Dinardo, Dogs come up short in Comebacks

Lenny DiNardo was in Portland for a rehab start Tuesday night and didn't look to be ready to help out in Boston anytime soon. DiNardo, who has been out since May with a strained back, was completely ineffective in a 52-pitch, two inning outing against the Binghamton Mets. He started out, ominously, with a four-pitch walk to Wilson Batista. While DiNardo got out of that inning with a DP, things didn't go so well in the second.

Jay Caligiuri started with a single after lining several foul balls down the third base line. Two bunt singles followed before DiNardo punched out the K-tastic Corey Ragsdale (EL-leading 173 strikeouts) swinging. This brought up light-hitting catcher Joe Hietpas, who entered the game with just 8 extra base hits and a BA in the .170's in about 220 PA's between AA and AAA on the year. Hietpas promptly launched a fly ball high off the CF scoreboard for a grand slam. After two more singles and a force out, cleanup hitter Michel Abreu, who leads the EL with a .332 BA, followed suit with a three-run blast. That was pretty much it for DiNardo. He didn't have good control, didn't miss any bats and gave up a lot of hard contact in his two innings of work.

Originally-scheduled starter Devern Hansack came in and settled things down for Portland with 7 innings of four-hit pitching, including 7 strikeouts. The Sea Dogs rallied for three in the fifth, courtesy of a bases-loaded throwing error by pitcher Bryan Edwards, and two more in the 8th on Brandon Moss' two run pinch-single, but they couldn't scratch across the tying run and fell 7-6.

Notes:

• Abreu is a rare ballplayer from Costa Rica. I read today that there is little baseball played in that country because there was never an occupying force of US Marines there. Most of the baseball played in the country is by migrant workers from Nicaragua. As far as I can tell, no Costa Rican has ever played in the majors. However, all major league baseballs are manufactured there.
• Jacoby Ellsbury looks like the real deal to me. Rated the #1 Boston minor leaguer by Soxprospects.com, Ellsbury is an exciting player to watch. He hits for a high average, controls the strike zone, has good gap power and is a terrific baserunner. He's also a first-class ballhawk in center field and appears to have a strong arm. He's making a quick run through the Sox system, and my bet is he'll be in Fenway by 2008 at the latest.
  
• Congrats to Dustin Pedroia, who made his major league debut last night. I've loved this kid since I first watched him play in April of 2005, and I expect big things from him. I hope to have more on him in the next couple of days.