Tag Archives: Padres

21 Jun

eye on …

Chris Coghlan has been playing more regularly for the Chicago Cubs of late, and his bat is waking from its slumber. Coghlan, the former Ole Miss standout, tripled and homered for the Cubs on Friday in a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh. The left-handed hitting outfielder boosted his average to .219, which might not sound so hot until you consider that he was at .125 on May 21. Brought up from Triple-A Iowa in early May, Coghlan has been in 35 games (73 at-bats) and produced two homers, four RBIs and seven runs all told. He is batting .282 in June. Coghlan, who just turned 29, is a career .267 hitter and hit .321 back in 2009 when he won National League rookie of the year honors with the Florida (now Miami) Marlins. P.S. Southern Miss product Brian Dozier delivered his second career walk-off hit for Minnesota, which beat the Chicago White Sox 5-4 on Friday. … Ex-Ole Miss star Seth Smith belted two monster homers — and just missed a third — for San Diego, ending a 20-game long ball drought. He has eight on the year. The Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5. … Meridian Community College alumnus Corey Dickerson went 4-for-5 with his ninth homer but Colorado fell to Milwaukee 13-10 in a Coors Field slugfest. … Ryan Buchter and Juan Jaime joined the list of former Mississippi Braves to play in the big leagues when they pitched for Atlanta against Washington. That brings the number to 87. Buchter, who was up at the start of the season but didn’t play, got the win as the Braves won 6-4 in 13 innings.

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.

09 Jun

numbers of note

2 — Number of home runs this season for Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton, who hit his latest on Sunday in Cincinnati’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia. Hamilton is batting .253 with 23 stolen bases.
3 — Months former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland is expected to miss after having ankle surgery. “It’s to the point where I’m hurting the team …,” the Texas Rangers first baseman told ESPNDallas.com about his decision to go under the knife. Moreland is batting .246 with two homers; he hit 23 bombs in 2013.
12 — Hits, in nine MLB games, for Tommy La Stella, the former Mississippi Braves standout now starting at second base for Atlanta. La Stella, a .340 hitter in Pearl last season, is batting .400.
14 — Runs scored by the M-Braves in their victory over Chattanooga at Trustmark Park on Sunday. The M-Braves are 1½ games out of first in the Southern League South with six to play.
16 — Hits this season for Ole Miss freshman Colby Bortles, who delivered his latest on Sunday, a two-run, eighth-inning single that helped the Rebels beat Louisiana-Lafayette 5-2 in their NCAA Super Regional. Game 3, with a College World Series trip on the line, is tonight at 6.
35 — Number of Mississippi-connected players picked in the MLB draft, from West Lauderdale High catcher Blake Anderson at No. 36 overall to Gulfport High third baseman Daniel Keating at No. 1181.
38 — Points lost off his batting average since May 21 by Ole Miss product Seth Smith. Smith, batting .301 with six homers and 21 RBIs for San Diego, is 7-for-34 (.206) over his last 10 games with just one RBI.

03 Jun

oldie but goodie

Maybe Bobby Abreu spent last year looking for the fountain of youth. Maybe he found it. The former Jackson Generals star — from way back in 1994 — is batting .315 for the New York Mets at the age of 40. Abreu, the only ex-Gen still playing affiliated ball, is hitting .400 over his last 10 games and went 5-for-13 in a five-game series at Philadelphia, helping the surging Mets win four times. In that series, the Venezuela native contributed four runs, three RBIs, two walks and a stolen base, No. 400 of his career. There is talk that Abreu might see some time in the leadoff spot while Juan Lagares is out with an injury. Abreu’s outstanding MLB career (.292 average, 2,400-plus hits) appeared to be over after he batted just .242 in 100 games with the Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers in 2012. He did not play in 2013. The Phillies gave him a look in spring training this year but he didn’t stick. Then the Mets signed him to a minor league deal and called him up in late April. Abreu’s impact surely has been everything, if not more, than they could have expected. P.S. Louis Coleman, the Greenwood native and former Pillow Academy star, was sent down by Kansas City lugging a 6.27 ERA, more than double his career average. Coleman posted a 0.61 in 27 games for the Royals in 2013. … San Diego signed former Ole Miss star Cody Overbeck (out of the independent Atlantic League) and assigned him to Double-A San Antonio. … Former Hattiesburg High star and onetime big leaguer Robert Carson is back in A-ball with Rancho Cucamonga in the Dodgers’ system. A waiver claim by the Angels (from the Mets) in the off-season, the big left-hander posted a 10.34 ERA in Triple-A, was released last month and signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers. He pitched for the Quakes on Sunday and gave up a home run in his one inning.

