Bus Leagues Express: June 10

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Moyer turns back the clock on Star Wars night: Saturday, Buffalo hosted their 5th annual Star Wars, one of the most popular promotions on their schedule. The Bisons auctioned away special jerseys among other unique things around the ballpark, perhaps the most unique being Jamie Moyer making his first minor league appearance in 15 years for visiting Norfolk. Of all the players listed on either roster, only Moyer and teammate Miguel Tejada were alive when Star Wars: A New Hope was released. He was solid in his first appearance in the Baltimore organization since 1995, pitching five scoreless innings with five strikeouts, one hit and no walks. It’s not surprising that Moyer, who changes speeds and locations so well, was able to keep minor leaguers off balance.

Benches clear in Mobile: Perhaps the deluge the area has been under in recent days causing countless delays caused some frustration to boil over, but things got ugly between Huntsville and Mobile in the first game of their doubleheader. After Mobile outfielder Alfredo Marte got hit for the second time in the game by Tyler Thornburg, the benches cleared. The full details of this aren’t available at this time, but I’m assuming that’s what set things off. When the dust settled, Thornburg and two players on Huntsville’s bench were ejected while Marte and Yazy Arbelo were tossed from Mobile. This was just one batter after Matt Davidson was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Thanks to four runs that inning, Mobile built a 7-0 lead that finished as a 7-3 final. It appears as if the second game took place without incident.

Tampa bullpen can’t preserve perfect game: The 2012 season hasn’t always been smooth for the Tampa Yankees pitching staff, but ranking second in the Florida State League in strikeouts shows the stuff is there. Saturday night, that was very clear in Shane Greene‘s start against Daytona. After throwing four scoreless innings last time out, Greene mowed down the Cubs for six innings, striking out eight without allowing a baserunner. The Yankees hoped the bullpen could set down the next nine in order, but they couldn’t even get the first. Arismendy Alcantara singled off of reliever Rigoberto Arrebato to break up the perfect game and no hitter, but the Tampa bullpen did throw three scoreless innings to wrap up the 7-0 shutout.

Hamilton swipes #70: The incredible season of Billy Hamilton continued Saturday when he stole his 70th base of the season. In his 103 steal 2011 season, Hamilton stole his 70th base on July 27th, so he’s a full month and a half ahead of last year’s pace. While this is remarkable in every way, the very next play, he was caught stealing third to end the inning. Players are strongly encouraged to not make the first or last out of an inning at third base, and he more than likely would’ve scored on a single anyway. As he continues to get on base and get experience on the bases, he’ll learn the right and wrong times to steal and become an even greater weapon.

Arizona, UCLA punch tickets to Omaha: The Pac-12 already knows they’ll have two teams representing them in the College World Series thanks to the Arizona and UCLA comfortable wins over St. John’s and TCU respectively Saturday. After winning a classic against St. John’s Friday, Arizona didn’t want any doubt to seep in the second game, taking a 4-0 lead after two innings. While St. John’s started a rally midway through the game like the Wildcats did Friday, Arizona tacked on a few runs late to secure the win. In Los Angeles Friday, although ace Adam Plutko wasn’t sharp early as TCU jumped out to a 2-1 lead, the Bruins used a five run 6th inning with only two hits to win 6-2. Saturday night, Nick Vander Tuig came through after a rough transition to UCLA’s rotation with a big start, allowing only one run in six innings. Arizona will play the winner of the FSU/Stanford series while UCLA will take on the winner of the LSU/Stony Brook series.

Stony Brook, LSU will play decisive game three: After a classic back and forth game on Friday was postponed to Saturday morning, LSU quickly won after just one inning of play behind ace Kevin Gausman. LSU made the decision to start Gausman in game two after a 45 minute break, and perhaps that led to some of his struggles. After two 1-2-3 innings, the Seawolves got to Gausman in the third for two runs on four hits, one of which scored with a couple outs. The rain came and went, sometimes heavily, affecting both Gausman and Stony Brook workhorse Tyler Johnson. In the end, Johnson fired a complete game in Stony Brook’s 3-1 win, forcing a winner-take-all game three today at 1 PM.

On tap today

MiLB.TV schedule

Super Regionals continue

Drake Britton makes second AA start

Ian Krol looks to make second straight good start

Parker Markel hopes to turn season around

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