Hogs Stay Close, but Injuries Persist May 10, 1998
Punxatawney, PA (AP)--Thirty games into the season, and the Riker Division
remains incredibly close in a three team battle for first. The Springfield
Atoms have continued to surprise and impress the opposition and currently
hold a .5 game lead over Punxatawney, though they have played one more game.
Houston is only 3.5 games behind. Only Tampa Bay, at a dismal 9-22, is
falling behind.
"We're not happy to be close," said Hogs captain Ryan Klesko. "Last year,
we were running away with the division at this point. Now we can't even
hold first."
However, there is a cardinal difference between last year and this year, and
that is injuries. Punxatawney avoided the injury bug for much of last year,
but this year they have not been so lucky. Both #1 starter Jon Lieber and
#2 starter Rocky Coppinger are currently in AAA on rehab assignments.
Coppinger has been on the DL for a few weeks and Lieber, after trying twice
to pitch through elbow problems, has headed off to Roswell in hopes of
healing his ailing arm. In addition, Dave Martinez has already been
rehabing in Roswell for a few weeks and barely played at all for the Hogs
after he was traded over. And even Jose Valentin, last year's MVP, has been
playing through a bruised cheekbone for a week or two.
"I am personally satisfied that we can compete against the rest of the
division without our leadoff hitter and two top starters," said manager Dan
Shapiro. "I mean, we're sticking with these guys, just about an overall
split in our series against Houston and Springfield and we've still soundly
beaten Tampa."
The Hogs offense has also remained solid to this point in the season. Jose
Valentin is starting another MVP-like season. So far, he is hitting .331
with 7 homers, 22 RBI, and 5 stolen bases in the first 30 games. Ryan
Klesko hit his 10th homer last game, putting him on pace to once again break
the 50 homer mark. Tony Batista has also greatly improved since moving down
to the lower half of the order. He is now hitting .280 with 8 homers and 19
RBI. The only weak link in the offense is Scott Rolen, who's sophomore
slump has not yet abated. Rolen is batting just .241 with only 2 homers.
Tomorrow is a big day for the Hogs. They are throwing two unproven starters
against the Hellraisers. Sean Bergman, who has had one exceptional start
and one rather average start will face Alex Fernandez in the first game.
Game two features Tom Glavine for Houston starting against Curly Karkovice,
making his first start of the season. On paper, it might look like
Punxatawney has no chance. However, they don't agree.
"I've caught both of these guys a ton this year," said catcher Rick Wilkins.
"Sean proved he's a big time player last year with that playoff start.
Everyone talked about that for weeks...it was too bad these guys didn't
score for him. But he came out and did it again in his first start this
year and managed to have a decent outing last game too. And nobody has seen
Curly, he's just a kid on this pitching staff. But he has a great curve and
has looked solid coming out of the bullpen. I'm not guarenteeing a sweep
tomorrow, but don't count us out."
