 Daniel Bard pre-game the last time I visited McCoy Stadium. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission. |
The only thing I care to recall about last night’s game:
“He kind of blew my doors off a little bit there,” Napoli said. “He’s got pretty easy cheese. He brings it up there pretty good, pretty firm. From what I saw, he has pretty good stuff.”
“Easy cheese”. Eck would be proud.
I surprised myself by being genuinely pumped during a Red Sox loss to see Daniel Bard get his Major League debut AND his first Major League strike out against the first batter he faced. (The “Easy Cheesy” Mike Napoli.) My focus is usually on the game and the stats for the individuals is secondary. But to see a player live up to the hype in his first appearance is pretty sweet.
Back in January, I got to see Bard at McCoy Stadium at the PawSox’ annual Hot Stove party. It’s funny to think of now, how so many were disappointed to not get to meet Lars Anderson while Kelly and I were more worried that Bard was going to have to suddenly leave. He was kind and funny when we met him and only slightly shell-shocked by the amount of people who showed up for the event. It was easy to see he didn’t rattle too easily. I was also fortunate enough to have been at Pawtucket for his first appearance there this season and saw him bring the heat (topping off at 99 mph that day). So watching him come into a 7-4 game with the Sox losing and men on second and third with no outs and get a .316-hitting batter to strike out swinging certainly made my night.
Kyle Snyder starts today for the Bisons against the Gwinnett Braves at 1:05pm. This is important insofar as if the rotation for the Bisons stands as is, Kyle will probably be starting against the PawSox when I go to see them this coming Tuesday. One can hope!
Sox have a chance to win the series today – that’s TODAY for those of you still sleepy from staying up to watch them lose, not toNIGHT. Today at 3:35pm, bane of my existence Brad Penny will face Ervin Santana before the guys hop a plane to Seattle for the weekend. I’ll be listening and hoping that Penny, yet again, does his impression of a pitcher who doesn’t stink too much while his offense gives him some run support so they can leave town with the series win. That’s all we need, right?