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."