Tidy Series

This post is now out of date, as the Redhawks lost last night. But it is, nevertheless, important to point out the bright spots coming out of the Redhawks series sweep of the Portland Beavers (San Diego).

First of all, it was the Hawks first bona fide win streak of the year. Last years division champs had yet to manage more that two wins in a row until the May 14th game, their third straight. This, I think has been in large part to the Hawks extremely poor defense this year, which had never managed two error free games in a row until they finally did so on May 12 and 13. They then went 8 and two thirds without an error on May 15th until Chad Huffman reached first on an error by the recent call-up Jose Vallejo, who had come in to replace the injured German Duran in the sixth. This error also cost a run as Venable scored from second after leading off the inning with a double.

Hawks pitching is also beginning to look alive. on May 13, Doug Mathis, who looked terrible in his last outing, went 5.2 without allowing a run and registering eight K's. The bullpen then got it done as Banister, Vaughan, and Murray closed it out, allowing one run (Huffman on a single by Kazmar off of Vaughan in the 8th). On May 14, Feliz looked great in 5.0, allowing one run and striking out seven. Fans complained that he should not have been taken out when Ramirez looked rough, giving up two base hits to his first two batters, but he got the next three, then had a one-two-three inning in the seventh (his line is 2.0IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 3K). Then Gordon closed it out, allowing one un-earned run (Venable who doubled, then scored on the aforementioned E4).

All-in-all, they finally looked like a professional baseball team, albeit against last-placed Portland. They ultimately managed a four game winning streak that ended with yesterday's lost.

Next up:

I'm in Arlington for today's Rangers game, the only one I'll see in person this year. Story coming.