Hartford, CT (AP)- The Hartford Whalers have fallen 2 games below .500 and
7.5 games behind first-place Deadwood after going 3-7 in their last 10
(8-11 in non-divisional contests). They have shaken up their batting order
and their pitching lineups and have come up empty. "Nothing seems to be
working," commented Manager Kevin Kennedy, "no one has stepped up and taken
a leadership role and the young guys aren't developing as quickly as we
would have hoped." Indeed, rookie CF Chris Stynes and rookie 2B Adam Riggs
have struggled mightily. It has not helped, of course, that Reggie
Sanders, Jay Buhner and Andres Galarraga have also begun to slump.
Hartford's euphoria after beating defending world champion Galena twice
this week disappeared when they dropped their next 3. "What has been the
most difficult thing about this," replied Owner Jeremy Chrabascz, "has been
that they've all been close games, win or lose. We have not been blown
out, really, all season. Our starting pitching has been relatively solid
and our offense is batting .300 as a team. There isn't any one thing in
particular I can complain about. Thus, finding a solution has seemed to be
an insurmountable task as their is no one problem we can pinpoint or
correct." It is uncertain what Hartford will choose to do to correct
matters. They apparently haven't given up on the season just yet and no
fire sale has begun because, in GM Peter Gammons' words, "Look what
happened to Edmonton last year. Maybe Deadwood will be next."
