Monthly Archives: October 2019

09 Oct

remember the time

Atlanta hosts St. Louis in Game 5 of the National League Division Series today, 14 years to the day after one of the most painful losses in Braves history. Atlanta lost 7-6 at Houston in an NLDS game that lasted 18 innings – at the time the longest in postseason history – and eliminated the Braves. The Oct. 9, 2005, game also featured the first postseason intersection of players from two different eras of Jackson-area Double-A baseball. Atlanta’s lineup included Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur, both of whom started that season with the Mississippi Braves in Pearl. Lance Berkman, who played for the Jackson Generals in 1998, started for Houston, and Raul Chavez, another ex-Gen, also played that day. McCann hit a home run as the Braves built a 6-1 lead. But Berkman belted a grand slam in the eighth and Brad Ausmus hit a solo homer in the ninth – both shots coming off Kyle Farnsworth — to tie it. Among the parade of pitchers in the extra frames was Vicksburg native John Thomson, who worked two scoreless innings for Atlanta. Weir’s Roy Oswalt was on the Houston roster but didn’t pitch; he had started and won Game 3 the day before. Roger Clemens pitched the last three innings for the Astros and got the win when Chris Burke took M-Braves alum Joey Devine deep for the walk-off winner 5 hours, 50 minutes after first pitch. Rest assured, no Braves fan has forgotten that game.

08 Oct

in other news

Halfway through the Arizona Fall League season, the Mississippi contingent of Brady Feigl, Kirk McCarty and Bradley Roney has showed out well. Roney, a Southern Miss (and Mississippi Braves) alumnus, has a 3.18 ERA with a win and a save in four games for Scottsdale. The sidearming right-hander, battling back from injuries, got the save in his most recent appearance, striking out the side in a 6-5 win Friday against Mesa. Coincidentally, McCarty and Feigl also pitched in that game for Mesa. Ex-USM and Oak Grove High star McCarty, a left-hander in the Cleveland system, made his second start (third appearance) and yielded two runs (on a homer by San Francisco prospect Joey Bart) in four innings. He has a 3.60 ERA over 10 innings all told. Feigl, a former Ole Miss standout now in Oakland’s system, worked a scoreless inning in relief, trimming his ERA to 3.60 over four appearances. Feigl, who has a doppelganger also named Brady Feigl also pitching in the minors, is out to distinguish himself in the AFL. The 6-foot-4 right-hander, 14-7 over three years with the Rebels, was a fifth-round pick by the A’s in 2018. He posted a 5-11 mark with a 4.42 ERA at Class A Stockton in the California League this season and showed enough promise to rate an AFL invitation.

07 Oct

welcome to the show

Former Mississippi State ace Dakota Hudson is scheduled for his first career postseason appearance today for St. Louis, starting Game 4 of the National League Division Series against Atlanta, a must-win situation for the Cardinals. Hudson, 16-7 with a 3.35 ERA this season, does have some experience in pressurized situations, having started three postseason games for State in 2016. He went 0-2, losing to LSU in the SEC Tournament, taking a no-decision against Southeast Missouri State in the Starkville Regional and losing to Arizona in Game 1 of the Super Regional at Dudy Noble Field. He got knocked around by LSU, yielding nine hits and four runs (two earned) in five innings of a 6-2 loss at Hoover, Ala. (Jared Poche got the win for the Tigers.) Hudson wasn’t sharp against SEMO in the regional, lasting just 3 1/3 innings and allowing four runs, but the Bulldogs rallied to win. His best performance came against Arizona, a start that came the day after the 6-foot-5 right-hander was drafted 34th overall by the Cardinals. He worked 6 1/3, allowed seven hits, one walk and one run – but the Bulldogs lost 1-0 to the Wildcats’ Bobby Dalbec. Arizona took the Super Regional the next day. Hudson signed with St. Louis and two years later made his big league debut. Today, he makes his biggest appearance at Busch Stadium. MSU has paid for several billboards that have gone up in St. Louis wishing Hudson good luck. P.S. Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High star, stole third base as a pinch runner and scored the tying run during the Braves’ ninth-inning rally in Game 3 on Sunday. Hamilton, in his first postseason, has scored two runs in his two appearances. … In the other NLDS, Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier started and went 0-for-2 for Washington in its loss to Los Angeles, which can take the series in Game 4 today at Nationals Park. Dozier, in his third postseason, is batting .174. He homered in his very first at-bat for Minnesota in 2017 but has only three hits in 22 ABs since.

