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The day after taking both ends of a doubleheader against John Dybala's Larimer Knights, the Punxatawney Groundhogs managed to win the next game and secure a series sweep over the Data Division contenders. This game was moderately close, a 9-6 affair, which improved Punxatawney to 41-21 (.661) and gave them their 3rd win in a row and 8th in their last 10 games. They are now 19-8 at home, a .703 winning percentage in the friendly confines of Punxatawney Phil Memorial Stadium. This sweep also improved the Hogs to 16-11 in out-of-division play.
"We haven't yet proved we can maintain this phenomenal pace against the Data division boys, but we can certainly keep winning," said team owner Dan Shapiro. "And Larimer, although they are last in their division, are only 5 1/2 back and playing .500 ball."
However, in this game, Larimer couldn't keep up with the Hogs offensive attack. Punxatawney once again drew first blood, scoring a run in the bottom of the first. Larimer took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third, but 3 runs in the bottom of the inning gave the Hogs a 4-2 advantage. Larimer scored one run in each of the next 3 innings, but the Groundhogs scored 5 runs in that same time, giving them a 9-5 lead going into the 9th. Larimer scored once more in that final frame, but the game ended as a 9-6 win for the Hogs, who outscored the Knights 36-15 in the series.
Rondell White once again led the offensive attack. He was 3-5, scored 3 times, and hit 2 more homers. White simply devoured the Larimer pitching the entire series. In this series alone, he was 10-15, scored 9 times, drove in 15, hit a pair of doubles, 5 homers, walked once, and stolen a base.
"He deserves some kind of award for that," said Shapiro. "Player of the week, series of the year--something. He drove in 5 runs in every game, homered in every game, had at least 2 hits in every game, scored twice in every game, played fine defense. He's way off the trading block now."
"I just saw the ball well the last few days, I guess," said a humble White. "Shapiro's been singing my praises pretty highly, but I just had a good series. I'm just doing my job, contributing to my team."
Jose Valentin accounted for a huge amount of the offense in this game as well. Valetin, like White, hit a pair of longballs. He was 2-4, scored twice, and drove in 4. Ryan Klesko also had 2 hits. Greg Myers, Roberto Kelly, and Scott Rolen each had a hit and a run. Tony Batista was 1-3 and scored a run, but suffered a minor injury, bruising his ribs when he turned a double play while receiving a rough takeout slide. He is feeling very good and doesn't plan to miss any action, but his swing is slightly hampered by the pain in his ribs.
For Larimer, Brian Giles who is still doing well against his old club, was 2-5 and drove in 3. Leadoff hitter Jose Offerman was 2-4 and scored twice while cleanup hitter Jim Edmonds had a solo homer and a double, going 3-5 in total. Miguel Friatague, Curry Powell, and Hector Villanueva each had a hit and a run. Paul Sorrento, who arrived too late to be in the starting lineup, came in and got one at bat, pinch hitting for Curry Powell late in the game and being forced to catch the last few frames as nobody else was available to play catcher.
Bobby Thomas made his 5th start of the year for the Groundhogs. He was nowhere near as dominating as he had been in his previous three outings, but managed to make it through 6 innings. He gave up 5 runs, all earned. These came on 9 hits, 4 walks, and 3 strikeouts. However, the bullpen once again held on to the victory. Scott Ruffcorn threw the 6th and 7th on 20 pitches, getting 2 strikeouts. Bobby Munoz started the 9th inning, got 2 outs, gave up a run, and was relieved by Tim Worrell. Worrell walked one man but got the last out of the game as well. The victory made Thomas 4-2 on the year and got Worrell his 6th save.
The loss ended up going to Larimer starter Dave Burba. Burba lasted just 2 2/3 innings while he gave up 4 runs. Chris Haney did no better out of the bullpen, but threw the last 5 1/3 innings. He gave up 5 runs on 8 hits, but had fine control as he did not walk anyone.
Shapiro also noted that the excessive offense in this game may have come from the heavy winds blowing out to dead center. "Any time you get conditions like that, breaking balls don't break as hard, and Thomas is a control pitcher. Burba and Haney both throw breakers too. When a pitcher can't rely on that and batters have the advantage of winds blowing out, its not a good combination."
As a final note, Shapiro mentioned that pending league approval, Sean Corwin will resign his ownership of the DC United, sever all ties with that team, and join the Groundhogs as the General Manager, freeing Shapiro to do more with the actual management of the club.
Written by Dan Shapiro