The bump you have on your head that came from banging it against the wall kind of matches your eyes.

Final Score in Atlanta: Look, we lost.

For years, decades even, the "lovable loser" Angels have been the perpetually ignored underdogs during their few and far between national telecasts. Suffering thru these marathons of bad color commentary and mediocre camera angles has usually meant that the national broadcasters drool and skool over the opposing team.

Almost always against the Dodgers, Yankees or Red Sox, Angels fans have to endure non-stop worship of the opposing team.

Well the tables were turned and the shining corporate clean cut Carpinoesque overdog Angels got the über-slurpee treatment from ESPN's microphone mediocrities. Five and a half innings of "Pujols has ended his slump" and "Mike Trout will win five MVPS" and "Hector Santiago has figured it out" and on and on and on and on and on...

Just as the revenge of living well was beginning to taste sweet, the baseball gods smirked. In the bottom of the sixth inning, with a 3-0 lead, Hector Santiago suddenly couldn't put hitters away after ten-pitch at-bats. Mike Scioscia turned into a pumpkin and the IQ of a pumpkin knows to let a mediocre starter stay in too long and then bring in Kevin Jepsen and, well, it was 4-3 in a real short period of time.

Ah... but before we pile on the arms, let's point out that the 3-0 lead included two solo home runs out of eleven hits. The inability of this team to manufacture runs, to even move runners over let alone drive them in, to do anything creatively with men on base (besides "pressure the defense" with bad baserunning except of course allowing Mike Trout to ever attempt a steal); the offense is like flat seven up... a little sweet but no fizz and no caffeine.

So that was that. They are stale and flat. The pitching went splat. And that is where we are at.

The Smokies finished out their first half with a comeback win and the Cougars closed out theirs by blowing to late leads. The Hawks are 3-0. And that Baez fellow hit the ball a long way.

And a happy Father's Day to everyone who is or has a father.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs beat the Sacramento River Cats (Atlhetics), 4-3, snapping a five game losing streak.

Kyle Hendricks allowed two runs in the first inning and then shut Sacramento down the rest of the way. He improved his record to 7-5 after allowing two runs on four hits over seven innings. He struck out six and walked two.

Marcus Hatley got the save after pitching a scoreless ninth. He allowed a bunt single to lead off the inning, but that was it. He struck out two--one on a bunted third strike.

The I-Cubs took the lead in the top of the eighth inning when shortstop Javier Baez crushed a pitch from the rehabbing Eric O'Flaherty over the wall in dead center field. He hit it with a man on and it was his tenth home run this season. Baez went 2 for 4 with two steals.

Second baseman Arismendy Alcantara went 2 for 4 with a double. He scored twice.

Tennessee Smokies

The Tennessee Smokies scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth and one more in the eleventh to stun the Mississippi Braves, 7-6.

Corey Black made his first start in two weeks and allowed one unearned run over three innings.  He gave up two hits and issued one walk while striking out five.

The Smokies fell behind when Eduardo Figueroa started the seventh inning and all five batters he faced reached base and eventually scored.

Armando Rivero threw the final two innings and got his second win. Rivero allowed only one hit and one walk while striking out three.

The Smokies staged a comeback trailing 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth. They got two runs on a Kris Bryant sacrifice fly and a Rubi Silva single, but all looked lost when with two outs and the bases loaded, Jae-Hoon Ha hit a come backer to the mound. But Braves pitcher John Cornely lobbed a rainbow over the first baseman's head and two runs scored, tying the game.

The Smokies would go on to win in the eleventh when Elliot Sotosingled home Taylor Davis from second base.

Left fielder Anthony Giansanti went 3 for 6 with one RBI and one run scored. Second baseman Stephen Bruno was 3 for 6 and scored two runs. Right fielder Silva was 3 for 6 with two RBI and one run scored.

Bryant was 1 for 4 with a walk, extending his hit streak to ten games.

The Smokies finished the first half of the season at 33-36. That was good enough for second place, but it was 12.5 games behind Huntsville.

Daytona Cubs

Off for the All-Star Break. They'll play the Yankees at home tomorrow.

Kane County Cougars

The Kane County Cougars were bitten by the Beloit Snappers (Athletics), 5-4 in 12 innings.

Duane Underwood made his first start since June 2 and pitched just two scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and one walk while striking out one.

Michael Wagner pitched the next three innings and allowed one run on a solo home run in the third and three overall hits. He walked three and struck out three.

James Pugliese entered the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead, but an error by right field Yasiel Balaguert opened the gates to two unearned runs and sent the game into extra innings. Pugliese pitched four innings and allowed two unearned runs on two hits. He struck out four and didn't walk anyone.

After the Cougars took the lead in the top of the 12th on a Jacob Rogers home run, Zak Hermans entered the game to try to get this save. He faced two batters. He gave up a single and a walk-off home run.

Rogers' home run in the top of the 12th was his sixth of the season. He was 2 for 5.

In face, all four runs the Cougars had scored on a  home run. Balaguert hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning, his fifth this season. Balaguert also doubled in a 3 for 5 day at the plate.

Third baseman Jordan Hankins hit hit third home run of the year with the bases empty in the sixth inning. Hankins was 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.

The Cougars finished the first half at 45-25, 6.5 games ahead of second place Burlington.

Boise Hawks

The Boise Hawks hung on to beat the Tri-City Dust Devils (Rockies), 11-9.

Trevor Clifton pitched the first 4.1 innings and allowed four runs on five hits. Clifton walked four and struck out five.

Yomar Morel pitched the final 2.2 innings and got the win, although other than that he probably won't be proud of his effort. Morel surrendered four runs, three earned, on six hits, including a three-run home run in the seventh inning. Morel struck out two and didn't walk anyone.

DH Kyle Schwarber hit his second home run of the season with the bases empty in the third inning. He also clobbered a sacrifice fly to left field in the eighth inning. I was told by Hawks broadcaster Mike Safford that it would have been a grand slam except that an approaching storm had shifted the wind and it was blowing in at about 20 mph by the eighth inning.

Schwarver was 1 for 2 with a walk. He scored twice.

Catcher Justin Marra hit his first home run of the year before the winds came, hitting a three-run shot in the sixth. Marra went 2 for 4.

Center fielder Rashad Crawford went 2 for 4 with a stolen base. He scored two runs and had one RBI.

The Angels leave Atlanta in their rear view mirrors and head to Cleveland, and we are left to think about how close we came to sweeping, and how close we also came to being swept. Meanwhile, Mike Trout puts the MLB on notice: he is back, and he is still the most awesome.

While you were away...

Pffft. What a waste. This was a series to be won. Instead, we were nearly swept. We opened the series on Friday with C.J. Wilson coming out in the first inning and getting roasted for 4 runs. Only 2 hits, but one was a 3-run home and that was followed by a solo homer. The damage of those 4 runs would hold up and the Halos could muster only 3 runs out of 6 hits all game and dropped the opener 4-3............Saturday saw Garrett Richards take the mound. Richards lasted 6 innings but burned through 107 pitches as he struck out 10, walked only 3, and gave up 4 hits while holding the Braves scoreless. Richards was lifted for pinch-hitting Raul Ibanez in the 7th as the Angels lead 3-0. Kevin Jepsen took over with the lead 4-0 and went a scoreless 7th. Joe Smith stepped for he 8th in with the Angels leading 5-0 and gave up 1 run. Ernesto "Napalm" Frieri arrived to close out the game in the 9th, having a 5-1 lead to work with. Frieri would never record an out, and the entire 4-run lead would be gone. The Angels would take the lead back in the 10th, but Atlanta would come back and tie it. In fact, if not for this particular brilliance by Kole Calhoun, the game would have been lost outright there in the 10th.  Then both sides went idle for innings 11 and 12, before the Halos exploded in the 13th for another 5 run lead. Cory Rasmus would get the call and shut things down in the bottom of the frame, 4 hours and 57 minutes after the first pitch, and Fernando Salas would have himself a victory credit as the Angels win 11-6.............That brings us to last night, and the game we probably all expected to be a lost cause with Tyler Skaggs on the DL and Hector Santiago filling in. Suprisingly, Santiago picked up where he left off in his last start and cruised through the Atlanta batting order over the first 5 innings like a hot knife through melting butter. Then the 6th inning. the wheels came off Santiago and he was yanked after two runners had crossed home plate. Jepsen came in with 2 runners already on board, and gave up a single to load the bases. The next batter doubles, two more runners across, the Angels now have lost a 3-0 lead and trail 4-3, and the final score of 7-3 in favor of the Braves was merely dogpiling.

