Sox play a double dip today. Cleveland got rained out by Katrina. So we can pick up a full game in the standings if all goes well today.
Jon Garland and Joaquin Benoit match up in the opener.
Brandon McCarthy and Edison Volquez get called up to face off in the night cap. Volquez' minor league stats are good, but not great. He has a total of 10 starts above A-ball. Here are his numbers compared to those of McCarthy.
IP H R ER HR BB K ERA Volquez Hi-A 66.2 64 34 31 9 12 77 4.19 Volquez AA 58.2 58 29 27 6 17 49 4.14 McCarthy AAA 119.1 104 53 52 16 32 130 3.92
Supposedly he has a very live fastball (95MPH) and low 80's slider, so we could be in trouble. Even though the Sox and Texas are in the same spring training league, I doubt that Volquez was high enough on the chain this spring for them to invite him to big league camp(the stats back me up in this assumption). I doubt the Sox have seen him at all.
I know some of you only remember McCarthy from when he was busy getting shelled by Major League hitters back in June and July. Since then, he has really turned things around.
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Before 7/10 66.1 68 42 41 19 82 12 5.56 After 53 36 11 11 13 48 4 1.87 =============================================== 119.1 104 53 52 32 130 16 3.92