April 16, 2004 Farm Report: Albuquerque Isotopes

Marlins Insider's Game by Game Review of the Triple A affiliate Albuquerque Isotopes for the games from April 11th through April 15th.

Sunday
April 11, 2004
Albuquerque Isotopes 5 Memphis Redbirds 4

The 'Topes pulled out a win in the 10th inning as Chris Aguila ripped an RBI single to nail down the win. Aguila went 2-5 on the day with 3 RBI. Catcher Ryan Jorgensen saw his first action of the season and made the most of it hitting a homerun and adding an RBI double.

Other offensive stars for the game were SS Wilson Valdez who went 2-5 on the day and 3B Derek Wathan who went 2-3.

Mike Nannini started the game and went 5.2 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 8 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. The Isotopes got stellar relief performances from Mike Flannery, Frank Gracesqui, and Tony Borland. Flannery pitched 1 inning giving up no hits and striking out 1. Gracesqui went two innings and struck out 4 while giving up no hits and only 1 walk. Borland got the win after throwing two scoreless innings.


Monday
April 12, 2004
Albuquerque Isotopes 6 Nashville Sounds 5

The Isotopes provided another exciting late inning win coming back from a 5-3 deficit going into the 9th inning. Kevin Hooper started it all off with a double and Derek Wathan knocked him in with an RBI single. Larry Sutton then knocked Wathan in with an RBI double, and LF Chris Ashby hit the game winner with an RBI double that scored Sutton.

Ashby went 3-5 in the game with 3 RBI. Derek Wathan went 2-5. Sutton, 1-3 and Matt Padgett went 2-4.

Reliever Mike Flannery got the win after pitching a scoreless 8th inning in which he gave up 1 hit while recording 2 strikeouts.

Michael Tejera started the game for the 'Topes going 3 innings giving up 1 earned run on two hits while striking out 3.


Tuesday
April 13, 2004
Nasville Redbirds 14 Albuquerque Isotopes 3

Starter Aaron Small put in a quality outing going 6 innings giving up only 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks and striking out 3. Unfortunately for the 'Topes his relief replacements didn't fare nearly as well. Patrick Flury gave up 6 earned runs in only 1.1 innings and Bryan Gaal gave up 5 earned runs without recording a single out.

Offensively for the Isotopes, Wilson Valdez went 2-4 with 2 runs scored, one of which came off a homerun effort. 1B Larry Sutton went 3-4 with a homerun and 2 RBI. OF Matt Padgett added another 2 hits in 4 at bats.

The loss dropped the Isotopes overall record to 2-4 for the season.


Wednesday
April 14, 2004
Albuquerque Isotopes 8 Nashville Redbirds 7

The Isotopes rebounded from the previous nights drubbing with another 9th inning come back scoring 2 runs off of Wilson Valdez's 2 run triple that scored Matt Padgett and Billy Hall.

Valdez finished the day going 3-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Other offensive stars for the game were 2B Kevin Hooper who went 3-3 with 2 runs scored, 3B Derek Wathan hit a 3 run homerun going 1-4 on the day. 1B Larry Sutton added a run scored and had an RBI in his 1-3 effort. OF'ers Chris Aguila and Mike Colangelo both added RBIs. Although Aguila's 0-4 effort snapped his 5 game hitting streak.

Toby Borland earned the win for the game after pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Kevin Olsen started the game for the 'Topes going 5 innings giving up 7 runs on 9 hits while striking out 5. Frank Gracesqui turned in another solid performance going two scoreless innings while striking out 2 and Mike Flannery also turned in a scoreless inning.


Thursday
April 15, 2004
Albuquerque Isotopes 14 Nashville Redbirds 8

The 'Topes jumped on the Redbirds early and never looked back as they turned in a solid offensive performance.

Wilson Valdez continued his hot hitting with a 3-4 effort with 2 RBI. 2B Kevin Hooper went 2-5 with 2 RBI and 1B Larry Sutton went 4-4 with 4 RBI. OF Chris Aguila went 2-5 with a homerun. OF Matt Padgett also added a 2 run homerun in his 1-4 day. 3B Derek Wathan added another 2 hits in 5 at bats.

Reliever Matt Blank took the win after pitching 2 innings giving up 1 run on 1 hit while striking out 2. Starter Scott Sanders went only 3.2 innings giving up 5 earned runs on 6 hits to go along with 2 strike outs. Newly acquired Ben Howard threw 2.1 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits with 1 strikeout. Reliever Toby Borland closed out the game with a scoreless 9th.

The win evens out the Isotopes record for the season at 4-4.