Long time readers of Bleacher Nation are aware of the significance of the peppermint chocolate chip milkshake. Unfortunately, the One Milkshake To Rule Them All is not available all year. When the weather is cool and prosecutors are preparing to charge a certain fat elf with breaking and entering, that is when The Most Marvelous of Milkshakes is available. For the rest of year, life is dry and flavourless.
Or, rather, it was. On my latest return from family events in the Midwest (and yes, I am back now and should be appearing more semi-normally on Twitter and in the comments), I discovered a delectable concoction that may, perhaps, bring some joy back to months deprived of that delightful nectar.
First, though, you need to find a Sheetz. This may be a problem for many of you since they pretty don’t exist any further west than, oh, Zanesville, Ohio. Once you have cleared that hurdle, proceed within and indulge yourself in a delightful experience that masks itself behind the artfully innocuous name of banana fluffernutter smoothie.
I’d describe it, but those of you who live near a Sheetz are already sprinting down the street to obtain such succulence, and the rest of you are cursing your geographic fate and calling your Chamber of Commerce to request, nay, demand that they act immediately to rectify the destitute culinary status of your region. So perhaps we should just move on to the recaps.
[Brett: So, you’re wondering why there’s a picture of a cat whale in this post. Well, while trying to find an appropriate picture for today’s post, I stumbled across that one. And when you find a picture of a cat whale, you share it with the world. The end.]
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – Iowa waited out a long rain delay before they could start the doubleheader, and then lost the first game 1-0. Game Two was a completion of an earlier game, and the Cubs lost 2-1.
Tennessee – Once again the Smokies lost a very close game. This time the final was 2-1 in eleven innings.
Daytona – The Cubs slid back to ten games under .500 with this 7-2 loss.
Kane County – Kane County was firing on all cylinders in this 7-1 road win.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Arismendy Alcantara, Brett Jackson, and Eli Whiteside had the only hits for the Cubs in Game One. Christian Villanueva reached on a walk.
[Iowa] Javier Baez spent Game One striking out. Three times, to be exact. He had a couple singles in Game Two.
[Iowa] Dallas Beeler pitched a pretty nice game, though. Over 6.1 innings (a complete game for a minor league doubleheader featuring a walk-off homer) he allowed the game winner on a solo homer, but finished having allowed just 5 hits and a walk while striking out 5.
[Tennessee] Kris Bryant finished 4 for 4 with a pair of singles, a double, a homer (number 14) and a walk. That’s 5 walks in two games for those who are counting.
[Tennessee] Dae-Eun Rhee pitched 7 innings of one run ball, allowing that run on 7 hits and a walk while striking out 8.
[Tennessee] Hunter Cervenka (2 IP, 2 H, 2 K) and Arodys Vizcaino (1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K) both pitched pretty well in relief.
[Daytona] Dan Vogelbach doubled and walked in this one. Jeimer Candelario also doubled, but he struck out 3 times.
[Daytona] Gioskar Amaya doubled for the 6th time and struck out twice in his 2 for 4 game. Albert Almora also struck out twice as he finished 0 for 4.
[Kane County] Daniel Lockhart doubled and finished 3 for 5. His May OPS is now .708, up from .550 in April. Trey Martin also doubled and finished with 3 hits.
[Kane County] Ben Carhart (DH in this one) and Shawon Dunston Jr. both doubled as part of their 2 hit performances.
[Kane County] The line is sort of ugly, but he got the job done. Paul Blackburn lasted just 4.2 innings and allowed 10 hits and 2 walks against just 4 strikeouts, but the only run he gave up scored on a solo homer. His groundout-flyout ratio was 6-0.
[Kane County] Zak Hermans pitched 3.1 innings, allowed nothing, and struck out 4.
Other News
Love baseball but hate the crowds? Minor league games are here for you. Just 904 people watched Kane County play in Clinton yesterday, and that despite Clinton being the third place team in the division trying to take down the first place Cougars at home. Those lower crowd numbers are not uncommon for a lot of weekday minor league games, and that makes those games a great time for the crowd-adverse to get to the ballpark. No lines, cheap parking, cheap tickets, (relatively) cheap food, awesome seats, great baseball… what’s not to love?
Need still more draft information? Baseball America has their Top 500 prospects available in neatly searchable format. I will be keeping that page open constantly during draft weekend. For a different take, check out the Top 350 from Minor League Ball.
NEWSLETTER