04 Oct

first phase

Looking to the 2020 season, there are big holes to fill at each of the state’s Big 3 Division I schools. All lost significant players (see Ethan Small, Matt Wallner, Grae Kessinger … to name a few) to the MLB draft from their NCAA Tournament teams of 2019. Fall ball, the first phase of the rebuild, is under way. The first fall ball exhibition game involving the Big 3 is slated for Saturday when Louisiana-Lafayette visits Mississippi State at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs, who brought in the nation’s No. 7 recruiting class (per Perfect Game), started a slate of 12 intrasquad games on Sept. 13. The three-game Fall World Series is scheduled for Oct. 10-12. State will travel to UAB on Oct. 20 to conclude its fall season. … Ole Miss, with a recruiting class ranked No. 2 in the country, opens fall ball today. The Rebels’ first exhibition game is against Arkansas State on Oct. 12 and the second is vs. Memphis on Oct. 25. Both games are in Oxford. The annual Pizza Bowl that ends the fall session is on Nov. 15. … Southern Miss, which opened fall practice on Sept. 14, plays crosstown rival William Carey at Taylor Park on Oct. 13 and travels to Alabama on Oct. 27. … Division II Delta State, under new coach Rodney Batts, opened practice on Sept. 9; the three-game Green-White Series starts on Oct. 19.

04 Oct

stuff happens

It’s that time of year. The postseason begins for 10 MLB clubs, and heads begin to roll for many of the other 20. Chris Young, a former Mississippi State pitcher, was relieved of his duties today as Philadelphia’s pitching coach after one rather rocky season. This follows news of ex-Ole Miss pitcher Mickey Callaway’s firing Thursday as New York Mets manager after two seasons. (On the long list floated out there as possible replacements is former MSU star Buck Showalter, who was not retained by Baltimore after the 2018 season.) Back in 2018, there were seven Mississippi-connected skippers in MLB. Now, with Ned Yost having retired in Kansas City and Clint Hurdle getting canned in Pittsburgh, we’re down to two. Brian Snitker, the former Mississippi Braves manager, is safe for a while in Atlanta. Former Jackson Mets standout Ron Gardenhire is in charge of the major rebuilding project in Detroit; who knows how many more years he’ll get? P.S. MSU product Nate Lowe, a rookie first baseman, did not make Tampa Bay’s roster for the American League Division Series against Houston.

03 Oct

pick of the lot

Going from the Gulf South Conference to the Northwest League might have been a geographical leap for Blaine Crim, but the former Mississippi College star moved from college competition to the pros this year without breaking stride. A 19th-round draft pick as a senior out of NCAA Division II MC, Crim batted .348 with eight homers and 48 RBIs at two entry levels in Texas’ system and was named MVP of the short season Class A Northwest League. The 22-year-old Alabama native, the GSC player of the year in 2019, gets the nod as the first baseman on the all-Mississippi minor league team for this season. Former Harrison Central High star Bobby Bradley, who hit 33 homers and was a Triple-A International League All-Star, makes the team as a DH. Bradley, also a first baseman, played 15 games in Cleveland this summer, though he never got a September call-up after helping Columbus win the IL pennant. (He was one of five Mississippians who made their big league debut in 2019.) At catcher is minor league vet Kade Scivicque, a Southwest Mississippi Community College alum. He hit .295 with nine homers between Triple-A and Double-A in Detroit’s system. Delta State alum Trent Giambrone is a repeat pick from 2018 at second base. He hit .241 with 23 homers and 17 steals at Triple-A Iowa in the Chicago Cubs’ chain. The shortstop is again Errol Robinson, the ex-Ole Miss star who scuffled at Triple-A for the Los Angeles Dodgers but batted .310 in Double-A to finish the season. He hit .260 with five homers overall. Though he spent a big chunk of the season in Atlanta, DeSoto Central alum Austin Riley is the pick at third base again after hitting .295 with 15 homers in Triple-A. He belted 18 for the big Braves in a season tinged by a prolonged slump wrapped around an injury. In the outfield, start with Milton Smith II, a 2018 draftee by Miami out of Meridian CC who hit .305 with 20 stolen bases at the short season A level. Zack Shannon, the ex-Delta State slugger, smacked 12 homers (with a .260 average and 60 RBIs) at Class A in Arizona’s organization. And Jacob Robson, a fourth-year pro from Mississippi State, had another solid year, batting .267 with nine homers and 25 steals at Triple-A in the Detroit system. Somewhat surprisingly, he did not get a call-up from the woeful Tigers. Former Ole Miss standout David Parkinson, in his first Double-A campaign in the Philadelphia chain, went 10-9 with a 4.08 ERA as a starter, and Petal High product Demarcus Evans was lights out as a reliever for Texas with an 0.90 ERA, six wins and 12 saves between high-A and Double-A.

