The Results
Pawtucket at Buffalo - W, 3-2
Portland at New Britain - W, 4-2
Wilmington vs Kinston - W, 6-0
Greenville at Augusta - W, 10-4
Lowell at Vermont - L, 5-3
The Prospects
Jacob Ellsbury - DNP
Jed Lowrie - 0-3, BB
Alejandro Machado - 0-3, r
Cla Meredith - 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 K, BS
Brandon Moss - 0-3, bb, k
Dustin Pedroia - DNP
Hanley Ramirez - 2-3, 2r, cs
Kelly Shoppach - 0-4, 4k
The Starters
name IP H R ER BB SO HR Dec -------------------------------------------------- Abe Alvarez 6 5 1 1 0 6 1 ND Anibal Sanchez 6 4 1 1 0 3 0 W Thomas Hottovy 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 ND Roger Lincoln 6 5 3 3 1 9 0 W Mario Pena 5.1 6 4 1 0 2 1 L
Other Notables
Gabe Kapler - 2-4, r, 2k
George Lombard - 2-4, r, hr, rbi
David Murphy - 1-2, r, 3b, rbi, 2bb
Bryan Pritz - 2-3, 2bb, k
Ian Bladergroen - 3-4
Matthew Van Der Bosch - 1-5, 2r, rbi, k, sb
John Otness - 2-5, r, 2b
Andrew Pinckney - 3-5, 3r, 2 2b, rbi
Claudio Arias - 4-5, 3 r, 3b, 2 hr, 5 rbi
Chris Turner - 3-5, r, hr, 3 rbi
Anastacio Martinez - 2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, K, W
Edgar Martinez - 1.1 IP, 2BB
Felix Romero - 4 IP, 1 H, 5 K, W
Ryan Schroyer - 2 IP, 1 K, SV
Kyle Jackson - 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 K, SV
The Bad Guys
org W-L place GB runs(rank) RA(rank)
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KIN | CLE (hiA) | 14-18 | 4th | 2.5 | 459 (5 of 8) | 427 (8 of 8)
VT | WAS (ssA) | 11-26 | 4th | 12.0| 151 (11 of 14) | 236 (14 of 14)
News and Notes
Dustin Pedroia should return to action this weekend. He's been taking batting practice and says that he feels good. Coming back this weekend would be absolutely perfect timing because I'll likely be at the game on Sunday for Jon Papelbon's start.
The organization had a very good night last night. The top four clubs managed a win with only Lowell losing a game. Three of the organization's pitching prospects got a start and while 2 of them didn't get a decision, all three were impressive and all three teams won their game. Abe Alvarez continued to show great control as he didn't walk anyone in 6 innings. He has a BB/9 of 2.2 for the year to go with his 4.43 ERA in 111.2 IP. Anibal Sanchez hasn't slowed down after his promotion. He threw another 6 very impressive innings last night. He only struck out 3, but he didn't walk anyone and his K/BB ratio in Portland is a pretty impressive 25/6. His ERA is very impressive at 1.31 in 20.2 IP. 2004 4th round pick Tom Hottovy is struggling this year with a 5.51 ERA in 80 IP, but he threw 3 perfect innings last night before being pulled. He hadn't pitched in a while so they wanted to keep him on a small pitch count last night.
Cla Meredith blew a save by allowing Buffalo to tie the game at 2 by allowing a run in the 7th. George Lombard broke that tie with a solo shot in the top of the 9th to give the Paw Sox the win.
Portland's win last night broke a string of 9 straight New Britain victories.
The middle of the Greenville Bombers line up combined to go 12-20 with 3 HR's, 3 doubles, and a triple last night. The quartet of John Otness, Andrew Pinckney, Chris Turner, and Claudio Arias combined to score 8 of the Bombers' 10 runs and knocked in 9 of them. All four of those guys are putting up some pretty impressive numbers on the season.
Minor Leaguer Spotlight
Andrew Pinckney
23 year old Pinckney is putting up some pretty impressive numbers this year with a .316/.370/.534 line in his second season as a pro. Last year he struggled a little bit as a utility infielder for Lowell putting up a .273/.338/.355 line. This year he has settled in at third base and his offensive production has taken off. He's crossed home plate 20 more times than anyone else on the team so far this year, scoring 70 times. He also leads in RBI's with a total of 75, 33 more than anyone else in Greenville. His 28 doubles, 7 triples, and 13 home runs are all tops on the team. He hasn't been walking a whole lot with only 28 walks in 373 AB's, but his strikeout numbers aren't too bad with 61. The only negative is that he also leads the team with 20 errors, but according to SoxProspects he has good range and a very good arm. The Wilmington Blue Rocks have "prospect" Chad Spann manning the hot corner and with the poor season he's having, he's not ready to advance. It's a shame because Pinckney seems as if he's ready to challenge a higher level. His speed, power, range, and arm make him a pretty decent all around player. Hopefully we'll see him advance all the way to Portland by next year.