Photo Courtesy of Nick Mays

On a chilly Fall evening, two 19-year old pitching prospects took control of their respective team’s destinies. For Mahoning Valley, Clayton Cook, the Indians 9th round draft pick of 2008 took to the hill. Staten Island sent Jose Ramirez, a 2007 free agent from the Dominican Republic.  With everything at stake, neither of the youngsters factored into the decision.  Relief pitching was the difference as Staten Island overcame a 2-run deficit to defeat Mahoning Valley 5-2 in front of 1933 fans at Eastwood Field.

The Scrappers drew first blood when Ben Carlson parlayed an infield single into a run. Carlson moved to second on a passed ball and would come around to score when Rafael Vera smashed a triple into right center. Chun Chen, last night’s hero, doubled to knock home Vera and give the Scrappers a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, Scrapper-killer Neil Medchill doubled off of the wall in right center. Zoilo Almonte singled to right knocking Medchill home with no one out. With Almonte at third and one out, Cook battled back to get out of the inning only giving up a single run where the score stood at 2-1 in favor of Mahoning Valley.

In the Yankees half of the seventh inning, Almonte singled off of Vidal Nuno. The next batter, Kyle Higashioka, doubled into the left field corner scoring Almonte and tying the contest at two. That would be it for Nuno who was relieved by Austin Adams with nobody out and Higashioka on second base. Adams rose to the challenge and got the required three outs to keep the game tied at two.

In the eighth, the Yankees struck big.   Jimmy Paredes led off with a single and Mack DeAngelo walked. Luke Merton flew out to center and Paredes tagged and advanced to third. Neil Medchill hit a high chopper toward second that Adams cut off and tried to make a play at home, which failed.  With runners on first and second, Almonte delivered a dagger – a 2 RBI double off of new pitcher Tyler Sturdevant putting Staten Island up 5-2.

Ben Watkins, the winning pitcher, was terrific in relief for the Yankees. He entered the game to start the fourth inning and only gave up one hit over the next five innings. Graham Stoneburner relieved Watkins to pitch the ninth inning for the Yankees and earn the save.  When the final out was recorded, the Yankee dugout emptied noisily as the team celebrated on the Scrappers pitchers mound.   

For Staten Island, it is their sixth NYPL Championship. 

Travis Fryman had nothing but good things to say about his Scrappers club after the game.  “You want these guys to go home on a positive note.  It is hard to lose big games, you can’t take away what they accomplished as a club this year.  It’s over, and we will prepare for next year, it’s all you can do.”

I asked Fryman about a return for next season to which he responded, “I plan on coming back here, absolutely.”

So the 2009 chapter of the New York – Penn League comes to a close.  Congratulations to all of the players in the league, not just Mahoning Valley, for making it a memorable year full of promise.  It was nice to meet so many young men who will serve as the reinforcements to Major League Baseball someday.

Photo -Courtesy of Nick Mays

The Scrappers Marty Popham and the Yankees Sean Black pitched like anything but short season Single-A prospects. Through four complete innings, the two starting pitchers combined for a total of 13 strikeouts.  In the end, it was a crack off the bat of Chun Chen in the bottom of the 11th inning that vaulted the Scrappers to knotting the series at one game apiece.

The irony of the Scrappers walk-off homer win is that Staten Island had hit 45 homers during the regular season and Mahoning Valley only had 11.

The Yankees got a lead in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, Carmen Angelini singled. The next batter for the Yankees, DH Jimmy Paredes doubled driving in Angelini. DeAngelo Mack continued the two-out hitfest with a single up the middle which scored Paredes. After four-and-a-half innings the Yankees held a 2-0 lead.

Jason Smit doubled to start the bottom half of the fifth inning. He advanced to third on a wild pitch with nobody out. The next batter, Casey Frawley doubled deep off of the left-centerfield wall scoring Smit and cutting the Yankees lead to 2-1 and knocking Black out of the game.  Chun Chen laid down a sacrifice bunt off of new Yankee pitcher Griffin Bailey moving Frawley to third with one out. Argenis Martinez singled with two outs to plate Frawley and tie the game at two runs apiece.

With one out in the ninth inning, Jordan Henry singled and Martinez walked, but the Scrappers failed to capitalize on the opportunity.

