Scranton Wins Governors' Cup

The Scranton Yankees completed a three game sweep of the Durham Bulls to win the International League championship. The Yankees captured the Governors' Cup with a 20-2 pasting on Friday night.

Already leading 11-1, Scranton put eight runs on the board in the sixth inning to put the game completely out of reach. Juan Miranda had three hits, including a home run, and drove in a game high six runs. Justin Christian, Bernie Castro, and Chris Basak added 3 RBI each as the Yankees banged out 18 hits.

Phil Hughes picked up the win after striking out 12 batters in 5 innings. He allowed 1 run, 4 hits, and walked 4 batters. Jon Albaladejo and Zach Kroenke finished out the final four innings. Highly touted Rays prospect Wade Davis gave up 8 runs, 5 of them earned, in just two innings of work.

	September 12, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Scranton/WB 0 5 5 0 1 8 0 0 1 20 18 0 Durham 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 7 3 W: P. Hughes (1-0, 0.69); L: W. Davis (1-1, 6.75) HR: SWB: J. Miranda (1). DUR: G. Martinez (1).

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Down on the Farm - 8/7

Time to do some catching up at the minor league level. Today we'll start with Scranton and Trenton, taking a look at how the teams and their prospects are doing.

Austin Jackson
He's really put together a solid year and word is that he'll spend the entire season at Trenton. He's batting .290-9-61 in 449 at-bats with an .816 OPS, which escalates to .936 against left-handers. He's also stolen 15 bases in 20 attempts.

Jackson has particularly been red hot with the warm weather, batting .357 since July 1.

Al Aceves
There's been plenty of buzz around the right-hander plucked from the Mexican League. But after being out with a strained groin, he's been struggling at Scranton. Chad Jennings has more.

Jason Jones
With Ian Kennedy being called up, Jones has headed up to Scranton. Jones has put together an 11-5, 3.03 record in 21 starts. His ERA had been 2.28 before being roughed up in a pair of late July games.


Scranton

The Triple-A Yankees are 73-47 leading the Pawtucket Red Sox by one-half game in the International League's North Division. With promotions (Justin Christian, .309) and injuries, several players have stepped up. Juan Miranda is wreaking havoc on left-handed pitching, batting .352. Veteran first baseman Ben Broussard has belted 10 home runs and Brett Gardner has 37 steals to go with a .405 OBP.

As for pitching, the club has seen a rash of injuries and call ups, and the departure of Dan McCutchen and Jeff Karstens via trade. Kei Igawa has stepped up as the ace of the staff. Yes, we really said that. The overpaid left-hander is 12-5, 3.39 with 100 strikeouts in 132.2 innings pitched. He's 8-1 since June 1.

Trenton

The Thunder have had a number of players, especially key pitchers, promoted to Triple-A, but those who have taken their place have really done the job. Trenton leads the Eastern League's Northern division by 8 games over the Portland SeaDogs (again a Red Sox farm team), and has compiled a 70-45 mark.

As we mentioned earlier, Jason Jones has put together a terrific season, but he's not alone. Phil Coke (9-4, 2.51), Chase Wright (8-2, 2.96), who recently got bumped up to Scranton, McCutchen, Aceves, and Erick Hacker (6-2, 2.82) have all contributed to the club's success. The bullpen has been solid too with Anthony Claggett (3-2, 1.76, 8 saves) and Mark Melancon (6-0, 1.81, 2 saves) being the big names.

Offensively, the team lost Matt Carson and Edwar Gonzalez to promotion, but Chris Malec is hitting .304, and catchers P.J. Pilliterre and Joe Muich have added a lot offensively. And of course there's Action Jackson.

Tomorrow - Tampa and Charleston

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Minor League Weekend Recap - 7/21

We start off at the Double-A level where red hot prospect Austin Jackson helped lead the Trenton Thunder to a 3-game sweep of the Portland SeaDogs. The series was supposed to go 4 games, but a rainout on Sunday shortened things up.

Jackson, the 21-yr old that could man centerfield in the new Yankee Stadium for many years to come, is hitting .556 (20-36) over his last 10 games, with a home run, 3 doubles, 5 RBI, 5 walks, and 8 runs scored. He went 4-4 in the series opening 8-1 win last Thursday, and went 4-6 in a doubleheader sweep on Saturday (5-4, 3-0). Phil Coke impressed in the nightcap, tossing 2-hit ball over 6 innings, with 10 strikeouts.

