Results tagged ‘ Stefen Romero ’
Friday Notes (7/1)
It’s a “show-and-go” day here in the Quad Cities for your LumberKings, so please excuse the lateness and briefness of this post. The Kings earned their first win in the QC this season by scoring at least a run in six-straight innings and pitching well in relief last night, defeating the River Bandits 8-5. Stefen Romero’s 2-for-3, three-RBI performance included a much-debated two-run homer down the left-field line in the third inning (from the press box angle it appeared to be foul, but home plate umpire Garrett Patterson indicated it had hooked fair) that gave the Kings a lead they would not relinquish. Seven runs backed 5.0 decent innings from right-hander George Mieses (4 runs, 3 earned on 8 hits), who won for the first time since April 30 at Wisconsin. Right-hander Tyler Blandford yielded a run over 2.0 innings, lefty Nate Reed turned in a scoreless eighth and righty Jonathan Arias worked out of a bases-loaded jam for his second save in the ninth.
Highlights: Romero Debated 2-R HR (#5) 6.30.11 | Arias Strikes Out Klein for 2nd Save 6.30.11
Obviously, the huge news today is the promotion of James Paxton to double-A Jackson. I’ll likely be talking with pitching coach Rich Dorman on this subject and others in an upcoming interview segment, but as for tonight, no new interview for you.
Tonight’s Game Notes: 7.1.11 kingsnotes
Ground ball artist Anthony Fernandez (2-2, 4.22) starts against Rock Falls native Seth Blair (4-3, 4.65) in the middle game of this series tonight, first pitch scheduled for 7:00 PM at Modern Woodmen Park. Listen to the broadcast online at 1390kcln.com.
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Tonight’s Interview: Stefen Romero (Vol. 2)
As you’ll recall from yesterday’s post, I planned to air part two of my conversation with Mariners’ Special Assistant Tony Blengino on tonight’s pregame show, but I can’t pass up a chance to interview Stefen Romero following his 12th inning walk-off single last night against Beloit.
The LumberKings are 3-2 so far in the second half, and all three wins have come in the last at-bat. Steven Baron’s two-run double highlighted a four-run eighth inning as the Kings won 5-4 over Burlington last Friday night, and Robbie Anston’s walk-off ninth-inning single scored Carlos Ramirez for a series-clinching 5-4 win over the Bees again on Sunday. Romero was the hero last night, lining a no-out single to right-center scoring Jetsy Extrano, who had walked to lead off the inning and moved to third on a throwing error by Snappers’ left-hander Nelvin Fuentes. That made a winner of right-hander Tyler Burgoon, who turned in a season-high 4.0 scoreless innings in relief to get his fourth victory of the season. Lefty Nate Reed (2.0 scoreless innings) and catcher Carlton Tanabe (game-tying sac fly scoring Mike McGee in the bottom of the ninth) also deserve “unsung hero” mention.
Listen to Romero’s first-career walk-off winner: Romero Walk-Off Single 6.28.11
Tonight, I chat with Romero for the second time this season. We talk about his first-career walk-off hit, his red-hot .424 month of June, the task of working on multiple defensive positions, his focus for the second half and more.
Listen Here: Romero Interview 6.29.11
Tonight’s Game Notes: 6.29.11 kingsnotes
Starting Lineups: 6.29.11 lineup
Right-hander Jandy Sena (4-3, 3.69) makes his 12th appearance, fourth start tonight looking to extend his quality-start streak to three-straight in his first-career match-up against Beloit. The 6’6″ Sena takes the mound for the first pitch at 7:00 PM, listen online at 1390kcln.com.
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Tonight’s Interview: Carlton Tanabe
The LumberKings fell 9-5 last night as Quad Cities scored five times in the ninth to break a 5-5 tie. The winning run scored as Michael Swinson came home on a two-out bases-loaded wild pitch by Jonathan Arias. Cody Stanley followed with a three-run double to put the game out of reach.
Clinton had overcome a 5-2 deficit with a three-run fourth inning after a 38-minute rain delay. Carlton Tanabe started the two-out rally with an RBI double to left-center off Rock Falls, IL native Seth Blair. He’d later score on a single by Julio Morban, who would in turn score on a single to center by Mickey Wiswall (listen: Wiswall RBI single 6.15.11). The Kings scored five total runs against Blair, including two on a first-inning homer by Stefen Romero (listen: Romero 2-R HR (#4) 6.15.11), his first since April 30.
