Whalers pound Royals, 3-way tie for Second-Place July 8, 1998
Montreal (AP)- The Hartford Whalers pounded the Montreal Royals on the road,
9-3, on the continued production of its new acquisitions. Youngsters Socks
Byrne and Jason Kendall, both 22 yrs of age, have helped keep the Whalers in
the race. Byrne has hit leadoff all season since being acquired from Tampa Bay
for Ron Choate and Harold Reynolds. He has stolen 22 bases in 24 attempts and
is currently hitting .280. Kendall, also in his sophomore season, is hitting
.293 on the year with 21 doubles. Byrne, one of the league's hottest young
left fielders and Kendall, arguably the best young catcher in the game, have
turned from insignificant rookies to unexpected leaders almost overnight.
Today Byrne went 2-4 with a double, 2 runs, 2 RBI, a walk and a SB while
Kendall went 2-3 with a run and 2 walks. Fellow Hartford Newbies, Julio
Franco, Mark Whiten, Brian McRae and Reggie Sanders have also stepped it up a
notch of late. Today Whiten and Franco combined for 4 of the team's 9RBI, each
homering. Meanwhile, starter turned reliever Bob Ardell has shined ever since
coming off the DL a couple of weeks ago. In relief of the struggling Tony
Saunders today, Ardell pitched 3 near-perfect innings for the win. Ardell is
3-0 on the year and has a team-best ERA of 2.95 through 36 2/3 innings of work.
Meanwhile, Saunders allowed 3 earned runs in 4 innings and watched his ERA
balloon to 4.10. Arthur Rhodes, reacquired through a recent trade, pitched a
perfect 8th inning for a hold while striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced.
Rhodes leads the club with 98 K's on the year.
Hartford currently finds itself, surprisingly, still in the hunt for the
division. Despite trading away almost all of its star power, Hartford's
youngsters have given the club new life and promise for the future. The
Whalers, currently 4 games below .500 at 39-43, are in a three-way tie for
second place in the McCoy Division with Montreal and Deadwood. All three teams
trail first place Edmonton by 8 games. Hartford has gone 5-5 (.500) in its
last 10.
Here's the skinny (highlights) on sophomores Byrne and Kendall:
LF Socks Byrne .280, 22SB, 17 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI (Took over for aged veteran
Tony Phillips this year)
C Jason Kendall .293, 3SB, 2HR, 15RBI, 21 2B (Took over for aged veteran
Mike Stanley recently)
Meanwhile, rookie starters Kevin Millwood and Brian Rose continue to perform
well in their first season, each with a winning record and an ERA under 4.50.
