Salem Sox Game Notes – April 14, 2011

April 14, 2011 7:05 PM Lynchburg Hillcats (1-3) vs Salem Red Sox (3-1) Game #5

LewisGale Field                       Salem, VA                    Home Game #5

Probable Starters: LHP Dimaster Delgado (0-0, 54.00) vs LHP Chris Hernandez (0-0, –)

Chopping Down the Braves: The Boston and Atlanta organizations are forever connected through their sharing of Massachusetts’ capital city in the early 20th century. As Salem and Lynchburg continue the minor league rivalry, the Red Sox have dominated since taking over the Roanoke Valley in 2009. In the last two years, Salem went 28-12 against Atlanta’s high-A farm club in Myrtle Beach. Adding in the first two wins in the current series, the Salem Sox have won 30 of their last 42 games against the Braves Advanced-A affiliate. At LewisGale Field, the Red Sox are 17-5 against the Atlanta representative in the Carolina League since 2009.

Hazel Homers: Outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker hammered a pair of round-trippers on Wednesday night, becoming the first member of the 2011 Salem Sox to hit multiple dingers in a single game. Last season, a Salem player went yard multiple times on seven different occasions.  Anthony Rizzo and Ryan Lavarnway each did it twice, while Oscar Tejeda, Will Middlebrooks, and Jason Place did it once.

Spectacular Penmanship: Salem’s bullpen continued its super start to the 2011 season last night, throwing four more scoreless innings in relief of Ryan Pressley. In 15 innings so far, the Red Sox relievers have not surrendered a run. Moreover, the pen has permitted only six hits and six walks in those 15 frames, complementing the dominance with 15 strikeouts.

It’s Better to Be Timely than Good: Salem’s lineup has not produced an overwhelming concoction of offense on the young season, but the batters have done enough at the right times to secure a 3-1 start despite only batting .218. With two outs and a man on second or third, the Sox are 6-17 (.353) through four games. Salem is tops in the Carolina league in hitting with runners in scoring position and two outs. Ironically, Michael Almanzar has more at-bats than anyone else in this situation, but his hitless in his five opportunities.

Gibson’s Goner: With one swing on Tuesday, Derrik Gibson increased his career homer total by 50%. His two-run blast in the fifth off Cory Rasmus was his third career home run in 233 games. The shortstop from Delaware also went deep on May 1, 2010 against West Virginia and on July 9, 2010 against Hagerstown in SAL action.