One more decent inning out of Wilson, and one more decent inning out Santiago, and the Angels sweep. Instead, only a great 13th inning by the offense on Saturday, after failing to get even one decent inning out of Frieri,kept the Angels from being swept.

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By the way, Mike Trout collected 7 hits over the weekend, including 3 doubles and 2 home runs with 6 RBI's to raise his BA 11 entire points over the weekend, to .305. Even more impressive, he raised his fWAR from 3.9 to 4.3, at this rate, he will over take Tulowitzki in a week. Albert Pujols had 6 hits for the series, Erick Aybar had 5 hits, and Kole Calhoun had 4. The offensive parts are starting to click............Eric Aybar had to leave the game last night with a hip injury, but supposedly is going to be alright...........As Rev touched upon in his post-game last night, that Halos sucked this weekend with runners on base. Looking at the box scores for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Halos had a combined TEAM LOB total of 25, but a combined individual total of 60.............Wade LeBlanc, DFA's by the Angels and claimed off waivers by the Yankees, refused an assignment to AAA and is now a free agent altogether...........Mike Scioscia still intends to feed us fans a steady diet of Roles, come hell, high water, or Ernesto Frieri.

____________________

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Moreno-Carpino Shame Update

Jim Fregosi still not being honored with a memorial patch.

Just to remind people why this is so odd, consider this: the Phillies wore a patch for a person who had inherited a minority stake in their franchise 24 years prior, who was invisible as an owner, and who had sold her last shares back in 2007. And even the Phillies sportswriters wonder why a patch for this owner, and not one of Fregosi.

68 games lost. Only 94 games remaining. Saving face may now be too late.

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Pinstriped Pundits | Chris Mitchell: Rob Refsnyder might make it to the majors this season, but what are the chances that it will be a significant contribution?

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Chase Whitley has been good out of the rotation, but for a rookie who was a reliever, he seems to look like he belongs.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: Brett Gardner, Brendan Ryan, Adam Warren, among others, talk about the best gift they ever gave their dads on Father's Day.

Newsday | David Lennon: The move to first base will allow Peter O`Brien to focus on what he does best – hit home runs.

The Record | Bob Klapisch: The Yankees might be facing their biggest test when they face the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Pinstriped Prospects | Jed Weisberger: While many are quick to say that Rob Refsnyder's bat could help the Yankees now, he still has a lot to work on with his defense.

The Times-Tribune | Donnie Collins: The Yankees need to start building for the future, but they also have the minor league talent to give the current team a boost.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: If you think the Yankees have it bad, you should consider the Texas Rangers.

Pinstripe Pundits | Chris Mitchell: Despite bad starts from Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran, it's more likely they hit better than it is they continue to struggle.

Trevor Bauer's love of math and engineering is well-documented, so he's sure to love MLB's new movement tracking software

The Indians managed to salvage the road trip, going 5-5 and getting back in the game at .500. It's a slow news day, probably because all these writers were off doing things with their families, or something. Anyway, here's what happened this weekend in baseball:

Yesterday's game: Indians 3, Red Sox 2

The Tribe managed a split with Boston after losing the first two games of the series, thanks to some great bullpen work and late heroics by Nick Swisher (!).

• LGT recap (Jason Lukehard)
• Cleveland.com recap (Paul Hoynes)
• Indians.com recap (Jordan Bastian)

Indians news & notes

Trevor Bauer taught his dad everything he knows about baseball | Fangraphs - Some really great stuff from Fangraphs here, as Trevor Bauer recounts how he became a student of baseball science. He learned everything he knows about math and engineering from his father Warren, and followed in his footsteps studying engineering at UCLA. In return, he has become his father's teacher in regard to baseball.

Naquin proving he can hit | CBS Sports - The Tribe's 23 year old OF prospect Tyler Naquin is putting up a healthy .327/.379/.451 with four homers and 14 stolen bases after a lackluster 2013 season.

Less movement, more hits for Santana | Cleveland.com - After ditching and returning to the leg kick, Carlos Santana still manages to do better when he's got fewer moving parts in his swing. Since returning from the concussion, Tito says his swing has been "quieter," which is good, though he's reluctant to ask him to make any major changes.

Indians weighing next steps for McAllister | Indians.com - Indians staff is reviewing tapes from Zach McAllister's AAA starts, and they seem non-committal about his role when he is ready to return. T.J. House has done a decent job in his absence, and McAllister isn't exactly lighting it up in his rehab starts.

Francona remembers growing up at the ballpark | Cleveland.com - Terry Francona recalls going to the ballpark with his father Tito, shagging fly balls and playing catch with the bat boys while his father prepared for the game. Some nice stuff in here too about Terry allowing the team to bring their daughters to the ballpark.

Two second-generation Indians make top 10 | CBS Sports - Nick Swisher and Michael Brantley crack CBS Sports' arbitrary list of top 10 MLB players whose fathers played.

Tidbits from around MLB

MLB releases more tracking data and names its product | Fangraphs - They're calling it Statcast, a revolutionary system for tracking player movements using motion tracking technology. Everything from the pitcher's speed to the speed of a fielder when tracking down a fly ball, to that fielder's route efficiency can be measured. This is huge, and has the potential to revolutionize the way we evaluate the sport in general, particularly defense. I hate the phrase "mind-blowing," so I'll just agree with the top commenter at Fangraphs has to say.

Ambidextrous pitcher ready for his shot at the majors | Sports On Earth - Yankees switch pitching prospect Pat Venditte has toiled away in AA for four years, and now he's one step away from being a matchup nightmare for major league managers.

Posey leaves game after taking foul tip to mask | CBS Sports - Buster Posey took a nasty shot to the mask and left after the half inning ended. His heading for "further evaluation," but concussions are always a big concern.

Taking a look at the top performers in the Angels' system in the month of May

(1) Michael Roth, 24, AA.  1.9 WAR (0.58 FIP WAR) 4 Wins, 0 losses.  36.2 IP, 0.98 ERA, 18 K/9 BB

I don't want to dismiss how crappy it must have been for Roth when the Halos' booted him off the 40-man, but they may have done him a favor. Jarring as the move was, the organization is now committed to leaving him alone and to develop against appropriate competition, something that they haven't let him do since the summer after he was drafted in 2012.  He responded beautifully.

Roth's poise, his temporary post-draft velocity bump (he was at 89-92 mph last April), and the Halos' paper-thin depth chart forced a premature exposure to MLB competition in 2013.  He was cannon fodder out there as a swingman, and the ensuing shellacking that he endured might have derailed his development.

Now he's just another 24 year old honing his craft in the upper minors, and the results have been good.  He doesn't whiff enough guys to project for more than a marginal big-league role, but May's K/BB ratio was his best in a calendar year, and his 49% ground ball rate his best in two years. Sure, last month's .241 BABIP against isn't sustainable -- he's not a sub-1.00 ERA guy -- but there's room for him to regress while still remaining effective.

(2) Jose Rondon, 20, A+. 1.4 WAR. 378/.397/.512 with 11 dbls, 3 trpls, and 4 walks

Rondon cut his k-rate by nearly two-thirds and hit .417 on balls in play, so of course he had a spectacular month. After smacking just three doubles in April -- all to the opposite field -- he pulled six doubles deep to left and peppered the gaps for five additional two-baggers and three triples.  The fact that Rondon is beginning to yank the ball with authority is promising because he has yet to go yard in full season ball.  Any over-the-fence power - any! - seems vital to projecting Rondon as a legitimate longterm replacement for Eric Aybar.

Baseball Prospectus' "fielding runs above average" metric is a fan of Rondon's glove, crediting him with 6 runs saved above your average High-A shortstop in just two months. He's received high marks for his soft hands, reliability, and general play-making ability in the field, though folks are skeptical about his range.

He currently looks like a utility player - a good one - but man, would a half-dozen bombs in the second half raise that profile.

(3) Wade LeBlanc, 29, AAA. 1.2 WAR. 2 W, 0 L. 2.03 ERA in 26.2 IP with 17 K/5 BB.

LeBlanc earned his ill-fated promotion to the big leagues, he really did. Then the Halos botched a series of roster transactions that left LeBlanc exposed to waivers, and the Yankees snapped him up, only to designate him for assignment days later.  He's now a free agent.

LeBlanc will provide useful depth for someone. It would be nice if the Halos' could admit their mistake and bring him back into the fold, but it looks like he has no interest in a minor league job. Salt Lake lake fans will miss him most of all.

