Sorry for the late report from Ft. Myers yesterday, I JUST woke up from my wild last 24 hours of baseball !!
Kevin Slowery was UNBELIEVABLE, especially with him taking advantage of the widened strike zone of the umpires. Kevin Ardoin was equally impressive, but, doesn't have the fastball of Slowery, but, the results matched Slowery pitch for pitch. Slowery's day............10k's in 6 innings of work. He gave up a bunt single to Grahm that no one made an attempt on up until the 6th inning. In the 6th, Mejia got a solid single between the 3/4 hole and Thomas followed up with a hard hit line drive single past the first baseman to move Mejia to third. Frazier had an OUTSTANDING at bat to get the sac fly after fouling off 3 or 4 very good 2-strike pitches to avoid the K.
After the pitching change, which there was a marketed difference, Larish got the walk, moved to 2B on a wild pitch and moved to 3rd on a very nice 2 strike ground ball to 2B by Rameriez after a tough day at the plate. Then, a well executed 1-strike squeeze bunt by Dlugach followed by the insurance HR by Essian..............
VERY good game, the L-Tigers capitalized on FINALLY getting to Slowery a little as he gave up ONLY those 3 hits described. Ardoin, while not as mechinally sound nor having as much velocity was sharp, avoiding extra base runners due to the walk. There was no ball really hit hard of Ardoin, which was a good sign of his "stuff" working for him and keeping the batters off balance.
I wonder if Whelan's struggles was due to him throwing an inning the night before ? If one looks closely, he typically doesn't throw as well the next night after an outing, which is somewhat concerning.............
Honestly, Ft. Myers has the BEST starting pitching by far in the league, but, their hitting is abismal.
On a personal note, it was a great joy to watch the two games, Rojas called a wonderful game, Dlugach is amazing defensively at SS and the team capitalized when given the opportunity and was patient to let the game come to them instead of pressing when Slowery was mowing them down. The night before, they hit Swarzack (missspelling I'm sure) with authority which was a welcomed surprise. The L-Tigers pitching was outstanding both games, with the exception of Whelan's outing yesterday.
From the Ft. Myers game yesterday, I left immediately to venture to a 4 p.m. meeting with a baseball client and his agents in Kissimmee, followed by dinner and the LONG drive back from Kissimmee to Panama City, arriving at home this a.m. at 4:30.....wonderful 24-hours of baseball, can't wait until I get yet another kitchen pass.
BEST of luck to the L-Tigers tonight !!
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