillman shut them down Monday had pulverized Tides pitchers.  Both Tillman and Arietta showed that they are not your typical run of the mill AAA pitchers but rather something special.  Both are power pitchers, both have become more confident and more patient, maturing immeasurably since the 2009 campaign.  The two could when they both get to Baltimore be something akin to Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and when combined with a maturing Brian Matusz and Jeremy Guthrie could become one of the most feared pitching rotations in baseball.

On Tuesday Arietta pitched 7 innings allowing 1 ruin on 7 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts lowering his ERA to 1.86, the best in the International League.  In fact of AAA level starters in the International and Pacific Coast Leagues with over 60 innings work only Luke French of the Seattle Mariners affiliate the Tacoma Rainiers has a better ERA.  The only Rochester run came in the top of the 5th when Jason Repko bunted his way aboard and then stole second. He was singled home by Matt Tolbert and that was all the scoring that the Red Wings mustered for the Day.   Arietta was followed by Kam Mickolio who again had a good outing after a rough start mowing down the Wings in order in the 8th. Denis Safate came in to get the save  striking out the first two batters that he faced, but then allowing a single to Dustin Martin who then went to second on a wild pitch and followed that with a walk to Brock Peterson before retiring Jason Repko on  a routine fly ball to left fielder Danny Figueroa.

Closer Frank Mata had His Contract Purchased by the Orioles

The Tides offense also came in the 5th inning when Anthony Swarzak walked Michel Hernandez and was pulled in favor of Jose Lugo. The first batter that Lugo faced was newly called up outfielder Danny Figueroa, twin brother of Tides second baseman Paco Figueroa.  Danny had been called up to replace the struggling Nolan Reimold who was placed on the temporary inactive list due to the birth of a baby.  Figueroa didn’t take long to figure out Lugo and promptly blasted the first pitch into the Straub Beer party deck in right field.  Tides reliever Jim Miller traded a couple of balls for the one Danny hit into the deck from fans so that Figueroa could have a memento of his first AAA level home run.

The Red Wings had 1 run on 8 hits and 1 error leaving 9 men on base, the Tides 2 runs on 4 hits with no errors and 5 men left on base.  Jake Arietta (5-2 1.81) got the win and Jose Lugo (0-3 6.54) the loss.  Denis Sarfate (0-0 S1 1.54) got the save.  The Tides have a travel day Wednesday and open a 4 game series in Pawtucket against the Pawsox on Thursday with Chris George (1-1 4.22) starting for the Tides and Boof Bonser (0-2 10.61) taking the hill for the Sox.

Justin Turner was signed by the New York Mets

There has been quite a bit of action in the personnel department for the Tides and Orioles even since last week.  Michael Aubrey was placed on the 7 Day DL on the 24th retroactive to the 23rd.  Ross Wolf was assigned to Aberdeen while Jim Miller was recalled from Aberdeen; Alberto Castillo returned to the Tides but was called back up the 25th along with closer Frank Mata whose contract was selected by the Orioles.  Danny Figueroa was promoted to the Tides from AA Bowie and Nolan Reimold placed on the temporary inactive list. Up in Baltimore David Hernandez was moved to the Bullpen a move that the Orioles say will be for the rest of the season which could open the way into the rotation for Chris Tillman.  On a further note infielder Justin Turner who was designated for assignment last week was signed by the New York Mets and assigned to AAA Buffalo.  I would expect that due to the Mets’ personnel; situation that Turner could be playing in New York by mid-summer.

Until the next time peace my friends,

Padre Steve+

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May 22, 2010 · 11:28

Tides Win in Walk Off take Three of Four from the Pawsox

Chris George came off the DL to pitch 6 strong innings against the Pawtucket Red Sox

The Norfolk Tides continue their climb back into competition in the International League South division at the expense of the Pawtucket Red Sox or as they either affectionately or derisively known as the Pawsox. On Friday night there was no blow out like Thursday but instead a nail biting walk off as the Tides defeated the Pawsox for the third straight time in their four game set in from of 6957 fans on a very comfortable night for baseball with temperatures in the 70s and 10 mile an hour win coming in from center.

Brandon Snyder Doubles to Score Josh Bell in the 6th Inning

The Tides started Chris George just coming off the 7 day DL and initially things did not look good for Chris. After getting the first two batters out George gave up three consecutive extra base hits.  Jorge Jimenez doubled to right and scored when Aaron Bates tripled to right.  Bates was doubled home by Dusty Brown who picked up his 9th double of the season.

Michel Hernandez Singles in the bottom of the 9th

Pawtucket kept the lead at 2-0 until the bottom of the third inning when the Tides got their first run. Jeff Salazar doubled and then advanced to third when Adam Mills made a wild pitch.  Andino stuck out but Rhyne Hughes hit a sacrifice grounder to score Salazar.  In the 4th inning with 2 outs and Nolan Reimold at second base Joey Gathright reach frst on a throwing error by Ryan Khoury. Reimold running with two outs attempted to score but was thrown out at the plate by Jorge Jimenez.

