[bendthebarman]

NEWS and NOTES

April 14th, 1976 - Milwaukee Crushers (3-2) blasted the Indianapolis Comets by a score of 8-0. Star free agent starting pitcher acquisition Gus Cruz (1-1) tossed 7.1 scoreless innings. Melvin Hernandez (.278, 2 HRs) zapped his second blast of the year. Both Cruz Gonzalez and Bryan Lett bashed three hits.

April 15th, 1976 - A heart-breaker. The Milwaukee Crushers (3-3) managed to tie the game in the 5th at 2-2 against the potent young hurler Javier Molina. Things fell apart soon after as a combination of bullpen walks and nickel-and-dime hitting by the Comets lead to a 6-2 deficit. The Crushers mounted a serious comeback in the ninth and were poised to tie the game but back-to-back hitters failed to advance runners on second and third base. Melvin Hernandez (0.318, 3 HRs) crushed his third tater is 6 games. The final score was 6 to 4, Comets. Mediocre Milwaukee Crushers start Danny Diaz fell to 0-2 with an ERA of 6.97. The Crushers' pitching gave up a total of 7 walks and 10 hits.

April 16th, 1976 - Milwaukee (4-3) invaded Canada to take on the division leading Toronto Metros (5-2). After blowing a 3-1 lead in the bottom on the seventh, Mang Guao ripped a deep fly to left field in the top of the ninth to drive in the lead run, securing a 4-3 victory for the visiting Crushers. Mang Guao now has a timely 5 RBIs to start off the 1976 season. Milwaukee Crusher's start Ivan Martinez (0-0), who lost 18 games last year, provided a quality start finishing the game with 6 innings and 3 earned runs. Ivan's early-season ERA is a respectable 3.09. Closer Ken Williams picked up his first save, while clean-up hitting Dan Linger mashed his second dinger.

April 17th, 1976 - Ka-BOOM! having now taken 5 out of their last 6 games, the Milwaukee Crushers (5-3) continued their battering of the Toronto Metros with a 12-3 dismantling that featured 17 hits. 23-year-old young-gun starter Bobby Palacios yield 2 earned runs and 7 hits in 5.0 innings, holding enough ground to allow the Milwaukee Crushers to shine. Home run stud Melvin Hernandez crushed his fourth tater, in a game where he managed a 3-hit performance. Other game stars include third hitter Shiro Yamane with 3 hits, and 4 hits by Antonio Facio hitting second.

Manager's NOTE: I am starting to feel comfortable with this offense. They have some potential to be above average. If the pitching staff can hold together some reasonable efforts this year, the Milwaukee Crushers could potentially play a game or two above .500. At this point, I'm going to explore options to see if I can land a second quality starter. Having a solid 1-2 punch could potentially place us in the position of fighting for a wild card spot.

I considered pulling the trigger on 34-year-old SP from Las Vegas, John Henderson. John has some decent numbers but looks to be declining and doesn't have the best attitude. Las Vegas wanted both a #1 and #2 draft choice PLUS our 18-year-old stud SP prospect Steve Enright. I said kick rocks to that trade. We'll tough it out a few more weeks and see if landing a started remains important, or if our staff continues to hold the ship steady. We don't have much cash left in our budget which is making the trade world tough.