Quality stuff

With 60 games to go and the Wild Things back in last place in the East Division, here's a quick check of the "quality starts" (at least six innings pitched and three earned runs or less allowed) made by each pitching staff in the Frontier League:

19 - Kalamazoo
15 - Traverse City
14 - Rockford
12 - Florence
12 - Gateway
12 - River City
11 - Midwest
10 - Lake Erie
9 - Evansville
9 - Southern Illinois
8 - Windy City
7 - Washington

Zach Groh and Jason Neitz each have three quality starts for Washington and Andy Schindling has the seventh.

Bullpen help on horizon?

I was unable to listen to all of Friday night's game at Traverse City, so I don't know if this was mentioned by Radio Randy during the broadcast: According to the Atlantic League web site and Lancasteronline.com, the Wild Things have re-acquired relief pitcher Joe D'Alessandro from the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League.

This, I think, completes the earlier trade that sent D'Alessandro to Lancaster for future considerations.

The Atlantic League is in the midst of its all-star break, and Lancaster took advantage of the stoppage to bring in two former major leaguer relief pitchers, including Antonio Alfonseca. D'Alessandro, who was 1-1 with a 4.43 ERA, was one of the two pitchers dropped from the roster. D'Alessandrto had given up 22 hits in 22 1/3 innings.

With Washington last year, D'Alessandro was 3-2 with 4 saves and a 2.52 ERA in 20 games.

It doesn't matter who wins, it's how fast you play the game that counts

The headline for this post is the sportswriter's motto. The last thing you want when covering a night game is to be writing on deadline after a four-hour game.

The Wild Things-Traverse City game Thursday night was a sportswriter's delight. It lasted only one hour and 46 minutes. Think about that – it ended before 9 p.m. Jason Neitz needed less than 90 pitches to beat Traverse City on a two-hitter and improve his record to 4-1.

It was the fastest nine-inning game in Wild Things history – by a whopping 10 minutes. The previous fastest was played last July at Kalamazoo, a 3-0 win for the Kings. Trent Lare pitched that game for Kalamazoo against the Wild Things' Brooks Dunn.

This season, we've had only two nine-inning games played at Consol Energy Park that lasted less than three hours. The fastest was Tuesday afternoon against Midwest (two hours and 28 minutes).

The high-priced pick & the ex-Wild Thing

Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates' celebrated and high-priced first-round draft pick and the No. 2 overall selection last year, is playing his first week in Class AA with the Altoona Curve. On Thursday afternoon at Erie's Jerry Uht Park, Alvarez hit his second home run with Altoona. It was off former Wild Things pitcher Patrick Stanley.

Alvarez connected on a Stanley pitch in the first inning for a two-run homer to center field. Alvarez also doubled off Stanley. Those were two of the three hits allowed in 5 1/3 innings by Stanley, who struck out five. Stanley left with a 4-3 lead but the Erie bullpen blew up in the eighth inning and cost him a win as Altoona rallied for an 8-6 victory.

Busy day for Shayne

On Monday night, Shayne Busti was busy helping Mario's to a 3-0 victory over Bud Murphy's in a Fayette County Baseball League game in Republic.

Less than 18 hours later, Busti was pinch-running for the Wild Things' Chris Raniere in the third inning of a game against the Midwest Sliders.

It was a quite a Tuesday morning for Busti, a native of Crucible in Greene County. The former California University shortstop received a telephone call from Washington manager Mark Mason at 9:30 a.m. The call went something like this:

Mason: Shayne, would you like to play for the Wild Things?
Busti: Sure. When do I have to be in Washington?
Mason: We have a game in 2 1/2 hours at home. We leave for a road trip after the game. Pack for six days. And get here as quickly as possible.

Washington had been playing for a week without a backup infielder. The emergency infielder was Kris Rochelle, who would have been moved from catcher to first base.

Busti had an individual workout with the Wild Things an impressed them enough that he was put on the team's "emergency call" list.

