Monthly Archives: August 2014

20 Aug

say it ain’t so

The 40th anniversary of the first game at Smith-Wills Stadium comes next April. What a shame it would be if the Jackson ballpark is no longer standing at that time. Reports are out there that the old yard may be demolished. To make way for a Costco. A Costco on Cool Papa Bell Drive? Squeezed in between the Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and the Murrah High baseball field? Smith-Wills still serves a purpose. Not only does Belhaven University play there, but in recent years so have junior colleges, high schools, youth teams and semi-pro squads. Heck, maybe Biloxi’s homeless Southern League team could move in there next season. Smith-Wills has an unappreciated history. It has been nine years since the last pro game was played there and 15 since the final Texas League game. People forget. They should be reminded. This was a place where stars came out, from Lee Mazzilli to Selwyn Langaigne. Darryl Strawberry called it home, and Mookie Wilson and Jeff Reardon and Lenny Dykstra and Gregg Jefferies. And Billy Wagner and Bobby Abreu and Lance Berkman. Fernando Valenzuela made a visit there, and Pedro Martinez and Mark McGwire and Roberto Alomar and Johnny Damon. The list goes on. Will Clark and a host of other Mississippi State and Ole Miss stars played there, too, in the old Mayor’s Trophy Game. Max Patkin and the San Diego Chicken performed there. And the Silver Bullets and The King and His Court and two U.S. Olympic squads. Six pro teams won league pennants while playing there. These things should not be forgotten; they should be celebrated. They want to take this tradition and put up a wholesale store? Carole King ought to write a song.

19 Aug

ouch

The Mississippi Braves’ hopes for a second-half championship took a blow on Monday when Jose Peraza was placed on the disabled list with a groin injury. The 20-year-old second baseman is the team’s best player, batting .341 with 25 steals since his mid-June promotion. He played in the MLB All-Star Futures Game and was the Southern League player of the month for July. The second-place M-Braves (33-24) are battling Jacksonville (34-23) and Mobile (33-22) for the SL South second-half title; the BayBears won the first half, so the wild card could also come into play for the second postseason berth. The M-Braves, currently at Mobile, have 13 games left, only five of those at home (starting Friday) and none with Jacksonville. If Peraza, who hasn’t played since Aug. 14, is shut down for the rest of the season, the M-Braves’ task will be that much tougher. P.S. Kudos to ex-Meridian Community College star Corey Dickerson for winning National League player of the week honors. Dickerson, with Colorado, batted .393 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in seven games last week. For the year, he is at .326 with 17 homers and 57 RBIs.

18 Aug

the heat is on

Billy Hamilton shook out of a slump on Sunday, going 5-for-9 with four runs and a stolen base (No. 45) for Cincinnati in a doubleheader against Colorado. However, the Reds lost both games — the first in particularly gut-wrenching fashion — and fell to 61-63 on the season. They are in real danger of missing the postseason for the first time in three years. The games are getting more important now for teams with playoff hopes, and there will be a lot of scrutiny on individual performances under this pressure. Taylorsville High product Hamilton gave the Reds a kick last September in a bit role; he hit .368, swiped 13 bags and scored nine runs in 13 games. This year is very different. Hamilton, while still a rookie, is the everyday leadoff man for an offense that has sputtered, especially since the All-Star break. He entered Sunday’s play batting just .190 with three runs and one bag in his last 10 games. His big day lifted his average to .271 and he now has 64 runs in 118 games. But it went for naught as the Reds’ pitching let them down, allowing 20 runs to the last-place Rockies at Coors Field. Ole Miss alumnus Zack Cozart, who has been swinging the bat better of late, was just 1-for-7 on the day for the Reds and is at .226 on the season. From the other dugout, where there is no playoff pressure, McComb native Corey Dickerson went 4-for-9 with a homer (No. 17), five RBIs and three runs in the two games.