In the bottom of the 11th inning of the 2000 NYPL finals, the Scrappers were playing Staten Island, and won that game on a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 11th inning.  Props to GM Dave Smith who walked into the pressbox during the tenth inning and laid claim to history repeating itself.  With one swing of Chen’s bat off of Staten Island pitcher Ronny Marte,  Smitty looked like a genius.  Chen was due to have a big hit sooner or later, he is just too good of a hitter.  “That was my biggest hit of my career”, said Chun through his interpreter (Jason Lynn), “I got a fastball, put a good swing on it, and the ball carried out”.

Jason Smit, Ben Carlson, Chen, and Martinez all had two hits each for the Scrappers.

Cory Burns was awesome in 3 1/3 innings of relief in garnering the win.  Burns had it going striking out 4 Yankees in his appearance and is credited with the win.  Antoine Hubbard and Matt Packer also pitched scoreless relief in keeping the loud Yankee bats quiet.

After the game, Travis Fryman tried to offer explanations on the mystique of this 2009 Scrappers team.  “ Our strength all year has been our pitching depth and ability to just win games.  I can’t explain that, I have been scratching my head all year trying to figure out how we ended up with the best record in the league.  I don’t think we had the most talented club in the league by any means, but I think tonight was a great example of what kind of ballclub we have, just finding ways to win”.

The Scrappers and Yankees hook it up Wednesday night, winner-takes-it-all.  Clayton Cook will start for the Scrappers.  “Cookie and some good guys in the bullpen, I like our chances”, said Fryman about the deciding contest.  First pitch is at 7:05 PM at Eastwood Field.  Marc Means will be on AM-1390 calling the game for those unable to attend.

$2 made from every ticket sold is being donated to the Luke Holko Fund.

Playoff Smit-O-Meter:  2-4, 2B (1), Run

I wanted to do a profile piece on Ben Carlson about a month and a half ago.  When I asked him about it after a Scrapper game in July, he simply told me “we’ll see”.  Today Carlson admitted to me that he was reluctant to do a profile piece back then because he was not playing well and thought others on the team may have deserved the attention more than he did.  It is because of that attitude that today, I am happy to be doing a feature piece on Ben.  Carlson gives the words ‘team player’ and ‘wise beyond his years’, believability.

 Carlson and I have been linked closer since last Wednesday.  A line-drive foul ball off of his bat struck Luke Holko.  Having an idea of what kind of a person Ben was, I knew that he would be devastated.  After every game, I would talk to Travis Fryman.  Our conversations have been pretty structured lately.  My first question has always been, “Any news on Luke?”, followed by, “How is Ben doing?”, followed by, “Tell me about the start that Clayton Cook provided and how long are Kyle Bellows and Greg Folgia hurt?” 

I met Chad and Nicole Holko on Wednesday, a week after the incident.  The Scrappers played Brooklyn that night and I waited until after the game to talk to Ben and Travis about my visit.  Ben told me, “I gotta get up there and see him.”  The next morning, Ben and I were on our way to Akron Children’s Hospital.  Ben brought a bat to give to Luke.  We had about two hours to talk, so this profile piece is done with more than the usual amount of information.

We met at 9:00 AM at Eastwood Field.  I learned that this early time of nine was a sacrifice in itself for Carlson who said he usually sleeps until 11.  It sounds bad, but when you weigh the normal day ahead of a Scrappers player, it seems that isn’t enough rest.  These guys got home at 6:00 AM from one of their unpopular eight-hour bus rides.  On a gameday, which is pretty much every day, the players are required to be at the field by 2:00 PM for meetings and stretching followed by batting practice.  Then they hit the field for the game.  After showering and sometimes short post-game meetings, a player can expect to get home between 11:00 – midnight.  That’s a long day.

One of the first things I talked with Carlson about was “home”, both growing up and here.  The growing up part was in Kansas.  Carlson has loyalty to the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs, two franchises which have not been lighting it up as of late.  We talked about George Brett and Christian Okoye and if the Chiefs were capable of winning even three games this season.  Carlson has three brothers, all playing baseball at some level.  His oldest brother is in the Detroit Tigers system, and recently needed surgery on his wrist.  Ben attended Missouri State for a bit, but once you get drafted, college ends up on the back burner.  After this season with the Scrappers, he will go to an instructional league in Arizona on September 30.  His father runs a car auction back in Kansas.  His parents recently made a trip to Ohio to see Ben play and because it was Labor Day Weekend, the car auction was delayed until Tuesday.  “My father hasn’t missed an auction in 24 years.” 

