Punxatawney Pummels Pirates, Maintains Lead July 31, 1998
Spokane, WA (AP)--In one of their biggest offensive outbursts of the season, the Punxatawney
Groundhogs rolled over the Spokane Pirates by a 16-5 score in yesterday's
PVBL action. Their impressive day was dwarfed by the Washington Sea Dogs'
21-4 thrashing of Larimer.
"We're pretty happy with today's results, of course," said Ryan Klesko, who
has helped the offense since returning from a bout with pnemonia, homering
in a 2-5 effort today. "It might be nice to take a few of those 'extra'
runs we scored and distribute them a little better!"
This game was a blowout from the get-go. After a scoreless first,
Punxatawney tallied one in the second and then the floodgates opened. After
a 9 run third inning, Spokane starter Mark Clark was sitting shellshocked on
the bench as his team was down 10-0. Everybody helped in this massive rally
in which every run was earned. The final run came off reliever Paul Shuey
who mercifully replaced Clark. Shuey lasted through the sixth, giving up 3
more runs while his team scored once. Going into the bottom of the 6th, the
score was 13-1.
Spokane finally got a rally going at that point, tallying 4 against Hogs
starter Jon Lieber.
"That's a tough sequence of hitters. McGwire bats 3rd, and he gets a base
hit--he's a star. Then Brady, a should have been all-star, ropes a 2 run
blast. Next, a great young 3B in John Mabry, who gets another base hit.
And down in the 6 hole is all-star Mike Matheny, who hits another 2 run
blast. But even then, it was 13-5," Hogs manager Dan Shapiro said. "I
pulled Jonnie then because there was no point in wasting his arm."
Bill Pulsipher was the next Spokane pitcher to take the mound, and he was
battered for 3 quick runs in the 7th. However, both pitching staffs settled
down after that and the scored stayed put at 16-5 through the final out.
When the dust had settled, six Punxatawney players had gone yard. Jason
Giambi, Scott Rolen, Jose Valentin, Marty Cordova, Ryan Klesko, and Dave
Martinez all left souveniers for the fans in the cheap seats. All 9 Hogs
started scored at least once, and everyone but Roberto Kelly had a hit.
Cordova racked up the most RBI, with 4, coming all on a massive grand slam
in the second.
"Clark just lost it. His control was shaky, we had men on base, and he had
to throw a strike. I guessed fastball, and it came right down the middle,"
Cordova said. "It felt like a pretty long shot right off the bat, no
question about it."
Jason Giambi, who has struggled for much of the year, went 3-5 with 2 runs
and 3 RBI, hitting a double to complement his base hit and homer.
"I feel a lot more comfortable with Ryan [Klesko] and Jose [Valentin] back
in the lineup," noted Giambi, talking about the recent time off the team's
two biggest bats took. "There's a lot less pressure on all of us to succeed
with those guys back in the 3 and 4 spots."
Another bright spot for Punxatawney in this game was the bullpen
performance. Shapiro decided to try three pitchers who all had been shaky
so far and give them a chance to throw in a pressure-free situation. Jim
Burright came on after Matheny's 6th inning homerun which made the score
13-5. Burright is a young righty who has thrown just a handful of major
league games over the last two years, but after dominating the minors was
called up to replace the struggling Henry Neale. In this game, Burright
threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, and notching 1
strikeout.
"I said a lot about this kid when we traded for him last year. Said he'd be
a star. He was great in the minors, and he's got a 2.70 ERA so far in the
big show this year," said pitching coach Mark "The Bird" Fidyrich. "We
probably rushed him at the end of last year, but we think he's ready now."
"We know its a lot to say about a 20 year old, but we think this kid could
be a great setup man or even a closer. He throws nearly as hard as [closer]
Ricky [Bottalico] and has impressive control. Our only question with Jim is
that he really doesn't have a dominant 'out' pitch. If he can develop that,
he's gonna be a star," Shapiro said.
