Monthly Archives: July 2015

12 Jul

on a good track

While the Texas Rangers’ season might be in danger of running off the rails, Mitch Moreland remains on track for the best year of his career. The Mississippi State product from Amory hit two homers on Saturday, running his season total to 16. He has had three two-homer games in the last 13 days. He is batting .289, 32 points above his career average. He has 46 RBIs, 14 shy of his career-high from 2013, when he hit 23 homers. This is good timing for Moreland, 24, in his sixth MLB season. He is eligible for salary arbitration next year. Moreland’s bombs on Saturday couldn’t lift the host Rangers past San Diego, which won 6-5. Texas has lost 14 of 19 to fall to 42-45, third place and 5.5 games off the pace in the American League West. P.S. Nice moment at Target Field in Minnesota on Saturday when it was announced between innings that Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier would be going to the All-Star Game as a replacement for the injured Jose Bautista of Toronto. Dozier, who got a much-deserved standing O, will be USM’s first All-Star representative since Jim Davenport in 1962. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton swiped two bases on Saturday – including third base on a throw from the catcher back to the pitcher — to push his MLB-leading total to 44. But his Cincinnati team got pounded by Miami 14-3 and fell to 39-46 in what has been a lost season for the All-Star Game host.

11 Jul

he’s the man

Forget the All-Star Game “snub.” There may be something bigger and better in Brian Dozier’s future. How ’bout an American League MVP award? If he keeps doing stuff like he did on Friday night, such a thing is well within the realm of possibility for the former Southern Miss standout. Dozier hit a three-run, game-winning homer for Minnesota, capping a seven-run ninth inning that took down Detroit 8-6. The Twins, who haven’t sniffed a winning season since 2010, are 47-40 and very much in the AL postseason picture as the season approaches the All-Star break. Dozier, who packs a lot of wallop in a 5-foot-11, 190-pound (maybe) frame, is the primary reason for this resurgence. Friday’s homer, his second walk-off of the week, was his 19th of the season. (He hit 23 all of last year.) He leads the league in runs and the team in RBIs with a combined total of 115 in 86 games. That’s MVP stuff. And he plays a good second base, too. It would have been great to see Dozier in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. But what happens in baseball in July pales in comparison to what happens in October. No doubt that’s where Dozier’s sights are set.

10 Jul

news and notes

Even a social media boost from fellow Southern Miss alum Brett Favre couldn’t propel Brian Dozier into the MLB All-Star Game. The American League Final Vote winner was Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas, MLB announced a short time ago. Minnesota’s Dozier, second in the Final Vote among fans, fell short despite being tied for the AL lead in runs (65) and topping AL second basemen in homers (18) and RBIs (45). Jose Altuve of Houston was voted in as the starter at second base by the fans, and Cleveland’s Jason Kipnis was selected as a reserve on Monday. … Jim Davenport is the only USM product to make an MLB All-Star team. He did so in 1962 when he was with the San Francisco Giants, going 1-for-1 as a sub at third base in the first of the two games played that year. … Ex-Ole Miss pitcher Aaron Barrett has been activated from the disabled list by Washington (see previous post) and will be in the Nationals’ bullpen for tonight’s game at Baltimore. … Belhaven University officially began its membership in the American Southwest Conference on July 1 and will begin transition to NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) status on Sept. 1, according to a school release. The ASC, of which Mississippi College used to be a member, is comprised mostly of Texas schools, including UT-Tyler, UT-Dallas, Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons. The Blazers, previously an NAIA member, played baseball in the Southern States Athletic Conference from 2010-15 and in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference for many years before that. Hopefully, the Blazers will continue their long-standing rivalry with William Carey, still an NAIA member. BU’s 2016 schedule hasn’t been posted. … The Laurel Black Cats semi-pro team will host the Magnolia State Tournament on Saturday and Sunday at Boston Park in Laurel. The Black Cats are 16-3 against a schedule that includes teams from Meridian, Jackson, Tougaloo, Perry County and the Gulf Coast. The Black Cats, owned and managed by Jody P. Babineaux, are carrying on the tradition of the independent Negro Leagues team of the same name that barnstormed the South beginning in the 1930s. … The Hattiesburg Black Sox, one of the state’s iconic semi-pro clubs, did not field a team this year for the first time since 1941.