(4) Nate Smith, 22, AA. 1.2 WAR (1.7 RA9 WAR/1.7 FIP WAR on the season).  38.1 IP, 3.05 ERA. 37 K/8 BB

Currently our most dependable starter in the upper minors, and I think the most likely to get the call should another hole open up in our rotation. Not bad for an eighth rounder in his first full professional season.

Smith combines command and polish with a fabulous mid-to-high 70's change-up.  In AA, 68% of his pitches have gone for strikes and he's fanning 27% of opposing hitters, both well above average rates.  What I really loved in the April start that I watched is that he started to get whiffs on 89 mph fastballs late in the game because guys were so unnerved by his drop-off-the-table change-up.

While his current Double A .349 BABIP is a inflated, I don't think it's entirely a fluke: he'll give up hits on the mediocre fastball and occasionally struggle to put guys away. He's having an especially difficult time right now against AA lefties, who are hitting .357/.400/.571 against him, suggesting that he has work to do on his slow curveball, either by tightening it up or adding a slider. Until he addresses those issues, it's hard to see him as more than a back-of-the-rotation guy.

However, he has the command and pitchability to make a passable swingman now.  Another year of polish, and he might be more than that.  A lefty Matt Shoemaker, ready sooner rather than later.  That has a lot of present value for the Halos.

(5) Eliot Morris, 22, A+. 1.2 WAR. 34 IP, 1.59 ERA.  32 K/11 BB

As Turks Teeth pointed out last week, Morris would be looking a heck of a lot better if it weren't for Lancaster's buzz saw offense, which plated 10 runs off of him in just 7.1 IP.  Cal League lefties in particular have dinged his overall stat line, knocking him around at a .313/.421/.594 clip.

Some observations from his televised May 19th start: the fastball didn't look as tough as the stat line would have you think. He got it up to 94 mph, and at times it bored in at on right handers, but it played down because he did such a rotten job commanding the pitch, missing above the zone frequently. I didn't get to see much of his secondary pitches, because he was working from behind in the count so often, but the slider looked good. His change-up needs work.

Morris is a work-in-progress, but has also endured a long and difficult recovery from Tommy John surgery in his freshman year in college. I get the sense that he could still make a developmental leap.

Recapping the Yankees' minor league affiliates' results from June 15th.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:L 3-11 vs. Columbus Clippers

1B Corban Joseph 3-4, HR, RBI, E3(2nd) - second homer of the season
CF Antoan Richardson 0-4
LF Zoilo Almonte 1-4, K, OF assist - batting .287 this season
3B Scott Sizemore 2-4, double
DH Kyle Roller 0-4, K
RF Zelous Wheeler 1-4, RBI, 2 K
2B Rob Refsnyder 2-4, triple, 2 K
C Francisco Arcia 0-3, RBI, BB, K
SS Carmen Angelini 0-4, E6 - fielding error, fourth of the season

Joel De La Cruz 4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K - 48 of 78 pitches for strikes
Francisco Rondon 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, K, hit batsman
Heath Bell 1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, K
Preston Claiborne 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R/3 ER, 2 BB, K
Jim Miller 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, K

Double-A Trenton Thunder:L 2-6 vs. New Britain Rock Cats

LF Taylor Dugas 1-4 - batting .309 this season
1B Francisco Cervelli 1-4, K
CF Ben Gamel 0-4
3B Rob Segedin 0-4
DH Peter O'Brien 0-4, K
RF Tyler Austin 2-3 - batting .237/.293/.447 over his last 10 games
2B Dan Fiorito 0-3
C Tyson Blaser 1-3
SS Ali Castillo 1-3, double, 2 RBI, E6 - throwing error, seventh of the season

Bryan Mitchell 5.1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K - 60 of 96 pitches for strikes
Phil Wetherell 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, K, hit batsman
Aaron Dott 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, K

High-A Tampa Yankees: All-Star Break

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs:W 10-3 vs. Lexington Legends

LF Michael O'Neill 0-3, 2 BB, K, HBP
SS Tyler Wade 1-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB, K - batting .269 this season
RF Dustin Fowler 2-5, triple, HR, 4 RBI - third homer of the season
1B Reymond Nunez 1-4, BB, 2 K
C Eduardo de Oleo 0-5, 3 K
DH Kale Sumner 0-4, BB, 2 K
3B John Murphy 1-4, 2 K - batting .264 this season
CF Brandon Thomas 2-4, double, BB
2B Gosuke Katoh 2-4, 3 RBI, BB, SB

Ian Clarkin 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, hit batsman - 7 GO/2 AO
Omar Luis 3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, K, WP, hit batsman
Eric Ruth 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, K, hit batsman

Short Season-A Staten Island Yankees:W 2-1, L 2-3 vs. Brooklyn Cyclones

Game 1:

SS Thairo Estrada 0-3, 2 BB, SB
RF Austin Aune 0-4
DH Chris Breen 2-2, RBI, BB, HBP
2B Ty McFarland 2-4, double, RBI, BB - walk off walk
1B Bo Thompson 0-3, BB
LF Nathan Mikolas 0-3, BB
3B Renzo Martini 0-4
CF Collin Slaybaugh 0-3, BB
C Isaias Tejeda 0-3, K

Sam Agnew-Wieland 2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, WP
Chad Taylor 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
Jose Pena 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Game 2:

SS Thairo Estrada 0-4, 2 K
RF Austin Aune 1-4, double, RBI, K
1B Chris Breen 0-3, 2 K
3B Renzo Martini 0-2, K, HBP, 2 E5 - two fielding errors
LF Brady Steiger 1-3
DH Bubba Jones 0-3, K
CF Daniel Lopez 0-3, RBI, K
C Radley Haddad 0-2, BB
2B Jose Javier 1-2, BB

Cale Coshow 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Tim Giel 2 IP, 4 H, 3 R/0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Manolo Reyes 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Updates on some of the Tampa Yankees, including a solid start from Jake Cave, a pair of intriguing relief arms, and continued inconsistencies from Rafael De Paula.

The High-A Tampa Yankees are in the middle of their All-Star break, and with the time off, this is a good opportunity to check in on the more notable prospects on the team:

The Good

Jake Cave, CF, 21
290 PA, .299/.349/.396, 7 SB, 119 wRC+, 6.6-BB%, 19.3-K%, .097 ISO

It has been a solid, if not spectacular, season so far here in 2014 for Cave. Like his days in Charleston, he's mostly collecting singles without hitting for much power or drawing walks; hopefully that changes a bit here in the second half. His first half performance, however, earned him a deserved trip to the Florida State League All-Star Game, so good for him. If Cave keeps this production up, you have to wonder if he'll leapfrog the struggling Mason Williams, who is currently just one level ahead of Cave. But that's probably a story for 2015.

Dante Bichette Jr, 3B, 21
263 PA, .276/.361/.430, 132 wRC+, 11-BB%, 18.6-K%, .154 ISO

When we last checked in with DBJ, he was tearing the cover off the ball, thanks to some improved mechanics at the plate. It was just 11 games, but he was hitting .313/.489/.438, with a 7:12 K:BB. He has understandably cooled off in the 53 games to follow, hitting .270/.335/.429 with a 42:17 K:BB, but it's not like he's fallen off the map entirely. Overall, this has easily been his best season since debuting in 2011 with the GCL Yankees. DBJ might stay in Tampa for the duration of the year, but if he doesn't fall apart in the second half, he'll surely find himself with Double-A in 2015, where the fun will really begin.

Dan Camarena, LHSP, 21
13 games/starts, 70 IP, 2.70 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 6.8 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9

Like Cave, Camarena is not a big name prospect, but still had a good first half for the Tampa Yankees, earning him a trip to the FSL All-Star Game. The reason why Camarena isn't a huge name comes from the fact that his stuff just doesn't jump out at you. Camarena's fastball sits in the 88-90 mph range; his change-up is his best put away pitch, but isn't spectacular; his curve is more of a third offering. Stats wise, as listed above, he hasn't missed a whole lot of bats this year (as well as last year with Charleston), and doesn't induce a whole lot of grounders (~40%). Add all of this up, and you potentially have yourself another Vidal Nuno. This isn't a bad thing, it's just... there isn't a whole lot of upside here to really get excited about.

