Deadwood, SD (AP)- The Hartford Whalers and their "new" pitching staff made its
extremely unimpressive debut today, dropping their first two games to bitter
rival Deadwood. The Outlaws outscored the Whalers 24-11 on the day with the
starting Hartford pitchers allowing a combined 12 earned runs in 2.1 innings of
putrid work (46.29 ERA). New Whalers Manager Kevin Kennedy watched,
dumfounded, as Ken Hill (0-1) and Ramon Martinez (0-1) floundered. "I
understand that we went up against, arguably, the best overal batting lineup in
the PVBL," said Kennedy, "But this is ridiculous. I'm disgusted. When you
score 11 runs on 16 hits there's no reason you should lose (referring to Game
2)." Kennedy was so incensed with his team's performance that he declined to
hold a post-game team meeting, simply barking, "Just go home and think about
today for the next 24hrs, fellas. I had better see some improvement tomorrow."
Kennedy stormed out of the stadium and took his shuttle to the team's hotel
only 10 minutes after the completion of the day's games. In fact, word is that
Kennedy started down the tunnell a couple of minutes before the final pitch was
thrown in Hartford's 14-11 loss to the Outlaws in Game 2.
Kennedy and GM Gammons had reason to be upset and concerned with the day's
performance. The Whalers focused intently in the offseason on shoring up their
pitching staff be obtaining Martinez, Irabu, Yoshi, Gordon, Percival and by
re-acquiring former ace Ken Hill. But not only did the defense and pitching
falter but the Whalers were blanked in Game 1, failing to score a single run on
9 hits. About the only bright spot for the Whalers was the offensive explosion
in Game 2, despite coming up short. Socks Byrne was 4-5 in Game 2 with an RBI,
a walk and a double. New full-time Whalers first baseman, Jay Buhner, went 2
for 5 in Game 2 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI on a sac fly. Kurt Abbott record
Hartford's first homer of the year, a solo shot in Game 2, while rookie CF
Chris Stynes failed to record his first major league hit today.
Hartford sends rookie Hideki Irabu to the mound tomorrow to try to stop the
bleeding. Even the Whalers bullpen allowed 10 earned runs in 13.2 innings of
relief (6.59 ERA). Brian Rose and Aaron Sele performed respectably out of the
pen, coming in cold, but Will Cunnane allowed 6 earned runs in 6 2/3.
If Irabu can't stop the bleeding, he'll be followed by Tom Gordon and Kevin
Millwood.
