Tue. 9/12 - Playoff Baseball in Zebulon; Shuckers Begin a Huge Week

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Gulp Shuckers have left themselves with Caminero up to the plate as the tying run. Bullpen just too leaky today.

AND, that is why Guerrero is the manager. He just subbed in the stalwart in OF Lamar Sparks for Collins in LF. He makes the charging easy sliding catch to get Caminero out on the 2-2 liner to LF. Very nice play by Sparks. He's just so good defensively. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Robinson is now 3-0 to the next batter. He has a vacant base to work with - he is no stranger to working around bases loaded jams. He grabs a strike on the inner stripe on a 94 mph heater. 3-1 count. He gets a topped foul ball of the batters foot on a low sinking heater. 3-2 the count is full. The runners are going and he gets the high heater foul back to the netting. 3-2 count again. Here we go. He misses up and in. Take your base. Pitch count is to 12. Wilken's former teammate in Bob Seymour is to the dish. Bases juiced.

[Joseph Zarr]

Murray deftly charges and scoops and tags second base on a grounder up the middle for the force out. Robinson strands them juiced. That's consecutive innings the Biscuits have left their flaky crusts dripping. Yowza. 

 

[sveumrules]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

AND, that is why Guerrero is the manager. He just subbed in the stalwart in OF Lamar Sparks for Collins in LF. He makes the charging easy sliding catch to get Caminero out on the 2-2 liner to LF. Very nice play by Sparks. He's just so good defensively. 

Not sure what his status is wrt minor league FA, but hopefully Lamar sticks around for 2024. Some of his throws linked throughout the season were just unreal stuff.

Offensive profile has shades of Garrett Mitchell going on with the 34.9 K% and .406 BABIP, but the 13.7 BB% helps too and either way a 116 wRC+ in his return to affiliated ball has to be considered a success.

[Joseph Zarr]

Wilken with a debut. They'll credit that an error but he smashed that grounder and that is why it went off the glove. 11-6 Shuckers. Bam. OK. Yeah that ball went off Wilken's bat at 102 mph and the SS was in on the inner grass with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Four balls in play. Three balls in the 100's. All he does is crush baseballs.

[Joseph Zarr]

Martinez and Quero pop out into 1B foul territory and sky high to the pitchers mound, respectively. We're on to the 9th frame. It's 11-6 Shuckers.

[Joseph Zarr]

Big insurance runs for the Shuckers. Robinson gives up a moon shot into the trees over the LF wall in a 1-2 count. He hung a high curveball. It was, as they say, a mistake. 11-7 now. Nobody down.

[Joseph Zarr]

And, the next batter crushes a dart deep past 3B down the LF foul line. That ball was also crushed. Yikes. Nobody out. Man on 2nd base. Come on Cam. Let's do this. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Robinson gets the K. One down. And, now he walks his next batter and it forces manager Mike Guerrero to get his bullpen back up and active. And, pitching coach Will Schierholz is now visiting the mound yet again. Still 11-7. One down. Now men on 1st and 2nd. Two more outs, Cam. Let's get this.

[Joseph Zarr]

Whewww boy. He digs deep with a nasty curveball that dipped down and to the dirt from dead center and belt high. Huge pitch. He gets the second out swinging and missing. Two down. Men still on 1st and 2nd. He'll face ol' Brewers farmhand Tristan Peters here to try and claim that final out.

[wiguy94]

Caminero is up again as the tying run in the 9th. Shuckers bullpen is really playing games they shouldn't be playing right now.

[Joseph Zarr]

My gods that is twice the Shuckers bullpen has walked Peters on 5 pitches. TWICE. To face Junior Caminero. Just epic epic fails in key spots. My baseball gods help them help themselves. 

What an absolutely unenviable spot to put RHP Ryan Middendorf here. This game. Oh this game. It hurts.

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, wiguy94 said:

Caminero is up again as the tying run in the 9th. Shuckers bullpen is really playing games they shouldn't be playing right now.

Right? Just silly stuff. CHALLENGE Peters. For crying out loud, challenge him. He was 0-for-4 before these walks. He's certainly nowhere near as dangerous as Caminero. Make him make contact and beat you. Just poor poor form.

[Joseph Zarr]

Gotta love Javik Blake here. "Middendorf is one-for-three in Save situations this season. And, all he has to do is get one out."

Context: 11-7. Trailing Montgomery by 1.5 G. Bases Loaded. Two outs. Tying run at home plate. LOL. All he has to do is get one out. 

[wiguy94]

MIDDENDORF COMES THROUGH!

[Joseph Zarr]

Middendorf does it. My gods that was stressful. LOL. He gets the grounder to Zamora at SS. He kneels. He scoops. He tosses an accurate throw to Murray covering 2B for the force out. 

The Biscuits strand 14 runners. They leave the bases loaded thrice in the final three innings. Sheesh. That was a lot harder than it needed to be. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Really a troubling showing from the Shuckers bullpen tonight. Really hope they can re-discover some semblance of the form they showed in Tennessee and Birmingham. They are going to really struggle in this series and the possible post-season if they can't find ways to throw strikes or challenge hitters. Big hats off to Middendorf who rose to the challenge. Vennaro, Brady, Meeker, and Robinson really struggled. To a man. Take the 'W'. It's a best of 5 series now. At Home. Just gotta tighten things up while playing loose.

[Jake McKibbin]

9 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Yes he does. First time seeing him? His heater has massive ride. His change-up is filthy. He's a legit legit hurling prospect.

Yeah first time seeing him live, the heater is impressing me the most, clearly getting a ton of rise because it's not exactly overpowering, but when he kept it up, they just couldn't connect

[Jim Goulart]