By Hamish Campbell
Claymores Beat Writer
The Edinburgh News
Death by a thousand cuts. Or, in this case, by losing week after losing week – none of them catastrophic, but each a small measure of disappointment.
Take the week of April 22-28, for example: a 3-4 week by Scotland against New Orleans, Florida and Kentucky. Not horrible on its own – these are good teams, after all – but added to a 3-3 week to start the season, followed by weeks of 2-4 and 2-3 … well, you can start to see the problem. Each week is more ground lost to .500, that much further away from a winning record.
Scotland's power outage continued through the 2-game New Orleans series that began the week: the Claymores dropped both games, scoring a total of just 1 run. Trendsetters starters Ed Curtis and Jorge Medina shut down the Claymores lineup with brutal efficiency: Curtis went 8.0 innings, allowing 5 hits and 1 run, while Medina pitched 8.0 innings, allowing 5 hits and 0 runs.
The Claymores then split a short series at Florida, and the lineup finally came alive in the second game as Scotland beat the Featherheads 11-4 on April 25. RF Pat Barry helped pace the offense, going 3-5 with 2 doubles, a home run, 2 runs scored and 4 RBIs. SS Naomi Honma also had a strong game, going 4-6 with a homer, 2 runs and an RBI.
Carlos Pérez provided the highlight of the 3-game series at Kentucky, by shutting out the Thoroughbreds 6-0 on April 26. Pérez went the full 9 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks and 0 runs. His PQS score: 4. Catcher Yasunari Fujihara provided the key offensive blow: a 3-run homer in the 4th inning.
The Week’s Scores:
At Scotland
04/22: New Orleans 4, Scottish 1
04/23: New Orleans 5, Scottish 0
At Florida
04/24: Florida 8, Scottish 5
04/25: Scottish 11, Florida 4
At Kentucky
04/26: Scottish 6, Kentucky 0
04/27: Scottish 5, Kentucky 4
04/28: Kentucky 3, Scottish 2
Who’s Hot This Week …
José Escobido, 2B: .476/.522/.667; 1.188 OPS, 2 R, 3 RBIs in 21 AB
Pat Barry, OF: .296/.367/.667; 1.033 OPS, 2 HRs, 5 R, 7 RBIs in 27 AB
Carlos Pérez, SP: 0.00 ERA, 1-0, 0 R, 4 H, 2 BBs, 5 Ks in 9.0 IP
… And Who’s Not
Miguel Ibarra, IF: .000/.000/.000; .000 OPS, 0 R, 0 RBIs in 14 AB
Sadakuno Nakagawa, RP: 27.00 ERA, 0-0, 4 R, 5 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks in 1.3 IP