After Darin Erstad's horrendous first at-bat against Rich Harden during
tonight's 4-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics, Darrin Jackson descended into some sort of spiraling cliché-filled tornado of defense. For some reason, DJ had to insist Erstad was "all about winning," and one of the things he said to Jack McDowell was, "You can lead a horse to water..."
I'm not even sure where or
how he dropped that one in, but it was sort of ironic, since he was doing the same to McDowell all night long. He was leading Black Jack to water -- muddy, undrinkable water -- and trying to shove his head into it.
I like listening to McDowell, who is filling in for Hawk Harrelson on this road trip. He has a thin voice which doesn't command people to listen, but that's partially due to how relaxed he sounds. He's pretty much in and out with a point, which is preferable from a non-professional. While he didn't say much about Sox hitters, he did provide some spot-on commentary about Jose Contreras' inconsistency.
McDowell seemed to know when to talk on his own, but DJ kept pushing the issue. It reminded me of the old episodes of "Home Run Derby," where the host would ask Duke Snider, Willie Mays or Harmon Killebrew questions that only had one answer. "Boy, Hank sure hit that one a long way, huh?"
DJ provided the same experience throughout the ballgame. Jackson just kept talking, asking obvious questions, making McDowell talk about his career during crunch time, like a 2-2 count to Mike Piazza with a runner on in the eighth inning. Say what you will about Hawk, but in that situation -- with the Sox ahead and receiving fair treatment from the umps, of course -- he's either talking about defensive alignments or letting the crowd handle it.
Kinda weird how DJ could learn something about saying less from Hawk, huh?
Minor league round-up- Charlotte 3, Syracuse 1
- Vladimir Nunez, last seen playing for four different organizations in 2005, pitched six shutout innings, walking none and striking out six.
- Josh Fields didn't strike out, the first time that's happened in four games, and had a sac fly.
- Luis Terrero hit his
first third homer of the season.
- Birmingham 5, Carolina 0
- Kris Honel (remember him?), Fernando Hernandez Jr. and Carlos Vazquez combined to throw a two-hitter, and faced only two over the minimum.
- Chris Getz, Jeremy West and Jeremy Frost each had three hits. FutureSox has an interview with Getz.
- The Barons ran wild and free -- they stole three bases, were caught stealing twice, and picked off once.
- Winston-Salem 3, Myrtle Beach 2
- Aaron Cunningham went 1-for-3 with a walk and two stolen bases.
- Carlos Torres, pitching in relief after 20 starts last year, threw two perfect innings.
- Kannapolis 9, Rome 1
- Chris Carter had a monster game -- 3-for-5 with a homer, double and 4 RBI
- Justin Edwards threw five shutout innings for the win.