SB Nation - Michael Zagurski

Phillies Breakfast Links: June 30, 2009

WholeCamels — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:12:54 -0000

Bastardo latest Phils pitcher on D.L.
Lefty officially added to disabled list; Sergio Escalona recalled. Again.

Minor league pitcher Yohan Flande has Phillies' attention
He and Kyle Drabek will represent the Phillies at the Futures Game next month in St. Louis.

Drabek cleaning up in minors

If Kyle Drabek has cooked a nice spread, roommate Michael Zagurski knows it's best to stay out of the kitchen. Pots and pans will likely be piled on counters or in the sink.

Because he's pissed that Zagurski will eat everything.

Minor Leagues: Savery wins 10th as Reading rolls
Michael Taylor and Joe Savery both looking good.

Former Alexandria Senior High standout Colvin made most of transfer to St. Thomas More
Phillies draft pick currently "50/50" on question of going pro or attending LSU. This would be a real coup if the Phillies could sign him.

Victorino in fifth place as All-Star voting winds down
Maui and its 100,000 residents x 25 votes might get Shane in.

Phillies' J.A. Happ harnesses his aggression
Join me, young Jedi!

Ex-Chicago Cub Doug Glanville on Philly, his dad, and Barry Bonds
Not sure what the point of this is, but here you go.

Florida to review Romero incident
Blech. I can't feel bad for a grown man who heckles and then gets bitchslapped, but Romero should have kept his cool.

Kansas evens up Sunflower Showdown 9-3 in front of packed house.

James Quinn — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:42:32 -0000

Preston Land brought the record crowd at Hoglund to their feet when he put the Hawks up 2-0. Land knocked the ball out of Wildcat catcher Rob Vaughn's hands in a play at the plate in the 2nd inning. Preston is one of four Jayhawk seniors on a mission this weekend. via media.lawrence.com

View full size photo »

The fans showed up and the Jayhawks delivered. In front of a Hoglund Park record 2,438 fans (I had no idea that many people could fit into the park!) the Jayhawks pounded Kansas State 9-3 to even up the Sunflower Showdown series at one game apiece. KU head coach Ritch Price knew the players were very aware of the support, “It was really a big-league atmosphere with the crowd tonight. I think our players fed off of it; it really got them jacked up.”

The win improved KU’s Big-12 record to 14-12 and insured the Jayhawks of their first winning conference record since the inception of the Big-12. Kansas State fell to 14-10-1. The two teams will meet for the final KU home game of the year Sunday at 6PM. If you plan to attend the game come early to get a ticket, and make sure you are in your seat by 5:40. It is senior day and there will be a pre-game ceremony honoring Buck Afenir, Preston Land, Paul Smyth and Nick Faunce for their four years at KU.

Starting pitcher T.J. Walz (8-1) was wicked good on the mound. In six innings Walz gave up five hits and a run while striking out a career high 12 batters. While Walz kept the Wildcat offense in check the Jayhawks pounded the visitor’s pitching staff. Kansas built a 9-1 lead by scoring in five of the first six innings. During the game Kansas pounded out seven singles, four doubles and two homeruns. Kansas opened the scoring in the first when Robby Price came home on a Tony Thompson ground out, Thompson’s 72 RBI on the year. They added three more in the second on a Zac Elgie double, David Narodowski sac fly and Lance Hoge wild pitch. Thompson scored in the 3rd on Zac Elgie’s second double of the game. Buck Afenir’s 8th home run of the season broke the game open in the fourth, putting KU up 7-1. Robby Price added a solo shot in the 6th, his fifth homerun on the year, and Casey Lytle wrapped up the home scoring with an RBI single plating Buck Afenir four batters later.

Walz started to lose steam after four innings but he never let the Wildcats claw their way back into the game. KSU drunked the bases in the 5th and 6th innings but Walz did not allow them to score either time. T.J. worked in the low 90’s most the game and had a lot of movement. He struck out five of the first six batters he faced and didn’t give up a good swing until the 3rd inning when KSU catcher Rob Vaughn homered to left. Walz didn’t let this mistake pitch throw him off his game. He struck out the next two batters. His twelve strikeouts are the most by a KU pitcher since Mike Zagurski struck out the same number of Missouri batters on May 14, 2005. Colton Murray, Brett Bochy and Paul Smyth each pitched one inning in relief to close out the game.

