The first major trade of the 2010 season is in the books and a Kentucky player was involved. The Seattle Mariners have traded left-handed ace Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers for first baseman Justin Smoak, Northern Kentucky University alum Josh Lueke and two other minor leaguers. Lueke, a native of Highland Heights and graduate of Scott High School, was 3-2 with a 2.11 ERA in 32 relief appearances for low A Hickory and AA Frisco at the time of the trade. The right-handed pitcher has struck out 62 and walked just 10 in 38 and one-third innings pitched. (Read more from FoxSports.com)
Hickory Crawdads
Saturday Links: Louisville’s Magic Number = 1
College Baseball, Minor League Baseball
Reds prospect Chris Heisey was 3-4 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI in leading Louisville to a near division clinching victory. Check out how far the Bats are from sealing their playoff ticket and other storylines in Saturday’s hot links:
- The Bats lowered their magic number to one game with a 10-4 victory over Columbus. A Louisville win or Toledo loss Saturday will clinch the West division for the Bats.
- Lexington earned a series victory with a 6-2 win over Hickory.
- Tim Beckham extended his hitting streak to 11 games in a 6-2 Bowling Green loss to West Virginia.
- UofL sports has a news release about alum B. J. Rosenberg being named to the World Cup team.
- EKU alum Neil Sellers was named a post-season AA Eastern League All-Star.
Friday Links: Minor Leagues 0-3
College Baseball, Minor League Baseball
Thursday was another winless night on the diamond for Kentucky minor league teams. The big news of the day was another UofL alum being selected to Team USA. Check out those stories and more in some Friday links:
- Former Louisville Cardinal B. J. Rosenberg will serve as a relief pitcher on Team USA in the upcoming World Cup competition in September.
- The Lexington Legends’ bullpen surrendered six runs in a 8-4 loss to Hickory.
- The Bats failed to move closer to clinching the division with a 7-2 loss to Columbus.
- The Bowling Green winning streak didn’t last long as the Hot Rods were shutout 4-0 by West Virginia.
- UofL will induct all-time hits leader Tommy Barnes into its athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the six-man class of 2009 Friday.
Thursday Afternoon Links: UK Alums to AFL
College Baseball, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball
Colling Cowgill; Photo: UK Athletics
Sorry for the late links post. The graduate school life isn’t always conducive to the blogger life. Here are some links from the last 24 hour, and I promise more posts this afternoon/evening to catch you up.
- UK alums Ryan Strieby and Collin Cowgill will play for Peoria and Scottsdale in the prestigious Arizona Fall League following the season.
- Louisville’s magic number to clinch the division moved to three even though the Bats’ game with Toledo was rained out.
- Lexington won its second consecutive game with a 9-7 victory over Hickory.
- Bowling Green ended a seven-game losing streak with a 13-3 win over West Virginia.
- Baseball America looks at the arms on the Lexington pitching staff in Thursday’s “Daily Dish.”
- UofL alum Trystan Magnuson extended his scoreless innings streak to 5.1 to start his AA career.
- UK’s Chris Bisson was named the 39th best prospect in the Cape Cod League by PGCrosschecker.com.
Wednesday Links: Louisville’s Magic Number=5
College Baseball, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball
Louisville moved closer to the playoffs as Bowling Green moved further away Tuesday. Check out those stories and more in today’s hot links:
- Louisville defeated Toledo 3-2 and lowered its magic number to 5. The Bats also added former major league outfielder Lew Ford to the roster for the stretch drive.
- Lexington earned its third consecutive victory after its 12-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over Hickory.
- Bowling Green fell to .500 in the second half with a 3-1 loss to West Virginia.
- Former UK standout Michael Bertram was a single away from the cycle in AA Erie’s 8-5 loss to Reading. Bertram already hit for the cycle once this season.
- Former Legend Hunter Pence won the Astros’ “Heart and Hustle” Award.
Legends Return Home for Last Homestand
Minor League Baseball
The Lexington Legends return home Tuesday to start the final homestand of the season. Lexington will face Hickory for four games and Greenville for three before returning to the road for the final seven games of the season. The festivities kick off with “Quarter Hot Dog Night” Tuesday.
Lexington is 11-17 at home in the second half and 27-37 at home for the entire season. Barring a late run, the Legends will likely end up at the bottom of their divison four the third consecutive season. Lexington is 58-68 on the season, but local fans will have one last chance to see the talented teenage trio of Jordan Lyles, Ross Seaton and Brad DyDalewicz this week.
