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Jason Scobie 1-2, 3.33 ERA |
| Joe Gannon 6-3, 3.87 ERA |
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Jason Scobie nearly got his chance in 2005. The righthander went 15-7 with a 3.34 ERA in 26 starts at Triple-A. He thought for sure the Mets were going to give him a September look, but it never happened and he never figured out exactly why.
“Usually they give you a reward for having a good year,” Scobie said. “I didn’t get called up. That kind of got me perturbed. They didn’t invite me to big league camp and I was a little perturbed about that, too. I told them, ‘I don’t know what else I need to do to get called up here.’ I guess that was the closest I came to making it to the big leagues.”
Scobie opted to leave affiliated ball in 2007. He went to the Korea Baseball Organization, which provided a nice payday and the chance to play in a highly-intense environment. The KBO isn’t like the minors. It’s the big leagues for that country.
“What I tell everybody is it’s either like a college football atmosphere or a soccer atmosphere over in Europe,” Scobie said. “They have people beating on drums. They have cheerleaders. The smallest crowd is about 15,000.”
Scobie was released from the KBO this season. He sat home for six weeks, hoping to land with a big-league organization. When no team had room for him, he opted to go the indy ball route. He came to the Barnstormers because he knew Shane Youman, Ross Peeples and some other members of the team.
Today, Scobie is the de facto ace of the staff. With Josh Hall gone to Triple-A and Youman and Eric Ackerman on the DL, Scobie is the most experienced and accomplished starter the Barnstormers have. They’re counting on him to help hold the rotation together until it’s back at full strength.
Scobie is hoping to pitch well enough in the Atlantic League to earn an invitation to spring training in March. He’ll turn 30 next month, but his career stats are solid — he has a lifetime 3.76 ERA and a .265 batting average against.
PITCHING MOVES:
The Barnstormers have signed P Ben Fritz, who is going to start Sunday. The 6-4, 225-pound righthander was released from Double-A Erie earlier this month. Fritz went 3-5 with a 6.40 ERA at Erie. He’s a former first-round draft pick from the famed Moneyball draft in 2002. He pitched for Von Hayes at Midland in 2006. This move could be a huge shot in the arm for the rotation.
One other note: Nick Renault has been shifted to the bullpen. Ricardo Gomez is staying in the rotation in that fifth slot at least until Ackerman or Youman returns from the DL.
Box score:
Scoring summary:
Stormers 4th: Bladergroen scores on wild pitch.
Lancaster leads 1-0.
Blue Crabs 5th: Ramistella’s home run scores Sandel.
SoMd leads 2-1.
Blue Crabs: Ramistella’s single scores Shanks. Pride’s walk scores Ketron. Osborn’s sacrifice fly scores Sandel.
SoMd leads 5-1.
RECORD: 13-15 (43-55)
PLAYER OF THE GAME: John Ramistella
Southern Maryland’s right fielder went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. His two-run homer in the fifth inning put the Blue Crabs ahead to stay. Ramistella is batting .362 with an on-base hovering near .500 in 12 games against the Barnstormers.
BOTTOM LINE: The Barnstormers’ losing streak has reached four games and one gets the sense the season is slipping away. They were held to one run — on a wild pitch no less — and have scored more than five runs once in the last 11 games. The addition of P Ben Fritz is a huge plus for the depleted rotation. More moves could be on the way.
Please stop the bleeding.
I agree with you, Jason, regarding the lineup changes. Having Michael batting in the bottom of the order makes no sense to me, but it must make sense to our Manager. I would just like to hear his thoughts and opinions on this matter.
I could speculate that he is trying to give that end of the order a lift. But is it the best thing overall for the team? Up to now, it hasn’t panned out.
I am at a lost over so many pitching injuries. Is this just a fluke or do all teams in the AL suffer as greatly as the Barnstormers?
I’ll probably get blasted for saying this, but it’s something that just bothers me. When I was playing ball as a youngster, the pitchers on our teams were most likely to be some of the better athletes on the squad. Not only would they pitch, but on non-pitching days, they were playing elsewhere in the field. As these young athletes aged and became more experienced, they’re playing time was reduced and they became a pitchers only in college and minor ball. Not only are they then seen as a pitcher, but they are also seen as somewhat fragile… i.e. “He was used for an inning and a half yesterday and needs to rest three days before we see him again.”
