It's a sad day, this is the last recap of the season. The minor league season is over. It was actually over Saturday night when the JetHawks beat the Modesto Nuts to win the California League Championship! In fact, they swept the Nuts in the series! Such a great team that came together late in the season to squeeze into the playoffs and get hot at the right time.
The Friday night game was a blowout with the JetHawks posting eleven runs and only allowing two runs. Blair Walters turned a very good pitching performance with six strikeouts in five innings of work in which he allowed just one run. Chia-Jen Lo struck out four in two innings as well. Offensivelly, Andrew Aplin exploded with a 4-5 performance that included three doubles. The series Delino DeShields Jr. went 2-5 with a walk and his third stolen base of the playoffs.
The third and final game was all about DDJ who led off with a solo shot and then would later in the third inning pick up a single and his fourth steal of the playoffs which would put him scoring position for this second run. The JetHawks took the lead early and the pitching staff kept it. Colton Cain did allow two runs in the fourth to let them get close, but the combination of Pat Urckftiz, Jorge De Leon, and Kenny Long kept the Nuts offense shut down.
DDJ's performance in the three games earned him the MVP of the series which caps off an amazing season for him. Nobody can doubt the turnaround that he's had and it's been a lot of fun to follow. As we talked about last night on the podcast, this is exactly what the front office envisioned when he was drafted.
In other news, the Lancaster Player Development Contract (PDC) was renewed on Friday night! So, you know what that means? Two more years of Jason Schwartz!
Although, the Lexington Legends PDC was not renewed. I was told that the owner of the Lexington organization and Jeff Luhnow were not in contact during the two week period in which they could negotiate an extension and it was understood that they were going their separate ways from previous discussions. It's unfortunate as Lexington has been affiliated with the Astros since their inaugural season in 2001 and they are perhaps my favorite affiliation. It's no secret that they have been frustrated with the lack of talent that has been sent there over the past several years, but it's also no secret that the talent is vastly improved and continues to improve. Next years Low-A team projects to be a very exciting club with the roster potentially including Carlos Correa, Rio Ruiz, Lance McCullers Jr., Adrian Houser, and several others.
Rumors are circulating that the Astros could be headed back to Quad-Cities whom the Astros were affiliated with in the 90's, but a different organization was there then. But, the Cardinals were there the whole time Luhnow was with the Cardinals and is very familiar with them. They did not extend their PDC with the Cardinals, so that affiliate is open for business.
Lancaster JetHawks
Game 2: Won 11-2
- Blair Walters-5 Ip, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 5/4 GO/Ao
- Chia-Jen Lo-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO
- Carlos Quevedo-2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Delino DeShields Jr. 2B-2-5, BB, SB
- Andrew Aplin CF-4-5, 3 2B
- Domingo Santana RF-1-4, 2B, BB
- Erik Castro 1B-1-3, 2B, BB
- Jonathan Meyer 3B-1-3, 2B, 2 BB
- Telvin Nash DH-2-4, HR, SO
- Chris Epps LF-0-4, BB, 3 SO
- Colton Cain-5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 5/3 GO/AO
- Pat Urckfitz-2 IP,1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3/0 GO/AO
- Jorge De Leon-1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
- Kenny Long-1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO
- Delino DeShields Jr. 2B-2-4, HR, SB