So…. how about that game?! As the game came back from a commercial to start the bottom of the 9th, I said to the guys I had over “Joe Randa makes me fully expect to win this game with a walk off slam”. It wasn’t quite the walk off slam, but man, it was close enough! I almost hurt myself jumping around the living room. Tripped and started to fall, but a friend kept me from hitting the floor. Many high fives and hugs followed. The fact that shortly there after the Padres took a win away from the Cardinals made it even better. It is so nice to have baseball back in my life on a daily basis.
Tom Nichols finished his positional previews over at DaytonDragons.com as he looks at the potential Dragons bullpen. He looks at Blaine Howell, Drew Hayes, Pat Doyle, Tim Crabbe, Daniel Wolford, Jamie Walczak, Jason Braun and Porfiro Martinez.
Blaine Howell is a left-hander with an interesting background. He was drafted and signed by the Reds in 2008 out of Pensacola Junior College. Howell is a native of North Carolina who started his college career at Brigham Young, but after the death of his father, he transferred back east to be closer to home. Howell had begun a Mormon mission while at BYU and after the 2008 baseball season ended, he resumed the mission. His commitment caused him to miss the entire 2009 season and spring training in 2010. Once he got back on the mound last summer, he was impressive. With a fastball over 90 m.p.h., Howell appeared in nine games with Billings and posted a 1.53 ERA. He was promoted to Dayton and went five-for-five in save situations, posting a 2.08 ERA in 13 games. Overall in 2010, Howell appeared in 22 games totaling 35 innings. He allowed just 26 hits and 10 walks with 28 strikeouts, finishing with an ERA of 1.80. He impressed Dragons pitching coach Tony Fossas, who believes that Howell can eventually pitch in the big leagues.
Quite a few intriguing arms could wind up in the Dragons bullpen. Go read about each of those guys.
Honestly not much news beyond that for the day. We should start seeing minor league rosters posted as early as this weekend, so be on twitter and if they go up I will be sure to post them.