Tonight's Probable Pitchers 8/31/10

AAA
Rochester Red Wings (David Bromber 1-3, 3.45)
vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (Fabio Castro 6-9, 4.84) @ 7:05pm

AA
Harrisburg Senators (Ryan Tatusko 2-1, 2.38)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Clint Everts 4-1, 6.09) @ 6:35pm

Binghamton Mets (Eric Beaulac 0-1, 5.40)
vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Stephen Fife 6-6, 5.03) @ 7:05pm

New Britain Rock Cats (Steve Hirschfeld 0-0, 4.58)
vs. Reading Phillies (Michael Cisco 4-9, 4.54) @ 7:05pm

A
Vermont Lake Monsters - Completion of 8/21 suspended game
vs. Brooklyn Cyclones @ 6:00pm

Vermont Lake Monsters (Bobby Hansen 3-2, 4.17)
vs. Brooklyn Cyclones (N/A) @ 7:00pm

Tri-City ValleyCats (David Martinez 4-2, 2.78)
vs. Lowell Spinners (Madison Younginer 3-6, 4.74) @ 7:05pm

Aberdeen IronBirds (Bruno Sanchez 3-4, 4.80)
vs. Connecticut Tigers (Clemente Mendoza 6-5, 4.72) @ 7:05pm

You can listen to all games at:
MiLB Gameday Audio

Standings

Through games played on 8/30/10

Honors Abound

The honors for local players have been flying furiously lately and we got backed up by a week on these matters...Our apologies! Let's not waste any time here and get you caught up on all the accolades.

One thing thing that we are definitely a week behind on is the International League Pitcher of the Week honors earned by Pawtucket's Ramon Ramirez. He took the honor for the week of August 16th-22nd when he went 2-0, worked 12 innings and allowed only 2 earned runs and 8 hits.

Sticking in the International League, Josh Reddick provided the PawSox with back-to-back weekly honors, taking the I.L. Player of the Week award for the week of August 23rd-29th. This is the second time that the Pawtucket outfielder has taken the award this season, winning back at the beginning of the month during the week of August 2nd-8th. Last week Reddick had a .500 average with 17 hits, 5 homers, 4 doubles and 12 RBI.

In the Eastern League another Red Sox prospect took Player of the Week honors as Portland's Ryan Lavarnway earned the distinction for the week of August 23rd-29th. The Sea Dogs catcher batted .421 with 4 home runs, 7 runs scored, 7 RBI and 9 walks on the week. Lavarnway reached base at least two times in the seven games played over the span.

Staying in the E.L., the league recently announced their annual, end-of-the-season All Star team. The Portland Sea Dogs were represented by Ray Chang who was selected in the Utility Player slot. New Britain Rock Cats Ben Revere was one of three local outfielders chosen for the team. He is flanked by Darin Mastroianni and Eric Thames of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, who are both helping to rewrite the franchise record books. Another Fisher Cat rounded out the local All Stars as Kyle Drabek was named to the squad as the best right-handed pitcher in the league. The All Stars are voted on by Eastern League managers, coaching staffs, sportswriters, radio and television broadcast personnel and other members of the media.

Kyle Drabek was showered with even more (well-deserved) adoration by the Eastern League when he was named Pitcher of the Year. With one start to go in the regular season, Drabek has compiled the most wins in the Eastern League with a 14-9 record. He is first in the league with 159 innings pitched, second in the league with a 2.89 ERA, second with 127 strikeouts and fourth with a 1.19 WHIP. Drabek has picked up 5 wins and a no decision over his last 6 outings in helping lead the Fisher Cats to a playoff berth. The highlight of the season came back on July 4th when Drabek tossed a no-hitter, which helped him earn E.L. Player of the Week honors. The 22 year old was the key piece of the Toronto Blue Jays off season trade of Roy Halladay and is the son of former Major League Cy Young Award Winner Doug Drabek.

The last award on our hit list takes us to Vermont where Lake Monsters catcher David Freitas picked up the Tom Racine Award as team MVP. The award is voted on by the fans who thought Freitas' efforts this year were worthy of the honor. Freitas put together a franchise record 21 game hit streak earlier in the season, he made the New York Penn-League All Star game and won the Home Run Derby. The California native is hitting .308 on the year with 4 home runs, 17 doubles, 38 RBI and 30 runs scored.

Congrats to all the players on their much deserved recognition. Six new awards were probably announced while I wrote this, so I'll go check things out and report back on any other local laurels that come about.

Tonight's Probable Pitchers 8/30/10

AAA
Rochester Red Wings (Matt Fox 6-8, 4.08)
vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (Rich Hill 2-0, 3.57) @ 7:05pm

AA
Harrisburg Senators (Brad Peacock 2-1, 3.72)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Randy Boone 4-9, 3.65) @ 6:35pm

Binghamton Mets (Robert Carson 1-5, 8.26)
vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Jeremy Kehrt 2-11, 4.97) @ 7:05pm

New Britain Rock Cats (Matthew Williams 1-3, 6.53)
vs. Reading Phillies (Austin Hyatt 1-0, 4.60) @ 7:05pm

A
Vermont Lake Monsters (Chad Jenkins 2-6, 4.31)
vs. Aberdeen IronBirds (Justin Anderson 4-4, 5.92) @ 7:05pm

