New Jersey Devils Year End Awards

Here is our opinions on the New Jersey Devils 2006-07 award winners.

Player of the year- Martin Brodeur.
If setting the all-time record for wins in a season does not earn you Devils Player of the year award=What will???
Silver-Zach Parise-Most consistent offensive threat
Bronze-Jamie Langenbrunner-Hard worker that did the dirty work all season

Offensive player of the year-Zach Parise
On a team that is so offensively challenged,Parise was the one home run threat that the Devils had,after the injury to Brian Gionta eliminated him from the running.
Silver-Patrik Elias-Very skilled,would love to see him healthy all season to see what he can do.
Bronze-Brian Gionta-Tough,diminutive winger could have won the award if not for his missed time.

Defensive Player of the year-Brian Rafalski-
Solid,steady,and scored the most goals personally since 2000-01
This award goes to a defender,since the forwards will have an award for them alone.
Silver-Colin White-Seems to be coming into his own as a physical defender.
Bronze-Paul Martin-Improves more every year.

Defensive Forward of the year-Jay Pandolfo
Best season ever for Jay,he noses out Madden,.
In my opinion,he should win the Selke ,although he likely will not.
Silver-John Madden-Another excellent season
Bronze-Michael Rupp-4th line hurts his plus/minus,but came along nicely in his return to the Devils.

Newcomer of the Year-Travis Zajac
Solid 17 goals and not terrible on the defensive end either.
Silver-Andy Greene-Really liked his play after his call-up,Counting on big things next year
Bronze-John Oduya-Not as thrilled with him,but could improve.

Board Banger award-Michael Rupp
Rupp uses his big frame to pound players around,and willing to drop the gloves too
Silver-Cam Janssen-Same as Rupp,but tends to take more penalties.
Bronze-Jamie Langenbrunner-Aggressive and does not back down.

Disapppointment Award-Scott Gomez
Only 13 goals for a guy that wants 6.5 million???
Silver-Patrik Elias-Needs to come up bigger in big games.
Bronze-Front Office-I think it is great that we got Marty the record,but he is 35-if you are afraid to play Scott Clemmensen,get someone that you will play.
Marty was exhausted in the post-season.

Sometime in the next few days-I will have a Devils GM style post,in which I address needs and how to attempt to fill them.

Pirates shutout Marlins and Pedro Beato better than advertised.

The Hagerstown Suns defeated the Delmarva Shorebirds 4-3,but the bigger story was a pitching duel between Cory Van Allen and Pedro Beato.
Van Allen gave up a run in the first on a double to Bobby Andrews,a sac bunt moved him to 3rd and a Brandon Snyder bloop single scored Andrews.
Snyder homered off Cory in the 6th for the other run off Van Allen.
Van Allen's line- 6 IP,2 Runs, 7 hits,struck out 5 and walked 1.

Beato was in a word-Dominant,he gave up just 3 hits,none of them solidly struck.
2 walks and a off the end of the bat single gave the Suns a run in the 5th.
Pedro retired the 1st batter in the 6th before a Mike Daniel single.
Apprently his pitch count was reached,as then reliever Wilfredo Perez allowed a Chris Marrero homer to saddle Beato with his 2nd run allowed.
Beato was consistently in the 90's,hitting 95 a few times.
Beato's line-5 1/3 IP,2 runs,3 hits,struck out 5 and walked 2.

Beato has been the most impressive pitcher that I have seen thus far this year.
The Suns scored the winning run in the 8th on a Wilfredo Perez wild pitch.

The Pirates used 7 scoreless innings from Tom Gorzelanny to hold the Marlins in check and broke open the game with 5 8th inning runs to win 7-0.
Tom scattered 5 singles over the seven innings to earn the victory,which improved his record to 5-2 on the year.
Ronny Paulino homered and Freddy Sanchez may be turning the corner with 4 more hits tonight,knocking in 2 runs.
Game 2 vs Florida tomorrow at 7;05.
Paul Malholm vs Sergio Mitre.


Photo Credit
Baseball-AP Photo-Gene Puskar

Random Ramblings-Baseball style

A promised post on what a AAAA player is..........
Scouting types and number cruncher pretty much agree on the definition of a 4A players,but not often on who is one.
A 4A player is someone that dominates AAA baseball,yet is not quite good enough to be a solid performer at the major league level.
There is be various reasons for this.
For the currently white hot Jack Cust,it was that he had major defensive problems,which pretty much eliminated him playing in the National League.
Some came up with a team loaded at a position,when the player was a hot prospect and for different reasons,never got an opportunity to play.
Then after years at AAA,is considered a 4 A player.
Sometimes a 4A players is a player that cannot hit for power in the majors.
And then others simply could not make the final jump to hitting big league pitching.
It does seem that more hitters are considered 4 A players than pitchers are.