Busti played this spring for California – his only season with the Vulcans – and led the team in batting average (.415) and RBI (55). He also hit eight home runs. Busti also played for IUP and Penn State. He led IUP in home runs (11) in 2008.

A Carmichaels High School graduate, Busti is the first Greene County native to play for the Wild Things. He arrived so late for his first game that his new teammates didn't even know his name. For laughs, they called him "Fred," "Bill" and a dozen other names during the game.

Busti's debut had some rough spots. After Raniere injured a hip flexor running out a double, Busti went in as a pinch-runner. In the top of the fourth inning, Busti hustled out to third base at sprinter's speed. He was at his position before all but two of his teammates had left the dugout. Later in the game, Midwest's Zach Pace faked a bunt, which drew Busti in. When Pace pulled the bat back, Busti backed up and slipped, falling on his backside.

Busti walked in his first first trip to the plate and finished the day 0-for-2.

Cleaning out the notebook

Some random thoughts, opinions and notes from the pressbox at Consol Energy Park:

* The Wild Things made one roster move Saturday, releasing pitcher Matt Maradeo. In his second season with Washington, Maradeo had a 1-0 record and 8.22 ERA in 12 games. The sidearming right-hander has been plagued by inconsistency and his numbers in Washington did match those he put up in the Chicago Cubs' system.

* Pitcher Justin Edwards, who left Friday night's game with back spasms, will not go on the disabled list. According to manager Mark Mason, the spams were related to Edwards being dehydrated. Edwards is expected to be out for two days. Opponents are batting only .222 against Edwards, who has 21 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings.

* To fill Maradeo's spot on the roster, Washington will sign relief pitcher Aaron Guinn, a 6-5 right-hander from Mesa (Ariz.) State, which finished the year ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division II. Guinn had a 5-2 record, 9 saves and 1.40 ERA this year.

* It sure looks like center fielder Chris Sidick has lost his confidence when hitting against left-handed pitching. Sidick is only 2-for-25 (.080) with 10 strikeouts against lefty pitchers, but the average isn't the big concern. It's that many of his swings against lefties have looked bad.

* If you're going to attend a Wild Things home game and stay from start to finish, plan on being there a long time. Washington has played 12 home games with 11 going at least nine innings (there was a rain-shortened game against Gateway). of those 11, only one has been played in less than three hours, that being a 2-hour, 59-minute game against River City June 6. The Wild Things' nine-inning home games are averaging 3 hours and 8 minutes.

* Washington will have to drop a player from the roster Monday when Craig Snipp comes off the disabled list to pitch against Midwest.

* Phil Laurent doesn't get cheated on any of his swings. There's no check-swings or half-hearted swings with that guy.

* With the 13-run output Saturday night, the Wild Things are now in a three-way tie for the most runs scored in the Frontier League, though their record is only 10-17. Of all professional baseball teams that have played at least 27 games this season, only two (Midland of the Class AA Texas League and High Desert of the Class A California League) are averaging more runs per game than the Wild Things.

* Here's the humbling statistic: No team in pro baseball that has played at 27 least games is giving up more runs per game than the Wild Things (7.04).

* Manager Mark Mason on his team's 6.63 ERA: "I want a team ERA of 4.00 or under. If that's what our ERA was, then our record would be reversed. We've hit enough to win almost every game. The pitching has to come to the party."

* Has anyone noticed that closer Nick Peterson has 23 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings pitched?

* Here's one that's hard to do: Chris Demons had two singles last night, which were his first singles all season. Demons had two home runs and a double but no singles in his first 32 at-bats.

* I forgot to mention this when I originally posted this article: Am I the only one who thinks the umpiring has gotten significantly worse this year? Talking to people from visiting teams, it seems to be that way around the league, not just in Washington.

