Results tagged ‘ Peter Moylan ’
AAA – Moylan, Oeltjen, Rowland-Smith, Russell
Peter Moylan gets his 1st win
Peter Moylan threw a scoreless 1-2-3 6th and retired 2 in the 7th to collect his first win of the season when Albuquerque defeated Omaha 3-2. His line was 1.2IP, 1H, 0R, 1K.
Trent Oeltjen continues to slump with the bat going 0-4.
Ryan Rowland-Smith got his first Hold today when he threw a scoreless 8th in Pawtucket’s 5-4 win over Rochester. His line – 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K.
Andrew Russell had to wear his 2nd loss today when he came on in the 9th and then with the score still 8 all and 1 out he gave up a walk off home run giving Charlotte a 9-8 victory over the Gwinnett Braves. It’s tough being a closer.
AAA – Moylan, Russell
1st loss for Andrew Russell
Andrew Russell was brought on the 9th as closer today but things didn’t quite work out for him.
The Gwinnett Braves didn’t get a lead until they broke a nil all score with one run in the 9th but the lead did not last long. In the bottom of the ninth, the Bulls would score two unearned runs against Andrew (L, 0-1) to claim the game. He picked up the loss, allowing two unearned runs without recording an out.
In the only other AAA game featuring an Australian Omaha had an 8-7 win over Albuquerque. Peter Moylan came on in the 6th for Albuquerque giving up 1 run on 1 hit, 2 walks.
AAA – Moylan, Oeltjen, Russell, Spence,
Andrew Russell has started his season with an impressive Save
Peter Moylan came on on the 6th for Albuquerque and threw 2 innings giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, including a home run whilst striking out 2.
Trent Oeltjen went 0-2, collecting a walk and scoring a run in the Salt Lake Bees 2-1 win over Tucson.
Andrew Russell had a good spring and his opener for the Gwinnett Braves was just as impressive. He was brought on in the 8th with score 5-4 to the Braves with 1 on and 0 outs but with Charlotte beginning to rally. Andrew soon put a stop to that and threw two 1-2-3 innings to get his 1st Save of the season.
Josh Spence pitched the 9th for Scranton who went down 9-4 to the Pawtucket Red Sox. He faced 5 hitters allowing a run on 3 hits.
Spring Training – Aussies in action – George, Kandilas, Kennelly, Moylan (dropped), Welch
Peter Moylan is the latest to be sent back to the minors
It’s not been a good week for Aussie potential major leaguers with Travis Blackley and Josh Spence being sent down. Now comes news that the Dodgers have dropped Peter Moylan to the minor leagues. That leaves only Grant Balfour and possibly Liam Hendriks as our representatives in The Show. Disappointing.
A number of minor leaguers got some playing time in the final games of Spring Training today. David Kandilas got a good run with the Rockies going 0-1 and a walk and a run. Both Matt Kennelly and Stefan Welch went 0-2 and rookie Darryl George didn’t get to bat but got to play at third late in the Rays’ game today. This no doubt softened the disappointment he felt when he was unable to crack a place in a full season team and has to return next week to extended spring.
Spring Training – Aussies in action – Moylan, Russell, Welch
Peter Moylan strengthened his case for inclusion in the opening day bull pen for the Dodgers with a 2 up 2 down 5th after coming on with 1 out. The sidearmer got a fly ball and a strike out. Should we start predicting he will make opening day?
Stefan Welch had his second outing with the Pirates today when he came on in the 7th against the Yankees. He ground out and walked in his two plate appearances.
Andrew Russell is getting plenty of work with the Braves at the back end of spring training. He threw a scoreless 9th against the Astros to get his 1st Save. His line reads 1INN, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 1K with a 2.45ERA. In the game Sydney’s Brandon Barnes went 0-2. He had just been named in Houston’s opening day roster (Story to come)
Spring Training – Aussies in action – Balfour, Blackley, Moylan, Oeltjen
Travis’ spot on the opening day roster is looking a little less certain
For the Aussie A’s (Balfour/Blackley) it was as Charles Dickens once said “the best of times, the worst of times”.
