Talking Chop

Playoff Hunt

Myrtle Beach - A Pelicans loss and a Kinston victory put Myrtle Beach at 4 games back, and last in the division, with 5 games to go. Their elimination number is 3, meaning any combination of Myrtle Beach losses and Kinston wins totaling 3 will lead to the Pelicans being eliminated.

Gwinnett 2, Norfolk 5

Jose Ortegano pitched pretty well in this one, but his defense let him down a little, including Ortegano himself who made an error on a pickoff throw. Even the homer he allowed was a fairly routine fly ball that somehow found its way out of the park. Antoan Richardson had a pair of singles, an infield single and a bloop single, as well as a stolen base in his AAA debut. Joe Thurston has really salvaged his season by hitting .349 with a .949 OPS in August.

Mississippi 2, West Tennessee 7

Myke Jones and LV Ware have played at three different levels this year, going all the way from Rome to Myrtle Beach to Mississippi. Ware fared a little better in his AA debut, singling in 3 at bats while Jones went hitless in 4 and committed 2 errors. Kyle Cofield may have found his nitche out of the bullpen. The big righty hasn't allowed an earned run in 12.2 innings over 7 relief appearances, while allowing only 7 hits and 2 walks.

Myrtle Beach 4, Wilmington 9

Cory Rasmus just allowed too many men on base, allowing 11 baserunners in 5.1 innings. Overall his numbers have seen a bit of a jump since moving up to Myrtle Beach, with his ERA going from 3.14 to 3.72 and his WHIP going from 1.28 to 1.49, but that's what you'd expect, epsecially coming at the end of his first full season. Phil Gosselin was hitless in his Pelicans debut. Big Mike Jones had a great August, hitting .375 with a .900 OPS. Cody Johnson clubbed out a 3 run homer and it's hard to believe that with as disappointing a year as he's had it's his 17th homer of the season. For the year he's struck out in 45% of his at bats, an increase over the 41% rate he had last year, which was much, much too high to begin with. He's got that rate down to 32% with the Pelicans right now, so hopefully that's a step in the right direction and not just a case of small sample size.

Rome 3, West Virginia 1

Edward Salcedo drove in all 3 of Rome's runs with his second homer of the season. Some people would tell you that his time in Rome, in which he's just now pulled himself abvoe the Mendoza Line, has been a disappointment. Frankly, those people have no idea what they're talking about. Arodys Vizcaino returns after six weeks on the shelf with an elbow problem, tossing a scoreless inning. He'll likely make one more appearance before the end of the year and head down to the Instructional League in Orlando to get some extra innings to make up for the time he missed. Aaron Northcraft's third appearance for Rome couldn't have been more different than his first two, as he controlled the West Virginia lineup over 5 innings. David Hale came back from his last performance, in which he allowed 4 earned runs in just 1.1 innings, with a vengance, tossing 3 perfect innings and striking out 5.

Danville 12, Burlington 0

The D-Braves' offensive explosion was a day late, as the team was eliminated from the playoffs yesterday. The Brothers Fleming combined to go 5-9 with a double, a triple, and 2 RBI. 22 year old catcher Cory Brownsten collected 3 hits and drove in 5 runs in his Danville debut after hitting .287 with a .833 OPS in 94 at bats in the GCL. Kyle Farrell finished his season strong, shutting out the Royals over 5 innings. In his last 4 starts he had a 2.31 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. He averaged less than a walk per inning for the year, coming in at 0.9 BB/9 and 6.7 K/BB. After putting up a 5.79 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP in 42 innings in the GCL, 20 year old Dan Winnie threw 2 scoreless innings in his Danville debut. Danville finished the year at 34-34, tied for second in the East division.