Nick Rumbelow, RHRP, 23
10 games, 14 IP, 2.57 ERA, 1.68 FIP, 11 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0 HR/9

The Yankees love hoarding college relievers in the draft, and Rumbelow is another example. Picked in the seventh round in 2013, Rumbelow has had (unsurprisingly) success in the lower levels of the system. His fastball sits more in the lower-90's, but it's his wipeout slider that puts batters to bed. He steamrolled through the South Atlantic League earlier in the season to earn a promotion up to the FSL, and with continued success at this level, you wonder if a promotion up to Double-A Trenton will soon be in the cards.

Nick Goody, RHRP, 23
11 games, 14.1 IP, 2.51 ERA, 1.71 FIP, 15.7 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9

Like Rumbelow, Goody is another right-handed reliever named Nick that was drafted from LSU. Goody's 2013 was cut short thanks to Tommy John Surgery, but he has since come back strong for the T-Yanks. He's also in the same boat with Rumbelow in that they're 23-year-old relievers in High-A, so a trip to Trenton could be in the works and soon.

Trying to find their rhythm

Greg Bird, 1B, 21
144 PA, .238/.340/.385, 111 wRC+, 14-BB%, 23.6-K%, .148 ISO

Last season was a smashing success for Bird, as the catcher-turned-first-baseman put up a monster season in his first full year at Charleston. Bird's fortunes haven't been quite the same here in 2014, though, as a bad back delayed his start by more than a month. Overall, Bird is drawing fewer walks and hitting for less power than he did in 2013, but his season is still young and there is plenty of time to turn it around in the second half.

More of the same

Cito Culver, SS, 21
270 PA, .243/.313/.331, 8 SB, 90 wRC+, 9.6-BB%, 24.4-K%, .088 ISO

Culver was highly-criticized back in 2010 because most didn't think his bat would develop into much, even for a shortstop. For the most part, those critics have been right. While a 90 wRC+ isn't terrible for a shortstop who is over a year-and-a-half younger than the average player in the league, it still isn't what you're looking for. Cito has always been a guy who can draw some walks (which he has this year), but the strikeouts are way too high for a guy who doesn't hit for much power, which has been a recurring theme throughout his career. For what it's worth, Culver has an .818 OPS over the last month, but until we see a (much) longer period of success, we'll just chalk it up as small sampled noise.

Rafael De Paula, RHSP, 23
13 games, 54.1 IP, 4.97 ERA, 3.01 FIP, 11.4 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9

After a dominating showing in the Sally League last season, De Paula got promoted mid-season to High-A, where he got a real reality check during an 11-game trial. Instead of blowing by hitters with high heat like he did in Charleston, De Paula found out he had to "pitch" more (things like: change speeds, throw more strikes, etc.) in High-A. Now back in the FSL, De Paula has dealt with the same problems as he did to close out 2013. From listening to his games, when De Paula gets into trouble he tends to let it snowball and ruin his outings. A move to the bullpen feels inevitable, but the Yankees are right, for now, to let him ride it out and see if he can make strides as a starting pitcher. But at 23 years of age and 24 games in High-A, you wonder if that'll ever happen.

The injured

Eric Jagielo, 3B, 22
177 PA, .256/.339/.500, 142 wRC+, 10.7-BB%, 23.2-K%, .244 ISO

Jagielo has been shelved for the better part of the past month thanks to an oblique injury suffered in the middle of an at-bat. In fact, during that at-bat, Jagielo fell behind 0-2, felt the pain, had the trainers check on him, said he was fine enough to finish the at-bat, then homered. Jagielo was then taken out of the game and hasn't been seen on the field since, but according to Mark Newman (via Josh Norris), the third baseman could return in around a week. When he was on the field, Jagielo hit for a lot of power and drew some walks, but not much else. Jagielo is said to be a disaster at third base, to the point where a switch to first may very well happen in the future, which would undoubtedly hurt his overall value. We'll see if he can improve in that regard once he returns.

As a whole, the Yankees' High-A team really isn't too eye-popping. Jagielo is certainly the most interesting name here, and it'd be really nice if he can come back soon and continue to develop with the bat and (especially) the glove. This squad is set to get some more firepower, though, with Luis Severino and (presumably) Aaron Judge coming in from Charleston, a group in which I'll look more at in the coming days.

After a long road trip, the Yankees have an off day as they head back to the Bronx. Please feel free to use this as your open thread for the day. Check who won the PSA DP and answer some fun questions.

VIdal Nuno is not that good at pitching. Unfortunately, the Yankees really do not have anyone to replace him in the rotation. So yeah, this is something we're gonna have to deal with. I say we deal with it together, with Game Threads and booze and pints of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

6/15/14 Daily Prediction Answers

The Aardvarks are done with the West Coast. They said hi to the Platypuses, who promptly kicked them off their property. While on the flight, they did the math and sadly nobody won yesterday. Hopefully things will turn around now that the team is back home.

Fun Questions

What do you do to keep yourself occupied/sane on a flight?

Describe an average day for you!

Without getting into the heated Crunchy vs. Smooth argument, what brand of Peanut Butter is your favorite?

Describe, image post, or link some of your favorite pieces of art. (Please no NSFW stuff)

The Yankees have a day off before the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays come to town. Please use this thread as your Open Thread for the day. Discuss other sports, other baseball games, or whatever tickles your fancy.

It would have been easy to be intimidated by the '98 Yankees, but "Mr. Padre" was definitely not affected.

Few players in major league history have ever been so pure a hitter as San Diego Padres great Tony Gwynn. He suited up 2,440 games over 20 years exclusively with the Padres, notched 3,141 hits, won eight National League batting titles, and he ended his playing career with the highest career batting average seen since Ted Williams. He was an outstanding hitter who basically never struck out, and a ton of factoids are hovering around the Twitterverse right now about how difficult it was to handle him. (This might be my favorite.) Had it not been for the Players' Strike in 1994, the .394-hitting Gwynn might have hit .400; only 19 players in major history ever had a higher career batting average than Gwynn's .338.

This morning, Major League Baseball was justcrushed by the awful news of Gwynn's tragic passing at age 54:

We mourn the passing of Hall of Famer and @Padres icon Tony Gwynn, who died today at the age of 54. pic.twitter.com/lXPEVSzRj3

— MLB (@MLB) June 16, 2014

Jim Salisbury at CSN Philadelphia had just written a touching Father's Day article about Gwynn and his son Tony Gwynn, Jr., a reserve outfielder on the Phillies. Salisbury talked of the elder Gwynn's battle with cancer of the salivary gland and how the family hoped for his recovery despite his failing health in recent months. Gwynn had been baseball coach at his alma mater, San Diego State, since 2003, where he coached future big-league aces Stephen Strasburg and Justin Masterson.

Sadly, Gwynn's recovery was not meant to be; he's gone off to the great ballpark in the sky to join, among others, the longtime voice of the Padres and former Yankee Jerry Coleman, who also passed away this year. (Reminder: Cancer is the friggin' worst and for the love of all that is sacred, quit it with the chewing tobacco before it kills you.)

Since Gwynn spent his entire career in the National League, the Yankees did not have too many interactions with him beyond All-Star Games, but they did meet up with Gwynn's Padres in the 1998 World Series. The Yankees of course had a dominant team that year, one of (if not the) best in the history of baseball, winning 114 games and losing only two games in the playoffs to finish at a remarkable 125-50.

However, Gwynn's Padres were no pushovers. They won a franchise record 98 games in '98 to clinch just their third NL West title in their then-29-year history. Behind the masterful and intense Kevin Brown, a steady rotation that featured former Yankee Sterling Hitchcock, and Cy Young runner-up closer Trevor Hoffman, their pitching staff ranked third among all NL teams in ERA with a 3.63. In addition to Gwynn, who missed his fifth straight batting title but still notched a .321/.364/.501 triple slash at age 38 with a 133 OPS+, the Padres boasted underrated 50-homer slugger Greg Vaughn and hard-hitting third baseman Ken Caminiti, the '96 NL MVP who reached a 132 OPS+ in '98 and also sadly fell to an early demise at age 41 in 2004 due to heavy drug use.

What was the Padres' reward for such a great season? They were granted to opportunity to play against the winningest teams in Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves history. Undaunted, Brown struck out a Division Series record 16 Astros in the playoff opener, former Yankee playoff hero Jim Leyritz crushed a late solo homer to win Game 3, and Hitchcock outpitched Randy Johnson to eliminate the Astros in just four games. Then, the Padres baffled the baseball world by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the NLCS over the 106-win Braves thanks to a 10th inning homer from Caminiti in Game 1, a three-hit shutout by Brown in Game 2, and Hitchcock again outpitching an ace, Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, in Game 3. The Padres dropped the next two games to became the first team in history to allow a Game 6 after leading 3-0 in a series, but eventual NLCS MVP Hitchcock stopped worries of a collapse by going into Turner Field and tossing five scoreless innings against Hall of Famer Tom Glavine. The Padres put up a five-spot against Glavine in the sixth and they won their second NL pennant.

