 |
Zack Parker 6-1, 2.49 ERA |
| Eric DuBose 5-8, 6.19 |
|---|
It’s here. The beginning of the Von Hayes Era, the start of a new year, a season with endless possibilities. The Barnstormers take the first step toward what they hope will be a revitalization against the Bridgeport Bluefish tonight.
There are so many storylines to follow. Will Matt LeCroy and Brian Stavisky dramatically improve the lineup? Is the starting rotation deep enough? Will the bullpen succeed without Sendy Rleal and Jose Cabrera? We finally start to get some answers.
Parker assumes his new role of staff ace. He joined the Barnstormers in August and posted stellar numbers. The team is counting on him to continue that success and lead the rotation. He takes on a lineup that will include Jesse Hoorelbeke, last year’s Atlantic League MVP.
DuBose split time in Triple-A and Double-A with the Indians and Rockies last season. He pitched in 52 big-league games with the Orioles.
Pitching matchups for the rest of the series …
-
SATURDAY: Tim McClaskey vs. Tim Drew
SUNDAY: Eric Ackerman vs. Rafael Bergstrom
Game threads are back. Play ball.
Links:
* AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com has its season preview.
* Somerset Patriots beat writer Ryan Dunleavy makes his predictions.
* Dawes has launched his Stormers fan blog.
* The Intell’s Burt Wilson previews opening day.
Lineups …
(0-0) |
(0-0) |
|---|---|
| Adam Greenberg, CF | Mike Woods, LF |
| Brandon Florence, LF | Danny Gonzalez, 2B |
| Brian Peterson, C | Brian Stavisky, RF |
| Jesse Hoorelbeke, 3B | Matt LeCroy, DH |
| Ryan Bear, DH | Lance Burkhart, C |
| Luis Lopez, 2B | Ian Bladergroen, 1B |
| Bobby Darula, RF | Vasili Spanos, 3B |
| Alex Prieto, SS | Jutt Hileman, CF |
| Jake Daubert, 1B | John Nelson, SS |
Scoring summary …
| Bluefish | 020 | 000 | 000 | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| Barnstormers | 011 | 000 | 08x | 10 | 11 | 0 |
FINAL: Barnstormers 10, Bluefish 2
Bluefish 2nd: Daubert’s fielder’s choice scores Lopez. Florence’s fielder’s choice scores Darula. Bridgeport leads 2-0.
Stormers 2nd: Bladergroen hits solo home run.
Bridgeport leads 2-1.
Stormers 3rd: Stavisky’s single scores Woods.
Game tied at 2.
Stormers 8th: Bladergroen’s double scores LeCroy and Burkhart. Hileman’s single scores Bladergroen. Nelson’s fielder’s choice scores Spanos. Woods’ triple scores Nelson. Woods scores on passed ball. Stavisky’s home run scores Gonzalez. Lancaster leads 10-2.
RECORD: 1-0
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ian Bladergroen
2-for-3 with a solo homer and go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning
Bladergroen’s home run came off a former big-league lefty. It was a line shot into the picnic area – a double most places, a homer at the Clip. The former Road Warrior looks right at home in Lancaster.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Bladergroen said. “The fans were intense with the opening ceremonies. It was great. I’m not going to lie. I had butterflies going the first couple of innings.”
The pitchers …
*Zack Parker turned in a solid first start. He struggled a little with his control early, allowing two runs in the second inning, before cruising. The lefty retired 11 of the final 14 batters he faced. His line …
| 6 IP | 7 H | 2 ER | 2 R | 2 BB | 2 K |
“He got in trouble there early,” Hayes said. “A couple of pitches didn’t go his way. But he kept his composure. I’ve got to hand it to him. He didn’t get too flustered and made some pitches when he had to.”
*Ryan Cullen threw two scoreless innings of relief. He struck out the side in the seventh. Von Hayes said Cullen may be used as a closer at times, but the lefty was brought into a tie game earlier and he kept it there. He’s going to be a weapon out of the pen.
*Judd Songster worked a scoreless ninth.
The hitters …
*Brian Stavisky could have just as easily earned POG honors. He collected three hits, drove in three runs and launched a two-run homer over the second tier of billboards in right-center. Stavisky will be special in this league for as long as he stays here.
“He’s a good hitter when he stays up the middle,” Hayes said. “He’s a line to line guy who will occasionally turn on a ball. He’s really not a home run hitter. He’s a good line-drive hitter with power.”
*Mike Woods did his job as the leadoff man. He reached safely four times, tripled, stole a base and scored two runs.
