Last night I took in the first game of the Appy League western division playoffs at Pioneer Park. It was nice to have playoff baseball back in Greeneville for the first time in nine years. Here are some of my observations from the game.
On The Mound:
Jandel Gustave got the start for Greeneville. He got off to a rough start as he wasn't quite hitting the right spots for the home plate ump in the first. Later in the game he appeared to be getting those calls but he didn't get them in the first inning. After giving up two runs on three hits and a walk in the first inning, he settled down and pitched the next four innings allowing just one run on three hits, a walk and a hit batter. Gustave struck out seven on the night.
Joe Musgrove relieved Gustave and pitched the final four innings in a dominate fashion. He didn't allow a single base runner while striking out four K-Mets.
At The Plate:
For the month of August, Brett Phillips was two for 15 at the plate. He was rusty after missing almost half the month with a hand injury. Last night, he appeared to shake off the rust and went three for four at the plate. After a bloop hit fell for him in the third, he had line drive hits in the fifth and the seventh.
Juan Santana and Brian Holberton had the only extra base hit for the G-Stros. Each had a double.
The G-Stros were 0-9 with runners in scoring position on the night and that sealed their doom. The most frustrating inning was the fifth. Tanner Mathis and Phillips led off the inning with back to back singles. The next batter tried to move them over on a bunt but Mathis was erased at third. The next batter hit a fly ball to right which allowed Phillips to advance to third. The next batter struck out. Greeneville has done well at manufacturing runs with small ball this season but they couldn't get it done last night.
In The Field:
Two plays deserve mention here. First, Alfredo Gonzalez made a diving catch of a bunt in foul territory in the first inning. Secondly, Thomas Lindauer made a very nice play ranging deep in the hole behind second to throw out a K-Met in the same batter in the seventh.
Summary:
The G-Stros bats just couldn't get the big hit tonight. The pitching and the defense held up their end of the bargain. Greeneville is in a 0-1 hole in the best of three series heading to Kingsport. They face elimination tonight and will be sending Chris Lee to the mound.
Showing posts with label Tanner Mathis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tanner Mathis. Show all posts
Monday, September 2, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Eyewitness Report: 8/26/13 Greeneville 3 - Bluefield 2
Sorry for the delayed nature of this report. This is the first time I have had to really sit down and focus on what I saw last night. With school back in session, we didn't stay for the last two innings and thus missed the walk off grounder. Let's look at my observations for the first seven innings.
In The Stands:
It was good to see Astros GM Jeff Luhnow in the stands for the game.
On The Mound:
Frederick Tiburcio pitched 5 2/3 innings of good ball. In the first five innings, he had just allowed three base runners and had thrown just 66 pitches (unofficial count). In the fifth, he got the first out on a 1-3 come backer. He then walked his first and only batter of the night. That runner stole second and then advanced to third on a pick of throw that ended in center field. He struck out the next batter before allowing a single that plated the first run. The base runner advanced around the bases on stole bases. The final batter Tiburcio faced hit a gound ball to short that Chase McDonald smothered with a dive but he couldn't recover to get to the base him self and Tiburcio didn't get over in time to cover and the runner was safe and the tying run scored.
Tiburcio finished with 84 pitches unofficially. He struck out six batters. Two of those were strike outs at balls in the dirt that required the catcher to throw down to first. His control was pretty good. Other than the one walk, he didn't go to three balls and any other batter.
Austin Chrismon finished the sixth on one pitch and then pitched the last three innings.
At The Plate:
First of all, it was nice to see Brett Phillips back in the line up. He reached base three times with a double and a pair of walks. He also had a sac bunt.
Tanner Mathis had two singles in the lead off role. He too had a sac bunt.
Thomas Lindauer had two singles and also walked. He scored two runs.
No Astro was credited with an RBI. The first run scored on a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded. The second run scored when the ball squirted away from the Bluefield shortstop for an error. The final run scored when it looked like Brian Holberton had grounded into his third double play but the short stop threw the ball away allowing the winning run to score. Good things happen when you put the ball in play.
In The Field:
There were several nice plays made in the field last night. Tiburcio made a behind the back snag of a sharp grounder (ala Jordan Lyles) in the second inning.
Marc Wik made a nice running catch in right field to end the fourth.
Brett Phillips patrolled center and was effective in his return to action.
The Astros struggled with the team speed of Bluefield. Bluefield had four stolen bases in five attempts. They also advanced a base on a blown pick off move.
Odd Game Delay
The start of the game was delayed because the batters boxes were not lined up correctly. They had to scrape the lines up and start over.
