Week Three: Summary of Series

Sass fall in amazing meltdown
Pitching failed; hitting just missed
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

The Sass team were overly surprised that they were not shut out. Coming into the series, they felt they had a very good chance of a good competition, and facing SBGF’s team, they really wanted to do well. However, this week the balls didn’t fall their way. It started with a horrible collapse by the pitching staff, and added to the horror were some slumps by some hitters. However, the bats picked up as the week ended. While the Sass only pulled off one point--in batting average--they unfortunately were very close in many other categories.

The statistics--Sass totals first, are as follows: Runs (35-36), HR (5-11), RBI (30-38), SB (3-4), BB (32-33), and Average (.284-.250).

The Sass team owed a lot of kudos to their Cincinnati Reds contingent, as between Sass third baseman E. Encarnacion and Sass outfielder A. Dunn, they scored over half the total walks (17--12 by Dunn alone), almost half the RBIs (14--11 by Encarnacion), and almost half the runs (14-10 by Encarnacion) It made Sass management wish reliever G. Balfour had been able to pitch--besides his ex-boyfriend status.

“Well, I did my part in the walks category,” Dunn said, laughing. “I dunno, I just never got a pitch to hit out of there. I think they were scared of my home run streak from the first two weeks of the season. It sucks, though, to not hit.”

Encarnacion led the way in RBIs, Runs, and Home runs (2).

“Man, just pulling off one or two more walks would’ve given us another point. Maybe next week they’ll be walking me!” Encarnacion said.

Beth admitted being a little proud of picking him, after watching his spring training performance.

“It was a huge risk, really, because he’s so young, but when I watched him, I saw he was a spunky kid,” Beth said, “And his hard work really impressed me--I know he’ll probably go through some rough times--his defense needs work--but we’re happy with how he’s responding to the majors so far.”

Shortstop C. Guillen, and outfielders J. Encarnacion and R. Johnson all had one stole base; no one had more than one.

The batting average leaders were outfielder R. Johnson (limited at-bats) at .500. A.J. Pierzynski did admirably, batting .389 for the week--although he was facing batting practice pitchers for the three-game weekend series he played in, which helped. Outfielder E. Brown and second baseman M. Grudzielanek had the lowest batting average, in their limited at-bats, by not getting a hit. Dunn ended the week with only one home run and a .150 batting average--but his 12 walks likely contributed to his lack of hits. It was outfielder J. Encarnacion who had the worst batting average with significant at-bats, as his average was a lowly .143.

“He’s going through a rough time,” Dawn said, “We might bench him a couple of games this week--we’ll decide on game days, probably.”

J. Encarnacion’s hitting was just a minor blip on the screen when compared to the pitching.

“I don’t know where to even start with that one,” Beth said, shaking her head. “It was so impressive. I have never seen a group of people collapse that much that quickly.”

Beth was apparently a little stunned by her pitching deciding to hold a contest over “who could do worse.” With the exception of reliever A. Burgos, not a single pitcher did anything commendable--as not one of the categories was even close. The Sass didn’t take a single category: Wins (3-6), Saves (0-3), Ks (25-47), Holds (1-3), ERAs (8.08-4.31), WHIP (1.97-1.18).

The wins were attained by starters R. Johnson and K. Benson, as well as reliever J. Duchscherererer. Johnson led the team in strike-outs with 7 in 2 starts (Benson had 4 in one start), while J. Mateo had 3 in relief. B. Medders had the lone hold. The ERA leaders for the starters was Benson, at 5.06, and in reliever, Burgos held opponents scoreless. Burgos also led the team with 1.29 WHIP, while Johnson led the starters with 1.32 WHIP. K. Lohse and Medders had ERAs of 21.60 and 13.5, respectively, while Lohse had the worse WHIP of the starters at 2.40. Medders and Duchscherererer led the team with 3.00 WHIP.

“I guess all I can say is, ‘tomorrow’s just another day’,” Beth said, “I think the stress of the allegations and taunting really got to the guys this week. They weren’t enjoying the game on the field quite as much having to listen to the opposing manager yell and curse his players out.”

“Baseball is supposed to be fun,” Dawn said, “So we’ll try to continue having fun, despite what happens on the field. In fact, a bunch of the guys are taking the day off with me and we’re totally checking out the shopping in Kansas City!”

It’s reported Beth will be heading out to check on the condition of the guys on the DL.