Rivercats Openers

The Rivercats opened on Friday night against what had been the red hot Las Vegas 51s. They won opening night 4-3. One of the highlights was seeing the newly christened Santiago Casilla. Santiago played last year under an assumed name (Jairo Garcia). But this year the Dominican has taken back his real name. There was some convoluted story about why he took the name of a friend. (but not worth retelling). Santiago was up to the majors and got traded only to be traded back and then brought back to the Cats. Last year he had an amazing fast ball but no control. On Friday he got two strike outs and a walk but his accuracy is still in doubt.

I was disappointed a bit to see two of last year's stars back in the lineup - not because I do not like them but because they deserve to go to the next level. Matt Watson and Ron Flores (a good all around player and a great reliever) were sent up at the end of the season only to come back down. They should be in the show. Friday night Ron had one innning with one hit and two strike outs. Matt is batting over .300.

On Saturday night they won 17-4 - it was a fun game. Early in the season, on both home games and on the road trip where they started out a little bumpy - they showed a lot of spirit. The game started out with the 51s getting a three run lead - only to have the cats come right back and tie it up. They then began to pile it on. In the fifth and seventh they added five runs each. At that point the game was not in doubt. Opening night saw almost 14,000 fans, Saturday saw only about 10,000. The Cats are batting .306 but they show a lot more heart than last year's team.