Putting the wild in Wild Things

"Ball 4, Ball 8, Ball 12."

That was the famous line uttered by Bob Uecker's charcater Harry Doyle in the movie "Major League" while broadcasting a Cleveland Indians game with Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn on the mound.

That also could be the call of Wild Things broadcaster Randy Gore this season. After walking seven more batters in a loss Wednesday night at Florence, Washington pitchers are second in the Frontier League in walks allowed with 160, five behind River City. The Rascals, however, have played one more game than the Wild Things.

Washington pitchers are averaging 4.85 walks per game. It makes you appreciate the season former Wild Things closer Robert Garvin had in 2002 when he walked only four batters all year in 47 innings.

Much of the cause for the high number of walks can be linked to losing starting pitchers Patrick Stanley, Patrick Sadler and Michael Hauff to injuries. Stanley is out for the season. If there was one good thing to come out of the Florence series it was Hauff making his first appearence since leaving a game at Southern Illinois almost 2 weeks ago with back spasms.

So what do you about all the walks if you're manager John Massarelli?

Do you wait for Hauff and Sadler to return to the rotation and hope for the best until that happens? Do you hope Chris Rivera and Kevin Foeman can develop into reliable starting pitchers? Do you give a couple of relief pitchers some starts? Do you attempt to make a trade for a starting pitcher? Do you bring in guys like Rivera, who were college starters this spring but were not drafted?

Florence was able to shut down the Washington offense the last two nights with two starting pitchers who were fresh out of college. Neither had a professional win until beating the Wild Things. Taking guys from college and putting them in the starting rotation has never been Washington's style. The last pitcher to start more than one game for the Wild Things in the same year that he played college ball was Eric Holt in 2004.

All-star game with 3 divisions?

When the Frontier League opted to go with 12 teams and 3 divisions in 2007, I'm sure one of the things not discussed at the time was how to run the all-star game. How do you divide 3 divisions into 2 teams? Would the format be the old East Division teams vs. the old West Division teams? Tall guys vs. short guys? Left-handers vs. right-handers?

Most people I spoke with expected the all-star game, which will be played July 11 at Florence's Champion Window Field, to be the old East vs. West format. Kalamazoo and Traverse City would play with the East Division and Rockford and Windy City with the West, or so they thought.

When I received my all-star ballot today, I was surprised to see the game will have a North vs. South format. The North will be Washington, Slippery Rock, Kalamazoo, Traverse City, Windy City and Rockford. The South is Chillicothe, Florence, Evansville, Gateway, Southern Illinois and River City.

That means half of the East teams will be playing for the North and the other half with the South.

In the Frontier League, the manager, coaches and up to 4 members of the local media in each city can vote for the all-star team. North voters can only choose the North team. That will make it difficut for the North voters. Ballots are due July 3rd. Washington will not play Traverse City until July 4 and Kalamazoo until July 7. Rockford and Windy City do not play the Wild Things until August. Nothing like trying to choose a team from players you haven't seen.

Five days too late

The St. Louis Cardinals have purchased the contract of Southern Illinois' Tim Dorn. He's the 6-8 first baseman who hit the game-winning three-run homer against the Wild Things in the second game of the doubleheader Wednesday night. Dorn was leading the league with 12 home runs.

Walks on the wild side

To answer a question asked Sunday night by a person at Consol Energy Park, no it's not a Frontier League rule that a pitcher must walk one of the first four batters he faces. It only seems that way.

Evansville has taken a 1-0 lead in the second inning against Tom Cochran on a leadoff walk to Cody Montgomery and one-out double by Matt Reynolds.

Of the 27 runs allowed by the Wild Things in the current six-game homestand, 14 reached base via either a walk of hit by pitch.

Cleaning out the notebook ...

... prior to the Wild Things' game Sunday against Evansville. This is what I've found:

* Pitcher Justin Staatz, who was released Tuesday by Washington, has signed with the Gateway Grizzlies.

* The East is taking a beating in interdivision play. After an 0-4 Saturday, the East is 2-16 over the last four days. Washington has the only wins. As I write this, Sunday is off to a bad start for the East. Slippery Rock was a 13-3 loser earlier in the day at Southern Illinois.

* I had never heard of a player having thoracic outlet syndrome until Pirates pitcher Kip Wells was sidelined for part of last season with the ailment that restricts bloodflow to the neck, shoulder and arm. Now it seems to be the new-age injury for baseball players. Washington pitcher Patrick Stanley is out for the season with TOS. Last Month, Texas Rangers third baseman Hank Blalock was diagnosed with TOS.

