Not the same old Otters
Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of an important stretch for the Wild Things. For weeks, Washington had talked about the advantage of having six games remaining against the Evansville Otters, the last-place team in the West Division. While the other teams in the East -- except Lake Erie -- would be playing more challenging games against West rivals, the Wild Things would face Evansville and Florence, the latter having fallen into fifth place in the West.This looked like a good thing for the Wild Things, especially in late June when Evansville was off to a 6-25 start.
Well, timing is everything in baseball, and playing the Otters in August might not be the advantage it was thought to be a few weeks ago. These aren't the same old Otters.
Evansville seems to have gotten its act together. The Otters have won seven straight road games entering tonight's series opener at Consol Energy Park.
Evansville also is 8-6 in its last 14 games.
If Washington is going to make a move toward reaching the .500 mark, then it must take advantage of the games against Evansville and Florence. But it's the games against Evansville that might prove to be more difficult for Washington. While Evansville has improved, Florence has been in a tailspin. The Freedom are 5-20 since July 4, with two of the five wins coming by one run. Florence has lost 12 of its last 13 road games.
While there might be some advantage to playing Evansville and Florence late in the year instead of say, River City and Gateway, the break might be in playing the Freedom, not the Otters.
Labels: Evansville Otters
posted by Chris Dugan at
12:51 PM
14 Comments:
and the jokes just keep on comin'...can't get anybody on, down 4-0, then it happens...
hit, hit batter, hit, hit batter, hit, runners at 1st and 3rd, down 4-3 with one out...
and, don't you know, the ss riviera gets caught when the coal barge ochoa can't bunt...
you can't make this stuff up.
tying run at third with one out in ninth and.....
thud. lineout, walk, strikeout. game over. i'm telling you, you can't make this up.
Calm down Anon 6:33. Only another month with this cast of characters then the housecleaning starts.
"We didn't execute tonight," said Washington manager Darin Everson. "Now, we've got to come back and win two out of three."
Doesn’t Mr. Everson have a real talent for stating the obvious? Is this man a broken record or just so ego driven that he actually thinks we don’t know about the “execute” thing? Darin, the team hasn’t executed not just last night but almost every night since you became the manager!
“Only another month with this cast of characters then the housecleaning starts.”
Unless I am completely misunderstanding things or just being humored, Stu Williams WILL make some really big changes that will both improve the experience of coming to CEP and, the quality of the baseball..
Somehow, I think that he has been treated like a mushroom by some of the folks that he relies on for information. I feel has been kept in the dark and been feed a bunch of BS. Things that are are fairly common knowledge by those who attend almost every game seem to have never been called to his attention at all.. Those days are coming to an end – soon!
However, unless the fans actually demand changes, from customer relations to the performance on the field, the future of the Wild Things really looks dark to me.
Ima Fraid
"Ima Fraid,"
Please go back to signing your posts "Ron Wilson."
Enough with the act.
"Im Ontoyou"
Last weekend, Saturday and Sunday, I attended the Wild Things games against the Crushers at the All Pro stadium.
As my luck would be, they lost both games and were severely outplayed only to win Monday after I left.
Some comparisons to Washington stadium.
Parking is $3.00 but most of the lot is unpaved.
Ticket prices are higher than Washington.
Concession prices are higher and probably has the worst selection in the Frontier League.
The stadium is 3 years old and the artifical turf (TPT or otherwise) looks worse than Bob Wagner's wig.
All the services, concessions, rest rooms, etc, face the field.
The concession lines move quickly and the workers seem to know what they are doing compared to the lost in space at Washington.
The ushers stayed the whole game (attendence over 3000 and 1900 respectively).
The score board has very little info listed. Only the batters number, no info on batting average or prior at bats in game.
They showed the pitch speed. However I doubt the accuracy as most pitches were over 90 mph and some as high as 97. Not in this league that frequently.
Maz lets the pitchers pitch 6 or 7 innings and uses a different relief pitcher for each inning there after.
Of the current or prior frontier league stadiums I have visited, I would rate Cilichotti at the bottom, followed by Richmond, Kalazamoo, and Lake Erie.
It is about 15 miles from Cleveland.
It is located on rt 90 just as close to the interstate as Washington is to Rt 70.
"Ima Fraid,"
Please go back to signing your posts "Ron Wilson."
Enough with the act.
"Im Ontoyou"
He might if you might!
"I'm ontoyoutoo"
Joe Tuscano said the following in his coverage of the Wild Things game last night;
“The attendance was 1,635, but only about 100 remained after the rain delay.”
This only validates the argument that the TP turf was/is a waste of money. If only one out of every sixteen
attendees remained after the rain, then what is the point to playing to an empty house. Also, Joe noted the slow drainage. I thought this stuff was a super sponge that would drain enormous amounts of water almost immediately.
I think Joe also mentioned that the game probably would not have been resumed if it were being played on grass. How many people do you think would have been at the park today at 5 p.m. to watch the completion of a suspended game? My guess is about 100, so that really doesn't validate any point about turf, other than it allowed a game to be completed after a rain storm.
By the way, it didn't rain enough last night at my house to make the porch steps or driveway stay wet for more than a couple of minutes. That must have been what they call an isolated storm that hit the ballpark. One thing I've noticed over the years is Washington seems to get hit with rain more often than the outlying communities. There has to be some kind of reason for this.
I’m ontoyouu must really be slow. I’ma Fraid has not tried to hide who he really is. Everybody at the Wild Things knows because he told them a long time ago. I even know – but I’ll never tell.
One thing is for sure. The sheriff is in town and he ain’t real happy about what has been being hidden from him for a long spell. If some of them thar varmints ain’t real careful only the local parson will be able to save them – maybe!
Truth is, Chris Blaine is the only hard working (probably overworked) person in the entire organization. She takes her job very seriously and still keeps a happy face. I don’t know how she does it. Too many have become too comfortable for too long.
The game is over boys – better get back to business.
"Stu Williams WILL make some really big changes that will both improve the experience of coming to CEP and, the quality of the baseball."
"Things that are are fairly common knowledge by those who attend almost every game seem to have never been called to his attention."
C'mon Ima Fraid. Tell us what those things are. Don't leave us hangin'.
In the true Wild Things ownership stype, they will fire Chris Blane and keep the all the others.
i think stu williams really, actually cares about what happens--on the field and in the stands. i think stu williams really, actually doesn't have any idea how to go about fixing both of those things. i think there are plenty of people who could do great things with the team, the fans, and the ballpark.
i think stu williams has about 6 months to figure out what he doesn't know, figure out who those people are, and convince them to make it happen. and, failing that, i can see the summer wooden bat league taking up residence at the place formerly known as falconi field.
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