The Thunder's current 5-game winning streak put them 25 games over .500 (62-37) and puts them 8.5 games ahead of Portland in the Eastern League's Northern division.

Scranton put together an impressive series, winning 4 of 5 from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The only loss was the first game, a completion of July 3rd's suspended game. But since that counts in the schedule on July 3, the Yankees actually have an 8-game winning streak.

They may have lost the completion of the first game, but Al Aceves stood out. He allowed just 2 hits and struck out 5 over 4 innings.

Juan Miranda continues to impress those in the organization, particularly when he faces right-handed pitching. He's hit .400 over his last 10 games and homered in Thursday's 6-5 nightcap win, and again in Saturday's 6-4 victory. Miranda is now hitting .346 with a .977 OPS against right-handers.

Ian Kennedy and Jeff Karstens are both trying to give Joe Girardi something to think about after their performances against Lehigh Valley. IPK threw 3-hit ball over 7 innings to earn the 2-1 win on Saturday and Karstens finished off the series by allowing 2 runs in 7 innings for a 7-2 win.

Scranton's hot streak has moved them to within 2.5 games of 1st place Pawtucket in the International League's North division.


It's been a tough road for the Tampa Yankees. They recently endured an 11-game losing streak before sweeping 4 straight from the Vero Beach Rays. They split the next 4 with the Jupiter Hammerheads, rebounding after losing the first two games. On Sunday they started a new series with the Brevard County Manatees, dropping a 5-3 decision.

Zach McAllister took the loss on Sunday, allowing 4 runs in 6 innings, with just one of the runs being earned. The 20-yr old from Chillicothe, IL has an impressive season at Charleston and Tampa. He was 6-3, 2.45 in 10 starts for the RiverDogs, with 53 strikeouts and just 8 walks in 62.1 innings pitched. Thus far for Tampa, McAllister is 4-5 despite a 2.50 ERA. Overall, he's posted a 10-8, 2.48 mark in 120 innings with 90 strikeouts and just 14 walks.

McAllister's teammate Ryan Pope picked up a 7-inning, complete game win on Saturday, 3-2. He's now 6-4, 2.35 in 13 starts.

The Yankees are 11-16 thus far in the 2nd half and sit 9.5 games back of Dunedin the Florida State League's Western division.


The Charleston RiverDogs had their 7-game winning streak snapped on Sunday, losing a tough 8-7 game to the Greensboro Bats. Prior to the loss, the RiverDogs had just finished a 4-game sweep of the Kannapolis Intimidators. Big right-hander Dellin Bettances was impressive on Saturday with 6 innings of 2-hit ball. He also struck out 5 and walked a pair.

18-yr old Jairo Heredia also continued to impress with his own 6 innings of 2-hit ball in a 2-0 Dogs win. Heredia has struck out 65 batters in 71 IP.

All-Star Jesus Montero has been the most consistent hitter in the Dogs lineup and he's been heating up again, hitting .385 over the last 10 games, with 2 home runs and 7 RBI.

After a 45-25 first half, the RiverDogs are just 14-14 out of the gate in the 2nd half.


The Staten Island Yankees have won back to back series and will look to make it three straight tonight when they face the Brooklyn Cyclones in the rubber game of the series.

3rd baseman Mike Lyon has been a model of consistency all season. He's among the league leaders with a .318 average and a .902 OPS. Teammate Ray Kruml is right behind him with a .313 average and is 4th in the league with 10 stolen bases. Dan Brewer has also put together a solid campaign with a .297 average and 17 RBI.

Casey Erickson has been the Baby Bombers top starter, putting together a 2-0, 3.31 mark in 7 starts. He has struck out 23 opponents in 32.2 innings pitched. And of course Pat Venditte has been a big story because of his ability to throw with both arms, but he's put numbers up that are equally impressive. Venditte is second in the NY-Penn League with 8 saves and has posted a 0.71 ERA in 12.2 IP.

At 20-12, Staten Island has the second best record in the NY-Penn League.


The GCL Yankees have been heating it up like the Florida sun of late. They've won 6 of their past 7 games and 3 straight. Four pitchers combined on a 6-hit, 13-strikeout performance in Friday's 3-0 win over the Phillies.

Humberto Sanchez threw a 1 inning rehab assignment on Sunday and has now made 8 appearances for the GCL squad. In 7.2 innings pitched, he's allowed 4 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, and has struck out 11. The Yankees beat the Phils again 9-8 as shortstop Jimmy Paredes went 5-5.