17 Aug

eye on …

Interested to see if Phil Gosselin is in the Atlanta lineup tonight. The former Mississippi Braves standout is 4-for-8 with a home run (first career), two RBIs and three runs in the first two games of the huge Oakland series. But you never know with Fredi Gonzalez. (Why does B.J. Upton continue to play? Why does Jason Heyward bat leadoff? Why is Mike Minor still in the rotation?) Gosselin, who can play just about anywhere, could supply a spark the Braves sorely need. The 25-year-old former Virginia star (who famously homered off Stephen Strasburg in the NCAAs) earned his ticket to Atlanta this season with his showing at Triple-A Gwinnett (.344, five homers, 31 RBIs, 29 doubles). Gosselin might aptly be called a late bloomer. He didn’t have a great season in his first Double-A campaign in 2012. As the M-Braves’ regular second baseman, he batted just .242 with three homers and 46 RBIs in 128 games. He came back to Pearl for the start of the 2013 season but was displaced at second by Tommy La Stella. Gosselin played some third base and outfield and hit .243 with one homer and 23 RBIs in 59 games before he was summoned to Gwinnett in late summer to fill a roster need. Gosselin responded by hitting .266 (with a pair of homers) while playing six different positions for the G-Braves. His offense erupted his year, and Atlanta finally created a roster spot for him. Now if Gonzalez will just keep running him out there … . P.S. Jordan Schafer is batting .321 with six steals in six attempts since Minnesota picked him up on waivers from Atlanta. The former M-Braves outfielder rarely got to play other than pinch-running duty this season with the Braves but has been given more opportunities by the Twins.

14 Aug

leader of the pack

Which member of the Mississippi Braves’ current rotation has the best ERA? It’s not highly rated prospect Jason Hursh, All-Star Williams Perez or the unbeaten Mitch Atkins. It’s Greg Ross. Remember the name. He threw 6 2/3 shutout innings at Montgomery on Wednesday night to reduce his ERA to 2.12, the only sub-3.00 ERA among the five starters. Ross, a right-hander in his fourth pro season, was promoted to Double-A in late June — he was 5-3, 3.50 at Class A Lynchburg — and has been lights out. He is now 6-2 in 10 games (nine starts) with 33 strikeouts and just 14 walks in 59 1/3 innings. He tossed a nine-inning shutout in his second game with the M-Braves back on June 30. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Maryland native was an 18th-round pick by Atlanta in 2011 out of Frostburg (Md.) State, where he was an NCAA Division III All-America selection. He went 11-2 with a 1.49 ERA and a school-record 112 K’s in 90 2/3 innings that final season at Frostburg. He now has a 35-24 pro record. Ross’ efforts on Wednesday at Trustmark Park led the M-Braves to a 2-0 win and kept them in the heat of a three-team battle for the second-half title in the Southern League South. Mississippi is 31-21, a half-game back of first-place Mobile. Perez (4-6, 3.27) starts tonight in Game 3 of the series.

13 Aug

rising above it

While the Colorado Rockies are sinking like a stone in the standings, Corey Dickerson’s star continues to rise. The Meridian Community College alum from McComb extended his hitting streak to seven games in the Rockies’ 4-1 loss at San Diego on Tuesday. (Colorado is an MLB-worst 46-73.) Dickerson, who homered for the third straight game, is 12-for-28 (.429) with the three bombs, 10 RBIs and seven runs during his hit streak, which began with a 4-for-4 effort on Aug. 6. His season numbers are outstanding: .321, 16 homers, 50 RBIs, 51 runs, 19 doubles and four triples. That’s 101 runs accounted for in 94 games. Yes, Coors Field is a hitter’s dream, but Dickerson’s road numbers are also good: .271, eight homers, 20 RBIs. The 25-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder has emerged as a leading candidate for allmississippibaseball’s Cool Papa Bell Award. P.S. There was nothing lucky about T.J. House’s 13th big league appearance. The former Picayune High star threw three shutout innings for Cleveland against Arizona on Tuesday before the game was washed out. The rookie left-hander, who can’t seem to catch a break, is 1-3 with a 4.13 ERA in 12 games, 11 starts.

12 Aug

whatever happened to …

Stewart Cliburn, the former Delta State standout and ex-big league reliever, is now in his 13th season — sixth straight — as the pitching coach at New Britain, Minnesota’s Double-A affiliate. He also did a stint in Triple-A. Cliburn, drafted in the fourth round in 1977 by Pittsburgh, toiled in the minors for seven years before getting to the majors with the California Angels in 1984. In ’85, he had a truly great year: 9-3, six saves and a 2.09 ERA in 44 games (99 innings), all out of the bullpen. Arm problems derailed his career thereafter, and he was done as a player by 1990. For his MLB career, Jackson native and Forest Hill High alum Cliburn posted a 3.11 ERA in 85 games. Twin brother Stan, a catcher, also played in the big leagues and was in the Angels’ system for a time. But the two never realized their childhood dream of being battery mates in The Show. P.S. Among his other talents, McComb native Jarrod Dyson (see previous post) also does a pretty nice backflip. Check the highlights of Kansas City’s win on Monday. … Ole Miss product Alex Presley, on the disabled list (oblique) since July 8, is slated to start a rehab assignment today and could be back with Houston soon. Presley, in his first season with the Astros, is batting .252 with five homers and 13 RBIs.

