Tag Archives: MLB

21 Aug

numbers to crunch

5 1/3 — Shutout innings hurled on Wednesday by former Picayune High standout T.J. House, who notched his second win for Cleveland in a victory against Minnesota and lowered his ERA to 3.80 in 13 appearances as a rookie.
6 — Current hitting streak for Ole Miss product Seth Smith, who banged out two more for San Diego against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The streaky Smith, on another roll, is batting .364 over his last 10 games and is at .297 for the season.
8 — Outfield assists for Taylorsville High alum Billy Hamilton, who got one for Cincinnati against St. Louis, completing a double play after making a diving catch in right-center. Hamilton has been involved in three DPs and has just one error.
14 — Wins for ex-UM star Lance Lynn, who went seven strong innings for St. Louis to beat Cincinnati 7-3. Lynn is 14-8 with a 2.78 ERA in 26 starts.
20 — Stolen bases for former Southern Miss standout Brian Dozier, who reached that number for Minnesota against Cleveland and matched his home run total for the year.
30 — Saves for Mississippi State product Jonathan Papelbon, the Philadelphia closer who nailed down a 4-3 win against Seattle with a scoreless ninth. Papelbon has a 1.55 ERA.
70 — Hits for former Rebels star Chris Coghlan, who got one for the Chicago Cubs against San Francisco. The oft-injured Coghlan, batting .273, has his most hits in an MLB season since 2010.

20 Aug

bigger fish

About this time in 1999, Lance Lynn was toeing the rubber in the Little League World Series. Former Ole Miss star Lynn, one of 12 players to participate in both MLB’s Fall Classic and the LLWS (Hattiesburg’s Charlie Hayes is another), has bigger things on his mind today. The St. Louis Cardinals right-hander faces Cincinnati at Busch Stadium in another in a series of crucial games for National League Central clubs. The Cardinals are 68-57 and in hot pursuit of first-place Milwaukee. The Reds, who’ll throw ace Johnny Cueto today, are trying to stay alive in the playoff race, having lost four in a row to fall to 61-65. Lynn is 13-8 with a 2.91 ERA for the year and has a 1.97 in his last eight starts. The lineups for today’s game haven’t been posted yet, but Lynn is likely to face Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton (1-for-6 vs. Lynn) and his former Rebels teammate Zack Cozart (0-for-6 this year, 6-for-23 career). Often overshadowed on the St. Louis pitching staff, Lynn is building a very nice resume. He is 47-26 for his career with a 3.57 ERA. And he has a World Series ring, the MLB variety. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves hurler J.J. Hoover might be hoping for a day off. Now a reliever for the Reds, Hoover pitched a disastrous ninth inning against the Cardinals on Tuesday and absorbed his 10th loss of the year. That ties a team record for losses by a reliever. It was also his 10 straight loss, which is a franchise record.

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.

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.

05 Jul

fireworks

Mississippians do love fireworks. And Mississippians in the majors did their part to contribute to the noise on the Fourth of July, cracking out eight hits on the day, two of them bombs, and getting some sizzle from the mound, as well. Eight Magnolia State-connected position players got into games on Friday and collectively went 8-for-26 (.308) with the two home runs, three RBIs and nine runs. A pretty good day to be sure, and consider that the state’s best hitter, Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson (.337), did not play for Colorado, the left-handed slugger sitting against Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw. Itawamba CC’s Desmond Jennings sparkled with a three-hit game, and he also scored three times for Tampa Bay. Ole Miss product Chris Coghlan scored three for the Chicago Cubs and went 2-for-4, raising his average to .219. Ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier smoked a home run (No. 16) for Minnesota, and Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton lit off one (No. 5) for Cincinnati. Former Ole Miss standout Seth Smith went 1-for-3 with a run for San Diego. UM alum Zack Cozart of the Reds had the only real dud of a day, going 0-for-4 — though his team did win its game. Former Rebels star Alex Presley was 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter for Houston, and Southwest Mississippi CC product Jarrod Dyson got in late for Kansas City, as he often does, as a defensive replacement. Ex-Ole Miss ace Lance Lynn provided the pitching sparks, throwing 6 2/3 shutout innings for St. Louis in a victory over Miami. Lynn has nine W’s on the year. For the day, this Mississippi nine helped their clubs go 6-2. Now that’s a blast.

19 Jun

a few small things

Just for the record, Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson was the only Colorado batter to reach base (via an error) during Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night. And Dickerson also made the final out, fanning at a breaking ball to become Kershaw’s 15th strikeout victim in the 8-0 gem. … Resurgent Cincinnati, which beat Pittsburgh 11-4 to reach .500 (35-35) for the first time since April 2, has gotten contributions of late not only from Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton (now batting .278) but also from the other Mississippi connection on the team, Ole Miss alum Zack Cozart. Cozart had two hits on Wednesday and is batting .306 during the Reds’ current 7-3 run. … Former Southwest Mississippi CC star Jarrod Dyson went 1-for-3 as Kansas City won its 10th straight game, 2-1 over Detroit. Dyson is batting .300 with seven RBIs, 14 runs and 10 steals in 46 games for the first-place Royals. … UM product Aaron Barrett got one out and the win — he’s 3-0 — in first-place Washington’s 6-5 victory over Houston. The Nationals and slumping Atlanta start a big National League East series tonight. … Ex-Rebels standout Seth Smith went 1-for-4 as San Diego beat Seattle 2-1 on Tony Gwynn tribute night at Petco Park. … Lance Lynn, another UM product, took a loss for St. Louis against the New York Mets despite allowing just two runs in six innings of a 3-2 defeat. Lynn is 1-3 in his last four starts, 7-5 with a 3.15 ERA overall.

