After watching the Padres defeat Houston at Petco on Thursday afternoon (thanks to reader Lance for hooking us up with tickets), Mrs. Ducksnorts and I drove to Lake Elsinore to see the Storm’s opener for 2008. Before the game, the Storm retired Jake Peavy’s number 22.
Peavy was presented with a key to the city; had April 3, 2008, proclaimed Jake Peavy day; and got to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Future Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman offered video congratulations, as did Darren Balsley and Craig Colbert, both of whom worked with Peavy at Elsinore and work with him now in San Diego.
Oh yeah, and everyone wore number 22:
Other notes from the game will come a little further down…
Triple-A
Portland 8, Fresno 4
Matt Antonelli: 2-for-4, 3B, SB, E
Chase Headley (LF): 1-for-3, BB
Nick Hundley: 1-for-4, HR
Will Venable (CF): 1-for-4
Josh Geer: 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO (80 pitches)
Jared Wells: 1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 1 SO
More coverage at Clark County Columbian.
Double-A
Northwest Arkansas 6, San Antonio 4
Chad Huffman: 1-for-4, BB
Craig Cooper (RF): 2-for-5
Kyle Blanks (1B): 1-for-3, BB
More coverage at San Antonio Express-News.
High-A
Rancho Cucamonga 9, Lake Elsinore 4
Cedric Hunter: 1-for-3, 2 BB
Jim Edmonds (rehab): 0-for-3
Mitch Canham: 2-for-4, BB
Hunter’s single was a soft liner over shortstop and came after he’d fouled off two 0-2 pitches. His walk came with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat.
Edmonds struck out looking in his first at-bat (on a questionable call), and then hit rainmakers his other two times up. We left after the fifth inning, and I’m not sure how long Edmonds remained in the game, but he didn’t record any putouts while we were there. He did make a nice off-balance throw on a single to left-center, almost nailing a runner at third base.
Canham’s singles couldn’t have been any more different. His first was a screaming liner off the right field wall. His second was a dying quail that handcuffed the second baseman.
Low-A
Fort Wayne 7, Lansing 1
Luis Durango: 1-for-4, BB
Andrew Cumberland: 2-for-5, E
Yefri Carvajal: 1-for-4
Justin Baum: 1-for-3, 2B, BB
Bradley Chalk: 1-for 3, BB
Felix Carrasco (1B): 1-for-3, 2B, BB
Jeremy Hefner: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 5 SO
More coverage at OurSportsCentral.
GY … can you define 3 terms for me?
Ducksnort
Rainmaker
Dying Quail
If a rainmaker falls for a hit, does it become a ducksnort? Or is that, by definition, impossible (ie. a rainmaker is such a batted ball that it’s sure to be an out or an error, not a hit)?
A dying quail and a ducksnort seem very similar … and despite their names, neither are fowl^H^Hul balls …
Nice to see that Jake got dressed up for this affair. You can take the boy out of Alabama…..
Baseball America is having what they call an All-Day Chat about the minor leagues today. It doesn’t appear to be subscriber-only:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/chat.php?id=2008040401
1. Does the Ducksnort have more of a hook component than the dying quail?
1. I think a ducksnort is a bloop over the infielders expected to fall for a hit… and a dying quail is ore of pop up that could have been caught but falls for a hit.
…and a can of corn is a blooper that is caught.
A rainmaker, LM, is entirely different. It’s a HIGH pop-up, like the ones Dave Kingman used to hit.
OT, but the High Desert Mavericks (bitter rival of the LE Storm) won in the bottom of the 9th last night with a walk-off single. Pretty fun time to be working a ball game.
Has anyone ever heard of David Asher? He struck out the side last nite for the Mavericks. He’s basically a lefty version of Cla Meredith, but seems to have a greater willingness to throw inside and he throws hard. He’s got a great sinker/slider (or change) combo.
agree on rainmaker … was just checking …
the difference between a rainmaker and a can of corn seems like it could be subtle … a can of corn is a lazy/routine fly ball to the OF … so perhaps just not as high as a rainmaker … ok …
hmmm, perhaps i’m not sure what a blooper is … but there’s a lot of what you say/write that i’m not sure of, lance … i think a ducksnort is a blooper that falls for a hit … a blooper would be a tough ball for any player to catch, but they often do, but when they do, it makes a highlight reel … but a can of corn is totally routine …
5: I always thought can of corn was an easy pop fly, one the outfielder barely had to move for. A blooper would seem to imply that the outfielder would have to charge it.
Man, how much better has our minor league system gotten in a few years? Portland is absolutely stacked right now with most of the members of the Texas-league winning team, and I’m a big fan of Canham, Durango and Cumberland at the lower levels.
8 … yup, me too …
9 … yup, me too … ‘cept that Durango sure seems to have the odds stacked against him … meaning he looks to me (yes, I’ve seen him play @ Eugene a couple of times) like a player that gets good results in the (very) low minors with skills that will not translate to the upper minor, let alone MLB … he’s not as fast as freddy guzman, for example, and even freddy has struggled to translate his skills into MLB performance …
9: I like Cumberland and Canham a lot. My concern with Cumberland is stolen from Carlos Gomez; there was a recent story that said his swing is downward, as if he’s been taught to hit it on the ground. Gomez seems to think he’s got enough power to do more than that.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/breaking-down-the-draft-10-more-prospects/