Sailing the Ship

Posts Tagged ‘Fausto Carmona’

Earlier in the Week, the Clippers lost one of their best players, as Andy Marte was called up to the Cleveland Indians. Today, the shakeups continue, as trading brings in 3 new Clippers and send 2 up to the bigs.

Coming to the Clippers

The Clippers will be adding 3 new players starting tomorrow. All three of these players were actually in the other dugout, as they come from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and they are currently in a 4-game series against Columbus.

• RHP Carlos Carrasco, who was actually schedualed to pitch this afternoon against Columbus, is brought to the Clippers. He is 6-9 with a 5.18 ERA
• Catcher Lou Marson is also coming over today.  He is 4 of 17 and has only played a few games this season.
• Shortstop Jason Donald was also added. He has played 50 games, is hitting .230, and has one homer.

All-in-all, I expect Carrasco to be the only help from these three, and he has already been added into the rotation

Clippers sent up

• Trevor Crowe, one of our outfields, was sent up. In 47 games, he is batting .296 with 2 home runs.
• Fausto Carmona, one of Columbus’ RHP, was sent up. He is 2-6 with a 7.42 ERA.

Personally, I do not feel as though either of these players deserves the bump, as there are much better players on the team.

Good luck to the new Clippers and good luck to the new Indians

This afternoon, the Clippers barely were beaten by the Red Sox in what amounted to a pitchers duel. This was the 4th loss in the last 10 games and the 7th in the last 15. Additionally, it was the second loss in the 4-game series against Pawtucket as well as the second loss in the 8-game away trip. The Clippers are 1-2 in both at this point.

Even though Columbus had the first run, they were not able to keep Pawtucket from getting some as well. Columbus scored in the second and the sixth, while Pawtucket scored in the second, third, and fifth.

For the Red Sox, Chris Duncan managed to hit his first homer of the season. For the Clippers, Andy Marte added an 18th homer to his already amazing season.

For the Red Sox, RHP Charlie Zink (5-11) was credited with the win while RHP Rocky Cherry got his 4th hold and LHP Hunter Jones got his 2nd save.

For the Clippers, RHP Fausto Carmona (1-3) was given the loss.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Clippers will play the fourth, and final, game of this 4-game series, and the fourth of the 8-game roadtrip, against the Red Sox. The game will be at 12:05 at McCoy Stadium.

What is it about baseball that draws thousands of us out to the diamond? Is it the smell off the grass or the crack of the bat? Could it be the exceptionally expensive, yet amazingly disappointing, food? Perhapse it’s the players, always getting better, always striving to make it in the bigs. Or, maybe, it is just the opportunity to distract yourself for a few hours and drink some beers. Whatever the reason is, millions of people spend billions of dollars to sit on their butts and watch some grown men run around the diamond.

Personally, I believe that it is simply tied into our culture. Our fathers went to the games, as did their fathers, and theirs before them. My grandfather pitched, my dad played first base, and I pitched and played short – tradition is why I am drawn to the game. Even back during the Civil War, the game united both sides, as prisoners played against captors. Baseball is America’s Game, and it will always be tied to us. Maybe it is America’s pastime simply because it already is America’s pastime, maybe.

Union soldiers playing some baseball during the Civil War.

But, maybe I am wrong. Maybe it isn’t the culture that draws us to the game, but the fact that we are literally a part of history. Every fan who watched Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire go head-to-head will remember those games. The fans who catch home runs have a piece of history. Even the hecklers are adding to the sport, as everything they drunkenly yell affects the game around them. Maybe it is this desire to be imprinted upon history that brings us here, maybe.

Whatever the reason, Americans are still packing the ballparks nationwide. In 2008 alone, 78,624,324 people headed out to MLB games. This is the second best attendance on record; 2007 holds the record at just 1.13% more. While this might seem like a lot, we are currently on track to break 80 million this year. It seems that, even with the recession and the drugged-up players, Americans are still enjoying their baseball.

Adding to the ever growing attendance of the 2009 season, 9,000+ fans packed into Huntington Park to cheer their team on. While the Columbus Clippers have been having a dismal season, and are dead last in the International League West, they have been doing much better after the all-star break. The fans wanted to come and cheer their team to victory, and a hopeful turnaround.

Tonight’s game was an extremely close affair, and it went all the way to the very end. Both Fausto Carmona, the Clippers starting pitcher, and Kei Igawa, the starter for the Yankees, played amazing games. The defense behind them was also flawless, with no errors allowed, and very little problems in judgment.

Even with the pitching, one of the teams eventually had to give. The Clippers did so first, as Yurendell de Caster homered in the second. Later, Colin Curtis scored on a missed tag at home. The Yankees looked as though they would fall apart as well, as they broke down in the eighth. After dropping Igawa, Damaso Marte took the mound and allowed two hits, one run, and one almost-run. The Yankees, however, were able to patch their hole, and hold on for the win.

