It is officially time to worry...

Graphic from http://success-and-happiness.net/images/worry.jpg


Well, I am starting week 2 of 2 here at beautiful Fort Hunter Liggett. I am in class all day learning those tasks that is designed to prepare me for battalion command and service on a general's staff (hence the name Command and General Staff College Intermediate Level Education--or simply "ILE"). We start at 5:30AM with physical training, get to class by 8AM, and finish up by 6PM. After that, we have about 2 hours of homework a night. Unfortuately, the closest town is 35 minutes from here so I have a lot of time in my room since it is kind of pointless to leave here. We did have part of Saturday off so I drove the three hours to Fresno to see the AAA Grizzlies play. It was pretty cool to see Russ Ortiz in a rehab assignment and to be around all the Giants fans as Bonds broke the record. But, I digress. The bottom line is I have a chance each night to tune into Ben Deach's radio broadcast.

Unfortunately, what I have been hearing hasn't been good. I left Reno last Saturday and from Sunday to Sunday, the Silver Sox are 1-6 in that time period. That includes an 0-3 series with first place Long Beach as well as a continuation of the losing streak against third place Orange County who Reno is yet to defeat this season.

And, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the bullpen continues to be unreliable.

Here are the stats for the last 10 days for the bullpen:

Shawn Balteff-----> 0-2, 6.16 ERA
Eric Brock--------> 0-0, 10.19 ERA
Josh Evans-------> 0-0, 3.55 ERA
Adam Harendza--> 0-2, 10.31 ERA
Jason Martinez---> 0-0, 8.18 ERA
Eric Thomas------> 0-1, 1 SV, 7.83 ERA

That is just not going to get the job done. The Sox have scored and average of 7.4 runs per game during that same period so the offense is doing its job. And over those past 10 days, Juan Senreiso (.375, 10 R, 1 HR, 10 RBI) and Victor Hall (.361, 18 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI) have been on fire. Hall is also now up to 30 SBs on the year and Kane Simmons still leads the league in homeruns having reached a total of 13 on the season.

Time may have officially run out for the Sox baring some late season miracle and Les Lancaster is in serious danger of having a losing record. The Sox, 18-19 during the first half, are at 6-11 with the the second half having just 21 games to play. They are 8.5 games back of the Armada which leaves them very little time to finally get hot. I, being a true fan, will not say it is over until it is officially over (which could come in the next week) but it is time to worry.

On a seperate note, Masa Chikazawa was released by the team today. As I get more info on that, I will post more information.

Here is an article on the Masa Chikazawa release. Sad story really considering the heart this guy has. I really hope his baseball dreams work out. He brings a lot to the game that American players can learn from in terms of heart, work ethic, and attitude.

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070808/SPORTS/708080420