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Memphis won 15-7 against the Albuquerque Isotopes. Brendan Ryan went 3 for 6 with a double and a triple. John Rodriguez was 1 for 3 with 2 walks. Rick Ankiel went 4 for 5 with a homerun. Box Log

Springfield won 4-3 against the Arkansas Travelers after scoring 2 runs in the top of the ninth and then barely escaping a rally by the Travelers in the bottom of the ninth. The win pulled them a game above .500 and into a tie with Tulsa for first place. Mitch Boggs gave up an unearned run in 7 innings with 6 strikeouts. Jason Motte pitched 1 and two thirds scoreless innings, but he had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, and the final out came when Joe Mather threw out a runner at home attempting to score on a sac fly. Sean Danielson was 2 for 5 and drove in the winning runs in the top of the ninth. Bryan Anderson was 1 for 3 and the hit was a key part of the ninth inning ralley. Mike Ferris was 3 for 4 and has been on a hot streak lately. I’d like to think that he’s finally developing into the hitter he was supposed to be, but more likely it’s just a brief hot streak. Box Log

Palm Beach lost 7-4 to the Brevard County Manatees in 10 innings. Adam Ottavino gave up 4 runs (3 earned) over 7 innings with 4 strikeouts. Kyle McClellan pitched 2 scoreless innings. I would have guessed that he was going to be moved into the rotation to replace Gary Daley, but the Cardinals apparently want him to remain in the bullpen. The team had tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, but Luke Gregerson had a very rare bad outing and gave up 3 runs in a third of an inning in the tenth to take the loss. Box Log

Quad Cities won 2-0 against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Tyler Herron pitched 6 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts. Costarter Brad Furnish finished the game with 3 scoreless innings and 4 strikeouts. Daryl Jones went 3 for 4 with 2 stolen bases. Box Log

Mike Ferris 8 for his last 17 not to see him coming around, finally.

Actually, Mike Ferris is only hitting .238 in his last 10 games. It's better than his .200 batting average on the year, but I wouldn't say he's "hot". He only has 5 hits in his last 21 at-bats, and only 3 extra-base hits.

The Memphis radio team said the Ankiel homer went ~450 feet.

Ankiel and Pujols are having quite a home run battle. And Rodriguez continues to reach base at a good clip.

How has Mather's defense been in right field? What are the odds that he'll become an above average (offensively speaking) right fielder at the major league level? No chance? Possible but doubtful? 50/50? Very good chance?

Somebody put Rick Ankiel out because the man is on fire!

Ankiel's hitting as well against lefties as he is righties.

C2k7 wrote:How has Mather's defense been in right field? What are the odds that he'll become an above average (offensively speaking) right fielder at the major league level? No chance? Possible but doubtful? 50/50? Very good chance?

I think fewgoodcards has spoken highly of Mather's defense in the past. I'm not sure how to assess his chances of being an impact outfielder, but I'd imagine the projection systems don't rate him highly since this is the first year he has really broken out. Personally, I'm not going to allow myself to have any expectations for him unless he continues to perform at this level for an entire year (and ideally gets at least some time at AAA).

Socnorb11 wrote:Actually, Mike Ferris is only hitting .238 in his last 10 games. It's better than his .200 batting average on the year, but I wouldn't say he's "hot". He only has 5 hits in his last 21 at-bats, and only 3 extra-base hits.

Look at June 6 through June 10 and he is 8 for 17, with 2 doubles and a homerun.
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... pid=448283

New Pagodi wrote:

C2k7 wrote:How has Mather's defense been in right field? What are the odds that he'll become an above average (offensively speaking) right fielder at the major league level? No chance? Possible but doubtful? 50/50? Very good chance?

I think fewgoodcards has spoken highly of Mather's defense in the past. I'm not sure how to assess his chances of being an impact outfielder, but I'd imagine the projection systems don't rate him highly since this is the first year he has really broken out. Personally, I'm not going to allow myself to have any expectations for him unless he continues to perform at this level for an entire year (and ideally gets at least some time at AAA).

I agree that it's hard to tell, but I think a few things might be working in his favor:

He turns 25 in July. This is an age where a lot of guys start to mature physically. He's a big boy now, and it's showing up in his power #'s

He never hit above .275 prior to this year. Now he's at .311. But his BABIP is lower than it has been in 3 of 4 previous seasons.

His K rate continues to decline while his BB rate has increased. That's a very good sign for a power hitter.


I have a good feeling about this guy's offensive potential. I know nothing about his defensive skills. Maybe we'll see him in September!