Pelicans sweep doubleheader with Sox
SWEPT AWAY: The Pelicans swept a doubleheader from Salem by scores of 5-2 and 6-4 (9 innings) on Saturday in front of 3,717 at Salem Memorial Ballpark.
GAME 1 SKINNY: The Sox spotted Myrtle Beach ace Cody Buckel a three-run lead in the first inning and couldn’t overcome it.
Buckel, the Carolina League leader in ERA (1.27) and strikeouts (81), wasn’t at his best but still fanned eight over 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits. Ben Henry picked up the win for Myrtle Beach in relief with 3 1/3 scoreless frames.
GAME 2 SKINNY: The Pelicans touched up previously impenetrable reliever Mike Olmsted for two runs in the ninth inning and held on for the sweep.
Yefry Castillo scored the go-ahead run with one out on a wild pitch before Teodoro Martinez added insurance with an RBI single. Salem got a runner aboard in the ninth, but Xander Bogaerts grounded into a double play to end it.
The Sox stranded a runner at third in the sixth, seventh and eighth. James Kang hit an RBI triple for the Sox in the sixth to tie it 4-4 and force extra innings.
RACE UPDATE: Combined with Winston-Salem’s 3-0 win over Carolina on Saturday, the Sox dropped to 2 1/2 games behind the Dash for first place in the Southern Division standings. The Sox and Dash play a critical four-game series here starting Monday night.
Salem hasn’t won a first half division crown since 1988. The first half ends two weeks from today.
MAKE IT A DOUBLE: Jackie Bradley Jr. legged out a double in both ends of the doubleheader, giving him a league-high 22 through 53 team games. That puts him well on pace to break Garrett Atkins’ Salem record of 43 set in 2001, although it’s highly unlikely Bradley, who also tops the league in average and on-base percentage will spend the full season here without a promotion.
NICE RUN: The longest active hitting streak in the minors was snapped at 22 games in game 1 when Myrtle Beach’s Odubel Herrera went 0-for-2 with two groundouts and a walk. He was left in the on-deck circle in the final inning — then roped a single to right to lead off the nightcap.
VAST IMPROVEMENT: Michael Almanzar, who hit .182 at Salem in 2011, went 2 for 4 in the first game to raise his average to .302. He sat out the second game.
ON DECK: The four-game series concludes at 4:05 p.m. today, with Myrtle Beach RHP Roman Mendez (3-4, 4.11) facing Salem RHP Keith Couch (4-3, 3.52). Mendez, who originally signed with Boston for $125,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2007, was Texas’ key acquisition in the 2010 Jarrod Saltalamacchia trade. His fastball has touched 98 mph.
June 3, 2012 - 12:22 AM
Don’t you miss those all day debates? Tough life when you cover Single A.
Just read your Q&A. Dude – you are taking yourself and Homer announcing Waaaaaay too seriously.
Vin Scully, Jon Miller and a couple others got to the very top of their field because they are just that: the very top of their field. They can do local games like the Dodgers and the O’s but are frequently heard on national broadcasts. But they, too, have detracters over the years. primarily because their lack of opinion on air is viewed as boring.
Many, many other announcers are local tastes and that is what they are hired to be. Phil Rizzuto was a totally local taste. Even though he was immortalized by Meatloaf he wasn’t for everybody. There is a long tradition in this regard.
For every Lindsey Nelson there was a Ralph Kiner. Nelson was the smooth voice of the Mets and Kiner couldn’t tell you what city he was in. “Kiner’s Corner” (the Mets postgame show) was the funniest thing ever on TV until the Anna Nicole show. In both cases they weren’t meant to be funny – they just were.
For every Red Barber there was a Dizzy Dean. Dizzy was as homer as they came. So was Mel Allen.
Hometown announcers are hired and paid for by the home team. What exactly do you expect? Honest reporting? Then you get: “Hi there fans. Our heros really stink this year so there is no reason to watch this game between two celler dwellers unless your sleeping pills don’t work”. That is just not a likely scenario.
“Homerism” in local broadcasts is a long standing criticism of sports announcing. Sports announcing is an entirely different field than sports reporting.
So long as Harrelson brings in viewers and advertisers he has no reason to change.
I have to agree with Zman on the homer issue. I’ve never been a Harrelson or a White Sox fan, so I really don’t care if he goes overboard or not. I’m not watching.
Zman did make me a bit nostalgic. As a kid I loved the Saturday afternoon games in the early 60′s done by Dizzy Dean and his lil’ podna Peewee Reese. Great baseball and great entertainment. Ole Diz was great on the Falstaff commercials as well. Say what you will, those two men knew baseball.
Also, at the time Harrelson was hired, the most popular broadcaster in Chicago was drunk by the 7th inning stretch and often barely mentioned that there was another team on the field. People don’t want to speak bad of Harry Carey because he’s passed away, but he was worse than Hawk on almost every point you brought up.
So, are you going to be hanging out with Jubal Lee on Friday? I probably will swing by to tell the fellow ‘hey.’ Best 10 bucks a guy can spend, from a sports perspective.
I’m not a fan of homerism…and I try to not act like a homer with regards to my teams…I try to remain objective when looking at them. Like with my Tigers, while I’d love to say they’re going to turn it around and win the AL Central by 15 games…I can’t, because realistically, they stink. Aside from a couple people hitting well like Dirks, Berry, Fielder, and Cabrera…they’ve got nothing going offensively. Verlander can’t carry the entire pitching staff, and he’s had a couple shaky outings that they can ill afford, when the rest of the rotation can’t decide whether to come out resembling a major league rotation, or one plucked from the local sandlot. Then the defense…it’s attrocious, but at least they’re slow too. I don’t so much think that Cleveland or Chicago are really all that great…they’ve got a plethora of issues too, but Detroit is not putting it together. I expected some learning curve to be there, but after a 9-3 start they have gone a dismal 16-27 and show no signs of a turnaround.
Rick — I’ll be there, man. My Friday Jubilee assignment is 10 a.m. Blacksburg girls soccer. Come by!