Empyreal Environs

Burned

Syracuse vs. Pawtucket: May 26, 2007 Sky Chiefs 10 W: Brian Wolfe (2-0) 19-28, 1 game winning streak Red Sox 7 H: Craig Hansen (3)H: Bryan Corey (7)BS, L: Mike Burns (5, 0-4) 19-26, 1 game losing streak Highlights: Brandon Moss and Russ Adams were afire with 4-for-5 efforts. The most impressive pitchers of the evening were steadily progressing Justin James and perennial minor leaguer Brian Wolfe. The duo pitched five and one-third shutout innings with five hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. Russ Adams wants a major league job back badly. He proved as much with his 4-for-5 showing including a first inning home run and a fifth inning triple. He hit them off a major league pitcher, Runelvys Hernandez. Upon further consideration, since Hernandez played for the Royals, I use the term “major league” in its loosest sense. The Paw Sox responded in the bottom of the first with two runs of their own. Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a single and Ty Taubenheim hit Joe McEwing and Jeff Bailey to load the bases. Brandon Moss doubled to tie the score. Moss matched Adams’s 4-for-5 effort and fell a home run short of hitting for the cycle....

28 May 2007 ∙ 11:33 AM ∙ May 2007 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: minor league affiliates ∙ Pawtucket Red Sox

Jetting to California

The Red Sox have signed an agreement with the Lancaster JetHawks. The California-based team will be Boston’s Class A Advanced affiliate for the next two seasons. The JetHawks are in the South Division of the California League, an organization whose league factors tend to inflate offensive production. Lancaster in particular skews offensive numbers, a good thing to know if any positional players “breakout” or any pitchers “slump.” Now that the Red Sox are bi-coastal, it’s time to evaluate if this switch was for the better. Old AffiliateBlue Rocks New AffiliateJetHawks Advantage Name “Blue Rocks,” a phrase prone to puns and doggerel, but rhymes with “Red Sox.” The colors clashed, however. “JetHawks” call to mind mechanized birds of prey, menacing creatures to be sure. The threat is somewhat lessened by the superfluous conflation of the two words. JetHawks Location On the banks of the Cape Fear River. Blue Velvet and “Dawson’s Creek” were both filmed here. Fastest-growing city in the county. Largest city named “Lancaster” in the world. Site of the California Poppy Festival. JetHawks Mascots Rocky Bullwinkle, a possible copyright infringer, is joined by Mr. Celery and Rubble. KaBoom, a purple hawk. Blue Rocks Stadium Frawley Stadium, named after...

30 September 2006 ∙ 9:18 AM ∙ 2006 News
Tags: Lancaster JetHawks ∙ minor league affiliates ∙ Wilmington Blue Rocks

Sea Dogged Determination

Congratulations to the 2006 Portland Sea Dogs. Last night they won their first ever Eastern League Championship. Some standouts from the five-game series: Brandon Moss, OF. Named Eastern League Playoff MVP. Over nine playoff games, Moss hit .361 with five home runs and 10 RBIs. Devern Hansack, RHP. Pitched seven scoreless in Game 1. Eight innings pitched with three earned runs, no bases on balls, and eight strikeouts in Game 5. Dustin Brown, C. Four RBIs, a double, a triple, and two walks in Game 2. Kyle Jackson, RHP. Held the Aeros scoreless for two perfect innings in Game 4 with two strikeouts. Keoni DeRenne, IF. Three-RBI triple in Game 5. Congratulations to the Red Sox Double-A affiliate for defeating Cleveland’s farm club. Perhaps this earns them an invite to Fenway for futures event in 2007....

18 September 2006 ∙ 2:08 PM ∙ 2006 News
Tags: minor league affiliates ∙ Portland Sea Dogs

Rebound

Rochester vs. PawtucketRed Wings (75-60), 4Red Sox (65-70), 5L: Beau Kemp (7-4)W: Craig Breslow (7-1)S: Jermaine Van Buren (15) In general, they were bigger (if you don’t include Willie Harris), older (Quinton McCracken was born in 1970), and stronger (two players, one from each team, hit home runs) than their Class A counterparts. Some of them had already played on this inviolable ground, so the field trip to Fenway may have vexed them. They may well feel that it shouldn’t be some special event that brings them back to this particular diamond. For those who had been recently denied the chance to play in a major league park with a major league team, it was a chance to show that they didn’t deserve to be demoted. Lenny DiNardo started the game despite the scuttlebutt that Chris Smith was tapped for the honor. The Boston Red Sox are probably looking to shore up their flagging rotation and the nod for DiNardo was probably to gauge if he could help the big league team. The lefty’s first inning saw him ill at ease; he pitched behind to all four batters he faced and allowed a leadoff single. By the next two...