Be like Mike

The Wild Things' pitching has been much maligned this year, but not everyone on the staff has been walking the park or serving up home runs at an alarming rate. It just seems that way. One pitcher who has done very well, and gone relatively unnoticed on this blog, is Michael Lucas. The former Trinity High School and Xavier University pitcher and Chicago White Sox minor leaguer has a 1-1 record and a 2.45 ERA. The latter is the best on the team.

But if you go deeper into the numbers you'll get a better indication of just how good Lucas has been.

On several occasions, Lucas has been brought in from the bullpen not to start an inning, rather to bail out a starting pitcher who has filled up the bases. And Lucas has been nearly perfect in such a role. With runners on base, opponents are batting only .118 (4-for-34). With runners in scoring position, the average is a mere .125 (3-for-24).

"Lucas has inherited situations such as the bases loaded and no outs multiple times and he's done a great job getting out of those," Washington manager Mark Mason said. "He's not a afraid to pitch to contact. He throws strikes. ... He goes into a game with a plan on how to get guys out and it all starts with strike one on the first pitch."

Lucas was given an opportunity to pick up a win Wednesday in the completion of the suspended game against Florence. He pitched four solid innings, allowing only one run.

That outing led to an obvious question Thursday for Mason: Is Lucas likely to get a start anytime soon?

"Not yet," Mason said. "I haven't ruled it out but it's not something that is in the forefront."

We hardly knew ya, David

The Wild Things' David Anderson, who homered against Florence Tuesday night before rain forced the game to be suspended, had his contract purchased Wednesday by the Baltimore Orioles. Anderson appeared in only two games with the Wild Things after being signed out of Coastal Carolina University, where he hit 21 home runs this year for a 47-16 team.

To fill the roster spot, Washington signed right-handed relief pitcher Matt Winterhalter (6-5, 205), who had a 7-3 record, eight saves and 1.02 ERA for Northern Kentucky University this year. Winterhalter gave up 24 hits and 16 walks in 35 1/3 innings. He struck out 41 batters.

Ball 4, ball 8 … boy, how can guys lay off pitches that close?

One of my favorite movies - and not because it's about baseball - is "Major League." The original, of course, not the lousy sequels. The movie, which centers around a ragtag bunch of Cleveland Indians, whose new owner purposely puts together a horrible team so it will lose and she can eventually move the team to Florida. Included in the cast is Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), pictured, the wild-looking, wild-throwing pitcher who is dubbed "Wild Thing" and Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker), the team's cranky/boozing broadcaster.

One of the funnier scenes in the movie is when Vaughn walks the bases loaded on 12 pitches in a game against the Yankees and Doyle utters lines like the one used for the headline of this post.

It seems the Wild Things' pitchers took a page out of Vaughn's arsenal Monday night when they walked 11 Florence betters in a loss to the Freedom. In the sixth inning, the Freedom didn't even need to take their bats to the plate. They scored four runs without a hit, scoring on five walks and an hit batsman.

At times this year, it has appeared as if the Wild Things have been using theories from the Dontrelle Willis School of Pitching. They've had games of eight, nine (twice), 11 and 13 walks.

There is nothing worse for a baseball team than its pitchers issuing walks at an alarming rate. You can't defend a walk. If you throw the ball over the plate, there's a chance it will be hit right at a fielder. If you don't throw the ball over the plate, sometimes you give up four runs in an inning without the opponent getting a base hit.

The Wild Things' team record for most walks issued in a season is 349, set last year. The current team already has issued a league-high 115 walks and is on pace for 501 walks, which would break the league record by 47.

Hit batsmen also has been a problem for the Washington pitchers. They've plunked 24 batters in 22 games and are on pace to hit 104. The most hit batsmen in team history is 77, set in 2006.

It's obvious that this can't continue or it's going to a long, long summer at Consol Energy Park. Nobody wants to see pitchers walk batter after batter. Now that MLB's first-year player draft is over, I'm assuming there will be several changes in the pitching staff during the upcoming homestand. If not...

