Aug. 2 Bowie Md. Hot and sweaty
BOWIE, Md. -- Hustled down here for an 11 am tilt between the Portland Sea Dogs and Bowie Baysox (Portland Press Herald duty). It was in the 90s at game time, and of course, never got cooler. I'm always telling people, "It beats Baghdad". Gotta heed my own words.
Nice job by Michael Bowden, Portland's RHP, who has gotten a little overlooked in the shuffle of young Bosox pitching phenoms...what with Clay Buchholz and Justin Masterson and Jon Lester and, well you get the idea...Part of that comes with Bowden's youth (20) and his learning curve, which has been very much on the fly...But he's getting there, one battle at a time.
And that's what I liked about his work today. He had really good stuff, today, and wasn't afraid to use it. Heater topping out at 94...changeup that froze Bowie hitters...or at least caused them to swing defensively, hence the large number of full counts, but the minimal number of walks (just two).
One of the most interesting confrontations was with 1B Luis Jimenez (see the "Thwack, Thwack posting of last year). Jimenez worked back from a 1-2 count to get it full, but looked helpless on a couple changeups... so what was Bowden going to throw on 3-2. He had to throw a strike, but not a fat one.
"Otness (catcher John) called for a fastball," he said, "just a little bit in, but for a strike. I got it a little up, but he chased it."
The Baysox wasn't all that Bowden was battling. The midsummer swelter added it's own bit of fun.
"It was hot out there," said the soft spoken former first rounder of the Bosox. "It was hard to get a grip on the ball. I was squeezing as hard as I could, to get it to absorb the sweat on my hands, so it wouldn't slip.
Dan Hickling
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