* The Kalamazoo bullpen prevented former W&J pitcher Sam Mann from getting his second win of the year. Mann pitched seven innings at Gateway on Friday and left with a 7-4 lead. Gateway, however, scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth for an 8-7 win.

*

Hey, Joe

Wonder whatever happened to Joe Cuervo, the fan-favorite left fielder for the Wild Things in 2002 and 2003? He's founded the Digmi Clothing Company with former Seton Hall University teammate Ray Navarrete, who spent five years in the Pirates' system.

Click here.

Pitching in

How bad has it been for the injury-riddled Wild Things pitching staff? It's been so bad ... that Thursday night manager John Massarelli admitted that if the team had not been able to sign Kevin Foeman and Chris Rivera to start games this week (Foeman pitched Thursday and Rivera will debut tonight against Evansville), then he was considering using second baseman Kyle Werman as a starting pitcher. You're kidding, right, John? "No, seriously, it's been considered," pitching coach Grant Dorn confirmed.

"We've lost three starting pitchers in a week," Massarelli said a few hours after Patrick Sadler was added to the injured reserve. "I'm trying to compare this situation to something we've had happen to us before. ... I can't."

East is least

The East Division had a forgettable night on Wednesday, going 0-6. Washington and Slippery Rock were swept in home doubleheaders against teams from the West while Chillicothe and Florence lost road games at Central Division foes. The East is now 10-22 in interdivision games. Chillicothe (5-3) is the only East team with a winning record outside the division. The Wild Things' 13-6 start, forged solely against East rivals, doesn't look as impressive now as it did last week.

View from the road

WJPA Radio's Randy Gore provided these photos of Rent One Park, home of the Southern Illinois Miners. The playing surface is the same as in Chillicothe – all turf, no dirt. Frontier League ballparks have come a long way since the league's early days when games were played on high school fields with poor lighting.

He's money to the Wild Things

Clicked on the Frontier League website today and noticed a link to a story from today's edition of the Evansville newspaper with the headline "He's money in the bank." Thought it was probably about Monday's Wild Things-Otters game and Aaron Ledbetter. It was, however, about Evansville infielder Matt Edwards.

Ledbetter's 2-hit shutout of Evansville couldn't have come at a better time for the Wild Things. With the bullpen overused, the result of too many poor outings by the starters recently, the Wild Things needed a strong seven innings from Ledbetter. The right-hander gave them nine innings, a two-hitter, a shutout and a win that prevented a low point in Wild Things history.

Ledbetter proved why he's the all-time winningest pitcher in the FL. He's a guy you can count to produce when needed.

As for that low point, I did some checking and found that of all the 6-game road trips the Wild Things have taken in their 6-year history, they've never failed to win at least two games on a trip. A loss Monday woudl have given Washington it's first 1-5 road trip.

Pitching problems persist

There was talk during the preseason, and even as late as two weeks into the regular season, that this was the best pitching staff the Wild Things have ever had. This came not from me, but from people close to the team and from coaches on other teams.

To them, I say only one word.

Bunk.

As of this writing, the Wild Things' pitching staff is anything but the best in team history or the best in the Frontier League this season. You could make a case that, if you take away the last two starts by Tom Cochran, this is the worst 10-day stretch for Washington starters in the team's six seasons. Including the start Saturday night in Evansville by Patrick Sadler, who failed to record an out in the second inning, here the ugly numbers over the last 10 games by Washington's starting pitchers (minus Cochran):

31 IP, 43 hits, 39 runs, 36 earned runs, 18 walks, 17 strikeouts, 7 hit batters, 3 wild pitches.

That works out to a 10.45 ERA and 2.19 baserunners per inning.

Four times in the last 10 games, the starting pitcher has failed to go more than 3 innings.

You can't even win in Pony League with those numbers.

Two of the starting pitchers, Patrick Stanley and Michael Hauff are injured, though manager John Massarelli told WJPA Radio Saturday that Hauff is out day-to-day with back spasms. Stanley is still on the IR.

The Wild Things' starting rotation has become Ledbetter, Cochran and hope for the best. What it really needs is a healthy Stanley throwing with the same confidence and effectiveness as last season. If that doesn't happen, then it could be a quiet September at the ballpark on the hill.

