Camp: Day 4

This felt more like spring training. It was hot, the fielding was sloppy and the pitching was erratic. The Barnstormers lost to the York Revolution 16-8 in the second exhibition game played at Mickey Cochrane Field.

Some of the Barnstormers’ perceived warts were evident today. Although I only marked them down for one error, there were a couple of plays they could have made to help out the pitchers. The overall depth of the pitching staff also remains a concern.

The score was 14-8 after three innings before either the hitters got tired or sanity simply decided to prevail.

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The recap …

Scoring summary …

Revolution	626	000	101	16
Barnstormers	323	000	000	8

Revs 1st: Matt Padgett’s single scores Keoni De Renne. Matt Dryer’s single scores Matt Esquivel. Kenny Perez’s grand slam scores Padgett, Dryer and Jason Aspito.
Revolution leads 6-0.

Stormers 1st: Jason Perry’s home run scores Brian Stavisky and Matt LeCroy.
Revolution leads 6-3.

Revs 2nd: De Renne’s single scores Sandy Aracena and Kaz Tanaka.
Revolution leads 8-3.

Stormers 2nd: John Nelson’s double scores Vasili Spanos and Ian Bladergroen.
Revolution leads 8-5.

Revs 3rd: Tanaka’s single scores Perez and Dryer. Travis Ezi’s triple scores Aracena and Tanaka. De Renne’s single scores Ezi. Esquivel’s double scores De Renne.
Revolution leads 14-5.

Stormers 3rd: Jutt Hileman’s home run scores LeCroy and Perry.
Revolution leads 14-8.

Revs 7th: Esquivel’s single scores Ezi.
Revolution leads 15-8.

Revs 9th: Taveras scores on LeCroy’s throwing error.
Revolution leads 16-8.

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Box score:

Player	AB	R	H	BI
Mike Woods, 2B	4	0	0	0
Lance Burkhart, C	2	0	0	0
sub-Manny Mejia, C	2	0	0	0
Brian Stavisky, LF	4	1	2	0
Matt LeCroy, 1B	3	2	2	0
Jason Perry, RF	4	2	2	3
Dominick Ambrosini, DH-LF	4	0	0	0
Jutt Hileman, CF	4	1	1	3
Vasili Spanos, 3B	4	1	2	0
Ian Bladergroen, DH-1B	3	1	1	0
John Nelson, SS	4	0	1	2
Lloyd Turner, UT	2	0	2	0
Totals	40	8	13	8

Offensive highlights:

*Perry launched a monster home run to right field. It would have been interesting to see where that ball might have landed at the Clip. Most likely on the access road behind the stadium. Perry is going to be a real force batting behind LeCroy.

*Hileman had a strange day. He struck out three times and belted a three-run homer. It was a line-drive shot to left-center.

“It’s always good to hit one solid,” Hileman said with a smile. “For me, the first couple of days I like to see as many pitches as I can. You’re only going to get 15 or 20 at-bats at the most, so I like to see 50 or 60 pitches. It helps me out that way.”

*Turner will be a real asset off the bench. He already has four hits this spring and three of them are a product of his speed. He looks good playing defense at second base when subbing for Woods.

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Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Derek Forbes	1.2	7	10	10	4	0
Tim McClaskey	3.2	5	4	4	0	3
Mike Nannini	3	3	2	1	1	3

The pitching:

*Forbes’ comeback is off to a rocky start. He was hit hard. He faced 21 batters, retired just five of them and some of the outs were line drives. If you’re wondering why the pitchers’ innings don’t add up to nine, it’s because Forbes never got out of the first. He allowed six runs and retired one batter before the managers ended the frame because of his pitch count.

The radar gun clocked Forbes’ fastball at 87 and it didn’t have much movement. He hit 90 in the offseason tryout. Manager Von Hayes chalked up Forbes’ problems to nerves and rustiness.

“It’s kind of to be expected,” Hayes said. “He missed all of last year. He probably had a lot of nervous energy. We look for him to do a lot better job next time.”

*McClaskey started slowly and finished strong. He allowed his first five hitters to reach before retiring 11 of the next 13. There are no worries about the veteran. He should be a rock in the middle of the rotation.

*Nannini also fared well. He was hitting 87 with his fastball. The righthander had good command, issued only walk and allowed just one earned run.

“We had three guys out there. Two of them pitched very well and one of them struggled a little bit,” Hayes said. “Right now, of the five starters we’ve thrown out there, one guy had a tough outing.”

*Hayes seemed to think the defense was the real issue. If the Barnstormers had fielded a couple of ground balls cleanly, they could have limited the damage. Instead, they forced their pitchers to work extra hard and no one is in optimum shape at this point.

“Our pitchers are a little rusty,” Hayes said. “They only have so many pitches to work with. When guys are making errors behind them and not making plays they need to be making, it really hurts them.”

*It’s interesting to note that Spanos took extra infield practice after the game, which lasted close to three hours in 90-degree heat. It’s always good to see that kind of dedication. Hayes said the team will focus on defense more before camp ends.

“We need to field the ball,” he said. “A couple of the big innings they had were routine plays that have to be made at this level. That is something we’re going to address (Saturday). We’re going to get out here and make sure the guys field the groundballs and get it right.”

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York observations:

The Revs’ lineup is more formidable than I expected. If Dryer stays healthy, they have a strong core with Esquivel, Padgett and Aspito. The pitching staff is loaded with ex-big leaguers. That should be a pretty good club.

We’ve talked a lot about the Barnstormers’ improvement, but the rest of the league has gotten better as well.

“A lot of the guys who are down here this year say the same thing: Their team looks real good,” Hileman said. “It has always been a good league, but it should be better than it has been.”