Tyler

Ugh. I hate feeling full. I just had Chinese food on a whim and though i dont feel sick, i dont feel like my lunch was very productive. Also, there's so much food left over. I hate throwing all of this away but there's no question, I'm not taking it home and i'm not finishing it.

Yesterday I got up early to beat the traffic heading east to Rancho Cucamonga. The Quakes played the Storm in the last of their 4-game series. Pretty good game; I continue to be greatly entertained when I make the drive to the Epicenter. The reason I wanted to be there was so that I could see Tyler Chatwood in action, finally. I read about him the night before and found out that he was invited to the major league camp in the spring. So. He's one of THOSE minor leaguers. A "prospect". He's got two plus pitches, his fastball and curveball. Short guy, but the downward angle of his fastball is more pronounced than you'd expect; his curve is "kneebuckling". Both of these analyses, I witnessed first hand. His fastball stayed between 92-94, hitting 95 once that I saw. His curveball often baffled hitters. He's young and I think over the next few years he's going to be altering a few things... for instance, he doesnt use his lower body much. He relies heavily on his upper body strength. His delivery is pretty smooth, and the ball looks like a rocket out of his hand. Reports say that he can reach 97mph. Obviously he needs to expand his repertoir... I'm pretty sure he's working on that currently. Change up, i think. Some other trivia.. he had Tommy John Surgery at the age of 15. 15. He's 20, born in 1989. So young. One of his biggest hangups is his command. I'd read about it, but I saw it when he walked the first two batters he faced. He went 5.2 innings and pitched a laborious 105 pitches... the last inning.2 that he pitched were better, i think 11 and 9 pitches respectively or something reasonable like that. Otherwise, he was at or up over 20 pitches almost every inning. Pretty wild. Struck out a bunch of guys out, but ran up the count very often.
But, all in all, he came away only giving up 3 hits, and didnt allow any runs. The Quakes won it 4-0, and the Storm hopped on a bus and went home.




How about those Red Sox? Mike Cameron is on the mend. Jacoby Ellsbury is in my dreams as a healthy man, so he must be getting there too. We're winning games even if it's not effortless. Dustin Pedroia and Jon Lester continue to surpass expectations. Beckett is hurt... maybe? Jury is still out on that one. I'm still trying to figure out how a team gets swept by the Orioles. Perhaps I should just let that slip into the "ancient history" realm. It was a weird game last night vs Toronto, both pitchers (Lackey, Morrow) struggling very early on. I barely take heart that our guy went an acceptable 6 innings while Morrow lasted 1.2.... Lackey was nothing special. "Subpar" as written on www.redsox.com , in fact.
On an unimportant note, I'm happy that J Van Every made the best of his time on base (a walk and a hit last night); he came away from the game responsible for scoring 2 of the Red Sox' 7 runs. I feel a little more positively about him than the term "lukewarm" implies. Not a favorite, but it's always nice to see a quiet, hardworking, good natured, sort of on the older end former Paw Sox player get something done. Chris Carter is being called up to the Mets for some service time. Maybe he'll finally be able to translate his minor league success into major league magic.



Agh, I miss New England baseball. I'm loving the Quakes, but it's not... relevant. To me. It matters because I make it matter, but really, I'm not studying the Angels' farm system so it doesnt make a ton of difference whether or not I know what's going on with their High-A club. I miss being immersed in Paw Sox, Spinners, Sea Dogs, and Salem Red Sox action. I miss wishing that Greenville was a little closer. Now Greenville is the least of my worries. Hard enough to be around in the late afternoon to catch a radio broadcast of any of those teams. Catching games at 7pm is so much more convenient than at 4pm. No wonder people over here dont care as much. Noone's day is done by 4. Then by the time you fight traffic and get home and havent had dinner... forget about watching out of market games.



Well, I must get to another Quakes game one of these days. I want to meet Tyler. I dont know why I havent yet. Dice-K tonight. Try not to think of the possibilities. The safest thing is to just... watch and see. Go Red Sox.

Johnny

Jon Lester comes through once again. Apparently his ERA has fallen from 8.44 to 3.71 in his last four starts which is a VERY good sign, and shows some serious improvement. Rather, some serious recalibration. Lester is so stinkin good. His first few starts were not up to snuff but Jon is one of the ones who is actually pulling his weight around Fenway Park these days.

Went to a Quakes game yesterday. Some good baseball being played at the Epicenter. It's always a great game in one form or another- extra innings, walk-off wins, someone going 4-4, a dominant pitcher, a rehabbing major leaguer, etc. I've quickly familiarized myself with the team's usual starters and think of them all fondly, somewhere between how I feel about the Spinners and how I feel about the Paw Sox. I already know these guys better as a unit than I did the 2009 Spinners, but I'm not quite sentimental about them like I am with the Paw Sox. I'm excited to see Tyler Chatwood start tomorrow at 10:35am... he is my buddy and favorite among all the players. As for favorites based on what I've witnessed of their performance, well, Roberto Lopez is their captain-esque catcher. He bats near the top of the lineup, has a great athletic and muscular build, and also has this leader's air about him. I remember him getting absolutely plowed into on a play at the plate, but even after being mauled he held onto that ball after applying the tag. That was a couple games ago (well, of the games I've gone to). Chatwood seems to be one of their best, has had a pretty strong start to the season and... well, i'll let you read up if you're interested:
http://www.halosheaven.com/2010/2/1/1286963/tyler-chatwood-angels-top-prospect

Perfect Dallas Braden and his precious mound. Awesome that he threw a perfect game... I think the 19th in MLB history? I havent watched a ballgame in about a week... the series vs the Angels was blacked out of course and I've been on the go for the past few days while we played the Yanks. Maybe I'll watch today's game tomorrow... I want to see Lester do his thing.

Bed time so I can get up early to beat the morning traffic to Rancho Cucamonga. Quakes vs Storm.