Week 20 Notes: 2 at Pennsylvania (0-2), 4 at Vermont (1-3)
· 08/17: PA 7, MI 5 – David Withington 1-3, HR, 3 RBI – Rob Higgin 0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, HR (Injured on home run pitch, pending diagnosis.)
· Higgin just apparently felt a tweak and our trainers felt it best he came out of the game, as he is fine and just a bit tired. He is not expected to miss his next start.
· 3B/UT Jon Herr has been activated from the disabled list, with David Withington being optioned back to Dev A Westland.
· Ohio pulled back into a tie with us with the loss to Pennsylvania.
· 08/18: PA 2, MI 1 – Eric Roush (PA) 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 8 K – Jose Cuevas 8.0 IP, CG, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 10 K, L (13-7, 4.37)
· Ohio won, so we are no longer in first place, trailing by a full game in the standings.
· Mississippi has fired their general manager, John Young, and their field manager, Eddie Palmer. Their record is currently 39-81, good for worst in baseball. No shockers here.
· 08/20: VT 7, MI 2 – Vinny Alvarez (PA) 6.2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K – Jim Jeansonne 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB (injured while pitching.)
· Our bullpen is ravaged right now. I am going to option Josh Baab back to Westland and bring up the starter we received in the trade in July with Wyoming, Danny Hernandez.
· Hernandez will pitch as a long reliever/emergency starter for right now, although our field manager Erik Schmidt thinks we should switch him and Chris Calzadilla.
· Jeansonne was good news as well, at least. He just had a minor calf strain, but of course our trainer wanted him out of the game for precaution. I can't argue, he's been huge.
· 08/21: MI 2, VT 1 – Chris Calzadilla 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-8, 4.26) – Cody Wilcox 3-4, RBI
· I guess we know what Mr. Calzadilla thought about possibly giving up his 5th starter spot. Hernandez will probably get a start at this point, but good to see competition works for CC.
· 08/22: VT 5, MI 2 – Josh Higgins (VT) 5.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K – Steve Muller 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 7 K, L (9-8, 4.04)
· 08/23: VT 8, MI 1 – Jake Lawrence (VT) 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K – Rob Higgin 5.0 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 1 K
· Next Week: 4 vs. Rhode Island, 3 at Ohio
Obviously, we had a pretty horrific week, and we're not in first place anymore. Actually, we're three-and-a-half back now. The good news is we were on a tear at home lately and hopefully we can do well against the Tides of Rhode Island and have some positive momentum heading into an obviously huge series with the Aviators at the end of the week.
The two pitching injuries early in games really tore our normally amazing bullpen apart. They all had to pitch heavy innings, and I hadn't been carrying a 6th starter for those kinds of instances. I guess its really good that I traded for Danny Hernandez earlier... or rather, thank the Wyoming GM for calling me.
Still plenty of time left with a week still remaining in August, but obviously that week sucked pretty hard-core. Hopefully we'll see you next week on a much stronger note!