Tagged: garin cecchini
Ready For The Postseason!
After 144 games played, 141 unique starting lineups and 204 roster moves (and counting), the PawSox are in the IL playoffs and ready to take on Syracuse in the semifinal round. Its a battle of the top two teams in the league this season and should be a terrific best-of-five series.
Pawtucket won 79 games this season (79-65), only one fewer than it did in 2013 (80-63). The team won five of its final eight contests after Buffalo had pulled in to a tie in the wild card standings on August 24th. The playoff-clinching game, game #143 on the season, came on Sunday night (and actually ended on Monday morning after a lengthy rain delay) against Rochester.
The PawSox had a record of 39-41 after a rough 10-inning home loss to Norfolk on June 24th. They finished by going 40-24 over the final two-plus months including a franchise-record 11-game winning streak in July. The squad earned a playoff berth for the fourth consecutive season, extending its franchise-record streak in the process.
Kudos to all of the players and coaches for a great year! As we get ready for game one of the postseason on Wednesday night, here are some news and notes for your reading pleasure:
-Congrats to Mookie Betts and Anthony Ranaudo, who were named as the PawSox’s Most Valuable Player/Pitcher for 2014. Betts, who only played in 45 games, batted .335 with five homers, 31 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Most impressively, the team went 30-15 in games that Betts played while only 49-50 without Mookie in the lineup.
Mookie Betts was named PawSox Team MVP despite playing in only 45/144 games
Ranaudo led the IL in wins (14), ERA (2.61) and opponent batting average (.223) while finishing third in WHIP (1.20). His last loss came on June 1st. The righty from New Jersey made only three starts with Pawtucket after July 25th because of three different promotions up to Boston.
–Garin Cecchini turned around a rough mid-season slump with a flourish at the finish. In his final 21 regular-season games (beginning August 9th) Cecchini batted .382 (29-for-76) with two homers, ten doubles and 21 RBI. He also returned to third base for the majority of the month, including playing at the hot corner in his final ten games played.
-Pawtucket had a winning record in four of the five months during the regular season including a 16-14 mark in August. The PawSox struggled at home during the season’s final month, going only 6-10 at McCoy compared to 10-4 on the road.
-Beginning on July 7th, the squad won 21 of its final 29 road contests and finished 41-31 away from home, tied with Columbus for the best road mark in the IL. Pawtucket dropped only three road series all year (all in May) and none of its last 13.
-I wrote at the midway point of the season that the PawSox (35-37 at the time) should make a run at the playoffs if the offense made some improvements. Well, the improvements happened and the playoff run happened indeed.
In the first 72 games games of the season, Pawtucket’s offense batted .236 and averaged only 3.7 runs per game. Over the final 72 contests the team batting average improved 39 points to .275 and the runs scored went up to 5.2 per night. Not surprisingly, the record improved dramatically to 44-28.
–Justin Henry had a phenomenal finish to the season. After returning from a lengthy DL stint on July 31st, Henry played in 22 games and batted .342 (27-for-79), the eighth-best average in the league during that time frame. He started the final eight games of the season and batted third in the order the last two.
-Three PawSox were recalled to Boston after the Major League rosters expanded earlier this week: pitchers Steven Wright and Brandon Workman and catcher Dan Butler. Butler, who went hitless in his first big-league stint in August, batted .385 (10-for-26) in his seven games after returning to Pawtucket.
-As mentioned earlier, PawSox skipper Kevin Boles repeated a starting lineup only THREE TIMES in 144 regular-season games. After June 12th, Pawtucket used a different lineup for the final 75 games. Here were the repeats:
May 2nd & May 13th (1-1 record):
1. Brock Holt
2. Ryan Roberts
3. Daniel Nava
4. Ryan Lavarnway
5. Bryce Brentz
6. Garin Cecchini
7. Christian Vazquez
8. Corey Brown
9. Alex Hassan
June 4th & June 5th (1-1 record):
1. Mookie Betts
2. Garin Cecchini
3. Ryan Roberts
4. Travis Shaw
5. Christian Vazquez
6. Corey Brown
7. Dan Butler
8. Mike McCoy
9. Shannon Wilkerson
June 10th & June 12th (2-0 record):
1. Mookie Betts
2. Mike McCoy
3. Travis Shaw
4. Carlos Rivero
5. Corey Brown
6. Garin Cecchini
7. Christian Vazquez
8. Alex Hassan
9. Dan Butler
Other than these three, every other lineup created by Boles this season was used just one time!