11 Aug

it takes a thief

The stolen base has been a big weapon for streaking Kansas City, and the Royals’ master thief is Jarrod Dyson, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College star. The Royals, who have climbed to within a half game of Detroit in the American League Central, lead the league with 101 steals. Dyson, an outfielder who doesn’t even play everyday, leads the team with 26 bags. He got three of the team’s seven in Sunday’s 7-4 win over San Francisco that was KC’s seventh straight. “That’s what we do,” Dyson told the Kansas City Star. “We abuse everybody.” The 5-foot-9 McComb native does a lot of little things for the Royals. One day he’ll start in center, the next he might pinch run, the day after that he’ll get in late for defensive purposes. He has been swinging the bat well, hitting .412 over his last 10 games. In 192 at-bats over 85 games overall, Dyson is batting .286 with 16 RBIs and 22 runs. He has made 175 putouts (he had 10 on Sunday) with three assists and three errors in 76 games in the outfield. And on the bases, he has only been caught stealing four times in his 30 attempts. (By comparison, Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton has been nailed 18 times in 61 tries for Cincinnati.) Dyson has been in the big leagues for most of the last five years, batting .259 with 110 bags. KC got him as a 50th-round pick. At this point, that looks like another steal.

08 Aug

slammed

For most of this season, Tony Sipp has been quietly efficient for a team that doesn’t capture a lot of headlines. Former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star Sipp, a situational lefty for the lowly Houston Astros, had allowed just one earned run in 12 previous appearances when he was called on Thursday to face Philadelphia. It was the eighth inning, there were two runners on with one out, and the Astros led 5-2. Sipp allowed a single that loaded the bases but then got the second out. Up came Ryan Howard, Philly’s massive left-handed slugger. Sipp had held lefties to a .120 batting average and just one homer to that point of this season. Then Howard, on a 3-2 pitch, hit one out of Citizens Bank Park – a stadium-shaking grand slam that propelled the Phillies to a 6-5 win. Sipp jumped and punched the air in frustration as the ball left the yard. He was on all the highlight shows, the center of attention for all the wrong reasons. He was pulled from the game, left to mull that one pitch until his next opportunity comes. Overall, Sipp has a 2.91 ERA in 38 games in his first season with the Astros following stints in Cleveland and Arizona. Still, despite all his good work, that one pitch on Thursday is what got noticed. It’s the nature of the role, a role that’s not easy to play.

07 Aug

number crunching

18 — Stolen bases by Brian Dozier. The Southern Miss product got No. 18 on Wednesday against San Diego and, with 19 home runs, is fast approaching a 20-20 season.
12 — Home runs for Seth Smith. The ex-Ole Miss star belted his 12th, a 10th-inning game-winner for San Diego, against Minnesota.
12 — Number of Mississippi-connected players currently in the big leagues. A total of 24 have appeared in MLB games this season; four are on the disabled list, one (Joey Butler) is in Japan and the others are in the minors.
10 — Starts for T.J. House. The rookie left-hander out of Picayune High will make No. 11 today for Cleveland against Cincinnati. He has a respectable 4.09 ERA but just a 1-2 record.
4 — Hits by Corey Dickerson. The Meridian Community College alumnus, now batting .320, came up a home run shy of the cycle for Colorado against the Chicago Cubs.
3 — Hits by Chris Coghlan. The former Ole Miss standout, now batting .302, also came up a homer shy of the cycle for the Chicago Cubs against Colorado.
3 — Home runs for Zack Cozart. The UM product hit his third for Cincinnati against Cleveland. He hit 12 homers in 2013.
1 — Errors by Seth Smith. The Jackson native, who flips between left and right field for San Diego, committed his first of the year against Minnesota.