Tag Archives: Lowell Spinners

28 July 2014 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Posted by on 30 July 2014 Comments Off on 28 July 2014 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

We have all lost the will to win

Last year, the second Cyclones night game in Lowell was rained out.  This year looked like it could be a repeat with the tarp on the field and thunderstorms rolling through at the scheduled game time of 7:05pm.  First pitch was delayed by more than an hour, but this game would take place.  This sloppy mess of a game that went on for more than three hours with six errors and countless more misplays that might as well have been called errors.  Nobody particularly dominated but the Spinners lost control in the 6th to hand the Cyclones an 8-5 victory in front of a crowd of dozens.

Read more »

27 July 2014 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Posted by on 28 July 2014 Comments Off on 27 July 2014 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Bark in the Park is bad news for Katz

The Cyclones made their annual trip to Lowell on Sunday and three of MLB.com’s newly-announced midseason top 20 Mets prospects were in play for the opener.  Michael Conforto (#4) would drive in Amed Rosario (#7) for the game’s first run, but Marcos Molina (#16) didn’t have his best stuff on the mound and didn’t get any favors from the Brooklyn defense (including his own).  Down 3-1 after three innings, Molina settled in and the Brooklyn offense stepped up to take game 1 9-3.  The comeback was sparked by Michael Bernal, who entered the game in the bottom of the third when Michael Katz had to be driven off the field after an injury.

Read more »

25 July 2013 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Posted by on 25 July 2013 Comments Off on 25 July 2013 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Rain, rain, go away, the Cyclones won’t be back here on any other day

While the rain stopped in time for Tuesday’s game, the weather wasn’t quite so cooperative tonight.  The rain started around 3pm and was well underway by the time the gates opened at 6pm and all of the Jack Kerouac bobbleheads were snapped up by people who probably weren’t planning on watching the game anyway.  By the time I got there, the only way to describe the stadium, the field, and the few die-hards ready to see a game was “soggy mess.”

Box Score

By game time, with the rain picking up, the announcement we were all waiting for was made.  The tarp wouldn’t be coming off the field, the game was cancelled, and you can try your luck exchanging your tickets for tickets to an upcoming home game.  (But only in person at the box office, which is open weekdays from 10am-4pm.  In Lowell.  Not exactly what I would call convenience.)  With no more Cyclones games on the schedule and not a whole lot of room in the NYPL schedule to cram another game in, this game will not be made up.  Good thing I got my Gavin Cecchini and L.J. Mazzilli autographs on Tuesday.  Barring something unexpected, this concludes our minor league game coverage for the year.  See you next year.

23 July 2013 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Posted by on 24 July 2013 Comments Off on 23 July 2013 – Brooklyn Cyclones at Lowell Spinners

Missed opportunities abound in the Cyclones’ return to Lowell

The last time the Cyclones visited Lowell, they had a rotation full of all-stars,  This time around, the arms aren’t quite as hot.  This is the New York Penn League though, so you don’t really need a 95mph fastball and precise control to get the job done, just one or the other is usually more than enough.  Last night, Spinners starter Mario Alcantara brought the heater while Cyclones starter Seth Lugo had the control, combining for four scoreless innings en route to a 2-1 Cyclones loss.

Box Score

Yeah, it was that kind of game

Offense is at a premium in the NYPL and the Brooklyn Cyclones should be reminded of that with their return to Lowell.  After all, they scored only a single run in each of the three games they played here last year.  You have to go back to September 1, 2011 for a game with multiple runs, a 7-1 victory to close out the Spinners’ home season.  So when Alcantara walked the first two Cyclones batters to start the game, it was the perfect opportunity to take control of the game and not add another 1-run game to the streak.  The first of several opportunities to be squandered over the course of the game.  Three outs later, it was Lugo’s turn to show his stuff.

That stuff isn’t particularly overpowering, but it will get the job done at this level.  Lugo’s speed tops out at 90mph, but his control gives him an edge with plenty of called strikes.  And balls put in play.  It’s the swinging strikes that aren’t part of his repertoire that prove to be a problem for Lugo, but some solid defense, particularly from second baseman L.J. Mazzilli, went a long way toward keeping the Spinners off the board.  Mazzilli watched a grounder roll into the outfield in the bottom of the first (which is listed as a fly ball in the play-by-play for some reason, must be one of those really low-flying ones…) but was otherwise on the mark for the rest of the game, fielding seven ground balls and one pop fly out of the 18 balls put in play for outs.

