The Results
Pawtucket vs Syracuse - L, 6-5
Portland vs New Britain - W, 4-2
Wilmington at Frederick - L, 14-3
Greenville vs Columbus - L, 8-5
Lowell vs Brooklyn - W, 8-1
The Prospects
Jacob Ellsbury - DNP
Christian Lara - 0-5, 2k, e
Jed Lowrie - DNP
Alejandro Machado - 1-4, cs
Cla Meredith - 1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, BS, L
Brandon Moss - DNP
Dustin Pedroia - 1-4, r, 2b, bb, k
Hanley Ramirez - 1-3, bb, cs
Kelly Shoppach - 2-4, r, hr, rbi, bb, 2k
Luis Soto - 1-4, r, 2b, 2rbi
The Starters
name IP H R ER BB SO HR Dec
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Scott Shoemaker 6.1 6 4 4 2 3 1 ND
John Lester 9 9 2 2 3 6 0 W
Felix Romero 3 5 4 4 0 1 1 L
Henry Cabrera 4 4 4 4 3 7 1 L
Ryan Phillips 6 4 1 1 1 3 0 W
Other Notables
Mark Bellhorn - 0-5, 2k
Kevin Youkilis - 1-5, r, hr, rbi, 2k
Roberto Petagine - 2-3, r, hr, 2rbi, 2bb
Mike Lockwood - 3-4, rbi
Dave Murphy - 2-4, r, hr, 2rbi
Chris Durbin - 1-3, r, 2b
Jeremy West - 1-3, r, hr, 2rbi
Bryan Pritz - 1-3, 2r, 2b, bb, k
John Otness 3-4, 2rbi
Chris Turner - 2-4, r, 2b, hr, 2rbi, k
Yahmed Yema - 2-5, 2r, 2 2b
Matt Mercurio - 1-3, r, rbi, 2bb
Willy Mota - 1-2, 2r, hr, rbi, 2bb, k, cs
Pete Fisher - 1.2 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR
Hunter Jones - 2 IP, 1 H, 3 K
The Bad Guys
org W-L place GB runs(rank) RA(rank)
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FRE BAL (hiA) 17-14 3rd 1.5 489 (4 of 8) 507 (6 of 8)
News and Notes
He hath returned!!! When I said that I was dropping coverage of the GCL Red Sox because very little went on in that league I had no idea that something so huge would go down. Rich Garces started last night's game for the GCL Red Sox and went a pefecting inning, striking out a batter. Yes. I do mean that Rich Garces. El Guapo is back in the Red Sox organization and even though there isn't much of a chance he'll see action in the big leagues this year, it does make me all warm and fuzzy inside to know that I can finally dust off the El Guapo t-shirt and once again wear it proudly.
I believe that I am all done defending Mark Bellhorn. Last year he was a productive member of the team. If you don't realize that then you need to learn a bit more about the game. But this year he hasn't been able to do much of anything. Is it because of all the strikeouts? In part, yes. But it also has to do with the fact that he hasn't been hitting for power this year and I'm starting to think that he's just guessing when he gets up to the plate. With all the horrible pitches he swings and misses at and with all the strikes he takes, I'm starting to think that he doesn't have a good eye and that he just goes up there guessing, most of the time guessing that he won't swing. I'm not willing to completely give up on him yet. I'm willing to sit back and watch for a little bit, but for right now I'm not going to be jumping to his rescue when I see putting him down. Although I will smack you outside the head if you call him KHorn because that just sounds stupid. I went off on a tangent here. What I meant to say is that Mark Bellhorn began his rehab in Pawtucket last night. He went 0-5, string out twice. He was DHing yesterday, but will eventually move to second base, pushing Dustin Pedroia back to his natural position at short.
Kelly Shoppach, Roberto Petaine, and Kevin Youkilis each homered in the Paw Sox loss. It was the 23rd homer on the year for Shoppach, 19th for Petagine, and 3rd for Youkilis. Shoppach and Petagine have been one of the biggest 1-2 threats in the International League this year. The duo's 42 homers are second in the IL only to the 46 hit by Earl Snyder and Pete LaForest in Durham.
Pawtucket did seem to have the game in hand until Cla Meredith was brought on to close things up. Instead of getting the Paw Sox the win he blew his 8th save for the team and earned the loss. He has been struggling pretty bad since his promotion from Portland. He is now 1-5 with a 5.23 ERA. Either the beating he took in Boston really screwed with his head or he's just not ready to be pitching above AA.
Jon Lester was knocked around in his last start, but he rebounded yesterday and had a hell of a game. I wish MiLB listed pitch counts, but he faced 38 batters and went the whole 9. He wasn't overly dominating, striking out only 6 while walking 3, but he allowed only 2 runs in the win.
Wilmington was crushed, 14-3 yesterday. Frederick's offensive attack was led by third baseman Travis Bass who went 2-4, both hits homers, and knocked in 7. Five Frederick starters had 2 hits. Most of the damage was done against 28 year old Sox reliever, Pete Fisher who allowed 7 runs in only 1.2 innings of work.
Ryan Phillips, a 21 year old taken in the 11th round last year, is impressing so far in his pro debut. Last night he went 6 strong innings for the win for Lowell. For the year, he's pitched 43.2 IP over 9 starts and has a 1.85 ERA and a 5-1 record. He's struck out 7.8 per 9, walked 3.3 per 9, and has only allowed 1 homer on the year. The walks are a little bit high for someone who has a fastball that tops out in the high 80's, but his ability to, so far, limit the long ball has really helped. As per usual, it's a long way to the big leagues from Lowell, but so far he's at least helping out the Spinners.