I won’t say where andI don’t know whenSoon there’s gonna come a day, baby[We’ll] be back again
-Lou Gramm, Bruce Turgon Midnight Blue
About Last Night
It’s over. The collapse came to completion last night in front of a sold-out crowd, as the bats seem to have some life for the first time all week, and the pitching could not rise to the occasion. Andrew Painter didn’t have his best game, but kept the team in it and had some run support for once. Second sell-out night in a row and even Hambone couldn’t come through with his first win. The implosion concluded. Great sadness.
What Do We Do Now?
The schedule gets a bit wonky as we start the second half. That should give us a chance to review and evaluate for a time. Reflect and recover. Mourn even. IronPigs Today as a game-day column might go on a bit of hiatus for a time until we return to regular weekly home series. Here’s what the next four weeks look like:
- Week 1: at Buffalo
- Week 2: split series, Scranton for three, at Scranton for three, July 4 weekend.
- Week 3: at Syracuse
- Week 4: All Star Break, home three-gamer with Rochester on the weekend
- Week 5: July 22, daily coverage resumes, Camp Day
Until then, there are a few partially written pieces in the hopper:
- Anatomy of a AAA Champion (needs editing, obv)
- Epic Collapse, Finding Fault and Laying Blame
- Predicting the second half, player movement, development, trade deadline
- Managing Expectations: The Rise of Andrew Painter
- Cap-gate: Fixing the merchandising problems at the IronPigs
Are We Giving Up The Second Half?
No. But, even if we can get the lightning back into the bottle, the best we can hope for is a trip to Jacksonville in late September. Nobody wants that. Ask the Jaguars. Kram Junior has suggest a small meteor might hit Jacksonville and then the first runner-up…
We want our guys to play well and we don’t want to be watching losing baseball for the rest of the season. If we can stay relevant in the division/league, then all the better. But some team will rise. Iowa? Indy? Binghamton did well in AA first half, so maybe Syracuse? We’ll watch. Probably from the middle of the pack somewhere.
Transactions
LHP Nick Vespi is back from Reading (did he ever leave?) and RHP Wil Crowe has returned to Reading. We’re still a starter short, but there are a couple arms who have joined the system lately, perhaps one of them is stretching out.
Game Day!
It’s going to be a hot one; stay cool out there. Unopened water bottles are allowed today. The bartenders usually have a cooler of ice water available at the bar to help yourself.
First Pitch: 1:35PM
Main Gates: 12:15PM
Club Gates: 12:00PM
Promotions:
- Miracle League Softball Game
- Post-game Kids Run Bases
- Fairy Tale Day
Tickets: Good seats still available, including upstairs where you can get out of the heat.
Weather: 89° and steamy with a light breeze, at game time. There is the possibility of a severe storm. Perhaps around 3PM. Wind and hail are the possibilities but it’s far from certain, just be aware.
Pitching:
UPDATE: LHP Nick Vespi getting a spot-start today for Rangel, in a likely bullpen game.
IronPigs: RHP Alan Rangel (4-2, 4.96). Took the loss on Tuesday, 4 runs in 6.2 innings.
Rochester: LHP Andrew Alvarez (0-6, 4.64) He went 5 innings with 1 run on Tuesday, was a no-decision.
Up Next
See the series schedule above, and there’s Reading overlap so not a great time to get to games there, either. There’s some other stuff, though: July 4 Blast if you just like going to the park. Some Banana Ball in the form of the Party Animals, we’ll see how that goes. Plenty to talk about.
See you at the park
@Kram207