Again, they were forced to play against a team that had accumulated more wins than any other team in franchise history. It was Gwynn's second career trip to the series after the Padres fell in five games to the Tigers in '84, a 14-year gap between Fall Classics. He was excited to be back to compete for a championship again and was enthralled by the prospect of playing in Yankee Stadium. Gwynn made a trip to Monument Park prior to the World Series opener just to take in the aura of the hallowed grounds and left a wonderful impact on Yankees fans. It wasn't just a matter of respecting him from afar anymore--the man lived and breathed baseball, and his extremely friendly disposition just made him even more likeable.

Unfortunately for the Yankees' vaunted pitching staff, while Gwynn was impressed by Yankee Stadium, he was not intimidated at all. San Diego jumped out to a 5-2 lead thanks to two homers from Vaughn and a three-hit game from Gwynn. Although he wasn't much of a slugger with 135 career homers, he even took David Wells to the left field upper deck with a solo homer in the fifth inning:

Sadly for Gwynn, Brown was removed from the game win the tying run coming to the plate and two outs in the seventh, and San Diego's shoddy middle relief blew the game. The next day wasn't much better as Andy Ashby was pummeled and though Gwynn had another hit, the Padres lost 9-3.

Game 3 was the first World Series game at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium in quite some time and the raucous crowd was ready to see Gwynn and the Padres finally win one. For the fourth time in the playoffs, Hitchock faced a formidable former Cy Young-winning foe in David Cone, and he kept the Padres in the game with six scoreless innings. Gwynn gave him a lead with a two-run single to bring him home after a leadoff hit in the bottom of the sixth, and Gwynn himself came around to score on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0, Padres. By the time Gwynn would bat again though, the Yankees had rallied off Hitchcock and Hoffman on the strength of two Scott Brosius homers to take a 5-3 lead, deflating the San Diego fans. However, Gwynn refused to let the Padres fall out of it in the half-inning that immediately followed the decisive Brosius homer. Batting against incomparable Yankees closer Mariano Rivera with a runner on second and one out, Gwynn singled again, and Vaughn brought the runner home with a sacrifice fly to make it one-run game. With the tying run on the bases and the go-ahead run at the plate in the dangerous Caminiti, Rivera fanned him to escape the jam and threw a scoreless ninth to clinch the third game.

Facing a sweep, Gwynn was one of only four Padres to get a hit in Game 4. The Yankees scored three runs off Brown, who was pitching on three days' rest, and the Padres could do nothing against Andy Pettitte. Gwynn's sixth inning single was erased on a double play. Trailing by three with one out and a runner on in the eighth, Gwynn knocked Pettitte out of the game by smashing another single up the middle to bring the tying run to the plate with Vaughn, Caminiti, and Leyritz due up, who could all go deep. It was all for naught, as Jeff Nelson and Rivera completed the inning without any runs crossing the plate, and Gwynn never got another chance to bat. Rivera threw a perfect ninth, and the Yankees swept the Padres.

No one could pin any blame on Gwynn, though. He had posted one of the finest World Series batting lines of all time by batting .500/.529/.688 with just one strikeout in the four games. The 15-time All-Star had fully demonstrated his abilities to the Yankees, and all were fully amazed by what the Padres' all-time great had done. That is the memory that countless Yankees fans are left with today now that Gwynn has left us. He was an unbelievable competitor, an all-around wonderful man to be around, and a Hall of Fame player who the baseball community will dearly miss.

Rest in peace, Tony Gwynn. Fans of the Yankees and all other teams around the game doff their caps to you and have your family and the Padres organization in their minds.

One last Gwynn note

Tom Boswell (h/t: yelmurc at SB Nation MLB)

Maddux was convinced no hitter could tell the speed of a pitch with any meaningful accuracy. To demonstrate, he pointed at a road a quarter-mile away and said it was impossible to tell if a car was going 55, 65 or 75 mph unless there was another car nearby to offer a point of reference.

"You just can’t do it," he said. Sometimes hitters can pick up differences in spin. They can identify pitches if there are different releases points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision.

"Except," Maddux said, "for that [expletive] Tony Gwynn."

Greg Maddux, who struck out 3,371 batters, 10th most in history, faced Tony Gwynn 107 times in their careers. He never struck him out. Ever.

— Dennis Deitch (@DennisDeitch) June 16, 2014

This week, the Yankees return to the Bronx with a big chance to make up ground in the division, as the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles will each visit New York.

Last week, the Yankees reeled off four straight wins, sweeping the Mariners in Seattle and taking the first game in Oakland before losing two straight to the Athletics.  The Yankees now sit at 35-33 and are 4.5 games back in the AL East, tied for second with the Baltimore Orioles, who both trail the Toronto Blue Jays. This week, the Yankees will take on both of these teams in the Bronx, allowing an excellent opportunity for New York to make up some ground in the AL East.

The Blue Jays and the Orioles

Blue Jays: 1^st in AL East (41-30), 3^rd in runs scored, 2^nd in OPS (.764), 1^st in wRC+ (112), 19^th in ERA (3.96), 23^rd in FIP (4.04), 28^th in xFIP (4.27)

Orioles: 2^nd in AL East (35-33) 15^th in runs scored, 8^th in OPS (.727), 12^th in wRC+ (99), 21^st in ERA (4.03) 29^th in FIP (4.24), 27^th in xFIP (4.14)

Quick hits

Bautista and Encarnacion raking in 2014: The Blue Jays have gotten out of the gates so well mainly because of the monstrous starts from their sluggers Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista.  Encarnacion is second in the majors in home runs with 20, tied for second in RBIs with 54, and posts a .257/.342/.567 triple slash with a 149 wRC+.  Bautista has an even better wRC+ (171) and has hit .311/.434/.542 with 15 home runs and 46 RBI of his own.  Add that to Melky Cabrera's big start (123 wRC+ through 69 games) and no wonder the Blue Jays have one of the best offenses in the league.

Hutchison having sneaky good year for Toronto: While Mark Buehrle's 10-3 start has gotten a lot of attention, Drew Hutchison is having a solid season, even posting a lot of numbers better than Buehrle's.  His xFIP is better (3.95 vs 4.19), as is his K/9 of 7.68 (vs. 5.23 for Buehrle), and his average against of .238 is also better than Buehrle's.  The Yankees had better not overlook him, as this series may come down to the third game, when Hutchinson and David Phelps will face off.

Yankees didn't make a mistake passing on Jimenez: When the Yankees were looking for free agent pitching this offseason, many floated the idea that they sign Ubaldo Jimenez if they missed on Masahiro Tanaka.  Luckily they got Tanaka and didn't have to think about Jimenez, who has been awful so far for the Orioles.  At 2-8 with a 4.33 xFIP and an ugly 5.33 BB/9 rate, Jimenez has had a rough go of it in the AL East.  With him pitching the first game on Friday, look for the Yankees to get a leg up early in the series.

Yankees weekly notes

Beltran struggling since return: Carlos Beltran has had little success since returning form the DL, hitting just .171 with two doubles and one home run in 35 at bats.  That home run did come on Sunday, a day which saw Beltran go 2-4, so perhaps he's finding his comfort zone and getting ready to go on a tear.  With some of the other big bats in the lineup struggling, the Yankees could really use Beltran's production.  For more on Beltran's struggles, check out Jesse's latest post here.

Whitley proving to be quite the asset: Chase Whitley still hasn't lost a game since he came up to the big leagues in mid-May, and has proved to be quite an asset for the Yankees and their decimated pitching staff.  Whitley has won his last two starts, even going seven innings plus in both of them.  A lack of longevity has been the only knock against Whitley, and if he can give the Yankees six quality innings each start, I'm sure everyone would be thrilled.  He's been terrific so far this season, posting a 2.41 ERA and a 3.81 xFIP by limiting walks (0.80 BB/9) and long balls (0.27 HR/9).  He has a tough matchup against Buehrle this week, but don't be surprised if the youngster out-pitches the veteran.

