by Matthew Wheaton
Media Relations Intern

The Bees (13-27) and Clinton LumberKings (21-19), the Midwest League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, begin a four-game series tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Community Field. It’s “Friends and Family Night.” Everyone gets to run the bases after the game. We’ll also celebrate the Cubs and Cardinals rivalry with special trivia and contests throughout the night. The Bees will also host the second annual Brew Fest from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Community Field with over 200 beers available for sampling and classic rock music provided by Dungeon Jeep.

LHP Tony Butler (1-4, 2.41) toes the rubber for the LumberKings this evening. He was drafted by Seattle in the third round of the 2006 amateur draft. This is Butler’s second stint with the Mariners organization. He was traded from Seattle to the Orioles as part of the package that brought Erik Bedard, now of the Boston Red Sox, to Seattle in 2008. Butler battled injury and ineffectiveness after the trade, posting a 5.91 ERA in 112.2 innings with the Orioles organization, including a 7.66 ERA in 44.2 innings, and was released by Baltimore in June 2010. The Brewers picked up Butler, a Wisconsin native, after the Orioles released him. He was released by Milwaukee in the beginning of August 2010 after he struggled to a 72.00 ERA in one inning of work for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The Mariners resigned Butler as a minor league free agent earlier this year.

RHP Jonathan Joseph (2-4, 6.52), gets the start for the Bees tonight. He last pitched on August 1 against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in Wisconsin. He allowed three runs on three hits in 3.2 innings. Opposing batters are hitting .307 against Joseph in home games this season. He has a record of 2-2, one save, and a 6.75 ERA at Community Field.

YESTERDAY…
The Peoria Chiefs (15-25) scored six runs on 13 hits to earn a 6-2 win over the Bees (13-27) at O’Brien Field last night. The Bees scored a run in the first inning against Peoria starter LHP Austin Kirk. DH Beau Taylor (2-4) led off the game with a single and scored on a double by RF Josh Whitaker (1-3). The Chiefs pushed across a run in the bottom of the first inning against Bees starter Blake Hassebrock. CF Taiwan Easterling (4-5) singled and stole both second and third base. 1B Richard Jones (0-2) lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Easterling and make it 1-1. Hassebrock tossed five innings and allowed one run on six hits. He walked two and struck out three. Kirk was equally effective, allowing one run on four hits over six innings pitched. Both starters received no decisions on Friday. The Chiefs scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning against RHP Zack Thornton (3-4). Easterling singled and went to third base on a single by 2B Rubi Silva (1-5). Jones walked to load the bases and SS Rafael Valdes (1-4) singled to score both Easterling and Silva for a 3-1 lead. The Bees scored a single run in the top of the eighth inning to make it 3-2 before the Chiefs exploded for three runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning to make it 6-2.

BEES BY THE NUMBERS
Tonight’s game will be the 54th game the Bees have played at Community Field this season. The Bees have a record of 32-21 in home games. Burlington had five hits last night versus the Peoria Chiefs, who had 13. The Bees have a record of 10-33 when they are out-hit by their opponent. Burlington has a record of 45-43 in night games this season.

Beau Taylor was the only Bee with multiple hits last night in Peoria. He notched two hits against the Chiefs.

RHP Blake Hassebrock (6-6, 2.35) pitched five innings, allowed six hits, and only one run last night against the Chiefs and was unable to get his seventh victory of the season. His last win was in Wisconsin on July 31 against the Timber Rattlers.

OF Royce Consigli went 1-for-14 at the dish in the recent four-game series against the Chiefs.

Jose Macias pitched an amazing outing last night in Peoria. He surrendered two runs, (just one earned run), on nine hits in the longest outing of the season. He did surrender more than his share of hits but if you’ve seen Macias pitch at any point during his first or current outing in Burlington, you understand that’s his game. He needs to be effective with changing speeds and let hitters put the ball in play. Last night he did just that and helped the Burlington Bees snap a three-game losing streak.

Tonight should put forward an interesting pitching match-up as two of the better young pitchers in the Midwest League square off. RHP Blake Hassebrock gets the start for the Bees. He pitched five scoreless innings in his last outing against Wisconsin on July 31. He has also allowed just two earned runs in his last 10 innings pitched.

LHP Austin Kirk is rapidly emerging as one of the better pitching prospects in the MWL and gets the start for the Chiefs tonight. He pitched six scoreless innings against Clinton on July 31. He is 5-7 with a 3.36 ERA in 2011.

 

Last night in Peoria Josh Whitaker continued his amazing season. In a night where the Bees recorded just seven hits, Whitaker had three of them. He had a 15-game hitting streak from July 1-18 and has been hitless in just six games in the second half in 2011.

Whitaker, who leads the team with 14 home runs, is  second in the Midwest League with a .318 batting average, 10 points behind Rymer Liriano of Fort Wayne who is hitting .328. He’ll get a rare and well-deserved night off here in Peoria tonight.

