Hollinger, unite! The
Southtown's Nate Whalen and the
Sun-Times' Joe Cowley have offered strong defenses of Greg Walker. I particularly enjoyed this line from Cowley:
As for the rumblings that have started among fans and on talk shows, that's pure ignorance.
While I can understand their issues -- those were my only reservations in
a post a couple of days ago -- I can't understand how one can talk about Sox hitting as a general concept without discussing their chronic issues against left-handed pitchers. To omit the Sox's performances against lefties, from
Johan Santana to
Kason F. Gabbard, is its own brand of ignorance.
Meanwhile,
the Sox scored one run again tonight. I had the Angels' feed, so I couldn't hear how much Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson praised Kelvim Escobar for his transformation from a "thrower" into a "pitcher."
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Brandon McCarthy won his second game of the year, throwing
a quality start. He only allowed two hits in six innigs, but the four walks to one strikeout part doesn't bode well. Man, John Danks needs some run support.
And Boone Logan had a rough night. Not only did he give up a run that started with a broken-bat single, but he also lost a pre-game cow-milking contest to Angels rookie Brandon Wood.
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Minor league round-up:- Charlotte 6, Richmond 3
- Hitless in his first seven at-bats, Brian Anderson finally got on board with a 3-for-4 night, including a triple.
- Andy Gonzalez had a pair of doubles and RBI; Kennys Perez and Kelly had two hits apiece.
- Heath Phillips posted a quality start: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, with a pickoff; Ehren Wassermann and Ryan Bukvich closed it out.
- Tennessee 16, Birmingham 1
- Welcome to Earth, Gio Gonzalez: 3 1/3 IP, 9 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR. I'm guessing he just didn't have it tonight, because the log suggests that he never had control of the game.
- Edwardo Sierra gave up six runs in an inning to add insult to injury.
- Sean Smith drove in the only run, as the Barons didn't have a single extra-base hit.
- Frederick 6, Winston-Salem 5
- Clayton Richard allowed one unearned run over six innings and left the game with a 5-1 lead. Brian Omogrosso and Carlos Torres couldn't hold it. After starting the year off with 12 scoreless innings, Torres has allowed a run in four of his last five outings.
- Aaron Cunningham had a double and two RBI in three at-bats.
- Asheville 12, Kannapolis 2
- Go figure -- the Intimidators throw five pitchers out there, and all of them suck except for the struggling Kanekoa Texeira. Jacob Rasner couldn't finish three innings.
- Chris Carter was the only Kanny hitter with two hits; Francisco Hernandez Jr. had an RBI double.