Familiar sights at last night’s game

Lowell threatened again in the second with a pair of two-out singles, but that would be the end of the offense in the first four innings except for a throwing error that put Alex Sanchez on second with two outs in the top of the fourth.  Brooklyn once again couldn’t make use of a runner in scoring position and then Lowell went down in order in the bottom half, the second of five times they would end an inning without a runner.

Colton Plaia singling to put runners at the corners

James Roche set things back up the way they were left in the top of the 4th with a leadoff double to start the 5th.  Colton Plaia followed with a fly ball to shallow center that nobody could get to, putting runners at the corners with no outs for Anthony Chavez, who struck out.  Patrick Biondi followed that with a broken bat single, plating Roche and sending Plaia to third.  After either an attempt to steal home or a botched hit and run was stopped by a foul ball, Biondi pushed his luck with his second stolen base attempt of the night and Juan Gamboa struck out to end the inning.  Three times in the first five innings, Brooklyn stranded a runner in scoring position.  With Alcantara exiting the game after the 5th inning, they wouldn’t get another chance.

If in the 1st you do succeed, don’t try again in the 5th with a runner on third

By the bottom of the 6th, Lugo clearly didn’t have his best stuff anymore.  He had his best pitch sequence in the 5th on a 74-90-79-82 with two called strikes, a ball, and a swinging strike to finish the strikeout.  In the 6th though, his speed was down around 85 and his control just wasn’t there anymore.  The Spinners got their leadoff man on with a slow roller that Lugo and Mazzilli both tried for but couldn’t reach in time to get the out.  The apparent confusion on that play proved costly as a sac bunt and a groundout put the tying run on third with two outs and Lugo issued his first walk of the night.  With nobody warming in the pen, it was up to Lugo to get out of this mess.  He responded by giving up a two-run double that gave the Spinners the lead.  Lugo ended the inning on a called strike three, but Brooklyn’s one run wouldn’t be enough anymore.

Kevin McGowan pitching a 1-2-3 8th inning

And that was pretty much the game.  If not for some substandard fielding from the Spinners, there wouldn’t be anything else to say.  Lugo put the Spinners down in order in the 7th thanks to the defense behind him and Kevin McGowan did the same in the 8th with a pair of strikeouts and the requisite groundout to Mazzilli.  Gamboa singled for Brooklyn in the top of the 8th, but then Mazzilli hit a double play ball that for some reason Lowell second baseman Cleuluis Rondon couldn’t hold on to long enough to make the throw to first.  Oberste hit a routine grounder to short with one out in the top of the 9th, but Lowell shortstop Tzu-Wei Lin forgot to put his glove under the ball.  Both times, the runner was stranded at first, leaving the final score 2-1 Spinners.

Matt Oberste putting one just under the shortstop’s glove for the final Brooklyn baserunner of the night

2012 Futures at Fenway Game 1: Renegades 6, Spinners 5

Posted by on 19 August 2012 Comments Off on 2012 Futures at Fenway Game 1: Renegades 6, Spinners 5

An ugly start, a messy end, and a decent game in between

Box Score

So here we are, at Fenway Park on a cloudy afternoon to see a pair of minor league games and some Star Wars.  Yeah, this day would be anything but normal.

Before we get to the games, there’s the matter of some Star Wars festivities.  We start with a parade of costumed fans, ranging from kids in Halloween costumes to professional replicas, to the answer to “What do you get when you cross a Star Wars fan with a Red Sox fan?”  The ball for the first pitch was delivered by Darth Vader using The Force.  Or maybe it was the string…

Every game should start with a high five from Chewbacca

With that out of the way, the players emerged to begin their warmups and chat with fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs.  The Renegades pitchers occupied the dugout rail and signed plenty of balls tossed over the dugout.

So why am I even covering a Renegades-Spinners game?  The easy answer is because of the Bisons game coming up in the second half of the doubleheader, but it’s not like I had no interest in this game.  Aside from payback for beating the Cyclones in two out of three games the previous week (which would in turn would bump the Cyclones down in the standings…), it was nice to see the closest professional team to where I grew up.  Even if they do play on the wrong side of the river and it wasn’t formed until just a few years before I left, it is still a reminder of home.  Well, not really, but who cares, I run this place and can cover whatever I want.  It’s not like I have readers to appease.

Not how you want to get the first out of a game. Or any out ever.

