The New Haven Register wrote a very nice article on Mike on the 6th.  You can see the full article on the New Haven Register’s website here, or you can just read below.  Courtesey of the New Haven Register and Chip Malafronte.

Tarsi gets major boost

By Chip Malafronte, Register Staff

07/06/2008

Mike Tarsi may not be willing to concede that one out changed his whole season. But he knows it certainly went a long way toward his turnaround.
Tarsi, a Danbury resident and former standout left-handed pitcher at UConn, began his first full season in the minor leagues in April with three consecutive dreadful starts for the Minnesota Twins Class A affiliate in Beloit (Wis.).

When he took the mound on April 21, he was 0-3 with a whopping 16.68 ERA, which included allowing a total of 17 earned runs in a mere six innings of his previous two starts.

Adding to an already difficult plate was the fact that West Michigan’s leadoff batter that night happened to be Curtis Granderson, the Detroit Tigers star center fielder in the minors on injury rehab assignment.

A mistake to Granderson could set the tone for another miserable day. But Tarsi, towering at 6-8, known to be especially tough on lefties, struck him out looking in the first inning. He later whiffed Granderson again to kick-start one of the better three-game stretches by a pitcher in the minors this season.

He tossed a complete game against West Michigan, and followed it up with two more complete games to become the first pitcher in the minors this season with three straight.

“It was pretty cool to face a successful major-leaguer like Granderson,” Tarsi said earlier this week from Beloit. “It was also a big boost for me. In that one game, I was able to come back and feel confident about myself again. I had three quality starts in a row, and it started with that strikeout.”

Beginning with the West Michigan game and covering his next two starts, Tarsi posted a 1.20 ERA over 30 innings pitched. About the only thing missing was a victory. Beloit’s lack of run support caused Tarsi to lose all three, running his season mark to 0-6.

“It was about as frustrating as it can get,” Tarsi said. “Especially considering our team wasn’t doing too well, that was a big part of it. The first three games was just me not pitching well. The next three was some of the best baseball I’ve ever pitched over a three-game stretch. It was rough, but that’s baseball.”

Tarsi has since won five of his last eight decisions, lowering his ERA to 5.48 in the process. On Thursday, he set a career high with 11 strikeouts in seven innings. But the tough luck continued. Even though he only allowed two earned runs and walked one, he came away with a no-decision.

Tarsi, the Register’s All-State MVP as a senior, led Danbury High to the 2004 Class LL state championship, outdueling NFA’s Andrew Carignan (now a top closer prospect playing Double-A in Oakland’s organization) 2-1 in the final.

Minnesota drafted Tarsi in the 12th round after his junior season at UConn, and the club has high hopes for the lanky lefty. While not overpowering - his fastball rarely hits 90 miles per hour — Tarsi’s height and the sinking, downward plane of his pitches make him an ideal ground ball pitcher.

Oddly enough, Tarsi isn’t the tallest pitcher on Beloit’s staff. Teammate Loek Van Mil, at 7-1, is the tallest pitcher in professional baseball. The Snappers’ pitching staff also has 6-foot-7 Henry Reyes, and the pitching coach is 6-foot-7 ex-major-leaguer Gary Lucas.

But if you think Beloit might have a pretty good pickup basketball team, think again.

“Loek tried to dunk once, and he got rejected by the rim,” Tarsi said.

TRIPLE-A STARS

Trumbull’s Jamie D’Antona, second in all of Triple-A with a .383 average, was selected to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team. D’Antona plays third base for Tucson in the Diamondbacks organization.

On Friday, D’Antona blasted three home runs, all against Salt Lake starter Dustin Moseley, with five RBIs to give him 13 homers and 54 RBIs so far.

It was his first multi-homer game in his six seasons as a professional, and his first three-homer game since he was at Wake Forest.

Also on the PCL All-Star team is ex-New Haven Ravens first baseman John Gall, now an outfielder with Albuquerque in the Marlins system. Another ex-Raven, pitcher Jeremy Cummings, will pitch for the International League stars. Cummings plays for the Rays top minor league team in Durham.

EXTRA BASES

Killingworth’s Cory Riordan, a sixth-round pick of the Rockies in 2007 out of Fordham, is third in the Class A South Atlantic League with 94 strikeouts and second with 101§ innings pitched. … Clinton’s Bryan Rembisz, signed out of the independent leagues by the Los Angeles Angels, made his affiliated debut last week. In two appearances for Rancho Cucamonga of the upper Class A California League, Rembisz has yet to allow a hit in three innings, striking out four. Rembisz played at the Morgan School and later the University of Vermont.

Chip Malafronte can be reached at cmalafronte@nhregister.com.

©New Haven Register 2008

We went fishing on long island sound over the weekend with Tim, Mike, Pete and Jenn. Right as we were about to head back in we caught a 34lb striped bass! It was a good time.

Tars seems to have aged slightly…

Amanda, Nick and I completed bike ny on sunday.  It was an overall great day, although we were thinking it was going to rain.  The day started off bright and early at 4:30am to get to a 5:10 train to Grand Central Terminal.  We got to the starting line with 30 minutes to spare.  The ride it self was fun, but there was a lot more standing around than I thought there would be.  2 places especially, waiting to get into grand central park and a random bridge.  Nick almost got taken out by some guy who thought he was skinnier than he was.

