Thunder Sweep SeaDogs

The Trenton Thunder finished off the rival Portland SeaDogs, 5-4 tonight, to complete a three game sweep in the first round of the Eastern League playoffs. Colin Curtis drew a bases loaded walk to snap a 4-4 tie in the top of the ninth as the Thunder won their third straight game. In addition to his walk, Curtis had two singles, a double, triple, and two RBI.

The Thunder tied the game in the eighth when Francisco Cervelli was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Mike Dunn retired the SeaDogs in order in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the win for Kevin Whelan. Whelan struck out five of the six hitters he faced.

It was the second straight come from behind win in the series for Trenton. Thursday night the Thunder trailed Clay Buchholz and the SeaDogs 3-0 in the sixth inning when Austin Jackson hit a game tying 3-run home run. It would stay that way until the eighth when P.J. Pillitere's third hit of the game drove in what proved to be the game winner. Wil Arias picked up the win while Jose Valdez recorded the final two outs for a save.

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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 Recap - 7/24

Games of 7/23

Mark Melancon continued his impressive season, improving to 6-0 last night in Trenton's 3-1 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. With the game tied 1-1 in the 9th, Austin Jackson led off with a double and Chris Malec followed with an RBI triple. Joe Muich's RBI single added some insurance. Muich was only in the game due to a nasty injured suffered by catcher P.J. Pillitere. A foul ball ricocheted off the screen and hit Pillitere square in the face, breaking several bones in his nose. Mike Ashmore has more on Pillitere's injury.

	July 23, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Trenton 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 9 0 New Hampshire 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 Recap | Box | W: M. Melancon (6-0, 1.93); L: Z. Dials (2-3, 3.74) HR: None.

The Tampa Yankees also won in the 9th inning, 6-4, over the Brevard County Manatees. Josh Kreuzer was the hero with a walk off 2-run home run. Kreuzer had once been a highly touted prospect in the Blue Jays organization, including winning the Florida State League's MVP award, but was released in mid-June.

	July 23, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Brevard County 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 4 6 2 Tampa 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 2 6 10 1 Recap | Box | W: W. Arias (4-0, 2.61); L: E. Shanks (0-1, 3.21) HR: TAM: J. Kreuzer (2).

You guessed it, the Charleston River Dogs also won the in the 9th. They trailed the Greensboro Grasshoppers 3-1, but Justin Snyder belted a 2-run home run to tie the game up and Jesus Montero delivered a pinch-hit single to put the Dogs ahead. Wil De la Rosa started for Charleston, allowing 1 run in 5.2 innings pitched, with 8 strikeouts.

	July 23, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Charleston 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 4 8 0 Greensboro 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 7 2 Recap | Box | W: J. Ortiz (3-2, 1.85); L: S. Cishek (2-5, 4.40) HR: CHA: J. Snyder (5).

No late inning heroics for Staten Island as the Baby Bombers fell to the Jamestown Jammers 7-2. Mike Lyon did hit his third home run of the season.

July 23, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Staten Island 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 10 1 Jamestown 4 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 X 7 9 0 Recap | Box W: D. Clothier (2-0, 4.05); L: N. Asselin (0-1, 4.50); SV: A. Campbell (1) HR: STA: M. Lyon (3).

The GCL Yankees are struggling for runs this season, they got only one last night on a Jose Pirela RBI single, and it showed again last night in a 7-1 loss to the GCL Braves.

	July 23, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E GCL Braves 0 0 1 1 4 1 0 0 0 7 9 0 GCL Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7 2 Recap | Box W: B. Oberholtzer (3-0, 1.90); L: R. Marte (1-1, 1.40) HR: None.

Rain had a big effect last night, postponing Scranton's game with the Richmond Braves.

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Minor League Recap - 7/10

Games of 7/9

Scranton lost in the bottom of the 9th, 2-1, to the Toledo Mud Hens, but Al Aceves made his Triple-A debut. Back from a strained groin, Aceves, working on a strict pitch count, allowed no runs, 2 hits, walked none, and struck out 2. The Mud Hens scored the game winner against Kei Igawa, who threw a solid 5.1 innings. The Yankees had 8 hits, 3 by Juan Miranda, but push across just the one run.