10 Jul

the hot spot

On a night when the Yankees are at Fenway, the White Sox and Cubs are clashing at Wrigley and the Nats and O’s are dueling at Camden Yards, the best place to be might be PNC Park in Pittsburgh. That’s where former Ole Miss star Lance Lynn and his St. Louis teammates will meet the Pirates in a matchup of the two best teams in the National League. The pitching matchup is a dandy. Lynn, 6-4 with a 2.53 ERA, will be opposed by Pirates ace Gerrit Cole, 12-3, 2.28. The Cardinals won the opener of the four-game series 4-1 on Thursday night, snapping the Pirates’ four-game win streak and extending their lead in the National League Central to 5½ games. Lynn faced the Bucs in St. Louis on May 1, striking out 10 in seven innings in a game won by the Cards 2-1 in 10. Lynn has fared well against Andrew McCutchen (.132) and Pedro Alvarez (.182), not so well against Starling Marte (.381) and Neil Walker (.294, two homers, eight RBIs). Envy Jackson’s Chris Maloney, who, as the Cardinals’ first-base coach, will have a great view of what ought to be a great game. P.S. UM product Aaron Barrett, on the disabled list for Washington, has made three rehab appearances in Class A ball, working three innings with no earned runs allowed. Barrett has a 5.06 ERA in 30 games for the Nationals. … Former Picayune High star T.J. House remains on the DL in the minors for Cleveland. The left-hander last pitched on June 5. He was sent down by the Indians after going 0-4, 13.15 in four starts; he is 0-2, 3.86 in four games for Triple-A Columbus. … Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee reportedly will start throwing later this month, though his return to Philadelphia still appears iffy. The veteran lefty hasn’t pitched at all this season and made just 13 starts last year because of elbow problems.

09 Jul

thermometer, please

Taking a temperature reading of various Mississippians in the minors, we find no one hotter at the moment than rookie pro LaDarious Clark. The East Mississippi Community College product from Meridian went 4-for-5 (with two homers) on Wednesday to boost his average to .436 in short-season A-ball for Texas. Also hot: Adam Frazier (Mississippi State) is hitting .488 over his last 10 games and .382 for the year in Double-A with Pittsburgh. … Anthony Alford (Petal High) is hitting .364 in 12 games at the high Class A level for Toronto. … Kalik May (Mississippi Valley State) has nine hits in his last four games to spike his average to .352 for Toronto’s rookie Gulf Coast League club. … Cody Reed (Northwest Mississippi CC) has a 2.25 ERA over 12 innings in his first two Double-A starts for Kansas City. … Chris Stratton (State) took a loss on Wednesday but has a 2.23 ERA in seven Triple-A starts for San Francisco. … Austin Riley (DeSoto Central High), the top pick from the state in last month’s draft, is hitting just .182 overall but is at .304 in July for Atlanta’s rookie GCL club. Not so hot: Ferriss Trophy winner James McMahon (Southern Miss) has an 11.81 ERA in three starts in rookie ball for Colorado. … Bobby Bradley (Harrison Central High) is in a 5-for-40 slump that has dropped his average to .245 (with 13 homers) in low Class A ball for Cleveland. … Blake Anderson (West Lauderdale High), the first Mississippian drafted in 2014, has seen his average slide to .250 from .321 on June 29 with Miami’s short-season A team. … Sikes Orvis (Ole Miss) is hitting .190 with no homers at the rookie level in the Chicago White Sox system. … Silento Sayles (Port Gibson High), the prep stolen base king, is batting .156 with one steal in short-season A-ball with Cleveland. … Ed Easley (State) has scuffled since St. Louis shipped him back to Triple-A Memphis in mid-June; his average has dipped from .295 to .257. P.S. Riley and Jason Barber of Oxford High have been named to the MaxPreps High School All-America team. Both were two-way stars on state championship teams. Barber, a junior in 2015, was the state’s Gatorade player of the year.

09 Jul

the energizer

When All-Star left fielder Alex Gordon went down, Kansas City needed a lift. Enter Jarrod Dyson. Dyson, the ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College standout, replaced the injured Gordon, threw out a runner at the plate, hit an inside-the-park home run and helped the Royals beat Tampa Bay 9-7 on Wednesday night. “He brings energy, is what he brings,” KC manager Ned Yost told the Kansas City Star, referring to the speedy Dyson, whose twitter handle is @mrzoombiya. Dyson’s playing time has been limited this season – 42 games, 99 at-bats – but with Gordon expected to miss a significant amount of time with a groin injury, Dyson likely will get more opportunities for the first-place Royals. He is batting .273 (.321 on-base percentage) with 16 runs and 10 steals. His homer Wednesday was his first of the season and first inside-the-parker of his career. P.S. Matt Harrison got knocked around (six runs in four innings vs. Arizona) but just getting back on the mound for Texas on Wednesday was a victory for the former Mississippi Braves left-hander. Harrison is trying to come back from spinal fusion surgery. His last MLB start had come on May 13 of 2014. Injuries have limited the former 18-game winner to seven appearances the last three seasons. Harrison went 8-11 with an ERA around 3.50 for the M-Braves in 2006-07, when he was one of Atlanta’s top-rated prospects. He went to Texas in the Mark Teixeira trade.