In The Stands:
It was good to see Astros GM Jeff Luhnow in the stands for the game.
On The Mound:
Frederick Tiburcio pitched 5 2/3 innings of good ball. In the first five innings, he had just allowed three base runners and had thrown just 66 pitches (unofficial count). In the fifth, he got the first out on a 1-3 come backer. He then walked his first and only batter of the night. That runner stole second and then advanced to third on a pick of throw that ended in center field. He struck out the next batter before allowing a single that plated the first run. The base runner advanced around the bases on stole bases. The final batter Tiburcio faced hit a gound ball to short that Chase McDonald smothered with a dive but he couldn't recover to get to the base him self and Tiburcio didn't get over in time to cover and the runner was safe and the tying run scored.
Tiburcio finished with 84 pitches unofficially. He struck out six batters. Two of those were strike outs at balls in the dirt that required the catcher to throw down to first. His control was pretty good. Other than the one walk, he didn't go to three balls and any other batter.
Austin Chrismon finished the sixth on one pitch and then pitched the last three innings.
At The Plate:
First of all, it was nice to see Brett Phillips back in the line up. He reached base three times with a double and a pair of walks. He also had a sac bunt.
Tanner Mathis had two singles in the lead off role. He too had a sac bunt.
Thomas Lindauer had two singles and also walked. He scored two runs.
No Astro was credited with an RBI. The first run scored on a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded. The second run scored when the ball squirted away from the Bluefield shortstop for an error. The final run scored when it looked like Brian Holberton had grounded into his third double play but the short stop threw the ball away allowing the winning run to score. Good things happen when you put the ball in play.
In The Field:
There were several nice plays made in the field last night. Tiburcio made a behind the back snag of a sharp grounder (ala Jordan Lyles) in the second inning.
Marc Wik made a nice running catch in right field to end the fourth.
Brett Phillips patrolled center and was effective in his return to action.
The Astros struggled with the team speed of Bluefield. Bluefield had four stolen bases in five attempts. They also advanced a base on a blown pick off move.
Odd Game Delay
The start of the game was delayed because the batters boxes were not lined up correctly. They had to scrape the lines up and start over.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Eyewitness Report: 7/28/13 Greeneville 10 - Pulaski 1 - How A Pitchers Duel Turned Into A Blow Out
When you get to the game and the starters ERAs are 1.83 and 1.59 respectively, you settle in for a pitchers duel. That is how the game played out for the first five innings. But then Greeneville's bats exploded for 10 runs in their last three at bats to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 10-1 victory. Here are more observations from the game.
On The Mound
Jandel Gustave only allowed one hit in six innings but he walked six batters. The walks came in pairs, with two each in the first, third and fifth innings. He wasn't wild, just missing by little bits. I had his pitch count at 75 with only 35 for strikes. Despite his control issues, he still fanned four batter and only allowed one of his walks to score. He left after five innings down 1-0.
Chris Munnelly made his Greeneville debut pitching two innings of no hit, shut out ball. He struck out two hitters and walked one. The only other runner reached on an error when the ball was knocked out of a glove on a tag play at first. Munnelly's curve ball appeared to be his best pitch tonight.
Krishawn Holley closed out the game with an effective inning, allowing just one hit.
It was quite an outing from the pitching staff.
At The Plate
The Astros bats were kept in check for the first five innings. Pulaski starter, Eddie Campbell, used effective location of multiple pitches.
In the first five innings, the Astros batters were 3 for 15 with one walk and five strike outs.
In the final three at bats, the G-Stros batters were 11 for 18 with three walks, four strike outs and 10 runs scored - all earned.
Chase McDonald reached base in each of his four plate appearances. He had a single, a double, two walks, two RBI and two runs scored.
Brian Holberton hit his first HR at Pioneer Park; a two run blast in the sixth that gave Greeneville the lead 2-1. He also singled and scored in the 8th.
Brett Phillips laid down one of the sweetest bunt hits I have seen for one of his two singles on the night. Phillips pushed a bunt past the pitchers out stretched glove and no play at first was made. He later scored two runs after reaching via a walk and single.
Three other G-Stros had two hits. Tanner Mathis and Thomas Lindauer both produced a single and a double and Juan Santana had two singles.
Only Edwin Gomez didn't join the hit parade for Greeneville. He went 0 for 4 with 4 Ks. The part of that that concerned me was that he only saw 13 pitches on the night. The first pitch he saw of the night was a ball, after that it was twelve straight strikes and four straight Ks. Obviously something is wrong there.
