The Raptors started their season with a bang on Monday with a 20 run outburst. The Arizona Dodgers start their season tonight, and will hope for a similar result. Also, I wanted to have my Arizona Dodger preview up today, but as of last night their full roster hasn't been posted. So instead of trying to guess who will be on the team, I'm going to wait until tomorrow to post it.
Minor League Player of the Day – Matt Kirkland - 5 for 6, 1 BB, 1 2B, 3 RBI's, 3 Runs. You can't really start the season any better than this, as Kirkland reached base in 6 of his 7 plate appearances. The big 20 year old played 1st base as I predicted, but I'm sure he'll also get his reps at 3rd base this season because that is where he is more valuable.
AAA – Trayvon Robinson and Ivan De Jesus have both been hot as of late, and that trend continued on Monday as they led the Isotopes to a 4 to 3 win over the Iowa Cubs. Robinson went 2 for 4 and hit what was described as a monsterous home run to center as he continues to tear the cover off of the ball. He now has 16 homers, and is crushing it with a 1.482 OPS in his last 10 games. De Jesus doubled twice in 4 at bats and recorded his 5th multi-hit game in a row. He's quietly hitting .323, although he hasn't shown anything more than doubles power. On the mound Dana Eveland gave up 9 hits, but he was able to limit the damage against him as only allowed 3 runs (just 1 earned) to score. Travis Schlichting threw a shutout 8th, then Jon Link continues to gain momentum as he picked up his 7th save with a hitless 9th.
AA – All Star Break
HiA – All Star Break
LoA – All Star Break
Rookie Ogden – The Raptors must have liked my preview yesterday because they responded with a 20 to 0 pounding of Idaho Falls (Royals) on opening day. It was an onslaught from the start as Ogden started the game with 5 straight hits. The hit count reached 24 by the end of the game, and the breakdown was as follows: 3 players with 1 hit, 1 player with 2 hits, 2 players with 3 hits, 2 players with 4 hits, and 1 player with 5 hits. The 5 hit game belonged to 1st baseman Matt Kirkland, who doubled and had 3 RBI's. David Iden and Jeff Schaus went 4 for 7, while Andrew Edge and breakout candidate Scott Schebler both went 3 for 6 with a homer each. Schelber's homer came in the 9th and capped the 20 run game, and it also gave him a team leading 4 RBI's on the night. Not to be forgotten was the solid Raptor pitching that combined on a 8 hit shutout. Gustavo Gomez started the game and allowed 3 hits in 5 innings while striking out 6 and did not give up a walk or a run. Yimi Garcia allowed a couple of hits in his inning of relief work, but was still impressive because he struck out the side.
DSL – Box score not available
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)