Sept. 29, 2014
Baseball’s year of Black & Gold continues into major league baseball’s postseason this week with three Commodores in the playoffs.
The final day of the regular season saw two former Vandy Boys pitch their teams into the postseason. Oakland’s Sonny Gray turned in a six-hit shutout to put the A’s into the playoffs while David Price’s outing wrapped up the American League Central title for Detroit.
Gray was outstanding in his second shutout of the season, blanking Texas to secure Oakland’s spot as a Wild Card in the playoffs. Gray’s effort bought the A’s a one-game playoff in Kansas City against the Royals tomorrow at 7 p.m. CT.
Price came up big in the Tigers’ season finale striking out eight over 7.1 innings to hand Detroit their fourth straight AL Central crown and set up a division series against Baltimore that starts Thursday. With his eight punch outs on Sunday, Price also claimed the American League strikeout title with 271 and won his 15th game in the process.
Price’s Tigers now take on Baltimore and former Commodore Ryan Flaherty, who is slated to start at third base in the series opener for the Orioles. Flaherty helped the O’s back into the postseason for the first time since 2012 this year and win the AL East title for the first time since 1997.
Pedro Alvarez’s Pittsburgh Pirates are back in the playoffs for the second straight year but the slugger is likely done for the year with a stress fracture in his foot. The Pirates take on the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
Esposito & Kemp are golden
Minor league baseball and Rawlings announced the nine players to receive Gold Gloves for their work in the field on Monday with two Commodores picking up the hardware in Jason Esposito and Tony Kemp.
Esposito spent his entire 2014 season with Single-A Frederick (Baltimore) hitting .272 with nine homers and 50 RBI. He led the Carolina League’s third basemen with a .960 fielding percentage, 83 putouts and 257 assists. Esposito turned it on in the second half of the season hitting .320 over his final 67 games.
Kemp split his first full year of pro ball at Single-A Lancaster and Double-A Corpus Christi in Houston’s system putting up one of the best statistical seasons in all of minor league baseball. The former Dore led all of MiLB with 121 runs scored and his 167 hits were the fifth-most in the minors. In 120 games over the two levels the Franklin, Tenn. native made just seven errors in 524 total chances for a .987 fielding percentage. In the Texas League (Double-A) he made just one error in 56 games.
“Congratulations to the nine outstanding Minor League Baseball players who deservedly won the 2014 Rawlings Gold Glove Award,” said Mike Thompson, executive vice president and general manager of baseball for St. Louis-based Rawlings. “Minor League Baseball is and will always continue to be a great partner of Rawlings, and we knew the Rawlings Gold Glove Award would be a popular goal for many young players when we decided to rekindle this award platform in 2011.”
“Each year, it is a privilege to join in the announcement of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and help recognize the top defensive players in Minor League Baseball,” said Pat O’Conner, President & CEO of Minor League Baseball. “All nine of these players displayed extraordinary skills at their positions this season, and on behalf of Minor League Baseball, I congratulate them on this outstanding accomplishment.”
Kemp and Esposito join Vince Conde, who earned NCAA Division I’s award at shortstop, as Commodores to win Gold Gloves this season.
The answer is…
Former Commodore Antoan Richardson forever became the answer to a baseball trivia question last week when Derek Jeter drove him in with a walk-off single in Jeter’s final game at Yankee Stadium. Richardson scored from second on Jeter’s single through the right side of the infield as the Yanks beat the Orioles in Jeter’s final home game.
Ken LaVicka of ESPN Radio in West Palm Beach dug a little deeper to find out who scored the winning run that night to make the Captain a hero one more time. Click here to check out Richardson’s unique story.