Granted, this is not the years of my youth. When did pitchers, great athletes, get reduced to a ‘10 minute every third night’ career? By reducing the expectations of the bull pen, do we put more physical pressure and demands on the starters to pitch into at least the 6th inning before being relieved?
I read that Shane felt uncomfortable on the mound during one start. I’ve even heard Dave and Tom talk about another pitcher in a similar fachion after a long rain delay. If these pitchers are feeling physically uncomfortable on the mound, do they not say anything to their manager and coaches allowing them to consider a change? Do the manager and coaches see this uneasiness and still demand that they do their part as a team player before considering a reliever who needs at least two to three nights rest prior to reappearing in a game?
As you can see, being a life-long baseball fan, a season ticket holder since day one, and watching all this develop is quite frustrating to say the least
Someone help me understand, please!
dadTB
Good luck on trying to figure out why pitchers can only pitch once or twice in consecutive nights…we all the time hear that so and so isn’t available this game or that game because they pitched last night or the night before. I agree with you dadtb…reducing the expectations of the bullpen does put more pressure on the starters. Personally I think some of these guys need to be better conditioned to pitch MORE rather than less. Pitching an inning or so more often than less often. This probably all started when everyone started using pitchers in certain situations rather than letting them JUST PITCH to whomever was at the plate. All the pitching changes to accomidate whether the batter is lefty or righty seems to lead to this sort of thing. Specialization seems to contribute to this sort of thinking. just my 2 cents worth.
And the emphasis on quality starts I guess too.
Sometimes it seems like the bullpen guys are allowed to have more “rest” than the starters are. Or they are given more “rest”. It would seem to me that the relievers should be able to pitch MORE often as they pitch less innings at a time than the starters…one or two innings for relievers versus 5 to 7 for most of the starters.
dad,
This blog has brought up alot of questions that only certain people within the organization can answer. It’s too bad that we can’t get answers from Danos, Lupton, Hayes, Wise, Cummings. They seem to have this “Bunker” mentality and unfortunately don’t seem to be interested in answering those questions.
It almost seems like “They” don’t think we have the right to ask those questions. Just keep paying your $$ to them and quit complaining about things you don’t know anything about, seems to be the attitude.
Too bad.
The Barnstormers have made some changes to their rotation. See above.
We so badly need a good shot in the arm right now. We can’t allow this slip to continue or we will find ourselves too deep to climb out as in the first half. It can happen rather quickly to this team as we have seen in the past week.
I hope we get a great outing from Jason tonight and the bats start ringing once again.
Let’s Go Stormers!
dadTB
Jason, is Ross back next week??
Has Frank Klebe taken up residence in Von Hayes body? “I want to know for sure.” Hope the ex-Seawolve can pitch a shutout Sunday. May be the only way he gets the “W”.
Guevara is “not available” tonite? Wow….Scobie 100+ Pitches in 5 Innings! 2-1 SMD bottom of the 6th.
Yes Booby, Ross should be good to go next week.
Who pitched tonight after Scobie?
Have fun everyone who is going on the LBBBC bus trip on Sunday. I’ll be think of you
Just got my answer on the pitchers. Listening to the rap up on line now.
Still no “O” in Barnstrmers, I see.
I know it is not going to be a popular thing to say, but I think it is time to find another outfielder who can play in center and sit Jutt down for awhile. Pitching is certainly an issue, but at this point, having him nearing the Mendoza line is a liability. Two outfielders would be great, but I can live with Lloyd learning right. Something drastic needs to happen here to add some talent and wake everyone up.
Ain’t gonna happen. Unless they can do it REAL cheap.
You are right Stormin. And I like Jutt alot. But he’s having a terrible season, plus all the strike outs. And I’d be surprised if his performance improves the rest of the way. I’d like to see Jutt used as a late inning defensive replacement if the team could find another OF.
Booby, they’ll find a mid 40 year old ex-major league OF, say a Jay Buhner type, who hasn’t played in 2 years, and claim he’ll provide a big boost to the offense.
