Pitching Matchups; Game of the Day 5/9/11

6:15pm
Gwinnett Braves (Jacob Thompson 1-2, 5.45)
vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (Felix Doubront 0-0, 1.93)

6:35pm
Portland Sea Dogs (Stolmy Pimentel 0-4, 7.06)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Chad Beck 3-0, 2.42)

New Britain Rock Cats (Brett Jacobson 1-0, 3.00)
vs. Binghamton Mets (Robert Carson 1-3, 3.60)

Game of the Day – Braves vs. PawSox – After taking 3 of 4 from Scranton, the PawSox have moved within a ½ game of the Yankees in the IL’s North Division. They return home to McCoy to start an eight game homestand, kicking off with a four game series against the Gwinnett Braves tonight, the first meeting of these two squads this season. Felix Doubront has not earned a “W” in three starts with Pawtucket, but he has only pitched 9 1/3 innings combined after doing some bullpen work with the big club back in April. Look for Felix to stretch things out a little longer tonight, especially in the wake of some of the bigger guns on the staff getting called up to Boston…where Felix himself might be headed if he continues to pitch as effectively as he has. Gwinnett has a 16-13 record and currently sit in second place in the IL South. Offensively they are led by first baseman Mauro Gomez who is third in the IL with a .379 batting average, is tied for fourth with 6 home runs and is fourth with 23 RBI. The Braves have Jacob Thompson on the hill, a big righty who has not seen the south side of a 4.50 ERA in two years. He’s coming off back-to-back losses versus Columbus and Scranton, with his last outing coming back on May 2nd. This may not be the best pitching matchup of this four game set, but it could turn out to be very entertaining with two teams that match up fairly well.

Side note prediction (3-5) – Hey, hey, what do you know, I’m not a complete jinx! Now let’s see if I can put two in a row together here. I’m going to keep things easy here and predict a Chad Beck victory in tonight’s Sea Dogs/Fisher Cats tilt.

If you want to listen to any of the games live, just click below: