Ryan Flaherty with a really good day for the O’s yesterday at the plate
David Price was superb yesterday in the Red Sox 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners. DP went 8, threw 110 pitches, with 79 strikes and 31 balls, a super ratio, way over 2:1, Dave gave up eight hits, one earned with 0 walks and seven K’s. David has become much more of a pitcher now at 30 years old. He’s been a flame thrower throughout his career, bringing it 96-97, but now he’s more 92-93, but he mixes his pitches so well, his location on his fastball is superb, and his change up, at 85-86, is a weapon. I love where DP is at. David moved to 8-4 on the season with a 4.24 ERA. His last four starts have been outstanding. The Sox, who had really been hitting for David early in the season when in actuality David had been struggling, have struggled at the plate with Dave on the mound in his last four starts, but they did enough yesterday, and David was stellar. The awesome Craig Kimbrel came in for the ninth and struck out all three batters he faced with the last swing and a miss on a 99 MPH sizzler. Super effort by Dave, Craig and good enough hitting by the team. The Bosox moved to 39-29, and now host the White Sox for four games at Fenway before heading for another key series after the Chisox as they go to Arlington to visit the red hot Texas Rangers this weekend. The Rangers are 45-25, the best record in the American League, and have won six in a row. They have some serious lumber. But the Chisox are tough right now, so the Sox will have to be ready for a battle with a rival. David pitches again Friday night at Texas versus 25 year old righty Nick Martinez, who has only started one game, a 5-4 victory over St. Louis in which he went 6.2 innings gave up 3 earned, with three walks and three K’s. It’ll be a major challenge for DP with the lumber he’s going to face. The Bosox trail the O’s by one game in the American League East with Toronto three back. It’s going to be quite a showdown in the AL East going forward this season. It already is.
The O’s took two of three at home from the Jays over the weekend at home in Camden Yards. Ryan Flaherty had an excellent day at the plate yesterday going two for four with a double, a single and two Ribeyes in the O’s 11-6 victory. Pedro was one for four. I really think Buck Showalter is an excellent manager. But Pedro went two for three last Sunday in Toronto with a homer and a single and barely missed winning the game in the top of the ninth with a three run double that was caught by a leaping Toronto right fielder at the wall, and then he doesn’t get in the lineup again until this past Friday. Pedro is a hitter that needs to be in a rhythm. If he has a big game, he needs to play the next day because his bat is so good he can help carry a team. Just frustrated that Buck doesn’t see that sometimes. But the O’s have a lineup now. Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, Mark Trumbo, Jonathan Schoop, wow, can they ever crush it. The lead the majors in home runs by a pretty good margin. But Pedro needs reps.
There has to be some way to get him in the lineup as a DH most of the time. I’m biased, I admit, and I’ve called for this for the last three years, but I have watched Pedro closely, and know when he’s hot, he needs to be at the plate consistently. He did hit yesterday as DH and was one for four. Which was fine. Good day from Ryan though. He’s a valuable player to the O’s as is Pedro. I know Showalter likes both of them and I really like them being on the same team. It’s really good for Pedro. He wasn’t happy in PIttsburgh with the way Clint Hurdle treated him. He likes Showalter and the Orioles. Good team for him to be on and play with one of his best friends in college. The O’s themselves are at Texas tonight and face lefty Derek Holland, who is 5-5 with a 5.14 ERA, so Pedro and maybe Ryan could very well not be in the lineup. But we’ll see. This must be a makeup game from an earlier rainout because the O’s are back home tomorrow night against the Padres. The Padres are throwing a right hander tomorrow, so Pedro should be in the lineup.
Sonny has been struggling lately. He’s done somewhat better since coming back from his trapezius injury, but got rocked by the Rangers last Wednesday Night. He’s on the hill tomorrow night for the A’s against Milwaukee at home. Would love to see the man have a stellar outing tomorrow night.
Dansby had a really good day at the plate yesterday going two for four against the Birmingham Barons in an 8-3 Mississippi Braves’ victory. He was two for four with two singles, three runs scored and a Ribeye. He has been in a little bit of a slump lately, but got his average back up to .242 with his two hits yesterday. Unfortunately, his hits came against his best friend and former roomate, Carson Fulmer. Carson had a rough outing giving up seven hits and six runs, but struck out nine, so that was good. I talked to both guys on Thursday at the ball park, and both are doing well and adjusting to the every day grind of playing professional baseball. They said it’s a little surreal facing each other, but they did it quite a bit in batting practice at VU. Corbs would line them up against each other often in practice to test them both. Carson said Dans got the better of him in practice most of the time, but both are stellar, and hopefully, both will be in the big leagues sooner rather than later.
I watched Tyler Beede pitch Thursday night against the Binghamton Mets. Tyler did a good job pitching 7.2 and giving up six hits, three runs with three walks and three K’s. He threw 106 pitches with 66 for strikes. I thought it was a solid performance by Tyler. He took the loss, 3-1, and fell to 4-4, but has a 3.10 ERA. He’s pitching very well. Hopefully, he’s in the Giants plans for next season. I think he will be at some point, even at the end of this year if he keeps this up.
Great news in football and basketball. First in football, Coach Mason got a 2017 commit out of an 87 three star quarterback from Brantley, Alabama, Jacob Free. Jacob is 6’5″, 209, and has a cannon for an arm. In two years at Class 1A powerhouse Brantley, which has won four state titles in the last 20 years with their last one coming in 2012, Jacob has thrown for 4,640 yards and 63 TDs. He only threw three ints two years ago, but that increased to 12 his junior season, so he needs to clean that up a little bit. But I watched Jacob’s film, and it looks outstanding. He can make all the throws, short, kind of tight end-quick wide receiver slant routes, which are very effective, he can make the intermediate 15-20 yards passes, and he can hit the deep ball. He’s very mobile, too. He can turn what looks like a sack into a 10 yard gain, or make a big play with his legs. He’s good at throwing on the run, also. Love what we’re getting in Jacob. A good start to the class. Jacob could get some other guys coming our way. I’m expecting that. Good stuff from Coach Mason and the staff.
Coach Drew secured a 2017 point guard commit and he is 93 four star Saben Lee. Watched Saben’s film. He is a super athlete who can really get to the basket and score. He passes it well, and gets after it on defense. He needs to work on his outside shot some to really be the player that he and Coach Drew want him to be, but he looks like he has a stellar work ethic, so I know he’ll be working on his shot constantly this summer and next season. Good pickup for Coach Drew and the staff. We got another point guard, a transfer, who will play in 2017, so with him, Saben, Payton Willis, and Riley, if necessary, though Riley is much better at the two spot, we should be really good at point guard in 2017. As for next season, I’m pretty pumped. I just love the enthusiasm, character and intelligence that Coach Drew brings to the team. He’s going to be terrific.
South Carolina Sept. 1st is something I think about every day. Pumped about what Coach Mason and his coaches have in store for us on that Thursday Night @ 7 PM CT/8 PM ET on ESPN. Ready to rock.