Who let the dogs out? (Maloney vs. Martis)
JULY 27, 2009: Syracuse, NY: The Syracuse Chiefs were the Toronto Blue Jays' AAA affiliate for 31 years. That ended last fall, in the latest round of minor league musical chairs. I never heard what led to the breakup. Money? Desire for newer facilities? I can't imagine the Jays were happy to have to move their AAA team to Las Vegas; it's quite a schlepp to Toronto from there.
I'm kind of surprised the Mets didn't hook up with Syracuse. It would be closer than Buffalo, where they ended up. In any case, it was the Nats who ended up with Syracuse. Local businesses have "Welcome, Nationals" signs posted. Though the team has a red uniform reminiscent of Washington's, they also still wear a baby blue uni that looks very Jays. And the Canadian flag still flies over Alliance Bank Stadium.
Chris Valaika and Drew Stubbs warm up before the game.Valaika tosses a warmup throw.
Starting for the Chiefs was one of the Nats' top prospects, Shairon Martis. He's a honkballer, born in the Dutch Antilles. Known for his changeup, he made his major league debut at age 21 last year.
Going for the Bats was Matt Maloney.
Old pal Corey Patterson was in the starting lineup. He was batting fifth and playing left field.
He ended up being released two days after this game. I was kind of surprised. He played well enough for the Chiefs, and I thought the Nats could never get enough outfielders. In any case, he's preparing for the future. According to Wikipedia, he bought a dairy farm in Georgia last fall, with a thousand cows, as well as emus and a giraffe. I guess we know what he did with the $3 million the Reds gave him last year.
Still not sure what that "HM" patch is about. Wikipedia says the Chiefs are wearing a "HB" patch, in memory of former member of the Chiefs' Board of Directors Harold Berman. But nothing about "HM."
Drew Stubbs played CF and led off, as usual.
Danny Dorn played LF and batted 7th.
Kevin Barker, since called up to the big club, had a big night.
Maloney singled in the 3rd inning, but ended up being picked off 3B by Gustavo Molina. I guess he doesn't have a lot of experience on the basepaths.
That ended up costing the Bats. Darnell McDonald singled, and Maloney would have scored easily from 3B.
Instead, Eric Eymann, on 2B via a double, tried to to come home.
He signals "safe," but Martis, Molina, and most importantly, the umpire, disagree. He's out!
The fourth inning was a disaster for the Bats. Maloney got the first two outs, then gave up a double. The next batter should have been the third out, but Wes Bankston's throwing error allowed the runner to reach. Maloney kind of fell apart, giving up a single, then a wild pitch, then a HBP. Corey Patterson came to bat with the bases loaded.
The Chiefs have a deal with Denny's:
I was kind of rooting for C-Pat then. I didn't bother getting my free taco when Drew Stubbs struck out and turned all the ticket stubs into free taco coupons. But breakfast at Denny's - that I could go for.
Alas, no rally-killer for Patterson. It was almost as bad, though. He hit a 2-RBI single, then stole 2B. Before the inning was over, 4 runs scored, all unearned. (Thanks, Wankston. That was his 12th error of the season. Not good.)
That made it 7-0. Things did not look good for our heroes.
Gustavo Molina nearly killed the third base coach with a hard-hit foul ball.
It was kinda scary, but he was fine, and stayed in the game.
Molina hit a leadoff homer the 5th. Darnell leaps at the wall, but he'd have to be 30 ft. tall to get this one.
After Martis singled to center field, Matt Maloney got the hook.
Rough outing for Maloney. 4.0 IP, 11 hits, 8 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 1 home run. And two hit batsmen and a wild pitch. (The unearned runs were on Bankston's throwing error, and on a passed ball by Corky Miller in the 2nd.)
Ramon Ramirez took over.
He restored order, pitching three innings, giving up only one hit, no runs, no walks, and striking out three.
Martis pitched 7 shutout innings.
Drew Stubbs uses his psychokinetic powers to levitate a bat:
Valaika spits out his gum as he leaves the field.
(Eyeww. A-Rod always does that, too. Do the grounds crew or the bat boys have to pick it up? I can't imagine they just leave it there. The entire field would be pink before long.)
Ian Desmond was 2 for 4 with a double.
Eric Eymann catches a Desmond popup.
Elijah Dukes pinch-hit for Martis in the 7th. He singled, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Darnell got it back in quickly, and Valaika was there with the tag.
Dave Williams pitched the 8th.
