perhaps, the end of the beginning.

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Leones
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perhaps, the end of the beginning.

#1 Post by Leones »

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For Havana, the month of May had been a roller coaster ride alone the tracks of inconsistency.

The 2028 Wunderkind, RF Claudio 'Matchbox' Hernandez was hitting .300 but had only 2 HRs. Buddy can I get a light?

2B Dave Hurley posted a paltry .195 with 2 RBIs. Senior moments.

SS 'Ogre' Mateo bested him with an other-worldy .211 and 5 RBI. Ugly.

1B Ira Murdoch? .237 AVG 9 hits 10 K. Even NFL Saints fans found that discouraging.

CF Maxime Plamodon hit .163 with 11 Ks vs 7 hits.

These offensive gaffs were making themselves apparent in the pitching numbers too. Juan Lopez went 0-2 and Jonathan Sherwin 1-2. Corey Robinson's 4.00 WHIP wasn't helping matters.

Going into a 20 game stretch of divisional match-ups, the Leones were not feeling optimistic. Nor should they have been. The Scottish had eeked ahead in the division standings and the [ur=http://pebabaseball.com/reports/news/ht ... _162.htmll]Cocqui[/url] were right behnd the Leones. The stretch included 4 games against the Scottish and no chances against the Cocqui. Fans were hoping for a split against Scottish as a best case scenario and to keep pace with the leaping Cocqui.

The club was desperate to find last year's rhythm. The club went all in on the Bill Jones experience. LF Mike Hale was designated for assignment. His .200 AVG and .267 SLG wasn't cutting it. It was up to the green Jones to ensure his fielding inexperience didn't overshadow his bat, once he'd found it. He was hitting .237 AVG / 3 HR / 5 RBI going in.

2B Pedro Rodruiguez was called up to back fill a shaky infield. A handful of minor pitching changes. mostly in the pen, were made. Bags were packed. The club set off on a 20 game odyssey hoping to avoid the sirens of failure luring them to the rocks.

Then the switch went on. Havana marched through the division posting a 17-3 record over the stretch including a 5-1 record against the Claymores. The cub breathed a collective sigh of relief. Disaster had been avoided. They'd built a good cushion in the division but definitely not a lead to rest one's laurels on. The oxen are slow and the earth is patient.

The numbers are in remarkable contrast.

2B Dave Hurley posted a .273 AVG with, again, 2 RBIs, but did manage 8 BB to 4 K

'Ogre' did double damage putting up a .316 / 12 SB line.

Ira Murdoch still flailing like and old Dutch windmill put up 22 K but managed to match it with 22 H including 7 HR and 12 RBI

CF Maxime Plamodon of the .163 / 11 K / 7 H, pre-stretch, went .317 AVG / 12 K / 26 H with 3 HR and 12 RBI.

LF Mike Hale rejoined the club mid-un to post .304 / 7 RBI / 3 SB but even that wasn't good enough to overshadow the Bill Jones experience. Bill found his bat and put up .392 / 2 HR / 7 RBI including a table setting double on May 30th against the Scottish that gave the team a very valuable win and morale boost.

RP Corey Robinson turned his 4.00 WHIP into a admirable 0.84 over 8.3 IP. Sherwin still struggled a bit but this was offset by the collective 1.00 WHIP and 177 K / .214 OAVG of the pitching staff.

Up next a long stretch outside of the division against IL clubs capped with 3 game away series against San Juan, then 4 games in Arlington before returning home to face San Juan again for a second 3 game set. It's a long ways from being over.
Patrick Hildreth
- La leña roja tarde pero llega

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