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Vero Beach (AP) - The Vero Beach Bums, after a modest 3-game winning streak including a 20-2 drubbing of Atlanta, showed no signs of life in today's 4-0 loss to Atlanta. Three Atlanta pitchers combined for a three-hit shutout.
Up-and-down Vero Beach drops to 10 and 9 with the loss, falling 3 and a half games behind surging division leader Spokane, who are currently nursing an eight-game winning streak. Binghamton is in second place, just one game better than the Bums.
Three starting offensive players and one starting pitcher are all suffering from nagging injuries, but the players aren't blaming the loss on injuries. "Every team is going to suffer some injuries before the season is over," said RF Brian Jordan, who is suffering from a sprained wrist and was 0 for 4 with a strikeout, "but we lost today because we couldn't get our bats going. We'll get back on track, though." First baseman Jeff King agreed. "We have a good team, a real balanced hitting attack. We'll bounce back." CF Chuck Carr had the Bums' lone extra-base hit, a double.
If the offense had problems getting started, so did the pitching. Starter Albie Lopez was working on only two days rest, due to an apparent error on the lineup card. Lopez was pulled after just one inning, giving up one run on three hits. That was all Atlanta needed to improve their record to 8 and 10. Lopez has given up 26 hits in 21 innings, but only 9 walks compared to 21 strikeouts.
In contrast, Friday's game was an offensive free-for-all for Vero Beach. The Bums scored 20 runs on 25 hits. Leading the way was King, who went 4 for 6 with 2 HR and 5 RBI. Every starter had at least one hit, and all but one had 2 or more hits. DH Pete Incaviglia was a big contributor with a perfect 4-for-4 and 3 RBIs. Vero Beach manager/GM/owner J. Lee Gohlke said on Sunday, "I could just kick myself for not starting Incaviglia at the beginning of the season. He's been our regular DH for the last 9 games and I couldn't be more pleased with his numbers. I don't know what happened with Lopez. I wish he would have spoken up earlier." Gohlke said the Bums are looking forward to a great season against some excellent division rivals. "When Hardie and Ritz get into the rotation, I hope our pitching staff will be more solid. Look out, Spokane!"
Written by Jason Gohlke