Dad- I hope you let me rant today…… Our problems started with the hiring of #9. He thought he knew how to put a team together and it has been a disaster from spring training. Flat out they hired the wrong guy. OK, I’ll save everyone the trouble……So you don’t have to look through the archives…. I am Tom Herr fan, and I think there are a lot of us out there. Bottom line is that he is a proven winner, and his players respected him tremendously. Von has never gotten that here, or deserved it. Baseball camp, at the Clip, got cancelled last week because Von had a “scheduling conflict.” Those camps have been on the bathroom walls since the beginning of the season. I would give him a pass if he had a family issue come up. Other than that it seems typical.
Deuce,
Here we go again with NO communication from the Front Office. Did they give a reason for the cancellation of the camp besides a “scheduling conflict”?? Hell, no!!! We get more info from DOD than we do from this Team. It just blows my mind. This secrecy crap with this Team is just a joke.
Maybe since Barney is a member of the Administration, he could enlighten us as to why they have such a “Bunker Mentality”!
This offensive on and off for extended spells is a carry over from last year..we had the same problem then. I think it’s some kind of mental funk or inferiority complex and they shouldn’t have brought any of last years players back. It may be their funk rubs off on the new players. Again just an opinion.
deuce, i agree with you about von. i wish they would bring tommy herr back and from what i’ve heard many of the players want him here too. how can these guys get and keep their confidence up if they never know where, when or if they are playing. something needs to be done….
Unfortunately, until they take a hit at the gate, little will change. As frustrated as I am with the lack of production, I love this team – my son even more so. How can I tell a nine year old that we can’t go because I don’t agree with the way the front office is running the team. They will continue to get my money and little will change.
Seems funny to me that last week everyone was happy with the changes. The problem is not Von, because “everybody hears” does not cut it. We have gotten good players because of Von, how soon everyone forgets.
The problem is the players not playing up to their ability. It should not matter what order you bat for you to hit well. The problem is lack of production from key players. Jutt is not hitting Danny, Michael’s hitting is sporadic. The guys are taking to many third called strikes. There is no excuse for a player to strike out looking twice in a game, they should be on the bench the next game, I do not care who they are. The team is down and has to take some responsibility for what they are doing and should not always blame the coach. If they are blaming the coach they should be gone. If tey are venting to fans about it they do not deserve to play on the team. I have no respect for whining. If a player is so good and being held down by the coach they should not or would not be here.
Just my rant and opinion.
Once they sign the contrat they are locked in here . They can not leave or they do not play any place. Many of the guys want to play so they put up with Von just to play. I have heard it too they do not like him. but there is nothing they can do. The front office did step in and talk to von.
I feel the guys do not play well due to the fact they do not like Von. I know other fans know that is the reason. I am sure more than one player wants to leave but they are locked in here. If they are not happy they are not going to produce they best that they can, they just play. Why should they care if Von does not??? I am in no way agreeing with how they are playing. But I do see where some of them are coming from.
#21 FYI – I am not a “member of the Administration”
Barney is too nice a guy to be “a member of the administration.”
Crazy if I talked with my clients about not liking my boss, I would lose my job. The players want to be looked at as professionals but if the are venting to fans about the coach, they are not acting professional. I should not be told about how they do not like the boss. For two seasons there is one common denominator and that is the team not playing well. Hearing that other fans “knows” it is because of Von is disheartening and disapointing.
I wasnt a big Tommy Herr fan. I thought he usually left the pitchers way too long and the bullpen wasnt ready when it should have been. And he only wanted to coach one year. He wouldnt have been a bad choice, but just not mine. But I am only a fan.
I am a Pirate fan, not a Phillie fan, so I really didnt feel the same way about bringing Von Hayes in. I saw the potential to bring Phillie fans to the ball park if he was hired. Since then, I have learned of his credentials. Again, I am only a fan, but I do like the way he is willing to try different things since we cant seem to bring any significant talent to the team.
My choice would have been Butch Hobson. I had been to 2 Nashua games before the Lancaster played in the Atlantic League and read a lot about Mr. Hobson. I thought he would have been a good choice to employ especially since I thought he would stick around awhile and he had the experience in the League. We could probably use someone a little more like him.
But of course, the powers that be wanted to hire both of them and it made more money, I mean, sense to employ both of them with the teams that they did.
The one thing I love is that we can debate these things, I’m a little ticked off that I haven’t gotten any brownies……
Ha Ha.. brownies will be delivered to the locker room this weekend in honor of Ross returning
I’m anxiously awaiting the return of #23. Hopefully his roommate is not far behind him.