H-Town Sports

Houston Sports Blog - Real sports cities have TWO Conference USA teams

Friday, July 28, 2006

Pence, Hirsh Shine for Scouts

AAA: Round Rock beat Fresno 6-1 behind their stud, Jason Hirsh, who did actually allow a run in this one. Hirsh gave up five hits and one earned run in seven innings, walking none and striking out five. Jailen Peguero pitched two hitless innings to wrap it up. I'd like to offer our readers a chance to propose some sort of feat that I can promise to tackle if Jason Hirsh is on the Round Rock roster on August 1st. There is just no way that the Astros can leave him down there any longer, with T-Buch blowing up, the offense in the toilet and the trading deadline approaching. Hirsh will either be on another club's roster or in the Astros' rotation come August 1. Mark my words. Notice also that both Matt Albers and Jason Hirsh started or pitched the equivalent of a start, making them both perfect fits to replace T-Buch in the Astros' rotation next time through.

AA: Corpus beat Frisco 5-2, as Hunter Pence shined for the opposing scouts on hand, going 3-4 with two doubles and a home run, driving in three and scoring twice. Ronnie Martinez had a nice start for the Hooks, and Paul Estrada pitched the ninth to earn his tenth save. Pence now has 24 HR and 79 RBI on the season, along with a .299 avg, .363 OBP and .579 SLG. Again, it is hard to imagine that Pence will be a Hook come August 1st. If Purpura is truly being 'aggressive' on the trade front, both Hirsh and Pence are guys that should have their bags packed. Personally, I'm okay with dealing Hirsh because the pitching depth is great in the Astros' organization, but the return for a deal including Pence had better be astounding because he is all you've got on the offensive side of the ball. Seven of the Hooks' ten hits, by the way, came against Kameron Loe, a member of the Rangers' rotation making a rehab start for Frisco.

MILB.com did a nice feature on Pence. Do not read it, though, if you are hesitant about dealing him, because you will just feel nauseous afterwards. Reading about his Texan pride, his intensity and his passion for the game will not make you feel better about the fact that he is not already in the Astros' everyday lineup. By the way, Pence is the same age as Willy Taveras.

High A: Salem lost to Frederick 5-3. Paulino del Guidice had a bit of a rough start, allowing five runs in five innings. Lou Santangelo was 2-4 with his 16th home run.

Low A: The Legends awakened from their deep sleep with a 20-hit rout of Savannah. Josh Flores and JR Towles each had four hits and a home run, and Eli Iorg had three hits.

Short Season A: The Valley Cats lost their second straight game, 5-3 to Jamestown. Max Sapp hit well again, going 2-4 with a walk.

Rookie: The Astros rallied for two runs in the ninth to beat Elizabethton 5-4. RF Andrew Darnell was the hero with homers in the seventh and ninth innings.

Zobrist/Talbot Watch: Ben Zobrist was 3-5 for the Bulls, lifting his average to .328, his OBP to .418 and his SLG to .397 since the trade. Mitch Talbot will make his third start for the Montgomery Biscuits tonight against the Jacksonville Suns. Aubrey Huff was 0-4 with a K in the Astros' loss to the Reds, lowering his average since joining the Astros to .208 and his OPS to .630.


1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

At least you gave me a heads-up about the Pence article. I still feel like unswallowing a lung, but you warned me.

Fri Jul 28, 11:37:00 PM  

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