Prediction: 4-2 (2-1 vs. Toronto, 2-1 vs. Baltimore)

The Yankees had a good week last week, and they need to continue that success this week as they start a stretch of four straight series against AL East opponents.  While Toronto is one of the best offensive teams in the league, Tanaka should be able to stymie them, and I think one of Phelps and Whitley will turn in a quality start.  That should be enough for the Yankees to take two out of three from the AL East leaders.  The Orioles are also one of the better offensive teams in the league, but their pitching is incredibly weak.  Look for Hiroki Kuroda to outpitch Jimenez and Tanaka to win the series finale (because I refuse to believe he can lose).  Should be a good week for Yankees fans!

How do you think the Yankees will fare this week?  Vote in the poll and sound off in the comments below!

Pitching matchups

Monday, June 16:  Off

Tuesday, June 17: Masahiro Tanaka (10-1, 2.02 ERA, 2.35 xFIP) vs. Marcus Stroman (3-1, 5.18 ERA, 3.36 xFIP)

Wednesday, June 17: Chase Whitley (2-0, 2.41 ERA, 3.81 xFIP) vs. Mark Buehrle (10-3, 2.28 ERA, 4.19 xFIP)

Thursday: David Phelps (2-4, 4.32 ERA, 4.30 xFIP) vs. Drew Hutchinson (5-4, 3.62 ERA, 3.95 xFIP)

Friday: Hiroki Kuroda (4-5, 4.32 ERA, 3.79 xFIP) vs. Ubaldo Jimenez (2-8, 4.86 ERA, 4.33 xFIP)

Saturday: Vidal Nuno (1-2, 4.97 ERA, 4.32 xFIP) vs. Bud Norris (6-5, 3.73 ERA, 4.41 xFIP)

Sunday: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Chris Tillman (5-3, 4.91 ERA, 4.74 xFIP)

According to the Blue Jays radio broadcasts'  "Third Man in the Booth" Mike Wilner, Toronto will be recalling infielder Munenori Kawasaki to the major leagues before Tuesday night's game against the Yankees.

Welcome back, Muni! #Bluejays will recall Munenori Kawasaki for tomorrow's series opener with #Yankees Expecting Lind or Cecil to DL. #Jays

— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness590) June 17, 2014

While Wilner was the first to give the news to the Toronto crowd, apparently this Twitter account had the news early:

ちょっくらメジャー行って来ます。一人で空港さみしい（ ; ; ） pic.twitter.com/41WdD2E6fb

— ムネリン通信〜川﨑宗則〜 (@MuneKawasakiWB) June 16, 2014

Maybe more of us English-speakers should start following @MuneKawasakiWB, as it seems to be somewhat legitimately connected to Munenori Kawasaki, or at least a very good stalker:

リムジンで迎えに来てくれた、運転手さん。やっぱりメジャー最高(^○^) pic.twitter.com/idHHDnvHFu

— ムネリン通信〜川﨑宗則〜 (@MuneKawasakiWB) June 17, 2014

Kawasaki spent most of 2014 with the Buffalo Bisons, save for a three-game stint with the Blue Jays in mid-April. The fan favourite has been hitting .276/.320/.708 in triple-A so far, with an impressive 11 doubles (and a triple) in 129 plate appearances. The 33-year-old from Japan re-signed with the Blue Jays on a minor league contract, but was returned to the 40-man roster when Marcus Walden was designated for assignment.

As Wilner mentioned, Adam Lind and Brett Cecil are both candidates to go on the 15-day disabled list. Lind fouled a pitch off his foot on Saturday and was removed from the game. An initial CT scan showed no fracture, so a diagnosis of a bone contusion (bruise) was announced. However, he was seen wearing a walking boot and using crutches on Sunday, and it was reported on the game telecast that he was still feeling pain. Cecil left the game a day earlier, stumbling off the mound with an apparent groin injury, which was later called a left groin strain. The National Post's John Lott spoke with Pete Walker who said that Cecil was feeling "OK--not great, but OK."

Light night tonight.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were sent up the river without a paddle by the Sacramento River Cats (Athletics), 5-1.

Chris Rusin started and took the loss after he allowed five runs on thirteen hits over six innings. One of the five runs was unearned. Rusin struck out three and walked one.

Tennessee Smokies

All-Star Break. Kris Bryant won the Southern League home run hitting contest tonight.

Daytona Cubs

The Daytona Cubs lost to the Tampa Yankees, 7-2.

Justin Amlung pitched the first three innings and surrendered four runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out one.

Catcher Willson Contreras hit a solo home run in the sixth inning. It was his first on the season. Contreras was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Kane County Cougars

All-Star Break

Boise Hawks

The Boise Hawks lost to the Tri-City Dust Devils (Rockies), 4-3 in ten innings.

Josh Conway finally made his professional debut tonight and went three innings without allowing a run. He gave up four hits. He struck out three and didn't walk anyone.

Francisco Carrillo pitched the ninth and tenth innings and got the loss when he gave up a run in the tenth. He allowed two hits. He neither walked nor struck anyone out.

Left fielder Kyle Schwarber was 2 for 5 with a triple.

First baseman Daniel Canela was 2 for 4 with a walk.

Center fielder Rashad Crawford was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI.

Tonight was familiar. I can’t tell you how many games I’ve watched at Safeco that were just like this one. I know it isn’t quite this many, but it might as well be hundreds.

A quiet and comfortable crowd gathered on a nice, but not amazing, Seattle evening, and took in a baseball game played between two not-great teams. There was an average starter on the mound, and he was made to look anything but.

The other team, yeah, they had some very big hits from some expected contributors—but they had just as many that shouldn’t have happened, or at least easily couldn’t have have. And with one team sporting a historically bad offense, the game was over mere moments after it began.

Tonight, finally, the Mariners were on the other end.

We’ve experienced our fair share of bad offense, over the past couple years and the past couple days. We know what this looks like. And what it looks like isn’t always complete domination. The first inning is a lot what it looks like.

It isn’t as if the Padres were completely blanked, and didn’t have at least something of an opportunity. In that first inning, it looked as though the Mariners might fall into an early deficit when San Diego put runners on first and second with one out, thanks to singles from Seth Smith and Carlos Quentin.

From there, it really doesn’t take much to score. A looping liner over short gets one, a hard grounder past first gets two. The Padres didn’t get anything, and it wasn’t even close. Chase Headley, who has a career wRC+ of 114, struck out on  a middle-middle changeup. Yonder Alonso popped out in foul territory.

Though they'd put a leadoff man on three more times before Chris Young exited in the sixth, the meatball-throwing seven-footer wouldn't allow another runner in scoring position. He struck out six, and only walked one. Which, yeah, yeesh Padres. That's horrible.

You know what wasn't horrible? The Mariners making this game comfortable the whole way through. Like I mentioned, there were some hits that an opponent might wince at—like getting Robinson Cano to pop up, and have it drop in for a RBI double, or Brad Miller ripping a home run. To us, we know there's more to the latter—but to opposing fans, that's a guy who came in hitting a robust .176 smacking a dinger. Even if it isn't, that looks cheap.

But hell, you know what isn't? Your best hitter letting it fly 3-0 and hammering a game-defining three-run bomb into the right-field seats. Yes, Kyle Seager is still the Mariners' best hitter, by wRC+ at least. It's close, but that 127 puts him just ahead of Robinson Cano's 124. And, as it's fun to do it, a quick look at Kyle Seager offensively among his peers: he's fourth in wRC+, one point behind Adrian Beltre and three back Josh Donaldson. Todd Frazier is out in front at 138.

Now, I don't mean to say that the rest of it—everything that wasn't Seager—was cheap, because it wasn't. It's just that, sometimes, it isn't that hard to score five. You don't need some great lineup to do it. You do to do it consistently, but, with injury-caused holes throughout theirs, the Mariners managed a comfortable victory tonight.

Now, I don't mean to imply the Mariners are adept offensively, or anything near it, as they did rank third-to-last in all of baseball in wRC+ coming into tonight. But after a week of ragging on this offense—which is bad, no way around it—some perspective: the difference between the Mariners (28th) and Padres (30th) is the same as the difference offensively between the M's and the Cardinals (18th).

The Padres are a team the Mariners need to be able to beat. And they went out and did it tonight.

Let's do some bullets.

• Ever since I discovered the Hit It Here Cafe sells $5 tallboys (it's open to all, they do it all game), I've spent a lot watching games while walking along the concourse. In doing so, I've started to take notice of which players I'll stop and watch for, and which ones I'll catch between the stands while I continue back to my seats. The Mariners have more stop-and-watch players than they used to, and James Jones is one of them.
  