Grant Balfour had the best of times throwing a 1-2-3 7th inning against Cleveland. He’s looking good for the opening day roster. But perhaps Travis Blackley is not looking as good as he was at the start of spring with another below par outing today when he blew the Save in the 9th and then went on to collect the Win in the 10th. We know he is not happy with the number of runs he has given up recently. He said this on twitter after today’s game:-
@Travis_Blackley: I had quit dipping for 4 weeks, 6 days, 1 hr and 32 mins. Over that stretch I’ve been crap. Im bout to jump off the wagon now #bringonthe0′s
His line today was 2INN, 4H, 3R, 1BB, 2K and a 14.21ERA. We would like him to have a healthy ERA but we hope he stays off the dip and has a healthy mouth as well.
Peter Moylan had a good outing when he threw the 9th for the Dodgers against the Rockies. He faced 5, gave up a hit and struck out one. He also intentionally walked a lefty to get at a righty who he struck out to finish the inning.
Trent Oeltjen walked for the pitcher in the 8th today. Encouraging to see that the Angels are keeping him with the team in the dying days of spring training.
Spring Training – Aussies in action – Kandilas, Moylan
David Kandilas had his 1st at bat this spring for the Rockies today. He didn’t get a hit but he’s obviously been impressing his club to be even given the opportunity.
After the game David tweeted:- @DavidKandilas: Such an amazing experience playing in the big league game today. #Grateful #SpringTraining13. Well done David.
Also making his debut today was the Pirate’s Stefan Welch (See the story below).
Peter Moylan had a good day for the Dodgers today against the Reds. Coming on in the 8th with 1 out Peter faced 3 and struck out 2 to finish the inning and earn himself a Hold.
Australian presence in the Major Leagues improves interest in baseball in Australia
by Tony Capobianco/TucsonCitizen.com
The World Baseball Classic enjoyed its finest edition in 2013 and a lot of countries have benefited from it. Italy’s competitive run to the second round have boosted interest in the sport. Despite being driven by players from Curacao, the Netherlands’ semi-final success is also expected to boost interest.
“Any success you have on the world stage will definitely help baseball in their country,” said Australian Trent Oeltjen of the Los Angeles Angels. Like in Italy, I hear they’re going crazy over there for the Italian team.”
Even in Australia, where the former English colony have cricket as a popular sport, the sport of baseball is slowly growing there. The national team went winless in Pool B but their success in the past, along with a growing number of Australian Major Leaguers has allowed baseball to grow.
“It is getting a lot better,” Oeltjen said. “When I won the silver medal in Athens and more and more people making the Major Leagues out of Australia, there’s more of a following in Australia.”
In terms of Major League presence, having Australians making it to the Major Leagues help build the interest of baseball in that country more than anything else. Since the beginning of the 21st century, 21 Australians have made it to the Major Leagues. 16 of them are pitchers.
Why would that be the case?
“We have a lot of lefties,” said Australian pitcher Travis Blackley of the Oakland Athletics. “It seems like a lot of lefties always sign out of Australia. What position do lefties normally sign as?”
“Pitcher.”
In this era of baseball, pitchers are like quarterbacks. It is actually easier for pitchers to make it through the minor leagues in into MLB than other positions. Why pitchers go from Australia to the Major Leagues is sometimes because of the lack of pitching mileage that Aussie pitchers have compared to American pitchers.
“We also don’t throw as much as you guys so when its gets to the point where we come over here,” said Australian pitcher Peter Moylan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. “We throw half as much as you guys. So I feel like our arms haven’t been through as much. Kids in high school, kids in travel-ball teams over here, they throw every day. I didn’t throw every day until I was signed and that was when I was 17 years old.”
There’s not that many power hitters coming out of Australia, nor is there many position players in general coming out of Australia. They haven’t been conditioned to face and beat top level pitching like those in the college and minor league system here in America.
“You guys see live pitching from a real young age over here,” Moylan said. “We don’t see live pitching until we turn 11 or 12 years old. So the whole development you guys get is the key what makes guys better hitters.”
However Blackley believes that because many pitchers have made it to the Major Leagues and even in the minor leagues, they’ll better prepare the Aussie hitters to follow the trend. But it will take some time.