Nick Kirk and Brett Brach live with the same host family as Carlson.  He claims that it is nice to have some teammates around but was quick to point out that pitchers are pretty much on a different schedule, so they go to the park at different times.  “We pretty much have an area of the house to ourselves.  There is a nice setup with a big screen when we have time to watch it.”  Carlson said his host father leaves for work at 5:30 in the morning and he went a stretch of about two weeks without even getting to see him.

Once we got to the hospital and parked, the reality of our trip started to settle in.  We agreed that it is tough to see Luke on the machines as we had both already been there once.  Walking to the room, a million things race through my mind, the most important being some sign of improvement or some good news.  Our unannounced visit was well-received.  Nicole and Chad and Nicole’s parents were all there.  Nicole told us about Eric Wedge’s wife coming yesterday and showed us all of the nice stuff she brought with her including a two-foot card signed by the entire team, some autographed bats, and even a Jamey Carroll glove.  Nicole then talked with us about improvements.  There is something caled an ICP count which is monitored on a screen.  Luke’s ICP count rises when he gets annoyed.  I was fixated on this single monitor for most of the visit.  We had to leave before 11:30 because Carlson had to be back in Niles by 12:30 for practice.

One of the things Carlson and I talked about was his music that he picked when he comes up to bat.  Most of the Scrappers pick R & B stuff, or newer music.  Casey Frawley has a country song.  Ben Carlson has Ted Nugent.  Yep, the Motor City Madman.  I asked Carlson if the music gets assigned or if they get to pick it. He told me that they get to pick what they want.  I then asked how he ended up with ‘Stranglehold’.  He told me he loved the song as a teammate of his in college used it when he came to bat.  Once he got to Niles, he picked the song to use for himself.

Carlson is still getting used to hitting with a wooden bat.  Having used aluminum bats his whole career, it is a big change.  He is also learning to play first base.  He had played there before, but very sparingly.  “You go where they put you and make the most of it,” remarked Carlson whose primary world was the outfield.

Moises Montero, Jesus Brito, and Argenis Martinez do not speak much English yet.  From what Carlson told me, Rafael Vera should draw an additional check from the Indians organization for being a full-time interpreter.  The language and communication problems don’t end there.  Carlson’s roommate on the road is Chun Chen.  I asked him what they could possibly do or how they communicate.  “Chen knows a little English and is learning, we get through it.”

Carlson is very complimentary of the coaches and trainers.  He has much respect for Travis Fryman and Phil Clark and said nothing but good stuff about both guys.  Nothing but praise for the Scrappers organization and not a bad word about a teammate.  Carlson said in some ways it has been a very long Summer.  He is looking forward to going to his brother’s wedding in Las Vegas in November.  “He is 6’4″, she is 6’3″ and used to play basketball at New Mexico, they are going to have some tall kids.”

Carlson and the Scrappers will be competing for the NYPL championship this weekend.  He was quick to point out that the Scrappers lead the NYPL in team batting, yet no Scrapper player is even in the Top-10.  “We are a true team, everyone has been contributing all season.  When someone gets hurt, someone else has been able to step in and get the job done.”

I enjoyed my time with Ben Carlson.  He is a refreshing person who contradicts the young pro athlete stereotypes.  If he doesn’t make it in baseball, he will succeed in some other avenue his path may drive him to. 

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers set a new standard for wins in a season with their 49th, the old record was 48.  With their 3-0 victory over State College, the Scrappers clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs.   The Scrappers got outstanding pitching from Brett Brach and Tyler Sturdevant and put up enough offense to claim the win.  

The Scrappers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard and for the second consecutive night tallied in the first inning.  Casey Frawley (pictured, on left) walked with two outs.  Frawley would later score on a Jesus Brito RBI single to give Mahoning Valley a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Ben Carlson (pictured, on right) singled and Chun Chen walked.  Rafael Vera then bunted the two Scrappers into scoring position.  Carlson scored on a wild pitch to make the score 2-0.  Argenis Martinez then bunted for a single with two outs knocking in Chen to cap the scoring at 3-0.

Brett Brach had a good start for Mahoning Valley.  Brach went six innings giving up three hits and walking none.  He also struck out six Spikes batters in lowering his ERA to 2.19 and boosting his record to 5-2 for the season.  Tyler Sturdevant pitched the last three innings and didn’t surrender a hit or a walk in picking up his third save of the year. 

