Thank you St. George!!!

There is nothing like playing a team with a 8.03 ERA that allows opponents to hit .338 when you really need a win. And the Sox did just that as they swept the St. George Roadrunners on the road to move to 3-11 on the road and move out of the oh-fer category away from Pecolle. They now also get the fortune of facing Yuma who is on a 7-game skid after starting the season 12-2. Things are looking up for the Sox and it is about time. Here is a quick run down of the St. George series.

THE GOOD

-- The offense came to life with 52 hits and 44 runs in just three games. Wow!

-- Every position player who was in a slump broke out in convinving fashion and the numbers are starting to look the way they should for the team. Some examples:

• Victor Hall (.316, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 10 SB)
• Carlos Madrid (.349, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 3 SB)
• Jose Rodriguez (.344, 5 HR, 13 RB, 1 SB)

-- Every starter is finally over the Mendoza line and the team batting average is at .261

THE BAD

-- The team continues to commit too many errors and contiues it average of over 2 per game. They now have 43 on the season in addition to 16 wild pitches. These have resulted in 28 unearned runs.

-- Injuries continue to plague the team. Nick Moran missed a scheduled start due to shoulder stiffness and Jordan Devoir fouled a ball off his shin causing a contusion and a bone chip. Moran is scheduled to start on Saturday so we'll see what happens; Devoir is out indefinitely. To help stem the tide, OF Kane Simmons was brought in. He is a professional rookie who went 2-4 last night in his debut. The GBL commissioner said Les Is working on bringing a couple more AA veterans this weekend. I hope we can get that done.

THE UGLY

-- Pitching continues to be an issue. Though the Sox scored 44 runs in three games, they allowed 30. Neither pitching squad has much to brag about.

-- The Reno starters had an ERA of 10.77 and averaged just under 4 innings per game; the Sox relievers had an ERA of 7.67 and averaged about 5 innings per game. There is way too many things wrong with all four of those numbers so we are not out of the woods on the pitching side. The only change is that now the starters are starting to get beat up. Remember that these numbers came against a 3-16 team.

-- Mike Peck continues to struggle since joining the Sox a few days ago. He had a 13.50 ERA during this series and now is at 0-0 with a 16.20 ERA with the Sox; before that, he was 0-2 with a 19.06 ERA with his previous team.

-- Marshall Plouffe continues to self destruct when he enters the game. He was slated to be our closer and looked good converting his first save. Since then, he has really dropped off a cliff. This series he had a 18.00 ERA and now stands at 0-1 with a 12.71 ERA on the season. Jason Martinez also struggled early but he is back on track now pitching fairly well. Hopefully Marshall can do so too.

That is all for this time--I'd love your feedback. I'll be at the park on Friday.

See you at the yard.