*Vasili Spanos played excellent defense at 3B.
*Prior to the start of the season we talked about the high on-base percentages in this lineup. That translates into good at-bats. The Barnstormers coaxed six walks and forced Bridgeport to throw a lot of pitches. Starter Eric DuBose only lasted four innings.
*Attendance was 8,485. A new Atlantic League record.
*The Barnstormers are 4-0 all-time in season openers.
WOO HOO!!!
With all of this reading to do today, who has time for work.
Is there going to be “live” games online again this year?
Work? what are you talkin’ about? It’s Friday…AND…opening day!
I’ll do live scoring updates from the home games since I’ll be there anyway. I’ll do some road games when I’m listening to Dave Collins’ broadcast from my porch. I’m not traveling with the team.
Are all ‘Stormers games going to be broadcast on 1490?
I suppose there is a schedule somewhere that I should’ve tried to google.
I guess I prefer this “personal interaction” instead.
Sitting on your porch wondering if you build it will they come?
(I’m referring to an alien landing pad and not a ball field).
Cool, I can’t wait to offer my cyber support muahahahaha!
djs …. I am usually a regular with lawn seats behind the left field. The code word is “Do You Blog?” (at least that’s what Syd told me last year). Looking forward to meeting you! I’ll be there tonight but in a regular seat.
7 1/2 hours until game time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
djs ….. All games are on 1490am (You will have to listen to the Phillies on 1210am)
Just make sure that if you go to a rest area off a highway, and you see a guy sitting in a car reading a magazine by himself, don’t go up to him and ask him “do you blog?”. He might think you mean something else.
Actually, I’m usually listening to the Cleveland Indians on the internet (I’m originally from Ohio).
I’m sure I’ll figure something out.
But I’m not sure what Mrs. djspleen1 will do when/if she hears two baseball games at the same time.
For Saturday’s game I’ll just get a big ol’ “DO YOU BLOG” sign, w/ a big ol’ picture of Jason’s head on it and I’ll see what kind of crowd I can attract.
Thanks Barney
HA! I’ll keep that in mind, mr. s.
I’ll try to be selective in my use of the phrase.
“Mr. S” hmmmm, my real last name begins with an ‘S’.
Crap, someones on to me!
If this is the Kerrigan Brothers, I promise I’ll have your money by Monday!
Well, I didn’t want to say “Mr. BS”
Here’s a blast from the past:
Andy Zwirchitz is on SoMd’s roster.
Also:
Ashmore picked York to win the championship. Go over there and yell at him.
I’m excited to check out SoMd’s stadium and surrounding area.
They introduced there mascot last week. His name in “Pinch”. He looks like a demented Fragle or maybe even what Downtown and Cylos kid would look like if those two mated (seriously picture it).
They should of gone with more of a crab looking mascot in my opinion. But I guess a scary crab with big claws may not be too kid friendly.
Ya gotta admit, “Crustacean Nation” is a pretty good slogan.
I think “Crustacean Nation” sounds kind of gross actually.
well, at least it rhymes, I guess
I love the Crustacean nation… It sounds neat… with melted butter !!!!
tminus 5:45:00 and counting …..
My friend was wondering how a long blogger needs to be here before I, I mean HE….can get an avatar?
He’s a curious sort, that friend of mine.
grr…my friend can’t type (or proofread, evidently)
“how long a blogger needs to be here”
dumb friends
Hey everyone. Von Hayes trying to build a defensive team but does he know how tough our score keeper is for the Barnstormers. I think even if with the rough scoring we will have a great team. A kidding aside this gentleman does a good job.
GO STORMERS!!!
See ya all tonight. I guess we should say under the BIG TOP.
Unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict I can’t be at the game tonight! I hope you all have a great time though.
I feel your pain, UBF…same thing happened to me too.
Besides the picnic area and about 10 tickets, every seat is sold, ikncluding 1700 lawn seats
I was in the ticket office to exchange a couple of tickets and they said they still had some “picnic are’ seats. If anyone needs a ticket….
Looks like the other predictions are for us to finish near the bottom of the division. We will have to prove them wrong.
Zwirchitz is serving as the “assistant pitching coach” and is inactive.
And the Blue Crabs are currently making me look like an idiot, playing quite well. I’m sure I won’t hear any crap about that.
Great to see Bladergroen getting off to a good start. Hopefully it’s the start of a great season for him and the Stormers.
Nice job, fellas.
Hopefully there’s more offense left for tomorrow night!
See ya in the lawn!
Heck of a start. Sure hope Stavisky is here longer than Monday…lol…and BTW…Perry who????
