With the 2007 season in the books, MiLB.com is taking a look back at the year's highlights in each Major League organization.
April 13 -- John Whitesell churned out five of Harrisburg's season-high 23 hits, including a two-run homer and five RBIs in a 16-9 win over Erie. April 16 -- Potomac's John Lannan allowed one earned run over 13 innings to win his first two starts and win the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week award. In his next start on April 21, he held Frederick to one hit over six innings with five strikeouts to lower his ERA to 0.47 and improve to 3-0. April 23 -- Joel Hanrahan, Winston Abreu and Chris Booker combined for 16 strikeouts in a three-hit, 1-0 Columbus win over Durham. Abreu threw 41 pitches -- 32 for strikes -- to nine batters and fanned eight of them. April 25 -- Michael Hinckley, Jim Magrane and Zechry Zinicola banded together on a two-hitter, a 2-0 win over Reading, their first victory in eight tries over the Phillies. Starter Hinckley allowed one hit over six innings with five strikeouts and three walks for his third consecutive win. April 25 -- Columbus pitchers Felix Diaz, Chris Schroder and Chris Booker struck out 14 batters in a three-hit, 1-0 win over Durham in which the Bulls fanned 13 Clippers batters. April 28 -- Hagerstown hurler Cory Van Allen fanned 12 batters over five innings, including eight straight to open the game, but Jhonatan Solano blasted a three-run walk-off homer to seal the Suns' 8-7 win over Delmarva. The dramatic win was the second straight to feature a game-ending home run, as Hagerstown's Alex Nunez ended an 11-inning contest with a solo shot for a 10-9 win over the Shorebirds. April 30 -- John Lannan won his fourth straight for Potomac with five innings of no-hit baseball. The 22-year-old southpaw gave up two runs on three hits over 7 2/3 frames in a 3-2 win over Winston-Salem. May 6 -- Columbus' Felix Diaz held Toledo hitters to one hit over 5 1/3 innings, struck out four and walked three. Three relievers yielded a single over the final 3 2/3 innings to complete the Clippers' 3-0 win over the Mud Hens. May 7 -- Brandon Powell batted .444, scored seven runs and held a .629 slugging percentage for Potomac to reign as Carolina League Player of the Week. May 11 -- Despite a two-homer, six-RBI performance from Chris Marrero, Hagerstown was unable to hold off West Virginia as the teams combined for 32 hits in an 11-10 Power victory. May 11 -- D'Angelo Jimenez flied out in his first at-bat, but followed with five successive hits, scored three runs and plated two. He finished a triple short of the cycle in Columbus' 13-7 win over Scranton-Wilkes/Barre. May 14 -- Justin Maxwell completed a week in which he went deep four times, plated seven runs, scored 10 times and batted .450. And Justin Jones did not allow a run over 12 2/3 innings in two wins as Hagerstown swept the South Atlantic League Player of the Week awards. May 21 -- Chris Marrero drove in 11 runs, homered three times and batted at a .379 clip to give Hagerstown back-to-back Player of the Week honors. May 21 -- Harrisburg's Jim Magrane tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings with five strikeouts for his first win since August 1, 2006 to garner the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week award. May 25 -- Chris Marrero ended a 12-inning marathon with Delmarva with a solo blast, his 12th, to give the Suns a 9-8 win. June 10 -- Brandon Watson belted a line-drive single to right field off of John Thompson to extend his hitting streak to 37 games and break the franchise record set in 1937 by Johnny Rizzo of the Columbus Redbirds.
June 17 -- Watson led off the sixth inning with a single off of J.D Durbin to set a new International League hitting streak record of 43 straight games. The 25-year-old center fielder broke Jack Lelivelt's record, set in 1902 with Rochester, and also nabbed the league's Player of the Week honors.
