Mizzou Baseball Quotes & Notes: Tigers past and present

■ Breathing easier after sweep (Columbia Tribune)

If the games were of less import, yesterday’s contest might have been called.

How bad were the conditions?

“Not too bad,” senior first baseman Aaron Senne said after MU’s 6-5 victory. “Dry for the most part. A little humid.”

Obviously, not a meteorology major.

“I did take the class,” he said.

■ Heard at the Ballpark this weekend and at Tigerboard.com:

"Gaden gone. When I did not see Gaden and Garcia there on Saturday I asked someone at the game and they told me Garcia was sick and that Gaden had left the team on his own after finals."

Gaden, Kale: .200 avg; 25 GP; 17 GS; 60 AB; 12 R; 12 H; 3 2B; 1 3B; 1 HR; 8 RBI; 7 BB; 1 HBP; 21 SO; 1/1 SB; 1 E; .964 Fld %

Big 12: .083 avg; 8 GP; 8 GS; 24 AB; 3 R; 2 H

■ Tigers have few choices for Scherzer (ESPN.com)

Max Scherzer (04-06) enters his Friday start against the Red Sox with a 1-3 record and a bulky 6.81 ERA. He’s also been a major contributor to the number of innings the Tigers bullpen has pitched in the first six weeks of the season: Scherzer averages barely five innings of work.
. . .
The Tigers are enchanted with Scherzer’s potential -- after all, he was taken by the Diamondbacks with the 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft -- and are likely to let pitching coach Rick Knapp tinker with him and hope things click as they have for Verlander, Porcello and, just maybe, Bonderman.

■ Gibson dominates in Double-A debut (milb.com)

Four days after he was promoted to the Eastern League, the University of Missouri product did not miss a beat. He gave up leadoff singles in three of the first four innings but allowed just one baserunner to reach third.

"Kyle's the type of kid you get excited watching, even if he's throwing batting practice to the hitters," Rock Cats manager Jeff Smith told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. "And he's a true professional in every sense of the word. ... He's just a great kid."

■ Minnesota Twins prospect Kyle Gibson (07-09) very impressive in Double-A debut (PennLive.com)

He spent the offseason rehabbing, and now all he's done is begin his professional career with a 5-1 record and 1.60 ERA through eight starts, including Saturday night's gem for New Britain in his Class AA debut, a 6-0 victory over Harrisburg at Metro Bank Park.
. . .
Instead he'll utilize his lean frame and make opponents look silly, as he did with 10 strikeouts against just one walk vs. the Senators, a team that scored nine runs on 14 hits a day earlier.

Mixing dynamic offspeed pitches (slider and changeup mostly) with a solid fastball, Gibson is an imposing presence on the mound.