[LocalRock]

5/1: A beautiful start from Ortiz as he holds Florida to just 2 runs on 6 hits with 2 strikeouts and 3 walks in 7 innings of work. The bullpen was a different story, however, with Collins and Lopes combining for 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk in 2.2 innings of work. The offense hit their ace Sonny Mendez for 4 runs on 9 hits, with Singleton picking up 2 of those hits, and Ebey going 3-4 with a solo shot in the fifth. Final: 6-5 loss in 10. (5-7)

5/2: Our second shutout of the year comes from the same unlikely source. Greg Doyle picks up his second shutout in his second start, this time making it 8 innings and striking out 6 Florida hitters. Our two runs come on a Kurtz RBI single and a Paul baker solo shot in the ninth. Hopefully Ramirez and Ortiz can figure out whatever Doyle’s doing. Final: 2-0 win. (6-7)

The First Year Player Draft pool was released today, along with the OSA Mock Draft. We are projected to select 23 year old TCU senior CF Shaun Johnson 2nd overall. Johnson enters the draft as one of the more pro-ready ballplayers, as he is already a top-tier fielder with a good bat and elite speed. During his senior season, Johnson hit .293/.374/.543 with 9 HRs and 38 RBIs. He stole 34 bases during his 47 games. My target with that pick is either Johnson, or if he’s available, the man projected to go number one overall: 22 year old Fresno State junior 2B Sam O’Masta. O’Masta is really the only better prospect than Johnson that won’t take 4+ years to develop. He grades out as a better hitter who can hit for power (.331/.423/.705 with 16 HRs and 12 doubles), who is an above average fielder and can run a bit too. While not the fastest (he only has 40 grade speed), O’Masta did steal 25 bags during his junior season. If anything changes I’ll update, but the pick for now is between these two ballplayers.

We also have our first day off of the year and have a transaction at the big league level. With SS Edgar Soto ready to be activated from the IL, we have designated Dan Schuster for assignment. Schuster was hitting .190/.271/.190 in 49 PAs (42 ABs). We have also placed Trent Beaumont back on the 15-day Triple-A IL.

5/4 - 5/6 vs KC (7-6)
We enter a series against the 7-6 Cougars who hold a top-5 offense in the NBL, and are fresh off a 3 game sweep of the Rattlers, in which they scored 19 runs. As a team with subpar pitching, we’re going to need this offense to find a way to turn it on so we don’t fall further below .500. That’ll be tough, as KC has the 5th ranked Starters’ ERA in the NBL. Their bullpen, on the other hand, has not been as good, posting a 5.05 ERA, good for 13th in the NBL. That is a full run worse than ours, and we are 11th in the NBL in that category. They are led offensively by superstar 23 year old 2B Alex Zepeda, who is tearing up the league early with 21 hits in 46 at bats, 9 of those for extra bases (1 HR).

5/4: Oscar Grande on the mound for us today, and he gets off to a hot start, retiring the first 6 down in order, striking out the sides in the second. The offense, on the other hand, strands the bases loaded in the first then goes down 1-2-3 in the second. Fast forward to the bottom of the fourth, where we lead off with a double by Caldwell, a Singleton single (hah), then an Ebey double to put us on top 1-0. Grande, on the other hand, keeps on rolling, with now 5 shutout innings allowing just 1 hit and 5 K’s. This would not last through the sixth, as after surrendering two one-out walks but retiring the next man, Grande left a pitch over the plate to Zepeda and the Cougars went up 3-1 with one swing of the bat. They would put up two more runs in the eighth off of reliever Dan Schmitz, and one more in the ninth off of Doug Morgans. Meanwhile, our offense would not threaten the rest of the afternoon, and we fall to Kansas City 6-1. (6-8)

Due to an injury to AAA starter Jon Bowton that will keep him sidelined for up to 2 weeks, we have promoted 23 year old starter Jonathan Krebs to AAA and 24 year old reliever Kyle Delaney to AA

5/5: Make that 4 consecutive solid starting pitching performances, as Taylor Martinez this time goes 7 innings allowing just a single run on 7 hits while striking out 2. Nathan Gille had the best game of his career, mashing two solo home runs as the Sentinels went on to win 2-1. (7-8)

5/6: Well Ramirez wakes up and has a decent outing finally. He lasts 7 innings while giving up just 3 runs on 3 hits with 2 walks. He also struck out 7 Cougars tonight. The offense, on the other hand, remains ice cold. We scratch across just one run on an RBU double by Tony Kurtz as Singleton keeps his average at just a measly .145 through our first 16 games. Our only bright spot on offense remains to be Paul Baker, who is slashing .352/.397/.519 so far. We have scored just 6 runs in out last 4 games, and 12 in our last 6. Seems like when our pitching is on our offense is cold and vice-versa. Anyways, on to Dallas. Final: 3-1 loss. (7-9).

In other Sentinel news, we have traded 2B Dan Schuster to Phoenix for 25 year old minor league second baseman George Johnson, though we are almost certainly going to play him at first. Rick sees Johnson as a below average hitter who can run like the wind. Last year in AAA he hit .284/.360/.383 with 2 HRs and 29 SBs to just 5 caught, though he is just 4-24 hitting and 1-4 stealing through his first 6 games this year. Johnson will be placed in AAA and is there at least until Roberto Galvan is able to come up and take over first in Newark.