The Mascot Mania contest is a never ending fount of zanny awesomeness. You could fill a book with entertaining antics of minor league franchises.
Mascot races are fairly well known in the majors (the Sausage Race, the President’s Race), so of course the minors get in on the act as well. Up in Buffalo (International League) the stalk called Celery apparently is the nightly loser of the Chicken Wing Race. Bleu Cheese or one of the Wings always beats him.
And then we have the Fruit Race of the Jackson Generals. Apparently four pieces of classic video game inspired fruit run around the infield while being harassed by a guy in a monkey suit. Or, according to this promotional video, Santa Claus.
Finally, as some of you have no doubt witnessed, we have the vicious, full-contact event that is the Potato Race held by the Cubs’ own Boise Hawks.
With racing celery and fruit tackling Santas in between innings of frequently excellent baseball, is it any wonder that I love the minors?
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – This game remained scoreless for eight and a half innings (rare for a PCL game) before the Cubs finally won it in the bottom of the ninth, 1-0. Tennessee – The Smokies got some nice work from the bullpen, but they could not come all the back. They lost 6-4. Daytona – Daytona dropped the first game of the doubleheader 5-3, but they took Game Two 7-0. Kane County – Kane County had the day off. Boise – Boise put together a nice game in all aspects as they rolled to a 7-0 win. Arizona – A seventh inning burst carried the AZL Cubs to a 7-2 win.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Guillermo Moscoso stuck out 9 in 5 innings, allowing a lone hit and 3 walks. If the Cubs need another starter late this season, he could get the call. Could be a candidate for a PTBNL / IFA Pool money type deal as well.
[Tennessee] Javier Baez hit his 5th Double A home run in this one. His strikeout rate is still elevated, but his OPS has ticked up lately, and he is now just a bit under .700 for his short Double A career. His numbers against lefties are solid, but he is having a lot of trouble with right handers. Sample size alert still applies.
[Daytona] Pierce Johnson pitched the first 5 innings of the Game Two shutout, and allowed just 3 hits and 2 walks in the process. Frank Del Valle finished off the final 2 frames.
[Daytona] In Game One Zach Cates got into trouble in the first inning, but once he left Austin Reed cruised through 4.1 scoreless, and allowed just two hits on the way. Chang-Yong Lim allowed nothing but a walk and struck out 3 over the final 2 innings to end it.
[Daytona] Wes Darvill put together a good pair of games. After doubling in the first game, he followed that up with a both a double and a triple in the second.
[Boise] I really wish Boise was back on MiLB.TV, because I would have loved to have been watching Dillon Maples strike out 7 over 5 innings while allowing just 5 hits. I suspect he was repeating his delivery much more consistently than he was in the last start of his I saw.
[Boise] Kris Bryant arrived in Boise and promptly went 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts. It is way too early to start worrying.
[Boise] Jacob Hannemann is back in Boise now. He drew a walk and hit a pair of singles in his 2 for 4 game. Jacob Rogers hit his 5th home run and a double in his 2 for 4 game.
[Arizona] Jose Arias allowed just one hit and struck out 2 in his 2 IP as the starter in Arizona. Ethan Elias struck out 3 in 1.2 innings later in the game.
[Arizona] Zak Blair reached 3 times on 2 walks and a single, and while he was on base he stole his third bag of the year.
Other News
Justin Grimm has appeared on the Iowa roster, but not Mike Olt yet. As soon as Olt does arrive I think we can expect to see him at third base and somewhere in the middle of the order. He should make his debut in the next day or so.
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NEWSLETTER
The Mascot Mania contest is a never ending fount of zanny awesomeness. You could fill a book with entertaining antics of minor league franchises.
