- The Twins started their all star break yesterday and Twins All-Star Joe Mauer competed in the all star games Homerun Derby. He did not make it out of the first round as he only connected with 5 homeruns which were good enough to get in a swing off with Albert Pujols and Carlos Pena where Puljos moved on. The Twins are off until Friday night when they begin the second half with a 3 game series with Texas in Arlington.
Rochester Wrap
- The Red Wings also have their All-Star break and will send 1b/DH Justin Huber to the all star game in Portland Wednesday night. They will begin the second half of the season on Thursday as they take on Lehigh Valley. The Red Wings are 44 and trail 1st place Scranton/WB by 7 games and trail Durham by 6.5 games in the Wildcard standings.
New Britain Business
Binghamton 14 New Britain 1
- The Rockcats ended the first half on a 2 game losing streak as they were blown out yesterday afternoon against Binghamton by a score of 14-1. Cole Devries got the start for the Rockcats and in a word was awful. It might have been his worst start as a professional and something that won't be hard for someone of his quality to forget. Cole Devries along with Matt Fox have been the glue that have kept the Rockcats in the race so one bad outing should not damper the first half he put together. In this one Cole only lasted 1.1 innings and gave up 10 runs although only 7 of them were earned on 7 hits along with 3 walks and a strikeout to raise his era from 2.89 to 3.53 and dropped his record on the year to 5-9. Deolis Guerra came in relief since this one was the last game before the break. Guerra was ok in this one and gave the Rockcats what they needed most after a short start by Cole Devries and that was innings as he went 4.2 innings. In 4.2 innings Guerra gave up 4 runs on 8 hits along with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 5.59. Kyle Waldrop then came on and pitched 2 shutout innings along with 2 walks and a strikeout to lower his era to 1.93. Matt Fox made a rare relief appearance and pitched a shutout inning to end the game on a hit to lower his era on the year to 3.54.
- The Rockcats offense went into the all-star break with a whimper as they were only able to score 1 run on 7 hits against Binghamton Pitching. Erik Lis led the offense by going 3-4 with his 10th homerun of the year and his 46th rbi to bring his average up to .320 on the year. In the 4 game series Lis went 11-16 with 4 homeruns and 8 rbi's. You can't get any better than that and he showed just how dangerous he can be at the plate. Brian Dinkelman went 2-4 at the plate to raise his average on the year up to .299. With the addition of Steve Tolleson to the lineup it might be the precurser for the promotion of Dinkelman to AAA Rochester a promotion that in my opinion is rightly deserved. Whit Robbins and Danny Lehman added singles in a losing cause for the Rockcats.
- Transactions: The Rockcats have announced that IF Steve Singelton has been promoted from High A Fort Myers to New Britain.
- The Rockcats are off until Thursday as they will send Matt Fox, Anthony Slama, Whit Robbins, Brian Dinkelman, and Rene Tosoni to the AA all-star game tommorrow night. On Thursday night they will begin a weekend series with Reading.
Fort Myers Minutes
Palm Beach 2 Fort Myers 0
- The Miracle lost their 2nd straight game to Palm Beach last night and dropped out of first place and dropped a game back of Palm Beach after a tough 2-0 loss last night. Mike Mccardell got the start for the Miracle and was very good once again. Mccardell went 7 strong innings and gave up 2 runs on 10 hits along with 9 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to a very good 3.93, but dropped his record on the year to still a very good 9-6. Mike Mccardell has been good all season long and has probably been one of the most consistant pitchers for the Miracle all season long and probably should of been promoted to AA by now, but will just have to wait his turn. Henry Arias then came into the game and pitched a shutout inning of ball along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 5.01. Joe Testa then pitched a scoreless ninth along with 2 strikeouts and now has not given up a run in 10.2 innings since joining the Miracle.
- The Miracle really did not get anything going against the Palm Beach pitching staff as they could only muster 4 hits and no runs in the tough loss. The only bright spot offensively was Jair Fernandez who went 2-3 at the plate to bring his average up to .235. Fernandez has really stepped it up after getting more playing time after Danny Lehman went up to AA after the Wilson Ramos injury. He is not a great prospect, but he is a better hitter than what he was showing. Esterlin De Los Santos went 1-4 with his 3rd double of the year to bring his average on the year up to .291. Rene Leveret also contributed a single in the losing cause for the Miracle.