27 August 2006 ∙ 11:44 PM ∙ August 2006 Game Comments
Tags: minor league affiliates ∙ Pawtucket Red Sox ∙ prospects

Enrapt

Oneonta vs. LowellTigers (35-29), 1Spinners (31-33), 3L: Thomas Thornton (1-3)W: Justin Masterson (2-1)H: Brian Steinocher (1)S: Josh Papelbon (10) Since the Gulf Coast League Red Sox won the championship of their league on Friday, six members of the team were recognized prior to the Spinners game and four of them got to take part of the game: catcher Jonathan Egan, first baseman Mike Jones, outfielder Ryan Kalish, and infielder Kris Negron. Southpaw pitcher Felix Duobront and lefty-hitting second baseman Chih-Hsien Chiang were also promoted but did not see playing time at Fenway. Spinners starter Kris Johnson gave up a run early; perhaps he was nervous pitching in such a setting. He allowed my nominee for Baseball Player Name of the Year Deik (pronounced “deke”) Scram to ground a double to left; Scram advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Santo De Leon. The first inning ended with a dizzying 6-2-5-2-3-6 double play. Fittingly, “One”onta scored only one run the entire game. For a team that had such esteemed personages such as John Elway, Al Leiter, Don Mattingly, and the homegrown Yankees of the most recent dynasty don their uniforms, the current Class A affiliate of...

27 August 2006 ∙ 10:00 PM ∙ August 2006 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 2
Tags: Lowell Spinners ∙ minor league affiliates ∙ prospects

Enlighten

Vermont vs. LowellLake Monsters (16-31), 3Spinners (23-23), 4L: Cory Van Allen (1-2)W: Travis Beazley (2-2)H: Jean Guillen (5)S: Josh Papelbon (7) I adore Class A baseball. There’s something infinitely appealing about the naïve nature of the players. You know very well they yearn for the riches that their major league counterparts rake in, but in this emergent stage they show that they must temper themselves to instruction and adhere to their club’s philosophy. LeLacheur Park is a place of whimsy. The tiny confines must loom large to freshly drafted players inured of metal bats and makeshift fields. Here they pursue their dreams as they track down fly balls or chase down grounders, rough edges yet to be polished through countless repetition of these tasks that will, with the refinement of time, turn into mundane undertakings. Until then, however, fans can expect errors like Luis Sergovia’s in the second inning. With two out and two on, the Spinners shortstop flubbed an easy pop fly that more properly should have been caught by the left fielder. This allowed two runs to score. The inning continued with Richard Caputo’s RBI single up the middle to give Vermont the early lead. The Spinners...

8 August 2006 ∙ 2:38 PM ∙ August 2006 Game Comments
Tags: games in-person ∙ Lowell Spinners ∙ minor league affiliates ∙ Papelbon (Josh) ∙ prospects

Bedevil

Game 101: July 28, 2006Angels (53-49), 8Red Sox (61-40), 3W: Kelvim Escobar (7-9)L: Jon Lester (5-1) Yesterday was Mike Lowell Day at LeLacheur Park; at least there the home team won and the fans could enjoy Mike Lowell double cheeseburgers from the concession stands. The final score of the match-up against Vermont was 7-5. Keith Foulke started the game and pitched for single inning and one strikeout. Papelbon notched his sixth save--Josh Papelbon, that is. Lowell’s at bats were played live during the Class A game. Lowell went 1 for 4; his one hit, fittingly, was a double in the second. The Gold Glover had no errors and saw a lot of action with a left-hander on the mound, fielding a total of seven balls to him for outs. During the Red Sox broadcast, Don Orsillo mentioned that there were many Red Sox players that shared their names with Massachusetts towns, and then only managed to to conjure up Tim Wakefield. Since the NESN staff is probably occupied with researching actual statistics, I took the liberty of sending them my research on the All-Time All-Town Team. Jon Lester was burdened with his first loss in the first meeting between...

29 July 2006 ∙ 9:03 AM ∙ July 2006 Game Comments
Tags: All-Time All-Town Team ∙ Angels ∙ Lowell Spinners ∙ minor league affiliates ∙ Papelbon (Josh)