In what may have been the most prolific offensive outburst in league
history, the Punxatawney Groundhogs splattered the Calgary 21-2 and 15-8 in
today's doubleheader.
"We had heard that this place was offense happy, but we weren't prepared for
how well the ball caries up here," said Punxatawney slugger Ryan Klesko.
The game started off with a bang, as Tony Batista led off the game with a
homerun to right. But Jim Hippauf, the first hitter for the Cowboys,
matched him with a solo homerun as well. Through the 3rd inning, the game
remained a 1-1 tie.
Punxatawney scored once in the 4th to take a 2-1 lead, but it seemed to this
point that Calgary wasn't quite so offense-happy as rumored.
The 5th inning proved the Hogs wrong. They scored 8 times on numerous
homeruns and found themselves ahead 10-1. After scoring another run in the
5th, the Hogs racked up another 9 runs in the 7th. They scored once more in
the 8th, as did the Cowboys, and after a scoreless final inning, Punxatawney
had a 21-2 win, one of the largest margins of victory in league history.
"It wasn't just the offense today," said Groundhogs pitching coach Mark 'The
Bird' Fidyrich. "If you didn't notice, Mike [Hampton] pitched great!"
Hampton, who recently returned to the Hogs rotation after nearly two years
toiling in the bullpen, notched his 4th victory of the year with 7 amazing
innings as he allowed just 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6 and
allowing 1 run.
"Sure, those numbers don't seem incredible. But up here in the Saddledome,
that's like throwing a no-hitter," said Dan Shapiro.
Of course, when a team scores 21 runs, the offense must be mentioned.
Punxatawney believes they set a league record with the amazing number of
homers they hit. On this day, 8 of the 9 starters hit at least 1 homerun
(only Scott Rolen didn't) and three players hit more than one. In total,
the team hit 12 homeruns in the first game alone. Tony Batista, the leadoff
man, hit 3 while Dave Martinez and Roberto Kelly added two each.
"Whee!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was all Shapiro had to say about his team's astounding
game.
The second game wasn't a letdown if the Calgary fans came to see offense.
This time, another 23 runs were scored in total. Punxatawney won 15-8 with
6 homers, including 2 more by Tony Batista. He had one of the best days in
PVBL history. In the doubleheader, he went 7-12 with 5 runs, 8 RBI, and 5
homers.
"Hitting the ball out in this place takes no effort at all. I can see why
their staff has an ERA over 7.00," said Batista.
Alex Ochoa also homered twice in the second game, going 3-5 with 3 runs and
4 RBI.
On the pitching side, Curly Karkovice was rocked for 6 runs in 5 innings.
Bobby Thomas picked up his 2nd win in relief as he allowed 2 runs in 2
innings. But Ruffcorn and Munoz combined for a scoreless 9th inning to
finish the game out.
"I have a feeling 6 runs in 5 innings is acceptable up here," said
Karkovice. "It still doesn't feel good."
Punxatawney's next game will feature staff ace Rocky Coppinger trying to
tame the Calgary climate. He'll face Glendon Rusch, Calgary's 5th starter.
Rusch has a 7.71 ERA so far.
"Honestly, I think they should leave Calgary. There's a lot of records that
are gonna fall just because they play in Calgary. Frank Thomas is hitting
homeruns more often than he strikes out. 32 homers in 62 games? That's
ridiculous," said Shapiro. "But until they do, our players are happy to
head up there and pound the cover off the ball."
Stats 'n Stuff
After a day in the Calgary mountains, everyone on the team saw their stats
leap up a notch and a half. Tony Batista is hitting .319 now with 22
doubles, 4 triples, 12 homers, and a team leading 56 runs created.
Recent acqusition Alex Ochoa is batting an mpressive .284 with 10 homers and
13 stolen bases. In fact, every starter is hitting .264 or better with many
over .280. This, combined with a team ERA of 3.33, 2nd best in the DL, has
contributed to their rise back to the top as they now have a 3.5 game lead
over Houston and Springfield. The Atoms have lost 5 straight and are
plummeting back toward mediocrity while Punxatawney has won 3 straight and 8
of 10 and Houston swept Richmond.
This small lead, while not normal for the Hogs, is larger than that of
Galena or Deadwood, who each lead their divisions by 2.5, as well as New
Diggens 3 game lead in the Kirk division.
"We're gonna have to win the Riker to make the playoffs this year.
Washington and Phoenix will almost certainly both make it, so we're gonna
have to work hard. A wildcard is gonna be impossible for us with Houston
breathing down our back," Shapiro said.