Legends May Get Bullpen Help
Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball
Brian McTaggart of MLB.com is reporting the Houston Astros traded catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez to the Texas Rangers today for minor league infielder Jose Vallejo and RHP Matt Nevarez. Vallejo was currently playing in AAA, and will likely join the Astros’ AAA team, but Nevarez was playing in the South Atlantic League at the time of the trade. Nevarez was 1-4 with a 2.83 ERA and nine saves in 11 chances for Hickory.
If Nevarez stays in low A and joins the Legends he’ll give Lexington another late-inning reliever to go along side Patrick Urckfitz. Nevarez has 50 strikeouts and just 15 walks in 35 innings. Matt is 22.
If Nevarez is placed on a differnet Houston farm team, check back at BluGrass Baseball for that information.
Saturday Links: Pellegrini Four from Record
College Baseball, Minor League Baseball
Lexington Legends slugger Brian Pellegrini launched his 21st home run of the season for Lexington Saturday to move within four home runs of the franchise record 25 long balls in a season. Astros outfielder Hunter Pence and former Legend Beau Herod currently hole the record of 25 home runs.
- Pellegrini’s home run wasn’t enough for the Legends’ victory. West Virginia scored four runs in the last three innings to win 5-2.
- Matthew Klinker and Pedro Viola combined on a three-hit shutout to give Louisville a 4-0 victory over Toledo in the series opener.
- Chris Andujar allowed one run in six innings to lead Bowling Green to a 3-1 victory over Hickory.
- EKU Sports writes about Christian Friedrich’s performance in high A ball.
- Friedrich checks in at number six and Lexington Legend Jordan Lyles ranked number 11 on this week’s Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet. Bowling Green pitcher Matt Moore was listed “In the Team Photo.”
- WKU sports reports that ground has been broken on the new Hilltoper clubhouse.
- Don’t forget, the Russellville Little League team plays on ESPN at 7:00 in the finals of the Great Lakes Region tonight.
Friday Links: Bats Comeback
College Baseball, Minor League Baseball
I’ll probably have fewer posts than normal over the next couple of days as I recover from having my wisdom teeth removed, but never fear here are some Friday links to hold you over. Look for a recap of UofL summer league action this afternoon.
- The Bats scored five times in the eighth and ninth innings to come back and defeat Lehigh Valley 12-8.
- The West Virginia Power used an eight-run sixth inning and a home run from first-round pick Tony Sanchez to defeat Lexington 12-6.
- Matt Moore struck out nine in five innings to lead Bowling Green to a victory in the series-opener against Hickory.
- Don’t look for team USA member and UofL pitcher Tony Zych to pitch in the Olympics anytime soon. The IOC decided Thursday that baseball would not return to the 2016 games.
- UK Athletics reports about Braden Kapteyn’s NYCBL MVP.
Game Time Notes
Minor League Baseball
Bowling Green Hot Rods vs. Hickory Crawdads
- Bowling Green ace Matthew Moore will open the series against Hickory tonight on the mound for the Hot Rods. Moore is 7-4 with a 2.68 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 100.2 innings this season. His 141 strikeouts rank third in the South Atlantic League, five behind Lexington’s Jordan Lyles for most in the league. Moore’s 2.68 ERA is fourth lowest in the league.
- Hot Rods catcher Tyler Hauschild has one of the strangest hitting streaks you’ll ever see. Hauschild is currently enjoying a seven-game hitting streak stretched over 25 days. Hauschild joined the Hot Rods on July 14 and began his hitting streak on July 18. Tyler has found playing time hard to come by behind Rays prospect Jake Jeffries, who does most of the catching for Bowling Green. Hauschild has played in 11 games for Bowling Green this season and has at least one hit in nine of them.
- The Hot Rods are 1-3 against Hickory on the season. Starting pitcher Chris Andujar has the only win for the Hot Rods and it came while he was pitching out of the Bowling Green bullpen. No Hot Rod with more than two games played against the Crawdads is batting over .250 against Hickory.
- Hickory will send right-handed pitcher Jacob Brigham to the mound to open the series with Bowling Green tonight. Brigham is 2-6 with a 5.12 ERA in 19 games this season. One of Brigham’s two wins on the year came against Bowling Green when he shutout the Hot Rods through 5.1 innings on April 11, his first start of the season. As a starting pitcher Bigham is 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA in 11 games.
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