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Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes

August 12, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


- RHP Wilfredo Boscan (4-9, 4.15) at RHP Stephen Strasburg (Rehab)-

STRASBURG: Oh, come on. You know. "Dominant." "A once-in-a-generation talent." "Regarded by many scouts as the best prospect in draft history." A pitcher who "projects as a true No. 1 starter and a Cy Young Award winner." And those accolades came from Baseball America before the right-hander and top pick in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft pitched a single professional inning. Last year, the electrifying Strasburg took the baseball world by storm from his 11 minor league starts between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse where he went 7-2 with a 1.30 ERA and .158 BAA to his 12 major league outings that seemed like something out of a pitching version of "The Natural." On June 8, 2010, the 6'4", 220-lb Strasburg took the hopes of the Washington Nationals on his broad shoulders and turned in one of the best MLB debuts ever seen. The righty took a big league mound for the first time one day shy of the one-year anniversary of being drafted first overall by the Nats and struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates over seven jaw-dropping innings. In his 12 starts in a Washington uniform, Strasburg went 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA, held big league hitters to a .221 BAA, and struck out a mind-bending 92 hitters in 68.0 innings pitched. On August 21 at Philadelphia, Strasburg departed his final start prematurely with an injury later revealed to be a torn ulnar collateral ligament and, two weeks later, underwent Tommy John surgery in Los Angeles. Since beginning his rehab program less than a week after his surgery, the road back has been long, but last week, the 23-year-old tossed an inning and two-thirds, allowing a solo homer and striking out four while throwing 31 pitches for Class A Hagerstown. Strasburg operates with a blistering fastball (two- and four-seam versions) the Nationals have clocked as high as 102 MPH, a plus-plus power breaking ball, and a plus changeup he "seldom needed...to dominate in college." The righty is expected to throw three innings or 50 pitches tonight.

ELEVENTH HEAVEN: Going into Thursday night's opener at Potomac, the Pelicans had posted double-digit run totals ten times, but only once had Myrtle Beach crossed over the eleven-run plateau (their record-setting 20-6 win over the P-Nats here at Pfitzner Stadium back on May 3). The nine other times, the Birds had scored either ten or eleven runs but finally broke through again in the first of four at Potomac. The Pelicans plated 12 runs on 13 hits and improved to 11-0 in games in which they score ten runs or more this season.

28 DAYS LATER: The Pelicans recently completed a slate of 21 scheduled home games out of 27 over a span of 28 days. During the stretch, there was one rainout postponement, and though the Birds started out 10-2 in those home affairs, they lost five of the last eight such games to finish the run at 13-7. Myrtle Beach owns the Carolina League's best home record at 39-19 in 2011.

FOUR ON THE FLOOR: Heading into tonight's game in Woodbridge, the Pelicans have four players that rank in the Carolina League's top ten in batting average. Jared Bolden's three-hit night Thursday propelled him to sixth in the circuit at .277, one point and two places above Jared Prince (.276). Ryan Strausborger and Santiago Chirino sport identical .270 averages in ninth and tenth respectively.

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