Game 11: Bluefield Blue Jays at Kingsport Mets

Sorry that there was no game post last night. There was no internet at Hunter Wright Stadium and I couldn't finish posting it. Hopefully it's fixed tonight and that I'll also be able to put out the broadcast.

Check out the @BluefieldJays Twitter page for mid-game updates

BLUE JAYS (4-6)

1 Dwight Smith Jr. CF

2 Christian Lopes SS

3 Jason Leblebijian 2B

4 Art Charles 1B

5 Matt Dean 3B

6 Eric Arce LF

7 Jacob Anderson DH

8 Seth Conner C

9 Nico Taylor RF

LHP Daniel Norris (1-1, 4.50)

METS (2-8)

1 Eris Peguero LF

2 Brandon Kaupe 2B

3 Gavin Cecchini SS

4 Jeyckol De Leon 1B

5 Maikis De La Cruz RF

6 Tomas Nido C

7 Pedro Perez 3B

8 Joe Tuschak DH

9 Bradley Marquez CF

RHP Christian Montgomery (0-0, 5.79)

FIRST-PITCH TIME: 7:00 P.M.

BROADCAST INFO: Listen live right here for Blue Jays pregame at 6:45

WEATHER: An even 100 degrees without a cloud in the sky.

UMPIRES: PLATE Nick Garvey FIELD Troy Hodack

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Blue Jays offense was largely absent save for one inning on Thursday night. Other than a three-run, four-hit outburst in the sixth inning that gave them a brief lead, the bats were held without a hit in the other eight innings as Bluefield fell to the Kingsport Mets 4-3 at Hunter Wright Stadium. The Jays trailed 2-0 through five and were hitless against Mets starter John Gant. Dickie Joe Thon led off the inning with his first home run of the season that broke up the no-no and the shutout. Two batters later, Dwight Smith doubled before scoring on Art Charles’ double that tied the game at two. With two outs and Gant relieved by Flabio Ortega, Matt Dean smacked a single up the middle to score Charles and put Bluefield in front. The lead would be short lived. In the bottom half of the inning, Kingsport tied it against Justin James with two-out single, a wild pitch and Maikis De La Cruz’s triple. The Mets scored in similar fashion the next inning to win it after Joe Spano issued a two-out walk and wild pitch before Gavin Cecchini singled home Brandon Kaupe. As they did the night before, the Blue Jays showed signs of life in the ninth. Facing Shane Bay, Dean worked a one-out walk and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. However, Carlos Ramirez struck out swinging and pinch-hitter Seth Conner did the same to end the game as Bay recorded a six-out save.

VS. THE METS: The Blue Jays dominated the Mets in 2011, especially at Bowen Field. Bluefield won five of six meetings, including a three-game home sweep from July 15-17 by a combined score of 17-3. Two weeks later in Kingsport, the Jays won two out of three. The Mets were able to hold Art Charles at bay for the most part. Charles was only 3-for-21 (.143) against the Mets in 2011, though he did drive in five runs in six games.

NORRIS: One of the most highly-touted prospects in the Toronto farm system will makes his third appearance tonight. Lefty Daniel Norris pitched four perfect innings and got the win on Opening Day, but he was roughed up for four runs in four innings against Johnson City on Sunday. The 2011 second-round pick was rated by Baseball America as the fourth-best prospect in the Jays’ entire organization. In 2011 BA ranked him second among high-school prospects and 91st overall. The former Clemson signee struck out 123 batters in 68 innings as a senior at Science Hill HS in his native Johnson City, TN.

MONTGOMERY: 19-year-old righty Christian Montgomery starts the middle game of the series for the Mets. Selected by New York in the 11th round in last year’s draft, he didn’t sign until the deadline in 2011, so his debut came on Saturday against Greenville. He allowed four runs (three earned) on two hits in four and two-thirds innings, walking three and striking out four. He did not get the decision and the bullpen lost the suspended game 9-5. At 6-1/230, the Indianapolis native attended Lawrence Central High School and had planned on going to Chipola College (which also produced Jose Bautista and Russell Martin) before signing with the Mets.

STRUGGLING IN BIG SPOTS: The main culprit during Bluefield’s 3-6 stretch has been a slumping offense, especially in the critical moments of the game. The Blue Jays are hitting .212 as a team, which is the second-lowest batting average in the Appalachian League (Pulaski is at a paltry .180). It’s even more glaring when looking at their situational hitting statistics.  The team average drops to .192 with men on base, .156 with runners in scoring position and .103 with runners scoring position and two outs.

0-SNAP: Outfielder Carlos Ramirez had his hitting streak snapped at seven games last night. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native was hitting .346 (9-for-26) with a hit in every game he played before going 0-for-3 with a walk.

BUT OTHER STREAKS CONTINUE: Ramirez at least drew a walk last night and although he also went hitless, outfielder Jacob Anderson also reached on a free pass as both players extended their on-base streaks to eight games. Anderson is only hitting .172, but his OBP is .368 over the course of his run, which is nearly 40 points above the league average.

NO NO-NO, NO SHUTOUT: After being no-hit by Johnson City for eight and two-thirds innings on Sunday, Bluefield was held without a base hit for the first five innings last night in Kingsport. But shortstop Dickie Joe Thon led off the sixth against starter John Gant with a solo home run that ended the no-hit bid and put the Jays on the scoreboard. It was Thon’s first homer of the season and his first run batted in since his big three-run double on Opening Day in Bristol.

WORK OF ART: Art Charles knocked a game-tying RBI double in the sixth inning last night and has now reached base in all ten Blue Jays games this season. Princeton’s John Alexander.is the only other player to reach in every game so far in 2012, but his OBP is dwarfed by that of Charles (.524 to .359). Art’s on-base streak dating back to last season is up to 18.The day before he began that streak on August 23, 2011, he had just had a 15-gamer snapped, so the Bakersfield native has reached in 33 of his last 34 games.

SWEEPLESS IN BURLINGTON: The Baby Birds couldn’t finish the sweep last night and had to settle for a series victory. It would have been their first sweep at Burlington Athletic Stadium since at least 2004 (MiLB’s digital records only date back to 2005). Bluefield did take all three games of a set at Bowen Field from July 27-29 last season.



Bluefield Blue Jays Game Notes 6-29

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