Putting stock in the Sliders

A few comments on this blog have hinted that the Wild Things are going to sale stock in the team to the public. Well, if that's true, the Midwest Sliders seem to have beaten them to the punch.

Here's a story from Crain's Detroit Business about the Sliders' plan to sell up to $5 million in stock to help fund a new ballpark in Oakland County's Waterford Township. The move is a result of the team's ownership being unable to get bank funding for the project.

Shares will be $10 each and sold in blocks of 100.

The Sliders are awaiting awaiting federal Securities and Exchange Commission approval for the public offering.

The Sliders are playing this season in Ypsilanti, Mich., at Eastern Michigan University.

I tried attaching a link to the story but it kept redirecting to a subscription page. Here's part of the story:

Minor-league baseball's Sliders plan stock offering
By Bill Shea

Backers of a new local minor-league baseball team plan to sell up to $5 million in stock as part of a bid to raise funds for a new stadium in Oakland County's Waterford Township — a move forced by bank unwillingness to loan money for such a venture.

Owners of the Midwest Sliders in Ypsilanti, part of the independent 12-team Frontier League, are awaiting federal Securities and Exchange Commission approval for the Regulation A public offering. There is no approval timetable or sale date yet.

The money is needed to build a $9.5 million, 3,900-seat stadium on an 11-acre site to be called the Diamond at the Summit stadium, next to the Summit Place Mall, in 2010 — a plan that could be scaled back depending on how much the stock sale raises.

The original plan, announced early last year, was to use debt-financing to construct the stadium. The global economic crisis that erupted last September dried up the debt financing market, team President and CEO Rob Hilliard said, forcing the Sliders to explore alternatives.

“We're in the epicenter of the economic morass,” he said.

The goal now is to go the “Green Bay Packers route” and sell shares of the newly formed company in a bid to raise enough money for the stadium, Hilliard said.

The National Football League's Packers are the most widely known example of publicly owned teams, having been a nonprofit governed by a board since 1950. The Sliders will continue to have majority private owners who maintain controlling shares of the team.

Shares will be priced at $10 each and sold in blocs of 100, with a maximum of 500,000 shares for sale, said securities attorney Michael Raymond of the Ann Arbor office of Detroit-based law firm Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C., who is handling the deal for the Sliders.

Until the sale, it's impossible to know if enough people are interested in spending $1,000 to own a piece of such a team, but if there are it's a boon for the Sliders.

“It's perfect for the team owner if they can pull it off — lose no control, get the money, pay it back only if you feel like buying the shares back,” said Rodney Fort, professor of sports management at the University of Michigan.

As part of the public offering bid, backers converted the assets of the original ownership partnership, Baseball Heroes of Oakland County L.L.C., into $2.9 million worth of stock in Diamond Heroes of Southeast Michigan Inc., according to an SEC filing from March 31.

Backers already have invested $4 million in the project and hired Leonard Capital Markets of Troy and Dickinson Wright to raise the remainder, Hilliard said.

A parking deal was made with Timina L.L.C., which owns Summit Place Mall, for 800 spaces, and with Summit West Investments and Summit North Investments for 500 spaces.

The Sliders are averaging a league-worst 246 fans per game over eight home games this year at Oestrike Stadium, their temporary home on Eastern Michigan University's campus, according to league statistics. The Southern Illinois Miners lead the league with 24,873 fans at six home games, or 4,146 per game.

Knapp off the Frontier - or is he?

The Wild Things won't be tortured by Robbie Knapp when they play Rockford this year. That's because Knapp, the former Wild Things third baseman, was traded Monday by Rockford to the Lincoln Saltdogs of the independent American Association.

Knapp was 11-for-25 against Washington after being traded to the RiverHawks last year at the all-star break.

Knapp was traded by Rockford to make room on the roster for pitcher Tanner Watson, who was 11-3 with a 2.17 ERA for the RiverHawks in 2007. Watson gave up only 64 hits in 103 2/3 innings that year. Last season, Watson played in Class AA in the Cubs organization.

