The Constable is out trying to negotiate with Andre Johnson, and won't be back in the office today. He is a very, very persuasive man when he wasn't to be. Johnson will be in the minicamp by lunchtime. Lock it in!
Summary
* Mixed day for the Organisation, going 2-1 for a combined 155-129 record.
* Oklahoma City held Las Vegas scoreless for eight, and won.
* Corpus was held scoreless for nine, and lost.
* The Lancaster Juggernaut is in for a service during their All Star Break.
* The Quad Cities jalopy is in for a rebuild during their All Star Break.
* Tri-Cities won on their second consecutive walk-off.
Oklahoma City (39-33)
Oklahoma held the 51's (40-31) scoreless for eight innings whilst scoring in three separate innings themselves. The result was a 5-1 win.
Rubber Rectangle: Nick Tropeano got the start, and he brought his best nasty with him, throwing just under 100 pitches. His final line: 7IP, 2H, 0R/ER, BB, 6K. Alex White went 1.1, and ended up conceding the only earned run (1.1IP, 2H, R/ER, BB). He was bailed out by Kevin Chapman, who allowed one of the two inherited runners to score (0.2IP, H, 2K).
Plastic Pentagon: The RedHawks ran into one of the best pitching prospects in the game, Noah Syndergaard and touched him up for four earned runs in four innings. Enrique Hernandez continued his excellent run (4-5, 2B, RBI, R); Ronald Torreyes was nearly as good (4-4, 2B, R, RBI); Gergorio Petit hit another home run (1-4) and Max Stassi (1-4) hit a double. L.J.Hoes went 2-4, R, RBI, and Preston Tucker did the same (only without the run and RBI).
Man of the Match: Lets go with Nick Tropeano. We should start a campaign: "Start the Trop at the Trop", trying to push for a call up to the Big Club for their upcoming road trip to Tampa Bay. Seriously, he needs a look, and his ERA stands at 2.09 for the season.
Corpus Christi (34-36)
Offense was at a premium in San Antonio, totally unlike what Spurs' offence which was freely available over the last few weeks. The Hooks lost to the Missons (36-34) by a score of 1-0. The Missions scored one in the bottom of the sixth.
Rubber Rectangle: Mike Hauschild was the hard-luck starter tonight, wearing the loss. He went 6 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1R/ER, BB, 4K. His one earned run came on three singles in the sixth inning. Michael Dimock and Pat Urckfitz were nails in relief (no hits, 3K's), but the horse had bolted by that time and unless they could hit, it was all in vain.
Plastic Pentagon: Our loyal reader "Hooksfan" commented in the June 14 edition of PreStros that Preston Tucker's absence has resulted in a significant slump for the top half of the order. (Another clearly deluded reader, Andy, also posted a compliment in the comments section of the same article. Andy, thanks, but please no compliments - they are not good for the soul, and the Constable likes to run a tight, compliment-less ship). Anyhow, tonight the base runners seemed to be concentrated in the top half of the order, but that may be because of the fact that Jonathan Meyer, Delino DeShields, Tyler Heineman and Telvin Nash were hitting in the last four spots, and recorded one walk between them.
Leading off was Ruben Sosa (1-3, K, 2SB), second was Jio Mier (1-4, 2K) , third was Nolan Fontana (0-3, BB), and fourth was MP Cokinos (2-4). Carlos Perdomo (1-1) pinch hit for Leo Heras (0-2) in the fifth spot. My untrained eye seems to indicate that a number of these guys normally bat in the bottom half of the batting order, with the exception of punchless walk-machine, Nolan Fontana. Comments? Other observations?
Man of the Match: Mike Hauschild was as good as can be expected, so he earns the MoTM to take the sting out of the hurt of the loss.
Lancaster (44-26)
Unlike some PreStros writers, I bother to check the dates at the top of the box scores. 'Nuff said!
Lancaster is still on their All Star Break....
Quad Cities (35-34)
... and then I got most of the way through the Quad Cities game recap before realising that I was recapping a game from June 15. Duh! Quad Cities are also on their All Star Break, and are back on the 19th with a four-game home series versus Peoria.
Tri-Cities (3-1)
Tri-City opened their second series of the season with a win over Lowell (1-3). Tri-City scored single runs in the 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th, whereas Lowell scored three in the sixth, which adds up to a 4-3 Tri-City walk-off win. This represented their second walk-off win in a row.
Rubber Rectangle: Troy Scribner got the start, and went 4IP, giving up 2H, no runs and striking out 8. Randall Fant gave up all the runs (1.1IP, 5H, 3R/ER), but the remaining bullpen was solid, with Jordan Mills (1.2IP, H, BB, 2K) and Raul Rivera (2IP, H, 2K) finishing out the game.
Plastic Pentagon: Ariel Ovando (still stuck in short-season, after getting a run at Quad Cities last year) was the standout offensive performer, going 2-3, BB, 2B and scoring a run. A.J Reed walked twice (0-2, 2BB, R) and Ravel Santana drove in two (0-2, Sac Fly, 2BB) including the walk-off bases loaded walk. Alex Hernandez was also on base twice (1-4, BB, R, RBI), as was J.D. Davis (1-4, BB, R).
Man of the Match: Lets select Troy Scribner, for striking out 8 batters in 4 innings.
Thank you for reading, and I am glad that out five readers enjoy the quality writings at Astros County.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
