JOPLIN MINER MAGAZINE

                      Charlie Morton fans 12 for 7-0 win over the Blue Wave Joplin won 3 out of 4 to win another series.  G1:  Joplin 5, Blue Wave 1 WP:  Chris Sale ( 7.4.1.1.2.8) LP:  Matt Harvey ( 4.1-8.5.5.1.2) David Peralta homered and the Miners scored 4 runs in the 5th to seal the win.  Chris Sale continued to earn his pay with 8Ks in 7 IPs. G2: Joplin 7, Darien 0 WP: Charlie Morton ( 6.2-3-0-0-2-10) LP: W.Miley  ( 0.1.1.1.0.0.0)   Mookie Betts hit a 3 run homer and Ender Inciarte tripled twice to back up the 3 hit pitching of Charlie Morton.  G3: Darien 5, Joplin 0 WP: Felix Hernandez ( 7-4-0-0-1-5) LP: Mashi Tanaka  ( 5.2-6-3-3-4-10) Jose Bautista hit 2 bombs and knocked in 4 runs while Felix Hernandez shutdown the Miners offensive attack.   Mashi Tanaka struck out 10. G4:  Joplin 5, Darien 3 ND: Danny Duffy ( 3.2-5-3-3-2-3)  WP Fern Salas LP: Jordan Zimmerman ( 4.1-5-4-4-3-6) Chad Pinder hit a 3 run shot and Carlos Santana and Franchy Cordero launched another solo

                       Chris Sale Fans 12 and Saves Split with Salem  G1:  Salem 11, Joplin 3 WP: Anibel Sanchez ( 6.1-7-3-3-1-6) LP: Charlie Morton ( 4.8.9.5.5.5) Joplin played it's worst game of the season.  Charlie Morton gave up 3 consecutive home runs to Andrew Benintendi, Jose Ramirez and Justin Turner in the first inning and Joplin committed 3 errors, 2 by Carlos Santana.  The only bright spot in the game was the relief effort of Steven Wright ( 3.2.1.1.3.5).   G2: Joplin 6, Salem 1 WP:  Mashi Tanaka ( 6.3.1.1.1.6) LP:  Mike Montgomery ( 5.7.4.4.5.2) Freddie Freeman homered twice and Austin Wynns added another homer to back the efficient pitching performance of Mashi Tanaka.  G3:  Salem 4, Joplin 3 WP: Clay Buchholz  ( 6.1-5-3-3-3-8) LP: Dan Duffy  ( 1.2.2.2.1.0) The Miners left the bases loaded in the 7th which explains this loss.  Freddie Freeman continued to rake Salem pitching with a double and a walk which produced 2 runs.   Danny Duffy continues his inco

      Can Casey Kelly return to the majors via Korea ? The Miners added Taylor Williams, Sam Tuivialia, Fern Salas, Casey Kelly and Kazu Makita to the pitching staff.  In order to make room for these pitchers, Joplin released Bartolo Colon, Rosell Herrera, Pat Neshek and Chris Devenski. The release of Devenski was puzzling given he had a 1.54 ERA and the Miners were fined 1.1 million for his release. The Miners released Devenski because they knew he would regress to his 4.51 ERA.  The move reinforces Miner management focus on making the playoffs in the limited time window available to the franchise. 

Power Rankings based on Run Differential  1. Kansas 51 2. Joplin 48 3. Charlotte 46 4. Akron 43 5. Los Altos 31 6. Southern Cal 29 7. Buckingham 23 8. Salem 23 9. Ravenwood 14 10. St. Louis 9 11. Chicago 7 12. Las Vegas 5 13. Great Lakes 4 14. South Loop 2 15. Saskatoon -8 16. South Carolina -14 17. Flagstaff -16 18. Bear Country -24 19. Kansas City -30 20. Cleveland -32 21. North Carolina -42 22. Darien -54 23. Myrtle Beach -56 24. Niagara -59

The Joplin Miners entered the 2019 BDBL season as the defending Ozzie League Champions.  Their world series appearance was the first time in franchise history. Going into the 2019 season, several major adjustments were required and the consensus among the BDBL press was a second place finish in the McGowan Division and a possible playoff appearance as the second wildcard in the 2019 season.  Now that one chapter of the season is in the books, the Miners find themselves with a 17-11 record and 2 games behind the hated Salem Cowtippers and the first seed in the wildcard game.  Jesse Chavez won the Miner MVP award in Chapter 1.  Chavez finished the chapter with a 5-1 record and struck out 23 while walking only 7.  Chavez' performance was a complete surprise and came just at the right time.  Not to say the pitching staff was bad in Chapter 1.  A 17-11 record along with a 2.97 ERA  was respectable.  Chris Sale was signed as a free agent in the off season and although he posted a

Carlos Santana goes Yard 3 times in Game 2 The Miners hoped to make up some ground on the Salem Cowtippers in this series against the North Carolina Spider Pigs.  The Pigs are rebuilding and have some young hitters who should reign terror on league pitching for many years but all the parts are not in place yet.   Game 1: Pigs 2 Miners 1 Jack Flaherty took the mound for the Pigs and held the Miners to 1 run in 6 innings but Miner starter Steven Wright held the Pigs to 1 run and no hits in 5 and 1/3.  The Pigs picked up the winning run in the 9th when TJ McFarland hit Rougned Odor with a pitch and gave up a game winning double to Matt Chapman. Game 2: Miners 10  Pigs 3 Carlos Santana put on another amazing performance for the Joplin fans as he hit 3 home runs and and knocked in 5 runs to lead the Miners to another victory.  Matt Chapman hit a dinger for the Pigs in the 8th but it wasn't enough.  Dan Jennings picked up the win in relief of Charlie Mor