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CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

August 24, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (30-28, 62-66) @ SALEM RED SOX (26-32, 57-70)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 7:05 p.m. | LewisGale Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark | Salem, VA

Webcast available on www.wsdash.com 15 minutes before first pitch

Game No. 129 | Road Game No. 65 | 2011 Home Record 35-29 | 2011 Road Record 27-37

LHP Joe Serafin (4-10, 5.80) @ LHP Manny Rivera (0-1, 7.88)

Silent Night: For the second straight night, Winston's bats were quieted by Red Sox pitching as Salem edged the Dash 3-2 to take the second game of the series. The Red Sox scored two runs in the first inning and another in the second against Cameron Bayne, but did not score again over the remainder of the game. They did not need to, as the Dash managed just a run in the third inning and another in the seventh on a solo home run. The combination of Anthony Ranaudo, T.J. Hose, and Will Latimer stifled the highest-scoring offense in the Carolina League, which has managed only five runs in the first two games of the series after scoring a season-best 15 on Sunday.

Rapid Climate Change Events: The last two nights, Salem has beaten Matt Wickswat and Cameron Bayne, two starters who have rapidly gone from red-hot to ice-cold. Wickswat lost his fourth straight start on Monday, a streak that came on the heels of winning five consecutive outings. Bayne had won eight straight decisions (over ten starts, including thee with Birmingham), but has lost his last three. He missed out on his third chance to take sole possession of the league lead in victories by losing last night's contest. Tonight's starter, Joe Serafin, has lost his last two starts.

The Tribe has not spoken: Despite losing ten of their last 13 games, the Dash are still right in the thick of the race for the Southern Division's second half playoff spot. Winston-Salem dropped a game in the standings to Kinston last night, which beat Frederick 3-1 in Maryland. The Dash now trail in the division by 1.5 games with 12 game remaining. The Indians' remaining schedule shows two games at Frederick followed by a seven-game home stand with three games against Lynchburg and four more against the Keys. The K-Tribe finishes up the season with three games at Potomac. Winston-Salem plays two more games at Salem, four at home against Myrtle Beach and three more home games against the Red Sox before finishing up the season with a three-game series at Lynchburg. The combined second half winning percentage of Kinston's remaining opponents is .535 (92-80) while the Dash's remaining opponents have a .459 (79-93) winning percentage. When weighted with the number of games left against each opponent, the difficulty of Kinston's schedule is even more daunting, with the Indians' opponents' winning percentage at .552 and Winston's at .459.

Too Much Salem, not enough Winston: When part of the name of your city is also the name of your opponent, questions of ownership may arise. There are no questions lately between these two teams, however, because it has become clear that Salem has owned Winston-Salem recently. The Red Sox have won the last eight matchups between the teams and lead the season series 10-5 with five more games remaining. During this win streak over Winston, Salem has outscored the Dash by a 2-1 margin (54-27). The Dash's last win over Salem was on July 2 when Andy Wilkins led a come-from-behind extra-innings rally with a walk-off three-run home run. After winning the first three matchups here in Salem in mid-May, Winston has lost ten of the last 12 games it has played against its closest Carolina League rival.

Bring Sally Up: Yesterday Dash shortstop Tyler Saladino was named the Carolina League "Player of the Week" for his performance from August 15 - 21. This is first time he has earned an award like this in his professional career. The honor was well-earned, as Saladino led all minor leaguers in batting average at .630 (17 for 27), was first in triples (3), and tied for second in extra-base hits (8). He went 1 for 2 last night with a double, two walks, and a run scored and his last five games, Saladino is 19 for 30 (.633) with five doubles, four triples, a home run, seven RBI, and seven runs scored. He currently has a season-best eight-game hitting streak. Saladino twice matched his career-high with four hits in games over the week and with the monster performances, the San Diegan raised his batting average 35 points from .234 to .269.

G-Man: Ian Gac hit his 32nd home run of the season on Sunday to snap a tie game in the third inning. The home run also tied his career-high for a season, which he previously set in 2008 with low-A Clinton and Advanced-A Bakersfield (Texas Rangers). Sixteen of his 32 homers this season have either tied the game or given the Dash the lead. Gac leads the Carolina League in home runs and is second in all of minor league baseball (the Iowa Cubs' Bryan LaHair has 34). Gac has 12 more home runs that any other player in the CL and his 88 RBI are nine more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (128, the only player in the league that has played every game), first in at bats (474), tenth in batting average (.274), second in hits (130), fifth in doubles (29), first in slugging percentage (.538), second in extra-base hits (61), first in runs scored (85), first in total bases (255), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/14.81). He is on pace to hit 35 home runs this season, which would tie the Winston-Salem record (Ed Olivares set the current record of 35 home runs in 1960 for the Winston-Salem RedBirds) and also would be the most in any Carolina League season since Tolia Solaita hit 49 for the Hi-Toms in 1968. Gac has 159 career homers in nine professional seasons.

Winning Formula: The odds are pretty good for Winston-Salem to come away with the victory when Ian Gac homers. The Dash are 21-8 in games Gac hits a home run, good for a .724 winning percentage. The Dash are just 41-58 (.414) when Gac does not homer. The Dash are 10-6 (.625) when Andy Wilkins hits a home run, but have won 10 of the last 12 games during which the Oklahoman has homered.

‚¬ËœMaul Rat: Since giving up two runs in an outing on June 2 against Potomac, Kussmaul has been nothing short of spectacular. He has allowed four runs (two earned) on nine hits in his last 20 appearances, sporting a 0.63 ERA (2 ER, 28.2 IP) with a .116 batting average against (11 for 95) and 52 strikeouts (seven walks) in the process. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers with 14.17 strikeouts per nine innings, nearly two more full K's than second-place Eliecer Cardenas (12.35). He is second among all full-season minor league pitchers in the category. Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (84) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (53.1). He is also second among CL relievers with a .166 opponents' batting average and is second in fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.77).

Today's Opposing Starter: LHP Manny Rivera (0-1, 7.88) makes his second Carolina League start and his first against the Dash. He gave up six runs on eight hits in four innings in his first start at Kinston and allowed one run over four innings out of the bullpen last Wednesday against the Pelicans. Rivera started the season with low-A Greeneville before a promotion to Salem in early August. He pitched well in 20 starts for the Drive, going 5-4 with a 3.58 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 98 innings. His performance earned him recognition as a South Atlantic League All-Star and he also won an award for "Pitcher of the Week" for April 25 - May 1 thanks to a start against Greensboro where he yielded just two hits and no walks over six shutout innings with eight strikeouts. Rivera spent all of 2010 with the Drive, going 3-9 with a 4.10 ERA in 27 games. He ranked fourth among all Red Sox minor leaguers with 107 strikeouts and led his team in innings (127.2) and starts (26). It was his first experience in a full-season league after spending the previous three years with the DSL & GCL Red Sox. The 21-year-old was signed by Boston at the age of 16 in 2006 out of Sabana Grande De Palenque in the Dominican Republic. He throws his fastball 88-90 mph and also features a changeup and curveball. He has a deceptive delivery that he uses to hide his changeup well, which, according to scouting reports is advanced for his age. His curveball is the pitch that Rivera has needed to improve the most in his ascension through the Red Sox system.

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