After the jump, additional game notes and the box score.

Buck Afenir going out strong: Buck had the only KU RBI on Friday night and Saturday he went 4-5 with his 8th homerun of the year and two RBI’s. For his career Buck now has 29 home runs (tied for 3rd place on KU’s all-time list with Travis Metcalf) and 152 RBI’s (10th place overall.)

Big-12 POY race: Tony Thompson went 1-3 with a double and two walks on the night. He brought home one run, giving him 72 RBIs’s. Tony’s main competition for Big-12 player of the year, J.T. Wise of Oklahoma, had a similar night, going 1-3 with two RBIs.

T.J. Walz the team "ace:" Over the last two weeks I have been hearing Walz referred to as the team’s ace even though he is the Saturday rather than the Friday starter. The team released a few quotes by Head Coach Ritch Price that add a little clarity to how he sees the rotation at this point.

[T.J.]’s pitched better than anyone on our staff has pitched all year. Usually that guy pitches on Friday night, but the reasoning behind it is that Shaffer [Hall] is a fly-ball pitcher. We try to pitch him at night when the wind’s not blowing out, which happens a lot in Kansas. He also eats up innings, because he’s a strike-thrower. He protects our bullpen and we know we’re going to get six innings out of him every time we give him the ball. If Shaeffer doesn’t sign [a professional contract this off-season], then we intend to move T.J. to Friday night and put Shaeffer in-between the two right-handed pitchers (Walz and Ridenhour) next year. If we were starting the season over today we would do that now. If we get into a [post season NCAA tournament] regional, we may switch (the rotation). We’ll look at our match-ups. If we’re facing a team that’s got five or six left-handed hitters in their line-up we’ll leave it with Shaeffer. But the bottom line is that we have confidence whenever either guy is on the mound for us.

The Omen: During the sixth inning a hawk circled the infield and then flew low over the crowd behind home plate before settling on a support beam to the 3rd base side of the press box. Cool stuff. A picture of the new mascot can be found here at shot number 11.

Tough day for Rob Vaughn: KSU catcher Rob Vaughn is going to have some bruises today. He took a check swing ball off his right knee in the second inning and was in the dirt for a minute or two. Later in the inning he had the crazy notion of blocking the plate with Preston Land bearing down on him. Land was attempting to score all the way from first on Zac Elgie’s double and he arrived at the plate a bit behind the throw. Even though Preston slid low he simply is a big dude and even the half contact rang the Wildcat catcher’s bell for the second time in the inning. Vaughn impressed by hitting a solo homerun the following inning but he was noticeably limping as he made his way around the bases. So, tip of the cap to the KSU backstop.

Notice of the "little things:" In the bottom of the first inning with the bases loaded and one out Tony Thompson hit a ground ball to short that looked like the double play ball which would get the Wildcats out of the inning. Brian Heere moved off second base, took a pause stutter step in front of the ground ball, then broke for third. KSU shortstop Drew Biery fielded the ball cleanly and got it to second baseman Carter Jurica in time for the force but the relay throw to first was off-target allowing the run to score. No one can be sure, but my thinking is that Heere’s heads up play here broke up the rhythm of the middle infielders and collapsed that double play. The Hawks put on a defensive clinic in the 7th inning in support of Colton Murray. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out Nick Martini (who has the coolest name in the Big-12 this year) hit a ground ball well to the right of second baseman Robby Price. Price again showed that he has range+wow by getting to the ball and throwing Martini out at first while falling backwards. The gold glove bug hung around for another batter. Justin Bloxom hit a slow ground ball to third which Tony Thompson scooped up and delivered to first. Because the ball arrived slow Thompson had to rush his throw. Preston Land, who is an outstanding defensive player at times like this, extended and picked the ball inches above the dirt to nip Bloxom and prevent a run from scoring. Note to Colton Murray, you own Price, Land and Thompson lunch (or another item of similar value) next time you are out.

Link to KU recap.

