Monthly Archives: September 2012

On Thursday night, in his first start since Aug. 24, Lance Lynn became just what St. Louis was looking for: a stopper. The right-hander from Ole Miss went six innings, allowing five hits, two walks and one run, as the Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in a key National League series. St. Louis halted a three-game losing streak and moved 2 games ahead of L.A. in the chase for the second wild card. Lynn, making a spot start, improved to 15-7 and lowered his ERA to 3.95. He reportedly simplified his mechanics during his time in the bullpen and seemingly returned to his All-Star form on Thursday. Surely Lynn will get another starting opportunity down the stretch. P.S. There are rumors that Roy Oswalt’s sore arm might spell the end of the Weir product’s rocky season with Texas.

When Cliff Lee is on, he’s very good, about as good as any pitcher in MLB. And of late, the former Meridian Community College standout has been on. Lee — who owns 124 career wins and a Cy Young Award and has worked in two World Series — pitched a sterling seven innings on Wednesday night to beat Miami 3-1, helping Philadelphia win its seventh straight. Over his last six starts, Lee is 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA. For the year, he is 5-7, 3.36 with an amazing 14 no decisions, a reflection of the early season struggles the Phillies endured. But they’re not struggling anymore. At 72-71, the Phils are 3 games out of the second wild card spot. With Lee, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels at the front of their rotation and ex-Mississippi State star Jonathan Papelbon (34 saves) in the bullpen, this is not a team anyone wants to face in the postseason. Atlanta’s worst nightmare might be meeting Philly in the one-game wild card playoff. P.S. MSU product Paul Maholm finished with an ugly line in the Braves’ 8-2 loss to Milwaukee on Wednesday: 4 1/3 innings, 9 hits, 2 walks, 8 runs (6 earned). But it’s worth noting that he shut the Brewers out for four innings and if Chipper Jones makes a couple of plays at third base, the disastrous fifth could have turned out very different. Now the reeling Braves get Washington at Turner Field this weekend.

The spotlight in the National League East was claimed by Washington and Philadelphia on Tuesday night, much to Atlanta’s chagrin. Former Mississippi State star Tyler Moore hit a big home run for the relentless Nationals and ex-MSU standout Jonathan Papelbon nailed down another save for the surging Phillies. The Braves, seemingly back in an offensive funk, lost to Milwaukee 5-0 and fell 7½ games behind first-place Washington. Philly, meanwhile, climbed to 71-71 and is back in the NL wild card picture. The Phillies were 14 games under .500 on July 13. On Tuesday, Moore belted a two-run pinch homer off New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, giving the Nationals a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning of a game they would win 5-3. “I’ve failed so many times. … I’m just learning about situations in the game,” the humble Moore told mlb.com. The rookie has two pinch homers among his nine for the season and is batting .283. Papelbon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth on Tuesday to finish off a 9-7 win over Miami. He has 33 saves and five wins. But the ultra-competitive closer indicated his team hasn’t accomplished anything just by reaching .500. “Ain’t nobody here need an ego boost, you know?” he told mlb.com. P.S. Just for the record, former Delta State standout Eli Whiteside is back on San Francisco’s active roster as the first-place Giants’ No. 3 catcher. He has yet to get in a game this month.

Lance Berkman’s season is over; no immediate word on his career. The former Jackson Generals star will have a second knee surgery this year and won’t play again for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. He said he is “keeping my options open” about the future. Berkman, now 36, was a key player for the world champion Cardinals in 2011, but this season has been a virtual washout because of injuries: .263, two home runs, seven RBIs in 31 games. For his career, Berkman is hitting .296 with 360 homers and 1,200 RBIs. It’d be nice to see him end things on a better note. … Meanwhile, former Ole Miss ace Lance Lynn will get a spot start for the Cardinals, filling in for Jake Westbrook, on Thursday at Los Angeles. Lynn, who made the All-Star Game, was 13-5 as a starter but was clearly fading when pulled from the rotation after an Aug. 24 start that lasted just two innings. He has been hot and cold in six games out of the bullpen. For the season, he has a 4.04 ERA. St. Louis, chasing a playoff spot in the National League, is hoping for a strong effort from the big right-hander, who was a clutch performer in the 2011 postseason. P.S. D.J. Davis, the Toronto Blue Jays’ first-round pick and the first Mississippian drafted in 2012, helped Vancouver win the short-season Class A Northwest League pennant. Davis, from Stone County, went 3-for-5 with a run in Sunday’s clincher. He played at three levels this summer, batting .250 overall with five homers and 25 stolen bases.

In today’s rubber game of a three-game set between playoff contenders, Roy Oswalt will get another spot start for Texas at Tampa Bay. The former Holmes Community College standout has made two previous spot starts (four earned runs in 10 total innings) since being pulled from the Rangers’ rotation. Oswalt, 4-2 with a 5.85 ERA, is getting a shot today because former Mississippi Braves ace Matt Harrison was pushed back to Tuesday. Oswalt has made just one appearance since Aug. 23 for the first-place Rangers, who lead the American League West by 4½ games. Texas manager Ron Washington said he is hoping for five innings from Oswalt, who will be opposed by the Rays’ James Shields. P.S. Former M-Braves star Andrelton Simmons homered and scored twice on Saturday to help Class A Lynchburg win the opener of the 5-game Carolina League championship series. Simmons, out since early July with a broken finger, reportedly will rejoin the Atlanta club on Monday. … Former M-Braves outfielder Matt Esquivel had one of the two hits Roger Clemens allowed Friday night in his second “comeback” appearance with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League. Esquivel is hitting .300 for the Long Island Ducks.

