Slumping toward the end of the season

The two strongest teams in the PCL this season have been the Nashville Sounds (82-53) and the Rivercats (76-59). But in the last eleven games that has not been true. The Cats have lost 8 of their last 11. The last time they put together back to back wins was in mid-August. (10-14)

Colby Lewis came into the game tonight as one of the Cat's strongest pitchers. But for a good part of the game he threw more balls than strikes. Hitting was a lot better than last night although not a great deal more productive. Jorge Piedra (for some reason he is called George - I understand the translation just do not understand why he would spell his name in Spanish and want to be called it in English). He is our best hitter at this point with enough at bats to make it count. We had 12 hits tonight.

Near the end of the season there is a lot of moving around both up and down. So we learned today that Brian Stavitsky got moved to Stockton. And we have two new players up ( Robnett and Cornejo) from Midland. So the end of the season is based in part on luck and in part on talent.

For the last couple of nights our lead catcher has had a tough time. One member of our section has been grumping. Jeremy Brown, for a couple of games, would either strike out or hit a pop fly. Last night he got caught in between bases. Tonight, he was waved in by Tony D, only to be caught at home plate. Jeremy is not what you would call fast. Some of the fans refer to him as either speed racer or the rocket. But tonight he had a pretty good night, until he was waved in to home.

The only saving grace at this point is Tucson who has lost their last two games. Our magic number falls to 6 with nine games left. The most depressing thing about this series is that we came into it with an outstanding record against Fresno. The last series in Fresno we swept. But in this one the best we can come out to is 2-5, if we win tomorrow.

Colorado Springs comes in on Monday night for our last four home games. If the Cats win the Southern Division it is likely that they will face Salt Lake - that is especially true if they do well in the last home stand. If they win that series they will go on to play Nashville (although don't underestimate Albuquerque) or Oklahoma (which seem inclined to decide their division on the last day of the season).