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For the first time this season, the Vero Beach Bums have a share of first place in the Picard Division of the Defiant League. Today the Bums finished a commanding sweep of the Spokane Paladins, winning 14-8. In the series, Vero Beach outscored Spokane 57-18. Vero Beach's 23-12 record against division opponents is the best in their division. Vero Beach returns home tomorrow for a series against fourth-place Sacramento, after which the Paladins will arrive in Florida for a four-game rematch.
Spokane, Vero Beach, and Binghamton are all in a virtual tie for first place. Vero Beach has the best winning percentage, however.
Every Vero Beach batter scored at least once and got at least one hit. Shortstop Omar Vizquel continued his hot hitting with 2 home runs. Rex Hudler was a demon on the basepaths, stealing 2 bases.
Albie Lopez pitched 6 and 2/3 excellent innings, scattering 7 hits, striking out ten Paladins, and giving up only 3 walks and one run. Mark Guthrie finished the seventh inning on five pitches, with the Bums already up 13-1. Dennis Springer and John Cummings each pitched one inning and gave up 7 runs between them, but it was too little, too late for the Paladins. Spokane has lost seven in a row.
In his first and probably only start at catcher, Vero Beach 3rd baseman Dave Hollins committed 2 errors and had one passed ball. "What do you expect?" exclaimed an exasperated Hollins. "I could barely strap on the gear, much less catch back there. We're lucky it wasn't uglier than it was." Hollins added, "I didn't do any worse than [Mike] Matheny, though."
Matheny, Spokane's starting catcher, had 2 passed balls and one error. Both Matheny and Hollins went 1 for 3 with 2 walks, interestingly.
Hollins and regular catcher Tom Pagnozzi swapped gloves at the beginning of the game when they realized they were playing each other's position. "Yeah, I did a double take when I saw the lineup card," said Pagnozzi. "It's a little easier getting used to playing third than it is to catch for the first time. I'm not sure what was going through Jason's mind when he wrote out that card." Gohlke explained the mixup this way: "Well, apparently my handwriting is so bad that the umpire couldn't tell the difference. Either that, or a freak raindrop smeared that part of the card. Either way, I apologize to Tom and Dave--especially Dave--and I hope that doesn't happen again." The raindrop explanation is suspect, however, since Spokane Stadium is a dome. Perhaps we will never know why the lineup was in error.
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Thought of the day:
Why is hardly anybody very good against right-handed pitching?
Oh, yeah, also: Does anyone read this stuff? :)
Written by Jason Gohlke