Hogs Back on Track, Hogspital Proves Effective August 10, 1997
Spokane (AP)--Punxatawney has won three straight games recently after
struggling again losing four in a row, a franchise record. The offensive
contributions have mainly still come from the bats of the uninjured
starters. In their last two games, both victories over the once great
Spokane Paladins. It was a match of sluggers as PVBL homerun leader Mark
McGwire of the Paladins, who has been way off pace since the break, went
against Ryan Klesko on the Hogs, currently second in baseball. Not to
mention Dante Bichette of the Paladins, currently in third.
The opener was a true slugfest, a 13-7 Hogs win. After trailing 1-0 going
into the third and being tied 2-2 after three, the Hogs piled up 9 runs
against the Paladins 2 and went on to win. The offense was led by the two
top hitters still unijured on the Groundhogs, Klesko and Marty Cordova.
Cordova, batting third, went 4-6, scored 3, and drove in 2 including one
homerun. Klesko, batting next in the order, was even better. He nearly
outslugged the entire Spokane offense on his own, going 4-5 with 3 runs and
6 RBI, including 3 homers.
"It was all-you-can-eat today at the Spokane Stadium, and Ryan got his
money's worth," remarked Hogs batting coach Bernie Carbo. "We'd been
working on getting him to turn over a bit more, and Al Leiter kept giving
him fat pitches every time up."
"Hey, someone had to get the offense going," Klesko remarked. "We'd been
scoring two, three runs a game for the last few weeks and it was time for a
change."
Two top rookies also contributed, as Wilton Guerrero hit a 3 run blast and
Billy Ashley was 3-4 with a homer of his own--a grand total of 6 homers on
the day.
However, another player got a career milestone today. Pat Rapp managed to
rack up his first win with a very average start. He gave up 4 runs over 5
innings to get to 1-1 on the year. Tim Worrell got his 5th hold with a pair
of scoreless innings. Bergman, Hermanson, and Munoz finished up the last
two innings to hold off the Paladins attack.
The Paladin start Al Leiter suffered through the entire game, losing his
11th of the year. He tossed 196 pitches and allowed 13 runs while throwing
the whole game.
"Christ, are they trying to hurt him? And I wondered why they were
struggling up there with all that hitting," remarked Dan Shapiro, Hogs
owner/manager.
But the second game was far, far closer. After 6 innings, just 1 run was
scored between the two. After the Hogs opened up a 4-0 lead in the top of
the 7th, the game seemed over, but Spokane managed to score three more runs
while Punxatawney got 1 more to win 5-3. This time, neither Klesko or
McGwire did much, but Dante Bichette did slam a solo homer. In this game it
was young 3B Scott Rolen who led the way.
"Scottie was on fire in that second game. He's struggled a bit since moving
to the second spot in the order, but he won us this game," said bench coach
John McGraw, speaking through Dionne Warwick. Rolen was 2-4, homered, and
drove in 3. The other two runs also were homers--solo drives by Greg Myers
and Marty Cordova.
But the main feauture of this game was the pitching on both sides. Mike
Hampton, after a rough July, has been back on track in August. He went 7
innings, gave up just 2 hits, walked 3, and allowed just 1 unearned run.
Hampton is now 11-5 with a 3.16 ERA. Tim Worrell threw a scoreless 8th.
Sean Bergman was credited with his 6th hold for a 2/3 inning of work in
which he gave up a run, but Rick Aguilera got his first save ever for the
last 1/3 of an inning.
Spokane's pitching was led by Darren Oliver, who gave up 4 runs in 7
innings. Prieto and Pulsipher threw the last two, but their holding the
Hogs to 1 run was not enough as the Hogs held on to win 5-3.
In other news, the Hogs are now nearly healthy. Although a number of
players are in the DL or still working in AAA, only Tony Batista's fractured
foot remains as a critical injury. Within a few days, the Hogs may bring
Jason Giambi, Rondell White, Roberto Kelly, and Jose Valentin back to the
lineup. Curt Leskanic may also get brought back up to the bullpen.
"Be scared, everyone. If we can win with only Klesko, Cordova, Rolen, and
Myers still playing, Pat Rapp starting, and Neale in the pen, and win
against some decent teams at that, we should be able to beat anyone," said a
cocky Mike Hampton, the team's ace.
Stats 'n stuff
The Hogs magic number is down to 25 while their win total has climbed to 75.
So far they have held off Galena's charge, but the Hamsters are only 4.5
games worse over the course of the season. But the Hogs are eagerly
watching the other divisions to see some great races. On August 10th, 3
divisions still had ties. Vero/Binghamton, Brooklyn/Motor City, and of
course Hartford/Deadwood, perhaps the best race of all.
As far as trades go, the Hogs are quite content to go to the playoff with
what they have, but would like to get a top starter if possible. We're
mainly offering prospects, at this point, but that does include Coppinger
and Hermanson in that category.