The good news for the Wild Things is they are still well above .500, thanks to a bunch of games to start the season against what appears to be a weak East Division. Last season, after 24 games, Washington was only 12-12.

Mann, what a start

In case you missed it: The Kalamazoo Kings have signed former Washington & Jefferson College pitcher Sam Mann. The PAC Player of the Year this spring, Mann made his professional debut Tuesday against Windy City. Mann started the game and pitched six strong innings, allowing eight hits, three runs and no walks. Mann left with a 4-3 lead but the Kings' bullpen couldn't hold the advantage. Windy City won the game, 9-4.

Mann's six innings without a walk means he has thrown 87 1/3 innings this year and walked only six batters.

For many Frontier League pitchers, six walks in a GAME is a good outing.

Haunted Washington

Found this odd tidbit in a story about former Evansville Otters relief pitcher Donny Langdon in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice:

Langdon remembered a particular time when the Otters traveled to Washington, Pa., to play the Wild Things. The team stayed in a lodge set up on a hill, rumored to be a converted insane asylum and haunted.

One night, Langdon sat in his room reading the newspaper, when the lights turned off. He got up to turn them back on, and sat back down to resume reading. The lights turned off again.

“Oh, man, that freaked me out,” Langdon said.

Making the leap

Going to a baseball game is a leap of faith.

It means you have given up something else to sit in the stands for three hours.

It means you have paid money, battled traffic, risked bad weather and, above all, taken a chance - in a world of entertainment options - of being mildly entertained. This doesn't happen with other forms of entertainment. You can read a dozen reviews of a movie before going to the theater and be fairly sure if you're going to like the film. You can see the Rolling Stones in concert for the 100th time or the first time, but you have a good idea of which songs you're going to hear.

With baseball, you never know what you're going to get. Sometimes it's a miserable one-sided walkathon, like the Wild Things' 17-3 loss Sunday to Chillicothe. Almost 3,000 people took a chance on that game instead of watching the finale of the Sopranos. Not a good choice. They should have offered refunds for anyone who stayed past the fifth inning of that game.

Sometimes you get a tightly played extra-inning game, such as the 5-4 loss to Florence on Tuesday. The home team lost, but it was a good baseball game.

And sometimes you get a memorable game, like the Wild Things' 8-7 come-from-behind win Monday when they scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. Of the 1,500 or so fans who stayed to the end, I bet not one went home disappointed. Those who left early, well, they probably won't leave early the next time.

Running storyline

Let's face it, there is no team in professional baseball that is worse at running the bases than the Pirates. A mediocre youth league team could teach the Pirates a thing or two about when to tag on the fly ball or when to advance on a throw from the outfield to home plate.

Sometimes, however, I think - yes, I do think every week or so - the Wild Things are trying to give the Pirates a run for the bad baserunning title.

Call me conservative, call me a traditionalist or call me old school - heck, my wife calls me worse than those every day - but I like baseball teams to follow one simple rule when it comes to baserunning: Never make the first or last out of an inning at third base, or the first out at home plate.

In the last three games the Wild Things broke my Baserunning 101 rule three times:

* In the 8th inning Saturday against Chillicothe, with Washington holding a 4-2 lead, Pat O'Brien drew a leadoff walk but was the first out when he tried to go from first to third on Mario Garza's pinch-hit single to right field. Washington would go on to score in the inning and win 5-2.

* In Monday's 8-7 win over Florence, with Washington trailing 4-3 in the 5th inning, Matt Sutton doubled down the right-field line but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple. It was the third out of the inning. Sutton was already in scoring position, so why gamble and try to make it to third with two outs?

I'll give O'Brien and Sutton a pass on those moves because the ball was being fielded behind them. There was, however, no excuse for the costly baserunning mistake in the 5-4 loss Tuesday to Florence:

* With no outs in the 4th, Rene Quintana singled to left field scoring Robbie Knapp from second base and making it 4-4. Garza tried to go from first to third on the play, though the ball was in front of him. He was thrown out left fielder-to-third base for the inning's first out. Had Garza remained at second, he likely scores on the two groundouts that followed.

Manager John Massarelli loves to play an aggressive style in which players are always looking to take the extra base, but sometimes it pays to follow my Baserunning 101 rule.

And have I mentioned how much I hate the run-on-contact play with a runner on 3rd base? That play almost never works.

