Cards minors spring game reports – March 23


Monday’s opponents:
Florida Marlins on the other side of the Jupiter complex. Five games with Quad Cities 1 and 2 both in action.

Tuesday’s opponents: Camp day as the MLB team is off, too. Games will be in the morning, at 10:15 a.m. plus or minus 15 minutes – or plus more if there is rain. Guess I will find out for sure then…


Memphis
lost to New Orleans, 9-4

Memphis pitching

Brandon Dickson, 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K’s

Hyang-Nam Choi was the losing pitcher – 2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s

Katsuiko Maekawa – 1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 unearned runs, 1 BB, 2 K’s

Ian Ostlund – 2.1 perfect innings with a K

Memphis hitting

Mark Shorey – 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI

Jarrett Hoffpauir, 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI

Mike Folli doubled and walked

Bryan Anderson and Casey Rowlett singled


Springfield
lost to Jacksonville, 7-2

Springfield pitching

Shaun Garceau started and took the loss – 3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB

Tyler Herron threw two perfect innings with 3 K’s

Russ Haltiwanger allowed three runs on two hits and two walks in his inning of work

Pete Parise and Francisco Samuel each pitched a perfect inning

Springfield hitting

Donovan Solano was 2-for-3 with an RBI with the only multi-hit game for Springfield

Jim Rapoport and Tyler Henley doubled

Brett Wallace, Tony Cruz, Andrew Brown, and Brandon Buckman all singled


Palm Beach
lost to Jupiter, 15-12

Palm Beach pitching

Ryan Bird allowed two earned runs on two hits in his two innings

Jared Bradford – 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K’s

Thomas Eager – 2 IP, 4 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K

Wayne Damon – 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s

Adam Reifer allowed one run on back-to-back opposite field doubles that both kicked up chalk, fanned two hitters in one IP.

Palm Beach hitting

Curt Smith 2-for-3 with a walk, double, homer and 3 RBIs

Colt Sedbrook 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored, a walk,  SB and HR

Adron Chambers was 2-for-3 with a triple, a SB and 5 RBIs

Oliver Marmol wsa 2-for-4 with a run scored and RBI

Tommy Pham and Jon Edwards each doubled

Bryan Cartie singled and had two walks


Quad Cities #1 lost to Greensboro, 9-6

QC #1 pitching

Scott McGregor 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s

Jameson Maj, 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s

Dylan Gonzalez, 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s

Jose Mateo, 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

David Carpenter, one shutout inning, 1 H, 1 K

QC#1 hitting

Rickey Noland 3-for-3

Chris Swauger had an RBI triple and two walks

Brian Buck walked twice, had a single and scored three runs

Brett Lilley, Domnit Bolivar and Beau Riportella all singled and walked.  Bolivar also had a backhand diving play at 3rd

Jose Garcia tripled and scored a run


Quad Cities #2 defeated Marlins 5th team, 5-3

QC #2 pitching

Josh Hester two shutout innings, 2 hits, 1 BB, 2 K’s

Santo Maertz 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s

LaCurtis Mayes 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K’s

Joel Pichardo 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K’s and was the winner

Jose Rada earned the save with a scoreless 9th with two K’s

QC #2 hitting

Paul Cruz 3-for-3 with two doubles and a walk

Roberto De La Cruz homered and had two RBIs

Edwin Gomez and Luis Polanco doubled

Michael Swinson singled and had three walks

Yunior Castillo, Edgar Lara and Jairo Martinez all singled

These reports are provided through the courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals by Director of Minor League Operations John Vuch. My observations follow.

As mentioned earlier, five minor league players were released this morning. They include second baseman Isa Garcia, left-handed pitcher Joe Rogers, right-handed pitcher Miguel Flores, catcher Christian Rosa and third baseman Nick Vera.

It is just coincidental yet interesting in a symmetric sort of way that the minor league camp picked up five players the same day they jettisoned five others. That all changed after the game, as noted in the Memphis section below. The re-assigned players are typically given a day off when that occurs. Expect a couple more sets of cuts before camp breaks.

Following are the lineups and scheduled pitchers from the five games on the day. Memphis played on a single field with the other four clubs playing in a quad that made viewing those multiple games a bit easier.

