PawSox vs. Gwinnett Braves-April 30, 2009

Welcome to McCoy as the PawSox return home to open up an eight game homestand with four games against the Gwinnett Braves.  RHP Tommy Hanson (0-3, 2.18 ERA) throws for the Braves.  He’ll be opposed by RHP  Charlie Zink (0-2, 4.96) for the PawSox.

The weather is seasonable for April 30th, so we will get this game in…

Here’s a quick preview from press row…

GWINNETT BRAVES (8-12)

LINE-UP

Gregor Blanco CF
Brian Barton LF
Brooks Conrad 2B
Barbaro Canizares DH
Diory Hernndez SS
Reid Gorecki RF
Van Pope 3B
J.C. Boscan C
Wes Timmons 1B

The Braves come to McCoy for their only visit of 2009.  They do so in a new location…moving to Gwinnett County, GA after spending 33 years in Richmond, VA.

Gwinnett got off to a rough start this season, but has turned things around, winning their last three contests. The currently sit in third place in the IL South, 4 1/2 games behind Durham.

Hanson is rated as the #1 prospect in the Braves organization.  He is also ranked 13 in the Baseball Prospectus Top 100.  He has pitched fairly well over his first four starts, giving up a total of only five earned runs.  Unfortunately the Braves offense has not been able to score enough runs to earn him a win.  It will be interesting to see how he fares tonight.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX

LINE-UP

Sean Danielson CF
Gil Velazquez SS
Paul McAnulty 1B
Chris Carter RF
Dusty Brown C
Chip Ambres DH
Travis Denker 2B
Jeff Corsaletti LF
Angel Chavez 3B

The PawSox return home after a 3-3 road trip through Lehigh Valley and Rochester.  Pawtucket is in third place in the IL North, 5 1/2 games behind Scranton/Wilkes Barre.  The PawSox had great success against the Braves in 2008, going 6-1, winning all four games played at McCoy.

Zink comes into the game off his most impressive performance of the season, a six inning, one hit, one run affair last week against the Iron Pigs.

Tonight marks the McCoy return for two members of the team who spent part of their early season in Boston. Gil Velzaquez was called up when Jed Lowrie injured his wrist. Chris Carter started 2009 on the Boston roster and was optioned back to Pawtucket last week while the team was in Lehigh Valley.

With all the call-ups and injuries to the team, it has really played a negative impact on the offense.  The PawSox have hit a home run in over a week, dating back to Jonathan Van Every’s game-tying grnad slam on August 22nd against Rochester.

That’s it for now…join me for updates throughout the game….