Wednesday, July 8, 2009

On the Mark

During the Wild Things' game Tuesday against Southern Illinois, Wild Things manager Mark Mason made some interesting decisions that paid off with a 4-1 victory.

One of those decisions was to replace starting pitcher Andy Schindling with one out in the 8th inning, though Schindling had allowed only one run (unearned), four hits and one walk. The pitching change wasn't popular with the crowd at Consol Energy Park, but Mason explained that Schindling was bascially in his private no-man's land. he was a reliever for 4-plus years in the Baltimore Orioles' system and didn't pitch more than nine innings as a high school player. Pitching in the eighth inning was new to Schindling, and Mason wanted a pitcher with more experience in the game at that point with a tie score.

"I was debating whether to send him out or not there for the eighth inning," Mason said. "He had done a good job against their 9-1-2 hitters all night, so I let him go back out there and face the No. 9 guy (Travon Jackson). Once they turned the order over, I said that was it."

Mason didn't replace Schindling with one of his regular relief pitchers. He went with Keith Meyer, a Pittsburgh native who had signed with the Wild Things earlier in the day. It's risky, when the game is tied 1- in the 8th, to bring in a guy who you haven't seen pitch in a game.

"The guys we had in the bullpen were overworked last week," Mason explained. "Even with the day off Monday, it still wasn't enough rest. We had some guys throw more than two innings at Kalamazoo and some pitch two days in a row. I wanted to see someone new at that point. of the guys we brought in, Meyer's the most experienced."

Meyer retired five of the six batters he faced to get the win.

Mason also mentioned that he has pushed for outfielder Phil Laurent to be one of the manager's additions to the East Division all-star roster and that infielder Chris Raniere will be activated from the DL sometime this week. Raniere is eligible to be activated today but Mason said he hasn't ruled out giving Raniere another day or two to recover from a hip flexor injury.

UPDATE: There was a note on here earlier in the day about a telephone call I received. I was told that Consol Energy Park is being sold to a group in Pittsburgh. That is NOT true. That much has been confirmed to the O-R by BSI's attorney. The ballpark is not for sale. However, my guess is the tipster to the O-R was confused on what is being purchased. I wouldn't be surprised if the mentioned Pittsburgh company – which has ties to Major League Baseball - is interested in buying into the Wild Things' ownership group. Stay tuned. And no, it's not Mylan.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is the Washington County Tourism Board based in Pittsburgh?

July 8, 2009 at 12:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

and there is your MYLAN connection!!!!!

$man

July 8, 2009 at 12:53 PM  
Anonymous Obuma said...

I heard the Pittsburgh branch of ACORN was buying the Wild Things.

July 8, 2009 at 7:32 PM  
Anonymous Big Bopper said...

Maybe they'll take Franni's money and pass it out to the players.

July 8, 2009 at 8:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I heard Ian Snell is buying a controlling interest in the Wild Things so he can pitch for them.

July 9, 2009 at 1:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Wildthings announced that if it is Ian Snell buying a controlloing intrest they will immediately trade Dempsey,Banks,Sutton,Psomas,
Petersen and any other player who may show signs of talent to another team in exchange for bats,balls,and abunch of guys who got cut from their high school teams.

July 10, 2009 at 9:14 AM  

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