There once was a game in Pawtucket … (make sure you don’t say the "w")

I've finally gotten a chance to scribble together my Meet-up promised, random notes report of a base-ball game of some possible interest to SSS readers.

Yesterday on a gorgeous Memorial Day I brought my son to the game between the AAA Knights and the local "Paw Sox" (for some reason, here, it's ok to say the "w"). btw, McCoy Stadium in little Rhody is really a gem, they do a great job with that old-timey baseball feel, cheap tix, great food, and being only 40 miles from Boston you always have a really good chance of seeing a Red Sox doing a rehab stint. I go to 4-5 games a year and have seen Boggs, Clemens, Canseco, Wakefield at various times. Ellsbury hit a triple at a game we were at a couple of weeks ago.

Even though the home team won it late with a well placed, right field line double by recent major leaguer Josh Reddick, from our point of view it was mostly good feelings about old friend Carlos Torres.  He was really outstanding.  He struck out 10 and gave up only three hits and two walks in 6 1/3.  With two men on in the third he struck out the clean-up hitter to end the inning and then in the 6th after a walk and a bad error by his shortstop, Torres struck out 3 straight. 

Carlos Torres your table is ready.

via i1005.photobucket.com

You may recall that he really has to rely on changing speeds, he got guys out throwing 92 as well as 68. He seemed really confident and in control but certainly tired quickly in the 7th .  (He ended up with 105 pitches.) He does owe a nice steak to Jordan Danks for the defensive play of the game, a homer stealing catch in the 2nd off the bat of the aforementioned Mr. Reddick.  Danks's glove was at least a foot over the 8 foot wall - an outstanding athletic play - hopefully a video will show up soon on You-Tube.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see Dayan Viciedo as we seemed to be seeing a bit of a makeshift lineup (hmm, is this something of an organizational philosophy?).  Just based on the scorecard, the Knights had their third-string catcher playing 3rd, their first baseman playing 2nd and an outfielder playing 1st. 

As far as the Knight's offense went, there wasn't much to note.  Michael Bowden (he of a 5.83 era) pitched efficiently for the Paw Sox consistently hitting 94 on the gun and striking out 7.   The Knights hitters seemed to be having trouble catching up to Bowden although I did notice that they have struck out over 100 times more than the PawSox this year in around 50 games.  That seems like a lot.  Tyler Flowers' long swing got him rung up twice by Bowden but he did shorten up to pull a ball between short and third off a reliever in the 7th.

May Flowers in Rhode Island

via i1005.photobucket.com

Buck Coats really should get a career playing a ball player, he looks great at it, at 6'3" I think he's a bit tall to be "grindy" and he did get on base twice but was thrown out stealing with an excellent throw by yet another catcher named Molina. Is it possible that guys are starting to change their names to "Molina" hoping that a G.M. somewhere gets confused and signs them to a deal? 

The only other thing of note was that the Knights coaching staff all have pretty big guts. Chris Chambliss, Gary Ward and Rich Dotson all could stand to lose 40 pounds a piece, maybe not "Biggest Loser" territory but perhaps they could make a few bucks cutting a deal with a local Charlotte Jenny Craig franchise.  Fun Fact I did not know: Gary Ward had 2 MLB All-Star game appearances compared to the other 2 guys with 1 each, although based on this year's performance of the weak hitting Knights, we might want to look outside the organization should Walk ever be jettisoned.

That's about all I got...Little League managing duties will prevent me from catching the rest of the series live, but depending how my games go, you might get a "G.I. Joes" recap. (Surely we must have the only kid's team in the nation sponsored by an outfit with a motto - "All your tobacco and lottery needs".)  Bye for now.