08 Jul

ebb and flow

First, the good news. The Mississippi Braves’ slumbering bats suddenly perked up on Tuesday night, when they scored a season-high nine runs to beat Jackson (Tenn.) at Trustmark Park. Now, the bad news. Staff ace Tyrell Jenkins was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett. Jenkins, 5-5 with a 3.00 ERA, deserved to go (just as the team’s best hitter, Mallex Smith, deserved to go at the end of the first half). But the M-Braves’ chances of winning a second-half title took another blow. Perhaps Steve Janas, a 6-foot-6, 198-pound right-hander promoted last week from Class A Carolina, can help soften this latest one. Janas, who starts tonight against the Generals, was dominating the Carolina League at 5-0 with a 0.49 ERA. The former Kennesaw (Ga.) State star threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his Double-A debut at Biloxi on July 3. That extended a scoreless streak he carried over from Carolina to 28 2/3 innings. The M-Braves are threatening the Southern League record for lowest slugging percentage in a season, but as they demonstrated in Tuesday’s 9-1 victory, small ball can work, especially at the spacious TeePee. Of their 13 hits, 12 were singles. All eight hits in their six-run sixth inning were singles. Every player in the lineup had at least one hit, another good sign for a team that needs some. At 6-6, the M-Braves are just a game out of first in the SL South.

08 Jul

just another day …

There were no walk-off homers, or any homers at all by Mississippi-connected players. Nobody had a bunch of hits or drove in a bunch of runs. No quality starts were delivered, no holds or saves recorded. And yet, Mississippians made their mark in Tuesday’s MLB games, splattering numbers all over the 17 box scores. Twelve Mississippians (natives or college alums) played on Tuesday, and they collectively delivered six hits, five walks, five runs, two steals, a sac fly, a win and 2 2/3 scoreless innings of pitching. The line of the day belongs to Southwest Mississippi Community College product and McComb native Jarrod Dyson. In Kansas City’s 7-1 win over Tampa Bay in Game 2 of a twinbill, Dyson put up a 2-3-1-0 with two walks and a stolen base. P.S. On this date in 1941, Ted Williams hit his legendary three-run, ninth-inning, game-winning home run in the All-Star Game at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. The pitch was delivered by Claude Passeau, one of the greatest pitchers Mississippi has produced. The Waynesboro native and Millsaps College alum, who won 162 games in the big leagues, was working his third inning for the National League and would have been a winner (by a 5-3 score) had a double play been turned before Williams’ at-bat. Hall of Fame broadcaster Red Barber of Columbus called the game for Mutual Radio.

07 Jul

summer session

Southern Miss stars Chuckie Robinson and Tim Lynch seem to be enjoying their summer vacation. Robinson was named New England Collegiate Baseball League player of the week on Monday; he hit .643 with four homers in a four-game stretch for Ocean State. The Golden Eagles catcher is batting .317 with six home runs and 14 RBIs. Lynch, also playing for Ocean State, is leading the NECBL in homers with seven and batting .313 with 17 RBIs. … Ole Miss’ Errol Robinson has a league-leading 17 runs and Mississippi State’s Dakota Brown has posted a 1.92 ERA in six games to help the Hyannis Harbor Hawks rise to the top of the Cape Cod League’s West Division. Robinson is batting .300. State’s Reid Humphreys, playing for Bourne in the CCBL, has three home runs, tied for fourth in the loop. … Bulldogs signee Tanner Poole, who played at Itawamba Community College this past season, leads the Southern Collegiate Baseball League in steals with 20, while batting .372 with 25 runs for Piedmont. Poole hit .378 with 26 steals for ICC. … Ole Miss’ Will Stokes has a 2.07 ERA and one save in six appearances for the Baltimore Redbirds, who have the best record (20-6) in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League. Fellow Rebels Nic Perkins (.276) and Will Golsan (.270) also play for the Redbirds. P.S. Hinds CC alums Casey Echols and Matt Jones have signed with Mississippi College and Tennessee Tech, the Raymond school announced. Echols, son of ex-State star Tracy, hit .296 with four homers this season, Jones .369 with 49 runs. The signing of Jones brings to 13 the number of Eagles bound for NCAA Division I schools this fall.

07 Jul

going places?

Jonathan Papelbon is going to Cincinnati next week to represent the Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB All-Star Game on July 14. The ex-Mississippi State standout hopes to be going somewhere else and representing a different team soon thereafter. On the occasion of his selection to a sixth Midsummer Classic, Papelbon reiterated his desire to be traded from the lowly Phils to a contender. “Any team that wants me, I’m willing to go to,” he told mlb.com on Monday. Papelbon, who has a big contract and a combustible nature, has 14 saves and a 1.65 ERA this season. The trade deadline is July 31. … Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier launched his campaign to be a Final Vote All-Star selection by launching a walk-off home run against Baltimore on Monday. It was the 17th homer of the year and first career walk-off blast for the Minnesota second baseman. Passed over in Monday’s selection process, Dozier is one of five players on the American League Final Vote ballot. Fans will pick one; voting runs through Friday at 4 p.m. CDT. Dozier, batting .260 with a league-leading 63 runs and 42 RBIs, is seeking his first All-Star Game appearance. He says he won’t be disappointed if he doesn’t make it. “If it happens, it happens,” he told twincities.com.