The Results
Pawtucket at Buffalo - W, 9-1 and W, 10-4
Portland at New Britain - L, 9-4
Wilmington at Salem - L, 2-1
Greenville at Augusta - L, 3-2
Lowell at New Jersey - W, 9-6
GCL Red Sox at GCL Twins - W, 5-2
The Prospects
Jacob Ellsbury - DNP
Jed Lowrie - 2-6, rbi, k
Alejandro Machado - 5-8, 3r, 2 2b, 2 rbi, k, sb
Cla Meredith - DNP
Brandon Moss - 0-4, k
Dustin Pedroia - DNP
Hanley Ramirez - 2-4, 2b, k
Kelly Shoppach - 1-3, rbi, bb
The Starters
name IP H R ER BB SO HR Dec
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Jon Papelbon | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | W
Jack Cressend | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ND
John Lester | 4.2|6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | L
Andrew Dobies | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ND
Gary Galvez | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ND
Clay Buchholz | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ND
Jimmy James | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ND
Other Notables
Dave Berg - 4-9, 4r, bb, k
Kevin Youkilis - 5-10, 4r, 5 2b, 3 rbi, k
Roberto Petagine - 3-5, 2r, 2b, 4rbi, 2bb
George Lombard - 2-7, 3r, hr, 2 rbi, bb, 3k
Luis Figueroa - 4-6, 2r, 2b, 2rbi, 2bb
Jim Buckley - 3-4, r, 2 2b, 2 rbi
David Murphy - 2-4, r, k
Chris Durbin - 2-4, r, 2 2b, rbi, k
Ian Bladergroen - 3-4, k
Jeff Corsaletti - 2-4, r, 2b
Zak Farkes - 3-5, r, 2b, 4 rbi, 2k
Jason Twonley - 2-3, 2r, 3b
Yahmed Yema - 1-5, 2r, 3b, 2rbi
Michael Jones - 3-4, 3 rbi, k
Jon Egan - 1-2, r, 2rbi, bb, k
Marc Deschenes - 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K
Brian Marshall - 3 IP, 2 H, BB, 4 K
Terry Large - 1.2 IP, 2 H, K, SV
Tim Cox - 5 IP, 7K, W
The Bad Guys
org W-L place GB runs(rank) RA(rank)
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BUF | CLE (AAA) | 59-46 | 1st | --- | 597 (1 of 14) | 511 (9 of 14)
AUG | SF (loA) | 14-15 | 3rd | 4.0 | 478 (6 of 16) | 438 (5 of 16)
News and Notes
I'm just kinda throwing this out here....but ya know how Trot Nixon is hurt? Ya know how he could miss a significant amount of time with that injury? Yeah. Well do ya know who can play right field? Roberto Petaine. That's all I'm sayin'.
Ok, so the big question on the day is who takes Matt Clement's spot in the rotation. The latest reports are that Clement is feeling ok and is in "good spirits". But chances are pretty good that he'll at least miss a start. I haven't heard that from any reliable news source, but just seeing that play made everyone watching it wince. I think he's going to need some time to regroup. Jon Papelbon's name has been tossed around by Sox fans everywhere and with good reason. Papelbon had another great start for the Paw Sox last night holding the top run scoring team in the IL to just 1 run over 5 innings while striking out 8. He has 21-2 K/BB ratio as a member of the Paw Sox in 22.2 IP and last night's outing lowered his ERA to 3.57. Normally I'm in favor of not rushing prospects. Papelbon likely isn't ready to make the jump to the big leagues just yet. In this case, however, I think Papelbon should get the call. The ace of the team went down and the Sox really need someone to step up. Jeremi Gonzalez and Curt Schilling can't do that. Neither one of them would be effective. The worst case scenario for Papelbon is that he'd do as bad as Gonzalez would do and he'd get smacked around for a few innings before being pulled. But the best case scenario is that he surprises everyone by tossing a beauty. I think the Red Sox will go conservative on this one and if Clement misses some starts, Schilling will likely be back in the rotation. But I think Papelbon should at least be given a shot.
Dustin Pedroia and Jacob Ellsbury both remain sidelined with injuries. Pedroia is still battling the same wrist injury that came from being hit by a pitch about a month ago. He attempted to come back after sitting for 8 games, but he was ineffective and the organization has decided to rest him until he is 100%. Ellsbury is suffering from a minor hamstring injury. It doesn't sound like a huge deal, but there is no need to rush the guy since it is his first year as a pro. He will be allowed to rest until he's 100% better. Speed is a big part of his game and a leg injury could throw a serious wrench into that game.
Marc Deschenes has been promoted to Pawtucket to take Manny Delcarmen's spot in the pen. The 32 year old minor league journeyman has been getting the job done in AA and will now get another chance at AAA after not seeing any action at that level since 2002. He had a 3.74 ERA in 43.1 IP in Portland and pitched 2 scoreless innings in his Pawtucket debut last night.
Speaking of Delcarmen, he did good last night in his debut. Unfortunately I was working during the whole game and there was so much action that the inning Delcarmen pitched was cut from the replay of the game so I didn't get to see it. He was the only Sox pitcher to not allow a run and he struck out 1 in his perfect inning. Last night was a very bad game despite the great win with the injuries to Nixon and Clement, but Delcarmen was a bright spot in the game.
The Paw Sox took both games of yesterday's double header against Buffalo. The two top offensive teams in the IL (Buffalo has scored the most runs, Pawtucket second) haven't faced each other since late April and Pawtucket now leads the season series 5-4. Their offensive game really came out to play as they scored 19 runs over the two games. Kevin Youkilis came up huge knocking 5 doubles on the day and Roberto Petaine knocked in 4 runs.
Jon Lester was knocked around a bit last night, but I'm willing to bet that he'll bounce back with absolutely no problems the next time around. He lasted only 4.2 IP, allowed 4 runs, and 4 walks while striking out 6, but there are a couple pieces of good news we can pick out of that. 2 of the runs were unearned and 1 of the walks was intentional. That doesn't make his start any better, but everyone has a bad day once in a while and expect him to come out in a big way next time around.