Just like Richmond

As I sat at Consol Energy Park Friday night watching the Wild Things drop a pivotal doubleheader to the Joliet Slammers, I found myself thinking I had watched these games before. Like 14 or 15 years ago.

That was when another team that, like the Slammers, wore green and orange and tormented the Wild Things with their impressive hitting. The Richmond Roosters used to frustrate Washington pitchers by spraying two-out singles all over the ballpark and then smack a long multi-run homer, just like Joliet did Friday night. Heck, Richmond even had Chris Mongiardo in their dugout as the pitching coach, just like the Slammers did Friday night.

The only difference in the visitor's dugout was that Jeff Isom was calling the shots from that side of the field. Back in 2002 and 2003, Isom was Washington's manager, wearing red & black. This time, he was wearing green and orange.

Washington edged Richmond for the East Division title in 2002, but the Roosters beat the Wild Things 3 games to 1 in the championship series. One of those Richmond wins was a 14-7 thumping in Game 2 at what was then known as Falconi Field.

Joliet's 5-1 and 4-2 wins felt a lot like that 14-7 game against Richmond. Though the scores were closer, it never felt like Washington had enough firepower to win.

For the Wild Things, the big difference in playing the current edition of the Slammers and the 2002-03 Richmond Roosters is this year's Washington team just doesn't have the hitting to get into a slugfest with an opponent. The Wild Things don't have a Josh Loggins or Shaun Argento or Jay Coakley or Brad Hensler or Joe Cuervo  or ... well, you get the point.

Washington has to pitch well, field well and even catch breaks. They didn't get the latter against Joliet. When the Slammers scored five runs in the fifth inning of the opener, the Wild Things should have been out of the inning unscathed. With two outs and a runner on second base, the Slammers' Marc Flores hit a ball back up the middle. The ball struck pitcher Matt Fraudin in the side of his right foot and deflected toward the third-base line for an infield single. Had the ball not struck Fraudin, it would have been gobbled up by shortstop Austin Wobrock for an easy inning-ending out. Wobrock played a shift against Flores the entire night and was positioned directly behind second base, where the baseball was headed before Fraudin's foot got in the way.

Joliet went on to score five runs in the inning and won the game. On the night, the Slammers had 20 hits to the Wild Things' nine. Washington had its chances but went an unthinkable 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-12 in the opener. Three times in the first four innings of the opener Washington had a leadoff extra-base hit. None of those runners scored. It was that kind of night for the Wild Things, who are last in the Frontier league in batting average, runs, hits and on-base percentage.