My interview tonight is with Tanabe, fresh off his 2-for-4 game. The 24th round pick out of Pearl City, Hawaii has been Steven Baron’s back-up this season but is now getting a chance to play with Baron on the DL. We talk about last night’s double, staying productive despite playing sparingly, getting an opportunity to start, his experience with former Mariners’ catcher Dan Wilson earlier this year, being the other half of the Hawaiian battery with Keli’i Zablan and more.
Listen Here: Tanabe Interview 6.16.11
Tonight’s Game Notes: 6.16.11 kingsnotes
Starting Lineups:
Quad Cities River Bandits (37-28): Michael Swinson/LF, Ronny Gil/SS, Oscar Taveras/RF, Starlin Rodriguez/2B, Cody Stanley/C, Nick Longmire/CF, Victor Sanchez/DH, Jonathan Rodriguez/3B, Geoff Klein/1B, Trevor Rosenthal/RHP
LumberKings (21-45): Julio Morban/CF, Mickey Wiswall/DH, Tim Morris/1B, Matt Browning/3B, Kevin Rivers/RF, Jorge Agudelo/2B, Carlos Ramirez/SS, Robbie Anston/LF, Carlton Tanabe/C, James Paxton/LHP
Lefty James Paxton makes his final start before the 2011 Midwest League All-Star Game tonight and is looking to snap Clinton’s five-game losing streak. Paxton gave up a career-high five earned runs over 5.1 innings in his last start against Bowling Green, but is still 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA and 54 strikeouts over his last seven starts.
The broadcast begins at 6:45 PM, listen online at 1390kcln.com.
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Mother’s Day Notes (5/8)
First off, happy Mothers Day to you all! Looks like we’ll have a fantastic day for baseball here at AEF.
A reminder for all of you dedicated LumberKings fans, Mariners’ prospect followers and supporters of breast cancer awareness (that should be everyone, of course). The LumberKings will be wearing special pink caps on the field today as they take on the Burlington Bees at 2:00 PM. Those caps will be autographed and auctioned off both here at the game today and online through the Kings’ ebay site.
Expect hats from guys like Taijuan Walker, Stefen Romero, Forrest Snow, Jabari Blash and others to hit the web within the next few days. It’s a one-of-a-kind item for a great cause…all proceeds from the cap auction are going to the Susan G. Komen fund. So get your hands on a cap and help the cause also.
Getting to last night…the LumberKings battled all night with the West Division-leading Bees thanks to the efforts of right-hander Brandon Maurer. The 23rd round pick in 2008 struck out a career-high 11 batters over 6.0 innings, exiting in a 1-1 game. Right-hander Jonathan Arias pitched as well as we’ve seen all season with two scoreless innings but yielded the game-winning RBI double to Yordy Cabrera in the top of the ninth as the Kings fell 2-1. Stefen Romero doubled twice and finished 3-for-4 and Tim Morris went 3-for-4 with an RBI, but it wasn’t enough to keep Clinton from falling to 1-5 against Burlington this season.
Listen to Maurer’s 11th punch-out: Maurer Career-High 11th Strikeout 5.7.11
Left-hander James Paxton missed his last start after a minor BP injury, but he’s back today for his second career outing. The Mariners’ 4th-round pick is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA following his debut outing against Peoria back on April 27. The Bees answer with left-hander Jacob Brown, Oakland’s 26th round pick in 2010. Brown is 3-0 with a sparkling 1.48 ERA on the season.
Today’s Game Notes: 5.8.11 kingsnotes
Starting Lineups:
Burlington Bees (21-7): Tyreace House/CF, Royce Consigli/RF, Nino Leyja/2B, Jose Rivero/DH, Yordy Cabrera/SS, Josh Whitaker/1B, Douglas Landaeta/LF, Wade Kirkland/3B, Daniel Petitti/C, Jacob Brown/LHP
LumberKings (9-21): Julio Morban/LF, Shaver Hansen/2B, Stefen Romero/DH, Mickey Wiswall/1B, Matt Cerione/CF, Ramon Morla/3B, Jabari Blash/RF, Marcus Littlewood/SS, Steven Baron/C, James Paxton/LHP.
First pitch is at 2:00 PM, listen online at 1390kcln.com.
