Minor league weekly roundup

AAA-Scranton- Austin Jackson continues to play well hitting 360 with a 430 obp. Shelly Duncan is on the DL with a sore shoulder but was batting 333 with 10 homeruns and 29 rbi. John Rodriguez is batting 302 with 6 homeruns and 25 rbi. Juan Miranda is batting 283 with 6 homruns and 24 rbi. Pitching- We have seen Phil Hughes come up after going 3-0 with a 1.86 era. Ian Kennedy before getting hurt was 1-0 with a 1.59 era. Zachary Kroenke is 3-0 with a 0.60 era, in 15 innings he has 9 strikeouts and walks. Brett Tomko was 1-0 with a 0.64 era as the closer and is now in the majors. Mark Melancon is 2-0 with a 0.75 era and was in the majors but now went back down. Dave Robertson also was in the majors and went back down, he is 0-2 with a 1.74 era. AA Trenton- Chris Malec is batting 375 with 0 homeruns and 6 rbi's. Jorge Vasquez is batting 308 with 5 homeruns and 19 rbi's. He has only played in 14 games. Colin Curtis is batting 297. Reegie Corona is batting 284. Pitching- Zach McAllister is 1-1 with a 2.67 era, George Kontos is 1-1 with a 2.66 era. Wilken De La Rosa just got promoted from A and is a guy to watch for- left handed. A-Tampa- Mitch Hilligoss is batting 326 with 0 homeruns and a rbi. Jesus Montero is batting 302 with 5 homeruns and 18 rbi's. Austin Romine is batting 295 with 2 homeruns and 12 rbi's. Pitching- Jeremy Bleich is 2-1 with 2.70 era, he has 22 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings. This guy was drafted out of Stanford and reminds me of Tom Glavine, he could move quickly so keep your eye on him. Dellin Betances is 2-3 with a 3.90 era, he has 34 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings but also 16 walks, he is one of the top prospects but is only 19 years old. Lance Pendleton is 2-2 with a 3.90 era, he has 23 walks in 32 1/3 innings. A- Charleston- David Adams is batting 302 with 14 rbi's. Pitching wise Manny Banuelos is 1-0 with a 3.18 era. Andrew Brackman is 0-4 with a 4.55 era. Pat Venditte is 2-1 with a 0.61 era. He is the ambidextrous pitcher.

Around Baseball

I know its a little past a month in but I want to go around baseball a little with some thoughts and observations. How in the world do the Yankees have the worst team era in baseball, that can't last can it Break up the KC Royals as they are in first place led by Zach Greinke and his era under 1 with a 6-1 record. This is the same guy who had some mental issues a couple of years ago. The Mets are hot winning 7 in a row, with that pitching staff its pretty amazing. The Toronto Blue Jays are playing great in first place in the AL East but haven't played the Sox, Yanks or Rays yet. They are doing it with Halladay leading them but the rest of the staff is pretty much unknowns. The Dodgers sure are a different team without Manny, they were the best team in baseball and since he got suspended have gone 1-3. The Yankees are a different team without A-rod also, a losing one and a winning one with him. I look at the Rays this year and just don't think they have the pitching to make it back to the postseason but they have the leagues rbi leader in Evan Longoria with 44 and the sb leader in Carl Crawford who I believe had 24 going into tonight. The Angels don't look anything like they have looked over the past few years, but they are devestated by injuries. Big Papi, where is the power??? I wonder why he isn't driving it, is it really the wrist injury or is there another reason?? Matt Holliday doesn't look like the same player out of Colorado, he better pick it up if he thinks he is going to cash in as a free agent next year. How good is Johan Santana?? The Mets don't score any runs for him either.

Yanks win rubber match

The Yankees won the rubber match of the 3 game series with Baltimore thus winning the series 2 games to 1. They won today's game by a score of 5-3, once again Joba struggled in the first inning giving up a 3 run homerun to Aubrey Huff but was great after that throwing 5 more scoreless innings. Phil Coke came in to pitch the seventh and eighth giving up 0 runs and Mo slammed the door shut giving up a walk in the ninth but thats all. Johnny Damon was the star for the offense hitting a 3 run homerun to give them the lead that they didn't relinquish. Mark Teixeira had a solo homerun, A-rod a single. Francisco Cervelli had a infield hit and so did Derek Jeter setting up Johnny Damon's heroics. Robinson Cano had 2 hits and a rbi and Nick Swisher had a hit. The Yankees will now travel to Toronto for a 3 game set beginning Tuesday with A.J. Burnett vs Roy Halladay. They have tomorrow off which is good for them. Chien-Ming Wang will make a rehab start in Scranton on Tuesday scheduled to throw 100 pitches and if he does well could rejoin the team after that but we will see.

Mets looking for the sweep

The Mets will look for the sweep today with Livan Hernandez going against Ian Snell. The Mets are also looking for their seventh win in a row and they now sit in first place in the NL East. The game will be on WPIX ch 11 in NY, and here is the Mets lineup: Reyes(SS) Castillo(2B) Beltran(CF) Delgado(1B) Wright(3B) Murphy(LF) Santos(C) Church(RF) Hernandez(P) I haven't been doing this for the Mets and I plan on trying to do this everyday so for all you Mets fans I will do a better job with the Mets info. Ramon Castro strained his quad last night so we will see how long he will be out and for now Santos will have his chance.

Yanks at Orioles(Happy Mothers Day)

Today is Mothers day, Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there. Look for the Pink bats today in honor of Breast cancer awareness and research. Here are the pregame notes and lineup as always via Peter Abraham. The game is on at 1:35 on YES. The Yankees have lost 6 of 7 and are 5-10 in their last 15 games. The Yankees have a run differential of -23. There are only 5 teams in baseball that are worse and they are the Padres, Orioles, Nationals, Indians and Diamondbacks. The team with the best run differential is the Dodgers, they are +59. The Yankees are 4-11 against their own division, they are 2-12 when they commit an error. They are 2-6 in May. They have allowed 190 runs which is the most in baseball. They have scored 167 runs which is 5th most in baseball- I still think the hitting coach is terrible but they have games where they score a bunch which boosts their average but when it counts they don't score. They got killed yesterday but it was another example when with the bases loaded and 0 outs they were only able to manage 1 run. Johnny Damon is on fire going 11 for his last 21 with 7 extra base hits and 10 rbi's. Melky Cabrera has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games. Robinson Cano is 3 of his last 30, he has 1 rbi in his last 10 games. It would help if him Jeter and Tex started hitting a little as they are getting nothing out of these guys. Why is Angel Berroa on this team, he has played in 7 of 17 games with 12 ab's. Ramiro Pena will be the defensive replacement and if your looking for pop off the bench I think they have a few other guys in the minors that would be more useful but with the Yanks I don't get it just like the pitchers they sent back down and Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras are still around. Derek Jeter has 7 stolen bases, he only had 11 all of last season. Joba will pitch despite the burst blood vessel. Yankees Lineup Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Cervelli(C)