In The Field
Mathis gets the Oscar for selling a sliding short hop grab as a catch in the second inning. From my vantage point, it appeared the ball bounced into his glove. The Pulaski manager and bench agreed with me. But Mathis raised his glove high and the home plate ump signaled out.
Lindauer started a nice 6-4-3 double play in the fifth inning. The ball was hit to his right. He ranged over, grabbed the ball and threw across his body to start the double play. Juan Santana made a nice quick turn to complete the twin killing.
The other nice play was made by McDonald at first on a high pop fly in foul territory. He adjusted to the ball at the last minute making a lunge to his right to secure the ball to end the sixth inning.
The only error of the game was charged to McDonald. He was playing in anticipating a bunt from the speedy Aaron Barbosa. Barbosa didn't bunt. He chopped a ball down the first baseline that McDonald had to retreat to retrieve. When he did, Munnelly had not made it in time to cover first. McDonald made an attempt to tag Barbosa before he reached the bag safely but the ball was knocked out of McDonalds glove during the attempt. Heck of an effort but charged with the error none the less.
Overall
Nice team win for the G-Stros. The pitching was very good, the offense produced late in the game and the defense was solid. They end the series against a very good Pulaski team two games in front of the streaking Kingsport Mets. They start a three game series against the Burlington Royals (17-19) tomorrow.
On The Mound
Jandel Gustave only allowed one hit in six innings but he walked six batters. The walks came in pairs, with two each in the first, third and fifth innings. He wasn't wild, just missing by little bits. I had his pitch count at 75 with only 35 for strikes. Despite his control issues, he still fanned four batter and only allowed one of his walks to score. He left after five innings down 1-0.
Chris Munnelly made his Greeneville debut pitching two innings of no hit, shut out ball. He struck out two hitters and walked one. The only other runner reached on an error when the ball was knocked out of a glove on a tag play at first. Munnelly's curve ball appeared to be his best pitch tonight.
Krishawn Holley closed out the game with an effective inning, allowing just one hit.
It was quite an outing from the pitching staff.
At The Plate
The Astros bats were kept in check for the first five innings. Pulaski starter, Eddie Campbell, used effective location of multiple pitches.
In the first five innings, the Astros batters were 3 for 15 with one walk and five strike outs.
In the final three at bats, the G-Stros batters were 11 for 18 with three walks, four strike outs and 10 runs scored - all earned.
Chase McDonald reached base in each of his four plate appearances. He had a single, a double, two walks, two RBI and two runs scored.
Brian Holberton hit his first HR at Pioneer Park; a two run blast in the sixth that gave Greeneville the lead 2-1. He also singled and scored in the 8th.
Brett Phillips laid down one of the sweetest bunt hits I have seen for one of his two singles on the night. Phillips pushed a bunt past the pitchers out stretched glove and no play at first was made. He later scored two runs after reaching via a walk and single.
Three other G-Stros had two hits. Tanner Mathis and Thomas Lindauer both produced a single and a double and Juan Santana had two singles.
Only Edwin Gomez didn't join the hit parade for Greeneville. He went 0 for 4 with 4 Ks. The part of that that concerned me was that he only saw 13 pitches on the night. The first pitch he saw of the night was a ball, after that it was twelve straight strikes and four straight Ks. Obviously something is wrong there.
In The Field
Mathis gets the Oscar for selling a sliding short hop grab as a catch in the second inning. From my vantage point, it appeared the ball bounced into his glove. The Pulaski manager and bench agreed with me. But Mathis raised his glove high and the home plate ump signaled out.
Lindauer started a nice 6-4-3 double play in the fifth inning. The ball was hit to his right. He ranged over, grabbed the ball and threw across his body to start the double play. Juan Santana made a nice quick turn to complete the twin killing.
The other nice play was made by McDonald at first on a high pop fly in foul territory. He adjusted to the ball at the last minute making a lunge to his right to secure the ball to end the sixth inning.
The only error of the game was charged to McDonald. He was playing in anticipating a bunt from the speedy Aaron Barbosa. Barbosa didn't bunt. He chopped a ball down the first baseline that McDonald had to retreat to retrieve. When he did, Munnelly had not made it in time to cover first. McDonald made an attempt to tag Barbosa before he reached the bag safely but the ball was knocked out of McDonalds glove during the attempt. Heck of an effort but charged with the error none the less.
Overall
Nice team win for the G-Stros. The pitching was very good, the offense produced late in the game and the defense was solid. They end the series against a very good Pulaski team two games in front of the streaking Kingsport Mets. They start a three game series against the Burlington Royals (17-19) tomorrow.
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