Knapp was batting .267 and leading Rockford with four home runs.

UPDATE: According to the Frontier League's web site, Knapp has been signed by the Midwest Sliders. Not sure if the trade with Lincoln was voided or not.

Woodstock generation delayed

By the time the Frontier League gets to Woodstock (Ill.) it will be 2011. Plans for a ballpark at McHenry Community College have been delayed and the franchise won't join the league next season. That means with with Normal, Ill., joining next year, the FL has an unworkable 13 franchises. I've yet to hear about construction starting on the ballpark in Oakland County, Mich., so the guess here is that the Midwest Sliders will find a home in Normal next year or the FL will run a traveling team.

Read article here.

All Pro Freight Stadium

WJPA Radio's Randy Gore sent us these photos from All Pro Freight Stadium, the home of the Lake Erie Crushers. It's a 5,000-seat ballpark that opened this season. It has an artificial turf playing surface, except for the pitcher's mound and home-plate area. You should be able to click on each photo and get a larger image.

Time to push?

The Wild Things enter tonight's series finale at Traverse City with the worst record (5-12) in the Frontier League. From the baseball end of the operation, this is the low-water mark for the Wild Things. They have never been more than seven games under .500.

So let's examine three reasons it's time for the Wild Things to push the panic button, and three reasons not to get carried away with Washington's slow start:

Three reasons, in no particular order, to make a mad rush to push the panic button:

1. Roadkill - Much like last year, the Wild Things haven't proven they can win away from Consol Energy Park. They are 1-7 in road games with seven consecutive losses. And counting tonight's game, the Wild Things will play their next seven games on the road, so there is reason to believe things could get worse before they get better. The teams that make the playoffs in the Frontier League are the ones that win on the road. of Washington's six playoff teams, only one (2006 when they were 20-25) failed to have a road record that was at least three games above .500.

2. Pitching - Washington's starting rotation is a mess. The Wild Things are tied for the fewest quality starts in the league with two in 17 games. Opening night starter Craig Snipp has looked very good at times but is currently on the disabled list. Jason Neitz (1-1), who will start tonight's game, has been the second-best healthy starter, and his ERA is 8.82. It all starts with pitching, and the Wild Things' starting pitching has been dreadful. You can't turn things around when your starting pitchers fail to give you more than four innings each night.

3. To many left-handed bats - Washington will typically have four left-handed hitters in the lineup, and manager Mark Mason has even used lefty-hitting catcher Alan Robbins against left-handed starting pitchers. Many managers in this league will tell you that teams win with left-handed hitters, but so far opponents have been able to take advantage of the Wild Things' heavy-lefty lineup. Washington is batting 52 points lower (.288 to .236) against left-handed pitching than against right-handers. The Wild Things' lefty hitters are 12-for-59 (.203) with 22 strikeouts against left-handed pitching. If this average isn't improved dramatically, you can forget about any turnaround in the wins and losses.

Three reasons, in no particular order, not to push the panic button:

1. It's only June - Enough said. There are still 79 games left in the season.

2. The Windy City factor – Last year, the Windy City ThunderBolts had a 6-13 record and their relief pitchers were blowing saves at an alarming rate. But Windy City proved that nothing is won or lost in the first 20 games. The ThunderBolts regrouped, won the West Division title and tied Kalamazoo for the best record in the league at 60-36. The Wild Things' returning players probably think their hitting is as dangerous as Windy City's was last year, so a similar turnaround is possible. And remember, the Wild Things were 7-10 in 2006 but finished with the league's best record at 59-37.

3. Help is on the way – Major League Baseball's draft, which concluded today, couldn't have come soon enough for the Wild Things. There's now a lot of successful college pitchers, who were deemed too small or too much of a project by pro scouts, looking for a place to play. Several sources have told me that major league organizations overstocked their extended spring training camps with pitchers this year. Now that the draft is over and picks are starting to sign, some of those extra pitchers will be released. There is no doubt the Wild Things are badly in need of pitching and will be looking to pick up some extended-spring releases - they prefer these over college players. Signing two or three of the right pitchers might make the difference over the final 50 games of the season.

