Category: Jorge Campillo (Page 2 of 3)

While the M’s starting staff has either blown up or been snowed out of the past few days, Jorge gave six strong innings last night in Sacramento. He pitched six innings, gave up five hits, two runs (both earned) and struck out three.

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Jorge Campillo will start the season, hopefully, in Tacoma. Which is somewhat a good thing, its better than him being released, and it will mean that I might be able to go see him pitch. Easier getting to Tacoma than Seattle.

All this thinking about a Mexican junkballer got me thinking about Mexican baseball in general. Did you know that since the 1950s, the Mexican summer league (there in another, actually higher profile winter league) has been affiliated with MLB as a minor league? I think I knew this, but it puzzles me that a country that hosts a full third of our high level minor teams doesn’t have a major league team. Canada at one point at two.

Well, this Mets Blogger’s All Mexico Team:

Starting Rotation
Oliver Pérez (N.Y. Mets)
Luis Ayala (Washington)
Esteban Loaiza (Oakland)
Rodrigo López (Colorado)
Jorge de la Rosa (Kansas City)

Bullpen
Dennys Reyes (Minnesota)
Ricardo Rincón (St. Louis)
Elmer Dessens (L.A. Dodgers)
Oscar Villareal (Atlanta)
Edgar González (Arizona)
Jorge Campillo (Seattle)
David Cortés (San Francisco)
Ismael Valdéz (last played w/ Florida in ’05)

Infield
Miguel Ojeda, C (Texas)
Erubiel Durazo, 1B (Oakland)
Jorge Cantu, 2B (Tampa Bay)
Juan Castro, SS (Cincinnati)
Oscar Robles, 3B (San Diego spring training invitee)

Outfield
Benji Gil, LF (last played for Anaheim in ’03; 1 career game in CF)
Alfredo Amézaga, CF (Florida) (75 career G at CF, 14 in LF, 2 in RF)
Karim Garcia, RF (Philadelphia spring training invitee)

Bench
Vinny Castilla, 3B (Colorado; just retired)
Gabe Alvarez, IF/OF (San Diego; last played in ’00)
Humberto Cota, C (Pittsburgh)
Geronimo Gil, C (Baltimore; last played in ’05) (PLAYER/MANAGER)

I for one did not realize Benji Gil was from Mexico, by the way. Here’s a list of Mexican born players (sorted by debut) And, in case you’re wondering, the first Mexican born player in the majors was Mel Almada, a left handed outfielder who played from 1933 to 1939 and finished with a .285 career average.

Also, for your reference, here is the roster of the 2006 Mexican team from last year’s WBC.

Our Man from Tijuana, Jorge Campillo, will get the start against the As. Televised on KSTW, the entire Puget Sound will see what he’s made of.

The Mariners are trying to sort out their long reliever situation:

That’s a competition among Sean Green, Sean White and Jon Huber and it may not be decided until the final few days before the opener. White has the advantage of being a Rule 5 draft pick who must be offered back to the Atlanta Braves if he doesn’t make the 25-man roster.

If you compare the four of these guys, Campillo comes in second to White in two categories that matter in spring training, innings (10 for White, 8 for Campillo) and ERA (1.80 for White, 6.75 for Campillo). Though Campillo’s ERA has dropped since two disastrous outings where it topped almost 20. So, I understand if they’d keep White on, especially given his Rule 5 status.

Campillo has at least made the argument, including this two innings today with only one hit and one walk in relief, that he deserves a roster spot. Since March 8, where he gave up five runs in an inning, he hasn’t given up more than a single hit in an outing, let alone a run. I’m just surprised he’s gone so long without getting any attention.

Well, this is an important round of cuts since Jim Parque, the lead “lets pull for the underdog in camp” guy, is included. Campillo as sixth starter, still a chance.

After two terrible outings which followed a great outing, Campillo seems to have settled down again, pitching two effective innings against the Giants in a split squad.

Boy, after one good outing, he’s getting crushed:

The chief offender was Jorge Campillo, who had a nightmarish inning in which he faced nine batters and gave up five runs, all of them in the space of two pitches — a three-run double by Gordon followed by a two-run Jason LaRue homer on the next pitch.

Only four runs were earned, but even the unearned run was his doing. With a man on first, he fielded a comebacker and threw it into the outfield for an error.

“He didn’t help his cause today,” Hargrove said.

Or as this guy put it, 5 runs in 50 seconds, which is a pretty big accomplishment in baseball.

Both Jorge Campillo and Jeff Weaver went two innings today against the Giants. Both gave up some runs, Weaver got the loss, and Campillo was marginally better.

Just want to point out that Weaver is the guy being penciled in as the fourth starter while Campillo was released last December and is in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Well, not likely. Actually, what did probably happen is that he got three ground outs. But, at least he seemed impressive on his first outing:

Jeff Weaver was impressive in his first action as a Mariner, setting down the side in order, and Sean White and Jorge Campillo also had 1-2-3 innings.