A friend of mine was wondering why Justin Cassel had hit the DL. Justin hadn’t popped out of the dugout yet, so he asked Greg Paiml. Paiml’s response still baffles me as well as my friend. Scratching his head and laughing, Paiml said “I don’t know, I didn’t even realize he was on the DL.” This question was posed to him only two days after what would have been Cassel’s most recent start, a start made by Jacob Rasner instead. I’ll let that one marinate for a minute…okay, who else is baffled now? Apparently, the University of Alabama is where student athletes go to play sports. (Pregnant pause) When asked directly about his current status on DL, Cassel, in his usual gloriously brutal honesty, stated that his “shoulder is f***ed up.” He was supposed to find out yesterday how “f***ed up” it really is. More to come on that later.
Anthony Carter made one completely forgettable start during the
fourth overall game of the year, pitching three innings, walking a
number of batters and throwing around 80 pitches. But, I witnessed a
revelation this past Saturday night. Carter was sent into the game in
the top of the 9th with a 7-4 lead. That would be a save situation as
we all know. It would have been a 7-0 lead, but Henry Mabee has
struggled all season long to not give up runs. He gave up 4 runs in 2
innings pitched to tighten up the game. Carter absolutlely wowed me by
blowing away three batters all on strikeouts. According to the
scoreboard, he hit 98 on several of the pitches. Could Carter land on
the prospect radar as a reliever that throws gas? He had a lot of life
on his pitches even as a starter, so when he wasn’t holding back as a
reliever, it was impressive.
Good Buck Coats, Bad Buck Coats. The good does
outweigh the bad, but the bad is a concern. So far, Coats has provided a
spark to the Barons offense. He’s taken over the leadoff roll,
something I expected of him. He’s hitting well over .300, another thing
I expected, as well as driving in runs. The bad is that he tends to
lolligag on the base paths and he seems to be AAAing everybody, if
that’s even possible. We’ll see how that develops, but so far the
returns have been good. With Coats in the leadoff spot, I think it’s
time to move John Shelby III back into the middle of the order. I’m
sorry, but Treybone is a power hitter with speed, not a speedy guy with
pop. Hitting him 1 or 9 is a waste of time. He needs to be in a RBI
spot in the batting order. Trying to make him a 1 or 9 hitter has
derailed his progression dramatically.
Although the Barons have put together an impressive
three game winning streak, I’m still cautious about it all. Every time
Montgomery comes to town, they never win the series. I cannot remember a
time when the Biscuits won a series in Birmingham. Even the Evan
Longoria/Reid Brignac 2007 squad failed to do that if I remember
correctly. Why does Montgomery always play so poorly in Birmingham? Your guess is as good as mine. It’s not a travel issue. Montgomery and
Birmingham are the two closest cities in the Southern League, only
separated by 90 miles and a straight shot up and down I-65. Now, in the
past, I had heard that they bussed back to Montgomery after every game,
eschewing staying at a hotel in Birmingham during the series. I hope
that’s not true or still happening. That certainly would take it’s
toll. Until next time…
Cheers,
JPN