...and for the kids...

Kinston (13-18, 4th place)

This week: 4-2

May 3: Kinston 6, Lynchburg 3

May 5: Kinston 3, Frederick 1

May 6: Kinston 7, Frederick 5

May 7: Kinston 6, Frederick 12

May 8: Kinston 6, Potomac 4

May 9: Kinston 1, Potomac 4

Steven Wright rebounded from a rough night on stage with his 4th quality start in 6 outings (6IP,4H,0R,0BB,5K).  Wright is a college draftee and will be 24 by the end of the season, so it'd be nice to see his very strong start rewarded with an early season promotion to Akron (maybe following a David Huff promotion to Buffalo).  Hector Rondon made two starts for the K-tribe this week with fairly positive results (11IP,8H,4R,1BB,7K).  Mike Pontius got a much deserved promotion to Kinston and promptly got lit up for 3 runs in two-thirds of an inning (his first earned runs of the season).  Have no fear, though, Luis Perdomo , the K-tribe's closer continues to have a perfect 0.00 ERA and added 3 saves this week.  Perdomo's older (24) and doesn't strike out a lot of guys (14 in 19 innings), but he hasn't allowed a homerun and has held batters to a .100 BAA.  Oh yeah, and not allowed anyone to score.

Mills, Weglarz, Goedert and Rivero...those are the offensive guys to be excited about in Kinston.  First, the lumberjack legend, Weglarz .  He's having a good May, with an OPS just a hair under 1.000.  He added a double, homerun, and 5 walks this week (to go along with 5Ks).  Mills is also enjoying May, with a .981 OPS on the month, including 2 doubles, a triple, 6 walk and 6Ks this week.  Goedert's topping them all with a 1.025 OPS this month.  He had an excellent week, driven by a 4-5 game against Frederick (9-24,3 2Bs, 2HRs,2BB,4K).  Carlos Rivero  doesn't share the same affinity towards walking as his teammates (only 3 on the season), but has been hitting the ball well.  He had hits in every game this week including multiple hits in the past three.  Oh yeah, John Drennen , the 5th guy you should care about in Kinston, came off the DL in Saturday's game and went 1-4.

Lake County: (21-13, 1st place)

This Week: 5-3

May 3: PPD

May 4:Lake County 0, Kannapolis 1 (game 1) ; Lake County 6, Kannapolis 5 (game 2)

May 5: Lake County 8, Kannpolis 13

May 6: Lake County 3, Kannapolis 1

May 8: Lake County 4, Greensboro 12 (game 1) ; Lake County 5, Greensboro 4 (game 2)

May 9: Lake County 8, Greensboro 1

Lord Kelvin De La Cruz led the Captains pitching attack with two strong starts, albeit a bit wild (5 walks) in the second game (10.2IP,10H,2R,6BB,10K).  Ryan Miller continues to audition for Steven Wright's spot in Kinston (when he takes David Huff's spot in Akron) with another outstanding performance (6IP,2H,1R,3BB,7K).  Miller's now got 36K,13BB and only 1HR in 33 innings of work, while holding batters to a .183 average.  Vinnie Pestano picked up two saves with two perfect innings of work.  Sadly, I apparently put a serious jinx on Josh Judy , who had one hideous and one merely bad outing, after a near-perfect beginning to his season.  Chris Archer , who was called "effectively wild" during his successful start to the season, now appears merely wild (29 walks in 24 innings), and got beat around this week because of it.

My lack of enthusiasm for the Captains offensive talent is well documented, so....Karexon Sanchez had a bad week (1-22,BB,6Ks), but at least his one hit was a double.   I feel as if Roman Pena has been in Lake County forever (he hasn't), but he is only 21, plays centerfield, and had a decent week (7-23,2B,HR).  Chris Nash might be finding his stroke.  Another guy with a seriously rough April (.233/.287/.337, 32K, 7BB), Nash has welcomed the change in the calendar (May OPS .996, including 2 HRs and 2 2Bs).  His outings this week included a 5-5 day yesterday with a double, homerun, and 3 RBIs.