SHELTON SENT DOWN
The Detroit Tigers announced today the club has acquired first baseman Sean Casey from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for righthanded pitcher Brian Rogers. Additionally, the club has optioned the contract of first baseman Chris Shelton to Triple-A Toledo.
Casey hit .296 with 30 runs scored, 15 doubles, three home runs and 29 RBIs in 59 games this season for the Pirates. Since June 25, he has batted .315 with 15 RBIs in 26 games for Pittsburgh.
A three-time National League all-star selection (1999, 2001 and 2004), Casey has not committed an error in 491 total chances at first base this season. He has posted a .995 fielding percentage at first base during his career.
Shelton saw action in 102 games for the Tigers this season, batting .277 with 16 home runs and 45 RBIs.
NO SPILT SEASON YET
Baseball is a long season. But it's the really long season when you're in Triple-A and light years out of first place.
While the lower minor leagues play a split-season format that matches first-half division winners against second-half division winners in the playoffs, the Class AAA season is a 144-game marathon.
"Triple-A baseball has worked very hard to be as major-league as possible," said Memphis Redbirds president and general manager Dave Chase. "A split-season is a minor-league gimmick. Most of our fans probably don't know where we are in the standings. If you have a split season, you just confuse them more."
Ten teams are 10 or more games out of first place. Some of them might have more hope if the PCL season was divided into halves, and Chase says the topic was discussed at the league's winter meetings last December.
Done Wade, Scripps Howard
NEW PITCHING AWARDS
Pitchers in Minor League Baseball have a new prize to shoot for this season with the announcement of the Most Spectacular Pitcher Award, sponsored by Vytorin (ezetimide/simvastatin).
This annual award, which will include a trophy and a check for $7,500, will go to the qualifying pitcher with the lowest earned run average (ERA) for the season, among all domestic leagues. To be eligible for the award, a pitcher must work a minimum of 112 innings, which is the standard for ERA titles in leagues playing the usual 140-game minor league season.
All of those innings, however, do not have to be in the same league or with the same team. If a pitcher appears in more than one classification or with more than one team, his combined ERA for the season will determine his standing.
This season's Most Spectacular Pitcher will be honored at the Triple-A Championship game in Oklahoma City on Sept. 19.
SPINNING SELLOUTS
The Lowell Spinners, Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, announced that Thursday night's attendance of 5,030 is the 250th consecutive standing room only crowd at LeLacheur Park.
For the 250th straight game, the Spinners have sold every ticket possible to their games. The last time the Spinners did not have a standing-room crowd was Aug. 2, 1999. Since that date, 1,250,150 fans have packed LeLacheur Park day-in and day-out, a span of almost seven straight seasons of sellouts, which Spinners believe to be the longest streak in professional sports.
The Spinners, for whom Copper Hills grad Ryan Khoury plays, celebrated the milestone in grand fashion with the help of a few Red Sox legends. Former Red Sox infielder Rico Petrocelli led a pre-game ceremony honoring former Red Sox teammate and fellow member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame Bill Monbouquette.