Results tagged ‘ Jade Todd ’
Season end in West Michigan
The West Michigan Whitecaps ended their season this week. Despite missing out on the playoffs and losing the final game of the season 7-3 to the Dayton Dragons, they did end up with a winning record, and a lot of high points. They did end up in third place in the Midwest League‘s Eastern Division, and were the fifth best team overall this season. Their final record was 72-68, going 36-34 in both halves of the season.
The Whitecaps meet their fans at the gate in the final game of the 2012 season!
“We came up a bit short, but if you look at the big picture, we had a very successful year,” second baseman Brandon Loy told the Grand Rapids Press. “We didn’t make the playoffs, it goes by halves, but if you look at the full year perspective, I think we had one of the better teams. We have some mixed emotions because we wanted to be in the playoffs, but it was a fun year for us and we had great guys on this team.”
Before their last game, the Whitecaps players greeted their fans as they entered the stadium, thanking them for their support and taking the time to come watch them play. This is a pretty classy move, and find it a great way to continue the great fan support that they get. After the game, the crowd gave the team and standing ovation, as they once again gave thanks. The praise is well deserved for both fans and players. This team played hard, but was struck with injuries and promotions that prevented the team from a real hot streak. That’s baseball, however, especially in the minors. The Whitecaps had 74 roster moves and placed a player on the disabled list 14 times, 11 of those since June. A total of 357 games were missed by players on the DL. Manager Ernie Young is proud of his team and their competitiveness, despite all of the setbacks.
“We dealt with a lot of injuries early, and we had a lot of injuries late, but we still were able to compete,” Young told the Grand Rapids Press. “Although short-handed, we were competitive and we gave ourselves an opportunity to be successful, which for me was a success. We have the fifth-best record in the Midwest League and third best in our division and we didn’t make the playoffs. They system’s not fair but it’s in place for a reason. The changes we made we were able to compete, but we just weren’t able to get on a big enough roll to separate ourselves from the middle of the pack.”
Young was also asked what grade he’d give the season and he stated a ‘B’. He was impressed with the pitching staff who had the second-best ERA in the MWL at 3.45. Four West Michigan starters made 23 or more starts, and Tommy Collier’s 2.74 was fourth overall in the league. On another positive note, Marcelo Carreno was named the MWL Pitcher of the Week for his two performances against the Dragons. The last outing he only allowed four hits and struck out 13 batters. Relief pitcher Jade Todd was also named the Detroit Tigers Minor League Pitcher of the Month, along with Adam Wilk. Todd struck out 21 hitters in 15 2/3 innings in August, earning two wins and a save for the Whitecaps. Well, there’s always next year, and for me April can’t come soon enough.
Photos courtesy of the West Michigan Whitecaps/Grand Rapids Press/MLive.com/Sally Finneran
Bad call burns Whitecaps
Fifth Third Field-Comstock Park, MI: The first game of the three-game series between the West Michigan Whitecaps and the Bowling Green Hot Rods was marked by controversy. The highly contested ballgame went into extra innings, and it seems the ‘Caps had the victory as Eugenio Suarez crossed the plate after being driven in by a double by Aaron Westlake. He and Westlake were being mobbed by teammates, although their celebration would be short-lived. Home plate umpire Ben Guttenberger ruled that Suarez did NOT cross the plate, and that he was out after being tagged by a Hot Rods player. Despite the fact that every reply proved that he did touch the plate, the call stood. The Whitecaps went on to lose 2-1 in 15 innings.
Manager Ernie Young told MLive.com: “I don’t know what to say. That’s a call that…Damn, I really don’t know what to say. I’m at a loss for words on that play.”
Westlake now leads the Midwest League in doubles with 34. He was also in shock, after being dubbed the hero for his efforts.
“We were celebrating as a team, it’s already been a long game and you think the game is over and all of a sudden something like that happens. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails. That’s baseball. We still battled together. In the end, we did score that winning run. I’ve got not much more to say about that.”
The Whitecaps pitching staff kept their team in the game the whole time, though. Starter Marcelo Carreno on allowed one run on five hit, while striking out one and walking one. Slade Smith, Jade Todd, and Melvin Mercedes kept the Hot Rods at bay the rest of the way.
The Whitecaps would bounce back in game two of the series, for the 3-2 win. Suarez scored the eventual winning run in the third inning, stomping on home plate just to drive the point home that he had scored. It was another Aaron Westlake doubled that scored him, too.
“I was frustrated about last night, and wanted to let everyone know that I touched home plate”, Suarez also stated to MLive. com. “I felt so bad right after the umpire’s call because I know that I touched home plate. I knew it wasn’t my fault and the umpire made a bad call. I tried to forget about it.”
On the mound for the ‘Caps, Jeff Ferrell game up one run on six hits in five innings. Reliever Nick Avila came in and protected the lead in the late innings. Westlake ended up with two doubles and two RBI’s to lead West Michigan offensively.
Bowling Green won the rubber match, though, 10-4. On the hill, West Michigan hurler Chad Smith had thrown four hitless innings before getting knocked around in the fifth. This is just Smith’s third start since being promoted from the short season Connecticut Tigers. He’s been on a pretty strict pitch count and hasn’t pitched more than four innings in his last two starts. He as a 17th round pick by Detroit last year, and is still making his come back after Tommy John surgery last season.
Photos courtesy of the Grand Rapids Press/MLive.com
Whitecaps hand Lansing first loss
The Lansing Lugnuts are having a great season. No doubt about it, with a current record of 9-1. Their only blemish, however, came at the bats of the West Michigan Whitecaps on Friday night. The hero of the come-from-behind victory, was Danry Vasquez, who went 3-4 with the winning two run homer in the eighth inning. The 18-year-old Vaszuez is also ranked 18th on the Detroit Tigers prospect list by Baseball America. ‘Caps closer Dan Bennett made it interesting, but held on for the save, while relief pitcher Jade Todd earned the win. Also pitching in offensively, was Steven Moya, who was 2-2 on the night with a home run of his own. Eugenio Suarez also went yard to help West Michigan’s 5-4 victory. The team was unable to bottle that late game lighting, however, as they fell to the Lugnuts on Saturday by the same score of 5-4 in 12 innings. Sunday’s game would be another close one, and it was made a little more exciting with a home town boy on the mound for….Lansing. Jesse Hernandez played for Grand Rapids Community College and Central Michigan University before being drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays. The Lugnuts slugged their way to another 5-4 win, but Hernandez wasn’t involved in the decision. He did seem to appreciate the home town support, though, despite pitching for the visitors.
“It was amazing, and I can’t put it into words how it felt,” Hernandez told the Grand Rapids Press. “It is nice knowing that you have so many people behind you supporting you and I’m just very appreciative of those people. It was great having them their.”
The Whitecaps took a 3-1 lead, but were unable to hold it. They had the scoring chances, but were unable to come up with the big hits to drive home runs. Seven of these first ten game for the Whitecaps have been decided by just one run. It was enough to frustrate manager Ernie Young a bit.
“I look at it as not taking advantage of all the opportunities we had,” Young also told the Press. “We’re not going to take advantage of all of them, but however, when we have an opportunity to get a pitcher out of a game, we have to find a way to do it. I hope that we will grow from this-losing by one run these three games-and get better. Hopefully we can find a way to pull for each other, to get a big hit or big stolen base, or take and extra base, something.”
The 4-6 Whitecaps now travel to Eastlake, Ohio to take on the Lake County Captains for three games before returning home to face the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Grand Rapids native Jesse Hernandez on the mound for the Lugnuts
Photos courtesy of the Grand Rapids Press
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