Winning....somehow

The Sox just keep getting it done this week, although they are going to have a tough time of it in Seattle. Snyder pitches tomorrow, which obviously doesn't give one a warm, fuzzy feeling, and Saturday and Sunday they face King Felix and Jarrod Washburn.

Felix has not been lights out in his last few outings, and his season ERA is near five, but he excellent control, misses bats, and as we know the Sox have a history of, ahh, struggling against guys the first time they face them. To add a little flavor to the game it appears that AA Seadogs starter Kason Gabbard will be called up to pitch since Timmeh's rib injury landed him on the DL. This will be a fun game to watch.

Washburn has an ERA of 1.86 in his last three starts, and held the Spanks to just a single run in 6 innings in his last outing. He'll be going against Lester whom as we know is coming of an impressive start against KC.

Seattle, blessedly, is hitting for shit in July, so that gives one hope. They have a team OPS of .661, which is just brutal. Ichiro is basically the only guy on that team to fear, although Betancourt is a promising young IF.

Speaking of hitting for shit, check out these impressive stats, representing the past 30 days:



The words "not good" spring to mind don't they? The K/BB rate is what immeditately jumps out at you, and is plenty troubling. Youks having an OBP under .300 is obviously pretty crappy, and having Crisp, at .307, as your other option to lead off essentially means you're fucked. Papa Jack has some work to do, looks like.

Minor Movement

Down on the farm there was some juggling, as hot bat Aaron Bates was promoted from Lowell to Greenville. Bryce Cox, who has been in pro ball about 4 minutes, was promoted to Wilmington, in spite of not really impressing in a couple outings (1.41 WHIP). He appears to be on the fast track due to his filthy stuff. It's a curious move, I'll be interested to see how he adapts. Lastly (of note anyway) SS Manny Arambarris was promoted to Lowell from the GCL where he was hitting .333 with no pop (.427 SLG). He's a corner IF now so really needs to show some pop to stay there, but at 21 he has a chance to fill out and grow power, I suppose. I'll follow his progress, mostly because I enjoy saying "Arambarris".