Casey Frawley, who was the designated hitter Saturday,  talked about the importance of going after 50 wins for the year.  “We want to go hard and get this ring.  Tomorrow is a big game, we set a goal as a team to win 50 games at the beginning of the year.  It’s what I heard when I came up here, and it has been stressed more and more as we get closer.”

Travis Fryman commented on the potential to win 50 games also.  “This is something the players really want, 50 is a nice round number and sounds better than 49 to me.  It’s something to shoot for and a great accomplishment for a 76 game season.  I think they really want that, and they have earned it.”  Fryman also confirmed a possible return for Greg Folgia if he can hit and run the bases without pain during batting practice.

The Scrappers wrap up their regular season with their final game scheduled for Sunday at 5:05 against State College.  I will post the playoff schedule and ticket options in a seperate article tomorrow.

On Browns-Steelers promo night, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers played the role of Pittsburgh, and Jamestown got to be Cleveland (at least thats how its been for a few years now).  The Scrappers were not at their sharpest, but were able to come away with a 7-5 victory and tie a franchise record for victories in a season (48).

Greg Pruitt was at Eastwood Field representing the Browns, and Robin Cole was also on hand to represent the Steelers in front of 2,969 fans.  Browns and Steelers highlights were shown on the scoreboard and plenty of fans wore team jerseys of their choosing.  I would guess the crowd was 60-40 Pittsburgh.

The Scrappers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. Argenis Martinez walked, stole third, and scored on a Chun Chen single to put the Scrappers ahead 1-0.

Jamestown answered in the top of the second scoring a run on a long sac fly from Mark Wyatt to tie the score. The Jammers had the bases loaded with nobody out, but starter Vidal Nuno did well to limit the visiting team to a single run.

In the bottom of the fourth, Chun Chen reached on an error, stole second and would score on a Ben Carlson RBI single to put Mahoning Valley up 2-1. Carlson would later score in the inning on a Moises Montero groundout making it 3-1 in favor of the Scrappers.

With one out in the third, Martinez, Jason Kipnis, and Chen all walked. Martinez scored on a passed ball to push the lead to 4-1.

Jamestown would take a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning on a three-run homer off of the bat of Jamestown DH Carlos Paulino.

The Scrappers tied the game at 5 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Martinez singled home Tim Palincsar who walked earlier.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Chen led off and was hit by a pitch. He would score as the next batter, Jesus Brito, tripled to deep right center putting Mahoning Valley back on top 6-5. It didn’t take long for Brito to score as the next batter, Carlson, hit a sac fly to deep right center to extend the Scrapper lead to 7-5, where the scoring would end.

Austin Adams picked up the win for the Scrappers, hoisting his record to 3-1.  Adams relieved Scrapper starter Vidal Nuno who lasted 5 1/3 innings.  Guido Fonseca picked up the save, his 5th,  pitching a perfect 9th inning.

For the Scrappers, it was their fifth game in three days.  Jordan Henry (pictured) talked about the rough three days.  “It’s tough.  I’m not used to doing that. It’s a grind and we have played alot of games all season and we are prepared for that.  We know we just have to go out there and play.”

The Scrappers finish up their regular season with a two-game series against State College with games on Saturday and Sunday.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers offense showed its potency against Batavia.  The Scrappers scored a season-high eight runs in the third inning and never looked back in defeating the Muckdogs.

Batavia struck first on a three-run blast from Kyle Conley.  They added another run in the second inning to push the lead to 4-0.  At this point in the game things may have seemed dismal with Jason Smit, Kyle Smith, and Kyle Bellows holding clipboards and nursing injuries.

The Scrappers batted around in the third inning.  Jordan Henry (pictured above) singled and stole second base.  Casey Frawley then walked and Jason Kipnis reached on an error to load the bases.  Greg Folgia was hit by a pitch scoring Henry.  Jesus Brito then walked to score Frawley.  Chun Chen struck out but the ball got to the backstop and Kipnis alertly scored from third.  Juan Aponte doubled to score Folgia and Brito and give the Scrappers a 5-4 lead.  Tim Palincsar doubled home two more and scored when Henry had his second hit of the inning, an RBI-double pushing the Scrapper lead to 8-4. 

In the fourth, Rafael Vera got in on the action as he doubled home Folgia and Brito, who both reached base via the free pass, extending the lead to 10-4.

The Muckdogs tried to fight back putting a couple of runs up in the fifth inning and cutting the Scrapper lead to 10-6.