- The Miracle have tonight off before beginning a series tommorrow night with Sarasota in Sarasota as they will send Steve Hirschfeld to the mound.
Beloit Beat
West Michigan 7 Beloit 3
- The Snappers lost their second consecutive game to West Michigan last night by a score of 7-3 in a tough hard fought game. Bruce Pugh got the start for the Snappers and did pretty well considering it was his first every start as a professional. Pugh went the first 4 innings and gave up 2 runs although only 1 of them were earned on 1 hit along with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.98 on the season. That was pretty good for a pitcher who really struggled once he was called up to Beloit in mid April and has really found his stride as a pitcher. Michael Allen then came on and was ok just like he has been all year. Allen went 2 innings and gave up 2 runs although only 1 was earned on 2 hits along with 1 walk and 1 strikeout to lower his era on the year to 5.35. Matt Williams then came on and was uncharacteristically bad. Williams only got 2 outs and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits along with a walk and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 2.61. Billy Bulluck then came on and pitched a scoreless 9th on 1 strikeout.
- The Snappers really did not take advantage of the opprotunities they had as they only were able to score 3 runs on 10 hits. The big reason that they were unable to score more runs was because of 7 guys left on base and that won't work when your struggling like the Snappers are. Ramon Santana led the offense by going 2-4 at the plate with his 18th double of the year and his 46th rbi to bring his average on the season up to .297. Michael Harrington went 2-3 at the plate with his team leading 24th double of the year to bring his average up to .236. James Beresford went 2-5 with his 20th rbi of the year and raised his average up to .289. Angel Morales went 1-4 at the plate with his 10th double of the year along with an rbi to bring his total on the year to 28. Ozzie Lewis, Tyler Ladendorf, and Nathan Hanson all contributed hits in the losing cause for the Snappers.
- The Snappers have tonight off before beginning at Burlington tommorrow night as the Snappers try to break out of their 2 game losing streak.
E-town tidbits
E-Town 8 Johnson City 6
- The E-town Twins won their 3rd consecutive victory with a tough hard fought victory over Johnson City by a score of 8-6 to expand their division lead to 4 games. Angelo Sanchez got the start for the Twins and was very good in this one. Sanchez went 5.1 innings and gave up only 1 run on 4 hits along with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts to lower his era down to 3.63 on the year. Sanchez has probably been the best pitcher on the Twins staff all season long as he has kept his walks down and kept his strikeouts up so it will be interesting to see if he can keep it up all year. Michael Tone then came into the game and pitched a solid inning of work to get the win and improve his record on the year to 2-1. In 1 inning Tone did not give up any runs, however he did walk 3 batters to lower his era on the year to 1.08. Tony Davis then came on and was awful as he only got 2 outs and gave up 5 runs on 5 hits along with 2 walks to raise his era to a very bad 12.10 on the year. Kyle Carr then came on and pitched the last 2 innings to pick up his 3rd save of the year. Carr went 2 innings and gave up no runs on no hits along with a walk and 5 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to a very good 1.06.
- The Twins offense did their part once again as they put up 8 runs on 12 hits which ended up being enough for the Twins to get a big win over Johnson City last night. Derek Mccallum was the big hitting star in this one as he went 3-5 with his 6th double and drove in 2 runs to bring his season total up to 12. With the 3 hits it brought Derek's average up to .250 on the year. Brian Dozier had a big game going 2-3 at the plate to bring his average up to .389. Paul Klingsberg went 2-5 to bring his average on the year up to .294. Chris Hermann had his 4th homerun of the year and drove in his 11th and 12th runs of the year to bring his average up to .397. Josmil Pinto, Anderson Hidalgo, Herbert Lara, and Jon Goncalves each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Twins.
- The Twins have today off before beginning a series tommorrow night with fellow first place Danville in Danville.
