Okay, I’ve listened to the Rush CD a dozen or so times now, and it rocks. "Earthshine" is as good a song as they’ve recorded in 28 years. Rich and heavy. And real good.
Rich, heavy, and real good also describes the pint of Guinness I enjoyed during last night’s game (still working on the segues). Dennis Tankersley pitched well, matching zeroes with Javier Vazquez until the seventh, when he allowed Montreal’s only run of the game.
Tank ran his fastball in on right-handers, about 91-94 MPH. Threw a ton of sliders, and a handful of changeups (one of which struck out a surprised Michael Barrett to end an 11-pitch at-bat in the fifth, another of which produced Montreal’s lone run).
He faced Vlad Guerrero three times and threw 11 pitches, all sliders. Managed to escape without any damage. Here’s what he did against Guerrero:
Top 1, 1 out, runner on 1st
- slider down and away; swinging strike
- slider down and away; sinking liner to Ray Lankford, who throws to first to retire Jose Vidro for a double play
Top 4, 1 out, runner on 1st
- slider over middle (hanger); called strike
- slider down and away; swinging strike
- slider down and away; swinging strike
Top 4, 1 out, runner on 1st
- slider down and away; swinging strike
- slider down and away; swinging strike
- slider down and away; fouled off
- slider down and away; fouled off
- slider down and away; ground out to second
I have no idea how Guerrero even made contact on those last three pitches. They were about 12-18 inches outside and below the knees. The guy’s plate coverage is just ridiculous.
Vidro had better success against Tank, walking, singling, and doubling. He walked on four pitches in the first, knocked a broken bat single past shortstop Deivi Cruz in the fourth, and hit a double over Mark Kotsay’s head in the seventh; Kotsay usually catches that ball.
Tankersley looked good. He definitely reminds me of Matt Clement, the way his pitches move. But he’s more aggressive than Clement. Fun to watch. He also collected his first big-league hit, a line drive back through the middle, and made a couple of fine defensive plays. Speaking of defense, the Pads through 39 games this year had turned 41 double plays, compared with 27 at the same point last year.
And of course Ryan Klesko drove in the winning run in the 14th off a lefty. It shows up as a single in the box score but he smacked a laser shot off the scoreboard in right. Ryan Klesko, lefty killer.
In other news, Wiki Gonzalez returned to the lineup, forcing Javier Cardona back to Portland. Bobby Jones was placed on the DL, Tom Davey activated, and Jason Middlebrook moved into Jones’ spot in the rotation. He’ll start tomorrow night against the Mets.
Recent Comments