-DL
Friday Notes (5/6)
After an 8:00 alarm, a couple of blueberry muffins from the continental breakfast and an 8:45 bus ride to O’Brien Field I’m about set for day baseball here in Peoria. The LumberKings and Chiefs close up a three-game series starting at 11:00 AM.
In case you missed it, Mariners’ 2010 first-round pick, right-hander Taijuan Walker made his first professional start in his LumberKings’ debut last night. He looked rocky at the onset, giving up four runs on six hits over the first two innings, but found command of his fastball and curveball over his final two innings to finish with a respectable line. Walker went 4.0 frames, allowed the four runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out five. He also turned a fantastic 1-6-3 double play to get himself out of what could have been an even nastier first inning.
Left-hander Edlando Seco also pitched well, striking out five of the nine he faced over 3.0 scoreless innings (I took to calling the evening “Seco De Mayo” during the effort). Right-hander Tyler Burgoon turned ina scoreless eighth.
Highlights:
You’ll notice no offensive highlights from last night. The Kings did score once against left-hander Eric Jokisch as Stefen Romero doubled and scored on a single by Mickey Wiswall, but way too many offensive chances slipped through their grasp again as Clinton went 1-for-7 as a club with RISP. The Chiefs aren’t exactly lighting it up offensively in this series either (with a combined 7 runs in 2 games), but they are now outscoring the LumberKings 38-7 over five meetings and are not surprisingly 5-0 as a result.
Today’s Game Notes: 5.6.11 kingsnotes
There’s not one element to single out right now about this 8-20 club, but if they’re going to avoid the sweep today, they’ll need a second-straight solid outing out of right-hander George Mieses and they’ll need to score him some runs. Mieses went 5.0 innings and won up in Wisconsin his last time out, but even then received just two runs of support. Should the Kings get to left-hander Austin Kirk early, I like their chances today.
Today’s Starting Lineups:
LumberKings (8-20): Julio Morban/CF, Shaver Hansen/2B, Tim Morris/1B, Stefen Romero/LF, Mickey Wiswall/DH, Ramon Morla/3B, Jabari Blash/RF, Marcus Littlewood/SS, Steven Baron/C, George Mieses/RHP
Peoria Chiefs (14-13): Matt Szczur/RF, Elliot Soto/2B, Rubi Silva/CF, Richard Jones/1B, Smaily Borges/DH, Sergio Burruel/C, Arismendy Alcantara/SS, D.J. Fitzgerald/LF, Anthony Giansanti/3B, Austin Kirk/LHP
First pitch is at 11:00 AM, listen online at 1390kcln.com.
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Sunday Notes (5/1)
It’s the most exciting time of mid-Spring…team photo day! I’ll have my hands full getting the 2011 Clinton LumberKings photo in order, so unfortunately I will not be posting an interview today.
If I was, right-hander George Mieses would be deserving. Mieses allowed a run on eight hits over 5.0 strong innings for his first win yesterday as the LumberKings took care of Wisconsin, 5-2, for their first road series victory. Stefen Romero stayed hot after yesterday’s pregame interview, launching his third home run in four games — a two-run clout to left — to give Mieses a 2-0 lead. Julio Morban added an RBI triple and Matt Cerione chipped in with a sacrifice fly.
The LumberKings are now just a game behind Kane County for seventh in the West Division. Not exactly threatening the likes of Burlington and Cedar Rapids quite yet, but a comeback has got to start somewhere. From what I saw on this last road trip, maybe this is the beginning of a run.
It will all depend on how the Kings play the Beloit Snappers on this three-game home series. The Snappers took three of four up at Pohlman Field in early April, but are coming off a disheartening 13-8 loss in extra frames to Peoria. Beloit pounded out six home runs including back-to-back-to-back blasts to take a lead, but the Chiefs knocked around left-hander Martire Garcia in the top of the 10th to take the win. Here’s hoping that loss knocked Nelson Prada’s club off-kilter heading into this series.
Today’s Game Notes: 5.1.11 kingsnotes
Starting Lineups:
Beloit (12-8): Jamaal Hawkins/SS, Derek McCallum/2B, Lance Ray/RF, Michael Gonzales/1B, Daniel Ortiz/LF, Nate Roberts/DH, Tobias Streich/C, Wang-Wei Lin/CF, Andrew Leer/3B, Manuel Soliman/RHP
LumberKings (7-16): Julio Morban/LF, Marcus Littlewood/SS, Tim Morris/1B, Stefen Romero/2B, Mickey Wiswall/DH, Matt Cerione/CF, Ramon Morla/3B, Jabari Blash/RF, Steven Baron/C, Brandon Maurer/RHP
First pitch is at 2:00 PM, listen online at 1390kcln.com.