Henry collected his fourth hit of the night, an RBI-single plating Vera who doubled, to pretty much seal the victory for Mahoning Valley.

Henry has been superb, as a leadoff man and as a center fielder, all season long for the Scrappers.  Henry said it felt good to put the eight runs up in the third inning, “It was great, just about everyone scored that inning.  It was good to be that consistent through the lineup.  It’s all part of the game, sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t”.

Manager Travis Fryman was pleased with the situational hitting his team provided, especially in the third inning.  “Our situational hitting has been better.  It’s still not on the level where I think it needs to be, but it has been better.  We did this the other day in Auburn where we had five hits with two outs, it is getting better”.

With the win, Mahoning Valley trimmed their magic number to clinch the division to six.  The magic number decreases by one with each Scrapper victory or second-place Williamsport Crosscutter loss.

The Scrappers finish the series with Batavia on Thursday, Buck Night.  On Friday, Mahoning Valley embarks on their final roadtrip of the season with stops in Jamestown and Williamsport.  It should be noted that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday games will not be broadcast on AM-1390, but can still be picked up on the internet transmission.  Marc Means, as always, will still be calling the games online.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers and Brooklyn Cyclones hooked it up for a series-clinching matchup at Eastwood Field Thursday.  The Cyclones came away winning the series with a 2-1 victory over the Scrappers.  The series had playoff implications as these two teams have the best records, and for the most part, this game was highlighted by great pitching and solid defense.

The Scrappers got on the scorebord in the sixth inning.  Chun Chen hit a ground-rule double to the deepest part of Eastwood Field, dead center.  Rafael Vera knocked in Chen with a sac fly to put Mahoning Valley up 1-0. 

Brooklyn was the benefactor of a gift in the eighth inning.  With a runner on second, Cyclones LF Alex Gregory hit a double to deep left-center.  The relay throw went home but was a bit late.  Gregory took too wide of a turn rounding second base and Chun Chen fired the ball toward second from home.  The ball bounced short of the base and skipped into the outfield, where nobody was backing up the throw.  CF Jordan Henry and LF Rafael Vera converged at the ball on the warning track in the left-center gap.  Gregory scored from second uncontested, giving the cyclones a 2-1 lead.

Brett Brach had a good start going 5 1/3 innings and giving up no runs.  Brach was relieved by Jimmy Johnson who pitched out of trouble in the fifth and went 1 1/3.  Nick Kirk was called upon for 2/3 of an inning.  Cory Burns then finished out the contest, and unfortunately had to get pinned with a loss that wasn’t entirely his fault.

Manager Travis Fryman was not pleased with the defense that allowed the winning run to score.  ” Our situational hitting is very poor, and our defense was very poor.  I’m not sure why we were not backing up second base like we’re supposed to, somebody was probably thinking about their at-bats more than playing defense.”

Friday, the Scrappers welcome the Lowell Spinners.  The Scrappers will send Preston Guilmet, last weeks NYPL pitcher of the week to the hill.  Before the game, there will be an actual wedding on the field.  Scott Capron and Holly Hinzman will officially tie the knot.  The couple have been a host family for the Scrappers the last two seasons.  Marc Means will return to the air on AM-1390 with the first pitch and some wedding commentary at 6:45 PM.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:05, and it is fireworks night to boot!

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers returned home from a five game road trip to post a 4-0 victory over the Williamsport Crosscutters.  The first game of the short two-game homestand against Williamsport was highlighted by the great pitching of Scrapper starter Marty Popham.

Popham pitched five solid innings, racking up nine strikeouts and yielding only three hits, to lead the great pitching performance displayed at Eastwood Field.

The Scrappers got on the board in the third inning on an RBI-single from Kyle Smith and an RBI-double from Jason Smit for a 2-0 Scrappers lead. 

In the fifth inning, Chun Chen led off the inning with a double and would score on a Kyle Bellows RBI-double.  Ben Carlson’s single plated Bellows to close the scoring with the Scrappers in command 4-0.

Austin Adams and Cory Burns pitched the final four innings to preserve the shutout for Popham’s third victory of the 2009 season.    The Scrapper trio of pitchers ended the game with 13 strikeouts.

I have a nice profile piece on Scrapper starter Marty Popham to post, but I have to get a good picture of him to go with the piece.  That article will be up real soon.

Smit-O-Meter:  1-4, Double (7), RBI (18), Currently hitting .273