Bats/PawSox Pre-Game Notes- June 4, 2009

It’s nice to be back in the McCoy Stadium press box as the PawSox take on the Louisville Bats tonight in game three of their four game set.  Pawtucket looks to rebound after losing the first two games to the Bats.  Clay Buchholz (3-0, 1.47 ERA) throws for the PawSox.  He’ll be opposed by Sam LeClure (2-4, 6.02 ERA) for the Bats

First, the line-ups…

Louisville Bats (26-27, 2nd, IL West)

Norris Hopper LF
Drew Stubbs CF
Darnell McDonald
Danny Dorn DH
Wes Bankston 1B
Drew Sutton 2B
Danny Richar SS
Michael Griffin 3B
Brian Peterson C

Pawtucket Red Sox (27-25, 2nd IL East)

Jeff Bailey 1B
Travis Denker2B
Chris Carter DH
Dusty Brown C
Paul McAnulty LF
Gil Velazquez SS
Sean Danielson RF
Angel Chavez 3B
Freddie Guzman CF

Buchholz is coming off his most impressive outings of the season, a near perfect game last week at Louisville.  He took his bid into the ninth before it was broken up by the Bats’ Danny Richar.   Buchholz closed out the game, earning the 1-hit shutout.

The PawSox have lost four straight at McCoy, the first time that has happened since 2007.  They remain toward the bottom of the league hitting stats, sitting next to last in batting average (.232), hits (406) and runs (167).  Only the Buffalo Bisons are worse.  More troubling is the Pawtucket batting average at McCoy, a paltry .217.  Despite those numbers the PawSox are 13-10 at home and lead the International League in walks with 205.

On the injury front, PawSox outfielder Jonathan Van Every will be re-evaluated by the Red Sox medical staff tomorrow.  Manager Ron Johnson hopes Van Every will begin some light baseball workouts with the anticipation that he will return to the line-up in a little over a week.

That’s it for now.  Check back for updates throughout the game…