27 May

blossoming in may

Cedric Hunter might hate to see May come to an end. The Mississippi Braves outfielder is batting .339 this month with two homers and 14 RBIs. He has 14 hits since May 15. For the season, Hunter is at .298 with four homers, 18 RBIs and 15 runs, helping the M-Braves climb to 28-22 and into the Southern League South first-half race. That Hunter, 26, is having success in Double-A isn’t really surprising. After all, he’s been in the big leagues. More interesting is how he wound up back at this level in his ninth pro year. Plucked in the third round of the 2006 draft by San Diego out of a Georgia high school, Hunter established himself as the Padres’ top prospect after his first pro season. The left-handed hitter made San Diego’s opening day roster in 2011. That was a high point. From there, his career curve turned. He got just four at-bats with the Padres in 2011 before being shipped back to Triple-A, where he put up mediocre numbers. Taken off the 40-man roster in that off-season, he was snatched by Oakland, then traded to St. Louis, which stuck him in the minors. He bounced from there to the Cleveland organization, where he split time between Triple-A and Double-A in 2013. The 6-foot, 195-pound Hunter is a .288 career minor league hitter; the knock appears to be that he has neither great speed nor big power. But as he has shown this month, he can make offensive contributions. While some of the younger M-Braves outfielders have struggled and/or suffered injuries, Hunter has seized the opportunity and given the team a big lift. We shall see what June holds in store. P.S. The M-Braves host Pensacola tonight in Game 2 of a five-game series at Trustmark Park.

13 May

big league chew

Oakland will hand Drew Pomeranz the ball again tonight for his second start of the season. The former Ole Miss standout threw five scoreless innings as a starter last Wednesday after working only in relief in his first nine appearances and posting a sub-2.00 ERA. The former first-round draft pick is 16-9 with a 2.97 ERA as a starter in the minors but has not had that kind of success in the big leagues. His career ERA is 4.75, working primarily as a starter for Colorado since 2011. The A’s got left-hander Pomeranz in an off-season trade. He’ll go tonight against the Chicago White Sox at O.Co Coliseum. … Mississippi State product Tyler Moore, back up with Washington, hit his third home run of 2014 (in 37 at-bats) on Monday night. He hit just four last season in 167 ABs after blasting 10 in 156 as a rookie in 2012. … Keep an eye on Ole Miss product Seth Smith, of the San Diego Padres, who was named the National League player of the week on Monday on the heels of a 14-for-28 streak that has lifted his average to .330. Ex-Itawamba Community College star Desmond Jennings, with Tampa Bay, is 2-for-24 since winning American League player of the week honors on May 5.

11 May

have a day

Seth Smith went 3-for-4, drove in four runs, scored two and came up a single shy of the first cycle in San Diego Padres history. But the Ole Miss product’s big day wasn’t the best by a Mississippian in the majors on Saturday. No, that honor would have to go to Corey Dickerson, the ex-Meridian Community College star from McComb, who went 4-for-5, hit two homers, drove in four runs and scored three in Colorado’s 11-2 win at Cincinnati. Dickerson, in his second MLB campaign, is batting .385 with four homers and 11 RBIs as a platooning outfielder for the rolling Rockies, second in the National League West. Jackson native Smith, playing more regularly for the Padres, has been on a roll of his own with 15 hits in his last 27 at-bats. He is batting .327 with three homers and 13 RBIs. P.S. Vicksburg native Ellis Burks, who had some monster years with Colorado during his playing days, is working as a part-time instructor with Rockies hitters this season.