May 16, 2009 at Lawrence, KS (Hoglund Ballpark)

Kansas State 3 (39-14-1,14-10-1 Big 12)
Player	ab	r	h	rbi	bb	so	po	a	lob
Muenster, Adam dh	4	1	1	0	1	2	0	0	0
Jurica, Carter 2b	5	0	2	0	0	2	5	2	3
Martini, Nick lf	4	0	1	1	0	2	2	0	0
Bloxom, Justin 1b	5	0	0	0	0	2	6	0	2
King, Jason 3b	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1
Biery, Drew ss	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	5	0
Cruz, Jordan rf	3	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	0
Vaughn, Rob c	4	1	1	1	0	2	7	0	3
Yelovich, Dane cf	4	0	0	0	0	3	1	1	1
Hoge, Lance p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marshall, Evan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Daniel, Ryan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bahramzadeh, Kayvon p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hunter, Kyle p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Totals	37	3	10	3	2	14	24	10	10

Kansas 9 (36-19,14-12 Big 12)
Player	ab	r	h	rbi	bb	so	po	a	lob
Narodowski, David ss	3	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
Price, Robby 2b	4	2	2	1	1	0	2	1	1
Heere, Brian rf	5	1	2	0	0	1	2	0	0
Afenir, Buck c	5	2	4	2	0	0	14	0	1
Thompson, Tony 3b	3	1	1	1	2	0	1	2	0
Lytle, Casey lf	4	0	1	1	0	1	3	0	3
Land, Preston 1b	3	1	0	0	1	1	4	0	2
Elgie, Zac dh	4	1	2	2	0	1	0	0	0
Brunansky, Jason cf	4	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	1
Walz, T.J. p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Murray, Colton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bochy, Brett p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Smyth, Paul p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	35	9	13	8	5	6	27	3	8

Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Kansas State........ 001 000 110 - 3 10 0 Kansas.............. 131 202 00X - 9 13 2 -------------------------------------------

E - Narodowski(18); Thompson, T.(9). DP - Kansas State 1. LOB - Kansas State 10; Kansas 8. 2B - Martini, Nic(14); Thompson, T.(21); Elgie, Z. 2(4). HR - Biery, Drew(9); Vaughn, Rob(4); Price, Ro.(5); Afenir, B.(8). HBP - Martini, Nic. SF - Narodowski(3). SB - Cruz, Jordan(15).

Kansas State	ip	h	r	er	bb	so	wp	bk	hbp	ibb	ab	bf	fo	go	np
Hoge, Lance L,5-4	2.0	5	5	4	3	2	0	0	0	0	10	14	3	1	57
Marshall, Evan	2.0	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	10	2	3	40
Daniel, Ryan	2.0	3	2	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	9	10	2	2	38
Bahramzadeh, Kayvon	0.2	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	15
Hunter, Kyle	1.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	2	1	17

Kansas	ip	h	r	er	bb	so	wp	bk	hbp	ibb	ab	bf	fo	go	np
Walz, T.J. W,8-1	6.0	5	1	1	2	12	0	0	1	0	23	26	5	1	103
Murray, Colton	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	5	1	2	16
Bochy, Brett	1.0	2	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	5	5	1	0	25
Smyth, Paul	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	1	2	19

Win - Walz, T. (8-1). Loss - Hoge, Lance (5-4). Save - None. WP - Murray, C.(1). HBP - by Walz, T. (Martini, Nic). PB - Vaughn, Rob(2). Pitches/strikes: Hoge, Lance 57/33; Marshall, Ev 40/27; Daniel, Ryan 38/22; Bahramzadeh 15/8; Hunter, Kyle 17/10; Walz, T. 103/61; Murray, C. 16/10; Bochy, B. 25/16; Smyth, P. 19/12.

Umpires - HP: Randy Bruns 1B: Scott Wilkerson 3B: Chris Coskey
Start: 6:05 pm Time: 3:02 Attendance: 2438
Weather: Clear, 64 degrees, Wind NNE 10
Hoge, Lance faced 1 batter in the 3rd.

Kansas Baseball Notes. Where the Hawks stand after half a season.