We were done with the ride and made it from staten island to gct to make a 5:00 train home.

There were a few things i would liked to have done if we thought to do them.  The first was put something cool on our helmets so that we were easily identified, so that I would have to keep looking around to find my riding partners.  We almost lost nick once when my chain fell off and he didn’t hear me yell to stop.  The second would have been to pack our own sandwiches.  The only real food other than my 2 power bars and a bagel for breakfast I ate was a burger on the ferry back to Manhattan.

Maybe Amanda can chime in here.

Mike Tarsi threw another complete game gem on Friday suffering another tough loss. The game was won in the bottom of the 8th inning when the loons scored 2 runs. The snappers have had a tough time scoring runs while the spaniard is on the mound. Mike’s last three starts have resulted in 3 complete game losses. Tarsi gave up a total of 4 earned runs in 22 innings, lowering his era from his first 3 starts(16.78) all the way down to 6.75, striking out 12, walking only 4 and allowing a total of 16 hits. Clearly he has returned to form.

As a side note, in my drunkenness last night, I have given mike a new nickname based on his “el gato” cat like reflexes, which stems from his stellar play on the bunt pop up in the 8th inning where he pounced off the mound and made a slick diving catch.

As a second side note: The snappers website is terrible at getting updated after games. Someone needs to get on that.

Now that I know what W.B. Mason does, I want them. Check out this old commercial

Matt, Nick and I are gearing up for this year’s BIKE NY tour this Sunday, May 4.  Matt and I are really excited and Nick has been asking “how many days ’til Bike NY” for 3 weeks now so I gather he’s riled up for it as well.

I was in Dave’s Cycle in Cos Cob, (Greenwich) CT about a month and a half ago when a pamphlet for Bike NY stood out.  I’m pumped about the city closing down roads for traffic-free cruising and enjoying Central Park in the height of Spring while Matt is really looking forward to riding along the East River and the spectacular sights while riding up and down the Verrazano-Narrows bridge into Staten Island.  But who are we kidding - being the amateur riders that we are, we were both drawn mainly because NYC is flat as hell and our [mildly] out of shape physiques could more than handle the 42 mile tour. 

We’ll take the train in, bikes in hand, to GCT and then ride 4 miles to Battery Park for the starting line with 40,000 other riders.  After finishing the tour, we’ll ride 3 last miles to the Staten Island Ferry to bring us back to Manhattan so we can ride back to GCT.  By late afternoon, Matt and Nick’s Giants (http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/) and my Diamondback (http://www.diamondback.com/) will have clocked over 50 miles.  (I’m a little nervous after just seeing myself type that.)

So if you’re in the area, head over to FDR Drive to catch us in action, or check back when Matt posts pictures of our ride.  To see what we’re getting ourselves into, you can look at pictures from last year’s tour at <http://www.bikenewyork.org/rides/fbbt/photo_gallery.html>  Good luck to us and the other riders!

“I think here or Toledo would be the same. I just need to get another day of at-bats,” Granderson said. “Timing-wise at the plate, the results weren’t necessarily the best (last night), but the lefty (Beloit’s Michael Tarsi) had good stuff going.” - Curtis Granderson

Google adsense is a cool product, but not when it does this on your website. This is a blog for my family and friends…

Thanks Google

Watch the video here:

http://www.zootoo.com/zootootv/v/shelter04daws2

Check out the Daws Profile here:

http://www.zootoo.com/shelters/zip06801_danburyanimalwelfaresociety2

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools’ Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.
– Poor Robin’s Almanac (1790)

When you snoop around my camera and then take pictures of yourself for me to find, they WILL end up on the internet

.

This one goes out to Angry Dave.

Play scrabble the right way…  or play some palace at the tarsi house… I remember you being on the wrong side of victory.

My good pal Ryan Fitzgerald has just released his debut CD, called “Edge of Eternity” on iTunes!!!!! I met Ryan, a.k.a. Fitz, when we worked together 2 summers ago at Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT. I was lucky enough to snag a copy of the CD back in 2006 and now he’s finally getting it together (J.K. Ry!) and really starting to promote it. I’d describe his sound as laid back with a kick, and his lyrics are poignant and thoughtful. His musical influences are John Mayer, Jimmy Eat World, Lifehouse, Third Eye Blind, Copeland, Ben Folds and Dashboard Confessional to name a few.

PLEASE check out my favorite hometown singer and songwriter on his myspace music page @ http://www.myspace.com/ryanfitzgerald1

If you have a dollar, buy a song of Ryan’s! (Or the whole album!) You won’t be disappointed and you’ll be supporting a 21-year old Connecticut resident with his heart and mind in the right place.

Best of Luck, Fitz, and God Bless YOU!

For all you red box renters, there is a new red box code for when you are shopping at Shop and Stop. If you enter the code SHOP you will get a free rental per card! I have over 6 cards in my wallet, so that’s 6 free rentals. The only catch is that you have to rent before April 18th when the code expires. Two a week till then is perfect.

Also noticed some redbox competition today while at super food mart in the form of DVD Xpress. This is the first time i’ve seen one of these boxes but it seems to be the same deal as redbox. $1 per day rentals. I’m rooting for redbox.