July 22, 2006

G96: Mariners 5, Red Sox 2

Kason Gabbard (ML Debut) / Felix Hernandez (4.89), 4 PM

With Portland, Gabbard was leading the Eastern League with nine victories and had a .192 opponents batting average. He was promoted to Pawtucket on June 27 and was 1-3 in five starts. In his last PawSox start (Tuesday), he was limited to 69 pitches.

Gabbard was a 29th round pick in 2000. In AAA, he was very tough on LHB (.584 OPS) but RHB hit him pretty good (.842). His total AA OPS against was .554 OPS. ... He is the 11th pitcher to start a game for the Red Sox this season, and the ninth rookie to pitch for the club.

Jon Lester pitched with Gabbard at Portland last year: "He's got a good curve and changeup. He doesn't throw real hard, but because he locates his other pitches, it makes his fastball seem better." ... (More from: RedSox.com, Globe, Herald, Courant)

From a SoSH discussion:

The Boomer, noting the breathing room the Sox have on the Yankees right now:
Pitching tryouts for minor leaguers is a good thing for the organization. It sends a message that merit is rewarded and is great for minor league morale.
Carroll Hardy:
I absolutely concur. Moreover, it allows prospects to learn first hand what it takes to get big league hitters out with enough consistency to be successful at the MLB level. When he is 9-2 and dominating AA, it is very difficult to convince a young man how much work remains to be done, and how far away he is. ...

What remains to do is instructional: teaching and demanding execution, execution, execution. Learning to use -- and repeat with consistency -- one's entire arsenal, at varying speeds, and at all four corners of the strike zone. If you don't do it at AA, it's not a big deal. If you don't do it in the big leagues, you get beat.
MLB says Wily Mo Pena will get a start, with Ortiz at first and Manny DHing. I believe Lowell is back today, so Yook gets a rest.

I saw that MLB.TV costs only $50 for the rest of the year (2+ months), so I ordered it before last night's game. Since I don't like Joe and Jerry and the other team's radio guys are often simply ignorant of what's going on with the Red Sox, this seems like a really good deal. I hope to get NESN most of the time, but if not, I'll still have the picture and can watch without sound.

Gabbard Gabbard Hey!

9 comments:

Jack Marshall said...

Then again, Redsock, you'll have to listen to bozos like the Mariners TV crew. I loved Hendu in '86, but what an idiotic color man! Last night, after Moyer had give up four homers and 6 runs, he said, "Well, he's still in there because he really hasn't been in any trouble. He's just made some bad pitches." It was the 4th inning and the score was 6-0 (and 8-0 tw0 batters later)!! He also informed us that that Coco was obtained mostly for his glove, and that the Sox were really just a good team at home (as of last night, they had the third best road record in the league.)

allan said...

Tracer, tracer.

I know what you mean. Tracer.

Looks like Fox on Saturday.

Have you heard about the tracer?

Danie said...

Ugh, my ears are bleeding from the FOX guys....

It gets so annoying when the Umps give away runs for free....

thatdietcokegirl said...

yeah, first base ump needs mf lasik surgery or something, cause papi's foot was clearly on the bag.

also they seriously spent about 20 collective minutes discussing manny's 'showboating' of a line drive to right when moments after it happened they reasoned that he was standing there because he didn't know where the ball had gone.

Desert Sox said...

umm please, just delete anything nice I ever said about Julian Tavarez. Actually, if you want the guy to perform AT ALL, I don't think you can bring him in with anyone on base.

And though Gonzo made the error and all... right now I feel like JT couldn't hold a lead if his life depended on it, cause I sure know he can't hold one with his Red Sox career on the line! >sigh< ...and the Jays couldn't hold a 4-2 lead meaning the Yankees won 5-4, so the 3 1/2 game lead was short lived! I'm just so annoyed right now.

laura k said...

I wish they'd give it a rest about Manny already. Even if I agreed with them, I'd be sick of hearing about it. You'd think he invented showboating, or was the only player to not run out a ground ball once in a while.

I don't flat-out love Remy & Orsillo the way many Sox fans do, but these Fox announcers... lordy.

"Well, he's still in there because he really hasn't been in any trouble. He's just made some bad pitches." It was the 4th inning and the score was 6-0 (and 8-0 tw0 batters later)!!

I was scratching my head over that one. Hasn't been in trouble... four home runs... hasn't been in trouble... hmm.

Desert Sox said...

As for Hendu... hey the guy was pretty flaky as I recall. Didn't seem like the brightest bulb in the box. But if it weren't for the horror that was the ending of game 6, he'd be the hero of the Red Sox post season in 86. But i wouldn't want him on camera for the Sox or anyone else.

allan said...

Hendu is The Man to me for 1986.

With those home runs against the Angels and Mets, he was Ortiz before Ortiz was Ortiz.

Desert Sox said...

Oh, I don't disagree in the least, even when Hendu dumped that double off his glove and over the wall for an Angels home run, I knew nobody else on the Sox would have even gotten there, and he more than made up for it. Like I said he would have forever been remembered as the hero of the 86 World Series even if Hurst would have been MVP... if only, if only Stanley, if only Shiraldi...if only, etc.

Still, as I said Dave Henderson always was a tad out there, and I've actually caught his act once or twice with the Seahawks as color man, and for the thinking man who is a fan, it's just sad really. Love whay he did for the Sox, wouldn't ever want a steady diet of Hendu color commentary