Box score — Wingnuts 4, Sioux City 2
I’m seeing the Eagles tomorrow. And the Wingnuts play at noon.
AND
I’m seeing the Eagles tomorrow.
So I need a good night’s sleep.
BECAUSE
I’m seeing the Eagles tomorrow
Up next: Sioux City at Wingnuts, 12:05 p.m. Wednesday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Starting pitchers: Sioux City, RH Mikael Ryder (3-4, 4.38 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Doug Hurn (1-3, 6.20)
ALSO
I’m seeing the Eagles.
TOMORROW.
Box score — Wingnuts 5, Sioux City 2
Tonight felt a little bit different. I don’t know if Adam Godwin and Jake Bradshaw, are going to be the reason(s) why the Wingnuts will turn things around in the second half of the season, but at least they’re new. They provide, at least for one day, energy. And hope. Hope is important in baseball.
Gabe Medina. What can you say? He’s been great this season. Something seems different with him, or maybe he just blended in too much last season because the Wingnuts’ starting pitching was so good and he faded down the stretch. This year, he’s pitching more like an ace. He’s technically the No. 2 starter, but if there’s a big game that I have to win, I’d probably give the ball to Medina over Nick Singleton, the No. 1 guy.
That’s a big statement to make, and one that I just thought of. So maybe if I thought about it I’d change my mind, but Medina is a warrior. He’s emotional, but he keeps his emotions in check and focuses long enough to where he hasn’t really had any meltdowns on the mound this season.
Bradshaw got his first professional hit tonight and was rewarded with the baseball in a clubhouse “ceremony” that I did not witness. I know it happened, though, because the coaching staff was on the way to present the ball to Bradshaw as I was leaving the clubhouse. Good moment for the kid, who hasn’t played baseball since college. Congrats, Jake.
Up next: Sioux City at Wingnuts, 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Starting pitchers: Sioux City, RH Mike Phelps (0-1, 3.38 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Luke Massetti (2-3, 4.21)
The roster moves have begun, but they won’t likely end with the signings today of infielder Jake Bradshaw and outfielder Adam Godwin.
You can view the career stats of Bradshaw at Godwin at the following links:
Jake Bradshaw
Adam Godwin
OK, I lied. I can’t find stats for Bradshaw. He was with the Kansas City T-Bones of the Northern League this season, but either he hasn’t batted or he was removed from the statistics because he’s no longer part of the team. The Wingnuts’ stats, organized by the same company, list everyone who has played for the team this season, though. So I don’t know what’s up with that.
Bradshaw is the Wingnuts 14th second baseman this season. That’s an exaggeration, obviously, but there has definitely been a revolving door at that position. Since the league website doesn’t list such things, I’ll try to think of everyone who has played second for the Wingnuts this year. Ready?
Mike Thompson
Patrick Brooks
Tony Mansolino
Jonathan Dziomba
Angel Nicolas
Jose Duran.
I think that’s it. Tonight we’ll be able to add Bradshaw to the list, because he’s in the starting lineup. I have a hunch that he won’t be there long, though, and that maybe a long-term answer will be figured out within the next few days. Just a guess. An educated guess.
Godwin spent time in Double-A with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 2009, but was released after repeating that level last season. It’s always difficult to guess how minor-league numbers will translate to a lower level, but Godwin doesn’t look like a significant game-changer. Maybe he will be, though. Who knows?
In 228 Double-A games, Godwin has batted .260. In 2008, he drew 51 walks for a nearly semi-respectable .347 on-base percentage, but in 2009 his OBP was down to .310. If he shows patience with the Wingnuts, he’ll be valuable because he appears to have some speed.
Godwin’s presence moves Eric Williams to the bench. Williams hasn’t done too much well this season except get on base. His .415 on-base percentage has played nicely at the top of the lineup. Hey, that’s his job. I feel like he should be stealing more bases, but it’s not his fault that he hasn’t scored a lot of runs. Nobody seems to want to drive him in very often.
Godwin will lead off and play center field tonight. The same hunch that told me about the possibility of another second baseman arriving also tells me that another outfielder could be added to the mix at some point in the near future. I guess we’ll have to see about that one. For now, the Wingnuts have started their roster overhaul, which might not be complete until the end of the week.
Obviously, the team is always looking to upgrade, but the bulk of the moves made in preparation for the second half will be executed on this homestand.
Box score — Fort Worth 3, Wingnuts 1 (10 innings)
This is not fun. Losing teams stink to write about.
I have nothing, really, left to say. When the second half comes and this team is different, I’ll have lots to say. I promise. Until then, it will probably just be more of the same.
Do you know what’s weird, though? The first half has eight more games left. The Wingnuts have three games on the road before coming back home for six. That’s nine games. That means the second half will start in the middle of a series. Does that seem strange to anyone but me?