Pitching problems

After watching Patrick Stanley struggle to find the strike zone again Sunday night and having his ERA soar to more than 9.00, I was curious about where Stanley finished in terms of the Frontier League's ERA leaders last year. What I discovered is that Stanley's struggles are more the norm than the exception this year for last season's best pitchers. For example:

Chillicothe's Kurt Hartfelder:
2006 Rookie of the Year and ERA winner
In 2006: 10-5, 1.67 ERA, 118 IP and 103 hits
In 2007: 0-4, 10.80 ERA, 18.1 IP and 31 hits

Chillicothe's Perry Cunningham:
In 2006: 9-6, 2.30 ERA (3rd in FL), 129 IP, 95 hits, 33 walks
In 2007: 1-1, 7.65 ERA, 20 IP, 26 hits, 11 walks

Traverse City's Tony Casoli:
2006 Pitcher of the Year
In 2006: 13-3, 2.44 ERA (4th in FL), 144 IP, 131 hits, 4 shutouts
In 2007: 1-2, 8.55 ERA, 20 IP, 28 hits

Washington's Patrick Stanley
2006 strikeout leader
In 2006: 8-4, 2.72 ERA (7th in FL), 135.2 IP, 101 hits, 53 walks, 111 strikeouts
In 2007: 1-2, 9.19 ERA, 15.2 IP, 16 hits, 16 walks, 15 strikeouts

If anything has been learned form the first 19 days of the Frontier League season, then it's that individual pitching success one year doesn't mean similar success the next. So why have these pitchers, who were so dominant last year, struggled mightily this through four starts this season? Here are the opinions of two managers:

Washington's John Massarelli: "It's because these guys aren't major leaguers. They aren't pro pitchers yet. They haven't developed the consistency that a pro pitcher has. Those are the guys who are able to understand the idosyncrasies of their pitching mechanics and make the necessary adjustments on the fly."

Chillicothe's Mark Mason: "The first thing I notice about all four of those guys is they're all right-handed. I know for a fact that Perry Cunningham's struggles aren't from a lack of work in the offseason. What I think might have happened is guys have a tendency to change their mechanics in attempt to gain velocity. They've all been successful in this league, but I think Stanley is the only one of the four who has been in affiliated ball. So they try to change and throw harder and what that does is lead to problems."

Do this make you have a better appreciation for what Aaron Ledbetter has been able to do throughout his career?

Ramsey traded

The Wild Things are off to the best start in franchise history but manager John Massarelli isn't about to stand pat with the roster. Washington made a somewhat surprising roster move Saturday by trading third baseman Ben Ramsey to Traverse City for a first-round draft pick in 2008. Ramsey was batting .333 and was tied for the team lead with six doubles. His nine RBI were tied for fourth on the team. Ramsey's defense was solid as he committed only one error in 11 games and showed a strong throwing arm.

So why trade Ramsey? Washington did have a logjam of third basemen with Ramsey, Robbie Knapp, Justin Gregula and Eric Earnhart, yet Ramsey seemed to have more of what scouts call "upside" than the other four.

Massarelli said the move was all about fit.

"When I put the team together in the offseason, it's not necessarily about getting the 24 most-talented players," Massarelli said. "It's about finding the 24 who fit together the best. Ben Ramsey can be an all-star in this league. He has a lot of ability. But it's the 24 players who fit the puzzle that I'm looking for."

Massarelli said third base will be handled by a platoon of Gregula and Earnhart. Washington will fill the open roster spot next week. With Earnhart now playing third base, expect the new player to be an outfielder.

Crowded house

The official attendance for Evansville's 7-2 victory over Southern Illinois at Bosse Field Thursday night was 7,203. Two things immeditaely came to mind when I saw that figure: 1. What is the attendance record for a Frontier League game? 2. What was the promotion at Evansville Thursday night?

If you're wondering, the attendance record for Consol Energy Park is 4,247, set Aug. 23, 2003 for a game against Florence. That's a record that could stand forever. There was simply too many people in the park that night.

The largest crowd to see a Wild Things game was 6,820 at Evansville on July 24, 2004.

Left side story

There are few guarantees in baseball, but here's one: The Wild Things will face more left-handed relief pitchers this year than your average Frontier League team.

