Weather, Pitchers, Cool Off Bats

By Mark Anderson

When the inter-squad scrimmage began this afternoon, it was a beautiful, warm (at least comparatively speaking) day at Reckling Park. And for some of the pitchers, they were wishing for cooler weather to cool off the early hitting, especially by the Gray Squad.

Boy, did they ever get their wish.

The temperature began to drop noticeably in the mid-innings, and by the late innings, it was pretty cool—and so were a lot of the bats at Reckling. But as Joe Savery and Adam Zornes pointed out, the pitchers still have the advantage right now.

Some just seemed to have a little more of it.

Take, for instance, Kyle Gunderson. Kyle has a strange motion to begin with, and it makes the ball hard to pick up out of his hand—as several hitters groaned about as they were getting ready to face him. And while I did not keep stats, he clearly had the upper hand today on the hitters.

So did Will McDaniel. Will came out of the bullpen for the Blue squad, and mesmerized several hitters with his incredible change-up.

Daniel Cooper did a fine job as well, mixing in a good breaking pitch with his fastball.

But the pitcher that clearly had it all going for him today was—are you ready for this one?—Jordan Dodson. Jordan had one of those days that hitters dread. The first inning he pitched, he got two outs on two pitches. If my memory serves me correctly, he retired every hitter in the final two innings, thanks to a spectacular grab in center by Chad Lembeck.

Jordan also fared well at the plate with a ringing double off the wall in right.

But there were other highlights as well. Joe Savery hit a triple to right. And in the at-bat that got the most out of it, Derek Myers check-swinged and got a single to right, driving in a run.

The defensive play of the day, however, goes to newcomer Jess Buenger (pronounced Bing-er). He made an incredible stop on a smash down the third base line that reminded this writer of Brooks Robinson in his hey-day, got up, and threw the runner out with plenty to spare, which received applause from all in the park.

The funniest moment of the day goes to the sniper that got Andrew Guerra right in the butt as he reached the top stair of the dugout to go out to his position. While all the players in the dugout proclaimed their innocence (“It was somebody in the stands”), the only thing this writer can say is, “Ya, right!” There were only two people in the stands even in position to do that, and one had his back turned. Andrew took it good-naturedly ("A sniper got me!”), and it was a great laugh enjoyed by all with the possible exception of Andrew’s backside.

Hopefully, there will be some pics and interviews up by weekend’s end. Check back for more tomorrow afternoon or evening.