Card Notes – May 18th, @ Toledo, 7 PM

The Chiefs weathered an eight-hour bus ride overnight and got into the Park Inn Toledo around 7:30 A.M.  Tonight, they face a Mud Hens team which nearly swept Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  Here’s Tony Beasley’s starting nine:

 

Chris Rahl RF

Jeff Kobernus LF

Will Rhymes 2B

Chris Marrero 1B

Corey Brown CF

Micah Owings DH

Zach Walters SS

Carlos Rivero 3B

Brian Jeroloman C

 

*Will Rhymes was a member of the Mud Hens, in part, from 2008 until 2011.  He played in 165 home games in Toledo over that time and hit .297 at Fifth Third Field.

*Catcher Brian Jeroloman makes his first start of the season with Syracuse tonight.  If the name’s familiar, it’s because he played in 25 games with the Chiefs in July, August and September with the 2008 Chiefs.  He hit .200 in 75 at-bats that year, the final season with the Blue Jays.

*Zach Walters moves down to the seven position for just the sixth time this season.  He’s been found most often in the six spot (34 starts).

*Jeroloman is the 14th nine-hole hitter the Chiefs have used in 2013.

*Carlos Rivero is five-for-11 in the eight position this year.

 

Game time is 7 P.M. as the Chiefs face the Mud Hens.  Download our app to listen.  Search for Syracuse Chiefs in the iTunes and Google Play stores.

 

Jason

Card Notes: Syracuse vs Columbus 5-17-13

Chiefs/Clippers, series finale, 7:00 tonight. The Syracuse starting 10:

Chiefs Lineup 5-17-13

 

Some notes of, well, note:

1. Brian Bocock’s the #9 hitter today in his Syracuse debut. He’s a former San Francisco Giant (2008) and Philadelphia Phillie (2010).

2. Two Chiefs are working on hitting streaks of a week or more: leadoff hitter Chris Rahl (nine games) and cleanup hitter Chris Marrero (seven).

3. Jeff Kobernus bats second for the 36th time this season. That’s the most of any Chiefs player in one position. (Marrero’s second with 35 games in the cleanup spot.)

4. Carlos Rivero’s starting at first base for the first time this season.

5. Kris Watts has been a Chief for eight games. He’s started seven of them.

——

Hope you can join us tonight at 6:45 on the Syracuse Chiefs Baseball Network or out at NBT Bank Stadium before the Chiefs hit the road for eight games.

KB

Triple-A Trickledown: Columbus

Good afternoon from gorgeously sunny NBT Bank Stadium, where the Chiefs and Clippers are ready to play the fourth of a four-game set. Syracuse and Columbus are going to play five more times in the next 10 days, so it might be a good idea to get to know the Clippers a little bit with our latest edition of Triple-A Trickledown…

——

Catcher: Omir Santos, Chris Wallace

There’s good catching depth here with Santos, a 32-year-old veteran of 122 major league games, who’s on the Indians’ 40 man-roster, and Wallace, a 25-year-old acquired from Houston, who’s a .275 career hitter in four minor league seasons. Cleveland, however, is in terrific shape up in the major leagues. Behind Carlos Santana, who might be the best hitter in the American League so far this season, there’s 25-year-old catcher Yan Gomes, an intriguing prospect with six extra-base hits in 15 games. Veteran backstop Lou Marson’s also on the Disabled List with a sore right shoulder.

First Base: Matt LaPorta

LaPorta, the seventh overall pick back in 2007, is with Columbus for at last part of the season for the fifth straight year. He’s got a career .900 OPS in 225 Triple-A games, but he’s scuffled a bit with Cleveland. LaPorta’s posted just a .238 average and .694 OPS in his 291-game Indians career, and he was removed from the 40-man roster this offseason. Since no team claimed LaPorta, he’s back to terrorize the drawn-in fences at Columbus’ Huntington Park.