The Bats finally broke through. Corky Miller doubled, and Eric Eymann was hit by a pitch.
Darnell McDonald singled.
Kevin Barker came to bat with the bases loaded. He let two balls go by, then smacked a home run over the right field fence.
Grand slam!
That drove Williams from the game. Zack Segovia took over.
Logan Ondrusek pitched the 9th inning. He was just promoted from AA.
He made short work of the top of the order.
The Bats mounted a two-out rally in the 9th.
After Dorn struck out and Valaika grounded out, Corky Miller got things started with a clutch HBP. Miller took 2B on defensive indifference, then got to third on a Luis Bolivar single.
Stubbs singled, scoring Miller.
Eymann walked, loading the bases for Darnell McDonald.
Though Darnell had a good night, going 3 for 5, he couldn't come through this time. He grounded into a forceout, ending the game.
The Chiefs celebrate their victory.
I was bemused to see Mike Vento (#26). He came up in the Yankees system, and got only a cup of coffee with the big club. I never would have guessed he'd still be playing baseball when more celebrated prospects like Bubba Crosby, Kevin Thompson, Kevin Reese, and Bronson Sardinha had hung 'em up.
Final score: Bats 5, Syracuse 8.
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What on God's green earth is a 'Honkballer'
Sounds vaguely sexual…something to with a goose fetish………..
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
George Carlin
...dutch word for "baseball player"
Sorry to disappoint.
"And then there was the USAID guy in Kandahar who drove a giant pink Cadillac, which the locals set on fire one day. If you wanted to destroy something symbolic during a riot, you just could not do better than that. Good stuff." - Ghosts of Alexander
Gorgeous shots Bubba!
Can you please tell us what type of camera was used? Lens? Image size?
Thanks!
BF, maybe you need to start putting a footer at the bottom of your posts with the details on your camera
"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty
I went on at length about my camera gear in the post
Ken kindly linked to. But if you have any questions not answered there, feel free to ask.
The original size of the photos is about 10 Mb (3888×2592). I crop the images and/or reduce the size for posting online. There’s really no need to post a huge image online; most people can’t view it full size online anyway. And you’ll hit the limit very quickly with free hosting services like Picasa, Webshots, etc., if you don’t reduce the file sizes. (For example, I couldn’t even post the photos for one game report on Photobucket if I didn’t reduce them.)
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
So I've met a great many of RRers
but not BubbaFan…can’t you drive down to Gordo’s on Wednesday for Burger Madness?
Or maybe on Wed. you could go a local Burger joint near where you live and and take some photos of yourself, send them to BK and let him photoshop them into the Cincy pics from the next Burger Trip…
Either way will be acceptable.
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
George Carlin
I can you an emu for $2.63M.

His name is Frank
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
George Carlin
I think it's hilarious that Corey Patterson bought an industrial dairy operation.
…that has emus. But hey, this might explain a lot. Could he have confused GBH for HGH?
Everybody's a jerk. You. Me. This jerk.
At least
he’s not pissing it all away on bling, blow, and Bentleys. He’s got something to fall back on, if this baseball thing doesn’t work out…
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
hahahaha, "if"
Baseball must be a great game to survive the fools who run it.— Bill Terry
by nycredsfan on Aug 17, 2009 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
He's made over $14 million in salary alone
Probably more counting royalties and such. He’s actually done pretty well – at the bank, if not at the ballpark.
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
If you ever listened to him, he was odd for a ballplayer: intelligent, self-aware....
too bad he sucked. Still, that sort of investment seems about right
I have had a couple of fairly nice and somewhat lengthy conversations with Mike Brown over the years
He too is intelligent, sef-effacing, self aware (to a point) and chock full of interesting tidbits of all kinds of knowledge about a broad range of subjects. Despite this he sucks as a GM. MAYBE WE NEED A REALLY STUPID GUY TO BE THE REDS MANAGER! A Stupid Guy with some imagination.
Ha
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
George Carlin
Holy guacamole
The Syracuse Chiefs hung a 12-spot on Rochester tonight.
And leading off for the Chiefs…their new outfielder, one Norris Hopper.
Yup, they cut Corey Patterson and replaced him with Norris Hopper.
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
12 runs
in just the top of the ninth inning, I mean. Now that’s a come from behind victory!
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
and to think
it was not so long ago that we got to have them fighting for PT on our major league team.
depressing.
The Cincinnati Reds
Your stepping stone to AAA stardom
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
George Carlin
by Madville on Aug 18, 2009 3:42 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

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