How good was that?

From pure baseball standpoint, there have a few really good Wild Things games played at Consol Energy Park, some real hard-to-watch clunkers and a whole lot of games that fall inbetween.

In this guy's opinion, Washington's 3-0 victory Thursday night over the Lake Erie Crushers was the best-played game at the nine-year-old ballpark. There have been more exciting games and wild finishes, but from a quality baseball standpoint that was the best-played game I can recall. There was tremendous pitching and enough outstanding defensive plays to fill a week's worth of games. If pitching defense is your game, that was one for you.

Washington's Jeff Sonnenberg, pictured, faced the minimum 27 batters in throwing a two-hit shutout with no walks. Only one Lake Erie batter reached a three-ball count. After each of the hits allowed by Sonnenberg, the next Lake Erie batter grounded into a double play. At one stretch, Sonnenberg retired 22 consecutive batters, getting 23 outs in the process.

First baseman Eric Stephens made two terrific defensive plays, going far to his right to snag a grounder by Jodam Rivera in the fourth and to a catch a liner by Raphael Turner to end the eighth. Center fielder Luis Rivera also tracked down Arden McWilliams' deep fly ball on the warning track in the sixth inning. Sonnenberg said he thought McWilliams' shot was going to be a home run.

The biggest defensive play came in the first inning when right fielder Mark McGonigle threw out Jodam Rivera, who was trying to score from second base on a single. Catcher Jared Dyer was able to block home plate with his left foot and make the tag.

Lake Erie also made some web-gem-like defensive plays, especially Rivera at shortstop and Andrew Davis at third base.

Was there ever a better performance by a Washington pitcher than the one by Sonnenberg? Washington pitchers have thrown two no-hitters -- Jason Hickman at Kalamazoo in 2002 and Eric Palmer in the second game of a doubleheader at Windy City in 2004 -- but neither was a shutout. Hickman gave up a run on a two-base throwing error, wild pitch and groundout. Palmer gave up a run on two errors.

Aaron Ledbetter had several outstanding games at home, as did Jared Howton, Ben Ally and Dave Bradley, to name a few. The one that stands out to me was Howton's game against Johnstown in 2002 when he threw a three-hit shutout with no walks and 13 strikeouts. Lake Erie, however, is a better team than Johnstown was in 2002.

While trying to think of a game that was better-played than last night's, I came up with a few possibilities. One was a pitcher's duel in 2006 when Rockford's Derek Roper beat Ledbetter 1-0. The other was in 2003, on Father's Day, when Ally pitched Washington to a 4-0 win over Cook County. Ally threw a four-hittter with one walk and 12 strikeouts in a game that lasted only 1:57. Cook County's James Clelland also threw a complete game and didn't walk a batter, striking out six.

Those games, however, fall short of the game played Thursday night because of defensive plays and Sonnenberg facing the minimum 27 batters. The latter, however, was odd because if you weren't watching the game closely or keeping score, you probably didn't know what was happening. After all, Lake Erie had two hits and Washington started the night with an error, the only one of the game.

Thoughts through 3 games

Some notes, observations and thoughts after the Wild Things' season-opening homestand:

* There were plenty of lasting images from the season's first three games and not many were positive for the Wild Things: Washington's baserunning blunders in the opener, the muddy and water-logged outfield, the empty seats ...

* On the positive side, you have to be impressed with the hitting of Adam Amar and Mark McGonigle. They could be two impact hitters. Chris Sidick is off to a better start than last year, which is a good sign. Michael Parker, who had a 24-game hitting streak last season, seems to be hitting the ball as well, if not better, so far this season.

* The Wild Things have to be concerned about attendance, or the lack of it. The 1,624 on hand for Sunday's game was the second-smallest crowd in franchise history. The 6,311 for the series was the second-smallest attendance for a three-game series. The opener didn't sell out -- for the first time. During the first inning of the opener, there was one section of seating along the third-base line that had four empty rows at the top. The same section had one person seated in the front row. The next section down the line also had one person seated in the front row.

There did, however, seem to be more people in the box seats for the opener than last year.

* The pace/length of games have gotten ridiculously long. And don't blame it on the between-innings promotions. Blame it on the "Moneyball" era and umpires.

Hitters today are taught to work the count like never before, and the umpires help them by refusing to call a strike a strike. The rulebook says the upper end of the strike zone is the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is the hollow beneath the knee. The strike zone, however, has become the bottom of the belt to the top of the kneecap.

I have some video/DVD copies of baseball games played in the 1960s and 1970s. The thing that jumps out to me when watching them is the strike zone. The zone was actually called correctly back then, players had to swing and the game moved at a quicker, more fan-friendly pace.

* Have you ever seen an outfield that was only partially mowed on opening day? I hadn't until Friday.

* This is the best Oakland County/Midwest team. The Cruisers/Sliders have more speed than ever before, Zach Pace is always on base, Joash Brodin and Jimmy Baker can hit, Luis Fernandez looks like a good defensive shortstop and pitchers James Albury and Kevin Asselin have track records of success. Too bad the Cruisers/Sliders are playing 51 of their first 57 games on the road. It's hard to stay in a playoff race with that kind of disadvantage.

* Washington catcher Billy O'Conner probably earned a few more starts by going 4-for-5 Sunday.

* Best line of the weekend came after Sunday's game, when someone brought a plate of alligator from the exotic foods stand into the Wild Things' clubhouse for the players and coaches to try. "We got the alligator from left centerfield," the person said. That might be where they'll find next weekend's entree: shark.

* There was no reason to play the Saturday night game. It should have been postponed. The outfield was a swamp Friday, and all the rain early Saturday made it worse.

* According to the Frontier League website, the Wild Things' July 31 game at Oakland County has been postponed and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Aug. 1.

Ties in baseball?

The Wild Things and Lake Erie Crushers played to a 2-2 tie Saturday afternoon at All-Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio.

Much like the exhibition opener Friday night (won by Lake Erie 4-3) at Consol Energy Park, runs were hard to come by for the Wild Things but the pitching was very good. Washington used seven pitchers Saturday and they gave up only five hits with seven strikeouts.

The Wild Things led 2-1 in the eighth inning when Lake Erie used two singles, a hit batsman and wild pitch by Kurt Houck score to the tying run.

Mark McGonigle had two doubles among Washington's six hits.

Click here for the boxscore.