Wainwright's streak ends at 14

Adam Wainwright's undefeated streak to start off a career ended at 14 when he faced the NAFTA Prickly Pears on June 9th. There was no doubt that he was going to lose the streak on this evening as he was hammered to the tune of 7 runs over 3.1 innings. The Posse lost the game to the top team in the MDBL, 9-1.

Posada delivers 500th hit as a Posse to move Wainwright's steak to 14

Adam Wainwright delivered one of his worst starts of his career, but as often is the case, the Posse offense supported their pitchers with a huge seventh inning. As mentioned earlier, Wainwright has started his career by winning 13 straight games but things were not looking good in this game. He headed to the dugout after recording the last out of the sixth inning down 6-3 to the Melbourne Beach Manatees. In the top of the seventh the Posse were able to load the bases for Jorge Posada, who entered the game needing a hit to get his 500th in a Posse uniform. Jorge delivered the big hit, a double over the centerfielder's head to score two runs and put the Posse down by one. After an intentional walk to Chone Figgins the managers got into a battle of the wits contest which was won by the Posse manager. Wilson Betemit was brought in to pinch hit with the bases loaded, but did not get to swing the bat as the Manatees brought in Jimmy Gobble which forced a change to slugger Sammy Sosa. Sosa delivered with a grand slam homerun to give the Posse the lead which they would not lose, winning the game 10-7. Posada became the fifth Posse hitter to get 500 hits in their uniform, following Aramis Ramirez, Derek Jeter, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu.

Strat-O-Matic Report

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BOXSCORE: 2008 Oak Ridges Posse At 2008 Melbourne Beach Manatees     6/3/2008

 

  Posse              AB  R  H RBI AVG     Manatees           AB  R  H RBI AVG

  D.Jeter SS          5  1  3  1 .349     E.Byrnes RF         4  2  2  0 .284  

  B.Abreu RF,CF,LF    4  2  1  0 .237     B.Harris 2B         5  0  1  1 .284  

  P.Polanco 2B        4  0  1  0 .369     R.Belliard 3B       5  1  2  2 .296  

  B.Bonds LF          5  2  3  2 .292     P.Fielder DH        4  1  2  0 .278  

E-R.Johnson LF,CF     0  0  0  0 .298     M.Byrd CF           4  1  2  1 .383  

  F.Thomas DH         3  0  1  0 .255     B.McCann C          5  0  1  2 .243  

A-J.Giambi PH         1  1  0  0 .443     J.Payton LF         4  0  0  0 .327  

  J.Posada C          4  1  1  2 .305     S.Hillenbrand 1B    4  0  0  0 .000  

  A.Ramirez 3B        3  0  0  0 .336     T.Pena Jr SS        3  2  1  1 .272  

B-C.Figgins PH,3B     1  1  0  0 .294                                          

  T.Hunter CF         1  0  0  0 .295                                          

C-W.Betemit PH        0  0  0  0 .207                                          

D-S.Sosa PH,RF        2  1  1  4 .227                                          

  C.Kotchman 1B       5  1  1  0 .250                                          

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      

         Totals      38 10 12  9                 Totals      38  7 11  7

 

A-Pinch Hit For Thomas In 7th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Ramirez In 7th Inning

C-Pinch Hit For Hunter In 7th Inning

D-Pinch Hit For Betemit In 7th Inning

E-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Bonds In 8th Inning

 

Posse........... 2 0 0  1 0 0  7 0 0  - 10 12  1

Manatees........ 2 0 2  1 0 1  0 1 0  -  7 11  0

 

Posse (52-11)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA

A.Wainwright WIN(12-0)    6 2/3   9   6   6   2   5   0 121   2.76

M.Corpas                  1 1/3   2   1   1   0   3   1  17   1.69

J.Nathan SAVE(23rd)       1       0   0   0   0   1   0  16   2.88

Totals                    9      11   7   7   2   9   1

 

Manatees (15-39)         IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA

S.Trachsel                6       6   3   3   3   0   1  94   4.84

O.Villarreal LOSS(1-2)    0 2/3   2   5   5   3   0   0  25   6.69

J.Gobble BS(4th)          0       1   1   1   0   0   1   3   9.33

D.Brocail                 1 1/3   3   1   1   0   0   0  25  10.32

R.Betancourt              1       0   0   0   0   0   0  10   5.68

Totals                    9      12  10  10   6   0   2

 

ATTENDANCE- 29,610 DATE- Tuesday, June 3rd 2008 TIME- Night 

T- 3:29

LEFT ON BASE- Posse: 8  Manatees: 8

DOUBLE PLAYS- Posse: 1  Manatees: 0

ERRORS- D.Jeter

DOUBLES- J.Posada(15th), E.Byrnes(9th), R.Belliard(17th), B.McCann(19th)