Interesting matchup tonight at Municipal Stadium as Suns prospect Cory Van Allen starts vs Delmarva's Pedro Beato.
Beato was a first round pick by the Orioles last year and is, along with Frederick's Brandon Erbe,
one of the top two pitching prospects in Baltimore's system.
The Washington Times recently did an article on Van Allen .
Should be worth going for sure.

Looking forward to feed your face Monday tonight as well.
Nothing beats eating popcorn chicken that has the texture of leather and rocks.
Battling Bob calls them Chichleather......

Mike Marshall has some interesting ideas.
I would love to know and see more,but his way of expressing himself has to hurt him in getting teams to take a chance on implementing them.
No one likes to take a roll of the dice on a guy that's thinks he has all the answers and a attitude to boot.
Ask me-Ha ha.

The Indians moved Jason Davis to Seattle today.
This appeared inevitable last week,when they had to pass him through waivers to try to send him to AAA Buffalo.
I did not see what others did in him,so I do not see this as a huge loss.
Will watching to see who the Player to be named later is.......
Likely a low prospect that could be assigned to Lake County.

You read it here about Jack Cust on the day he became an A.
Glad to see him smashing the ball so well!

The Rockies and Marlins made a "my garbage" for "your garbage deal .
As the Rockies sent Byung-Hyun Kim to Florida for Jorge Julio.

The Pirates take the Marlins on at PNC at 7;00 tonight.
Tom Gorzelanny for the Bucs vs Dontrelle Willis for the fish.

Photo Credit
Times Photos-Lance Aram Rothstein

Pirates lose big then win big

The Pirates got pounded Saturday by Chuck James and the Braves 9-2,but then rebounded to return the favor today 13-2.

The Pirates did not get a hit off James until Jason Bay's 7th inning single.
Tony Armas allowed 5 runs in his 2 innings.
The less said the better about this,but I am beginning to think that either Bullington or Van Benschoten should get the call from Indianapolis to give them a shot at the Armas rotation slot.

Pittsburgh then avoided the sweep by crushing Atlanta 13-2 today.
Another nice effort by Ian Snell and he actually got some run support today!
13 runs and 18 hits were paced by Freddy Sanchez's 3 hits and 3 RBI.
Perhaps Freddy is recovering from his spring training injury..
Jose Bautista left the game with an ankle injury.
Let's all hope it is minor as a long-term injury means a lot of Jose Castillo and even worse-Don Kelly!

The Hagerstown Suns blasted the Delmarva Shorebirds today 10-0 at Municipal Stadium.
Justin Jones was dominant again as he threw 6 and 2/3rds innings of shutout baseball.
Jones is far too advanced for this level and for the second start in a row-it showed.
Jones was ,at one time, the 2nd rated prospect in the Cubs system..
I was told by another Suns pitcher that he likely pitched for the last time today as a Sun.
Justin Maxwell hit his 9th HR of the year today,a long Grand Slam to center,while Chris Marrero
hit his 7th and Alex Nunez hit his 5th of the year as well.

Not much else to add,back tomorrow with Random Ramblings and more.

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mothers reading out there-I think we have 2 or 3 here!

Looking at....Periard and Ramlow

Here is the promised post on Mike Ramlow and Alex Periard.

Mike Ramlow is a 6'6 lefthander from Toledo,Ohio.
Mike was a " draft and follow" in the 2005 draft and signed in 2006.
Ramlow is "paired" with Alex Periard with the Power.

A brief explanation on the Tandem Starter system 1st.
Organizations use this in order for 10 guys to get consistent work in the rotation instead of just the average 5,this was more popular among teams a few years back than now,as it has fallen out of favor a bit.
The Milwaukee Brewers still use the system though.
Not many pitchers like the system,although I did not hear too many complaints from the Power pitchers about it.
The problem that most seem to have with the system,from the players side, is that the second half of the tandem has problems getting into rhythm because he is never sure when he is going to enter the game.
This is a problem because you are asking a pitcher used to starting to suddenly think as a reliever.
Quite an adjustment.

Back to Ramlow-Mike pitched 3 innings vs the Hagerstown Suns last night,
His line was 3 innings,3 runs (all earned),5 hits,striking out 3 and walking 2.
Mike threw 70 pitches,which is a high total for 3 innings of work,which is near the Brewers self-imposed limits.
That is why Ramlow only pitched the 3 innings,as the Brewers(like most teams) follow the pitch count closely.
I think pitch count can be a valuable tool,but is overused,in my opinion,as I believe that pitch count trains guys to be 5 and 6 inning pitchers-but that is another post for another day.

