Florence free-for-all

If you're not listening to the Wild Things' game at Florence tonight – and with Florence leading 9-0 in the fourth inning, nobody can blame you for not listening - there was a benches-clearing situation in the sixth inning.

After Ernie Banks hit a long home run to left centerfield to make it 9-2, Florence manager Toby Rumfield took exception to Banks' reaction to the homer and got into a confrontation with Wild Things first-base coach Jon Cahill. According to Florence radio (I'll let you tell me what Radio Randy's version was), Rumfield took two swings at Cahill as the benches emptied.

Rumfield was ejected, as was Cahill and Washington pitcher Andy Schindling.

There have been hard feelings between these teams dating back to the second game of a doubleheader in mid-June when Florence was stealing bases with a 10-run lead during its last at-bat.

Early in tonight's game, Florence's Elvis Andrus was hit by a pitch from Craig Snipp, then stared down the Washington pitcher as he walked to first base. Later, Andrus scored and collided with catcher Alan Robbins and the two had words.

The ejections of Cahill and Schindling gives the Wild Things six ejections for the year. According to Frontier League rules, when a team has five ejections the manager will be suspended for three games. At least I think it's three games. It might be five games. I don't know if the manager gets suspended for any additional games when the ejections total reaches six.

Six-man rotation?

The Wild Things have used six starting pitchers - Andy Schindling, Jason Neitz, Zach Groh, Brian McCullough, Aaron (A.J.) Jenkins and Craig Snipp - since the all-star break. In those starts, the six have combined for a 2.40 ERA, which is a large reason why the Wild Things are 6-1 since the break.

But can a team go with a six-man pitching rotation? Washington doesn't have a pitcher who can be considered an ace, so why not try a six-man rotation?

Manager Mark Mason says that's not a possibility, at least next month.

"If we did that, it would be almost like a seven-man rotation in August, when we're off for four consecutive Mondays," Mason said. "Not enough rest is bad, and sometimes too much enough rest is bad too."

Mason did say that he'll likely continue with the six starting pitchers for one more trip through the rotation.

"We might have to do that because of the rainout and doubleheader we had at Southern Illinois," Mason said. "If we go with a five-man rotation, we'd have to bring someone back on short rest and I don't want to do that."

So who gets dropped from the rotation late next week? The most likely candidate is Jenkins because he would give Washington a left-hander in the bullpen. Another possibility is McCullough, who pitches exclusively from the stretch position and has extensive experience as a reliever.

Here's guessing that Jenkins goes to the bullpen, but if he makes another strong start it will make the decision doubly difficult.

The good, the bad & the ugly

The Wild Things' bus pulled out of Consol Energy Park Monday afternoon headed for a six-game trip to the St. Louis area. The bus was carrying plenty of baggage. Much of that was emotional baggage from a season-opening three-game series against the Lake Erie Crushers that could be best described as ugly. In terms of quality of play, it was one of the worst series the Wild Things have ever played. And Lake Erie wasn't much better.

The Wild Things can look back on the series and say they should have won two games instead of one. They gave away a win Sunday. Of course, you can just as easily say that Lake Erie should have swept the series had its defense not gift-wrapped a win for Washington on Saturday night.

Amid all the walks, hit batsmen and fly balls that were dropped or lost in the lights, there were some positives signs for Washington. So let's look at what we've learned about this team from three games:

The Good:
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- Grant Psomas can flat-out hit. The ball jumps off his bat like no Washington hitter I've seen since Josh Loggins. If he continues hitting like this, manager Mark Mason will have to move him up in the lineup to either the No. 3 or No. 4 spot.

- Amid all the walks, there were a few pitchers whose performances might have gotten overlooked. Opening night starter Craig Snipp was impressive the first time through the Lake Erie batting order and had eight strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Reliever Matt Maradeo looked more like the guy who put up good numbers in the Chicago Cubs' system than the one who struggled with the Wild Things last year. Kedrick Martin tossed two shutout innings to get a win Saturday. Even Saturday starter Sean Heimpel and reliever Justin Edwards showed flashes that they could be very good.

- Catcher Kris Rochelle, coming off elbow surgery, had a very good series with three hits in two games and throwing out two basestealers in as many attempts. Rochelle gunned down the Crushers' Jodam Rivera each time. In the Sunday game, Rivera had a huge walking lead and jump at second base with a right-handed batter at the plate. Rochelle's throw was perfect and got to the base well ahead of Rivera.

The Bad:
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- The fielding. Three dropped fly balls of various degrees of difficulty. No excuse. By the way, whatever happened to catching fly balls with two hands?