–Rusney Castillo, the much-heralded Red Sox international signee from Cuba, will play for Double-A Portland in their Eastern League playoff series against Binghamton beginning on Wednesday night. There had been some speculation that Castillo might join Pawtucket for its postseason.
-Here are a couple of interesting interviews from the previous two weeks of PawSox Insider shows. First, Bryce Brentz talked about his frustrating road back from a hamstring injury that cost him nearly half of the season:
-Next, here is a conversation with Dan Butler about his first taste of the Major Leagues and all the great pitchers he’s caught in Pawtucket this season:
Lefty Edwin Escobar gets the call for the PawSoxagainst Chiefs righty Taylor Hill in game one of the series on Wedneday night at 7:05 pm. Hope to see you at McCoy – if not Jeff and I will talk to you on the radio!
Josh M
The Final Countdown…Two Weeks To Go!
After a tough weekend against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in which the squad dropped three straight, the PawSox are down to their final 15 games of the regular season. Two weeks from Monday will be game #144 against Rochester at McCoy! Time sure does fly.
The PawSox have had an interesting month of August, going 7-1 on the road and 1-7 at home. The RailRiders in particular have given Pawtucket fits this season, having won the last five meetings between the squads and gone 6-1 at McCoy. Scranton will go for a four-game series sweep on Monday night.
It’s been a frustrating series for the PawSox, who blew a 5-1 lead in the ninth on Sunday to drop a third-straight contest. Pawtucket is just 2-for-22 batting with runners in scoring position during the first three games of the series and has stranded a total of 28 men on base.
Here are some notes for your reading pleasure as the penultimate week of the season gets set to begin Monday night:
–Garin Cecchini is now on a season-high eight-game hitting streak. He is 13-for-33 (.394) during those eight contests with two homers, four doubles and 12 RBI.
Cecchini has also made a great transition to the outfield over the past month and a half. The converted third-baseman has started 24 of his last 38 games in left and at times has looked even more comfortable as a corner outfielder than as a corner infielder. This catch on Saturday night was one of the outfield highlights for the Lake Charles, LA native.
-Congrats to Steven Wright for making his first MLB appearance in 2014 on Sunday, pitching four strong innings at Fenway against Houston (4.0 IP, 4H, 1R, 4K). Wright was recalled only hours before the contest as Corey Brown was designated for assignment.
-INF/OF Allen Craig is reportedly set to join the PawSox Monday to begin a rehab assignment from a left foot injury suffered right after Boston acquired him in the deadline deal with St. Louis. That same ProJo article reports that C David Ross is set to be activated from the Boston DL early this week. That could spell a return to Pawtucket for Dan Butler.
Allen Craig came over from the Cardinals in the John Lackey deal on July 31st
-The Portland Sea Dogs swept Richmond in a weekend series at Hadlock Field to inch closer to clinching a playoff berth in the Eastern League (magic number is now 1). The team’s 78 victories are the most for any Portland squad since the franchise became the Red Sox Double-A affiliate in 2003. Many of the players who helped build that record are now up in Pawtucket (Mookie Betts, Henry Owens, Blake Swihart, Derrik Gibson, etc).
-It’s been great to have Bryce Brentz back in the lineup. Brentz has gone deep in back-to-back games (Saturday night and Sunday afternoon) and has now smashed four homers and driven in 13 runs in his 12 games since returning from the disabled list earlier this month. Brentz has batted in the three-hole of the lineup in his last eight starts.
-Last week I sat down with Red Sox Executive Vice President and General Manager Ben Cherington while the PawSox were in Gwinnett for a lengthy conversation about some of the organization’s top prospects. Here it is in full, as heard on this weekend’s PawSox Insider show.
Monday night is “Halloween Night” at McCoy, so if you come to the game bring a costume! First pitch is at 7:05pm as the PawSox try and avoid being swept in the four-game series by the RailRiders. Hope to see you at the park or speak to you on the radio!
Josh M
Who Are These Guys?
The PawSox scored 11 runs and pounded out 16 more hits Thursday night to win their fourth straight game, a dominating victory in the series opener at Toledo. It is only the third time this season the team has won at least four games in a row.
