Pitching Matchups; Game of the Day 4/11/11

(last season’s Minor League stats in parenthesis)

6:00pm
Trenton Thunder (Manny Banuelos 0-4, 2.51)
vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Michael Lee 9-7, 4.42)

6:05pm
Pawtucket Red Sox (Brandon Duckworth 5-4, 3.32)
vs. Buffalo Bisons (Casey Fossum 9-7, 3.55)

6:35pm
Reading Phillies (J.C. Ramirez 7-7, 4.82)
vs.New Hampshire Fisher Cats(Joel Carreno 9-6, 3.73)

7:00pm
New Britain Rock Cats (Liam Hendricks 8-4, 1.74)
vs. Harrisburg Senators (Erik Davis 14-3, 3.52)

Game of the Day – Thunder vs. Sea Dogs – OK, I fully admit it, I’m enthralled by the Killer B’s pitching prospects of the New York Yankees, most notably the 1-2 punch they got going in Trenton. Yesterday, monster righty Dellin Betances picked up a loss in his first start of the season in New Hampshire, but only allowed 1 earned run over 5.1 innings. Tonight Trenton throws the short lefty, Manny Banuelos at the Portland Sea Dogs. Banuelos, who most likely would have started in New Hampshire, had to miss the first series of the season due to a family matter that he had to attend to, so tonight will be his first start of the season. He impressed in Spring Training to the point where he arguably could have won a job with the big club, but his highest total in innings pitched was 109 in 2009 and he missed some time in 2010 with an appendectomy, so the Yanks decided to allow him time to marinate a bit more. The Sea Dogs counter with Michael Lee who is making his AA debut after steadily progressing through the Red Sox farm system over the past three seasons. The right handed Lee stands at 6’7”, doesn’t overpower hitters, but works well with his command as evident by his 56 walks over 190 innings of work in his career. The Sea Dogs are looking to roll with the momentum of yesterday’s 2-0 win over the RPhils and they catch Trenton in the midst of a three game skid after winning their opening game. It should be a nice duel at Hadlock this evening.