Tag Archives: Ole Miss

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.

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.

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.

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.

06 Aug

tracking trophy winners

The Ferriss Trophy, awarded annually to the state’s best college player, has been around since 2004, and of the 11 winners to date, only one — Ole Miss product Drew Pomeranz (the 2010 winner) — has reached the major leagues and six of them are out of the game. Odd, isn’t it? Among those no longer playing is Southern Miss alumnus Tyler Koelling, the 2011 winner who played only 34 pro games. But note, too, that former Mississippi State standouts Chris Stratton (2012) and Hunter Renfroe (2013) have reached Double-A and appear on track to make The Show in the next couple of years. And this year’s Ferriss winner, ex-UM star Auston Bousfield, is off to a promising start in pro ball. A fifth-round pick by San Diego, Bousfield is batting .267 with two homers, five RBIs and eight stolen bases in 25 games for Eugene in the short season Northwest League. He played in Tuesday night’s NWL All-Star Game (along with ex-Hinds Community College standout Travious Relaford, now a third-year pro). Bousfield batted .336 with six homers, 50 RBIs, 61 runs and 19 steals in 69 games for the Rebels this year, helping them make a deep run in the College World Series.

04 Aug

like old times

This time a year ago, Chris Coghlan was on the disabled list with one of the many injuries that have dogged his career (see previous posts). The former Ole Miss star had to be wondering about his future with the Miami Marlins, if not his future in baseball. Flash forward to Sunday. Coghlan, playing left field for the Chicago Cubs, produced his fifth straight two-hit game, including a home run, to help the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3. Coghlan, a lefty hitter, batted .376 in July and is 6-for-14 so far in August. For the year, he is at .292 with six home runs, 19 RBIs and 31 runs in 73 games since the Cubs brought him to the majors in early May. Coghlan, the 2009 National League rookie of the year who is only 29, may well have played his way into the Cubs’ plans for 2015. “He really plays the game with a lot of heart,” Cubs manager Rick Renteria told mlb.com. Heart, or something like it, has carried Coghlan a long way in a year’s time. Miami let him walk after last season; he batted .215 in September and wound up at .256 with one homer in 70 games for the year. The Cubs signed him to a minor league deal in December and invited him to spring training, but Coghlan didn’t make their 25-man roster. (Considering the state of the Cubs that had to be a letdown.) An opportunity arose when Ryan Sweeney went on the disabled list a month into the season. Summoned from Triple-A Iowa, Coghlan started slowly but gradually took off, looking more and more like his 2009 self. Now if he can just stay healthy.

02 Aug

hard knock life

It has been a season of hard knocks for many Mississippi-connected pitchers in the big leagues. Former Mississippi State standout Paul Maholm is the latest to suffer misfortune; he tore an ACL trying to make a play at first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night and has landed on the disabled list, possibly done for the year. He wasn’t having a very good year, either: 4.84 ERA in 30 games. Cliff Lee, the Meridian Community College product with Philadelphia, also may be done for the year with his latest elbow problem. On Friday, Washington sent Ole Miss alum Aaron Barrett to the minors. Barrett has a 3.21 ERA overall but an ugly 9.45 over his last 10 appearances since being called for a controversial balk and altering his mechanics (see previous post). Ex-UM star Drew Pomeranz of Oakland broke his right (non-throwing) hand punching a chair on June 16 and is now in the minors despite his 2.91 ERA. Former Picayune High standout T.J. House has been up and down a dizzying number of times for Cleveland. The lefty (4.50 ERA) is back on the Indians’ roster today to start against Texas. Louis Coleman, the Pillow Academy product, has put up a 7.48 ERA in a couple of stints with Kansas City and is now back in the minors. And Ole Miss alum Phil Irwin got one start for Texas last month, yielded three runs in four innings and was shipped out again.

28 Jul

hot and cold

No hitter in the majors has been hotter in July than Seth Smith. But the Hillcrest Christian and Ole Miss alumnus took a chilly 0-for-4 today as San Diego fell to Atlanta 2-0 at Turner Field. Smith is batting .385 this month. He hit .203 in June, .354 in May and .246 in April. That is the definition of mercurial. For the year, the left-handed hitting outfielder is at .295 with 11 home runs, 31 RBIs and 42 runs, numbers that have to thrill the punch-less Padres. He batted just .240 and .253 in Oakland the previous two years. Smith went 3-for-8 in the Atlanta series, with all three hits coming in Friday’s opener, the only one of the four games the Padres won. He struck out three times today, twice against Ervin Santana, then again against Craig Kimbrel in the ninth. … Former Mississippi Braves star Evan Gattis belted his 17th homer for the Braves today; it was his first since June 18. He spent a spell on the disabled list during that time.

24 Jul

whatever happened to …

Matt Tolbert, three years removed from his last big league appearance, is toiling in Double-A in the Philadelphia system. The former Ole Miss star from McComb (and Centreville Academy) has battled injuries for a couple of years. He spent some time in Triple-A this season but is currently with Reading and hitting .172 in 21 games. A switch-hitting infielder, Tolbert, 32, was drafted by Minnesota in the 16th round in 2004 and once looked to have a bright future. He played in the 2007 All-Star Futures Game and made his MLB debut in ’08, batting .283 in 41 games for the Twins. But he just couldn’t hit enough to stick. He played parts of the next three years in the majors, never getting into more than 87 games. His career average is .230. Tolbert’s chances of getting back to The Show don’t look good, even if the Phillies gut their roster before 2014 is over. P.S. Jonathan Papelbon blew a save on Tuesday when he allowed a home run for the first time this year. On Wednesday, the ex-Mississippi State star melted down, rankled by a controversial ball call, and suffered a loss. So what’d he do today? The enigmatic Phillies closer worked a perfect ninth for his 24th save. Papelbon, who wants off of Philadelphia’s sinking ship, has only three blown saves to go with a 1.91 ERA. But reports say he is generating little trade interest.