posted on Saturday, May 12, 2007 12:24 AM by Jim

Cold rush

After another particularly flaccid effort against Garden-Variety Mediocre Lefty (played by Odalis Perez tonight), let's take a look at what the Kontract-Year Kids have achieved so far.  And yes, I'm well aware Joe Crede is under Sox control through the 2008 season, but his contract situation got more play than the other two:

 
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BA
OBP
SLG
Dye
114
22
3
0
6
16
.193
.273
.377
Crede
116
25
2
0
3
12
.216
.260
.310
Iguchi
94
21
4
1
2
6
.223
.321
.351

For comparison's sake, Dye was hitting .195/.235/372 when May 11 rolled around in 2005, so maybe there's some silver lining there.  But right now, it's looking like Kenny Williams hasn't done wrong by waiting.  It's just a shame most of the noise blared in this direction, and not towards the gaping hole in left that has yet to be filled.

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Speaking of Williams, color me unsettled by this Joe Cowley analysis:

''I can sleep at night knowing the pitching is good and it's going to take care of itself,'' Williams said. ''What we have on board and what we have below in case something happens, I can sleep.''

But no one is looking forward to the return of injured players Jim Thome, Scott Podsednik and Toby Hall more than Williams.

''With those injuries, that takes a lot of our identity away, so I really haven't seen this team play at full strength,'' Williams said. ''I don't think you can really assess who you are, so I just instructed our scouts to look at identifying what we need for next year.''

On the contrary, I think we've already gotten a good look at this team's possibilities because of their injuries.  OK, I'll give Kenny Hall, who separated his shoulder in a fluky situation, but Thome and Pods aren't anybody's definition of durable, and those problems are exacerbated when one is a violent-swinging power hitter with a bad back, and another is a speedy player with a bad groin.

The former is one reason why I was hesitant for the Sox to give up Ross Gload, and the latter is why I was surprised Pods returned as the No. 1 option for left field.  That, and not extensions to players who enjoyed career years, was Kenny's biggest gaffe.

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Minor league round-up:
  • Charlotte 7, Norfolk 1
    • Josh Fields is finally heating up: 2-for-4 with a two-run homer.  Brian Anderson also homered for his only hit, and added two more runs.  He's crossed the plate six times in his last three games.
    • Lance Broadway, pitching for the first time since his two-pitch abortion, gave up only five hits and one run in six innings.  He walked one and didn't strike anybody out.
    • Jason Childers, Paulino Reynoso and Ehren Wassermann combined for three scoreless innings of relief.
  • Birmingham 2, Jacksonville 1
    • Wes Whisler had his best start of the year: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6K.  The run came in the first inning.
    • Chris Getz went 2-for-4 to raise the average to .306; Thomas Collaro hit his seventh homer of the year.
    • Oneli Perez pitched two scoreless innings for the save.
  • Winston-Salem 12, Lynchburg 2
    • The Warthogs racked up 21 hits, with Pedro Jest Daron Roberts leading the way with four; Dave Cook scored four runs
    • Roberts (4), Aaron Cunningham (4) and Micah Schnurstein (10) all homered.
    • Clayton Richard threw six shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 2.52
  • Kannapolis 6, Greenville 0
    • Faustino De Los Santos had a dynamite outing: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 8 K.  The zero walks is a first.
    • Clevelan Santeliz, Ryan Rote and Kanekoa Texeira threw three scoreless innings of relief, striking out five.
    • Michael Grace went 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBI; Chris Carter went 1-for-3 with an RBI double.

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