Friday, September 4, 2015

Astros Daily Farm Report - 9/4

Everything you need to know from down on the farm ...

First things first. With the Tri-City ValleyCats clinching a playoff berth last night, this is the number of Astros minor league teams (out of nine total) that made the playoffs this season.

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ...

3B Nick Tanielu (23)
Tanielu was born September 4, 1992 in Huntsville, Alabama, and was drafted by Houston in the 14th round in 2014 out of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. He is currently playing for the Quad Cities River Bandits.

TWEET OF THE DAY
Keep up with the latest Astros minor league roster moves here.

Yeah, we know, but thank you for noticing ...

1B Connor Goedert won MVP for the Greeneville team and 2B Ford Stainback won the Oscar Padron award for character and leadership. The story is here.

And a LEAGUE MVP here ...

STANDINGS, RESULTS AND LAGNIAPPE

 FRESNO

Record: 1st 81-58 -.-GB L1 (Clinched playoff berth; clinched division title)

Thursday's Game: Albuquerque 4 over Fresno 3

After scoring two in the second, the Grizzlies just couldn't get anything going offensively until Tyler Heineman hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. But, alas, it was too little, too late.

Playoff Picture: Fresno's first two playoff games in the best-of-five Conference series will be at home on Wednesday, September 9th and Thursday, September 10th. The next three games (if three are necessary) will take place at the home ballpark of the PCL Pacific Southern Division winner from Friday the 11th through Sunday the 13th. But we still don't know who Fresno will face in that series. The El Paso Chihuahuas are now a half game in front of the Las Vegas 51's in the Southern Division.

CORPUS CHRISTI

Record: 1st 86-50 -.-GB W3 (Clinched playoff berth; clinched first half title)

Thursday's Game: Corpus Christi 3 over Frisco 1
It was a good start from Edison Frias and excellent relief from Gonzalo Sanudo, Chris Cotton and Jandel Gustave (who closed it out for his 19th save of the season). The four pitchers combined to strike out 14 Frisco batters. Danry Vasquez continued with his recent hot bat, going 2-for-4 with a double.

Playoff Picture: Much like Fresno, Corpus Christi will host the first two playoff games next Wednesday, September 9th and Thursday, September 10th, but unlike Fresno, they know who they will be facing. Midland (an Oakland affiliate) clinched the second playoff spot last week. The next three games (if three are necessary will be played in Midland. Corpus Christi owns the season series against Midland 18-14 and split their last series 2-2.
LANCASTER

Record: 3rd 73-63 3.0GB L1 (2nd in 2nd half; 3.0GB; clinched wild card)

Thursday's Game: Bakersfield 6 over Lancaster 2
Unfortunately that was it as the 'Hawks couldn't get another run across for the next eight innings.

Playoff Picture: Lancaster is in the playoffs, but if the season ended today, they would be in as a wild card. However, Lancaster lags High Desert by three games in the second half standings with four games left to play, and those final four games of the regular season will be between these two teams so they still have a chance to win the second half which would get them home field advantage as these two teams will face each other again in the best-of-three mini-series being played September 9th, 10th and 11th (if necessary). The winner of the mini-series will face Rancho Cucamonga (the first half winner) in the Division Finals. Got all that? Good!

QUAD CITIES

Record: 1st 86-48 -.-GB W1 (Clinched playoff berth; clinched first half title)

Thursday's Game: Quad Cities 11 over Kane County 5
Playoff Picture: In the Midwest League, eight teams advance to the playoffs. As the Western Division first half champion, the River Bandits play the second place team from the first half, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, in a best-of-three division quarter final. The first game will be in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, September 9th and the second and third (if necessary) will be back in Davenport on Thursday, the 10th and Friday, the 11th. The River Bandits won the season series against the Kernels 9 games to 4.

TRI-CITY

Record: 1st 40-31 -.-GB W1

Thursday's Game: Tri-City 6 over Staten Island 1 in 10 innings
The Gatos broke a 1-1 tie wide open, scoring five runs in the top of the 10th to seal their fate and advance to the playoffs. Dexture McCall contributed three of those five runs via the long ball and ended the night going 3-for-5 with four RBI.

Playoff Picture: Now that Tri-City has clinched the Stedler Division, it's time to look forward to the playoffs. If the season ended today, the Wild Card (West Virginia leading) would play the Division winner with the best record (currently Williamsport) in the Semifinals. The other two Division winners would play each other, which means that it looks as though Tri-City will play the winner of the McNamara Division, a race which is currently undecided. Staten Island leads Aberdeen and Hudson Valley by only a half game in that Division.

GREENEVILLE

Record: 2nd 34-33 5.5GB W1 (clinched playoff berth)

Playoff Record: 0-1 in best-of-three semifinals

Thursday's Game: Kingsport 2 over Greeneville 1

Greeneville's only run came off the bat of Connor Goedert as he knocked one out in the 4th inning. The game was tied headed to the 9th inning, but Kingsport's Darryl Knight hit a two-out solo home run to take the lead.

Playoff Picture: Greeneville's win on Tuesday got them to the playoffs with no time to reflect. They will host Game 1 of a best-of-three Division Series starting this Thursday, September 3rd. Games 2 and 3 will be in Kingsport on Friday, September 4th and Saturday, September 5th (if necessary); the Mets affiliate won the season series with Greeneville 6 games to 5.

GULF COAST LEAGUE

Record: 4th 19-41 16.5GB L7 (Eliminated from postseason play)

Season over.

DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE BLUE TEAM

Record: 1st 43-29 -.-GB L3 (Clinched playoff berth; clinched division title)

Won first round of playoffs over DSL Blue Jays 2 games to 0
Lost second round of playoffs to DSL Rangers1 2 games to 0

Season over.

DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE ORANGE TEAM

Record: 5th 28-44 22.0GB W1

Season over.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 4, 2015 at 9:27 AM

    Awesome year for the Astros MiLB franchises (and not done yet!). Any idea if this breaks or ties a record for a single organization in terms of playoff achievement?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jayne HansenSeptember 4, 2015 at 9:50 AM

      Honestly, I don't know, but I'm sure that it must rank right up there!

      Delete

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