Hartford clings to first despite injuries April 28, 1998
The defending world champion Hartford Whalers suffered 3 more critical injuries
today as starter Bob Ardell went down along with reliever Tim Wakefield and 3B
Matt Williams. Ardell and Wakefield were placed on the DL with injuries with
only 10% severity but Manager Jeremy Chrabascz stated, "Tim's injury clearly
was his un-doing today. We're not taking any chances with anybody's health
this early in the season. Who cares about the standings, it's early." Matt
Williams had his teeth knocked out making a slide in one of the contests with
Deadwood today and is listed as day-to-day but was not placed on the DL.
Pitchers Brian Boehringer and Mark Brandenberg were recalled from AAA
Glastonbury to fill-in for Ardell and Wakefield (respectively). So, Hartford's
starting pitching rotation now looks like this: Greg Maddux, Kevin Brown, Tony
Saunders, John Burke and Brian Boehringer. Hartford still seems tentative
about messing with Kevin Millwood's "LOW" minor status at the moment despite
the fact that John Burke got shelled in his first major league start in quite
some time today.
Despite all of this injury-crazed play, the Whalers remain 1.5 games up on
second-place Edmonton in the McCoy Division of the EL at 13-7. Hartford split
2 at Deadwood today. Only real thing of note in either game was rookie Will
Cunanne picking up his 3rd save of the year in relief already.
What's going on: Despite making some good changes in the off season, the
Montreal Royals, who surged at the end of the season last year, have dropped 8
straight contests to fall exactly 8 games out of first place. Manager
Carbonetto could not be reached for comment but Whalers Manager Jeremy
Chrabascz said, "I have no idea what's going on up there. It's early and I'm
sure they'll turn it around. They sure put the heat on last season. Frankly,
I thought they'd have found more success this season so far than they have. I
think we've OVERachieved thus far as a club with such poor offense and
defense. But I love this division and I'm sure it will be tight all the way
through again. Unless, of course, we get hit with three more injuries
tomorrow."
