Goin' All the Way @ the Clip Joint

Zach McAllister

Sadly, Zach McAllister's perfect season is over.  He did, however, throw a complete game six-hitter.  Zach made one mistake and it turned into a 3-run Dan Johnson homer.  The rest we can put on the shoulders of an impotent offense that mustered just two hits.  McAllister (2.42) walked three and struck out the same in going the distance for the second time in 2011.  And, ok, he did give up a solo homer in the 4th, but it was the 6th inning that changed the game.  The two men that came home ahead of Johnson's blast reached on an error and a walk.  Ain't that always the way.  McAllister remains #1 on the minor league depth chart should the big club need a spot start.

Briefly, lest I blow chunks, on the offense.  Cord Phelps: 14-game hit streak over.  Lonnie Chisenhall: one hit in his last 20 at bats.  Jared Goedert: .067.  The final was 4-1.  Enough.

Corey Kluber takes his turn tomorrow at 7:05p as the Clippers continue their series with the Bulls Durham.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

CC Lee pitched two innings and struck out three in a 4-2 Akron loss that also featured Jordan Henry's 17th steal and Beau Mills' first dinger.  Lee (3.00) did allow an unearned run, but the awesome bit is his strikeout rate.  CC now has 43 K's (against just 7 walks) in 30 innings which rattles out to 12.9 K/9.  If you look at his last ten appaearances (17.1 IP, 29 K) the number jumps to 15.1.  Wicked.

The Kearnsian bat work filtered down to Kinston as well, though the little Indians found a way to win, 1-0.  Giovanni Soto could not wait out the offense, but he did polish off an insane month of May.  Soto (2.44) was 3-0 with a 2.03 over the past month with 10.2 K/9.  Today he hurled six shutout innings with a pair of hits, a pair of walks and ten more punch outs.  Although Soto has had a magnificent season, the organization has the luxury to bring him along deliberately, so do not expect a promotion any time soon.

On the subject of caution, Drew Pomeranz, who has not pitched since May 18th is scheduled to throw on Wednesday.  His last three starts have been skipped with very little in the way of explanation.  One theory is that the Indians are just trying to limit his innings.  Still, as more and more outings are missed, one begins to wonder if this has something to do with the hamstring tightness that forced Drew out after three innings on April 25.  Once again, the Tribe can exert however much discretion it would like as there are a load of arms ahead of Pom.

The feast or famine adventures of St Ed's own Alex Lavisky continued tonight for the Captains.  Alex (.210) jacked two bombs and drove in five during a Lake County 9-4 victory.  Both his last homer and last multi hit game came on May 14th.  In those two games Lavisky went 4-for-8 with 3 long balls and 7 RBI.  In the eight games between he batted .178 (5-for-28) with zero XBH and zero RBI.  He did go down on strikes eleven times.  Ah, the life of a 20-year old professional catcher.

Cheers.