A fascinating game - but we lost

Tonight's opener of a four game series against the Rainiers had some highlights. It certainly wasn't the Rivercats hitting - we had 5, they had 11. Tom Everidge, the Cats new first baseman, did not break into a hit yet. Everidge who had a hot bat in Stockton and MIdland has gotten into a significant slump. His first couple of games have also been marked by a couple of errors. That sometimes happens when a player moves a division. But he scored a spectacular double play - where he caught two runners at first - one coming from home and one who had anticipated something at second and was trying to get back.

Travis Buck hit an odd home run which bounced off the wire fence above center field. Evidently the mesh fencing is there to keep the fans out, not to raise the difficulty in hitting homers. Before tonight's game we were 26-1 on games where we are ahead going into the seventh. We scored one in the first, two in the fourth and one in the sixth - but they came back from a three run deficit with three in the eighth and two in the ninth. At 36 and 24 we are still the best in the league but to paraphrase Satchell Paige - the Fresno Grizzlies are catching up on us - only two games behind.