James Quinn — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:39:47 -0000

After winning their first three conference games Kansas lost five of their next six. This dropped them all the way down to a tie for 7th place in the Big-12. Only the top eight teams make the Big-12 tournament so Kansas has no saftey cushion left from their sweep of Texas. On the positive side all three teams Kansas has played had been predicted to finish near the top of the Big-12. Oklahoma State comes to Lawrence next weekend and the Cowboys are plenty tough, but after that the schedule should ease up a bit. OSU is tied with KU at 4-5 in the Big-12 but the Cowboys have the best RPI at #12 so don't let their conference record fool you into thinking they are not a terrifying team.

Current Big-12 Standings

	Big 12	Pct	Overall	RPI
Oklahoma	6-3	.667	25-7	28
Baylor	7-5	.583	20-8	14
Texas A&M	7-5	.583	20-11	25
Kansas State	5-4	.556	24-8	40
Texas	6-6	.500	20-8	17
Texas Tech	6-6	.500	14-19	107
Oklahoma State	4-5	.444	21-10	12
Kansas	4-5	.444	18-12	60
Missouri	5-7	.417	15-16	55
Nebraska	4-8	.333	16-14-1	66

Right now Kansas is on the cold side of the NCAA bubble. Kansas will need to win about 13 Big-12 games and continue to take care of business during mid-week games to attract attention at the end of the season.

Check out Big-12 Hardball for weekly updates on all conference teams. You can take part in a weekly Pick 'em contest at the site. Leave your predictions each Friday, gather up praise or shame each Monday.

More KU Baseball notes after the jump. Former Jayhawks in Pro Ball, Nick Faunce's journal, a nice story about the Yips and KU pitching and defense.

No former Jayhawks will be on MLB opening day rosters this year. The Rangers designated Travis Metcalf for assignment to remove him from their 40 man roster on Saturday. During the next ten days the Rangers might trade him. If he is not traded he can be released or optioned to AAA. The Phillies placed Mike Zagurski on the 15-day disabled list. Hopefully Mike will be ready to pitch again before the all-star break. Earlier in the month the Pirates sent Tom Gorzelanny down to their AAA club.

Nick Faunce has been posting a journal throughout the season at the KU baseball home page. It is worth checking out. His March 31st entry about how he and some teammates had to help the grounds crew tame the field tarp on a windy Kansas day is a good read. The Hawks had to ask the visiting Northern Colorado players to lend a hand.

For local Lawrence baseball news, last year Lawrence High pitcher Andy Urban had the "Yips" so bad he could hardly play catch with his father in the back yard. On Friday he threw a no-hitter against Shawnee Mission North. Nice story here.

And in case you were wondering, the average score of an NCAA D-I baseball game this year is 9-4. On average NCAA D-I teams give up 6.8 runs per game. That number really brings KU's outstanding pitching and defense this year into context. Even after the massacre on Sunday Kansas is only surrendering 4.9 runs per game against D-I opponents, almost two runs under the national average.

Baseball Notes: Opening Day Tuesday, Former Jayhawks in Spring Training

James Quinn — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:01:32 -0000

A quick reminder on a day sure to be dominated by basketball coverage. KU Baseball has its home opener scheduled for Tuesday at 3PM vs. North Dakota. The weather should be nice on gameday (mid-50’s and sunny) but I have no idea what shape the field will be in given Saturday’s freakish snow storm. I’ll post updates and a series preview tomorrow.

There are three former Jayhawks working up a sweat in spring training. Tom Gorzelanny is trying to comeback from a disastrous 2008 performance. Reports are that he looks good so far and is penciled in as the Pirates #4 starting pitcher. Travis Metcalf is fighting for a job in the Rangers camp. Metcalf has appeared in 80 games for Texas over the last two years, playing good defense at third and hitting for power (.249/.300/.475). He looked poised for a breakout year before Michael Young moved from shortstop to third this offseason. Metcalf has a good shot to be on the roster opening day as a backup, plus he seems to have the support of Rangers fans. Mike Zagurski is in the Phillie’s camp in the last stages of recovering from Tommy John surgery. It seems unlikely that Zagurski will break camp with the team but, if he is healthy and effective early in the season, there is every reason to expect he will quickly be back in the show. Les Walrond spent parts of last year with the Cubs and Phillies but will not be back in major league baseball this year. Walrond signed a contract to play for the Yokohama BayStars back in December. Good luck to him.