Last night’s win was highlighted by a seven-run top of the seventh inning that lasted 42 minutes! In all, 12 batters came to the plate, six of them recorded hits and three walked against three different Mud Hens pitchers. Corey Brown drew two free passes in the inning while Mike McCoy had two hits including a two-run double that capped the rally.
The PawSox lineup looks as prolific as it has all season, and a big reason for it has been the production from two veterans at the top of the order. Jonathan Herrera has collected three straight multi-hit games since being optioned from Boston. He is now 7-for-15 with a double in three games played.
After starting just 1-for-8 in his first three games with Pawtucket, Andres Torres is 13-for-33 (.393) with three homers and seven RBIs in his last seven contests. Torres hit a game-winning two-run blast in the tenth inning earlier this week in Columbus.
Right now with those two setting the table the folks in the middle of the order are having an RBI feast. Travis Shaw (15 RBIs in his last 16 games played), Alex Hassan (13 RBI in his last 16 games played) and Brown (8 RBI in his last 7 games played) have been on run-producing tears.
In the last 24 games played Pawtucket has raised its team batting average 14 points, from .236 to .250! That is hard to do nearly 100 games deep into the season. During that time the PawSox have hit .286 (243-for-849) and averaged 5.6 runs/game (134 total).
This is really looking like a different PawSox team than the one I wrote about at the midway point of the season last month – the version that won games with pitching and defense and hoped to scratch out enough runs. I said then that if the squad could get some consistent offense this could be a playoff contender. Don’t look now, but the team is now just 3.0 games out of the wildcard spot (Pawtucket is 50-46, Rochester 53-43.)
Here are a few more notes to get you ready for the final three games before the All-Star break:
–Hassan has been on a doubles binge that past few weeks. He has collected 12 two-baggers in his last 15 games played including one in each of his last six games contests! The Quincy native now leads the IL with 25 doubles this season.
Alex Hassan has been a different looking hitter since returning from the Major Leagues one month ago
When he was called up to Boston on May 30th, Hassan was hitting .217 with Pawtucket for the season. Since returning on June 9th, the outfielder has batted .347 (33-for-95) in 26 games and raised his season average to .267. Not a bad month!
-Welcome to backup catcher Matt Spring, a very popular figure in the clubhouse wherever he is. Spring was promoted to the PawSox Thursday to take the spot of Christian Vazquez following Vazquez’s promotion to the big leagues. Here is a sample of Twitter reaction to the Spring roster move yesterday:
Ryan Dent is here…wearing #21. Best of luck to Matt Spring. One of the best guys to play in Portland. Terrific person and teammate.
— Mike Antonellis (@seadogsradio) July 10, 2014
C Matt Spring goes from Portland to PawSox w/Vazquez up. Spring so highly regarded as a teammate that Sea Dogs hanging his jersey in dugout — Alex Speier (@alexspeier) July 10, 2014
Looking forward to having Matt around the Pawtucket clubhouse for the first time since 2012. He came in in the eighth inning Thursday night at Toledo and flew out in his first at-bat.
Matt Spring brings a great attitude and a great haircut to the PawSox
-It will be interesting to see how Manager Kevin Boles gets playing time for Ryan Roberts now that Deven Marrero and Herrera have arrived and will play the infield most nights. Roberts is batting .358 (19-for-53) over his last 14 games played with eight RBIs and has been a cleanup hitter three times during that stretch. His bat is so hot right now that he’s a tough guy to leave out of the lineup.
–Garin Cecchini missed Thursday’s game after suffering a scary-looking shoulder injury in a home plate collision Wednesday in Columbus. The good news is the injury is not believed to be serious and Garin hopes to play again before the All-Star break.
-With Brandon Workman back from the Major Leagues for at least one turn in the rotation, we have not yet heard if or when he will pitch with the PawSox. He is currently on the same schedule as Allen Webster, who is tentatively slated to start Sunday night in Toledo. Stay tuned.
Brandon Workman is back with the PawSox…at least for now
-Below is a conversation I had with PawSox closer Tommy Layne earlier this week. He talked about making his Boston Red Sox debut last weekend and about the mentality of finishing ballgames for the first time in his career:
Game two of the series in Toledo Friday night begins at 7:00pm. The PawSox will look for their fifth straight win, something they have only accomplished one other time this season (during the team’ six-game winning streak at the end of June.) Chris Hernandez gets the ball on the mound looking to bounce back from a loss in Columbus on Sunday.
