By Hamish Campbell
The Edinburgh News
2029-04-23
The Week In Review
The Claymores showed signs of life last week, going 4-1 to claw above .500 for the first time this season. Scotland split a two-game series with London, then swept their three-game series against Kentucky. Both series were played at Scotland’s newly refurbished home stadium, The Castle.
Top Batter
Teruo Nagai, CF: .400/.471/.667, 15 AB, 2 3B, 2 SB, 0.7 WAR
Top Pitcher
Roger Keller, SP: 1-0, 5.0 IP, 1 R, 6 HA, 6 K’s, 0 BB, 0.3 WAR
Top Game
Three Claymores pitchers combined for a 2-hit shutout against Kentucky on April 21 at The Castle. Clark Snowstarted and pitched his best game of the season so far, throwing 5.1 hitless innings with 4 K’s and 1 walk. He exited early, though, complaining of soreness in his pitching elbow, and is listed as day-to-day by the Scottish medical staff. Orlando Moya relieved Snow in the 6th, throwing 2.2 innings and allowing just one hit. Ken Fisher came in to pitch the 9th and nail down his 5th save of the year. RF Pat Barry showed some welcome signs of life, crushing a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 2nd inning, providing Scotland with what would prove to be all the offense they would need.
News and Notes
Scottish attendance is up 12.9 percent, so far, as Edinburgh fans respond to the Claymores’ on-field success last year and the off-season renovations and expansion of The Castle. The Claymores added 5,000 seats, bringing the ballpark’s seating capacity to 40,000. Scotland currently is averaging 37,843 fans per game… The Claymores finally put their run differential on the positive side of the ledger last week. Scotland has scored 75 runs and allowed 71, for a RD of +4 … Scotland added some infield help on April 17, claiming SS Kenny Morrison on waivers from Hartford. With Naomi Honma showing a propensity for nagging injuries, Scottish brass thought it prudent to add a backup with more experience than Miguel Ibarra, who was optioned to AAA Aberdeen where he can get more playing time.
IL Trans Atlantic Division Standings
As of the morning of April 23, 2029
|Team|Wins|Losses|Win%|GB|RD|
|Havanna|9|7|.562|-|+23|
|Scotland|9|8|.529|0.5|+4|
|London|9|8|.529|0.5|+9|
|San Juan|9|9|.500|1.0|-11|
|Amsterdam|8|9|.471|1.5|-11|
Fresh From the Farm
The Aberdeen Golden Sands struggled to a 2-4 record last week, although they remain in first place in the AML Europe and Islands Division by 0.5 games over Camaguey. Aberdeen is 10-9 on the season … RP Ángelo Gonzáles, who did not make the team out of Spring Training, has been trying to prove Scottish GM Vic Caleca wrong. As the closer so far this season, Gonzáles has converted 5 of 5 save opportunities and compiled a 1.23 ERA with a 1.35 FIP and a 5.00 K/BB rate … Like their AAA counterparts, AA Inverness also went 2-4 last week. The Highlanders are 8-12 on the season now, in 5th place in the ATAL Euro-Caribbean Division … SP Edward Moore is off to a promising start for Inverness, with a 2-2 record and 1.23 ERA. He shows a concerning lack of control, though, averaging 4.8 walks per 9 innings … Govan stumbled rather badly out of the gate, going 1-6 in A play … The culprit isn’t exactly hard to find: the Shipbuilders put up a .196 team BA and .290 OBP.