Staten Island Yankees (Dustin Hobbs NR)
vs. Lowell Spinners (Keith Couch 1-5, 4.74) @ 7:05pm

Brooklyn Cyclones (Jonathan Kountis 0-1, 6.55)
vs. Connecticut Tigers (Brennan Smith 1-5, 3.36) @ 7:05pm

You can listen to all games at:
MiLB Gameday Audio

Game of the Day - Lake Monsters @ Aberdeen - It's been a grueling stretch of road for the Vermont Lake Monsters as-of-late. They've gone 2-5 over their last 7 games with a postponement, a cancellation and a suspended game in between. During the slide they've allowed the Connecticut Tigers to pull into a tie for first place in the Stedler Division with 8 games left (plus the completion of that suspended game), all of them on the road. So it's put up or shut up time for the Lake Monsters tonight in Aberdeen. Chad Jenkins gets the ball for Vermont with hopes of earning his first victory since July 17th. His last two appearances have been out of the pen and he allowed only 1 hit and an earned run over 4 innings of work. Aberdeen counters with Justin Anderson who is coming off of his best start of the season on August 24th when he tossed 5 innings of 1 hit ball against the Staten Island Yankees. In his prior three starts, Anderson allowed a whopping 19 earned runs over 9 2/3 innings. Vermont can take the season series against the IronBirds with a win tonight, but more importantly they can provide some momentum leading into a hefty 4 game series against Brooklyn, the best team in the New York-Penn League.

Today's Probable Pitchers 8/29/10

AAA
Pawtucket Red Sox (Adam Mills 3-9, 5.05)
vs. Rochester Red Wings (Kyle Gibson 0-0, 1.72) @ 1:05pm

AA
Bowie Baysox (Ryohei Tanaka 6-12, 6.03)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (Deolis Guerra 2-10, 6.24) @ 1:35pm

Portland Sea Dogs (Kyle Weiland 5-8, 4.72)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Zach Stewart 8-3, 3.73) @ 1:5pm

A
Brooklyn Cyclones (Angel Cuan 5-0, 1.91)
vs.Connecticut Tigers (Josue Carreno 4-6, 4.47) @ 1:05pm

Staten Island Yankees (N/A)
vs. Lowell Spinners (Hunter Cervenka 0-4, 3.81) @ 5:30pm

Vermont Lake Monsters (Taylor Jordan 2-2, 5.33)
vs. Aberdeen Ironbirds (Tyler Sexton 1-6, 7.20) @ 5:35pm

You can listen to all games at:
MiLB Gameday Audio

Game of the Day - PawSox @ Rochester - The PawSox are in the midst of a 5-game win streak, their second longest on the season. If they desire to tie their longest win streak of the season, they'll have to be on their game as they face a tough opponent in Kyle Gibson today. Gibson is a familiar face to the GotD from his time with New Britain this season. Since being called up to AAA Rochester earlier this month, he has made 3 starts, all no decisions, but has posted a 1.72 ERA in 15 2/3 innings of work. In 26 starts on the season, over three different levels of play, Gibson has posted an 11-6 record with a 2.96 ERA. The PawSox will put Adam Mills in charge of keeping the momentum and the win streak rolling. Mills started the win streak back on the 24th when he threw 6 solid innings, allowing no runs and only 5 hits in picking up the "W". He faced the Red Wings back on July 9th and got a no decision, but was roughed up for 5 runs and 9 hits over 5 innings. Pawtucket currently leads the season series 7-5, with one left to play in Rochester, followed by a two game series against each other in Pawtucket, starting tomorrow.

Tonight's Probable Pitchers 8/27/10

AAA
Pawtucket Red Sox (Ramon Ramirez 4-4, 5.20)
vs. Rochester Red Wings (Anthony Swarzak 5-10, 6.37) @ 7:05pm

AA
Bowie Baysox (Pedro Viola 3-3, 3.21)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (Tyler Robertson 3-12, 5.56) @ 7:05pm

Portland Sea Dogs (Alex Wilson 3-4, 6.41)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (B.J. LaMura 5-5, 3.89) @ 7:05pm

A
Lowell Spinners (Tyler Wilson 2-3, 3.70)
vs. Staten Island Yankees (Richard Martinez 3-1, 2.35) @ 6:00pm

Connecticut Tigers (Patrick Lawson 2-3, 2.81)
vs. Vermont Lake Monsters (Aaron Barrett 0-3, 8.79) @ 7:05pm

You can listen to all games at:
MiLB Gameday Audio

Hitting the Links

Ryan Westmoreland will be in uniform before the end of the season! This is amazing news following his preseason surgery for a cavernous malformation on his brain stem. He will not be playing, but will get the opportunity to suit up and train with teammates. Westmoreland is scheduled to hit Lowell for three games and Greenville for the remainder of the year. Full Count

PawSox radio broadcast Steve Hyder catches up with third-year Pawtucket hitting coach Rich Sauvier. As only a coach can do, Sauvier finds the silver linings in an otherwise tough season. Hyde's Inside Pitch

The Manchester Union Leader's Kevin Gray talks Anthony Rizzo, the Portland Sea Dogs, Kyle Drabek and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats run at the record books. Kevin Gray's On Baseball

Felix Doubront started the season in Portland, made the jump to Pawtucket and now works out of the Boston Red Sox bullpen. Check out how he got there. WEEI.com