Matt LaPorta (Toledo Blade)

Second Base: Matt Lawson, Cord Phelps

Phelps, who went 0 for 8 with Cleveland this year, has gotten off to a rough start with Columbus this season. He’s hit just .229 in 25 games with 11 walks to 26 strikeouts. Phelps is a 40-man roster member, but he’s only 18 for 112 in his major league career. Lawson’s a 27-year-old career minor leaguer in his first-ever Triple-A season. Meanwhile, former Clippers standout Jason Kipnis has sported a .775 OPS in 31 games with Cleveland while batting largely out of the #2 spot.

Shortstop: Juan Diaz

Diaz, a 24-year-old switch-hitter, made his major league debut with five Cleveland games last season. He’s started slow in 2013, though, batting .209 in 36 Clippers games with 40 strikeouts to seven walks. The Indians, meanwhile, are in solid shape with Asdrubal Cabrera and Mike Aviles at shortstop. Diaz is a bit stuck – he’s not currently a good enough offensive player to work his way onto the major-league roster, and he’s never played a game outside of shortstop in his professional career.

Third Base: Adam Abraham, Lonnie Chisenhall, Ryan Rohlinger

Chisenhall is the big name here, a 24-year-old former first-round pick who sported just a .213/.253/.351 line in 26 games with Cleveland. He was sent down just in time for the start of this four-game series, and he’ll likely be back up at some point this season if he works out some swing issues. The Indians, though, are in fine shape right now with Mark Reynolds and his 11 home runs manning the hot corner. Abraham, a 26-year-old, and Rohlinger, a 30-year-old former major leaguer, provide infield depth.

Outfield: Ezequiel Carrera, Matt Carson, Tim Fedroff, Jeremy Hermida, Cedric Hunter

Carrera’s had a roller coaster ride to begin the season. He was claimed by the Phillies from Cleveland off of waivers and went for 1 in 13 in 13 games up in the big leagues. Philadelphia then designated Carrera for assignment, and the Indians scooped him back up – before later designating him for assignment again. So Carrera’s here in Columbus, but he’s no longer on the Tribe’s 40 man-roster. The only 40-man member in this group, strangely enough, is Fedroff – though he’s the only one of the five outfielders here not to appear in a single major-league game. Fedroff’s a 26-year-old who sported a .325/.393/.517 line in 69 games with Columbus last year. He’s on his way back there thanks to a .365 average to date in May. Fedroff could find his way in the majors with an injury to one of the Indians’ four outfielders – Ryan Raburn, Michael Bourn, Michael Brantley and Drew Stubbs, all of whom are off to solid starts.

Tim Fedroff (Double G Sports)

Hermida, who’s been a major leaguer for at least some portion of the last eight years, leads the Clippers in most offensive categories at the moment. He’s joined by Hunter, a 24-year-old former top prospect in the Padres’ organization, and Carson, a 31-year-old who got some time last year up in Minnesota.

Starting Pitchers: Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, T.J. House, Joe Martinez, Toru Murata, Danny Salazar

Top prospect Bauer isn’t on the Clippers’ roster that’s in front of me right now, but he’s not on the Indians’ active roster right now, either, and he was only called up for a spot start. So, you figure it out. Bauer could certainly find his way to a regular rotation spot soon enough, considering three-fifths of the Indians’ rotation sports an ERA north of 5.00 (Ubaldo Jimenez, Scott Kazmir, Corey Kluber).

Trevor Bauer (milb.com)

The rest of the rotation spells good fortune for the Indians’ future, with a pair of 23-year-olds in House and Salazar and a 26-year-old in Carrasco, all of whom are on the Indians’ 40-man roster. Martinez, a 30-year-old journeyman in his second tour of duty with the tribe, and Murata, a 27-year-old in his third season with the Indians’ minor leagues, round out the group.

Relief Pitchers: Scott Barnes, Jerry Gil, Preston Guilmet, Matt Langwell, Fernando Nieve, Giovanni Soto

Barnes, the lone 40-man member of the group, is a left-handed former starter with a 7.50 ERA in 10 games this season – far and away the worst ERA in a top-to-bottom strong bullpen. Closer Guilmet’s been a stalwart, with a 2.95 ERA and 13-for-14 save success rate in his first Triple-A year. Former big leaguer Nieve has a 0.99 ERA in 10 games, with a crazy 31-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those two might be the first right-handers up if needed. In the majors, though, Cleveland’s well-stocked with right-handers, with Matt Albers’ 4.38 ERA the worst right-handed mark. Left-hander Nick Hagadone sports a 7.20 mark to bring up the rear for southpaws, so a good season from the 22-year-old Soto could find him knocking on Cleveland’s door.

