So after the draft, the coaches and I immediately began preparing for Greensburg as we're playing a four game series with the Green Sox. Here's a bit of history on professional baseball in Greensburg back in the day!
The Greensburg Red Wings were a Class D Minor League Baseball team based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The team was a member of the Pennsylvania State Association, from 1934-1939 and played all of its home games at Offutt Field. The team's name often changed throughout their short existence. They began as the Greensburg Trojans, and affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. A year later in 1935, the team was renamed the Red Wings, however in 1937 when the Brooklyn Dodgers took over the team, they were renamed the Greensburg Green Sox. Finally the team was called the Greensburg Senators, after their final affiliate, the Washington Senators, in 1939.
To say the good folks in Greensburg are happy to have a team again, is an understatement. And the fact that the Green Sox are 38-31, tied for the wild card spot, and only two games out of first. I knew this will be a rough series, but I was hoping we could improve our play at home.
6/16 - 6/19 - First game didn't start out like we expected. Tim Butler pitched his heart out, going seven innings and only giving up two runs on two hits. But the Sox starter, Desmond Paul was just as good, only giving up two runs. The game when into the 10th inning, and uncharacteristically, Broderick MacDonald gave up a solo home run, and we got nothing in the bottom of the 10th, and lost 3-2.
The next night was better as we won 3-2, with Euseika Heida going seven and a third, but the game went 13 innings, and was another thriller! We won the game when Gene Brown doubled, and John Thomas drove him home with a double of his own. The crowd went wild, and for one night, we could celebrate a nicely earned home victory.
After game two of the series, I reached out to the agents for the players we had just drafted. Here is what I proposed to each, after some haggling with their agents:
I felt good about these offers, and was confident all picks would eventually sign.
The next two games we lost 7-4, and 6-4, as in the first game Jesus Castenada took his first loss. Just a bad outing, giving up seven runs in 5 and two thirds.
At this point we're 71 games in, and halfway through the season. Here's how things shaped up to this point:
And our overall team stats looked like this. And as you can see, pitching is keeping us close to that .500 record. Our batting average has imporved
some, but we're still 11th out of 12 teams in the National Conference.
The getaway game was another extra inning one, going 12 innings, and Jorge Machado, our reliever with the best ERA of 1.33, got hit around, giving up two runs in the 6-4 loss. So with that our home record was a dismal 13-19, while our away record was 22-18. A lot of baseball played against Greensburg, but only one win really hurt! And our runs scored only rank 10th. I knew offense could be an issue, but didn't think it would be this bad! We've now dropped two games under .500 again!
So it's on the road again, to take on the Allentown Ambassadors in a huge four game series!