The game was quick to get to some drama of the tragic kind when Hudson Valley’s Joey Rickard sent the second pitch from Lowell Spinners pitcher Brian Johnson straight back to the pitcher, hitting him square in the left eye socket.  Johnson left the field on a stretcher, in pain but conscious.  Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery from one of the scariest plays a pitcher can encounter.

No pitchers were harmed in the hitting of these balls, unless you count damage to ERA.

The hits kept coming as both teams exchanged unintentional HBPs in the second inning, with the offense on both sides delivering enough to send each player as far as home plate (though for the Spinners their runner was the victim of an inning-ending double play).  Joel Caminero and Jake DePew combined to drive in three runs for the Renegades, while Zach Kapstein drove in a run for the Spinners in the bottom half.

Hard-hit ball + slick defensive play - ball staying in receiving fielder's glove = single

The Renegades added three more runs over the next seven innings, with Jake DePew adding a double and a home run over the Green Monster to his 2nd inning single, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle when he came up to bat in the 8th.  A great play by Lowell’s Matthew Gedman looked like it would turn DePew’s grounder into a fielder’s choice, but the ball had other plans, bouncing out of the glove of the fielder covering second and leaving DePew with a mere single.  The game looked to be over as the Spinners came up in the bottom of the 9th, down 6-1.

Wait, what did I miss?

And so I went off to get some food so I would be ready to hunt down Bisons autographs before the start of the next game.  While I was gone, the Spinners put together three runs on a triple, single, double, and a fielding error.  Wait, I remember this, it’s how the Mets beat the Braves last Sunday.  All they need to is give up one more run, and there it is.  Now that pesky third out and…

The Mets would be proud.

Lowell Spinners 4, Brooklyn Cyclones 1

Posted by on 8 August 2012 Comments Off on Lowell Spinners 4, Brooklyn Cyclones 1

Luis Mateo and the Ugly, Messy, Foul-Mouthed, Very Bad Game

Box Score

Luis Mateo started the game as a New York-Penn League All-Star and left six innings later in line for a loss after giving up runs with throws from both sides of the plate.  His 9 strikeouts showed a glimmer of the pitcher he is capable of being, but some hard hits and a 2-run throwing error dug the Cyclones into a hole too deep for the light-hitting lineup (missing Brandon Nimmo for the third straight game and Kevin Plawecki) to climb out of.  Plawecki entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 9th, but Nimmo only saw action as a first base coach.

I found Nimmo. And so did Julio Concepcion…

Mateo’s day started getting ugly in the bottom of the 2nd when he hit Mookie Betts with a pitch to start things off.  Betts followed that up with a stolen base on a strikeout, the second of four stolen bases against the Cyclones in the game; after Dreily Guerrero stole second in the 1st inning on what can only be called defensive incompetence, the Spinners knew they had free rein on the basepaths.  The real trouble came when Aneury Tavarez singled to left and Betts was waved home.  Stefan Sabol fired the ball to the plate well in advance of the runner, but also well over the head of the catcher.  Mateo was in place backing up the catcher and had Betts scrambling back to third.  As Betts dove for the bag, Mateo unloaded a pitch up the third base line that missed the third baseman’s glove and kept going deeper into the outfield than the original hit.  With nobody in the vicinity of the ball, Betts and Tavarez scored easily.  Mateo finished the inning with another strikeout and a pop fly, but the damage was done.

Who’s got the ball? None of these guys…

Mateo mixed strikeouts and multiple runs again in the 6th, which he opened with a strikeout, a single to left, another strikeout, and another single to left.  The ball then once more made its way to deep left field, this time by way of an Aneury Tavarez triple, putting the Cyclones down 4-0.  Mateo ended the inning on another strikeout, finishing with 6IP, 7H, 4R (2ER), 0BB, 9K, 1HBP, 1 balk, and 1 error.

When he’s bad, he’s bad, but when he’s good, he’s filthy

The Cyclones weren’t alone in making costly blunders in this game.  With one out in the top of the 7th, consecutive errors put Cyclones runners on second and third.  Jeff Reynolds hit a sac fly for one run, but that’s where the scoring ended for the Cyclones.  The Spinners errors did not end there though.  In the top of the 9th, another Spinners error put runners on first and second with two outs for pinch hitter Kevin Plawecki.  Plawecki watched three called strikes to end the game, much to his disbelief.  The umpire walked away as Plawecki disputed the call and expletives were hurled from the dugout by one of the coaches.  It’s probably a good thing that most of the kids were up on the concourse getting ready to run the bases; I don’t think their parents would have wanted them to witness the action at field level.

They should know better than to leave these where players can find them…