The 25-foot triple

If you weren't at Consol Energy Park last night in the eighth inning, you missed a bizarre play that resulted in the umpires enforcing a rarely applied rule and River City coming away with a triple on a sacrifice bunt.

Here's what happened:

River City, leading 7-4, had runners on first and second with no outs and Andy Reilly at the plate. It's an obvious bunting situation.

Reilly put down a perfect bunt that traveled roughly 25 feet (maybe not even that far) up the third-base line, into the grass. Washington third baseman Michael Parker charged and tried to scoop the ball with his glove. Parker snow-coned the ball and it end up shooting out the top of the glove, back toward the dirt area around home plate, to the right-hand side of Washington catcher Alan Robbins.

Robbins was holding his catcher's mask in his right hand, and in an instinctive move reached down with his mask to stop the ball. It was sorta like a hockey goalie making a quick-reaction glove save. Robbins then scooped the ball up in the mask.

When play was stopped, the umpiring crew of Jeremy Stangelo (plate) and Matt Neador (bases) advanced both runners to home plate and sent Reilly to third base. The rule they were enforcing was 7.05 B:

Each runner including the batter-runner may, without liability to be put out, advance three bases, if a fielder deliberately touches a fair ball with his cap, mask or any part of his uniform detached from its proper place on his person. The ball is in play and the batter may advance to home base at his peril.

You can make a strong case that Robbins didn't deliberately stop the baseball with his mask, but there was no doubt he intentionally scooped it up with the mask.

So how do you score the play? A check of the rulebook showed it was a triple, based on Rule 10.07 E:

... score a (triple) when the batter-runner is awarded three bases under the provision of Rule 7.05.

So there you have it, a 25-foot triple.

Shining some light on the subject

During the sixth inning Saturday night, Washington's Grant Psomas hit a routine two-out fly ball to right field that River City's Matt Houin couldn't locate. The ball dropped for a double and led to the go-ahead run for the Wild Things.

It was the second time in three series at Consol Energy Park this year that a visiting right fielder couldn't locate a routine fly ball. Both times the ball dropped for an extra-base hit. It will happen again this season. You can bank on it. At least three times every year visiting right fielders lose track of fly balls. Most drop for doubles or triples. A few have been caught by hustling center fielders or second basemen.

So why all the trouble locating the fly balls? Washington right fielder Matt Sutton gave this explanation Saturday night:

"They're not losing balls in the lights or the setting sun. They're losing the balls in the sky. When it's still twilight here, it's very difficult to locate the ball in right field because of the background. Left fielders don't have as much of a problem because there are some tree tops over by the Interstate that give you a background for finding the ball. In right field, all you have is sky. There's no park in the league that's tougher to pick up a fly ball in."

Part of the problem is CEP's location. CEP offers no background for locating fly balls hit to right field. Sutton said you have to find the ball coming off the bat against the background of the third-base stands or pick it up in the lights. If you don't, then what happened Saturday night will be the result.

"That's a tough sky in right field," Washington manager Mark Mason said. "When the ball gets above the lights, it's like it evaporates. Our guys are used to it."

If CEP has one home-field advantage for the Wild Things, then this is it.

Series leftovers

Some leftovers from the series against Gateway:

* This edition of the Wild Things has more power-hitting than any of the previous seven clubs. Washington has hit 17 home runs in 12 games, including three last night. And typically, the ball doesn't carry well at Consol Energy Park until it gets warmer and more humid than what we've we've had this spring.

In 2002, the Wild Things hit 56 homers all year.

* Thursday night was one of the few times the wind was ever blowing out to right field at CEP. It usually only blows out to left field, or in from left field. The wind, however, had nothing to do with any of the home runs that were hit to right field. Some of those shots would have gone out of any park, including Yellowstone.