The Yankees, 15-12, now trail the 1st place Phillies by just 1.5 games in the GCL North.

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Minor League Recap - 7/11

Games of 7/10

Dan McCutchen is getting the hang of Triple-A. He put together his 4th straight good start last night in a 7-3 Scranton win over the Columbus Clippers. McCutchen allowed 2 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings pitched. He walked just 1 and struck out 6. McCutchen is 3-6, 3.32 since his promotion to Scranton, but is 2-1, 1.95 over his last four starts, with a 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

McCutchen got plenty of offensive support last night as Yankees Cody Ransom, Juan Miranda, and Matt Carson each went deep against former Yankees Tyler Clippard. Miranda is quietly making a bid for a shot at the bigs next season, specifically against right-handed pitching. Overall, he's hitting .296-5-29 and has posted an .826 OPS. He's hitting .350 against right-handers, as opposed to .151 against lefties.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Scranton/WB 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 3 0 7 8 0 Columbus 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 9 1 Recap | Box | W: D. McCutchen (3-6, 3.32); L: T. Clippard (5-7, 4.52) HR: SWB: C. Ransom (15), J. Miranda (5), M. Carson (4).

Eric Hacker wasn't at his best (3 earned runs in 5.1 IP), but he was good enough in Trenton's 5-3 win over the Altoona Curve. Hacker improved to 5-1, 2.37 as a member of the Thunder, after posting a 2-2, 1.87 mark for Tampa. Colin Curtis had a big night with the bat, banging out three doubles and drove in 3 runs. Anthony Claggett struck out 4 in the final 2 innings for his 7th save.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Altoona 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 10 1 Trenton 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 X 5 5 0 Recap | Box | W: E. Hacker (5-1, 2.37); L: J. Hughes (0-1, 9.00); SV: A. Claggett (7) HR: None.

The Tampa Yankees losing streak was extended to 10 games after losing a pair of 7 inning games to the St. Lucie Mets on Thursday. The Mets scored 2 runs off of Josh Schmidt in the 7th for a 3-1 win in the opener. Former Yankees prospect Elvys Quezeda picked up the win.

The Mets won the nightcap 6-3 as Yankees starter Jason Stephens had his worst start of the season. Stephens, who was an All-Star at Charleston prior to his promotion to Tampa, allowed 6 runs in just 3.2 innings pitched. He had allowed just 2 earned runs in his previous 17 innings. Tim Battle, who drove in the lone Tampa run in game one, homered in the nightcap. The Yankees will try to snap their streak tonight when they start a 4-game series with Vero Beach.

July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E St. Lucie 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 4 0 Tampa 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 7 0 Recap | Box W: E. Quezada (2-0, 2.92); L: J. Schmidt (0-2, 3.50); SV: G. Marte (4) HR: None.

	July 10, 2008 Game 2
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E St. Lucie 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 6 13 1 Tampa 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 6 0 Recap | Box W: M. Antonini (3-0, 1.95); L: J. Stephens (2-2, 3.48); SV: S. Clyne (2) HR: TAM: T. Battle (8).

The Charleston River Dogs game with the Lexington Legends was rained out, but they start a new series tonight with the West Virginia Power.

Staten Island blew a 3-0 lead, but then beat the Oneonta Tigers 5-3. Mike Lyons' single in the 7th put the Yankees ahead for good, and Jahdiel Santamaria added an insurance RBI single for the Baby Bombers in the 8th. Drew Shetrone picked up the win after a very good start by Brandon Braboy. Pat Venditte earned his 6th save with a scoreless 9th, and has not been scored upon in 10.2 innings this season.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Oneonta 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 10 1 Staten Island 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 X 5 9 2 Recap | Box W: D. Shetrone (1-1, 3.24); L: A. Fuhrman (2-2, 6.59); SV: P. Venditte (6) HR: ONE: B. Nowlin (1).

The GCL Yankees rallied from a 3-run deficit to beat the GCL Braves 6-5 in 11 innings. The Yankees trailed 5-2 in the 9th, but Alvaro Ramirez hit a 2-run home run and Tom Baldridge singled in the tying run. In the 11th, Zoilo Almonte singled, moved to 2nd base on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Neall French for the game winner. Mike O'Bradovich tossed 3 scoreless innings for the win.

	July 10, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E GCL Braves 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 5 10 1 GCL Yankees 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 1 6 14 0 Recap | Box W: M. Obradovich (1-0, 0.00); L: C. Hung (1-1, 2.45) HR: YAN: A. Ramirez (1).

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