9.09.2012

9.8.12 Red Sox @ Yankees - Goodbye, Melky.

Pawtucket wins 7-1, advances in the playoffs. They're going to play Charlotte. I was rooting for the Indians. The Knights are mad tough.

Thank you, Nelson Figueroa. He was awesome, pitched eight one-run innings for the PawSox. That one run was a homer by Corban Joseph in the fourth inning. Figueroa gave up two hits and a walk and threw 118 pitches, which seems high until you remember that he pitched in the Mets org. Oh, yeah, Figueroa got eight strikeouts, too. Superlative effort.

Lefty Vidal Nuno pitched 1 2/3 innings and then had to take a powder, since it was him alone giving up seven runs to Pawtucket. Sorry, Nuno. I do feel bad for this kid. All the runs for Pawtucket came in that second inning, with more singles than Foreigner 4. So when Joseph hit his solo shot in the fourth, the result was that 7-1 final score that remained unchanged for the rest of the game.

So what happened in the second inning? Andy LaRoche led off with a single. There you go, good night.

No, what happened was Bryce Brentz and Dan Butler hit consecutive singles after that. Nuno got Jason Repko to pop up to second (infield fly rule, just ask Vee), but then Jonathan Hee hit an RBI single and Jeremy Hazelbaker hit an RBI single.

Then Tony Thomas singled! No, Thomas grounded into a force, but it scored Dan Butler. Next guy was JC Linares, who singled. Hee scores! Who scores? Hee does.

Danny Valencia was next, batting just ahead of LaRoche again. I bet people get those two mixed up a lot. Especially your mom. Valencia saw a pitch, banged it to left field. Home run! Three more runs in! And that was it. Kelvin Perez came in to pitch, got LaRoche out, ended the inning.

Alex Wilson pitched the ninth. Uno-dos-tres, five effing pitches. Who is this playoffs Alex Wilson and where's he been hiding all season? Is he real life?

two things:
1. Bryce Brentz also hit a double at some point. Post-season MVP? Maybe?

2. Only Tony Thomas was hitless. Sorry.

3. "After the game, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees radio play-by-play announcer and team spokesman Mike Vander Woude announced that he would be stepping down from his positions to devote more time to his family." - Aw. Hyder, don't get any ideas.

4. Also: "The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise will open its 24th season at the renovated stadium on April 4, 2013 against Pawtucket." - Oh, so the schedule's set, then? And will they be the Trolley Frogs or what?

5. In case you didn't know, Figueroa had been pitching for the Yankees before they released him and Pawtucket picked him up. Figueroa's a New Yorker, so the whole thing kind of sucked for him: "When a team releases you,” said Figueroa, “you put that chip on your shoulder and carry it for a little while. You always want to prove you’re not done. I knew I wasn’t done by a long shot. The same thing that worked for me for 17 years worked for me tonight.”

6. Corban Joseph is dumb: “It’s been a grind,” Joseph said. “It’s something no other team has done before.” No? No other team in the history of baseball has played without a home park? Look it up, butthead.

7. So I watched highlights of the Yankees/Orioles game last night, and yeah, that was a blown call at first. But oh my god, is it ever nice to see a call NOT go the Yankees way. I know it's wrong... But it feels so right.

TUESDAY NIGHT! Playoffs v Charlotte Knights. I don't know who's pitching. I'm mega-bitter that I won't be attending unless I can pull off a miracle. I need a field reporter!

Bye!

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