Dogs lose / Deschenes Promoted

On the very same day that I touted him as the guy I prefer to Jon Papelbon, Jon Lester struggled on the mound and was the losing pitcher in Portland's 9-4 loss to the New Britain Rock Cats. Lester got into a high pitch count by walking four and striking out six in 4.2 innings of work This is similar to a couple of the starts that he had earlier in the year, and may have been the result of a little rust after his previous start was skipped.

Meanwhile, Papelbon picked up his first AAA victory by pitching five strong innings, allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out 8 in Pawtucket's 9-1 victory over Buffalo. In doing so, Papelbon lowered his Pawtucket ERA to 3.57 and increased his K/BB ratio to a very impressive 21/2. The final two innings of the game (the first game of a double header) were pitched by recently promoted Marc Deschenes, who allowed two hits and struck out two batters. This marked Deschenes' first AAA action since 2002 when he pitched in four games with the Iowa Cubs. Deschenes hasn't had too much success at this level (he also pitched for Buffalo in 2001), recording a 6.49 ERA and 2.02 WHIP (with an equally ugly 32/27 K/BB ratio) in 34.2 innings. Deschenes has probably been the most consistent reliever for Portland this season, but less effective than expected. He appeared in 39 games and pitching 43.1 innings for the Sea Dogs with a 3.74 ERA and 1.52 WHIP, but with a fine 54/24 K/BB ratio (11.2 K/9 - very nice!). He's also allowed six unearned runs this season. Coming on the heels of a year where he pitched 33 innings with a 2.45 ERA and 1.24 WHIP, this performance has to be somewhat disappointing for both Deschenes and the Sea Dogs. No move has yet been made to fill his spot on the Portland roster.

Deschenes, of course, was sent up to fill Manny Delcarmen's roster spot. Delcarmen made his major league debut in Tampa last night, pitching a perfect 8th inning and striking out the first batter he faced (Johnny Gomes), however he was hit by a ball off the bat of Alex Gonzalez in recording the final out. After the ball hit off Matt Clement's head earlier in the game, Delcarmen's incident was fairly minor. Delcarmen ("the other Manny") looked fairly poised and did a decent job in throwing strikes during his debut.