|
Gameday Previews #2 (2002)
Opening day turned some heads now, didn't it? Joey Holt establishes himself
as one hell of a threat to the rest of the league and cause Jeff
Morrison to gush all over himself declaring Joey's performance in
the nightcap "possibly the best offensive performance I've
ever seen." Dean Evans goes 7-14 with 2 homeruns, and also
only gives up one hit from the mound. The Horsemen have two guys
with 0.00 ERAs and neither is named Joey Creighton.
----------------------------------------------
Horsemen (2-1) vs. Road Warriors (0-0) (The Sac, doubleheader)
This could turn out to be a great match-up. On one hand you have a team
that is obviously struggling for some offense in the Horsemen. Here
they'll be taking on the questionable pitching staff of the Road
Warriors, led by Darnell Uhland and followed by not a whole lot.
On the other side you have one of the hottest hitters in the league
(outside of Holt or Evans) in Darnell Uhland and his mysterious
power threat that I deemed during Winterball "on par with Joey
Holt," Anthony Sanzone. These two guys, along with untested
rookies Jeff Register and Chris Keefer, will be taking on the top-notch
staff of the Horsemen.
Which is going to give? Eric Christensen should be in the house, as with
the rest of the team, making this the first time the Horsemen have
fielded all four guys. The Road Warriors have Darnell and rookie
Jeff Register for sure, with rookies Anthony Sanzone and Chris Keefer
"expected" to be there. Could we have our first 4 on 4
game in team history? We salivate at the thought.
| Tale
of the tape - Team Stats |
| Team |
ABs
|
Runs
|
HRs
|
Avg.
|
IP
|
ER
|
Ks
|
ERA
|
W-L
|
| Horsemen |
29
|
5
|
4
|
.174
|
8.3
|
5
|
15
|
2.14
|
2-1
|
| Road
Warriors |
0
|
0
|
0
|
.000
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.00
|
0-0
|
|
Wiffolution (1-2) vs. Longballs (2-1) (The Byrd House, doubleheader)
These two squads faced off just last weekend in the nightcap, with the
Longballs getting the big 11-2 win. Most (okay...all) of that was
due to Joey Holt's amazing 6-7, 5 HR performance that saw him get
all 11 RBIs. Wiffolution banged out 8 hits themselves, but only
two were for extra bases. Dean Evans proved to be quite the beneficiary of improvement over
the offseason as he went 7-14 with 2 homeruns. Throw Jeff Morrison
and Casey Sylvester in the mix (who both had sub-par performances
last week) and you have a very deadly lineup that is going against
a very vulnerable pitching staff. Rookie Hart McKenzie is likely
to miss some time this weekend, although it's unknown when (or if)
he'll get back on Sunday. He might make it back for this double
dip, he might not get back until the nightcap, or he might not get
back at all. And Bob Banos isn't likely, although it's heavily frowned
upon for captains to pick guys they have no intention of playing.
A split wouldn't be too surprising here as both teams work out pretty evenly
on paper, ignoring the result of the previous game. How far will
Holt be able to distance himself from the rest of the pack in terms
of homeruns, or was last week simply a hot day for him?
| Tale
of the tape - Team Stats |
| Team |
ABs
|
Runs
|
HRs
|
Avg.
|
IP
|
ER
|
Ks
|
ERA
|
W-L
|
| Wiffolution |
54
|
7
|
5
|
.333
|
12
|
15
|
20
|
5.33
|
1-2
|
| Longballs |
47
|
17
|
9
|
.362
|
9.7
|
11
|
9
|
4.55
|
2-1
|
|
And now with the mini previews:
Horsemen vs. Longballs (Byrd House, 1 game)
The hot bats of the Longballs take on the hot pitching staff of the
Horsemen in the nightcap. Will the Horsemen be able to bring down
Holt's astronomical numbers? Will the Horsemen finally start hitting
off the questionable Longballs staff? Going into Sunday, both teams
are 2-1. This game could determine who is (and isn't) in first place
at the end of the day.
Wiffolution vs. Road Warriors (Sac, 1 game)
By this time the three rookies on the Road Warriors will have tasted
their share of "gametime" action. Will it help? Both teams
have struggling pitching staffs, so this might be a good time for
a slugfest to boost some hitter's averages on the season. In Sanzone
the real thing? If so, will he be able to do to Wiffolution what
Joey Holt did? Will any of the rookies be able to handle Casey Sylvester,
who himself has turned into one of the scariest pitchers in the
league?
-------------------------------------------------
Mother Nature seems to have listened to our pleas and is deciding against
the rain on Sunday. From where we stand, it looks like, weather-wise,
we'll be in about the same shape as last weekend, which I doubt
anyone would complain about.
See ya Sunday evening! Or Monday afternoon!
|