The Great Race
Tonight’s Great Race was an interesting event. Instead of racing each other, the hot dogs looked as though they simply wanted to play rugby. Ketchup and Relish started it, as they each tried to hold one-another back. Then Ketchup fell, and Relish sprinted away. He turned around and taunted Mustard, only to be tackled by the yellow-striped dog of fury. All three hot dogs rolled into the ribbon, and one of the extremely hot bat -girls holding it, and ended the race far too close to tell. As there is no instant replay, I was forced to call this a no contest; this means that Relish still has five wins, while both Ketchup and Mustard have only one.

W: Kei Igawa (8-3) 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
L: Fausto Carmona (1-2) 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
H: Damaso Marte (1) 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO

It was the first game for the Columbus Clippers after being swept in a three-game series at Louisville before pausing for the All-Star break. They also held the worst record in the International League West. However, that didn’t stop 9,000+ fans from coming out and supporting their team. Sitting amongst the fans was Mark Shapiro, the general manager for the Cleveland Indians. Shapiro was in town to watch the starting pitcher, Fausto Carmona, as well as other prospects of interest, including Matt LaPorta and Andy Marte.

With their GM watching, the Clippers wanted to ensure that they made no mistakes and dominated the Syracuse Chiefs. Columbus did just this, as Trevor Crowe hit for his 18th straight game in the first. Tony Graffanino then hit his fourth home run, bringing Crowe home. Although that was the only scoring in the first inning, the Clippers continued to drive in runs for the rest of the night. The next inning Marte hit a home run, and in the sixth the Clippers teamed up to score four more times. This was the end of the scoring for the Clippers, as they had done all that they needed to do.

Though the scoreboard doesn’t show this, the Chiefs put up a good fight. They held the Clippers to several innings with zero or one hits. They also were hitting quite well, though they often ended up leaving a man stranded on base. However, without a power hitter, the Chiefs were unable to convert on many of their opportunities. Save for the home run by Brad Eldred in the seventh, Syracuse had nothing going for them.

Though there was some excitement on the field, more of it was beyond the right field wall. During the fifth inning break, a young man and his girlfriend stood, waiting for the dice-rolling competition to start. Instead of rolling the dice, the man got on one knee, asked his girlfriend for her hand in marriage, and they were promptly engaged. While the crowd applauded this, I was left to wonder: I do not understand why people do that sort of thing in public. Every time I see a public proposal, I seriously think that it is more for attention than for love.

The Great Race
Tonight’s race was actually a nail-biter. As the three hotdogs left the right field wall, Ketchup and Relish were running alongside each other, with Mustard trailing by a few feet. At about first base, Relish seemed to slow down while Mustard sped up. With only a few feet to go, Mustard and Ketchup were neck and neck; Mustard dove at the ribbon, making it through first. Thus, for the first time, Mustard won a race – Ketchup still has only 1 win while Relish has 5.

W: Fausto Carmona (1-1) 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO
L: Horacio Ramirez (1-2) 5 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

The Game – Tonight, the Columbus Clippers will be facing the Syracuse Chiefs at 7:05 on Huntington Field.

The Stats – In the past 5 meetings between the Chiefs and the Clippers, the Chiefs have won the last 4. In those 5 games, 3 have been at home, and the Clippers only managed to win 1 of them.

The Clippers currently have  a 3 game losing streak, though they do have a 2 game winning streak at home. In the last 10 game, the Clippers are 4-6 and in their last 15 they are 4-11

The Clippers are currently 38-52, putting them dead last in the West. The Chiefs are 48-40, putting them at second in the North.

Starting Pitchers – The Clippers will be sending RHP Fausto Carmona (0-1) to the mound tonight, hoping to keep their home win-streak alive. The Chiefs will be answering with LHP Horacio Ramirez (1-1).  In his three games played against the Clippers, Ramirez has one win.

Notes – This is the first game in a 8-game home stand for the Clippers. This is also the first game of the second half of the season for the team.

Trevor Crowe has now hit for 17-straight games. This is his career high, and also leads the league in current streaks – he is 2 games away from tieing for the longest streak of the season. Jordan Brown no longer has a streak going, but he has hit in 17 of his last 19 games. Likewise, Andy Marte has no streak, but has hit in 16 of his last 18 games.

I will be live twittering the game (MiLB rules state no more than once per half-inning of actual game stuff) and writing up a full story after. Feel free to send me any questions or comments throughout the night, as I will attempt to help you out.

Promotions – Tonight, the only promotion is Quencher Corner.

Good Luck Boys