——

The Chiefs and Clippers take the field tonight at 7:00. Our clubhouse show starts at 6:45 on the Syracuse Chiefs Baseball Network. See you there.

KB

Stuff You’ll Like: May 17th

Syracuse dropped last nights matchup with Columbus 4-2 in 11 innings. The game was the third in four days that went to extra frames. The Chiefs have played nine extra inning games this season, compared to just five last year.

Today’s stuff you’ll like:

*We all know Syracuse teams are no strangers to extra time in sports

*Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel goes yard during batting practice at Nationals-Padres game.

*It’s Triple Crown season in horse racing. Shout out to an upstate favorite-Funny Cide-who won the Preakness on this day in 2003, after winning the Kentucky Derby. He finished third in the Belmont.

*The Chiefs are “ALL IN” for the Crunch.

Syracuse goes for a split of it’s four-game set with Columbus tonight at 7:00 PM at NBT Bank Stadium.

Gabe

Stuff You’ll Like: May 16

The Chiefs dropped a three-run decision to the Columbus Clippers last night in a high-scoring, crazy game two of the series.

 

Today’s stuff you’ll like:

 

*If you like addicting Internet games, you’ll love Geoguessr.

*Mr. Boswell from the Washington Post takes on the topic of Bryce Harper’s reckless abandon.

*The Toledo Blade’s John Wagner recaps a wild and wooly Mud Hen win.  From the story–“You have to find things to hang your hat on — and build off them,” Mud Hens manager Phil Nevin said. “We’ve had a couple of two-game [winning] streaks and had things get away from us on that third day, and we very easily could have sunk back to that.”

*The Crunch were #ALLin when it came to short-handed goals last night.

 

Chief of the Day:  Today, we salute an important member of the 1985 bullpen, Tom Henke.  In Syracuse, Henke saved 18 games and allowed just 13 hits in 51 innings and a third.  His ERA of 0.88 led the Chiefs.  Henke went on to save 311 Major-League games.  He’s one of 23 people ever to save 300 games in MLB.

 

It’s $5 a carload night at the ballpark.  Chiefs and Clippers at 7 P.M.

 

Jason

 

 

Card Notes: Syracuse vs Columbus 5-15-13

For those of you who could not get enough of the first edition of Card Notes. Have no fear, they’re back!

Rahl RF

Kobernus CF

Rhymes 2B

Marrero 1B

Costanzo 3B

Walters SS

Rivero LF

Watts DH

Solano C

P Young

1) Chris Rahl extended his season-high seven-game hitting streak yesterday with an RBI single in the seventh.

2) Jeff Kobernus has 15 stolen bases. That’s eight more than anyone on the team.

3) Zach Walters hit a home run in the fifth inning last nights. He’s now tied for second in the league with nine, one off the league lead.

4) Kris Watts has six hits with15 at-bats as a Chief.

5) Jhonatan Solano was activated from the disabled list today. He hasn’t played since May 7th.

Tune in for the game starting at 6:45 on the Syracuse Chiefs Baseball Network.  It’s available on your computer via this link:  http://www.milb.com/multimedia/audio.jsp?sid=t552

Or you can download our app for your smartphone via the Google Play or iTunes Stores.

Gabe

(Fourth) Rate the IL Hotel!-Durham

FourthRateTheILHotel2013(1)

It’s time once again for the game show which has a maximum occupancy of 60……

(Fourth) Rate the IL Hotel!

And now, here’s your host, the man whose luggage cart always veers to the left…..Jason Benetti!

