posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:33 AM
by
Jim
When young lefties collide
Hope to have more later this morning, but good God,
this game bored me.
Slight update: John Danks has quite the task on his hands when he goes up against Clayton Kershaw today, and we'll see if he can hold his own.
Considering the way the White Sox offense struggled
against Jorge De La Rosa, Kershaw offers a lot of the same problems. He has an above average fastball that he can get into the high-90s, a big honkin' curve and
an improving changeup. He doesn't have De La Rosa's slider, but De La Rosa's other pitches didn't match Kershaw's in terms of stuff.
He also has yet to record his first career win, which the Sox seem to enjoy awarding to young left-handers.
The good news is that, like Danks, he's no model of efficiency. He's
only lasting 4.83 innings per start, and has walked 5.58 per nine.
This would be a good breakout game for Danks, who was as efficient as he's been in quite some time
against the Cubs before getting pulled for a pinch hitter with only 85 pitches through six innings. The only knock against him so far is that he hasn't been able to go more than six innings, but for the first time in quite a while, it wasn't his fault last week.
With the Sox only owning a half-game lead over the Twins and a series win on the line, Danks could do a lot for his cred today. He doesn't necessarily have to outpitch Kershaw, because he 1) doesn't have his stuff, and 2) he isn't facing the Sox's lineup. But barring the offense opening up the floodgates for once on the road, Danks will almost certainly have to
outlast Kershaw.
I'd take seven innings of two-run ball right now, even if the chances are solid that he'll be down 2-0 if he pitches like that.
*******************
Minor league roundup:- Norfolk 6, Charlotte 1
- Dave Cook went 2-for-4, and is hitting .396.
- Javier Castillo had two hits, including a double.
- Wes Whisler pitched well enough in defeat, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits over six innings.
- Mike MacDougal gave up three runs in his inning of work.
- Mississippi 6, Birmingham 0
- Mississippi's Thomas Hanson threw a no-hitter, striking out 14 Barons.
- Miguel Negron drew two of Birmingham's three walks.
- Dewon Day gave up all six runs on eight hits over 2 1/3 innings.
- Ryan O'Malley threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief.
- Kannapolis 2, Lexington 1
- Miguel Socolovich pitched seven excellent innings, allowing only two hits and a walk while striking out four. One hit was a solo homer.
- Christian Marrero had the only multi-hit game for Kanny with two singles.
- Bristol 5, Kingsport 4
- Kenneth Gilbert doubled and drove in two.
- Juan Silverio went 2-for-4 and drove in his 15th runl Brandon Short had two hits and scored twice.
- Brett Graffy struck out three over two scoreless innings.
- Great Falls 12, Helena 6
- Jesus Avila went 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored.
- Brent Morel went 1-for-3 with two walks; the Voyagers walked 12 times on the night.
- Dexter Carter and Charlis Burdie pitched four hitless innings of relief, striking out seven.