Across the PVBL, dormant offenses are springing to life and the stats pages
no longer look like a team of little leaguers facing the Hall of Fame
pitchers. But not in rural Pennsylvania. In two close battles against
long-time rival Houston, the Punxatawney Groundhogs suffered a 2-0 loss and
then got a 4-1 victory.
Both games were superbly pitched, but in the first game the Hogs offense
could not take advantage of many opportunities provided to them. While
Bobby Thomas pitched his heart out, allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk while
striking out 13 in a complete game loss, the Groundhogs stranded 8 runners.
While they only got 5 hits, they also got 5 walks and 2 hit-batsmen, none of
whom scored. Houston's Ed Sprague hit a 2-run 8th inning homerun to accoun
for all the scoring. Tom Glavine got the win, rebounding well from a horrid
1999.
"How could I not be I'm annoyed? But Tommy pitched well, he got himself out
of trouble well, and we didn't get hits when we needed them," said Thomas,
now 0-1.
But the second game was a similar result for a different team. This time,
Jason Scmidt threw a fine game for Houston, giving up just 6 hits in a
complete game loss. He was outpitched by Sean Bergman, who managed to hold
Houston to just 2 hits and no walks in 8 innings while striking out 10 for
his second win. Bottalico got his second save with a scoreless 9th. And on
this day, the offense all came from the middle of the order.
Jose Valentin continued to break out of a first week slump. He blasted two
homeruns, driving in 3. 5th hitter Geronimo Berroa drove in the other run
with a solo shot of his own.
"In the first game, we hit the ball, drew walks, got men on base. But we
couldn't bring them in. But I stepped up in the second game to make sure we
got some runs," said Valentin.
The homeruns were number 5 and 6 for Valentin, who now has a .250 average
with a .567 slugging percentage. He is tied for second in the league,
behind Ed Sprague, Matt Williams, and Tino Martinez who have all hit 7.
"Its not my game," said Valentin. "I'm not a slugger who doesn't hit for
average. I have to admit its kinda fun to watch the ball soar out of the
park half the time I hit it, but it helps the team more if I hit .300 with
30 homers than if I hit .250 with 45 homers."
With two more games between these teams scheduled for Monday, fans are
anxious for the rest of the series after two great games to start it off.
Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Mets have moved into second place for the first
time that this reporter can recall. The Mets are actually 8-7 after 3 wins
in a row, trailing the Hogs by 1.5 games. Houston is 2.5 back, and
Springfield trails by 4.
STATS 'N STUFF
Talk about a balanced offensive attack! Everyone in the Hogs starting
lineup has at least 6 runs created, but nobody has more than 11. Youngster
Alex Ochoa is the man at the top right now He's hitting .283 with 12 runs,
17 RBI, 3 doubles, a triple, 4 homers, 9 RBI, and the team best 11 runs
created. He also has a .348 OBP and a .567 slugging percentage.
"He's been amazing this year. We needed someone to step in and help replace
Klesko's offensive contributions. Between Ochoa and Jennings, we've totally
had it," said hitting coach Bernie Carbo.
Jennings, too, is having a strong start to the year. He's hitting .283 in
the 9th spot of the order, a very solid contribution for a spot not expected
to carry the offense.
But the real pleasant surprise of the year has been catcher Dan Wilson.
After struggling for the greater part of two seasons, and even the early
months of last year, Wilson has been playing exceptoinally well since last
June. As of now, he is hitting .320 with 3 homers, 9 runs created, and has
even stolen a base.
"I'm proud of the steal than anything else," joked Wilson.
While this has not been confirmed by the team management, Wilson is
reportedly in negotiations for a contract extension that would give him a
long-term deal, possibly even a lifetime contract like those signed by Scott
Rolen and Tony Batista.
"We love having Dan here, he loves playing here, the fans love him, and
they've supported him even back when he was having major trouble," said
Shapiro. "We'd love to have him here forever.
On the pitching side of the ball, the Groundhogs have been pretty solid so
far. All of the starters except Rocky Coppinger have ERA's of 2.14 or
below. Coppinger has struggled with his control in the first few weeks,
having walked 10 men in 16 innings so far, and his ERA shows it at 3.94.
"This has happened to him before," said pitching coach Mark Fidyrich. "He
always works through it in a few starts. No worries."
The Hogs bullpen has been pretty reliable so far as well. Yoshii, Ruffcorn,
Munoz, and Bottalico have pitched well. Only Tim Worrell and Curly
Karkovice have had bad outings which have hurt their stats.
In addition, the Hogs have no real trading plans now. The teams feels that
they are more than ready to take on the rest of league and make a return
trip to the Series.
