Farmers Only: Immeasurable Grit Sans Dayton and Billings

Louisville stayed in tune with what it means to be in the Cincinnati Reds organization, losing to Indianapolis 7-3.  Scott Diamond is starting to look like a real rotation option (4.1 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR).  Tim Crabbe, Nick Christiani, and Justin Freeman combined for 3.2 scoreless innings of relief, so shame on them.  They weren't missing many bats, though.  They gave their fielders every opportunity to dirty those jerseys.  Felix Perez was 2 for 4 with his 11th dinger of the year, a 2 run shot in the 7th inning, and 3 RBI.  Hitting the ball out of play doesn't help the team learn the fundamentals.  Skip and Jack need him to try harder.  At 30 years old he's on the verge of getting a cup of coffee.  He should be getting his grit on real hard in Cincy in a year or 3.  Looeyville will play tonight with Mikey O'Brien on the mound.

Pensacola did Walt and company proud, taking the loss to Jacksonville 10-6.  Bob Steve is going places people.  He sparkled tonight with a 4 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR performance.  Get at 'em young buck.  Fabian Williamson let down the squad pitching 1.1 innings of scoreless ball.  Yorman Rodriguez and Moose Mattair spit in the face of progress when they both decided to hit the ball out of the park.  Yorman hit a two run shot and had a walk, while Moose's big fly was a solo hot.  At least his was a rally killer.  Ryan Wright, Kyle Waldrop, The Three Brean Salad, and Yovan Gonzalez had 2 hit games.  Michael Lorenzen will start tonight.

Bakersfield had their game against the Evil Inland Empire banged on account of water droplets falling from the sky.  A grittier team would have played through it.  Or would the rain wash all that grit away?  This is a philosophical question that the likes of Charlie Scrabbles has never seen.

I don't know who the hell Dayton thinks they are beating South Bend 5-3.  This Nick Travieso kid surely doesn't know the path to the big leagues (5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 wanger allowed).  Zack Weiss surely doesn't want to take the back end bullpen spot for the heralded JJ Hoover (3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 6 K).  They disgust me.  When you look at the box score and you see the Dragons scored 1 in 5 innings you thing SMAWL BAWL PAWL.  That's not the case.  These guys are a bunch of show boating Prima Donnas.  Phil Ervin was 3 for 4 with a double and 3 RBI.  Tanner Rahier smacked a solo Johnson.  Don't they know how to bunt?  Robert Ramirez and and Jon Matthews had multi hit games.  I bet these guys didn't even get their jerseys dirty.  Pearly white pristine jerseys.  What a sickening joke.  Vice President Stonewall Jackson Stephens will pitch tonight.

Billings show boated their way to an 8-1 victory over Missoula.  The Billings pitchers surely have never heard of pitching to contact, which is a damn crying shame.  Wyatt Strahan pitched 4 inning of selfish ball, giving up 3 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, and 6 strikeouts.  Seth Varner had 4 strikeouts in 4 shut out innings, and Jefry Sierra Nevada had a K and a BB in 1 scoreless inning.  Kevin Franklin, who had been looking extra gritty all year, was a disappointment last evening hitting a 3 run Monster Mash and a 2 run single for 5 RBI on the night.  Argenis Aldazoro had 2 singles in the game.  Tyler "Darth" Mahle will pitch tonight.

The AZL Reds fell to the Dodgers yesterday by a score of 7-3.  Those guys in Billings better watch out.  These youngins in Arizona are playing the game the right way.  If some of those Mustangs don't get their shit together, some young guy not afraid to hit a weak ground ball to 2B will be taking their spot.  Junior Joselin Arias had one of the best starts I've ever seen (1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K).  The level of effort this young man shows it unbelievable.  Tyler Parmenter (1.32 ERA) and Austin Muehring (2.70 ERA) have been massive disappointments this season, and it continued last night when they both posted shutout performances and more strikeouts than innings pitched. Narciso Crook ran into some bad luck last night going 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI.  Sometimes, you just hit 'em where they ain't.  Hang with 'em.  The Reds play the Dodgers again tonight.