Lineup Memphis Springfield Palm Beach Quad Cities 1 QC 2
1 Barton cf Rapoport cf Pham Lilley 2b Castellanos 2b
2 Hoffpauir 2b Solano ss Sedbrook Buck cf Cruz dh
3 Stavinoha lf Wallace 3b Smith 1b Swauger lf Lara rf
4 Craig 3b Cruz dh Peterson Scruggs 1b Martinez 1b
5 Hamilton 1b Jones lf Luna 2b Bolivar 3b De La Cruz 3b
6 Shorey rf Hill c Edwards Parejo rf Gomez lf
7 Anderson c Descalso 2b Curtis 3b Rodriguez dh Swinson cf
8 Rowlett ss Brown rf Cartie Noland c Polanco c
9 Knoedler dh Buckman 1b Derba c Garcia ss Castillo ss
10 Yarbrough dhh Marmol Riportella dh Moscatel dh
11 Chambers
Pitchers Dickson Garceau Bird McGregor Hester
Choi Herron Bradford Maj Maertz
Maekawa Haltiwanger Eager Gonzalez Mayes
Ostlund Parise King Mateo Pichardo
Salas Samuel Daman Carpenter Rada
Reifer

Since I spent Sunday with Memphis and Springfield, I watched more of Palm Beach here on Monday than I might normally do.


Memphis
notes

Jarrett Hoffpauir moved over to his normal second base post, swapping back with Casey Rowlett to shortstop. I imagine Tyler Greene will be in the latter position tomorrow.

P.J. Walters was sent down from the major league camp following his three shutout inning performance on Monday. By Tuesday morning, Scout.com subscribers should look for an interview I did with him today.

Earlier in the day, it was announced that right-handed reliever Luke Gregerson was the second player, the player to be named later, in the Khalil Greene trade with San Diego.


Springfield
notes

Note Andrew Brown in right field for Springfield. That might help to suggest how the Cardinals will deal with the Brown-Brandon Buckman-Mark Hamilton logjam at first base.


Palm Beach
notes

I realize there are 11 players listed for Palm Beach and I cannot explain why, short of three designated hitters. The line-ups also did not list positions, so I labeled the infielders, the only ones I am sure of.

Even before his big day offensively on Monday, Adron Chambers is a player mentioned to me as a potential surprise of the spring. During the part of the game that I saw, he plated five runs on a bases-loaded triple and later added a two-run single. It will be interesting to see if he can break out this season.

Speaking of triples, Chris Swauger added a two-run three-bagger of his own.

As noted above, Ryan Bird was the starter. He yielded a two-run home run early, but the wind was blowing out to right.

Aaron Luna was at second base and the most current working roster has him there instead of in the outfield. Probably because I was watching, he made a fielding error. Another potential member of the 2009 Palm Beach infield is third baseman Jermaine Curtis, who is not being tried at second.

Colt Sedbrook and Curt Smith (see photos) went back-to-back, both to left field. Sedbrook’s home run was up in the breeze, while Smith’s was more of a line drive.

Injury updates

There were questions about some of the players listed in the “rehab” category yesterday in the Minors spring training groups post. The good news is there are no surgeries involved and all players are working their way back.

Jon Bravo suffered a bit of shoulder soreness earlier, but is just behind in his preparation. Nothing serious.

Josh Dew had some elbow soreness. He is playing catch, but has not progressed to the mound. As a result, he may not be ready for the start of the season.

Matt Arburr suffered an ACL injury (knee ligament) in the off-season and is just doing light activities so far. He is not hitting yet, so will not be ready for the start of the season.

Mark McCormick is progressing to the point he will be able to pitch live batting practice. Obviously, he is not yet game ready.


The lighter side of the news


If you’ve read this far, you probably are still wondering what the lead photo is about. Around 5:30 p.m., Brendan Ryan and Joe Mather passed the media room at Roger Dean by on a pair of loaned bicycles on their way to a local sandwich shop. The fun-loving guys posed for this very intense photo. (That’s a toothbrush behind Ryan’s ear.)

The roommates don’t have specific plans for the day off Tuesday. Here’s hoping they stay off the streets of Jupiter!