- The baserunning mistake by Michael Parker that led the Wild Things not scoring on a sacrifice fly to deep center field. Sure, Chris Sidick could have been running faster to home plate, but he should not have needed to sprint like it was an Olympic 100-meter dash final. Parker trying to advance to second base wasn't wise. At least it was a mistake of aggression, which can often be overlooked.

The Ugly:
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- The pitching.

Here are the ugly numbers:

Washington pitchers walked 22 batters in 21 innings. They also hit five batters.

Lake Erie scored 21 runs in the series and 10 of those were batters who reached base via walks.

Nine times in the series, including five times Sunday, Washington pitchers walked the leadoff hitter in an inning.

Almost every pitcher worked from behind in the count. Someone told me Sunday that starter Eric Evans fell behind in the count to all but two of the 17 batters he faced. It wouldn't surprise me if that was true, even when you factor in Evans' six-pitch first inning.

Washington leads the league with its 22 walks allowed. Windy City's pitchers have issued only six walks in four games.

"Pitching-wise, we've got to get better," Mason said Sunday. "We were behind in the count all night. ... That means our pitchers are trying to be too fine and not pitching to contact. Either we're not comfortable with our stuff or we're trying to embarrass every hitter. If we do that at Gateway, in that park, we'll give up 20 runs."

One thing Mason said he saw too much of was breaking balls thrown on 1-0 and 2-1 counts.

Lake Erie also had its pitching problems, giving up 16 walks.

"Both clubs have entirely new pitching staffs," Lake Erie manager John Massarelli pointed out. "One year, when I managed with Mace as my pitching coach, we had the same situation and the first few games of the season were just like that. You're basically just running guys out there until you figure out what roles to put them in."

Looking back: Game 1

A few very random thoughts and some leftovers from the season opener Friday night:

* Grant Psomas can hit. It looks like it didn't take long for Psomas, who played 180 games in Double-A and seven in Triple-A the last two years, to figure out the Frontier League's style of pitching. Even before his two home runs Friday, Psomas' swing reminded me of Josh Loggins'.

"Adjusting to the fastball is the big thing for Grant," manager Mark Mason said. "He's used to seeing it at a higher range, so he was out in front. He's made some adjustments. He's seeing the ball deeper now."

* That was a game the Wild Things gave away. A classic we-don't-want-it, you-take-it game. You can't walk the bases loaded in a 4-3 game and drop a fly ball in the ninth inning and expect to win. Of Lake Erie's last six runs, four reached base on walks and two were unearned because of a dropped fly ball.

* I hate home openers. Some baseball person a long time said something that rings true with me: "The real baseball season begins with the second game of the season." I agree. Nothing about the opener is routine.

* Judging by the people I spoke with, I'm probably in the minority when I say I didn't mind the purple jerseys. I've been told they will be worn for Sunday home games. But, if they were going to wear a colored jersey, I prefer red. They wore a red jersey in one game last season (think it had something to do with a Washington Hospital promotion) and those were the best-looking colored jerseys they've had.

* Washington starting pitcher Craig Snipp was spectacular for 3 1/3 innings, striking out seven, including four in a row at one point. After giving a one-out triple to Gordon Gronkowski in the second inning, Snipp struck out the next two batters to strand the runner and keep the game scoreless. Lake Erie, however, figured out something about Snipp the second time through the order.

"We got beat by the 7-8-9 hitters in the fourth," Mason said. "Other than, I thought Snipp did a good job. He was outstanding the first time through the order."

* The one lasting vision I have from opening night is this: When pulling into the parking lot and seeing the large roped-off area, I thought this might be reserved for WJPA Radio's Bob Gregg, based on his vote on the tax-for-turf issue Thursday. Nope! I saw Bob getting out of his car, and it was parked somewhere closer to Greene County than the ballpark.

Roster musings

Some thoughts and notes after watching two exhibition games Friday against Lake Erie, the latter of which ended in a 3-3 tie after 10 innings:

- The Friday games did little to help manager Mark Mason figure out who to keep in his bullpen. For example, lefty Dan Horvath was the only consistent reliever on the team last year (with the exception of one puzzling outing against Traverse City) but he gave up six hits, two walks and hit a batter in one inning of the day game. Do you judge Horvath on what he did last year or do you write off Friday's outing as just one of those days?

- Sidearmer Kyle Heyne gave up a home run but it was a swing-late fly ball down the left-field line by a left-handed hitter that ended up in the visitors' bullpen. More of a wall-scraper than a blast. Otherwise, Heyne threw strikes. He also has a track record of pitching well in tight situations - he's the all-time saves leader in the Mid-American Conference.

