The Black Barons may have found something with Tim Hudson<\/strong>. The recent callup improved to 3-0 with 8 strong innings against Portland, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. Birmingham scored 5 runs against Walter Johnson <\/strong>in the 3rd inning in the 6-2 victory, preventing Johnson from notching his 7th win of the year. Tommy Herr<\/strong>–he of the .354 average–hit his first homerun of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all the news was great for Birmingham, as Hoyt Wilhelm<\/strong> had to leave the game injured in the 9th inning. It looks like Wilhelm will miss about 5 days, leaving it up in the air whether the Black Barons will put him on the DL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Playing .400 ball, the Black Barons made some major changes. Greg Maddux <\/strong>and Warren Spahn <\/strong>were both sent to AAA, as was closer Carlos Diaz<\/strong>, with Fred Fussell <\/strong>returning to Birmingham after injury rehab and Steve Bedrosian <\/strong>being recalled all the way from AA, where he had allowed only 8 hits in 22 innings. Juan Rincon <\/strong>will take over as closer from Diaz. Additionally, Chipper Jones <\/strong>and Emil Frisk <\/strong>were both waived, and 3B Pie Traynor <\/strong>was recalled into a platoon with struggling Eddie Matthews<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They would shake it up more, but the minor league talent that is performing well largely duplicates the only bright spots at the big league level–OFs Bob Nieman<\/strong> and Billy Southworth <\/strong>and IFs Frank McCormick<\/strong>, Frank Isbell<\/strong>, and Herr are playing too well to be replaced at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brickyard Kennedy <\/strong>and Smokey Joe Williams <\/strong>were both sent to AAA, with Dave Von Ohlen <\/strong>completing his rehab assignment and Tommy Hanson <\/strong>being recalled. Sandy Koufax <\/strong>moves into the starting rotation, taking Kennedy’s slot. Additionally, Pee Wee Reese <\/strong>was released and Hobe Ferris <\/strong>demoted to AAA, with Ray Dandridge <\/strong>and Hi Myers <\/strong>coming to Brooklyn. Mike Piazza<\/strong> lost his starting role, and is on the verge of demotion as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alejandro Oms <\/strong>and Will Clark <\/strong>each hit homeruns (Oms’ first of the year) and Charlie Bennett <\/strong>added a key long ball to blow the game open as Miami beat Memphis, 8-4. Don Newcombe <\/strong>got his 2nd win on the year. Not all the news was good for the Cuban Giants, as Carlos Moran <\/strong>had to leave the game with an apparent elbow injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandy Consuegra <\/strong>was sent to AAA with Steve Brown <\/strong>receiving the call to Miami, a move that necessitated Yonder Alonso<\/strong>‘s being waived. 17 year old Martin Dihigo <\/strong>has struggled since returning from the DL, but his defensive versatility keeps him in Miami for the time being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kent Hrbek <\/strong>had 4 hits and Jim Fregosi<\/strong>–who had stranded 6 runners on base earlier in the game–delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning to lead the Sea Dogs over the Black Barons 3-2. Portland pitchers only allowed 4 hits in the game (all from starter Jerry Koosman<\/strong>, who gave up 2 earned runs in 8 innings of work). Johan Santana <\/strong>picked up the win to even his record at 1-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sea Dogs have some good decisions to make on the mound. Wade Miller<\/strong>‘s fantastic turns in the starting rotation mean that Smokey Joe Wood <\/strong>returns from injury to the bullpen instead of his starting spot. Bob Porterfield <\/strong>and Randy Myers <\/strong>both did well in Portland, but Wood and Jim Kern<\/strong>‘s return send them back to AAA, along with Frank Williams<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the bench, the Greg Litton <\/strong>question persists: Litton serves as a reserve at a ton of positions, but is struggling to reach a .400 OPS. He remains for now, but the team is considering a bench shake up, returning Litton, Jeff Burroughs<\/strong>, and Gary Pettis <\/strong>to AAA due to their offensive struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sea Lions overcame a 5 run deficit, winning the game against Detroit 8-7 with a walk-off homerun from Jack Clark <\/strong>in the bottom of the 10th. Jimmy Bloodworth <\/strong>homered and had 4 RBIs and Reggie Jackson <\/strong>continued his torrid season going 3-for-5. The win went to Ron Robinson<\/strong>, who is now 3-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dennis Eckersley <\/strong>was returned to AAA to try to find his rhythm on the mound again, with Huston Street <\/strong>being recalled to shore up the middle of the bullpen. Charlie Root <\/strong>will replace Eckersley in the rotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a somewhat surprising move, Charlie Reilly <\/strong>was sent to AAA, while Eddie Joost <\/strong>and Mickey Cochrane <\/strong>remain on the roster. Bob Cerv<\/strong>, who had impressed in a brief stint with the Sea Lions, was recalled into a very crowded OF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" #Birmingham Black Barons The Black Barons may have found something with Tim Hudson. The recent callup improved to 3-0 with 8 strong innings against Portland, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. Birmingham scored 5 runs against Walter Johnson in the 3rd inning in the 6-2 victory, preventing Johnson from notching his 7th win of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[416],"tags":[229,295,285,968,294,1013,440,266,289,265,537,398,745,435,273,595,212,748,436,293,645,291,586,430,96,591,641,445,279,431,388,391,916,582,593,584,394,585,290,589,230,211,389,957,654,1058,82,583,935,402,998,380,531,444,272,580,989,1060,642,1059,965,85,578,288,258,716],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-twiwbl","tag-alejandro-oms","tag-billy-southworth","tag-birmingham-black-barons","tag-bob-cerv","tag-bob-nieman","tag-bob-porterfield","tag-brickyard-kennedy","tag-brooklyn-royal-giants","tag-carlos-diaz","tag-carlos-moran","tag-charlie-bennett","tag-charlie-reilly","tag-charlie-root","tag-chipper-jones","tag-dave-von-ohlen","tag-dennis-eckersley","tag-don-newcombe","tag-eddie-joost","tag-eddie-mathews","tag-emil-frisk","tag-frank-isbell","tag-frank-mccormick","tag-frank-williams","tag-fred-fussell","tag-gary-pettis","tag-greg-litton","tag-greg-maddux","tag-hi-myers","tag-hobe-ferris","tag-hoyt-wilhelm","tag-huston-street","tag-jack-clark","tag-jeff-burroughs","tag-jerry-koosman","tag-jim-fregosi","tag-jim-kern","tag-jimmy-bloodworth","tag-johan-santana","tag-juan-rincon","tag-kent-hrbek","tag-martin-dihigo","tag-miami-cuban-giants","tag-mickey-cochrane","tag-mike-piazza","tag-pee-wee-reese","tag-pie-traynor","tag-portland-sea-dogs","tag-randy-myers","tag-ray-dandridge","tag-reggie-jackson","tag-ron-robinson","tag-san-francisco-sea-lions","tag-sandy-consuegra","tag-sandy-koufax","tag-smokey-joe-williams","tag-smokey-joe-wood","tag-steve-bedrosian","tag-steve-brown","tag-tim-hudson","tag-tommy-hanson","tag-tommy-herr","tag-wade-miller","tag-walter-johnson","tag-warren-spahn","tag-will-clark","tag-yonder-alonso"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1705,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbl.dmlco.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}#Brooklyn Royal Giants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
#Miami Cuban Giants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
#Portland Sea Dogs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
#San Francisco Sea Lions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n