14 Jun

just for starters

Though the field is small, the race for most wins among Mississippi-connected starters in the big leagues is always interesting to watch. Lance Lynn edged out Cliff Lee 15-14 last year, while Paul Maholm ran third with 10 W’s. As we near this season’s halfway point, Lynn — a horse in the figurative sense — has bolted to the lead. The former Ole Miss ace moved to 7-4 with an outstanding effort for St. Louis against Washington on Friday. He retired the first 16 batters and went eight innings, yielding two hits with eight strikeouts in a 1-0 win. Lynn had lost two straight starts after his brilliant shutout of the New York Yankees on May 27, but Drew Pomeranz, another ex-Rebels star, was unable to gain any ground in the wins race during that time. Despite allowing just one earned run over 14 innings, the Oakland left-hander is 0-1 in his last two starts. For the year, Pomeranz is 5-3 – 4-2 since moving into the A’s rotation. He is expected to go again against Texas on Monday. Meridian Community College product Lee is 4-4 for Philadelphia but is out of the race at the moment, stuck on the disabled list since mid-May. He is throwing again, however, and surely champing at the bit to return. Picayune High product T.J. House, who makes his fifth MLB start today for Cleveland against Boston at Fenway Park, is running way in the back, still seeking his first win. The lefty is 0-1 with a 5.24 ERA and yielded five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings against Texas his last time out. His hold on a rotation spot may be tenuous for the improving Indians. Maholm, the former Mississippi State standout, is 1-4 with a 4.84 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is now working out of their bullpen — his last start was May 9 — though a spot start here or there is certainly possible. P.S. It’s wait ’til next, uh, half for the Mississippi Braves, who were eliminated from the Southern League South first-half race with a loss at Tennessee on Friday night. The M-Braves will begin the second half, with a clean slate, on June 19 at Trustmark Park against the Jackson (Tenn.) Generals.

12 Jun

3 stars — plus a couple

Desmond Jennings, the ex-Itawamba Community College star, had a two-run single in a four-run fourth inning as Tampa Bay snapped a 31-inning scoreless blight and went on to beat St. Louis 6-3 on Wednesday night. All told, Jennings was 2-for-4 with a run for the reeling Rays, who have won just twice in their last 16 games. … Meridian CC product Corey Dickerson, enjoying more playing time in Colorado, went 2-for-4 with three RBIs as the Rockies beat Atlanta 8-2 and knocked the Braves out of first place in the National League East. … Former Taylorsville High standout Billy Hamilton went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, a run and a stolen base (No. 24) as Cincinnati beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0. … Ole Miss alum Alex Presley, a veteran among Houston’s cast of kids, went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a steal to help the Astros beat Arizona 5-1. … And Jarrod Dyson, the former Southwest Mississippi CC star, was 1-for-3 with an RBI for Kansas City, which beat Cleveland 4-1. Ned Yost’s Royals have climbed into second place in the American League Central. P.S. The Biloxi Shrimpers? That’s one of the choices — perhaps the best — on the new Southern League club’s name-the-team ballot. The others: Beacon, Schooners, Mullets, Shuckers and Black Jacks. Voting ends this week. The team, moving from Huntsville, is scheduled to begin play in a new ballpark on the Coast next April.

08 May

ups and downs

The new job seems to be working out fine for Seth Smith. The former Hillcrest Christian and Ole Miss star, in his first year with San Diego, is batting .344 over his last 10 games and is at .295 for the year with two homers and seven RBIs. He batted .253 last season in Oakland. … Mississippi State product Tyler Moore, batting .200 in limited work for Washington, has been sent down to Triple-A Syracuse to make room on the roster for pitcher Doug Fister, coming off the disabled list. … Meridian Community College alumnus Corey Dickerson went 1-for-4 with two RBIs in Colorado’s 9-2 thumping of Texas on Wednesday. He is batting .348 with two homers and seven RBIs as a part-time outfielder. … Ex-MCC star Cliff Lee allowed six runs in 6 1/3 innings as Philadelphia lost to Toronto 10-0. Lee’s record dipped to 3-3 and his ERA jumped to 3.64. … Southwest Mississippi CC product Jarrod Dyson contributed a hit, two walks and a run and Schlater native Louis Coleman threw a scoreless inning in Kansas City’s 8-0 win over San Diego. Dyson is batting .286; Coleman, who has been scuffling, dropped his ERA to 6.30. … Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High star, did not play in Cincinnati’s 3-2 loss to Boston. He has made just two appearances — no starts — since hurting his left hand on May 1. Ole Miss alum Zack Cozart took an 0-fer for the Reds and is batting just .200 despite a recent hot streak (.314 over his last 10). … Former Southern Miss star Brian Dozier picked up a couple of RBIs — he has 14 for the season — in Minnesota’s 4-3 loss to Cleveland.

05 May

a just reward

He batted .355, belted three home runs, scored eight times — once from second base on a sac fly — and piled up 23 total bases. Those nifty numbers were good enough to earn Desmond Jennings the American League player of the week award, which was announced today. It’s the first time the former Itawamba Community College star, who has been with Tampa Bay since late in 2010, has won the weekly award. P.S. Former Mississippi State star Jonathan Papelbon didn’t win an award, but his numbers of late are also worth mentioning. After a sluggish start to this season, the Philadelphia closer has made 11 straight scoreless appearances during which he has yielded just six hits and two walks. He has saved nine of the Phillies’ 15 wins.