Who now?

[Reg]

By Jonas McPhee
for American Baseball Perspective

10/10/08 - If you were going to name the difference makers in the hard fought series between New Orleans and Arlington several names would come to mind. Pitching staffs of course and then to offensive stars. While it may be true that New Orleans has the bigger names on offensive, anyone familar with Arlington would have no trouble naming who should be the difference makers on offense. And they would all undoubtedly be wrong. Rather than being beaten by Arlington's middle of the lineup hitters(Lopez, Nijenboer, Bunch) the Trendsetters have suffered an assualt for the number 2 hitter and number 6 hitter. The double play duo of Souza and Franks have accounted for 9 of the 11 RBIs picked up by Arlington this series. You might want to reread that, but the fact is that Bunch has yet to collect a hit, and Lopez and Nijenboer are batting well under .200 over the first four games of the series. Regardless of what transpires tonight the Arlington faithful will always have a special regard for the Souza/Franks playoffs performance. Rumor has it that Tanner was even contemplating sending Davis out to keep Souza off the field. (Souza only starts against righties, oddly enough). Still it will be interesting to see exactly who will show up for each team tonight, but regardless someone will be a hero..and someone else will be a goat.

[DanD]

I think everyone was a goat on my team, Bender especially. Bunch is a bum, therefore his option is not being picked up. I think if Mario Hernandez would have been healthy it would have been a different story. Also, C Ronnie Johnstone was an unexpected offensive success.