Talking Chop

Scranton WB 8, Gwinnett 2

• JC Holt 2-4 2B, K
• B. Conrad 3-4 K
• B. Jones 1-4 RBI, K

Wow, Todd Redmond got lit up in this game. He surrendered 7 runs in 4 innings of work and was just generally really hittable. The offense wasn't much help either with only Brooks Conrad and JC Holt getting multiple hits.Casey Kotchman did play in rehab in this one also, going 0-2 with an RBI, but he left the game in the 6th inning. No word on why.

Birmingham 9, Mississippi 0

• M. Young 2-5
• K. Gunderson 1IP 1H 0R 0BB 1K
  

Wow, this game was even worse. Jeff Lyman was lit up for 3 runs in 4 innings and then Tim Gustufson relieved him and gave up 6 runs in 2 innings of work. These pitching staff have really been depleted by the promotions and trades. Kevin Gunderson deserves some mention as well. He has only given up 5 runs in 27.2IP this season and hasn't given up a run in 7 straight appearances. He will probably pretty useful one day as a lefty out of the bullpen. The funny thing is he has been better against righties than lefties this season. He has a fairly smally sample against left handers though so it would be hard to judge that really.

Myrtle Beach 5, Salem 2 - 12 Innings

• F. Freeman 2-5 RBI, K
• S. Shults 3-5 2 2B, K
• J. Thompson 6IP 1H 0R 6BB 4K

Pelicans pitchers walked 14 men in this game! And they won! mostly because they only allowed 5 hits through 12 innings. I guess for a pitcher walks aren't as good as hits, because walks only advance base runners one base. Maybe that should be our new organizational philosophy. Just walk dudes you don't think you can get out and pitch to the weak hitters. Sounds like a winner to me. Stephen Shults apparenlty likes hitting in the Carolina League. His OPS is nearly 200 points higher in his short stay there so far.

Charleston 1, Rome 2

• J. Campusano 3-4
  
• P. Clemens 5IP 5H 1R 4BB 5K
• C. Kimbrel 1IP 0H 0R 1BB 2K

Paul Clemens is the other guy from last years draft class that I am really rooting for. He has the best arm (outside of Kimbrel) of any of the guys taken, getting his fastball up to 97 at times with excellent movement. His problems come from not having any reliable secondary pitches yet. He was hammered pretty hard in April while he was in the rotation and then was moved to the bullpen in May in some long relief where he was pretty good. In June he has moved back into the rotation and he has been pretty solid so far. His walks are still high but I would guess they are having him work on his offspeed stuff.