ROBERGE GETTING BETTER WITH AGE.Byline: CHRIS COCOLES The Minors J.P. Roberge might never get to the major leagues to worry about things like a player strike, but the 29-year-old veteran with a decade of minor-league service is having fun on the farm. And Roberge (USC/St. Francis High of La Canada) remains an asset to his latest team: the Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes/Barre (Pa.) Red Barons, a Philadelphia Phillies “Phillies” redirects here. For other uses, see Phillies (disambiguation). The Philadelphia Phillies are a professional baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. affiliate. Roberge hit a walk-off home run In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. It must be a home run that gives the home team the lead in the bottom of the final inning of the game — either the ninth inning, or any extra inning, or any other regularly scheduled final inning. Monday to beat Ottawa 6-5. It wasn't an isolated incident. Roberge had been one of the International League's most torrid hitters. The home run gave the first baseman 20 hits in 45 previous at-bats. The line drive that sailed over the left-field fence was just Roberge's sixth home run of 2002. But the Red Barons are among the International League's home run-challenged ballclubs. Ask former UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX standout Eric Valent Eric Valent (born April 4, 1977 in La Mirada, California) is a Major League Baseball player. He has played parts of 5 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Phillies, Reds, and most recently the Mets. He bats and throws left handed. , who hit at least 20 homers in each of the past three seasons but was at just six at Scranton on the night of Roberge's game-winner. The Red Barons hit five home runs that night, shocking everyone including Roberge, who has seen plenty during his long minor-league career. ``I was just talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to (Red Barons pitching coach Mike Mason Mike Mason (born 1985-02-28 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina) is an American football wide receiver who currently plays for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was signed as an undrafted free agent after completing his career at Tennessee State. ) about (the team's sudden power surge),'' Roberge told the Scranton Times Tribune. ``All of a sudden, the ball's jumping out of here.'' The Red Barons are closing in on a playoff berth. Pushing 30, any postseason games could be the last for Roberge. But hitting .299 with 46 RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in in 110 games suggests he hasn't hung around too long. ``We're taking this seriously,'' he said. --Seddon's impact: Single-A Charleston (S.C.) pitcher Chris Seddon (Canyon) has battled control problems all season. But he's been stingy stin·gy adj. stin·gi·er, stin·gi·est 1. Giving or spending reluctantly. 2. Scanty or meager: a stingy meal; stingy with details about the past. giving up hits lately. Twice in the past month he's flirted with a no-hitter, the latest coming Monday at Kannapolis (N.C). Seddon took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a bloop bloop Baseball n. A blooper. tr.v. blooped, bloop·ing, bloops To hit (a ball) into the air just beyond the infield. adj. Hit just beyond the infield. single by Chris Amador. The left-hander, a 2001 fifth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida, Florida. The Devil Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Devil Rays have played in Tropicana Field. , had retired the first 13 Kannapolis hitters before a one-out walk in the fifth. An abundance of bases on balls have stalled Seddon's progress this season and explain his 6-7 overall record. His ERA (3.72) and innings-pitched-to-hits-ratio (106 1/3-87) are outstanding. His 59 walks and nine wild pitches are not. But Seddon's numbers at Kannapolis - 6 2/3 innings, one hit seven strikeouts, one walk - represent progress, even though it was his own wildness that scored the Intimidators' lone run. He hit a batter and then threw a wild pitch. --Plummer patches the leaks: The change in managers, from Steve Scarsone to Bill Plummer, might or might not be the defining reason for the JetHawks' turnaround from one of the minors' worst teams to one on the brink of the California League playoffs. But Plummer's arrival May 16 changed a once-morbid clubhouse into one brimming with life. Then 12-29, the JetHawks were around .500 early last week in games with Plummer in charge. ``They were pretty brain dead when I got here,'' Plummer said. ``But you have to give them the credit. They're the ones that turned it around. They kept working and working.'' The work could be parlayed into an unlikely league championship. Though guaranteed of finishing no better than six games under .500, a surplus of quality pitchers and an improved offense with the second-half arrivals of Brian Barden, Chris Snyder and Scott Hairston would make the JetHawks the team to beat in the South Division if they earn one of three playoff bids. No team in Cal League history ever has won the championship with a sub-.500 regular-season record. CAPTION(S): 4 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1) RICH FISHER (2) FICK FICK Federazione Italiana Canoa Kayak (Italian Canoe and Kayak Federation) (3) GLAUS (4) BOONE Box: (1) DODGERS MINOR-LEAGUE REPORT (2) ANGELS MINOR-LEAGUE REPORT |
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