I'm back from Pawtucket, and here are the final day's
photo gallery and
YouTube gallery to prove it.
What did I learn?
Wiki's got a gun: If Toby Hall ever decides to abort his false-start of a season, the Sox won't need an Alomar. While Wiki Gonzalez probably won't hit much if he ever gets the call, but it's not hard to improve on Hall's .171/.171/.200 line.
At the plate, he went 6-for-13 over this extended weekend with five RBI, and even if that success doesn't translate to the big-league level, his arm would. He was 2-for-2 gunning down potential basestealers, and he enjoyed showing off his arm trying to pick off runners at second and first. At first I thought he was just getting cute -- until he actually caught Chad Spann sleeping off second today.
Sox catchers have been largely helpless against running games, so Gonzalez would provide a nice change of pace.
Still a hole: Brian Anderson is still susceptible to low and away breaking balls -- just like every other right-handed Sox prospect before him over the last seven years. In terms of his injury issues, I wouldn't have been able to detect anything one way or another. If I didn't know he was banged up, I wouldn't have noticed anything.
It's a sweet swing, but: Ryan Sweeney reminded me of
Mark Teahan at the plate this weekend.
Teahan, as you may recall, didn't even come close to hitting for the power expected of him until he learned to pull the ball. That's what he did in the second half of 2006, and the difference showed in his slugging percentage: .448 before the break, .582 after.
Sweeney is good at going the opposite way -- in fact, he's a little
too good. If Sweeney were viewed as a replacement for Scott Podsednik, that would be fine -- he would keep the line moving, provide speed on the basepaths and play great defense (he has a fine arm). But if the Sox are pegging him to replace Jermaine Dye's production ('05, not '07), he can't settle for going with the pitch as often as he does -- he'll have to wait to turn on pitches.
The Knights have the best AAAA bullpen ever: Charlotte relievers tossed six scoreless innings in the games I saw, and in
today's game they were particularly impressive. Jake Robbins, Jason Childers, Ehren Wassermann and Edwardo Sierra combined for four scoreless innings, with the latter three racking up two strikeouts apiece.
The problem? Robbins is 31, Childers is 32 and Sierra is 25, and none of them seem to have any definite major-league pitches. This is what we call the Bajenaru Syndrome. Wassermann is the only one who stands out -- if he can control his walk total, he could be a righty killer along the lines of Chad Bradford.
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Rest of the round-up:- Montgomery 6, Birmingham 1
- Gio Gonzalez pitched five scoreless innings before allowing a run in the sixth. He couldn't finish the seventh, giving up a solo homer and an unearned run -- which was due to his error. He allowed six hits and a walk over 6 2/3 innings, striking out four.
- Michael Myers hit a triple and came around to score the Barons' only run.
- Kinston 8, Winston-Salem 3
- Clayton Richard was shelled for seven runs over four innings. Matt Zaleski picked him up a little with his second straight scoreless three-inning relief effort.
- Javier Castillo went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI
- Greensboro 9, Kannapolis 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Matt Long was roughed up for nine runs on nine hits over five innings. He only struck out one.
- John Shelby, playing center field instead of second, drove in the lone run.
- Kannapolis 5, Greensboro 1 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Sergio Miranda went 3-for-3 with two runs scored at the top of the order and also drove in a run.
- Brandon Allen went 2-for-3 with two doubles, and Chris Carter went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
- Jose Zazueta improved to 2-8 on the season with a complete game. He allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out 10. The run was unearned.