Chad Jennings reports that Cody Ransom will take Justin Christian's place in the International League All-Star game. Ransom is hitting just .257, but has 14 home runs and 48 RBI in 86 games.

The Yankees open a series tonight against their former affiliate, the Columbus Clippers, and will face former Yankee Tyler Clippard.

	July 9, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Scranton/WB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 8 1 Toledo 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 9 0 Recap | Box | W: F. Cruceta (2-1, 3.63); L: K. Igawa (8-5, 3.80) HR: TOL: T. Perez (10).

The Trenton Thunder took an early 2-0 lead, but couldn't hold on, and lost to the Altoona Curve 6-2. Starter Phil Coke took the loss after allowing 3 runs in 6 innings pitched. Mark Melancon allowed the final 4 runs, of which just 1 was earned, in 2.1 innings. P.J. Pillitere had 2 of the 5 Thunder hits and drove in a run.

Thunder beat writer Mike Ashmore had a chance to converse with Mark Newman recently.

	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Altoona 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 4 7 9 2 Trenton 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 2 Recap | Box | W: K. Bloom (1-4, 4.57); L: P. Coke (7-4, 2.96); SV: J. Mateo (1) HR: ALT: J. Boone (7).

Tampa and St. Lucie were able to get in one of their two scheduled games on Wednesday. St. Lucie won it 3-0, holding the Yankees to just 4 hits for their 8th straight loss. Ivan Nova put together a decent outing (5.2 IP 2 ER 6 K), but dropped to 3-11.

	July 9, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E St. Lucie 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 8 1 Tampa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 Recap | Box W: D. Owen (7-6, 3.83); L: I. Nova (3-11, 4.84) HR: None.

Austin Krum's 8th inning single snapped a 4-4 tie and gave the Charleston RiverDogs a 5-4 win over the Lexington Legends. David Williams went 3-3 and scored the game winner. Jesus Montero chipped in with his 9th home run of the season.

Dellin Betances made the start for the Dogs, allowing just 1 earned run and 2 hits in 5 innings, but he did walk 5. Chace Vacek earned the win with help from Jon Ortiz, who picked up his 23rd save.

July 9, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Lexington 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 4 7 1 Charleston 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 1 X 5 11 2 Recap | Box | W: C. Vacek (4-3, 4.23); L: F. Abad (1-4, 3.70); SV: J. Ortiz (23) HR: CHA: J. Montero (9).

Staten Island's defense was just out and out ugly last night. Defense probably isn't even the word to use after the Baby Bombers committed 7 errors. It contributed to 5 unearned runs as the Yankees fell 5-4 to the Oneonta Tigers. It overshadowed a good effort by starter Luke Greinke, who allowed 3 hits over 4 innings, didn't walk a batter and struck out 2. David Adams, mired in a 4-34 slump, was 4-5 with 2 RBI.

	July 9, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Oneonta 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 5 10 2 Staten Island 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 4 12 7 Recap | Box W: M. Brackman (1-1, 7.71); L: L. Greinke (0-2, 1.53); SV: T. Stohr (7) HR: None.

Tough night for the GCL Yankees, who lost a pair to the Blue Jays. Toronto's rookie team took the opener in 11 innings, scoring 2 unearned runs for a 2-0 win. Yankees 17-yr old starter Manuel Banuelos threw no-hit ball over 5 innings.

The Yankees lack of hitting continued in the second game as they lost 5-1. Yunior Tabares hit his first home run for the lone Yankees run.

July 9, 2008
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E GCL Blue Jays 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 4 0 GCL Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 Recap | Box W: J. Potts (3-0, 1.42); L: G. Tatis (0-1, 8.10) HR: None.

	July 9, 2008 Game 2
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E GCL Yankees 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 1 GCL Blue Jays 2 2 1 0 0 0 X 5 8 0 Recap | Box W: J. Cuotto (1-1, 3.32); L: A. Vizcaino (2-1, 4.50) HR: YAN: Y. Tabares (1). BLU: R. Diaz (2), L. Fernandez (1).

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