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.
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.
posted by Chris Dugan at
10:33 AM
7 Comments:
We are still in first place!!!
Is the wrest of the Eastern that bad?
The East seems to be the Frontier League's version of the NL Central. Though I think Washington and Chillicothe are good teams that have been hurt by injuries, the East is 3-19 in its last 22 interdivision games. The 3 wins were by Washington.
I don't know if the double rain out at Slippery Rock will help or hurt the things. Right now they need days off for Cochran and Leadbetter to be able to pitch more often. However with an extra game in July and August, depending how the wrest of the league holds up pitching wise may hurt the things. Thinking on the positive side, maybe they will sign another of the non drafted wonders out of college.
Yes, the East Division is that bad! If the Wild Things were in any other division they would probably not make the play-offs.
The Frontier League is not exactly top notch baseball. Most are very young players, or players that have already had their shot in affiliated ball and are now playing their last games as "professional" players.
Thank you for explaining to us what the Frontier League is. I guess you're the master of the obvious.
You are welcome. I was not trying to explain what the Frontier League is. What it is not is good baseball.If that bothers you that somebody has the guts to say it - so be it!!
It might not be major league caliber, but it's a helluva lot more enjoyable and affordable than watching the Pirates lose 100 games every year. That's not very good baseball either. That's awful baseball and a ripoff.
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