* Forget the home runs, the big story of the series was the attendance, or lack thereof. The paid attendance of 1,340 for Wednesday night's game was the smallest in Wild Things history. The previous low was 1,712 for the franchise's fourth home game, June 4, 2002. While the 1,340 was tickets sold, my estimate is there was no more than 500, maybe even 400, in the ballpark. However, I don't think it was the smallest turnstile-count crowd the franchise has had. I remember, in 2002, there was a day-night doubleheader against Chillicothe on July 4. The day game, which was played when it was something like 95 degrees, probably didn't draw more than 300 to the park, though the paid attendance was more than 2,000.

The crowd of 1,815 for Tuesday night's game was the Wild Things' third-smallest. The Penguins' Stanley Cup Finals game against Detroit and the lousy weather that night had something to do with the poor attendance, but a game last year opposite the Penguins in the finals drew 2,144. And Thursday night's game drew 2,511 opposite the Penguins.

* Gateway's 13-5 win Tuesday over the Wild Things was called in the middle of the eighth inning because of rain. I still don't know why the game was not resumed.

A hard rain began falling during the inning break but the ground crew/interns tarped the field quickly and prevented the infield from turning to mud. The rain stopped after 20 minutes, but the game was called off five minutes later.

The explanation I was given was another storm was headed for Washington and it wouldn't be wise to resume play. When I called it a night and headed to bed at 2 a.m., I was still waiting for that second storm to arrive.

They have played more than 100 games at CEP under worse field conditions than they had when the rain stopped Tuesday night, which begs the question: Why wasn't the game resumed? It wasn't raining. The field was certainly playable. You can't call a game because it "might" rain.

The only reason I can come up with for not resuming play had to be either the Wild Things or the umpires felt they had no chance to come back and win. Once a game begins, the decision to stop or restart a game is up to the umpires, so the Wild Things can't say the game is over. But if the umpires did indeed say the field wasn't playable Tuesday, then why didn't an umpire check the field conditions? This wasn't done.

* Former Wild Things pitcher Tom Cochran earned a save in his debut with the Class AA Carolina Mudcats. Cochran pitched three innings Monday against Tennessee, allowing one hit (solo homer) and striking out five in the Mudcats' 9-2 win.

* Former Wild things infielder Chris Carrara has signed with Gary (Ind.) of the independent Northern League. Ex-Things shortstop Jeff Beachum also plays for Gary.

Crushers' home debut

Here are two links to stories and videos from the Mourning Journal in Lorain, Ohio, about the Lake Erie Crushers' first game at All Pro Freight Stadium on Tuesday night. More than 5,000 showed up to see the ballpark and watch the Crushers' win over Windy City.

Page A-1 story and video.

Sports story and video.

UPDATE: Here is a link to video of the mayor of Avon giving a tour of the ballpark:

Mayor gives tour of ballpark.

Troubled times

One overused saying that coaches in all sports rely on is this: You are what your record says you are.

Today, the Wild Things are the worst team in the Frontier League's East Division with a 2-7 record. Only Rockford (2-8) in the West Division has a worse record.

That doesn't mean much when you're nine games into a 96-game season. Yes, 2-7 is lousy. No one wanted or expected this kind of start, but it's not predictive of anything. The season is not over. Keep in mind that Washington started 1-5 during its inaugural season (2002) and ended up setting the league record for wins.

Is this a team that can rebound from a 2-7 start to be a playoff contender? Can it even play .500 ball? We don't know. It's too early to draw any definitive conclusions. There are, however, some alarming numbers and trends that indicate things that must change in a hurry. For example:

* The 2-7 record is the Wild Things' worst after nine games. In other words, this is the worst start in franchise history.

* Prior to today, Washington has been five games under .500 for only one day (May 28, 2008) in its eight-year history. The Wild Things have never been six games under .500.

