Opponent: Boise Hawks
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: Everett Memorial Stadium
Radio: KRKO (1380 AM)
Probable starters: Everett left-hander Edward Paredes (3-1, 1.85 ERA) vs. Boise left-hander Dustin Sasser (2-1, 3.00)
Mangini shut down
Everett will be without one of its brightest prospects at least a little while longer.
Third baseman Matt Mangini, one of Everett’s premier hitters, has been shut down because of a lower-back injury.
Mangini had been considered day-to-day because of the injury. However the Seattle Mariners, who selected Mangini with a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds of this year’s draft, decided to shut Mangini down to figure out what’s wrong.
“I haven’t done anything for two or three days, so it’s actually feeling a little bit better,” said Mangini, who’s been relegated to the role of spectator during practices. “I went and saw a doctor the other day and we’re waiting to hear back with the results. I actually have another appointment (today), so maybe we’ll see what’s going on.”
Mangini said he’s had lingering lower-back pain dating back to his senior year of football in high school. The pain finally became debilitating Monday, when he was a late scratch from the lineup prior to Everett’s 3-1 loss at Salem-Keizer.
“It’s just one of those things where diving around and swinging every day, I guess it’s just getting used to playing every day as opposed to college, playing every fourth or fifth day,” Mangini said. “It’s always been kind of a lingering problem. It’s just easier to figure it out now so I don’t run into it on a road trip and have it come up again.”
Should Mangini be lost for a substantial stretch, it would constitute a severe blow to Everett’s offense. The Sox have already had their share of offensive struggles this season, and the loss of Mangini robs the team of perhaps its purest hitter. Going into Thursday’s game Mangini was third on the team in batting at .291 and first in on-base percentage at .398.
“It’s miserable,” Mangini said about having to sit out. “I hate not being able to go out there and help the team, and just play. I love to play, so sitting out is real hard.”
The good news for Everett from a health standpoint was catcher Craig Hurba, who was unavailable the previous two games because of a shoulder injury, returned to the lineup Thursday.
New addition: Everett picked up a new pitcher Thursday when right-hander Alfredo Venegas was added to the roster.
Venegas, a 21-year-old from Equador, was signed by the Mariners in 2003. The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder spent the previous two weeks with High Desert of the full-season Class A California League, where he was 0-2 with an 8.68 ERA. Prior to that he was 1.01 with a 0.87 ERA for Peoria of the Arizona Rookie League.
Venegas’ addition gives Everett 18 pitchers on the roster.
Perfecto: A piece of Northwest League history was made Wednesday night when Vancouver’s Brad Hertzler tossed just the fourth perfect game in league history.
Hertzler retired all 15 batters he faced in Vancouver’s rain-shortened, five-inning 1-0 victory over Spokane. The league’s last perfect game came in 2001 when Tri-City’s Kip Bouknight and Patrick Lynch combined on a perfect game against Boise.
Nick Patterson, Herald writer
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