I hear, because of where I sit every night and who’s in the press box with me, talk of a lot of potential moves the Wingnuts might make. I wish I could write about them, but everything is off the record. I don’t like that. It would be fun to report what I hear and what I know all the time, but if I do that they won’t talk to me anymore. Then I’ll have no access. So I have to play by their rules. It’s not like I’m covering a major league team and there are 40 other reporters with the team every day.
But I will tell everyone reading this — The Wingnuts are carrying 21 players right now, one short of the maximum allowed by the American Association. The Wingnuts are due for significant changes soon. That’s what I keep hearing. Now it seems as if it’s ready to happen. Still.
Up next: Wingnuts begin a three-game road series against St. Paul before returning home for a six-game homestand starting Monday.
Box score — Wingnuts 4, Fort Worth 1
The Wingnuts almost never score for Gabe Medina, and when they do, like in that game against Lincoln last month, the bullpen blows it. That was a 13-8 loss in which Medina allowed two runs, if memory serves me correctly. Maybe even one. Yes, I could look it up. So I will…he allowed two runs in seven innings. Mystery solved.
Tonight, though, Medina didn’t give the bullpen much of a chance to give up his victory. He pitched eight innings and handed the ball to Justin Dowdy for the ninth. Dowdy, the Wingnuts’ closer, is pretty much automatic, and he pitched a perfect ninth. That kept the ball out of the hands of some of Wichita’s less reliable relievers. And they know who they are.
I asked Medina after the game if the lack of run support has made him focus even more than he would normally. Since he’s pitching in so many low-scoring, close games, does he concentrate more than he would if he were leading, say, 8-1? His answer was no, but I’m not sure if it’s a sub-conscious thing. Medina knows that in close games like tonight’s every pitch has to be perfect. He can’t make a mistake or it could cost him the victory.
Medina struggled a little bit with his control tonight, and I think that could be why. He was too focused; trying to do too much because of the situation. Still, I think that can only make him a better pitcher. If a guy has a big lead handed to him every time out, he’s going to pitch a lot differently than he would in a tight game. That’s just a fact.
Medina obviously deserves better, with a 2.42 ERA, than to be 1-3. But like he told me tonight, the first win is always the toughest to get. It’s all downhill from here.
Anybody hit the Buble show tonight? How was it? Feel free to leave your reviews.
Up next: Fort Worth at Wingnuts, 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Starting pitchers: Fort Worth, LH Tim Bittner (2-5, 4.61 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Luke Massetti (2-3, 4.73)
Box score — Fort Worth 10, Wingnuts 4
Good news and bad news. First, the good news: The Wingnuts can absolutely not get any worse than they were tonight. Got it? OK, the bad news: The Wingnuts can absolutely not get any worse than they were tonight. As many poor games as the team has had so far, this had to be the low point. Nothing good really came out of it — three Wingnuts personnel got ejected (pitching coach Luke Robertson, bench coach Brian Rose and pitcher Cephas Howard) and the bullpen melted down in the ninth inning of a one-run game.
I’ll just let Wingnuts manager Kevin Hooper tell it. These are quotes exclusive to the blog, because early deadline tonight forced my game story to print right when the game ended.
“It got ugly really fast. But you know what, I’m absolutely embarrassed that that’s my team out there playing the way we did. I’m embarrassed, bottom line. I’m embarrassed. Can’t catch a ball, can’t field a ball, and it’s the same stuff over and over and over again. I’m getting tired of it. If I’ve got to change everybody out there, I’m going to change everybody out there. I’m not going to watch it.
“You know how I am and how I go about my business and how we (as a coaching staff) go about our business, and I’m embarrassed that’s my team that played that game tonight. Absolutely embarrassed. We had every opportunity in the world tonight to get to (Fort Worth starter Dwayne Pollok), too. And we had a day off yesterday and we want to come out here with no emotion. Tired of it. Tired of watching it.
“I can only talk to them…I mean, I’ve talked to them more times this year…I hate having meetings, too. That means we’re sucking, we’re doing something wrong, and I’m tired of talking to them. I’ve said everything I possibly can, and we all have. I said it again tonight. I don’t ask for very much. If you can’t play your tail off for me every out, every pitch for nine innings, get outta here. That’s all I ask. That’s not much to ask. It’s three hours a night, come on.
“The problem is, guys want to blame stuff. Now (controversial calls by the umpires) is going to overmatch what happened. Everybody is going to say, ‘Oh, these umpires…’ Baloney. If we take care of business before that, we’re not in that situation. Like I said, we’re going to make adjustments.”
Up next: Wingnuts vs. Fort Worth, 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Starting pitchers: Fort Worth, RH Jason Fernandez (1-3, 3.51); Wingnuts, RH Gabe Medina (0-3, 2.66).
