The Day After Barnes’ Masterpiece

Brandon Workman has a tough act to follow.

The second round pick from Texas hopes to discover the winners’ circle with the Salem Sox desperately needing a getaway day win in Woodbridge.

If you missed it, here are the highlights to Saturday’s 3-0 shutout with Matt Barnes tossing his first complete game shutout of his very promising career: http://soundcloud.com/salem-sox-2012/highlight-montage-6-9-12

First pitch is at 1:05, and today’s digest of lunchtime baseball nuggets are below.

Talk to you soon,

Evan

*****

June 10, 2012 1:05 PM Salem Red Sox (34-27-1) vs Potomac Nationals (29-33) Game #63

Pfitzner Stadium                     Woodbridge, VA                          Road Game #31

Probable Starters: RHP Brandon Workman (3-3, 3.55) vs RHP Trevor Holder (3-1, 4.42)

The Skinny: As Winston continues to win and Salem struggles in Woodbridge, the Sox have now fallen three games behind the Dash in the race for the Southern Division first-half title. While Salem has gone 1-3 in the past 38 hours, Winston has gone 3-0 to reassert its position as the team to beat. With eight games raining, the Dash possess a magic number of six, meaning that any combination of Dash victories and Sox losses that add up to six would clinch the first-half crown for Winston. Salem has not won a first-half title since 1988.

From Success to Stuggles: The Salem Sox has hit 20-for-99 (.202) over the past two nights, resulting in a seven-game stretch in which the Sox have hit just .217 (50-for-230). In the previous five games, Salem recorded 65 hits and hit .357! Now, the Sox are batting .289 in June, but have a below .500 record of 5-6-1. Incredibly, the Red Sox are outscoring their opponents 61-42 this month, but have won only five games. Three of the five wins have come by eight or more runs, while five of the six losses came by three runs or less until game two on Saturday night. Prior to Saturday evening, the Salem Sox had not lost a game by more than three runs since May 1.

Nine Times, Mrs. Bueller!: With two more jacks on Saturday, Salem first baseman Travis Shaw now owns nine round-trippers on the season, most on the Salem Sox and tied for fifth-most in the Carolina League. Fifteen days ago, Shaw only owned one home run, but his latent power bubbled over in the past two weeks, beginning when he took Orioles top prospect Dylan Bundy deep in Frederick two weekends ago. Since then, Shaw has compiled eight homers in 18 games, a remarkable stretch that has seen him surpass his total of eight homers in 59 games during his pro debut in 2011. Shaw went deep in both ends of the doubleheader on Saturday night, and his day was capped off when his alma mater Kent State knocked off Oregon in game one of its SuperRegional in Eugene.

Brilliant Barnes: In his 12 professional starts, Matt Barnes has gone 6-1 with a 0.93 ERA, having allowed just eight runs (seven earned) on 43 hits in 67.2 innings, with 86 strikeouts and 11 walks. Both his WHIP (0.80) and his ERA are #1 in all of minor league baseball after his complete game shutout on Saturday evening. Opponents have hit just .180 against Barnes, who set career highs with seven innings and 96 pitches dealt last night. Although his three walks were also a career high, Barnes stranded all eight baserunners who reached in the ballgame to complete the shutout.

Setting the Record Straight: Contrary to the misleading message in Friday’s game notes, the stats from Wednesday’s game against Winston-Salem do indeed count. From the major league rulebook, rule 4.10-c-3 states: “If a game is called, it is a regulation game if the home team scores one or more runs in its half of the fifth inning to tie the score.” Hence, it officially becomes a tie and a regulation game. It is the sixth tie in Salem pro baseball history, but the first since 1986.