* The recent six-game swing to the St. Louis area ended with a 1-5 record. It was the 27th six-game road trip in team history. It was the first time the Wild Things have failed to win at least two games on a such a trip (that the Wild Things went seven years with no worse than a 2-4 record on six-game trips is an amazing statistic that is probably unmatched in league history).

* The current five-game losing streak is tied for the longest in team history. Washington lost five in a row back in 2005 (Aug. 29-Sept. 3) but that was after the club had clinched the East Division title and was simply playing out a string of meaningless games.

* Washington's pitching staff has been - insert your favorite adjective here because there is no sugar-coating it - bad, awful, putrid, etc. You get the idea. Washington has given up 50 walks in nine games. Only Gateway (54) has allowed more, but the Grizzlies have played one more game. The Wild Things also are tied for the league lead in hit batsmen with nine. The 6.63 team ERA is next-to-last. Again, only Gateway is worse.

* Washington's hitters lead the league in strikeouts and are next-to-last with only three stolen bases, but offense hasn't been the problem. Washington's hitters have done enough to win seven games.

* The bullpen is 0-for-3 in save opportunities.

It all adds up to an ugly start, which will make for some interesting decisions for manager Mark Mason during the homestand that begins Tuesday against Gateway. The Wild Things' track record indicates that no major roster overhaul is in the works. The philosophy in Washington has been to stick with the core group of players and add a couple of former college guys following Major League Baseball's draft. You don't blow up your roster after nine games.

However, there will surely be some moves made this week. Pitcher Aaron Fuhrman will come off the disabled list during the homestand. He could trade places with pitcher Kedrick Martin, who left Sunday's game with an injury.

Another candidate for the DL is closer Jon Lewis, who was brought in during the offseason to solve the bullpen woes that plagued the Wild Things all last year. Lewis has pitched 1 2/3 innings and given up 10 walks and thrown three wild pitches. Saturday at River City, Lewis walked six batters in just 2/3 of an inning. Only 12 of his 40 pitches were strikes. Keep in mind that Lewis walked only 11 batters in half a season with Evansville last year, and in his previous 82 pro games walked more than two hitters only once.

When a pitcher with that kind of track record goes Steve Blass, it has to be because of an injury or a major problem with his mechanics. Either way, a trip to the DL is likely.

Not all the struggles have been on the pitchers' mound. There were concerns before the season about outfielder Chris Demons' ability to hit. He was only a .232 career hitter in two pro seasons, but the Wild Things love his speed and arm. Demons might be the fastest player in the league. But he's also 2-for-26 (.077) with 13 strikeouts. Starting the season with only four outfielders (including DH Jacob Dempsey) was a gamble that hasn't worked. Mason probably has several outfielders on speed dial.

How long will the Wild Things wait to shuffle their roster? The draft is June 9-11, which also is the beginning of a nine-day road trip for Washington. The Wild Things don't like to make roster moves while on the road, which means if things don't turn around this week the earliest the roster can undergo a makeover is June 18.

Alumni report

Chris Rivera, pictured, who spent parts of two seasons (2007, 2008) with the Wild Things, received a promotion Sunday in the Washington Nationals' system. Rivera was promoted from extended spring training to the Potomac Nationals, a team in the high-Class A Carolina League. Rivera pitched one perfect inning for Potomac against the Lynchburg Hillcats, a Pirates affiliate.

Here's one pitching matchup that might be of interest to Wild Things fans: the scheduled starters for tonight's Class AA Eastern League game between the Erie Seawolves (Detroit) and Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh) are former Wild Thing Patrick Stanley and Brad Lincoln, the Pirates' first-round draft pick in 2006.

UPDATE: Altoona scored two runs in the top of the 10th and held on to beat Erie, 5-4. Stanley pitched 6.1 innings, allowing five hits, one walk and three runs. He struck out five. Lincoln pitched five innings, giving up five hits, two walks and two runs. He struck out seven.