July 22, 2009: Game Notes

LAST ACTION: The Rattlers lost 15-1 at Lansing on Monday night. Lansing had 21 hits to four for Wisconsin.

IT WASN’T THAT BAD…UNTIL: The Rattlers trailed 5-1 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Lansing scored five two-out runs to make the score 10-1. In the eighth, Lansing again scored five runs with two outs in the inning.

AVOIDING THE SHUTOUT: Jose Duran singled in a run in the top of the seventh inning. Duran also had a triple early in the game for two of the four Wisconsin hits.

ROAD TRIP POST-MORTEM: The Rattlers went 1-5 in six games to Great Lakes and Lansing. Wisconsin was outscored 54-22 overall. In the five losses, opponents scored 47 runs and the Rattlers scored 13 runs. The Rattlers were swept in a three game series at Great Lakes and dropped two out of three games at Lansing. Wisconsin hitters struck out 65 times in the six game road trip.

BUT…With 23 games down and 47 left to play in the second half, the Rattlers hold a two game lead over Quad Cities and Burlington for the top playoff spot in the second half.

MAKIN’ MOVES: Lorenzo Cain and Dan Merklinger have both been promoted since Monday. Cain has joined the Huntsville Stars, the Double-A Southern League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Merklinger is heading to Brevard County, the High-A Florida State League of the Brewers.

MEET THE “NEW” GUYS: Outfielder Erik Komatsu rejoins the Timber Rattlers tonight. Komatsu was the Opening Night right fielder for the Timber Rattlers, but was injured and placed on the disabled list. The 8th round pick of Milwaukee in 2008 was a Pioneer League All-Star last season. Pitcher R.J. Seidel has been on Wisconsin’s disabled list all season, but has not been in Wisconsin until today. Seidel, who is rated as the #18 prospect in the Milwaukee system, was a 16th round pick of the Brewers in the 2006 draft out of UW-La Crosse.

JUST A NOTE: Seidel is a native of La Crosse, Wisconsin. That makes him the latest Wisconsin Timber Rattler player to hail from the state of Wisconsin. Others on that list include, Andy Augustine (’95), Sean Parnell (’00), Austin Bilke (’04), Tony Butler (’07), and Korey Feiner (’08).

PROSPECTING: There are six members of the active Timber Rattler roster who are rated as top 30 prospects in the Milwaukee system by Baseball America. Infielder Brett Lawrie (#3) is in the top 10. Pitchers Cody Scarpetta (#15), RJ Seidel (#18), Wily Peralta (#22), Efrain Nieves (#23), Evan Frederickson (#24), are also on the list.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Dayton Dragons are the Midwest League affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They missed the playoffs in the first half of the season with a 28-42 record. So far in the second half, the Dragons are 10-14. Dayton is two games behind the Great Lakes Loons and one game behind the South Bend Silver Hawks for the two second half playoff spots in the Eastern Division. They are on a three-game winning streak after sweeping the Beloit Snappers in a set at Fifth Third Field that ended on Monday.

SEASON SERIES: The Dragons lead the season series 2-1. They took two out of three games at Fifth Third Field from May 26 through May 28. The Rattlers won game one 7-2, but Dayton took game two 14-4 and game three 5-0.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The Timber Rattlers are hitting .241 as a team. They have scored 384 runs (4.1/game) and hit 46 home runs. The Dragons are hitting .257 as a team. They have scored 405 runs (4.3/game) and hit 56 homers. Wisconsin pitchers have a team ERA of 4.14 while allowing a total of 447 runs (4.8/game). Dayton pitchers have a team ERA of 4.66 while allowing 480 runs (5.1/game). The Timber Rattler defense has committed 112 errors. The Dragons defense has committed 90 errors. Wisconsin is 30-20 at Time Warner Cable Field this season. Dayton is 19-30 away from home this season.

PROSPECTING: Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook listed one member of the current Dayton roster on their list of the top 30 prospects in the Reds system before the start of the season. Pitcher JC Sulbaran is the only member of the Dragons on that list and he is rated at # 20.

OUT OF THE DRAFT 2009: The Reds have placed three players from their 2009 draft class on the current Dayton roster. Pitcher Donnie Joseph was a third round pick out of the University of Houston. Fellow pitcher Mark Serrano was the sixth round pick of Cincinnati out of Oral Roberts University. Outfielder Josh Fellhauer was the seventh round pick of the Reds out of Cal-State Fullerton.

WISCONSIN’S OWN: Kevyn Feiner is a native of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and was drafted by the Reds in the 18th round of the 2005 draft out of Sun Prairie High School. Feiner is the brother of former Timber Rattler Korey Feiner.

ALL-STARS: The Dragons had a pair of players make the Midwest League All-Star Game. Catcher Kevin Coddington was a reserve and pitcher Matt Fairel were Dayton’s representatives in Clinton.

DAYTON STARTING PITCHER: RHP Oscar Castro was signed by the Reds as a non-drafted free agent in 2005 out of Mexico. Castro is 2-3 with a 7.14 ERA in 20 games (11 starts) for the Dragons in 2009. Castro began his career in the Reds organization in the Venezuelan Summer League in 2006 and pitched in the Dominican Summer League in 2007. Last year, Castro went 4-2 with a 4.14ERA for Billings, the Pioneer League affiliate of the Reds. In his outing prior to this evening, Castro allowed eight runs on nine hits over three innings against the Quad Cities River Bandits at Fifth Third Field on July 17. Castro walked three and did not strike out a batter as he took the loss. Tonight is the first time Castro will face the Timber Rattlers. He pitched twice against Helena, the Pioneer League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008. In those two starts against Helena, Castro was 1-0 and allowed one run on 12 hits over 12 innings. He struck out 13 and walked three in those two games. In the win over the Brewers on August 22, Castro pitched six shutout innings and struck out eight in a 5-0 win.