Kedrick Martin walked three over 2 1/3 innings but retired five in a row (two on strikeouts) at one point.

Josh Eachues, Kalen Gearhart and Michael Lucas combined for four scoreless innings (two hits and one walk allowed) in the opener. Each helped his case for a roster spot. My guess is that only Kris Rochelle and Alan Wiggins will make the team as catchers, so does Eachues' value increase because he can be a third catcher? I don't know because I haven't seen him catch this spring. I guess that means no.

- Second baseman Michael Parker went 3-for-4 with a walk in the night game. It looks like he will be an impact newcomer.

- Rob Hedrick is creating another difficult decision for the coaching staff. They like the former California University player's arm strangth as a pitcher, which was not his primary position with the Vulcans. Hedrick played second base in the day game, then pitched a perfect 10th inning in the night game, retiring Lake Erie's 3-4-5 hitters. If Hedrick makes the team it will be as the 24th man, a utility guy who can be worked with all year to refine his pitching mechanics.

- Heyne probably made the team Friday night and Horvath lost a spot on the roster.

- It seems that three pitchers who have locked up spots in the starting rotation are Rick Austin, Craig Snipp and Eric Evans.

- The three pitchers with no pro experience (Michael Mondesir, Brian Honeyman and Hedrick) began the spring at the bottom of the depth chart but tossed a combined eight scoreless innings against Lake Erie.

- Right-hander Jace Smith arrived in Washington Friday night, which brings the number of pitchers in camp to 21. Smith will pitch in tonight's exhibition game.

- Mason has said he wants to trim the roster to 24 or 25 players by the end of the weekend.

Nine players signed

The Wild Things announced Monday the signing of nine players, including six who were with the team last season.

Returning are relief pitchers Rick Austin, Dan Horvath and Matt Maradeo and Josh Eachues, who was a catcher last year but is being converted to relief pitcher. Eachues was a briefly used as a reliever in the Philadelphia Phillies' system last spring.

Also back are outfielder Matt Sutton and catcher Kris Rochelle, pictured. Sutton is the most interesting of the nine signings. He was one of Washington's top players in 2007, when he batted .295 with 12 home runs and 26 stolen bases. He also had a big postseason that year as the Wild Things reached the Frontier League championship series. Last year, however, Sutton played only 33 games with the Wild Things before being suspended and eventually released. Sutton was free to sign with any team for 2009.

Rochelle had elbow surgery last September and will likely not be ready until mid-season.

Also signing contracts were infielder Joe Spiers, right-handed pitcher Sean Heimpel and left-handed pitcher Craig Snipp. Each player was acquired in trades during the offseason. Spiers played last season for Chillicothe. Heimpel and Snipp played last year in the independent Can-Am League. Heimpel pitched in five games for Nashua. Snipp spent two years in the Can-Am and had a 10-7 career record including an 8-5 mark with a 3.94 ERA for Sussex.

Pitching purge complete

The Wild Things made another roster move involving an L2 player. Starting pitcher Mike Schellinger was traded to the Sussex Skyhawks of the Can-Am League in exchange for left-handed pitcher Craig Snipp.

Schellinger, pictured, tied for the team lead in wins last year as he posted a 9-6 record and 3.95 ERA. Opponents batted only .236 against Schellinger.

Snipp (6-1, 190) is a from Lexington, Ky., and played at the University of Kentucky. He spent the last two years in the Can-Am League. Snipp was with the Grays – the league's traveling team – in 2007 and last year played for Sussex. He was 8-5 last year (4-0 in his last five starts) with a 3.94 ERA and has a 10-7 career record.

Snipp doesn't seem to be much of a power pitcher as he struck out only 57 batters in 107.1 innings last year.

Snipp was 7-5 as a senior at Kentucky and walked only 25 batters in 106 innings. At Kentucky, he was a teammate of former Wild Things pitchers Cory Hahn and Adam Revelette.

Snipp is classfied as an L1 by Frontier League roster standards.

Losing Schellinger completes the Wild Things' purge of last year's starting rotation. Aaron Ledbetter aged out of the league, and Schellinger, Brooks Dunn, J.J. Hollenbeck and Zach Groh have been traded. The only puzzling thing about this is the starting rotation wasn't the Washington's problem - it was the bullpen.

The Wild Things will have five new starting pitchers – Snipp likely will be one of the five - come opening day.

As for the Wild Things' L2 dilemma, Washington now has the rights to only three L2s (one over the limit): Jon Lewis, who is signed for 2009, Jacob Dempsey and Nathan Messner. Washington also has one open Veteran spot.