10 May

scatter shots

The Mississippi Braves, starting to make a move (perhaps) in the Southern League South, settle in tonight at Trustmark Park for a 10-game homestand. The M-Braves have won 10 of 14 to climb to 17-17. Prized prospect J.R. Graham (0-1, 2.42) goes to the mound against Montgomery. Pitching has carried the club. The M-Braves rank third in the SL in ERA and fourth in WHIP. Williams Perez, 22-year-old right-hander from Venezuela, has been a rotation revelation with a 1.50 ERA (but just a 2-3 record). Aaron Northcraft is 3-1, 2.82, David Bromberg 1-2, 2.01, Jason Hursh 2-2, 3.41. Closer Shae Simmons has eight saves and 1.13 with 21 strikeouts in 16 innings. Shortstop Elmer Reyes continues to rake at .347 with 16 RBIs, and M-Braves vet Mycal Jones has three homers in 13 games since rejoining the club. … Looking for some offense, St. Louis called up Pascagoula native Joey Butler, who was batting .360 with four home runs at Triple-A Memphis. The former ’Goula High and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout, who debuted with Texas in 2013, didn’t play Friday. Maybe he should have: The Cardinals went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and lost to Pittsburgh 6-4. … Mississippi State product Paul Maholm fell to 1-3 in his six starts for Los Angeles as San Francisco beat the Dodgers 3-1. Maholm allowed three runs on three hits (one homer) and four walks in 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander’s ERA is now 4.71. He may not keep his spot in the rotation much longer. … Milwaukee recently re-signed Tim Dillard, the former Itawamba CC star from Saltillo. The 12-year pro, who has some big league time, is currently in Triple-A. … Good sign for Chris Coghlan? The Ole Miss alum got a ninth-inning hit off Atlanta closer Craig Kimbrel on Friday and scored the game-tying run for Chicago. Alas, the hapless Cubs lost in the 10th (on yet another clutch hit by former M-Braves star Freddie Freeman). … Ex-UM standout Seth Smith was robbed of his third homer on Friday night in San Diego, but he did get three hits in the Padres’ 10-1 win over Miami and raised his average to .309. … Belhaven University is really good at home: an eye-popping 31-4 this season. But the Blazers, hosting the NAIA’s Jackson Bracket at Smith-Wills Stadium, aren’t the top seed in the regional. That would be Oklahoma Wesleyan, which brings a 52-6 record and a No. 3 national ranking to town. Belhaven (40-19) plays Oklahoma City in Monday’s second game, after Sterling and Houston-Victoria tangle in the opener. The winner of the latter gets Oklahoma Wesleyan in Monday’s late game.

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.

27 Apr

kings of swing

Nomination for Understatement of the Year, College Edition: “We swung the bats well today.” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco made that comment today moments after the No. 12 Rebels produced 17 hits and beat nationally ranked Kentucky 18-5 in Lexington. Yes, 17 hits and 18 runs qualifies as swinging the bats well. Auston Bousfield, having an amazing season, went 5-for-6 with a home run, six RBIs and three runs. For the year, the junior from Florida is at .363 with five homers, 34 RBIs and 38 runs. The Rebels got three more homers in today’s win, from Will Allen, J.B. Woodman and Sikes Orvis. Orvis homered for the second straight day and now has 11 bombs for the year. Yes, the Rebels also swung the bats well on Friday, getting 15 hits in a 12-4 victory. They are 32-12, 12-8 SEC, heading into Sunday’s series finale. Chances are they’ll swing the bats well again. P.S. Former Ole Miss star Seth Smith, now with the San Diego Padres, missed a second straight game today because of a groin injury. Smith has been swinging the bat well, so to speak, hitting .313 over his last 10 games before the injury. He’s at .277 for the year. Smith homered in his first at-bat as a Padre back on March 31 but has hit just one since.