Am I wrong or did Gonzalez look a little lackadaisical on defense in the first 2 innings????? And as he half jogged to first on that short fly to left field in the late inning??
I really did like the hustle and determination of Spanos at third. He got the message that he should play at 100% the whole game. Nice job at third and at bat.
Am I wrong or should we switch Nelson and Gonzalez to second and short?? It didnt look like Nelson has the arm that Gonzalez does.
And Savitsky took out the shortstop on that play in the eighth inning on LeCroy’s grounder that kept us at only one out and helped that eighth inning rally run deep through the order. The little plays do make a difference I am sure Von Hayes is telling his players tonight.
It wasn’t you, I could have smacked Gonzalez. It looked like everyone else was kind of covering for him the rest of the game. Hope he was buddies with Ambrosini. Otherwise, great game! Especially for Mike Woods. If he doesn’t get hurt again this year, it could be an awesome year for him.
Correction…Stavisky didnt take out the shortstop but delay the shortstop from making the throw to throw out LeCroy, allowing Matt to reach first base. Then the inning really started.
Brian Savitsky looked a little rough early on in right field, but he did make a nice recovery to get that man at second in the second inning.
A coaching faux-pas not putting a pinch runner in for LeCroy
Anyone on the bench could have scored.
Fortunately it all play out or that would have been Mr. Von Hayes first blunder
Still a great start an the team looks improved.
Comments on the “entertainment”
I thought the Fun Patrol was energized with Jeff at the helm. It was good to see him back.
I thought the Turkey Hill chugging contest was interesting. I thought that it was good that Jack Daniels wasnt made here though.
And we are one step away from being Revolution fans if the “Frosty” cheer catches on. Ha ha
Hayes actually pointed out that mistake himself after the game (not pinch running for LeCroy). Lloyd Turner would have been perfect for that spot. The offense scored eight runs to make it a moot point.
Cullen looked nice tonight. If we get a closer out of one of the MIAs, we might have a real nice 1-2 closing duo.
After a tough second inning, it was nice to see Zach Parker pitch a nice game after all and get through six. I was surprised that DuBose was gone after four. I didnt realize his pitch count was up so high. Did the 8 foul shots by Gonzalez help that? Or was that after the fourth??
Jason
It would be interesting to hear Hayes’ recap after each game.
i.e. Hershey’s post game interview.
Can you make it happen ?
Maybe. I’d have to see if the audio from my recorder is good enough. I’ll look into it.
“He’s a good line drive hitter with power”
That is what I have heard several people say about one Mr. Bonds over the years
Looked good tonight team. Great to be back at the ballpark.
I refuse to chant Frosty. Why would we want to take anything from York.
Nice to have a good 3B. That dive was right in front of us and it was the Whopper play of the game.
Looking forward to tomorrow night.
Hey Gatorterp….hope you had a good 24th Birthday!!!!!! See you soon for graduation. Love you.
We will have to get you to a few Barnstormer games this year.
I liked the third base defense. I thought I saw shades of Van Note at second tonight though.
Camden beat York 11-4.
SoMd beat Somerset 3-1.
Ducks beat Newark 4-1.
Barnstormers are alone in first place.
A great day all the way around. Nice start to the season.
Thanks Jason, if it doesn’t work
Maybe do the video board and get Mike Hostetler’s gig
FYI
Parker’s first name is spelled Zack not Zach. Unfortunately, the error even appears on many of his baseball cards. I guess once the mistake was made the first time, it just snowballed and years later it is still being spelled incorrectly on occasion.
Great game…The way to start the season.
I have a couple of things to point out and most are the same stuff that Packmule said earlier
Gonzalez did not look like he wanted to be there. I don’t know if it was because he was at second and not at short.
Savitsky can hit but he sure can’t play right field. I have never seen a player at this level get such a bad jump on the ball. I will give him a break right now because he has never played at the clip but I was not impress with the defense. Offense is not going to be a problem with him.
Spanos is my favorite player on this team right now. Hustle, Hustle, and more Hustle from him. He plays the game the way it should be played.
LeCroy had a bad night but I bet he had a lot of pressure on him. He’s the guy that is suppose to be this great hitter for this league and he may be trying too hard.
I am a little worried about the pitching right now but tonight it was not a problem and the pitching look great except for the 2nd inning.
If the pitching keeps it up then this team is going to be good.
This was the best pitching the Barnstormers have to offer. Parker is their top starter and Cullen is their top reliever. We’ll see how the other guys fare starting Saturday.
I was very impressed with Spanos – looks to play hard all the time. That was a heck of a play at third.
