Two Up, Two Down. Not a Bad Start.

Sure, they were only college kids, but how do you complain about 24-0 and, well, it's 15-0 in the bottom of the sixth right now, so we're betting the Northeastern Huskies just aren't coming back.

While, understandably, it's hard to take too much from manhandling kiddos, it's hard to be disappointed with anything the Sox showed this afternoon and evening in Ft. Myers. Josh Beckett struck out four in his two innings, and he mowed through the first inning on just 13 pitches. Snyder went two without a hit, while Javier Lopez was the only of the three single inning contributors who gave up so much as a hit, yielding a hit to a BC utility infielder named Campbell.

And, of course, the best part of all, the son of one Dan Shaughnessy was punched out in his only at bat. Karma's a bitch, aint it? WMYM isn't even going to consider batting statistics racked up by actual major leaguers, but there is something to be said for the 2-for-3 afternoon put up by top catching prospect George Kottaras and the 2-for-3 put up by fellow catching prospect Kevin Cash. Nice to know that - God forbid - if Dougie does go down, Cash might actually swing a bit of a bat this time around.

The evening affair was a bit more interesting, if almost as one-sided. It just finished at 15-0 also after seven frames, and, as with the BC matchup, there's more to be gleaned from the pitching performances than the at-bats. Justin Masterson, the prospect who's rapidly gaining steam toward the "Jonathan Papelbon-Philip Hughes" echelon, did little to disappoint, allowing one-hit across his two innings of work. Though he said he was happy with his overall performance, he did gripe about his control of the sinker a couple of times, one of which was on the base hit he surrendered. As for Hansen, it's hard to argue that he looks improved over Spring Trainings past, though exactly how far he's come remains to be determined. Remember, these are college hitters. And not just college hitters, NORTHEASTERN hitters. That's pretty low-quality IA baseball, like Paul Pierce warming up in preseason against Liberty University.

A few minutes ago, the Globe's Amalie Benjamin dropped the regulars in tomorrow's lineup for the Mayor's Cup against the crosstown Spring Training rival Twins. Allegedly, Coco Crisp, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, Julio Lugo, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Bobby Kielty (who will be in his first spring action) will swing against the Twinkies, at least a couple of times. So, with the exception of Crisp at the top, we're likely to see the 2-6 of the regular order take some hacks. Not a bad way to get the juices flowing.

As is always the case, there was some serious shutterbug action during this afternoon's Boston College game, as photogs took their first shots of the '08 Sox. Here's what we thought were the picks of the AP litter, behind the shot of BC's Steve Cadoret above, who gave up a whopping ocho in the second inning. Ouch dude. Sorry about that.

Leave A Comment

---

---

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

Please only click "Post" once. It may take a few moments to process.