03 Oct

roster watch

Billy Hamilton could get his first taste of the postseason in the National League Division Series with Atlanta, which hosts St. Louis today at SunTrust Park. The former Taylorsville High star apparently has made the Braves’ roster and figures to serve as a pinch runner and defensive replacement in center field. DeSoto Central alum Austin Riley, an outfielder/corner infielder, did not make the NLDS roster. Hamilton, who has 299 career stolen bases over seven big league seasons and is a plus-defender, hit .268 with four steals, nine runs and three RBIs in 26 games for the Braves, who picked him off waivers from Kansas City in August. Ex-Mississippi State standout Dakota Hudson, 16-7 with a 3.35 ERA in 33 games (32 starts) for the Cardinals, reportedly will be available out of the bullpen for Games 1 and 2 and is a potential starter for a possible Game 4 in St. Louis. The right-hander had a 2.63 ERA as a rookie reliever in 2018. P.S. Tampa Bay’s Charlie Morton, who pitched for the Mississippi Braves in 2007, became the first pitcher in MLB history to notch a win in three winner-take-all playoff games when he beat Oakland in their wild card showdown on Wednesday night. Morton also won Game 7 of both the 2017 American League Championship Series and the 2017 World Series for Houston.

02 Oct

lighting the fuse

The Washington Nationals may have had a little karma working for them in Tuesday night’s game. Aaron Barrett, the former Ole Miss standout who completed a courageous comeback this season, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Nationals Park before the National League Wild Card Game. Several hours later, the Nationals pulled off a dramatic comeback of their own to beat Milwaukee 4-3. According to reports – and the highlights on TBS – Barrett’s animated appearance on the mound stirred the crowd into a frenzy, a precursor to what happened during the Nats’ stunning eighth-inning rally. Barrett, who was not on the active roster for Tuesday’s game, made it back to the big leagues this season after missing most of the previous three years following Tommy John surgery and a career-threatening broken arm. Nationals owner Mark Lerner suggested having Barrett throw out the first pitch. “I’m pretty humbled by it. … There are so many people that are deserving to do this,” Barrett said in a story on nbcsports.com. P.S. In defeat, the Brewers certainly got what they hoped for from Mississippi State alum Brandon Woodruff (four innings, one run) and UM product Drew Pomeranz (two shutout innings). … Ex-Southern Miss standout Brian Dozier made a pinch-hit appearance for the Nationals and reached on an error.

01 Oct

one to watch

In identifying an X-factor for each of the current playoff teams, mlb.com’s Richard Justice pegged Drew Pomeranz, the former Ole Miss standout, as that player for Milwaukee. The veteran left-hander has a 2.39 ERA in 25 appearances for the Brewers with 45 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings. “Pomeranz has been reborn as a dominant late-inning reliever since the Brewers acquired him from the Giants at the Trade Deadline,” Justice wrote. It’s been a long, strange trip for Pomeranz, not only this season but over his entire MLB career. He has been an All-Star and won a World Series ring. He also has been traded four times and pitched in seven different organizations since Cleveland drafted him fifth overall out of Oxford in 2010. After winning a ring with Boston last fall, he signed as a free agent with San Francisco. Through 17 starts with the Giants, he was 2-9 with a 6.10 ERA. They moved him to bullpen, where he had worked in the past – and suddenly everything changed. Pomeranz made four scoreless appearances in late July and impressed the Brewers enough that they traded a top prospect to get him. He has been everything they could have hoped for. Mississippi State alum Brandon Woodruff will start tonight’s National League Wild Card Game at Washington but expect to see Pomeranz – the X-factor — before it’s over. P.S. Woodruff is one of four Biloxi Shuckers alums projected to be in Milwaukee’s lineup. The others are second baseman Keston Hiura, shortstop Orlando Arcia and right fielder Trent Grisham. Ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier, who played sparingly down the stretch, isn’t likely to start at second base for Washington.