Frank Mata fans Lars Anderson for the second out in the top of the 9th

George put down the Pawsox in order in the 4th, 5th and 6th innings to keep the Tides down by only one and in the bottom of the 6th the Tides got their second run.  Josh Bell doubled to lead off the 6th and then Nolan Reimold flied out to center. With one out and Bell at second Brandon Snyder doubled to left to score Bell and tie the game.

Jeff Salazar Singles to advance pinch runner Paco Figueroa

Armando Gabino came in to relieve George in the top of the 7th and got into a bit of trouble. He hit Dusty Brown with a pitch and then struck out Lars “Why didn’t I make the Norwegian Biathlon team” Anderson before getting behind Tug Hulett 3-0 and then giving up a double to Hulett on a 3-1 count placing Brown on third and Hulett at second with one out. The Tides had Gabino intentionally walk Bubba Bell to load the bases.  At this point it looked like the game was in a precarious state and the members of the Red Sox Nation in attendance began to get noisy, rude and obnoxious. I’m sorry having seen fans of about every Major League team either in Major League parks or their minor league farm teams the travelling members of the Red Sox Nation are the most crude, rude and obnoxious that I have ever come across.  Now this is not an indictment of every Red Sox fans I know plenty of friends that are perfect gentleman and ladies but as a whole when the Red Sox nation travels they are the worst. Even Elliott the Usher a Red Sox fan himself from Massachusetts says that he and the other ushers agree that they are the most ill-behaved fans in baseball.  But I digress….With the bases now loaded Mike Griffin paid a strategy visit to the mount.  Gabino worked into a 2-2 count on Ryan Khoury before getting him to pop up to end the inning.

Game winner. Robert Andino blasts a single past the head of Chad Peranto

With the obnoxious Red Sox nation fans getting louder and more obnoxious by the moment, especially the one behind me and to my right in row “C” who apparently was trying to ensure that his four year old son learns how to be rude and obnoxious early in life closer Frank Mata came into the game in the 9th inning.  Mata got Dusty Brown to pop up to catcher Michel Hernandez in foul territory behind the plate and struck out Lars Anderson.  Tug Hulett then singled to right and Bubba Bell walked on 4 pitches. This brought up Ryan Khoury who Mata got to pop out to second baseman Robert Andino to end the Pawsox frame of the 9th inning.

The Tides came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th to face reliever Chad Peranto. At this point I had reached my limit with the Red Sox Nation numbskull behind me and began to shoot back at him.  Blake Davis flied out to deep left to begin the inning and Michel Hernandez singled.  Hernandez was pulled for a pinch runner in the form of newly called up Paco Figueroa. Joey Gathright popped up for the second out bringing up Jeff Salazar who singled off of Peranto sending Figueroa to second.  Now with two on and two out Robert Andino came to the plate. Andino who had a home run in Thursday night’s game hit a laser almost taking Peranto’s head off to center field for a single and Paco Figueroa hustling in from second scored to end the game and silence the Red Sox Nation.

The Tides had 3 runs on 9 hits with no errors and left 9 runners on base.  The Pawsox had 2 runs on 6 hits and one error and left 7 men on base.  Frank Mata (2-1 S8 1.86) got the win and Chad Peranto (1-2 4.63) got the loss. With the win the Tides move into second place in the International League South 4.5 games back of the Durham Bulls.  Tonight the Tides will face the Rochester Red Wings who are the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.  Troy Patton (2-5 5.53) will get the start for the Tides and will face Rochester’s Matt Fox (3-2 3.06).

See you at Harbor Park where it is Military Appreciation night with special discounted tickets $6.50 for a reserved seat to active duty, reserve and retired military members. There will be a pre-game ceremony to honor the armed forces and post game fireworks.

Blessings and Peace

Padre Steve+

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May 21, 2010 · 16:20

Moves and Rumors of Moves…Well Not the Rumors Part…Orioles and Tides Make Some Moves

Scott Moore was called up to Baltimore on Friday

The player personnel departments of the Baltimore Orioles and their farm system have been busy in the past two days.  With the worst record in baseball the Orioles are searching for answers to their woes in the hitting department and in their bullpen.  On Thursday they optioned relief pitcher Alberto Castillo to the Norfolk Tides.  Today they called up infielder Scott Moore who has been hitting very well lately including two home runs on Wednesday and a three RBI night Thursday from the Tides to join the team in Washington to play the Nationals.

Also on Friday the Tides brought Left Hand Pitcher Chris George off the 7 day disabled list and Chris will pitch tonight against the Pawtucket Red Sox.  Infielder Justin Turner who has been cold at the bat this season and was on the Orioles 40 man roster was designated for assignment which means that he was removed from the 40 man roster which means that the Tides have 10 days to from the date of designation to return the Justin to the 40-man roster or to trade, release, or outright the player to Minors. As a note a player may only be designated for assignment if the 40-man roster is full and a player needs to be added which in this case is Scott Moore.

Also at Norfolk Paco Figueroa was called up from the Aberdeen Ironbirds.  Figueroa an infielder had a .306 average at AA Bowie before being called up.

It will be interesting since we are coming to the end of May just what other moves might be made. If I was a betting man I would look for more in Baltimore that will affect the Tides.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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