The bullpen has struggled through the last few games as the Bees look to get back in the win column here in Peoria. As much as the bullpen has been in the spotlight over the last two nights because of the blown leads, it’s easy to forget about the tremendous performance of last night’s starter Nate Long.

He tied his 2011 season high of seven innings pitched in last night’s loss. He worked brilliantly, getting himself out of situations in the first five innings without giving up a run. The Chiefs left five men on in the first five innings. He made one pitch he probably would like to have back, the one that DH Anthony Giansanti hit over the left field wall to score the first runs of the game in the sixth inning. Long finished with a superb outing on Tuesday (7 IP, 2R, 8H).

 

The Burlington Bees lost out on a chance to sweep their first series of the second half when they lost 8-5 in Wisconsin on Monday.  The Bees were so close to sweeping. In the ninth inning Pedro Vidal was unable to close out the victory. He kept missing with pitch after pitch low in the zone and could not find a way to throw consistent strikes. With that being said, it’s not like all of his pitches were missing consistently out of the strike zone. I would say a majority of his pitches were missing just a little bit beneath the zone. He walked two men which, to say the least, is uncharacteristic of him.

On the plus side, RHP T.J. Walz looked very good in his first outing in a Burlington uniform, pitching two and one-thirds scoreless innings. Zack Thornton pitched two scoreless innings. He has allowed just one earned run over his last 11 innings pitched.

A.J. Kirby-Jones has been named Midwest League Player of the Week after a tremendous last week of games where he hit four home runs and recorded 12 RBIs. It’s been a great thing to see. A.J. has been looking to find consistency at the plate over the long season and has gotten into a nice “groove.” The Bees have been hitting much better as a team over the last five games, with a collective .253 batting average.

When you combine that improved batting average with much improved starting pitching: 45 Hits allowed over the last 45 Innings pitched as opposed to 54 hits surrendered over the previous 40 innings, you have the recipe for a winning streak. Tonight the Bees look for their fourth straight win.

What a start to the Bees road trip in Wisconsin last night! The offense “put it together” with eight runs on 14 hits and the Burlington Bees got a steady pitching performance from RHP Jose Macias (5 IP, 2R, 6H) to earn an 8-2 win. 1B A.J. Kirby-Jones drove in a career-high five runs and C Beau Taylor recorded a career high four hits in the victory.

The Bees made a roster move before the game today, placing CF Jose Crisotomo on the Disabled List and adding RHP T.J. Walz to the roster from SS-A Vermont. He went 4-0 with a 0.41 ERA in 11 outings. He allowed one earned run in 22 innings pitched.

Its 4:30 p.m. here in Grand Chute, WI and the tarp is on the field as the Bees get set to hopefully open up a three-game series with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Rain is a fickle thing. When you come to the ballpark every day as a broadcaster, player, coach or front office member, you get into a rhythm.  Players do their stretches and work on their fundamentals. Coaches hit fly balls at a certain time. Broadcasters and newspaper writers copy down lineups into their scorecards and prepare stats. Front office staff members busily hurry around the stadium to ensure everything is in place when the team opens up the gates.

When the tarp is on the field and batting practice is cancelled, most look like a lost puppy dog. Coaches dwell in their office while players kill time by making up games in the club house. Front office staff members look at the radar and try to predict when the rain will move out of the area.

When the tarp is taken off the field-uniforms are put back on, lineups cards are hastily filled out and pregame shows are started late. Most look forward to getting the game complete because no one wants to play a doubleheader!

 

Tonight the Bees wrap up a three-game series and a three-game home stand against the Beloit Snappers at 6:30 p.m. It’s a big night at the ballpark with our final fireworks show of the season after the game sponsored by the Greater Burlington Partnership. Some random thoughts follow before tonight’s game.

RHP Nate Long pitched seven innings on Thursday in his longest outing of the season. It surpassed his previous high of six innings set on three previous starts. LF Royce Consigli recorded two hits Thursday and drove in the only run of the game for Burlington in the eighth inning. Josh Whitaker went 0-4 against the Snappers on Thursday, dropping his batting average from .316 to .312. With that four point drop, Whitaker goes from first place in batting in the Midwest League all the way down to sixth place. T.J. Mittelstaedt of Wisconsin leads the Midwest League with a .318 average.

“I love winning man….I love winning it’s like…..better than losing.” There is easily no better move about baseball and life in the minor leagues than “Bull Durham.” It’s also one of the most widely quoted movies second only to “Major League.”

If you know anything about the movie, you did I little editing on that quote. (This is, of course, a family blog). Nuke LaLoosh’s classic line perfectly describes the life of a minor league player. As Nuke says, players love winning. When things don’t work well, baseball players tend to revert back to superstition. For example take the current eight- game losing streak. When I asked one of the players who always looks forward to making fun of me why he hasn’t picked on me lately, it produced the following exchange.

Me: “What gives, are you afraid to bust my ‘chops’?”
Player X: “No man, we just haven’t been winning. I’m feeling like we’re gonna win today. I got nothing for you.”
Me: “Ok then.”

I’m ready for the insults. I just want a win.