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LF Johnny Oviedo finally signed with a team! He is headed to New York to play for the Skyliners for 1 year, while earning $2.64M.
4/29/11
Chicago Bruins (10-10) 2nd in VL West (Portland Moose in 1st) 1½ GB
78 Runs Scored (6th in VL)
81 runs against (3rd in VL)
3.77 Starters ERA (5th in VL)
3.45 Bullpen ERA (3rd in VL)
.680 Defensive Eff. (3rd in VL)
Game 1: The Bruins reverted back to their hard hitting ways, while also baffling Brooklyn hitters and allowing the Robins only 2 hits. Tony Brower impressed me with a masterful 6.1 inning, 8 strikeout, 1 hit outing, his best of the year. It looks like I won’t be needing McNeil after all! Mark Ready and Ryan Taylor finished the game, letting only 1 runner on in total. To go along with this pitching performance, Chicago hitters slammed recent signee Mike Fragoso for 4 runs and 10 hits in 5 innings. Jaime Bouffard, who isn’t known for having any power whatsoever, hit 2 homers today. He’s been quite impressive. Chicago also tagged along runs against relievers Zaccaria Piontelli, Tony Ziv, and Bob Bord. After the dim news of Alex Ramirez’s retirement, this blowout win surely raised the spirits of Chicago fans. (Bruins: 11 Robins: 0)
Game 2: Frank Santana was his usual self today, throwing 8 innings of 2 run ball. Manuel Washington nearly matched Santana, throwing 7 innings while also allowing 2 runs to cross the plate. With the score tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the 8th, T.J. Keough came through in the clutch and smacked a double, scoring Serna. The Bruins had taken a 3-2 lead! Jesus Balderrama took the mound to close out the game, but only got 1 out before collapsing and giving up an RBI double to Mario Reyes, followed by a 2 run moonshot by Tony Fernandez. This was Jesus Balderrama’s 1st loss and blown save, and was putting together quite the season before this. I’m confident in Castro’s ability to help Jesus regain his confidence and cheer him up a bit, as he was playing better than he ever had been before today’s loss. (Robins: 5 Bruins: 3)
San Francisco Seals ace Danny Lechuga (1-1 3.77 ERA) will be out for 7 weeks with elbow inflammation. Looks like we won’t be the only ones missing a starter. Get well soon Garcia!
Game 3: Brooklyn’s starter Terrence Ruggles strained his calf, forcing Robins manager Ricardo Rossy to take him out of the game. This allowed the Bruins’ offense to feast on the week Brooklyn bullpen, scoring 10 runs during the contest. Ed Olloqui and Pedro Centeno both pumped out 2 run bombs for the Bruins, while the rest of the runs were manufactured. Every hitter in the Chicago lineup got on base at least once, while 7 different players drove in runs. Noah Hampton provided the Bruins with his typical 7 inning - 3 run outing. Castro loves the veteran’s consistency, stating “You know exactly what Noah’s gonna do, and you can’t wait to see him go out there and pitch a nice game every day, without having to worry about a disaster. When it’s his turn to pitch, my only concern is the offense, and today, the offense came through bigtime”. Sam Vance and Jason Goodman couldn’t finish the game, so Castro called on Balderrama to clean it up, and he did just that, getting 2 quick outs without any signs of weakness, and earning his 5th save of the year in the process. (Bruins: 10 Robins: 7)
Series notes: It was wonderful watching the offense get back on track. Scoring 24 runs during the series with a couple of much needed homers. It looks like the clutch hitting is finally coming around. The starting pitching (as it has been all year) has been solid, with the exception being Alex Ramirez’s tragic injury. Juan Garcia should return for our next series, so that adds another solid pitcher to the rotation. Our bullpen has been quite shaky, which is slightly concerning, but Goodman and Vance should come around. If you get rid of Balderrama’s disaster outing, he has been great for us, however, I will suggest to Manuel that Rich Martines takes over as closer. As I stated when we acquired Martines, Balderrama will be the stopper.
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