Royal Rooters > Sox Minor League News Links, Mon. Aug. 4, 2008

Full Version: Sox Minor League News Links, Mon. Aug. 4, 2008

Royal Rooters > WE'RE TALKIN' BASEBALL > DOWN ON THE FARM

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 12:54 PM

Jeff Horrigan - The Minors: Futures now at Fenway

The Single-A Lowell Spinners, who have participated in all three Futures Games, have watched their narrow victories at Fenway have lasting effects. In 2006, Justin Masterson pitched four shutout innings of relief in a 3-1 win over Oneonta before a capacity crowd of 33,394. The Spinners went on to win eight of their next 11 games.

Last Aug. 11, Jorge Jimenez’ walkoff, RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth gave Lowell a 2-1 victory over Hudson Valley before 34,746. The Spinners went on to win nine of their next 12.

“Coming in here last year and not knowing what to expect, I remember our kids walked off the field and it seemed like there were 5,000 people high-fiving them, and these kids felt like they were in the big leagues for the day,” Lowell manager Gary DiSarcina said.

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 02:01 PM

The Providence Journal

Robert Lee - Yankees 5, PawSox 2 -- Ian Kennedy slows PawSox offense

In his first at-bat as a member of the PawSox, Josh Wilson drove in Dusty Brown with a bloop single to left to give Pawtucket a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

“That was great,” Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson said. “Josh Wilson is a good player. I was happy for him. To come up there in his first at-bat, and I know when you join a club you want to be part of the mix, so to come out in his first at-bat and get that RBI single [was great]. He also went out and made a couple of nice plays at short.”

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Gil Velazquez briefly got the PawSox out of their hitting slump when he hit a solo home run to right-center that cut the Yankees’ lead to 3-2, but Scranton Wilkes/Barre added two more runs in the ninth to secure the win.

Robert Lee - PawSox chasing first postseason spot in five years

But the wins are nice, and they have kept piling them up this year. In fact, Pawtucket is on a pace to set a franchise record of 88 wins this season (the current mark is 83).

That is a telling statistic, but it doesn’t tell the entire story of how the PawSox have been so successful.

They have been outstanding in all three phases of the game — hitting, pitching and fielding.

The PawSox are the only team with three players among the top seven I.L. leaders in batting average. Joe Thurston is third with a .309 average, Chris Carter is sixth at .303 and Jeff Bailey seventh at .299.

In fact, the PawSox entered yesterday’s action ranked third in the I.L. in team batting with an average of .267.

In addition, Bailey, Carter and Jonathan Van Every are in a three-way tie for third place in the I.L. home run race. All three have 24 round-trippers, and Carter is second in RBI (78).

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Pawtucket’s offense is good, but its pitching staff might be even better. The PawSox are second in team ERA (3.69).

Charlie Zink (13-4) and David Pauley (12-4) are 1-2 in the I.L. in wins. Zink also entered yesterday’s action ranked third in earned-run average (2.76).

Scranton/Wilkes Barre got eight hits and three runs off Zink during his five innings yesterday.

“I thought Charlie was OK, but he threw a lot of pitches,” Johnson said. “He was around 100 pitches after five innings.”

Pauley, meanwhile, is ninth in ERA (3.40) and closer Chris Smith, who was promoted to Boston after Thursday’s trade deadline, is seventh in saves with 13. Devern Hansack, who struck out seven on Saturday, is fifth in strikeouts with 110.

The PawSox also have the best fielding percentage in the I.L., at .984, which is better than their single-season club record of .980 set in 2006.

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 02:12 PM

Brendan McGair - Scranton's Kennedy outpitches Zink

The only damage Kennedy allowed was a RBI single to recent addition Josh Wilson and a solo home run to Gil Velazquez. He walked just one and struck out six, throwing 96 pitches (67 strikes).

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PawSox knuckleballer Charlie Zink’s bid to become a 14-game winner will have to wait another day. Zink allowed three runs on eight hits in five innings, throwing 101 pitches. “He could have gone back out there, but we wanted to get (Aarsdma) in for a clean inning,” said Johnson.

Terry Nau - N.L. sellers impact A.L. pennant races

The Manny Ramirez trade offered a true glimpse into the depth of Boston’s farm system and the imbalance that exists in major league baseball in the first decade of a new century.

We witnessed a great example of these two premises right here in Pawtucket after the news of Ramirez’s trade filtered down to the minor league level last Thursday afternoon. PawSox left fielder Brandon Moss went from Pawtucket’s outfield to batting sixth and playing left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the span of 20 hours.

That’s a dream come true for most Triple-A players. On every AAA squad, there are one or two players who are “blocked” from the big leagues. A guy like Moss – who had performed successfully in two stints with Boston this season – hits the lottery and get traded. Others just bide their time, helpless to do anything but keep working and play the game.