Mike throws a standard 3 pitch package,fastball,curve and change.
He told me during the series that he favors a "spike" curve as his curve of choice.
The Ramlow fastball hit 90 as a high yesterday.
Using his lanky 6'6 frame,he hides the ball well from the batter and he has an excellent pick off move.
In yesterday's game,he picked off Joe Napoli,but lost the out when the SS Jimmy Mojica dropped the ball on the tag from the resulting rundown.

I would like to have seen Mike use his change-up more.
On the HR that Chris Marrero hit off him,Marrero did not appear to think Mike would throw the change and guessed fastball.
The guess cost Ramlow 2 runs as Marrero hit the home run,
Ramlow appears to have lost confidence in the change and needs to have faith in the pitch to help him succeed.

It is my opinion that Mike is not throwing at 100% right now and that is due to his health.
I saw several grimaces of pain,when he attempted to throw his curve.
That is a red flag to me,even if I was scouting him without ever talking to him.

The conversion from college to pro is a difficult one for the best of pitchers,Ramlow needs to not lose confidence and focus,it appears that Mike has done that to a certain degree by not throwing the change in tight situations.
If I had the chance to advise Mike,I would emphasize throwing the change to keep hitters off balance as to not allow them to sit on the fastball.

I had a 10 minute conversation with Mike after the game,before the Power moved on.
I know more about his situation than I will write about here.
I will not write about it because I do not feel comfortable giving out the information from a personal conversation and I do not wish to cause Mike problems.

Alex Periard is a 6'1 righty from Montreal,Canada.
Alex was a 16th round pick in the 2004 draft and was signed at 17.
Periard is a quiet,laidback pitcher in the downtime,but an aggressive competitor on the mound.

Alex picked up the win last night over the Suns.
His line was 3 innings,1 run,5 hits,fanned 2 and did not walk a batter.

Periard stands out right away on the mound as he has a powerful compact delivery that does not appear to have any mechanical flaws.

Alex was consistently in the low 90's,hitting a high of 94 on a few occasions.
Periard throws the standard three pitch package and his curve looked very tight vs Hagerstown.
Alex looks to be able to throw the curve in any portion of the count for strikes and does not appear to be willing to give the hitter any advantage by waiting for the fastball.

I am anxious to see Periard's numbers at the end of the year,if he can keep this pace up,I would not surprised to see him pop up in some Brewers top 30 prospects lists over the winter..

These two guys were arguably the best guys I have met this year,along with Hickory's Jared Hughes and they both have fans in me.
Very enjoyable getting to know them and talking with them over the 2 trips to Hagerstown.
If either or both are reading this (Mike told me he is a reader here),feel free to comment and stay in touch.
The best thing about doing this is that with the exception of grading a player-I dont have to be objective.
I am not a unbiased writer,so I am very comfortable with having favorites.
That is part of having opinions.

Mike and Alex have given me an idea that we will run as a regular recurring feature here every week or so on slow days.
Similar to Random Ramblings or Forgotten Superstars,I dont have a title for it yet,but it will focus on guys that I have gotten to know while watching games.
Likely mostly former South Atlantic League players,but others could be tossed in from the Carolina League as well,we will give updated stats and news on the players.
I will take ideas for names for this feature.

Until tomorrow,when we have Pirates-Braves,maybe a special on Indians-A's and possibly my scoring on the Mayweather-De La Hoya fight.

Photo Credits
Periard and Ramlow-Ryan Heimberger

Power outslug Suns,Bucs fall to the Braves

The Pirates dropped a 4-1 decision to the Braves last night in Pittsburgh.
Ryan Doumit and Jason Bay continued their hot hitting,however they continue to be the only ones doing so,as the Bucs offensive woes continue.
Kyle Davies dominated the Buccos for seven innings and former Pirates and fan favorite Mike Gonzalez nailed down the save.
Zach Duke pitched well for 5 innings before the wheels went flying off in the 6th.
Atlanta's Andrew Jones and Jeff Francoeur took Duke out of the park and the Braves were on their way.
The series continues tonight with Tony Armas for the Pirates vs Atlanta's Chuck James.
The Pirates wore those horrible V8 tomato juice uniforms again last night.
Have I mentioned how much I hate those?Ha Ha

The West Virginia Power held off a late Hagerstown Suns rally to take the finale of their series last night 11-10.
The Power defeated the Suns 6 of the 8 games played here this season.
West Virginia jumped on top early with 4 1st inning runs as 5 singles added up to produce those runs.
Hagerstown got 2 runs back in the bottom half of the inning on a Chris Marrero homer,Marrero's 5th long ball of the season.
Hagerstown cut the lead to 4-3 in the 2nd as Leonard Davis' double scored Stephen King.
The Suns tied the game in the 5th on a Marrero single.but the Power hung 4 runs on the scoreboard in the 6th,as Taylor Green greeted reliever Zach Baldwin by drilling his 1st pitch over the right field wall for a Grand Slam homer.
Michael Brantley added another Power run with a solo shot in the 7th.
Both Green and Brantley's homers were their second of the season.
Brantley struck again in the 8th with a 2 run single that at the time did not look important.
However,it would prove to be the difference in the game,as the Suns scored 5 runs in the 8th to make the final tally 11-10.
Chris Marrero slammed his 2nd homer of the game and his 6th of the season as the big blow in the inning.
Chris finished the evening with 6 runs batted in.