Pitching after Burright in this blowout was lefty Mike Hampton, who has
split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen this year. He's
been the example of hard luck, with a 4-10 record even though he has 8
quality starts. In this game, he threw a perfect innings, striking out 1.
"Honestly, we made a mistake last year in protecting him. We should have
kept Rondell and risked him to free agency," Shapiro said. "I hate to admit
mistakes, but we feel pretty stupid about that now. He hasn't been nearly
as dominant as we hoped."
Hampton was angered by these remarks. "I'm a mistake, huh? Well, if
Shapiro thinks I'm a mistake then he better wake up. My record is only that
bad because I never get offensive support. My ERA isn't great, but its not
bad. I should be better than I am."
After Hampton, lefty Scott Aldred came on to throw the 9th. Aldred also
tossed a scoreless inning, notching the Hogs 10th and final strikeout.
Since moving to the middle relief role, Aldred has dropped his ERA from the
high 5's to 5.00.
"We got an inside tip from another owner, who we thank greatly. Scott has
really looked good recently," Shapiro noted.
Punxatawney now travels down the coast to Sacramento where they will duel
the 40-63 Sacramento Knights. Rocky Coppinger will go for his 13th victory
of the season, still pitching through a blistered finger.
"I'm ready to go. I tossed 6 innings last game, I could do that again. I'm
not sure about 9, my finger really starts to hurt after 80 or 90 tosses.
We'll see how it goes tomorrow," Coppinger said.
Quote(s) of the day:
"I'm thinking curve, Matheny, how about it?"
-- Scott Rolen, while batting in the 3rd inning
"I asked for a curve, Matheny. If ya hadn't called the fastball I wouldn't
have hit it so damn far."
--Scott Rolen, after homering to left in the 3rd inning
* * *
Tony Batista has overtaken Marty Cordova as the 3rd best hitter in the
Punxatawney lineup. Batista is 2nd in homeruns and runs created with a .278
batting average, 18 homers, and 65 runs created. He also has stolen 16
bases, tied with leadoff Dave Martinez for the team lead.
However, quite a bit is to be said about Martinez. Dave battled a slump for
much of the season, but is now batting .297 with 16 steals in only 66 games.
"He's finally starting to 'lead' our offense like Rondell did, and that's
why we're starting to win," Shapiro said.
Klesko and Valentin are still the big 1-2 punch of the lineup. Each have
missed 10-15 games, but they are both having dominating seasons. Valentin
is following his MVP year with another great campaign, currently batting
.317 with 17 homers, 55 RBI, and a team leading 68 RBI. He has also stolen
14 bases. Klesko has not been able to replicate his great 1997 year, but is
still batting .283 with 23 homers and 58 RBI. He has even swiped 7 bases.
Punxatawney's current starting crew is one of the best in the league. Bobby
Thomas has not gotten great run support and thus is only 6-6, but has a 3.40
ERA and 15 quality starts out of 20. Rocky Coppinger is one of the best out
there, currently 12-3 with 13/16 quality starts, sporting a 12-3 record.
Sean Bergman is just slightly worse at 11-3 and has a 3.04 ERA, a great
success in his first year as a starter. Jon Lieber has been dominant since
returning from injury, and is now 6-2 with a 2.84 ERA. The 5th spot has
been more shaky, but Tim Worrell has had two strong starts since he took
over the job and has earned himself more chances.
Through all of this, Punxatawney still only leads Springfield by 2 games.
Houston, now 9 games back, appears to have fallen out of the race for the
time being. Punxatawney now has 3 games coming up against Picard last place
team Sacramento, but Springfield is facing only slightly better competition
in the Binghampton Mets, who lead Sacramento by 4.5 games in 4th place of
Picard.
"Its certainly nothing like last year. We really have to work hard now as
we head into August and September and the pennant race. If we stay healthy,
we think we can stay ahead. All we want to do is make the playoffs, but
with the way those Sea Dogs have been playing, a 2nd place in Riker may not
get us the wild card," Shapiro said.
