St. Francis----In their longest stretch of the year, the lowly (59-68) Friars took a step toward respectability, rattling off a six-game winning streak, including a 3-1 win over the staggering Horned Toads, handing the division leaders a loss in a game that saw mid-season free agent signing Paul Konerko go 4-for-4 to raise his season average to .372 while unheralded journeyman starter Randy Wells improved to 4-7 with a 4.19 ERA.
Wells allowed only five hits, but one was a single to red-hot (20-for-his-last 47) OF Carlos Gonzalez for the Toads' only run of the game. At 12 games back, and two clubs above them with less than a month to play, no one on the Friars roster is getting all that excited....with the possible exception of C Jason Varitek. The veteran, sent over from Pottsylvania while on the DL as a throw-in, has emerged as a team leader since making his way back into the lineup. Despite hitting below .200, Varitek has had several clutch hits as part of the current streak and to a man, every person in the organization raves about his leadership. And that was certainly true in this game, as Varitek doubled and scored to hang the loss on John Danks (9-6, 3.51)
"Let's not get too excited," snapped acting GM ‘Trader' Jack McKeon when questioned by reporters. "I didn't ask for Varitek to have him sit on the bench. I think he can still play a little, and I want him around—if the price is right----so that I can have an old hand around for my young catchers to talk to. Sure, Jason's a winner....but it's going to take a lot more than a hot streak by an old guy to turn this franchise around. I remember back in 1986, the year the Mets won it all, and the Atlanta Braves were the WORST team in baseball...by far, the only real stinker in the league. But, one weekend in June, the Mets came into Atlanta and they were swept by the Braves! So, let's not get too excited. Every dog has its day, and we still have a lot of work to do with this club!"
In other BARB action:
LOS ANGELES 9, POTTSYLVANIA !
WP: Jeff Francis (2-1, 3.61)
LP: Armando Gallaraga (7-12, 6.91)
Rookie Mike Stanton had three hits, Nick Swisher slugged his 27th HR with two men aboard and Jeff Francis worked eight solid innings to keep the struggling Creepers around .500 (64-63) in the Central Division.
FROSTBITE FALLS 8, YUMA 2
WP: Felix Hernandez (13-8, 3.31)
LP: Matt Cain (12-10, 4.06)
Adam Lind's 21st bomb of the year, a three-run shot, capped a five-run first against Matt Cain and a butter-finger defense, Vladimir Guerrero kicked a ground ball that Buster Posey threw into the outfield attempting to gun down Jose Reyes. The Squirrels won their fifth straight, and with less than a month of games to play, have managed to catch Worcester in the ‘win' column and take the narrowest of leads in the ultra-competitive East.
BLACK MESA 8, WORCESTER 3
WP: Ted Lilly (4-8, 4.30)
LP: Ryan Dempster (13-8, 4.02)
Ted Lilly had a pair of hits, an RBI and used 120 pitches in seven workmanlike innings to give the Anomalies enough for a win, knocking the Eliminators out of first place for the first time in over two months, helped by four hits (including his 3rd HR of the year) from Bobby Abreu. With Jack Wilson and Justin Morneau seemingly out for the season along with Dustin Pedroia, the incredibly-thin Anomalies infield is...get this....playing Miguel Cabrera at the hot corner, while the admittedly-skilled Adrian Beltre plays......(wait for it)......short..!
(In other words, expect this last place club's record to get even worse)
MADTOWN 5, BROOKLYN 2
WP: Hideki Kuroda (14-6, 3.74)
LP: Ubaldo Jiminez (14-7, 3.36)
SV: Wilson (17)
Ramon Hernandez and Matt Holliday both went deep for the Murlocs, and Hideki Kuroda managed to get the win despite Jiminez fanning 10 Murloc hitters, to keep ‘Chops' Braga's club three-and-a-half games behind Yuma and just two games out in the wild card hunt.
No comments:
Post a Comment