The PawSox have at least two pitchers who could pitch for approximately 10 MLB teams right now – Charlie Zink and David Pauley, They remain valued pieces in Boston’s organization because the Red Sox still “control” their contracts.

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 02:45 PM

Kevin Thomas - Wet field leaves fans high and dry; Miscommunication and a lengthy delay before canceling a Sea Dogs doubleheader upsets the crowd at Hadlock.

Heavy rains Saturday night and Sunday morning drenched Hadlock. Game officials, including the umpires, both managers and Sea Dogs President and General Manager Charlie Eshbach, hoped the wait would allow the field to dry under bright skies.

But at 3:05 p.m., the games were canceled. Officially, the umpires made the decision, but Sea Dogs Manager Arnie Beyeler said it was a unanimous call.

"It's not playable," Beyeler said. "We want to play, (but) it's saturated. It's slick, and it's not safe to play. The sun is out and there's 5,000 people here, but nobody wants anyone to get hurt."

The problem with the wait was the Hadlock fans thought a game would be played, based on the announcements at the field. First, the game time was moved to 2 p.m. Later it was adjusted to 2:35 p.m. Then, the cancellation.

"It's all about communication," said Richard Mackenzie of South Bristol. Mackenzie came to Hadlock with eight family members, most of them driving up from Massachusetts. "When they said it would start at 2, we thought it would start at 2. Then when they said 2:35, we thought maybe it would start at 2:35."

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Portland outfielder Zach Daeges said it was "one of those situations where you don't really want someone to go out and get hurt. We've played in wet conditions, but this has been the worst."

Normally, the home team officials decide if a game can start. But when two teams are playing for the last time in the season, the decision belongs to the umpires.

Since neither game will be made up, Trenton and Portland now each are scheduled to play 140 games this year.

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 04:49 PM

David Hood - Drive miss opportunities, get hammered by RiverDogs

The Greenville Drive spent Sunday afternoon smacking extra base hits and running the bases, but it was home plate they couldn't cross. They wasted six extra base hits and 15 hits overall by stranding 13 runners in a 9-3 loss to the Charleston RiverDogs in front of 4,072 fans at Fluor Field.

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The Drive scored in the third on an RBI single by Ryan Kalish, added an RBI double by catcher Pete Gilardo in the third and an RBI double by Michael Almanzar in the seventh. But Greenville also left two runners on base in five different innings, including striking out three times to end those innings.

A bright spot for the Drive was leadoff hitter David Mailman, who had three hits, a walk, and scored a run. His only out was a drive to deep center field that would have been a home run in any other part of the ballpark.

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 05:02 PM

The Lowell Sun

Chaz Scoggins - Red-hot Spinners making deep impact

Six of their nine hits went for extra bases yesterday, including a three-run homer by shortstop Ryan Dent that cleared the scoreboard in left field, as the Spinners blitzed the Vermont Lake Monsters 7-1 in front of the usual SRO crowd of 5,030 at LeLacheur Park for their fifth straight win and 11th in 13 games.

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Left-hander Drake Britton turned in his finest outing as a pro, pitching five hitless innings to earn his first win. Charle Rosario and Jorge Rodriguez finished up the three-hitter.

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We're starting to get some confidence now," said third baseman Will Middlebrooks, who has hit safely in seven straight games with four doubles, including one yesterday. "We're playing a lot of good baseball right now."

Middlebrooks has been one of the keys in Lowell's resurgence.

"He has made a great adjustment to the breaking ball and has climbed out of a deep hole," said Spinners manager Gary DiSarcina.

Middlebrooks was hitting .158 on July 6. Since then he has hit the ball at a .297 clip to raise his average to .238.

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 05:13 PM

Lowell routs Vermont, 7-1

Britton (1-2), who entered the game with a 5.02 ERA and 30 hits allowed in 282/3 innings, held the Lake Monsters hitless in his five innings of work. He retired the first eight batters, four by strikeout, before giving up a two-out walk to Ricky Nolan in the third. It was the only baserunner against Britton as he then retired the final seven batters he faced.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when the Spinners scored two runs on three extra-base hits off Vermont starter Pat McCoy (1-3). Rafael Gil led the inning with a double down the left field line and scored one out later on a Jonathan Hee double to center field. After a strikeout for the second out, Mitch Dening tripled home Hee for a 2-0 Spinners lead.

RedSoxAnni

Aug 4 2008, 05:24 PM

Quakes End Losing Streak With 8-4 Win

Lancaster put together a two-out rally in the seventh inning scoring twice and narrowing the Quakes lead to 7-4. After Place walked and Navarro singled, his 11th hit of the series, Daniel Nava came through with a two-run double chasing reliever AJ Ford from the game.

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