“You’ll see that number start to get better,” Blackley said. “They’re starting to get a lot more young good hitters coming through because they’re facing a lot these pitchers now that have made it pretty deep into their careers in America where there’s Double A, Triple A. That just makes the hitting better. Even if they get dominated at first, they start to get better.”
Baseball interest in Australia has recently grown to the point to where Major League Baseball helped found the Australian Baseball League, which goes on during the MLB offseason. Major Leaguers like Blackley would go back to Australia to pitch in order to stay in shape. But players there have a different look at Blackley when he pitched in the ABL.
“I noticed that I pitched in Australia this offseason and guys were pretty pumped up in the box looking to get a hit off me,” Blackley said. “There’s a little bit more pressure on me pitching over there. Everyone watching expects you to strike them out, everyone. They definitely hold me to a higher standard if I’m out there pitching even though I’m out there throwing offseason. They expect me to dominate and it’s not realistic.”
Their profiles have grown as professional athletes in Australia, some more than others. Their presence in the sport has truly helped grow baseball there. Trent Oeltjen has a little league near his home where teams there replicate the MLB teams that Oeltjen played for such as the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I did a few more TV interviews and radio interviews but still to the general public,” Moylan said. “I was still just a regular guy walking down the street.”
“This didn’t happen in the past,” Blackley said. “It wasn’t a big deal at all. The people in my sport tried to make a bigger deal out of me. I think they were trying to promote the sport.”
“It’s funny because there’s a band in Australia that’s one of my favorite bands and the main guy out of that band is a huge baseball fan. And we got along like a house on fire. I hung out with him almost every week. I went on tour with him. He’s a massive Oriole fan. But he’s now an A’s fan as well but he says, ‘I can go for you against the Orioles if your pitching.’ Now he’s like, ‘I’m an O’s fan and an A’s fan, BUT, if they’re head to head I’m an O’s fan. If you’re pitching I’m an A’s fan.’”
There are many more Australians playing professional baseball in the minor leagues now than before so it’s only a matter of time until their presence makes a similar impact in Major League Baseball as Latin America has over the year, whether or not that impact grows Australia’s interest in baseball remains to be seen.
“I think it lifts the profile of baseball amongst people who are interested in baseball,” Moylan said. “It’s not going to make adventure to people who are Aussie Rules Football fans and have not watched a baseball game. It’s not something that people grew up on.”
Spring Training – Aussies in action – Moylan, Russell
Andrew Russell made his debut today for Atlanta
The commentators love it. Australian pitchers who throw a low sidearm from the ‘land down under’. They all try to out do each other on how many puns they can include in their commentary.
Today we had two Aussies from Down Under throwing from “down under” with Peter Moylan throwing the 3rd for the Dodgers and his ‘clone’ Andrew Russell getting his first outing for Atlanta in the 9th in a blow out game against the Phillies.
Both gave up runs, Peter allowing 2 hits and 2 runs by way of an inning beginning single, a triple and an RBI infield out. He then disposed of the next two hitters without further damage. Andrew came on to finish the 9th allowing 1 run on 1 walk and a hit (how those walks hurt you – but we will excuse him a few nerves) and then effectively used his side arm to induce 2 ground balls and a fly ball to finish the inning and the game with the Braves 17-10 win looking more like a football score than a baseball result.
After the game Peter tweeted:- @PeterMoylan: I’m really excited I am healthy. Results will come. It’s was fun going back to back again. #beenawhile
Spring Training – Aussies in action – Moylan
Peter is fighting for a spot on the opening day roster
The Diamondback’s announcer welcomed Peter Moylan to the mound in the 5th inning by describing him as a former Braves great. The D’Backs Aaron Hill welcomed him by putting his very first pitch over the left field fence to give his team a 6-0 lead. Peter didn’t allow that to upset him and his 2nd pitch resulted in a come-backer to record his 1st out. He then induced another infield ground out and a weak pop fly ball to finish off his outing.
Let’s hope Dodgers’ Manager Don Mattingly still thinks Peter is great as the announcer said and includes him on the opening day roster.
