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Monday, August 20, 2007

Spirit Take 3-out-of-4 From Can-Am Grays

In a day in which the Spirit once again played host to the home team,they were able to hold onto the 8 runs they compiled in the early innings for a 9-7 win over the home team,the Can-Am Grays.

Here's a few semi-non-game related notes before I being:
** It is funny to note that the first thing I heard today was Willy. As I walked over to him he was wearign something i never thought I'd see......a Red Sox t-shirt. I immediatly thought he bumped his head a little to hard,as he was finnaslly wearing a winnign team's apppearal,but then saw the Yankee cap in front of him....and he walked aroudn with both on as the most mis-matched person in the ballpark.
** It was also funny to note we had Cosmo Macero of Fox25 "Heavy Hitters" fame atthe ballpark today. I attemtped to get him to sign a ball ("You;re kidding,right kid") and failed,but DID get his buisness card. =]
** I signed upa nd did the Rent-all on-field trivia game and won a t-shirt and the afore-mentioned foam ball.


NOW,to the story:
Today Matt Bishop faced off against Richard Bartlett and the Grays. Bishop was outstanding today through 6 innings,giving up only 2 runs on 7 hits aginst a good-hitting traveling team.
Bartlett wishes he had even half-as-good an outing through the 5 innings he worked. He gave up 12 hits,at least one to every member of the Spirit but Josue. He also gave up 8 runs which included a two-run homer from Welch and two rbi-singles to Roche. With a 8-2 lead the Spirit seemed to finally be beating a team they SHOULD be beating.

Then came the bottom of the 7th. That inning saw the leave of Bishop who allowed the bases to get loaded on three consecutive singles then let up a double to 3B Ben Tinius that scored two to make it 8-4 Spirit. Out goes Bishop,In comes Jamie Baker. He automatically lets up a sac fly which scores another Gray run then allows back-to-back singles thast score one run and then induces a fly out to BJ. After 2/3 an inning it was time to say adios to Baker and hola to Donny "The Kid" Langdon who got the final out on the first batter he faced.

SO,after 1 inning,the leaving of the starter,and two relievers teaming up to get the 3 outs.....the Spirit held onto the lead,but it was close as it was now 8-6 Spirit after 7. After that the Spirit bullpen of Langdon and Derek Drage combined to hold down the Grays offense the final two innings. The Spirit would strike once more in the 8th inning as Luis Lopez came through with an rbi-double to give the Spirit a little bit of breathing room with a 9-6 lead.

The other run for the Grays came on a weird play. C JB Tucker and DH Sean ''Don't-call-me-a-convict'' Gamble lead off with singles. They then would go on to succedd in a double-steal. First Gamble went to second and was ruled safe. As Roche looekd doubtfully at second Tucker was able to make it safely home.

But it was then 9-7 Spirit at the end of 8,and the Grays would not score in the next inning,and the score stayed. Bishop would get his 9th win,Bartlett his 8th loss and Drage would pitch well to pick up his 11th save of the year. The Spirit would gain a half game on Atlantic City due to a cancelation and the Grays would remain in 4th.

One thing I should mention that i didn;t above was the fact that Jerson Perez started the game,and left in the third. According to Alan it appeared as though he may have hurt himself somehow in the 2nd on a routine ground-out and was replaced in the 3rd with Gilbert Gil. Gil immediately showed the hustle that Perez seemed to lack the past day or so.....and it seemed to me like Perez needs some time off,and Gil is an excellent replacment for Perez as he gets some time off that I believe he needs and earned.

If there's one thing I'm happy about after finishing this series, besides taking 3-out-of-4, is the fact that a few players have started to perform a little better.....most notably Gary Roche. He;s been an offensive jugarnaut the last couple games,going a total of 8-10 with one walk,3-rbi singles and a 2-run homer. He's also been fielding the ball pretty well. Another person who hjas impressed me is John Welch,who has been hitting the ball a little better and hustling pretty well lately.

SO....for the first time in a while i'd like to announce a player of the game: Gary Roche. He played well again today,drawing in 1/3 of our runs while playing good defense.


ALSO: I would like to add something in this post.
Mr Leahy thanked us for not doing updates until after the tape delay was done. If anyone deserves thanks it's actually the staff at 1510 The Zone.
I would like to personally comend him and the entire 1510 staff for doing outstanding work this season. For them to do these tape delayed broadcasts & live internet streaming (on tape delayed games) to catter both to the fan and the station's live shows is an act that deserves a standing o.

Keep up the good work 1510.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

When are you beginning the next round of Who's Now?

Wooden U. Lykteneau said...

Guys, I know you were all waiting with baited breath... Sussex was officially eliminated from wild-card contention last night. Amazingly, they are still alive mathematically for the 2nd half title.

The Spirit's magic # to clinch a playoff slot is now 7. A rainout last night in Atlantic City has actually helped the Spirit and hurt Quebec (turnabout is fair play, les chiennes) as the Surf can win on percentage points over Les Klansman and the Spirit could potentially win the 2nd half over the Surf or the Cutters by a half game.

Joe Grav said...

what's the spirit's magic # to clinch at least a wild card playoff spot

Wooden U. Lykteneau said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wooden U. Lykteneau said...

Seven -- to clinch the 2nd half, it's 12.

The elimination #s for the 2nd half:
Sussex, 4
Quebec, 5
Worcester, 6
New Jersey, 7
Brockton & Nashua, 8
Grays, 9
New Haven County, 10

The elimination #s for the wildcard are a little fuzzier, given the uneven # of games, but assuming the current positioning (NS 2nd 1/2 winner, Nashua and Atlantic City as wildcards:

Quebec, 13
New Haven County, 12
Worcester, 11
Grays, 10
Brockton, 9