Groundhogs Acquire Veteran Starter August 16, 1998
Punxatawney Takes Two from Vero
Vero Beach, FL (AP) - It was a day of much rejoicing for the Punxatawney Groundhogs in their
series against Vero Beach today. They did what they were unable to do last
October against the Bums--win two games. Between games, they also sealed
the deal on a trade that brings Ken Hill from Hartford in return for a few
prospects and a draft pick.
"This may have been the best day yet for us this season," said team GM Dan
Shapiro. "Not only did we soundly beat one of the best team's in baseball
twice, but we improved our pitching staff even more by acquiring a great
veteran in Ken Hill."
Today's first game, while it looks like a sound 7-2 victory, was actually a
very close game. Vero struck first, with Rex Hudler smashing a solo homer
in the bottom of the first. But both pitchers settled in and kept the score
at 1-0 through 4 innings.
In the 5th inning, Punxatawney scored for the first time. Dan Wilson was on
base with a walk and then leadoff man Dave Martinez hit a 2 RBI homerun to
make the score 2-1 Punxatawney. The Hogs scored again in the 6th as Jose
Valentin doubled and came in on a Tony Batista single. Both starters tossed
scoreless 7th innings and then exited, with Punxatawney ahead 2-1. Hogs
starter Bobby Thomas allowed just 1 run, no hits, without a walk or
strikeout in his 7, while Kurt Hardie game up 3 runs and 7 hits.
Punxatawney was unable to score again in the 8th, and Scott Ruffcorn came in
to pitch the bottom of the inning. Brian Jordan was the second batter he
faced, and he greeted Ruffcorn with a solo blast to tighten the gap to 3-2.
Ruffcorn retired the next two batters in order to end the inning.
Barney Berres, who threw a scoreless 8th inning, started the 9th, but did
not make it through. Two walks, and a double to Scott Rolen chased him.
Trevor Hoffman couldn't stop the bleeding as Dan Wilson homered in two runs,
and then pushed two more across. Berres was charged with 3 runs, and
Hoffman with 1 on 2 hits. This gave Punxatawney a commanding 7-2 lead
heading into the final half inning, which Bobby Munoz threw, allowing just 1
hit, to secure Punxatawney their first victory over Vero since that series
loss.
Martinez, Rolen, and Wilson were the heart of the offense. Together they
went 7-12 with 5 runs and 6 RBI, accouting for most of the offense.
"Hardie tossed a great game, we were just lucky to have our 3 best offensive
days batting withing 4 spots of each other," said Dave Martinez. "Scotty
and Dan kept getting on base for me, so I was able to bring them in."
Bobby Thomas got the win, improving his record to 8-7, while Scott Ruffcorn
got his 6th hold. Thomas has thrown 160 innings, 40 more than any other
starter. He has 18 quality starts out of 23 with a 3.15 ERA.
"The wins will come. I'm throwing well, but I'm just not getting great run
support. Today I did, and if that keeps up, the wins will keep coming,"
Thomas said.
Between games, Shapiro was on the phone with Hartford GM Jeremy Chrabascz.
"We've been negotiating with Hartford about Ken Hill ever since we found out
he was available. Today the negotiations finally resulted in a deal," said
Shapiro.
He announced to his team and the press that a deal had been finalized and
Hill would be joining the club after throwing his last game as a Whaler
today. In return for Hill, Punxatawney had to give up prospect Steve Tsamis
(4-4, 2.79 in Roswell) and backup 1B Allan Rochefort, who has just 2 at bats
so far (in which he has recorded 1 hit). Also, they had to send a #1 FA
pick in next year's draft.
"I'm happy to go to a contender now," said Hill. "Those Groundhogs have a
great team, and I'm glad to be part of it, especially now as we approach the
playoffs."
Hill is 9-10 this season with a 3.75 ERA and 15 quality starts in 24
outings. For his career, he is 17-16 with a 3.57 ERA. He'll become the 5th
starter in the rotation, bumping Tim Worrell back to the bullpen and Jim
Burright to the minors. Burright has thrown 7 innings so far, allowing 2
runs.
"I'm not happy about this," complained Worrell. "But Shapiro is letting me
start today, so I'll try and show him why I should stay in the rotation."
Well, Worrell went out and did just that in game two. Led by the first 4
hitters, who combined for to go 8-17, 4 runs, and 4 RBI, Punxatawney won the
second game of the series, 4-0. Dave Martinez continued his great day,
going 2-5 with 3 runs while Marty Cordova went 3-5 and drove in 2, including
a homerun.
Worrell had a great outing, throwing 6 innings giving up only 4 hits, 2
walks, and striking out 4. Mike Hampton and Scott Aldred threw the final 3
innings, retiring all the batters in order. Worrell's win improved his
record to 4-2, while Albie Lopez lost just the 5th time this season.
Lopez's loss was a bit of a surprise against Worrell, and the 4 runs he gave
up in 6 innings increased his ERA to 2.24.
Chris Hammond tossed 3 scoreless innings to hold Punxatawney, but it wasn't
enough as the Groundhogs won both ends of the doubleheader to improve to
65-50, 8 games better than Springfield. Vero's losses did not hurt their
chances of winning the Picard--they have a 20 game lead and a 79-37 ERA.
"Tomorrow is going to be another tough one. We have Lieber throwing, but
Vero Beach is going to be hungry to win at least one in this series,"
Shapiro said.
As he noted, Lieber (8-2, 2.65) will go for Punxatawney against Ismael
Valdes (12-3, 2.75). Both are great pitchers, and each hungry for a win.
Punxatawney will head to Duluth for the 2nd game, pitching Rocky Coppinger.
Quote of the day:
"We don't care what happens tomorrow, we won this series already. No, I
take that back. We are going to sweep Vero and show them who is the better
team."
--Dan Shapiro, Punxatawney Manager/GM
* * *
Dave Martinez is back over .300 with a great day at the plate. He's hitting
an impressive .305 with 23 doubles, 4 triples, 10 homers, and 23 steals in
344 at bats over 80 games.
"He's making us forget Rondell White," said slugger Ryan Klesko. Rondell
was the team's leadoff man last year but was snatched up by Tucson in free
agency. He is hitting .300 with 8 triples, 20 homers, and 23 steals over
517 at bats for the Border Patrol.
With the acquisition of Ken Hill, Tim Worrell will be heading back to the
bullpen. Scott Aldred will become the long reliever, while Worrell and
Hampton will pitch in middle relief. Bobby Munoz and Scott Ruffcorn will
continue to set up for Ricky Bottalico. Hill takes over the 5th spot in the
rotation.
An interesting note, Marty Cordova has played every game for the last two
years so far. He has a 277 game streak of not missing a game since the
start of the PVBL. He played 162 last year and has played 115 so far this
year.
Nobody seems to have a chance at the homerun record this year. Brady
Anderson has the most in the majors at 42, and will have to hit 20 homers in
the remaining 46 games to top the great Roger Maris. He doesn't have much
of a chance at a triple crown either, but he may very well win the slugging
percentage and homerun title, as he is currently leading both. But he
trails Dave Justice by quite a bit in the batting average race.
Kenny Lofton looks like he has a shot at over 100 steals for a second
straight year. He robbed 112 bases last year and has 73 so far this season.
Punxatawney will face Duluth in the next series, and then Vero Beach comes
into Pennsylvania to face the Groundhogs on the Hogs home turf.