Parker looked good after a rough start. Once he started throwing strikes things came together for him.
I really liked the pre-game show as well. It was done quite well.
Overall a great night. The only problem was when my wife picked the wrong case in the “Deal or No Deal” game
Mike
For anyone interested and still awake, my opening day recap is up…and pictures will be soon, also.
PTBNL..Zach (or Zack) name has been a talk about on here but when I knew him and scouting him at San Jac. he was listed as Zach. I went back and look at my notes and even talk to a couple of other people and they had it as Zach. I not sure how he wants it but I am going to keep it as Zach (posting it) unless I hear from him. Not trying to make this sound like an attack to you or anyone and if it seems that way then I am sorry. I was one of the first person last year to post it as Zach as that is how I know it. It is how I had it and many people during this time also had it as Zach (Even his own college).
Again, I may be wrong on this but I am going with what I know it as.
Great finish of a game. Was the Bladergroen hit in the eighth inning a single or a double. I was scoing the game and could not tell if it was in the gap or just knocked down and he advanced on that. No errors in the game so their was no error on the play. A little help please everyone.
I have it scored as a double
packmule I agree with you on pinch running for LeCroy. I was telling Mr C at the game that he should put in a pinch runner for him. Good thing Burkhart hit that ball in the gap for him to go to third.
Only comment on Danny Gonzalez is I can see why Mexico left him go. He either got slower or the hussle was not there tonight.
Fun Patrol is a 100% better than last year.
Official box has it as a double.
Thanks gentleman for your response on the hit. I will be there tomorrow.
Didn’t realize how sketchy Bridgeport’s lineup looks. Getting Hoorelbeke back was a lot bigger for them than I realized.
Great game last night!
They looked better than the 2006 Barnstormers.
Good pitching, great defense, great hitting great baserunning and alot of heart. I really like these guys.The only flaw in last nights game is Mr. LeCroy was o for 5.
Vasili Spanos has something you don’t see too much of in any kind of baseball these days. Spanos reminds me of Willie Mays, Roberto Clemnte, Maury Wills and Pete Rose. I can see why Von Hayes chose him for the Barnstormers. He plays with heart. I enjoy watching him play. That is something I haven’t see in a ballplayer do for a very long, long time.
You know! If thBarnstormers keep playing like this they juat might win another championship.
GO STORMERS!
GREAT GAME !
The pre game festivities were every entertaining and the atmosphere was … like the championship series .
In my opinion I think Zack is a heck of a guy. Last year when a pitcher was done, he ran to the locker room and stayed there… Not ZacK, he was in the dug out cheering on his teammates.
And I noticed more autograph signing last night. Ya’ll remember last year.. the guys would RUN in right after the game? I do!
Heck of a job Von Hayes… Your the man
Play to Win:
I understanding your reasoning and why you believe you are correct. However, all I can say is trust me on this one. The correct spelling is with a “k” and not an “h”. He is too polite to correct anyone and is laid back so he just goes with it.
Oh, and one more thing… I saw Boots at the “media Circus” and thought it was Frank Klebe
Every time I look over at 3rd where Boots is coaching … I see Frank … OMG the same build , legs an all !!
While a runner could (should) have been put in for LeCroy, he ran a lot better than I thought he would. I was expecting a cross between Larry the Cable Guy and Felix Jose and he was neither. Thankfully, since Felix Jose can’t run and Larry the Cable Guy is a moron.
Since we are nit picking on name spelling..Its STAVISKY!
I thought the same thing Syd about Boots, but the red helmet is a little of a standout when everyone else is wearing Stormer Blue ones. Jason, is the coaches batting helmets mandatory this year in the Atlantic League, I even saw Eric sporting one at first. I think red batting helmets would be a cool change, after all, they went to the red baseball hats.
And it was nice to see Jeff Scott. Still walks to the mound the same way as he did with the RW’s.
One game at a time. 4-0 on Opening Night. We start over tonight.
Jason,
Nice 2008 Season Preview video.
I haven’t heard that the helmets were mandatory and they weren’t wearing them in spring training. So I’m not sure if that was an individual decision or a league decision.
Base running over from 1st to 3rd was good but beside Woods running from home to first is scary. Burkhart and Lecroy need turbo bust or something. When Wood hit that triple I knew it I was yelling go to third that was awesome.
Excellent choice with keeping Woods. Way to go Von and Keith!!!
Per the helmets, I guess if Bowa shows up, foaming at the mouth and screaming about how only communists and sissys wear helmets, then we’ll know it was a league decision.