Last season, a series between Fort Worth and the Wingnuts at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium would have drawn significant headlines because it appeared that the two teams would also meet in the American Association Championship Series. Fort Worth and Wichita were the two best teams in the league for much of last season, but they were beaten in their respective Division Series and Lincoln ended up beating Pensacola for the league championship.
One has to do a lot of imagining to put these two teams in the championship series this year. Not that it can’t or won’t happen, but both teams have a lot of work to do. The Wingnuts are 14-21 and Fort Worth is 15-20, and both are essentially playing out the string in the first half before they’ll attempt to regroup for the second half.
It’s especially strange to see Fort Worth in this position. Aside from St. Paul, the Cats are the league’s marquee team. They won the league title in 2006 and 2007 and have been in the hunt the last two seasons. Fort Worth is where Scott Boras sends his clients when they don’t sign with a team after being drafted into the majors, and the Cats have employed the likes of Zack Greinke, Max Scherzer and Aaron Crow over the last few years. The team has no such potential big-league superstar this year, though, and that could be why it’s struggling.
We thought we’d have a pair of familiar middle infielders visiting Wichita for this series, as former Wichita State player Nick McCoola and former Wingnut Brenan Herrera have spent a lot of time at shortstop and second base for the Cats. But that won’t materialize, because Herrera was released last week by the Cats. McCoola appears to be just barely holding onto his job, with a .239 batting average and eight RBIs in 117 at-bats.
Actually, .239 isn’t so horrible, relatively. The Cats are hitting just .257 as a team, last in the American Association. They don’t supplement the poor average by doing anything else well, either, as they’re last in runs and home runs, too. Not a lot going on for the Cats this season.
Remember the story I wrote on Michael Thompson and Stephen Pearson before the start of the season? They’re third-year Wingnuts, and Fort Worth has a similar duo in John Allen and Brian Fryer, who are both in their third full seasons with the Cats and fourth overall. Fryer has been a stalwart at the top of the order during most of his tenure with the Cats, but this year he’s batting just .281 with three extra-base hits in 139 at-bats. Allen is still chugging along, hitting .304 with four homers, 13 doubles and 31 RBIs.
Starting pitchers
Tuesday: Fort Worth, RH Dwayne Pollok (3-3, 3.48 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Adam Cowart (2-3, 3.86)
Wednesday: Fort Worth, RH Jason Fernandez (1-3, 3.51 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Gabe Medina (0-3, 2.66)
Thursday: Fort Worth, LH Tim Bittner (2-5, 4.61 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Luke Massett (2-3, 4.72)
Who’s Hot
Fort Worth: DH John Allen — leads team in average (.304), hits (41), doubles (13), home runs (4), RBIs (31) and slugging percentage (.489)
Wingnuts: OF Ryan Patterson — batting .398 (33 for 83) since June 2
Who’s Not
Fort Worth: IF Michael Bell (4 for 32 since 11-game hitting streak ended on June 12
Wingnuts: IF Tony Mansolino (5 hits in last 31 at-bats)
Key To Wingnuts Success
Pitch. The Fort Worth lineup can’t strike fear into any pitcher, with one .300 hitter and one player with more than one home run. The .300 hitter and multi-homer guy is the same guy — John Allen — so the Wingnuts can be careful with him while going after the rest of the Cats’ lineup. Fort Worth is third in the league in ERA (3.96), so it will be more of a challenge for the Wingnuts’ hitters than it will be for their pitchers. If the Wingnuts can win three games in fairly convincing fashion, that might give them the boost they need going into the second half. The Wingnuts almost don’t have anything to play for in the first half. Their elimination number is three, meaning any combination of Wichita losses and Sioux Falls wins will eliminate the Wingnuts from the first-half race. It’s all but guaranteed that will eventually happen, so now the Wingnuts are just playing to avoid the cellar and to gain some momentum for the final two months.
Box score — Sioux City 5, Wingnuts 3
This day turned pretty quickly and pretty poorly for the Wingnuts. It was moving along at a nice pace, Nick Singleton was cruising and, even though the hitters were by no means hot, they were doing enough to hold a lead that Singleton ususally protects.
Then, bam, this season happened. A microcosm of it, anyway, in the final three innings. The Wingnuts blew their 2-0 lead and lost 5-3 despite strong performances by Ryan Patterson and Singleton. But open up the paper tomorrow and read about how even they contributed to the defeat. Baseball is a rough game.
Not really sure what to write about this team anymore. It’s been the same story for a while. I’m just waiting for new things, and possibly new people, to write about. And looking forward to that. Individually, this team looks good. There’s nothing really wrong with it. Somehow, it has become far less than the sum of its parts. I don’t really know how or why that happens, but it has definitely happened. The Wingnuts, on June 20, 2010, just don’t have it.