  The average fan will fall in love with that batting average, especially in comparison to the rest of the Mariners. In that regard, he's the best non-Cano and Seager. And really, how can you have the heart to explain that the average masks a few other things—like the lack of power and, for the most part, walks—when it's still all so entertaining to watch? If he gets anything, it's going to be a single. But when those singles are nearly built-in doubles with his ability to swipe a bag, how can you hate? He had three stolen bags tonight, matching Ichiro's rookie record—one I suspect Jones might make all his own. Despite going 1-for-5, he scored twice. Most nights he's beating out double plays, and tonight he broke one up. 
  
  There may be a few rough edges, sure, but James Jones is one useful player.
• So, Logan Morrison. What do we have here? I think I like what I see, and I don't believe I'm alone here. He seems to make good contact, works a count pretty well and has always had a bit of pop. And of course, it doesn't take a whole lot to be a significant upgrade over Smoak. But still, I was surprised to see tonight was the first time he's gotten a hit since notching a double and a home run in his second game back. He's also struck out six times and walked just twice since returning from Tacoma.
  
  It's too early to know for sure either way, but it's hard not to wonder if there's really something there, or it's all just wishful thinking on our part. Either way, I'm more than willing to give it some time and find out. 
  
• It's gotten to the point where it isn't crazy to hope for a Brad Miller extra base hit. Entering tonight, his wRC+ for June was up at 86, and while I don't have a clue on how to calculate wRC+, I'd guess it's now up near his 2013 average for the month. Not long ago, it was well above it. There are still some issues, like a strikeout rate near 30 percent this month, but he's getting there. If you're a shortstop with a 100 wRC+ and not-disastrous defense, you're a valuable player—and Brad Miller is very nearly back there.
• I wish I had a really good Tony Gwynn story, some great fond memory from my childhood, but I don't. The thing I have is managing to, with my dad, scalp my way into the 2001 All Star Game for face value. At one point, we sat in some unoccupied seats in the center field bleachers, and chanted "Tony! Tony! Tony!" with a few others hoping the Padres legend would play in what was his last summer classic. He didn't. Wikipedia calls him a "non-playing squad member."
  
  This past off-season, Mariners PR pro Jeff Evans invited Scott and me to the annual media luncheon. It was the first time I'd been to anything like it, and the first question I ever asked someone as a journalist covering professional sports, if you can call this that, was to Chris Gwynn, the Mariners' farm director and Tony's brother. I asked about Abraham Almonte, and if the Mariners had anything to do with him getting better since coming over from the Yankees. Chris chuckled, and said "Well we hope so" before giving a good answer about how Abe was more than just a good player (then), but also a good person. As I listen to it now, it's something to hear Chris recognize—look for?—that in someone else, as many have said the same about his brother. Thoughts and prayers with Chris, and the rest of the Gwynn family. 
  
  Also, while this is a terrible tragedy, as the world loses a baseball legend and even better person, it's worth noting what killed Tony Gwynn. Watch out for yourselves, everyone.

It's About the Money | Domenic Lanza: In case you were wondering, yes, Vidal Nuno is really bad.

NoMaas | SJK: Aaron Judge and Luis Severino are your Yankees prospects of the week.

New York Post | Ken Davidoff: Mariano Rivera and Shane Spencer talk about the late Tony Gwynn.

Pinstriped Prospects | Jed Weisberger: Peter O`Brien's bat is legit, so it doesn't really matter where he ends up playing.

It's About the Money | Brad Vietrogoski: Should Vidal Nuno be taken out of the starting rotation at this point?

LoHud | Chad Jennings: A position by position look at which prospects should be on your radar, like Jake Cave, Peter O`Brien, and Rob Refsnyder.

It's About the Money | Katie Sharp: Derek Jeter has hit well as of late; has he turned a corner this season?

Pinstriped Pundits | Chris Mitchell: Prospects will break your heart, but still we keep on hoping.

An A-Blog For A-Rod | Brad Vietrogoski: Aaron Judge and Rob Refsnyder are the best Yankees prospects while Gary Sanchez and Slade Heathcott have been the worst.

Recapping the Yankees' minor league affiliates' results from June 16th.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:W 4-2 vs. Toledo Mud Hens

LF Jose Pirela 2-5 - batting .327 this season
DH Corban Joseph 2-5, RBI
RF Zoilo Almonte 2-4, double, RBI - batting .300/.317/.550 over his last 10 games
3B Scott Sizemore 0-4, RBI, 2 K
1B Kyle Roller 2-4, K - batting .298 w/ SWB
SS Zelous Wheeler 1-4
2B Rob Refsnyder 1-3, K, SB, HBP
C Austin Romine 0-4, K
CF Antoan Richardson 1-4, RBI, K

Shane Greene 6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K - 52 of 93 pitches for strikes
Danny Burawa 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Matt Daley 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB
Preston Claiborne 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, K

Double-A Trenton Thunder:L 2-3 vs. Bowie Baysox

CF Mason Williams 1-4, SB
LF Ben Gamel 1-4
3B Rob Segedin 0-3, BB, K
C Gary Sanchez 0-4, 3 K, 2 passed balls - return after being benched for five games
1B Peter O'Brien 1-3, BB, 2 K
RF Tyler Austin 2-4, 2 RBI - batting. 253 this season
DH Taylor Dugas 0-4, K
2B Casey Stevenson 0-2, 2 BB
SS Ali Castillo 0-3

Jairo Heredia 3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K - 46 of 61 pitches for strikes
Cesar Cabral 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, hit batsman
Taylor Garrison 1.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, K
James Pazos 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Fred Lewis 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

High-A Tampa Yankees:W 7-2 vs. Daytona Cubs

CF Jake Cave 1-4, RBI, 2 BB, K
SS Cito Culver 0-5, RBI, 3 K - batting .238 this season
1B Greg Bird 2-4, 2 doubles, RBI, BB, E3 - missed catch, third E of the season
3B Dante Bichette Jr. 0-4, BB, 2 K
DH Matt Snyder 2-4, double, 2 RBI, K, HBP - batting .258 this season
LF Zach Wilson 1-5, K
RF Yeicok Calderon 4-5, 2 doubles, RBI, K
C Trent Garrison 2-5, K, passed ball
2B Jose Rosario 2-5, RBI, K

Conner Kendrick 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R/0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, WP - 4 GO/2 AO
Stefan Lopez 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, K
Cesar Vargas 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Alex Smith 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, K

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs: Off

Short Season-A Staten Island Yankees:W 7-2 vs. Brooklyn Cyclones

SS Jose Javier 0-5, RBI, 2 K, E6 - throwing error, first of the season
LF Brady Steiger 0-3, 2 BB
1B Chris Breen 1-2, 3 BB, K
2B Ty McFarland 2-5, double
DH Bo Thompson 0-4, BB, K
3B Renzo Martini 0-4, RBI, BB, 3 K
C Isaias Tejeda 2-3, BB, E2 - pickoff error, first of the season
RF Daniel Lopez 0-3, BB
CF Collin Slaybaugh 1-4, SB, OF assist

Jordan Cote 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R/1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Ethan Carnes 2.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Elvin Perez 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

The Yankees selected 21-year-old Jacob Lindgren in the second round of this year's draft and he promptly signed. What can the Bombers expect from him going forward?

Last week, I found comps for Yankees' pitching prospect Ian Clarkin by using information from a scouting report to query the PITCHf\x database. Today, I repeated this exercise for lefty reliever Jacob Lindgren, the Yankees' second round pick out of Mississippi State. For this analysis, I considered all left-handed pitchers with at least 1,000 pitches (or roughly 60 innings) since 2008.

Fastball

Lindgren throws pretty hard, sporting a fastball in the low-to-mid-90s. Here's the skinny on his fastball from Baseball America:

"He worked at 92-94 with runners on base in the third before dialing it back to 90-92 in subsequent innings...He regularly reaches 93-94 mph with his fastball with heavy life and arm-side run."

Filter:

Velocity: 90-96 MPH

Break angle: Less than -30 degrees. This filter is meant to only capture fastballs with "heavy arm-side run". For left-handed pitchers, about half of all fastballs fall within this classification.

Comps:

Slider

Lindgren's slider is supposedly pretty nasty...

"His slider was unhittable, an 82-84 mph wipeout pitch that bumped 86. He back-footed it against righthanded hitters but also got several righties to chase it down and away, unusual for a lefthanded slider with so much tilt."

Filters:

Velocity: 82-86 MPH

Break length: At least 9 inches. A little less than half of sliders thrown by left-handed pitchers break more than 9 inches, which would be "unusual for a lefthanded slider".

