Pitching Matchips; Game of the Day 5/5/11

10:35pm – GAME 1
Richmond Flying Squirrels (Clayton Tanner 0-2, 5.40)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (Steve Hirschfeld 1-0, 2.05)

GAME 2 – will start approx. 45 minutes following game 1
Richmond Flying Squirrels (Ryan Verdugo 1-0, 1.69)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (Liam Hendriks 2-1, 3.43)

11:05pm
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (B.J. LaMura 1-1, 1.80)
vs. Reading Phillies (J.C. Ramirez 4-0, 1.03)

6:35pm
Pawtucket Red Sox (Alfredo Aceves 0-1, 5.63)
vs. Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees (N/A)

7:05pm
Portland Sea Dogs (Stephen Fife 2-2, 4.50)
vs. Trenton Thunder (Manny Banuelos 0-0, 1.56)

Game of the Day – Sea Dogs vs. Thunder - I was very tempted to just cut and paste yesterday’s GotD into today's and just sub in J.C. Ramirez for Mike Cisco, but I’m not much of a morning guy, so I point towards one of the two Red Sox/Yankees matchups we have in store. Stephen Fife has looked pretty good at times this year for the Sea Dogs…he’s also looked pretty damn bad. Fife won his first two starts, but has blown up a bit in his last two, catching an “L” in both and allowing 6 earned runs and 8 hits in just 8 innings. As you may know by now, I got a bit of a thing for some of the Yankees pitching prospects, more specifically yesterday’s starter Dellin Betances and tonight’s starter Manny Banuelos. ManBan was hampered with a blister earlier in the year, but that hasn’t slowed him one bit as the lefty has allowed just 3 earned runs in his four starts. However he has yet to pick up a “W” for the Thunder and I’m sure they are relying on him for a few more than none. Portland is hoping to end this road trip with only their third road win of the year…but a win is a win, so take them when you can. Tonight it won’t come easy!

Side note predictions (2-3) – Dellin Betances only struck out 5 Portland batters (I predicited 8+), but still looked damn good in doing in. Regardless, it’s another “L”, sinking me under .500 in this fun little endeavor I’ve started and can't seem to stop. Moving on; in an effort to get off the schnide, I’ll predict a Rock Cats sweep of their doubleheader today. Go get ‘em New Britain!