Reasons for enthusiasm

There have been several points this year where it looked like the team was starting to "click" and "turn the corner" - only to eventually fall back into the morass of inept offense and .500 ball.

But it's hard to dispute these numbers - in the past 3 games, the Spirit have 27 runs, 43 hits, and 3 victories. Vic has 6 RBI. Josue Lopez has 9 hits.

The offense is simply red-hot right now.

Torres has been outstanding all year.

Vic has been MVP-caliber during each of his stints this year --- this one BETTER be permanent.

Josue Lopez and Jerson Perez are suddenly swinging very hot bats.

Gary Roche has been solid and impressive over the past month. BJ Weed is getting on base and scoring runs again - he's scored 6 times in the past 2 games.

The only 'black holes' have been Trezza and Carlos Rodriguez with their many strikeouts - but they are both powerful hitters capable of taking any pitcher deep at any time. And each of them contributed to today's hit parade - both drove in a run in the first inning.

If anything, the main concern right now is the fact that the Spirit have unloaded/lost some of their best pitchers.

Just like last night, the pitching tonight was shaky but effective as the Spirit crusied to an 8-1 victory over Worcester to improve to 2-0 in the 2nd half.

Joey Siak pitched 5 2/3 solid innings to get the win, giving up just one run on a Wishy HR in the 2nd. Donny Langdon, Jamie Baker and Billy Simon had a few troubling moments in 3 1/3 innings of relief, but they got the job done and didn't give up a single run.

The Spirit put up all the runs Joey would need in the first inning. Vic Davilla hit a 2RBI double for ribbies #8 and 9 on the season... pretty ridiculous, seeing as he's played in seven games. Alex Trezza and Carlos Rodriguez added RBIs to send the Spirit off to a flying 4-0 start.

Wishy's HR in the 3rd briefly made it seem like a game, but from there, the Spirit were on cruise control. Just like last night, it was a stifling victory...very boring, but very dominant and effective.

Josue Lopez added 2 more hits tonight including an RBI double in the 7th that built the Spirit lead to 7-1. BJ Weed also chipped in with an RBI in the 8th to give us the final score of 8-1.

Billy Simon loaded the bases in the 9th, but he kept Worcester off the board.

Before this series, I thought 4-3 would be a decent start on the road for the 2nd half. 2-0 is certainly a great way to get things rolling.