At the dish, Nick Johnson has found new life. After dipping down to .185, he homered yesterday and followed up with another long ball and a double today. Add in a walk and Johnson (.214) scored three times. Tim Fedroff and Cord Phelps also had two hits apiece in the Clippers 6-3 victory. Beau Mills went 0-for-4 with a K in his AAA debut.
Zach McAllister takes the pill in game 2 against the Iron Pigs, tomorrow at 6:35p.
Other Minor Points of Interest --
Rob Bryson, the last piece of the CC Sabathia deal, continues to impress as he climbs the ladder. Returning from yet another injury (ankle in the spring), Bryson has recently been moved up to AA Akron. Tonight, in his second outing, he fanned 3 of the 4 he faced. On the season, Rob (0-1, 1.33 overall) has a gaudy 12.4 K/9 average. If the guy can stay healhty, he can function as either a nice trade piece or an MLB option in 2012.
21-year old outfielder Abner Abreu, ranked as a top-10 organizational prospect in 2009 following an .839 OPS season at Low-A, might have finally figured out how to hit Carolina League pitching. Over his last 10, Abreu (.244) has 4 multi-hit games, 4 round trippers and 12 RBI. Tonight, he homered, tripled and singled twice, as he drove home 5. On the season he has 11 home runs and is 19/22 stealing bases, although he has fanned 225 times in 725 High-A AB's over the past two seasons.
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers beat the tar out of former St Ed's stud Stetson Allie, en route to a 10-3 win. Allie faced 13 hitters and put 8 of them on base. Of the 3 hits, 2 walks and 3 hit batsmen, four came around to score, as Stetson (5.95) chalked his first professional decision up as a loss.
Cheers.
