Zeroes, Miles to the Majors, Life after Seinfeld

SATURDAY SUCCESS

The TinCaps picked up their first shutout victory of the season with a 3-0 win over the Dayton Dragons on Saturday evening at Fifth Third Field in Dayton. Matt Wisler threw one of the best outings of his professional career, going six innings, allowing two hits, no runs, walking two and striking out four as he earned his first win.

The Fort Wayne offense was aided significantly by three Dayton errors. The first two runs of the game scored without an RBI being attributed to a TinCaps batter. The third, however, was a home run by Casey McElroy,  his first of the year, over the wall in right field. Dayton starter Tanner Robles left a 3-2 fastball over the inside part of the plate, and McElroy gave one of the 8,733 fans in attendance a nice Saturday souveneir.

With how well this team’s been playing lately, the pitching deserves a lot of credit, especially the starters, and Padres farm director Randy Smith has taken notice:

FTW Young Guns in their last 3 starts by Portillo, Ross, Wisler went 19 IP, 11 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 W, 17 K - ERA of 1.06. Hebner up today

—
Randy Smith (@ResPadres) May 06, 2012

In somewhat related news, I used to work for the Dayton Dragons, and got a hilarious welcome back treatment before Sunday’s game:

Look closely at the video board on the wall.

Yes, that is in fact a dancing bobblehead of yours truly. Well done, Dragon friends. Well done.

In today’s TinCaps report, hear my conversation with Manager Jose Valentin, as he discusses his team’s recent success, and talks about some of the new faces added to the roster in the last week:

MILES TO THE MAJORS

Remember Miles Mikolas, a TinCaps reliever in 2010? He made his major league debut last night, throwing one inning in a 4-1 Padres loss against the Miami Marlins.

When Mikolas was with Fort Wayne two years ago, he appeared in 60 games, all in relief, in 2010 and worked to a 6-13 record with 13 saves and a 2.20 ERA. In 81 2/3 innings, he struck out 78 and walked 15.

He becomes the 109th former Fort Wayne player to make the big leagues.

SUMMER OF GEORGE

British publication The Guardian had an interesting piece the other day about Seinfeld, and why no show has been able to replicate the success that it first had in the mid 90′s. 

 ”It proved that shows don’t have to dumb down. What’s wonderful and inspiring about it is that it’s incredibly popular and also very smart.” 

How many shows, especially ones that ended in 1998, are still so widely quoted every day? How many shows have situations that we can all relate to in our every day lives? We all know a close-talker or a double-dipper, right?

I think of Arrested Development, which was sadly canceled by FOX after three seasons, in a similar vein. That show might’ve been too smart, though.

MUSICAL GUEST

Bruce…take it away!

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me at Couzens@TinCaps.com or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.