That's because Washington's lineup is built for left-handed pitching, especially situational relievers. Chris Sidick, Matt Sutton and Jarod Rine, the Nos. 1-3 hitters, are left-handed. Mario Garza, the No. 5 hitter, is left-handed. On Tuesday night against Slippery Rock, Washington started outfielder Eric Earnhart in the No. 8 spot. Earnhart bats left-handed.

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 5th inning, Slippery Rock brought in left-handed reliever Justin Robinson. Robinson struck out the first three batters he faced, the last being Earnhart. After turning around switch-hitter Kyle Werman to the right side and getting a flyout, Robinson struck out Sidick and Sutton. At that point, the lefties were 0-for-3 with 3 strikeouts against Robinson. It looked like the Sliders had found a weak spot in the Wild Things' lineup.

Rine, however, followed with a solo home run to right field that gave Washington a 3-2 lead it would not relinquish. Garza also had an at-bat against Robinson in the 7th and singled.

So is manager John Massarelli concerned about having so many left-handed batters in the lineup? The answer is simply no. You'll have to search far to find another manager who cares less about lefty-righty matchups, especially in the minor-league ball.

"As left-handed dominant as we are, we're going to see a lot of them, which is fine with me. Matchups are overrated," Massarelli said. "Lefties can't get lefties out in the big leagues. When everything is even between two players, (general manager) Ross Vecchio and I always like to sign the left-handed guy. But everyone in baseball does that. In 2005, I think we had four or five left-handers in a row and we set the league record for wins. When it comes to pitching, I want a guy who can get batters out. I don't care if the pitcher is left-handed or right-handed."

Scoop on The Rock

If you're planning to attend a game at Slippery Rock's Jack Critchfield Park, here's a few thinng you need to know and some things that will catch your attention when there:

* It's a Division II college park, so it's small. Very small. There are only three rows of green reserved seats around the bottom of the seating bowl. Chances are, if you go on a weekend, you won't get two seats together unless you arrive at the park very early or purchase tickets in advance. A crowd of only 600 will make the park seem cramped.

* Don't try to park in the first 4 or 5 spaces in the lot right outside the gate behind home plate. Your car could be hit by a foul ball.

* Because the park has an all-metal seating bowl, fans must leave the ballpark and return to their cars if lightning is in the area. This happened Saturday night. All fans were told to leave and campus police were there to make sure you left. The heavy rain moved in quickly, so those who took their time exiting and had their cars parked in the lower lots were soaked by the time they entered their automobiles.

* Parking costs $2.

* The bleachers do not have backrests on them, unlike Consol Energy Park.

* The field needed the rain. It wasn't bad, but I've seen better. The first thing I noticed when entering the seating area Saturday night was the dead grass - or lack of grass - in the area behind home plate, where players and coaches stand during batting practice. There were a few other small patches of brown grass on the edges of the infield and outfield. I had a whole new appreciation for Steve Zavacky and his crew after seeing this field.

He's still Super Joe

It was good to see Joe Charboneau prior to Thursday night's game between the Wild Things and Chillicothe Paints. Charboneau is the Paints' hitting coach, a position he held with Washington in 2002 and '03.

Charboneau was a legend in Clevelanden route to winning the 1980 American League Rookie of the Year Award. He became known as "Super Joe" Charboneau and had a song written about him. A serious back injury, however, turned Charboneau into a one-year wonder, though he remains one of the memorable characters in baseball.

Charboneau also is one of the game's nice guys. He always has a story about his playing days. After batting practice Thursday, the subject of conversation turned to the velocity of pitches in the Frontier League compared to the major leagues. Charboneau said the velocity difference isn't much, but it's the movement on the pitches and craftiness of the pitchers that is the biggest difference. An example of the latter, Charboneau said, is Dennis Martinez. Martinez was always tougher to beat at home, and Charboneau says it was because of the right-hander's changeup and home uniform.

Martinez, Charboneau says, had a nasty changeup that was difficult for a hitter to pick up. Martinez would make it more difficult when he was pitching at home by, after releasing the pitch, quickly stepping to the third-base side of the mound. The hitter would momentarily lose sight of the ball againt the background of Martinez's white uniform.

Another bit of information from Super Joe: When playing for the Indians, Charboneau asked a groundskeeper at Boston's Fenway Park how far it really is from home plate to the Green Monster wall in left field. The Red Sox claim its 310 feet but Charboneau believed it to be considerably shorter. The groundskeeper said it was only 278 feet. The Indians later used a tape to measure the left-field line and came up with, you guessed it, 278 feet.