I know I promised a look at Mike Ramlow and Alex Periard for this post,but I want to do something different with that than I originally intended.
Ryan has pics that both guys allowed Ryan to take and I want to post the pics when I do that one.
So I hope to do that one later today,Mike reads the blog,so hang in there-Hopefully we can get this done today!

Bullpen Notes

On the signing front
Got the newest Sun-Reliever Erik Arneson on his Vermont card,but the biggest catch for me
were signed baseballs from Mike Ramlow and Alex Periard.
Very cool and thanks to both guys.

I was wondering about something odd during this series.
West Virginia manager Mike Guerrero went to home plate every night to exchange lineup cards with the arbiters and the Suns,but the Suns sent a player every night...
I thought that was strange,but during the game that topic came up among the Power players in the stands and it seems that Suns skipper Tom Herr has some heat towards Guerrero and does not even want to participate in formalities with him.
Do not know if that is a 1st place vs last place deal or if this stems from an unknown incident.

I think Chris Marrero is quite a hitting prospect,but someone needs to tell him do something about his pants.
His pant cuffs literally drag on the ground around his spikes.
If a spike catches them while he is running (especially in left field),that is an easy way to break an ankle.

Oakland extended Ohio State's Nick Swisher a new contract to keep him in Green and Gold a while longer.
Good move for Nick and the Athletics!
And it gives lazy announcers the easy out to talk about Moneyball further during games.

Jack Cust launched another long ball yesterday.
I always have soft spot for the long time minor leaguers and hope to see Cust keep things going.

Hopefully back with more later !

Photo Credit
AP Photo-Gene Puskar

Pirates beat Cubs,Power slosh to a rainy win.

The West Virginia Power slogged their way to a 6-3 rain shortened win over the Hagerstown Suns last night.
2 rain delays of an hour each,killed the flow of the game.
No homers in the game or anything noteworthy other than giving the Suns grounds crew credit for keeping the field together long enough to make the game official.
Their hustle was the difference in getting the game in-good job!

Correction-There was 1 Homer-Andrew LeFave of the Power hit his 2nd of the year.
Thanks to Battling Bob for the help!

I had to leave during the 2nd rain delay as work was coming soon.

The Pirates grabbed a 6-4 win over the Cubs in Chi-town.
Jason Bay was the hero with a home run (his 5th) and a double for a 3 RBI day.
Paul Maholm gave up 3 homers to the Cubs,but only 4 runs in 7 innings of work to improve to 2-4 on the year and Gas Can Torres picked up his 11 th save.

Sorry my Pirate report have been shorter lately,but with the STUPID decision years ago to put Pittsburgh in the NL Central instead of the NL East,the road games that start at 8;00 are hard enough just to get finished before I leave for work,let alone post.
Now that they are back home,things will get better.

Bullpen Notes

Forgot to mention during my Frederick report about the guy who "sang" the National Anthem that day.
Simply put-the worst version I have ever heard live and in a tight race with Rosanne Barr and Carl Lewis for worst version ever.
What is it with these people that try to put "their take" on the National Anthem?
It is bad enough when "stars' do this crap,let alone when nobodies in Frederick Md do it!
I swear American Idol is the worst thing to happen to this country since Oprah Winfrey.

I see,the Terminator franchise is back in business,but without Arnold of course.
As a Terminator mark,I will likely give it a shot,but the track record for these things is.500 at best.

The NFL considering a 17th game?
Well,ok,but I hate this playing all over the world stuff.
I have been a proponent for forever for a 18 game regular season and a 2 or 3 game pre-season.

Rumor has it that the New Jersey Devils could be interested in adding Roman Hamrlik to the team next year.
Hamrlik is an offensive,puck moving defenseman and that is a major Devils need.
Plus Roman is a personal favorite as well,as most of my fellow fantasy hockey players know.
I will be working on the Devils awards and a "things to do in the off-season"post soon as well.

Back later or tomorrow with Pirates-Braves and the final meeting of the year between the Suns and Power in Hagerstown.
This one has interest as I get to see the two Power pitchers that I have talked to constantly over their visits pitch for the first time tonight.

Photo Credits
Both-Unavailable