The Cassel connection
To put into context the performance last night by San Diego Padres 27-year-old rookie pitcher Jack Cassel against the Dodgers, where he lasted 5 2/3 innings, striking out five with a fastball that really moved around in the strike zone and allowing 10 hits and three runs, leaving with the game tied before the Padres went onto a 6-4 victory:
Cassel, a graduate of Kennedy High in Granada Hills, who then went to Pierce College and Loyola Marymount, is the older brother of Matt Cassel, the current backup quarterback to Tom Brady with the New England Patriots who also performed in pretty much obscurity as the backup to Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC but was still a seventh-round pick in the '05 NFL draft.
Matt was part of that '94 Northridge Little League team that went to the World Series, and he also played enough baseball at USC to be drafted himself in that sport.
Jack and Matt have a younger brother, Justin, in the Chicago White Sox organization.
Jack Cassel had his contract purchased from Portland on Aug. 10 and made his major league debut in the Padres' 12-7, 11-inning win in Cincinnati that night. He threw three innings in relief, allowing two runs and two hits. He was optioned back to Portland the next day.
As for Friday's game, this report from the Associated Press afterward:
"I was actually thrilled when I found out that I was starting and that it would be Friday, and seeing it would be the Dodgers," said Cassel. "I had a lot of buddies back home in Los Angeles, they're saying, 'We're rooting for Jack Cassel but not necessarily the team.' So it was great to get this victory."
Rafael Furcal bunted for a single on Cassel's first pitch, and the right-hander fell behind 1-0 in the first, but settled down.
"Jack did a nice job today," manager Bud Black said. "He hung in there. He had a couple situations where he could have melted but he didn't. He made pitches. I like that he didn't back off at all. Threw strikes. I thought he had composure, I thought he had poise. I thought he did a nice job."
Here's a link to a story in Thursday's Boston Herald making the link between Matt, the backup QB, and Jack, the struggling minor-league pitcher, and how the two can lean on each other for support.
And here's another link to a Bob Ryan column in Friday's Boston Globe about Matt Cassel, who racked up some playing time in the Patriots' final exhibition game Thursday.