There’s still plenty of time for that to change.
Up next: Wingnuts host a three-game series with Fort Worth starting Tuesday, 7:05 p.m., at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Starting pitchers TBA.
As first reported by yours truly on Twitter, Chris Colton was sent to Joliet (Ill.) of the Northern League to complete an earlier trade in which the Wingnuts received pitcher Sean Teague. Well, I don’t know if that completed the trade or not, because now Joliet owes the Wingnuts a player. It’s all very confusing.
I ran into Colton outside of the stadium after last night’s game and after he’d been told by Wingnuts manager Kevin Hooper and the coaching staff that he’d no longer be with the team. When the possibility of a roster move with Colton first arose a few days ago, I guessed he would be released to make room for another player. That left me wondering if Colton would just retire and focus on his business in Georgia, in which he offers athletic instruction.
But Colton was excited about the new opportunity. He’ll be playing for the same manager, Chad Parker, that he played for last season with Windy City of the Frontier League. I asked Colton how long he was planning on continuing to play and he said, “I guess until the wheels fall off.”
Colton also said the coaching staff and the players were sad to see him go, which I can understand. He has a unique presence in the clubhouse as a guy who will joke around but also takes his profession seriously. Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes Colton was just a little bit too loose. Still, that doesn’t detract from the type of guy he is, and I haven’t run into anyone who doesn’t like him.
As a veteran making a significant amount of money in relation to the rest of the roster, Colton needed to produce more to keep his job. He is one of the best defensive outfielders in professional baseball, but he wasn’t quite getting it done at the plate. Most glaring were his .200 batting average with runners in scoring position and his .133 average with runners in scoring position and two outs. Guys getting paid the relative big bucks have to earn their money, and Colton was falling short.
As we parted, I told Colton good luck and he stood up and said, “I enjoyed the reports in the paper and if it’s God’s will we’ll meet again.” Classy. I extended my hand, but he said, “No handshakes” and gave me a hug instead. Add me to the list of people who will miss Colton. He was always fun to talk to and always had high energy.
As for what the Wingnuts will do with the open roster spot, it appears they’ll play a man short for a little while. There was talk of bringing in former Wichita State outfielder Ryan Jones, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Wichita will bring in a player in the next few days but is waiting for some paperwork issues to be resolved first. I’m not sure if I’ve been given clearance to say who it is by the team, so I’ll play it safe for now.
The Wingnuts are making a lot of moves this year. Well, a lot compared to last year, but not that many compared to 2008. There’s something to be said for allowing players to work through their struggles, but Hooper is impatient when it comes to losing, and especially impatient when it comes to a lack of effort. Not that anyone in particular is showing a lack of effort, but that’s one thing that will get a player a ticket out of Wichita. I think the moves that are being discussed will help the Wingnuts improve, though. As I said last night, stay tuned.
Box score — Wingnuts 8, Sioux City 0
This is about as good of a game as the Wingnuts have played all season — in fact, I can’t remember a better one, except I think Nick Singleton has been the starting pitcher in some dominant efforts by the Wingnuts this year.
Still, a shutout that comes attached to a strong night at the plate. Can’t really ask for much more than that. It’s one of those games that indicates that the Wingnuts probably aren’t doomed for the entire season.
In fact…on that note, the rest of the season might be about to get a little more interesting. Stay tuned.
Mario Delgado got into one tonight, crushing a homer off the batter’s eye in center field. Way high off the batter’s eye in center field. A no-doubt home run.
It’s no great discovery of baseball’s deep, dark secrets to point out that when the cleanup hitter is hitting home runs and doubles that a team is going to perform much better. But I think Delgado is even more important to his team (the Wingnuts, if you haven’t been paying attention) than many other cleanup hitters.
The Wingnuts don’t have a lot of power. So when Delgado is smacking extra-base hits, that takes a ton of pressure off the rest of the lineup, and the other hitters can stick with their approach and know that if they get on base ahead of Delgado, they’re likely to be driven in.
Delgado loves that type of pressure, except it’s not really pressure to him. I don’t think he really thinks much at the plate. He’s not up there to take pitches or work the count or foul off a ton of pitches and be a pest and be a really tough out. He’s up there to swing. And hit. And sometimes hit the ball a really long way.
OK, I’ve dedicated approximately 3,000 words to the Wingnuts this season. Typed words, anyway. And many other spoken words about them. I learned in a sociology class that men only use 12,000 words per day (compared to 20,000 for women), so I probably don’t have many left. I’m signing off until tomorrow. See you all then.
Up next: Sioux City at Wingnuts, 5:05 p.m. Sunday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Starting pitchers: Sioux City, RH Mikael Ryder (2-4, 4.00 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Nick Singleton (4-2, 1.69).