Thank you Gene Wood, and a pleasure to be along with you all for the second installment of (Fourth) Rate the IL Hotel!  If you’ve just joined us, this is the game where we assign a score to each of the hotels the Syracuse Chiefs stay in and tell you why.

This week’s contestant is the Durham Marriott City Center.

Marriott

Nestled on Foster Street in downtown Durham, North Carolina, the Marriott towers over most of the buildings in the area and provides a generally pleasant experience for International League teams.

We’ll give you three pluses and three minuses.

Pros:

1) Heart of darkness

When I was a kid, I’d get back from school on certain days and my father would be asleep.  He was an air traffic controller and was preparing to work an overnight shift.  He’d already worked until noon or so that day.  So, in order to be ready for his rather intense job, he needed to sleep.  So, it was important that whatever I did was quiet enough to be considered considerate.  Even more importantly, though, his bedroom had to be dark.  So, he’d cover the window with a towel or something else to simulate nighttime.

In the “what I’d really like dad is to borrow the car keys” department, I now know how Rob Benetti felt.  Sometimes–like last night–baseball games run long.  So, real, restful sleep requires a person to slumber until after it gets light outside.  For that reason, a baseball hotel gets high marks for having window curtains which:

1) Keep the room pitch black

AND

2) Cover the entire window

There’s not much worse than a sliver of light seeping through a cavernous room causing a 6:45 A.M. wakeup.   The Durham curtains are unrivaled in the International League in the darkness they create.  It’s virtually impossible to see in the room with the light off and the curtains drawn.

2) Food stuffs galore

Within a four-block radius of the Marriott is the best burger I’ve had at Bull City Brewery, the best chicken and waffles I’ve ever had at Dame’s:

Yes, that's honey dijon, syrup, chicken and a sweet potato waffle.....

Yes, that’s honey dijon, syrup, chicken and a sweet potato waffle…..

 

Plus, theres a slew of restaurants near the ballpark which include a pizza place, a Cuban place and a bundle of sports bars.  Before this season, that made Durham the foodie capital of the International League.  In 2013, though, there’s more.  Just a block away from the Marriott, tucked away on a one way street lies some of the best ice cream in the world at The Parlour.  To any International League travel wonks, go there.  Fast.  They make their own ice cream and it is superb.  They also feature a creative team behind the counter.

The menu lists “ice cream sandwich” as an option.  Seeing the pre-made cookie sandwiches in the freezer propped near the door, I asked the woman behind the counter if I could cook up my own ice cream sandwich.  They said there’s no reason why not, and off we went.  They plopped a few scoops of honey chai ice cream in the middle of two chocolate snickerdoodles and created frozen Valhalla.

Dessert so good, it can't contain itself.

Dessert so good, it can’t contain itself.

 

Sweet, flavorful ice cream + brilliant service = must-visit.

3) Elevation

Durham’s Marriott has two elevators for nine floors and I didn’t wait more than 30 seconds for a lift.  An Otis miracle.

Cons:

1) Watered-down

In previous years, the Durham Marriott staff has put out fruit-flavored water in a jug next to the elevators.  No dice this time, though the table is still there to taunt those of us who remember what used to be placed on it.

2) Key players

There’s a bank of doors on the side of the building which provides easier access to the hotel’s lobby by foot from the ballpark than the main entrance.  After game one of the series, those doors were open.  After game two, which was shorter than game one, the doors were closed.  No need for them to always be open.  Just be consistent.  Post a time.  Stick to it.

3) ‘net results

The internet access is still slow in spots.  Precise spots.  You know how sometimes it rains on your house and not your great aunt’s place a mile-and-a-half away?  Internet in my room, 609, was spotty and generally slow.  Chiefs trainer Jeff Allred, in 607, reported high, consistent speed.

Rating:

ShampooShampooShampooShampooShampooOne

 

9 complimentary shampoos out of 10!

 

Tremendous work. See you next time, when the Chiefs travel to Toledo……will there be a pizza box in the room?  A (Fourth) Rate the IL Hotel cliffhanger!

 

Jason

« older posts | back to blog home |
Theme: MLB “pro” | Get a free blog at WordPress.com
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 10,698 other followers