5/11 games

[Chisoxfn]

Cubsuck, you can listen to the games from charlotteknights.com and just hit the streaming audio link during the game. I've been listening to a few of them lately.

 

Hey Rex, is their a way to listen to Barons games? I'm guessing a few of the other affiliates in the Southern League have their games on the net?

[MnSoxFan]

Sweeney, Warthogs romp past Avalanche

 

Winston-Salem scores 10 runs in third inning, cruises to 13-8 victory

 

By Dan Collins

 

For all those wondering how the Chicago White Sox could take a 6-4, 200-pound left-hander with a 90 mile per hour fastball and make a right-fielder out of him, Ryan Sweeney last night helped provide the answer.

 

Slamming a homer, a triple and a single, Sweeney sparked the stampeding Winston-Salem Warthogs to a 13-8 romp over the Salem Avalanche last night in front of 977 at Ernie Shore Field. He came to the plate in the seventh needing only a double to hit for the cycle, but struck out for his only out of the game.

 

The homer, his first in 106 Carolina League at-bats, was a long blast down the right-field line with a runner aboard in the fifth. But equally impressive was his two-run triple off left-hander Tom Lipari that sailed to the warning track in right center and capped the Warthogs' biggest inning of the season, a 10-run third.

 

The Warthogs, who have won 11 of their past 15, will play the Avalanche today at noon in the second game of a three-game series. Left-hander Paulino Reynoso (0-0, 3.94) is scheduled to make his third start for the Warthogs and right-hander Francisco Pena (1-0, 3.57) is scheduled to start for the Avalanche.

 

Only 19, Sweeney was drafted by the parent White Sox in the second round last June. Though he was 9-0 with a 0.35 earned-run average as a junior pitcher for Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sweeney was penciled in at right field when he reported last summer to Bristol of the Appalachian Rookie League.

 

"When you watch him swing the bat, watch him run and you watch him play the outfield, you understand," Manager Ken Dominguez of the Warthogs said. "The thing about guys like that, when they've got the ability to play the field, you want them to play the field first.

 

"You want to see if they can hit and do things. Ryan can run well. He's got a good arm. He can run balls down in the outfield. He can hit. You've got to give those guys a chance to see if they can develop."

 

Sweeney said that his fastball in high school was timed between 88 and 92 miles per hour. Even so, he said he drew more attention in high school for his offense when he was named Louisville Sluggers' National Player of the Year.

 

"I was looked at as a pitcher too," Sweeney said. "But once I started hitting the ball in my junior and senior year, they mostly looked at me as an outfielder.

 

"And if I need to fall back on it, I have pitching too."

 

Sweeney's outburst, which also included a walk in the first, continued his recent hot streak and raised his batting average from .233 to .252. Two of the hits came off left-handers, raising his batting average against southpaws from .105 to .182.

 

Despite his early season problems against left-handers, Dominguez has left him in the third spot in the Warthogs' order.

 

Last night, Dominguez had left-handers batting first, third, fifth and seventh against Brian Rodaway and the Warthogs improved their record to 5-2 against left-handed starters.

 

"When you've got quality hitters, they're going to hit anybody," Dominguez said. "And these kids are starting to come around. They're talented, and like we talked about early in the season, all they needed was some experience.

 

"And that experience is starting to come about. They're not rookies anymore. They're slowly starting to become young veterans."

 

Rodaway, who was 3-0 with a 2.19 earned-run average coming into the game, lasted only 22/3 innings. Seven of the first eight Warthog batters of the third reached base and one of the outs he recorded came when Tommy Nicholson was caught attempting to steal second base.

 

But Chris Amador, batting ninth in the order provided one of the game's biggest hits, a three-run homer to left field off the first pitch thrown by Lipari. The home run, Amador's first of the season and his seventh in 1,097 professional at-bats, extended the lead to 8-0.

 

Left-hander Nik Libisich encountered trouble in the sixth, but not before pitching well enough to five to pick up the victory and improve to 1-2.

[Guest JimH]

I like Dominguez's approach of letting the kids hit against lefthanders. Give them as much experience as they can get.

 

Thanks Mn for posting this article.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Slamming a homer, a triple and a single, Sweeney sparked the stampeding Winston-Salem Warthogs to a 13-8 romp over the Salem Avalanche last night in front of 977 at Ernie Shore Field. He came to the plate in the seventh needing only a double to hit for the cycle, but struck out for his only out of the game.

Thats a shame, only 977 people? Boy, they're really missing out on getting to see a couple extremely talented young prospects

[danman31]

Who in AAA are you going to release or send down to AA?

 

Not Majewski, not Darensbourg, not Santiago.....  not Sanders.....

 

Baj is fine in AA.  He can go to the Show just as easily from AA as he can AAA.  Sometimes that extra A is vastly overrated.

I was kidding when I said that. You of all people should know that!

[Rex Hudler]

I was kidding when I said that. You of all people should know that!

More people than you have suggested it....... I was merely pointing out that there is nowhere to put him or he would already be there.