#30 Continues To Impress

Bowden's day looked something like this: a strong 7 inning outing during which he allowed 1 run, 6 hits, and no walks. He struck out 6, and threw 80 pitches, 60 for strikes. WOW. That's amazing, that last bit. 75% of his pitches were strikes. He threw about 11 pitches per inning. Phenomenal. You cant measure a Paw Sox pitcher by his wins/losses... they simply dont have the run support. Bowden lowered his ERA to 2.96, back down below 3 once again. His last 3 outings have been very strong, and I had a serious case of Bowden pride today tracking the game at work (simultaneously listening to the Red Sox game... both were day games).

Papi... all I will say (for now, and maybe ever) is that if you were surprised by this bit of news- that David Ortiz is named among the 104 who tested positive for PEDs in 2003- you are blind (sorry to sound harsh) or have been in denial for a long time. Look at the guy (notice, spring training headlines this year were all about how he "slimmed down") and even forgetting about that, look at his history... from no power, to BIG power, to steep decline. Injury. These things are all by-the-book when it comes to steroid use. I would have been surprised if his name WASNT on the list. I'm one of very few people (it seems) who felt compassion towards ARod when his big steroid story broke, and so I am now feeling the same towards Ortiz. Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Orioles, i dont care who is exposed. I dont like that they were using in the first place, but I REALLY dont like that names were leaked at all, or that they continue to be leaked. REALLY dont like that. It's not because I dont want to know but because these results were supposed to be anonymous and were never going to be released. I cant believe that there have not been any lawsuits... I would think that the players have every right to get (legally) angry about this, because back when these tests were administered, the stuff wasnt banned (lest we forget- and again, I dont like that anyone juiced, now, then, whenever. but the rules regarding all of this have changed between now and then and it's important to keep that in mind for objectivity's sake).
Yikes, that wasnt supposed to take up this much space. I'm stopping right there, although so much could be said. Really dont want to ramble on into the night about something that's talked about enough as it is. Summary: poor players. boo whoever leaked/is leaking names.

Saw the Spinners tonight. It was Celebrate How Much of a Quitter Manny Is night... the anniversary of his being traded from boston to the west coast. Interesting idea for a promotion. For my part, I barely even noticed... they did some contests and things but it wasnt really such an active promotional night. They WERE selling programs for 50 cents instead of a dollar (whoopdeedoo right? hey, i'm frugal). Saw Richie Lentz there, who in my mind of course is supposed to be up in Portland- heard later from him that he was finishing up a rehab stint, will be back in Maine by the end of the weekend.

Quick Richie Lentz story... no, I'll write it tomorrow, I need to get this post finished and go to bed.

Anyhow, Spinners won. Swept Tri-City, in fact. I found it interesting how much more the pitching seems to revolve around pitch counts/inning limits. Our starter was going strong but was out after 3 innings... 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 bb, 1 k. yeah. Before the game he had hurled 15 innings over 6 games (!!!) and had a .60 ERA. Looking at those stats, I was understandably confounded. Low ERA, and yet averaging just over 2 innings each game! What kind of sense does that make? Now I get it a bit more. I think I had noticed this trend at the other games I've been to this season but hadnt really dwelt on it. We got 5 pitchers into the game so lots of kids got their work in for the night. Wilkerson (strong performance in RF, 3-5 with 2 runs and a SB), Hedman (1-4 with 4 RBI and a near triple-called-out), Almanzar (reached base all 4 ABs with a walk, single, hbp, and drop 3rd strike), and Bermudez (3-4 with a stolen base) were players of note for tonight. Wilkerson continues to impress everyone. Unfortunately Ryan Westmoreland (another "very impressive young man") had the night off. Relief pitcher Michael Bugary pitched 1 inning, striking out the side (allowing two singles).


Time for sleep. Soulfest tomorrow night and Saturday. I cant believe I'm almost 24.



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