Game Report: Reno @ St. George (May 27, 2008)

Before I get to the game, I thought I would mention another change from last year: in addition to not having games broadcast on the local ESPN affiliate, Reno now doesn't send Ben Deach out for the road trips. I wrote to St. George announcer John Potter during the game and he said he found out about it today when he didn't see Ben and called to find out why. So for 44 games this year, Sox fans will have to listen to the opponent's play by play guy. That is not bad with guys like John, Rory Miller, and Jordan Moore but you do lose the personal touch for the team that Ben brought. Not sure if it was a cost cutting measure, if it is because Ben is now assistant GM, a result of Ben's new radio show on ESPN 630, or a combination thereof but it is still unfortunate all the same.

Another night and another poor pitching effort for the Silver Sox. Though the St. George Roadrunners did their best to give this game away, the 11 runs that starting pitcher Jason Cline surrendered on 13 hits in just three innings were insurmountable. Cline, only one of two left handed pitchers on the squad, was called in for relief work on Saturday where he pitched 1.2 innings and was equally shelled. He came into this game with a 10.80 ERA from that outing and then more than doubled his ERA to 25.07 with this loss.

As I said, St. George did do their best to give this game away as their pitching and defense were not much better than the Sox. The final tally for this game saw 21 runs, 31 hits, and 5 errors between the two teams. The 12 runs scored by the Roadrunners are the most they have scored in one game all season.

There were two pieces of good news for the Sox. First, Mario Guilen pitched four scoreless innings giving up just one hit in his first relief appearance. Second, the offense of the Silver Sox continues to be a bright spot with homeruns by Flowers, Hattig, and Henderson joining Guilen from Saturday to raise the team average to 1 homerun per game on the young season. And every Silver Sox player has at least one hit on the night. Unfortuantely, it is has not been enough to get around the very bad pitching as the Sox check in tied for last place with the 2007 GLB Champion Chico Outlaws with a league worst record of 0-4.

The Silver Sox will see the Roadrunners 18 times this season and one of the interesting story lines is the trade between these two teams that sent Brett Flowers and Steven Wright to Reno for Mike Done and Ryan Brown. Throw in Cody Nowlin who was traded to St. George by the Sox last season and you have the more former Silver Sox on the Roadrunners than any other team. Mike Done for his part hit a home run as did Brett Flowers so they are even there. Nowlin chipped in with a couple of hits and a run while Wright and Brown didn't play.

This was game one of a five game series. Game two sends the last starter in Reno's rotation, Shawn Ravenscroft, to the mound attempting to improve the team ERA tomorrow night at 7:05 PM local, 6:05 Reno time.