Meet the new guys

This will be a section of the game notes post once I get it finished.

But, with all of the moves and a dodgy internet connection at the hotel, I wanted to get this out there.

Outfielder Kentrail Davis was the 39th overall selection in the 2009 draft out of the University of Tennessee. Here is his MiLB.com page. This is his page at the University of Tennessee website.

Pitcher Matt Costello was the 35th round pick of the Brewers in the 2009 draft out of Valdosta State University. Here is his MiLB.com page. This is his page at Valdosta State.

Joey Paciorek Profiled

The PC has this profile of Timber Rattlers infielder Joey Paciorek.

Q: Milwaukee Bucks guard Luke Ridnour also grew up in Blaine, Wash. Know him?

A: I met him. His dad was actually my PE teacher in high school. Yeah, they've got his whole shrine at the high school. Real big deal. He's really the first pro athlete to come out of there.

Q: Word is, had baseball not worked out, you were interested in becoming a firefighter. True?

A: Yeah, there was just some interest and it's a real respectable job. I couldn't do a desk job. Just kind of caught my eye. I was going to go to (college) and do a fire science course and play baseball.

Click through for more...much more.

Khris Davis profiled

The once and future beat writer at the Post Crescent is profiling players this season. Today's subject was Khris Davis.

A taste.

Q: Well, since you are here [in Wisconsin], anything you're interested in checking out?

A: I heard about the cheese curds. My host family brought some home, so I'm going to get down with some of those. So definitely the cheese curds — and the brats, of course.

Click through for the rest.

About Pineda

Michael Pineda was incredible yesterday. He retired 28 of 29 batters. The only hit he allowed was a two-out infield single in the bottom of the fifth. That was after he retired the first 14 batters of the game. After the hit, he retired the final 13 batters of the game.

Milb.com noticed the performance and Benjamin Hill, a friend of this blog, wrote up a story.

Rattlers' Pineda dominates in final start

"That was the best game I have ever pitched," said Pineda after the game, with pitching coach Jamey Navarro serving as a translator. "I was hitting both sides of the plate, getting the first strike and dominating with letter-high fastballs."

Pineda's stupendous effort lowered his ERA to 1.95 on the season, good for second in the Midwest League. The native of the Dominican Republic retired the first 14 batters he faced on the afternoon, with Domnit Bolivar's infield base hit serving as the only blemish on his record. Bolivar hit a slow roller to third baseman Alex Liddi, who fielded the ball bare-handed and fired to first. It was a bang-bang play and umpire Keith Rogowski ruled that Bolivar was safe.

There are also these tidbits. I wonder where Ben picked these up? It's almost like he was listening to the broadcast or at least read the article on the Rattler website.

In addition to being the best-pitched game of his young career, Pineda's effort will go into the Timber Rattlers' record books, as well. The complete-game gem was the first one-hitter by an individual pitcher in the 14-year-history of the franchise, and his 14 strikeouts were the most accumulated by a Wisconsin pitcher since Tom Oldham whiffed 15 on June 28, 2004.

Let's not forget that Pineda absolutely shattered the old team record for ERA in a season. The old mark was 2.58 and held by TA Fulmer since 2003.

One qualifier I would add to the line best-pitched game of his young career. It should be best-pitched game of his young career so far.

Harmon

Rob Harmon gets a nice writeup in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Bullpen good for Harmon
Improving stats show relief role suits ex-starter

A little history lesson starts it off.

When Rob Harmon was closing games as a sophomore for the pitching-rich Covington Catholic baseball team, he viewed it as a stepping stone to the next level - starting games for the Colonels.

"That was always a dream, starting," said Harmon, who earned a high school reputation as a versatile pitcher, capable of performing well in many roles. "The thing I didn't realize at the time was all the different ways I was used would actually be helpful later on."

Harmon eventually started and earned all-state honors and the Northern Kentucky Coaches Association Pitcher of the Year award following his junior and senior seasons. He was part of CovCath's best baseball team, the 40-3 Colonels of 2002 who won their first state championship under coach Bill Krumpelbeck and finished No. 18 in USA Today's national baseball poll.

Then, a slight mistake by the writer:

Last year, he pitched at every minor-league level, beginning at Single-A Wisconsin before moving to Double-A Everett, where he started 14 times and went 3-1 with a 3.07 ERA in five August starts. The hot stretch earned him a promotion to Triple-A Tacoma where he made a Sept. 2 start last season.

Did you hear that, AquaSox fans? You're Double-A!

Harmon started the 2008 season in the rotation, but struggled. The transition to the pen has worked out well.

His ERA in June is 1.69 in four appearances, and he has two saves. As pitching coaches work on getting Harmon to take advantage of his height by training him to pitch more downhill, the former Colonel nearly has cut in half his ERA, which was 8.74 before this week's Midwest League all-star break.

Head over to read it all.