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Today’s Interview: Stefen Romero
The LumberKings split last night’s doubleheader in Wisconsin after falling 5-0 in game one. Stefen Romero powered the offense with a 2-for-4 performance including his second home run in the last three games and a career-high three RBI. That was more than enough to back right-hander Forrest Snow, who bounced back from his eight-run debacle at Kane County to toss his first career complete game. Snow earned his first professional win with a run on five hits over 7.0 innings, and the Kings won, 6-1.
Highlights from Game 2:
I’ve already chatted with Snow about a six-inning no-hit bid this season, so it’s time to talk with Romero for the first time. Seattle’s 12th round pick out of Oregon State University has had a somewhat long road to his first professional season, having missed last year with right elbow issues. He’s back to 100% now and is swinging the bat well in the middle of the Clinton order.
Listen Here: Romero Interview 4.30.11
Starting Lineups:
LumberKings (6-16): Shaver Hansen/2B, Julio Morban/RF, Tim Morris/DH, Stefen Romero/LF, Mickey Wiswall/1B, Matt Cerione/CF, Ramon Morla/3B, Marcus Littlewood/SS, Steven Baron/C, George Mieses/RHP
Wisconsin (7-11): Nick Shaw/2B, Reggie Keen/CF, Cody Hawn/1B, Mike Walker/DH, Greg Hopkins/3B, TJ Mittlestaedt/LF, Tyler Roberts/C, Carlos George/SS, Franklin Romero/RF, Jimmy Nelson/RHP
The LumberKings will try and secure just their second series victory in a Saturday afternoon game against the Timber Rattlers. First pitch is at 1:05 PM, listen online at 1390kcln.com.
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Tonight’s Interview: James Paxton
The tarp is on here as a light rain falls at Time Warner Cable Field in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. The LumberKings are supposed to open a three-game series against the Timber Rattlers tonight at 6:35 PM, but it’s looking like the start time will be pushed back.
Last night on another crisp evening at Alliant Energy Field, we witnessed the much-anticipated professional debut of left-hander James Paxton, a one-time supplemental first-round pick of Toronto and fourth-round pick of the Mariners last June. The former Kentucky Wildcat turned in just the fourth quality outing by a LumberKings starter this year, allowing three runs on five hits over 6.0 innings and striking out six — but he also took the loss as the Kings fell 7-2 to the Peoria Chiefs.
Still, it was fun to watch the 23-year-old get ahead in the count with a four-seam fastball that touched 94-95 and follow with a big breaking curveball that landed for both called strikes and swings and misses. Paxton also proved resilient, staying in the game after being struck on the inner thigh by a comebacker hit by Sergio Burruel to lead off the second.
Listen to Paxton’s first career strikeout: Paxton First Career Strikeout 4.27.11
Listen to Stefen Romero’s first career home run: Romero First Pro HR 4.27.11
Paxton is my interview guest tonight. We talk about his first pro start, his Spring Training experience with the Mariners, his arsenal including a two-seam and four-seam fastball, his stint with Grand Prairie of the American Association last year, pitching alongside Clinton native Tyler Howe at the University of Kentucky, his goals for 2011 and more.
Listen Here: Paxton Interview 4.28.11
Tonight’s Game Notes: 4.28.11 kingsnotes
Should the rain subside, here’s tonight’s lineups:
LumberKings (5-15): Shaver Hansen/2B< Julio Morban/CF, Tim Morris/1B, Mickey Wiswall/LF, Stefen Romero/3B, Jabari Blash/RF, Marcus Littlewood/DH, Steven Baron/C, Carlos Ramirez/SS, Seon Gi Kim/RHP
Wisconsin (6-10): Reggie Keen/CF, Nick Shaw/2B, Cody Hawn/1B, Mike Walker/DH, Greg Hopkins/3B, Robbie Garvey/LF, Tyler Roberts/C, Carlos George/SS, Franklin Romero/RF, Matt Miller/RHP
First pitch will be…well…hopefull at some point tonight. Listen online at 1390kcln.com.
-DL
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