TRIPLES- C.Kotchman(3rd)

HOME RUNS- B.Bonds(12th), S.Sosa(1st), T.Pena Jr(4th)

STOLEN BASES- D.Jeter-2(6th), B.Abreu(3rd)

CAUGHT STEALING- T.Hunter

WALKS- B.Abreu, P.Polanco, J.Giambi, J.Posada, C.Figgins, T.Hunter, P.Fielder,

       T.Pena Jr

HIT BY PITCH- T.Hunter, E.Byrnes, M.Byrd

STRIKE OUTS- B.Harris, R.Belliard, P.Fielder, B.McCann-2, J.Payton-2,

             S.Hillenbrand-2

GIDP- B.McCann

WILD PITCHES- S.Trachsel, D.Brocail

Amazing start to a career

Sometimes there are feats in the MDBL that are amazing, yet go unnoticed. That is the case for one Posse pitcher in his second season in the MDBL. On May 29th, Adam Wainwright pitched six innings of 2 run ball to take the win for the tenth time the season. So far it has been an amazing season for Wainwright as he has gone 10-0 with a 1.85 ERA over 63 innings. What makes this all the more amazing is that in 2007 Wainwright also tossed 63 innings in relief and went 3-0. Yes, Adam Wainwright has started his career in the MDBL by winning his 13 decisions.

The model of success for Wainwright seems to be that he allows runners on base but he does not give up the big inning or the big hit. So far in his career he has tossed 126 innings, allowing 110 hits, 47 walks and he has struck out 100 batters. He also has only allowed 6 homeruns. He supports his 13-0 record with a 2.64 career ERA.

"Our franchise has not done a great job in developing prospects to our major league roster. Most of that has been due to the fact that we always have a championship caliber team and have had to trade our future for some more immediate help. Adam is one of the players we kept around and we are happy we did. Not only has he produced, but he looks even better in the future.", stated GM Shawn Luddington.

In MLB, Wainwright is having even a better 2008 as he has thrown 87 innings, allowing only a 1.06 WHIP (improved from 1.40 in 2007) and a .657 OPS (improved from .721 in 2007).

Posse make Blackburn their second first round selection

The Posse entered the MDBL draft with four first round draft selections. Earlier on they took high school senior Kyle Skipworth as a high ceiling catching prospect that will one day fill the void left by Jorge Posada. With the second selection they went for something that was more immediate, Nick Blackburn. Blackburn is a starting pitcher that is expected to jump into the major league rotation next year. "Yes, we are probably going to need some starting pitching help next year due to Randy Johnson's injury concerns. Right now we have Carlos Zambrano, Adam Wainwright, Fausto Carmona, Mike Mussina, Brad Penny and Randy Johnson. Adding some youth to that mix quickly was very important to us.", stated GM Shawn Luddington.



Blackburn was the 56th ranked prospect by Baseball America in their latest numbers. He is not the typical top of the rotation starter that the Posse Management likes to target, but he will be in the majors quickly. He is a very similar player to Chris Volstad, another Posse prospect that is knocking on the major league door. Blackburn has an above average fastball that tops out in the low 90's, but has good downward life which induces alot of ground balls. Blackburn also has a strong group of secondary pitches, including a plus slider and a solid cutter. "What makes Blackburn inticing is his ability to keep the ball down and throw strikes. He will not walk a ton of batters which means he will be a pretty consistent player, and he will induce many double plays. Another thing we like about him is his ability to get left handers out, typically that is something tough to find in a right handed pitcher.", claimed GM Luddington. With the good comes the bad. Blackburn does not throw overly hard so he will tend to be hit quite a bit, and he has had a checkered injury past with two knee surgeries.

Spring Training Report - Adam Wainwright

Twice is the charm so far for Adam Wainwright. He started off the spring training by being our top player on the first day, and he continues the trend by being the Posse's top spring player for Monday. In his first start, Adam went 3 innings and only allowed a single runner via the walk. In his second start he was stretched out to 4 innings pitched and still did not allow a hit, walking 2 over the 4 innings.

Wainwright looks like he is a lock for a move from the bullpen to the rotation where he will join Mike Mussina, Carlos Zambrano, Jeremy Sowers, Brad Penny and possibly Roger Clemens. Wainwright is not the only prospect pitcher banging on the door of the rotation; Jeff Niemann and Micah Owings are also pretty close to ready as well.

Spring Training Report : Adam Wainwright

In his first Spring Training start of 2007, Posse second year pitcher Adam Wainwright breezed through three scoreless, hitless innings, permitting one walk and striking out one. He needed only 30 pitches.

Wainwright will be the Posse's long reliever in 2007 but is expected to take up a rotation spot in 2008.