Comps:

Pulling it all together

To get a final list of comps, I summed each player's "Lindgren-like" pitches for both pitch types. To remove players who throw only one of Lindgren's pitches (ie. a fastball-heavy pitcher who doesn't throw a slider), I also restricted the list to players who throw each pitch at least 5% of the time. I also only considered pitchers who throw primarily in relief.

Lindgren throws hard and throws with his left hand. That combination makes him easy to dream on, and the thought of adding a Billy Wagner or Luis Avilan type to the bullpen certainly seems appealing. But then again, stuff isn't everything -- even for a reliever. There are guys out there -- like Dan Runzler and Mike Zagurski -- who have good stuff, but can't stick in the big leagues because they walk too many batters. Lindgren's a fairly polished pitcher, but his command is reportedly still a little suspect. Per Baseball America, "Lindgren lacks command, and his control usually is just enough". The future certainly looks bright for Lindgren and he should be able to help the Yankees sooner rather than later, but, as with any pitcher with good stuff, a lot rides on how well he'll be able to control and command his pitches.

Scouting Report courtesy of Baseball America; PITCHf/x data courtesy of Baseball Savant; Other statistics courtesy of Fangraphs

The Blue Jays roll into the Bronx to take on the Yankees in a nice little mid-week series the next few days. New York is currently second place in the American League sitting at 35-33, which is good enough for 4.5 games back of the division-leading Blue Jays. The Yankees have faced a few pitching injuries to players such as CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, and Michael Pineda so they've done pretty well grinding through with some lesser-known starters. Today sees the leader for AL Rookie of the Year in Masahiro Tanaka go up against fellow first-year starter Marcus Stroman. The Blue Jays faced Tanaka in his first major league start (the Blue Jays home opener) and he's only gotten stronger since then. Sitting at a ridiculous ERA of 2.02, Tanaka has a K-rate of 28.4% and a BB-rate of 3.9% and has already amassed a fWAR of 2.8 WAR. Aside from playing for the evil Yankees, the Japanese import has been an absolute joy to watch.

As we learned going into the home opener, Tanaka mainly throws a fastball, slider, and splitter with cutters, curves, and sinkers all making the occasional appearance as well. He throws the splitter fearlessly against hitters on both sides of the plate and no one has been able to touch it, leading to a whiff/swing rate of 48.67%. His slider is just as nasty against right-handed batters getting nearly the same amount of whiffs as the splitter. It's no surprise then that hitters are struggling so much against Tanaka, when they have to be prepared for his splitter falling off the table or the slider breaking down and away from them:

This has to be one of the nastiest pitches in the league:

via cdn.fangraphs.com

Hopeful Lineup

It's not 100% clear what the roster move will be before this series gets underway, but it seems the Blue Jays want Juan Francisco on the bench.

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. Melky Cabrera LF
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Edwin Encarnacion 1B
5. Brett Lawrie 3B
6. Dioner Navarro C
7. Erik Kratz DH
8. Steve Tolleson 2B
9. Anthony Gose CF

Find The Link

Game In A Sentence

The Yankees are back home for some AL East division rivalry action. The Toronto Blue Jays are in the Bronx first to face off against Masahiro Tanaka. New PSA DP questions are here.

From now until the end of the month, the Yankees will face off against their AL East division rivals. First up are the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays, who are ahead of the Yankees by 4.5 games. Winning this series would be a great opportunity to close the gap a bit. Thankfully, the Yankees will be starting off by sending Masahiro Tanaka to the mound tonight.

6/17/14 Daily Predictions & Fun Questions

Skin art: If you ever decided to get a tattoo, what would you get one of? If you already have tattoos, please describe them?

Planeteer Alert: EARTH! FIRE! WIND! WATER! HEART! Which ring of power would you want? (The Power Is YOURS)

Least favorite vegetable?

What popular song drives you nuts?

It's Tanaka Time, or Tanaka Tuesday. Whatever you want to call it, Tanaka is pitching tonight!

Let's Go Yankees

With no rotation help in sight and Nuno's ERA continuing to skyrocket, the Yankees must pursue another option.

On Sunday afternoon, another Vidal Nuno start came and went, and like what's happened in numerous Nuno starts so far, the Yankees left with a loss. Following the three-inning, eight-run implosion, Nuno's ERA now sits at a staggering 5.90, which is 41% worse than league average and the fourth-worst mark in baseball among all pitchers with 50 innings. Nuno's not much better in other statistics, either. His 5.17 FIP is 29% worse than league average and seventh-worst in baseball. Opposing hitters are batting .293/.342/.506 with 12 homers off of him and an .848 OPS against him. Basically, Nuno turns hitters into Adrian Beltre.

The Yankees are dire for pitching help right now with CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, and Ivan Nova all on the shelf for increasingly long periods of time (the entire season in Nova's case). Thanks to the surprising Chase Whitley and the only slightly below average David Phelps, they've been able to get away with such question marks in the meantime and sit a couple games over .500, fully in the American League playoff race. Obviously though, there is room for improvement given Nuno's abysmal statistics. There's a reason Nuno was considered such an unlikely shot to make it to the major leagues despite some interesting minor league numbers. None of his pitches are even remotely impressive and he has to work off guile and hitting his spots. Often, that's not even enough. It is extremely difficult to be a successful junkballer in the majors, and Nuno is far from the first junkballing minor leaguer to hit a wall at the game's highest level.

With such a weak spot in their rotation and even Joe Girardi possibly growing frustrated with Nuno, the obvious response is to try to find someone else to take Nuno's spot. Unfortunately, it's a task easier said than done. To say that Triple-A Scranton's starting rotation has struggled is an understatement:

• Brian Gordon, best known for his cameo appearances on the 2011 Yankees, was the RailRiders' most consistent starter, and he was released after 13 starts wherein he featured a 4.75 ERA and 4.35 FIP.
• Shane Greene was a prospect who impressed the Yankees in spring training and last year in Double-A Trenton, but since his promotion to Scranton, he's been dreadful. The 3.66 FIP is nice, but it can only do so much to counteract the 5.77 ERA and 3.7 BB/9.
• Bruce Billings has similar numbers to Gordon, and he does not have a sterling reputation for performance either. Zach Nuding and Caleb Cotham have both posted ugly ERAs in their starts.
• Perhaps the only possible option is 25-year-old righty Joel De La Cruz, who has a 4.06 ERA, a 3.87 FIP, and a 2.4 BB/9 in nine games. However, like Nuno, he's another guy who doesn't get a lot of strikeouts, seems unlikely to succeed in the majors, and to top it all off, he has pitched dreadfully over the past month. So... thanks but no thanks, Scranton.
• Don't bother peeking at Trenton's rotation either, as there hasn't been much success there and Manny Banuelos is still throwing abbreviated starts in wake of his Tommy John surgery.

Thus, at first glance, it seems like the Yankees are stuck with Nuno. Their current long reliever, David Huff, has never been good as a starter, pitching to a 5.57 ERA with an .849 OPS against in his 54 career MLB starts. He is not an option. However, as Jesse suggested the other day, there might be one person in the 'pen with a decent chance to step into Nuno's spot and at least give the Yankees a little bit more hope: Adam Warren.

Yes, Warren has carved a useful niche for himself pitching out of the bullpen the last years. Yes, he has been especially effective in 2014 with a 2.19 ERA and a 2.65 FIP in 37 innings. However, with Dellin Betances dominating and David Robertson&Shawn Kelley now back in the fold and healthy after both missed a little time earlier in the season, there is less need for him as a reliever now. Chances are he would always have been more useful to the team in the rotation, where he would be able to pitch more overall innings.

The risk is that Warren has not been a full-time starter since he was in Scranton for the vast majority of the 2012 campaign. During his two seasons in Scranton, he pitched to an effective 3.66 ERA, a 3.88 FIP, and a 2.9 BB/9. He wasn't a star, but he at least appeared consistent and capable of possibly taking on a big-league spot somewhere down the road. Brian Cashman has even made comments suggesting that the Yankees still think Warren can be a starter for the parent club.

If they truly believe this to be the case, Warren's more impressive repertoire and caliber of pitches would make him an option at least capable of approaching Phelps's performance. He's already demonstrated that he is capable of getting big league hitters out through his two years in the bullpen. It might take him a start or two to get stretched out, but since none of the injured returning until late July, the Yankees should not dilly dally too long with an inferior starter in Nuno. Warren could give them a boost, and with the 'pen now more fortified, the Yankees' best allocation of resources would seem to be to swap Nuno out of the rotation in favor of Warren.