Ben Hudspeth, who went 11-0 with a 1.82 ERA as a freshman for Itawamba Community College in 2012, has committed to Mississippi State, according to a release from ICC. Hudspeth, a first-team NJCAA All-American, would join the Bulldogs for the 2014 season. ICC reports that it has had at least one player sign with an SEC school for 11 straight years. Former Indians catcher Zack Randolph signed with MSU last fall and will be on the 2013 club. ICC, which went 39-13 in 2012, also sent two players to William Carey for the 2013 season: pitcher Landon Brister, who was 6-1 last season, and outfielder Jeremy Ferguson, a .325 hitter.

The imprint of former Mississippi Braves was all over Atlanta’s 11-3 victory against the New York Mets today at Citi Field. Martin Prado was 3-for-6 with two RBIs, and Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman contributed a hit apiece in Atlanta’s 17-hit attack, which also included an RBI double by pitcher Kris Medlen. The remarkable Medlen went six innings to improve to 8-1 (7-0, 0.81 as a starter), and Luis Avilan and Cory Gearrin closed it down after a lengthy rain delay. Gearrin, doing a Craig Kimbrel impersonation, struck out the side in the ninth. Of course, the boldest mark left on this game was the work of Brian McCann, who went 4-for-5 with three runs and four RBIs. And he hit his first home run since July 31. It came in the fifth inning against Hattiesburg native Robert Carson, a gas-throwing left-hander. Maybe McCann has broken out of his weeks-long funk. The Braves need his bat.

Every game is big now in the big leagues. Contending teams are counting on clutch performances, such as the one Paul Maholm delivered for Atlanta on Friday night. The former Mississippi State standout threw 5 1/3 shutout innings — why oh why was he pulled? — to propel the Braves to a 3-0 win over the New York Mets, Atlanta’s third straight shutout. News flash: The Braves actually gained a game on Washington in the National League East, now sitting 6 ½ back. Maholm is 3-3 with a 3.48 ERA in seven starts for the Braves. That’s clutch. … Ole Miss product Seth Smith went 2-for-5 on Friday to help Oakland beat Seattle (and the great Felix Hernandez), halting a three-game skid. The A’s are still in the hunt in the American League West, 4 1/2 games behind Texas. Smith is 6-for-16 in September. Clutch. … Desmond Jennings, the former Itawamba Community College star, is hitting .300 with eight runs scored in his last 10 games for Tampa Bay, which is lurking just 2 games off the pace in the AL East. … The Chicago White Sox are clinging to a 1-game edge in the AL Central, and Jackson native Donnie Veal has played an unsung role. The lefty reliever has put up a 1.08 ERA in 12 appearances. … Northwest Rankin, Meridian CC and MSU alumnus Tyler Moore hasn’t gotten a lot of playing time for the first-place Nationals of late. The right-handed hitting slugger is 4-for-20 since Aug. 13. … Former Bulldogs star Mitch Moreland is batting just .200 over his last 10 games for Texas. … Since being moved to the bullpen in St. Louis, Ole Miss product Lance Lynn is 0-2 and has yielded five runs in six innings over five appearances. He took the loss Friday after giving up a 13th-inning homer to Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun. The Cardinals are 8 ½ games back of Cincinnati in the NL Central. … The Reds have been without ex-UM star Zack Cozart, their regular shortstop, since Sept. 3 because of a lingering back problem.

With two hits off Ole Miss alumnus Drew Pomeranz on Tuesday night, Atlanta’s Chipper Jones caught and moved ahead of Mississippi native Dave Parker on baseball’s all-time hits list. The retired Parker, from Calhoun City (or Jackson or Grenada), had 2,712 hits and is the highest ranking Mississippian on the list, now No. 62 behind Jones. … Pomeranz, a former first-round pick (by Cleveland) having a difficult season, lasted just three innings against Atlanta, handcuffed by Colorado’s curious 75-pitch limit. He did not allow a run, but the Braves made the tall left-hander work, touching him for five hits and a walk. Pomeranz, who seems to have lost velocity on his fastball, lowered his ERA to 4.93, but he is saddled with an ugly 1-8 record. Colorado, using three relievers, beat the Braves 6-0. P.S. Itawamba Community College product Desmond Jennings hit his 12th homer, stole his 25th base and scored twice as Tampa Bay beat New York (and former Jackson General Freddy Garcia) 5-2 and tightened the American League East race. The Yankees are now tied with Baltimore, and the Rays are 1½ games behind. … The well-traveled Fred Lewis is back in the big leagues with the New York Mets. The former Stone County and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC star hit .294 with 13 homers and 25 steals at Triple-A Buffalo.

There was a testy moment in Monday’s Texas-Kansas City game, ignited by a pitch thrown by Royals right-hander Louis Coleman. The former Pillow Academy standout from Schlater plunked the Rangers’ Nelson Cruz in the ninth inning. Cruz, who had earlier blasted one of four Texas homers off KC starter Bruce Chen, didn’t like it. Both benches emptied, but order was rather quickly restored with no ejections. Then Michael Young took Coleman deep to cap Texas’ 8-4 victory. Coleman has allowed nine homers in 43 innings this season, his second in the majors. He had a very good rookie season, posting a 2.87 ERA in 59 2/3 innings, but hasn’t been as effective in 2012, with a 4.19. Truth is, it’s been a rocky year all the way around for former Jackson Met Ned Yost’s Royals (60-74). Wonder if he’ll weather the storm. P.S. Andrelton Simmons went 1-for-3 in his one-game rehab stint with the Mississippi Braves, who lost their season finale on Monday at Mobile. Simmons is expected to make a stop at Class A Rome before returning to Atlanta. … Good to see former M-Braves star Martin Prado back at second base — his best position — as a replacement for the benched Dan Uggla.