| 22 April 2009
The Red Sox were rained out last night, so I thought we'd check in with the kids in Pawtucket and Portland.
Outfielder Chip Ambres has been hot hitting .292 through 48 at-bats with two homers and nine RBI. He's also hitting very well in the clutch, posting a 4.38 BA with RISP and a .348 BA with runners on base.
Jeff Bailey, who was called up to Boston to fill in for the injured Rocco Baldelli, was hitting .255 in Pawtucket with a team best four ding dongs. He also leads the team with 10 free passes, continuing to show patience and power at the plate.
Michael Bowden has looked sharp after struggling through much of Spring Training. With three starts in the books, Bowden owns an amazing 0.64 ERA and 15 strikeouts. He's allowed ten hits and five walks in 14 innings, but only one earned run. Bowden has tweaked his delivery since breaking camp and the results have been positive:
"I didn't do anything with my arm angle," said Bowden. "It was more with my feet. I was so compact last year, which is what we originally wanted, but now I'm getting a little more rhythm. I'm getting a little more momentum in my windup and a little more leg kick.
"I feel a lot more comfortable and a lot more powerful."
Daniel Bard has also been stellar, fanning 13 batters in just eight innings of work and compling three saves along the way.
Down in Double A Portland OF Josh Reddick, 3B Jorge Jimenez and SP Junichi Tazawa are making names for themselves. Jimenez the Sea Digs with 11 RBI and a .389 BA and Reddick hs shown some surprising power with four ding dongs and 30 total bases to go along with a .310 BA.
Meanwhile, Tazawa lead the team with 2.30 ERA nad 15 strikeouts through three starts. One interesting note - Tazawa has been considerably mroe effective with runners on base (.161 BAA) that with the bases empty (.375 BAA)... similar to his Japanese counterpart Daisuke Matsuzaka who has a career .255 BAA with the bases empty and a .210 BAA with runners on.
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