Hope you enjoyed, wishing you a great weekend. Talk to you on the radio from Ohio tonight at 6:45!
Josh M
Tide Beginning To Turn
After consecutive victories against Louisville on Saturday and Sunday to begin an eight-game homestand, the PawSox have won three games in a row for only the second time this season (they won four straight from April 13-17). The squad is once again beginning to resemble to group that stood in first place for much of the season’s first month and a half.
The biggest reason for the recent turnaround? Starting pitching dominance. In the last turn through the rotation (beginning Wednesday in Durham), all five Pawtucket starters earned a quality start. In fact, in the past five games the PawSox starting pitchers have allowed only four runs and 21 hits in 34 innings of work.
Chris Hernandez notched a career-high 9 strikeouts on Sunday
Here are the last five starts for Pawtucket:
Weds @ Durham, Allen Webster: ND, 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K
Thurs @ Durham, Steven Wright: ND, 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K
Fri @ Durham, Anthony Ranaudo: W, 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
Sat vs. Louisville, Matt Barnes: W, 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Sun vs. Louisville, Chris Hernandez: W, 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K
Impressive huh? With Brandon Workman and Rubby De La Rosa starting in the Major Leagues, Hernandez and Wright have stepped into the rotation and pitched extremely well. Wright has only allowed 2 ER in his 13 innings pitched over two starts for the PawSox. Hernandez has only allowed 3 ER in 19.2 IP over his last three outings (1.37 ERA).
The PawSox offense, boosted by the arrival of Mookie Betts hitting at the top of the lineup, is also coming to life over the past five games. The team has scored 26 runs over its past five contests (5.2 runs/game) and has collected 50 hits during that time (10.0 hits/game).
Following Pawtucket’s three-week team-wide slump (losing 16 of 21 games), it has been fun to watch the club play some great baseball for the past few days. With six games still remaining on the current homestand, there is a great opportunity for the PawSox to continue their recent winning ways.
Here are a few notes to keep you company as the work week begins:
–Byrce Brentz (hamstring) has now missed the team’s last 23 games. Even after being on the DL for 3 1/2 weeks, the outfielder still leads the team with 28 RBI this season.
–Alex Hassan was optioned back from Boston before Sunday’s Red Sox-Detroit contest. Hassan has missed the last 11 PawSox games while getting his first taste of the majors. No word yet on when he will return to the PawSox.
Hassan in a Boston uniform this week in Cleveland
–Betts has started all six of the team’s games since being promoted to Pawtucket last Tuesday. He has played centerfield in the last four. After starting 0-for-6 with the PawSox, Betts is 7 for his last 18 at the plate (.389) with 4 walks.
–Travis Shaw has started 14 straight contests since his promotion from Portland. Shaw has reached base at least once in 12 of those 14 while hitting safely in 11. He was recently named Boston’s Minor League Hitter of the Month for May (.331, eight home runs, 22 RBIs).
–Corey Brown got off to a rough start to the season (first 13 games: 5-44, 23 K). Since connecting on his first long ball, however, he has been one of the best power hitters in the IL. Brown’s nine home runs since April 25 are the second-most in the league (trailing only Toldeo’s Mike Hessman, 11). Over his last 37 games played, Brown is hitting .265 with nine homers and 24 RBI.
–Christian Vazquez has started 14 consecutive games (9 at catcher). In those 14, Vazquez is batting .309 with one home run and four doubles.
–Garin Cecchini missed Sunday’s game after being hit by a pitch on the knee on Saturday night. In case you missed it below is my conversation with Garin that aired during Saturday’s PawSox Insider show, in which he describes in detail his MLB debut on June 1st at Fenway Park and his relationship with brother Gavin.
Cincinnati Reds righty Mat Latos is scheduled to make a rehab start for Louisville on Monday night. Should be another good test for the PawSox hitters. Former National League MVP Joey Votto played Sunday for the Bats on rehab and may be back in the Louisville lineup again on Monday.
Mat Latos pitches for Louisville Monday night
Hope to see you at McCoy Stadium, but if not Jeff and I will talk to you on the radio at 6:50! Tonight’s game (and Tuesday’s as well) will also air on Charter Cable TV3 in Worcester, MA and surrounding areas.
Josh M
Maurer's Musings 