Juan Dominguez and the Rivercats

Last night the Rivercats opened a series against the Tacoma Raniers. The game was a boring one. Juan Dominguez was the opening pitcher. He was picked up in the off season on a hunch. Dominguez has some good skills but seems to lack discpline - if he can mature a bit - he would be a good pitcher. This was an easy decision for the As because they have a lot of pitchers and if he does well they get one more - if he doesn't they still have a lot of depth. But the hype around him is he lack both control on the mound and control outside the park. Last night the control question came up several times. The home plate up was diminutive (he could barely see over the catcher) and he made several bad calls (he had an erratic strike zone). But Dominguez seemed to have gotten agitated several times. At the same time - his pitching accuracy was not in the zone.
The first couple of starts for him are not promising.

The batting was not up to recent standards either - the Cats filled the bases twice late in the game without producing a run. The 7-1 result - which brings us to 7-5 was not even reflective of the lack of focus that the team had. The Raniers have been a problem for the Cats for the last couple of years - I am not sure what their overall record is but in key places the Tacoma franchise has done pretty well.

About the only bright spot was Ron Flores who pitched one inning- after the game was lost and did a 1-2-3. Oh, and then there was the weather - it is starting to get away from the early April cold games where you need a couple of layers of clothes - and that is always a plus. Last night a couple in our section had a Merlino's Freeze - which is usually reserved for a bit later in the season.