You may have seen the lastest Gatorade commercial during Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game. If not you can view it on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqJz0NgnnE&feature=related. The Tacoma Rainers batter in the commercial is Brent Johnson. He played for the Madison Mallards in 2001. The commericial itself is ficitional, but an at-bat between Johnson and the pitcher Victor Santos would have taken place on April 17th in either the second or fourth inning when the Fresno Grizzlies hosted Tacoma in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. The commercial says that the at-bat happened in the 7th inning and the stat line posted for Johnson was also fictional. In fact, Johnson has played the bulk of the season at Double-A in Jackson, Tennessee with the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx of the Southern League. There he is hitting .314 in 45 games with 15 doubles, two home runs, and 21 RBI.
The Philadelphia Phillies recalled 2003 Duluth Huskies pitcher Joe Bisenius. He made the opening day roster with the Phillies in 2007 and appeared in only two games. He has not been in the big leagues since. The Phillies resume play tomorrow with a series in Florida against the Marlins. Bisenius has spent most of the season at Double-A where he is 2-3 with a 3.62 ERA pitching out of the bullpen for the Reading Phillies of the Eastern League. He had recently been promoted to Triple-A. Read more here.
Last week the San Diego Padres outrighted OF Paul McAnulty to Triple-A, which removed him from San Diego’s 40-Man Roster. He cleared waivers and accepted his assignment with the Portland Beavers. In his first five games he is 10-for-18, which is a .556 batting average. McAnulty shared the outfield with Detroit Tigers OF Curtis Granderson with the Mankato Mashers in 2001. Read more here.
Alexandria Beetles 2001 LHP Josh Newman experienced a similar fate to McAnulty last week. He was designated for assignment by the Colorado Rockies. Unlike McAnulty, Newman didn’t clear waivers. He was claimed by the Kansas City Royals, placed on their 40-Man Roster, and assigned to Triple-A Omaha. Read more here.
Alexandria Beetles 2002 RHP Carlos Muniz took advantage of the latest Pedro Martinez injury. Muniz pitched two scoreless innings of relief on Saturday when Martinez left after four innings with shoulder stiffness. The Mets had the lead through four innings and won the game 3-0 against Colorado, thus giving Muniz credit for his first Major League win.