June 20 -- Josh Whitesell blasted a two-run homer in the first inning. He then went deep for a three-run shot in the fifth to power Harrisburg past Bowie, 10-3, and to a sweep of the day's doubleheader. June 22 -- Harrisburg's Dan DeMent plated a career-high five runs and pitchers T.J. Nall, Josh Hall and Brett Campbell combined on a five-hitter as the Senators downed Binghamton with a 9-0 win. June 26 -- Over the final two innings of a 5-1 loss to Indianapolis, Columbus' Winston Abreu struck out all seven batters he faced, including four in the ninth inning after the Knights' Luis Ordaz reached on a wild pitch. July 2 -- Shairon Martis picked up Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honors on the strength of two starts, in which he struck out 12 with a 1.39 ERA over 13 innings and went 1-0. July 5 -- The Nationals found a representative in the Futures Game in the form of Harrisburg hurler Collin Balester. The 21-year-old right-hander yielded an RBI double to Wladimir Balentien, and he fanned Joey Votto for the United States in a 7-2 loss to the World team. July 5 -- After Myrtle Beach scored five in the ninth inning to tie the game, Potomac's Justin Maxwell blasted a walk-off homer in the 10th, his first of the season for the Nationals. July 6 -- Vermont's Adrian Alaniz yielded an unearned run on one hit over five innings with five strikeouts, and Martin Beno and Caleb Staudt finished off the two-hitter. It was the second straight win for the 23-year-old Alaniz, who lowered his ERA to 0.66 with the start and went on to win his next four consecutive games. July 15 -- Jhonny Nunez didn't miss a beat for Hagerstown after missing two starts with back spasms, and held Lake County batters hitless until the fifth when Nicholas Weglarz singled. Nunez retired the final five batters he faced before relievers Erik Arnesen, Coby Mavroulis and Yader Peralta finished out the two-hit shutout. July 21 -- Hassan Pena yielded only two hits over a career-high six innings and Alberto Tavarez fanned three batters in a perfect seventh in Vermont's 6-0 victory over Jamestown in the first game of their doubleheader, which was swept by the Lake Monsters. July 24 -- Justin Jones retired 14 of the first 15 Kinston batters he faced, including seven straight strikeouts from the end of the second inning though the fourth. Despite garnering a no-decision, the performance helped Potomac to a 4-3 win over the Indians.
July 30 -- Vermont rallied for 11 runs over the final three innings, including a two-run walk-off homer off the bat of Robert Tolan to steal a 12-10 win over Hudson Valley.
Aug. 10 -- Steve Mortimer hit a two-run double in the first, a solo homer in the third, and tripled in the fifth. The 26-year-old right-fielder finished off the cycle with a single in the eighth in Harrisburg's 8-3 win over Portland to join Geoff Blum as the only Senator to accomplish the feat. Aug. 11 -- Potomac's Justin Jones retired the first 25 batters he faced and carried a perfect game into the ninth before Winston-Salem's C.J. Lang singled to break up the bid. The 22-year-old left-hander would settle for two hits over 8 2/3 shutout frames, and reliever Josh Perrault would record the final out in the Nationals' 2-0 win. For his efforts in the game, Jones was rewarded with the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week.
Aug. 13 -- Potomac trailed Wilmington, 5-4, entering the ninth inning before Chris Marrero and Matt Rogelstad hit one-out singles and Devin Ivany followed by launching a homer to give the Nationals a walk-off win. Aug. 14 -- Jhonatan Solano exploded offensively for Hagerstown, launching his first home run in 44 games for three runs on his way to a career-high six-RBI game in the Suns' 14-11 slugfest win at Kannapolis. Aug. 16 -- Rogearvin Bernadina hit an RBI double in the fifth inning and cranked a grand slam to drive in a career-high five runs in Harrisburg's 9-4 win over Akron. The 23-year-old outfielder had just four RBIs in the previous 49 games before the outburst.
Aug. 17 -- Potomac's Marco Estrada baffled hitters with 6 2/3 hitless innings. The 24-year-old right-hander walked four and tied a career high with eight strikeouts in the Nationals' 2-0 win over Myrtle Beach. Aug. 23 -- Despite going hitless on the day, Bernie Castro reached base four times -- twice by walks -- and stole second base three times, third base once and scored twice in the Clippers' 6-0 win over Louisville. He recorded 34 stolen bases over the course of the season. Sept. 1 -- Josh Smoker, Washington's 2007 first-round draft pick, tossed two hitless innings in his first professional start. He retired the side in order in the first, issued a leadoff walk and then fanned three straight in the second for Vermont before being lifted in an eventual 4-0 loss to Lowell. Michael Blinn is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs. |
