July 24-26

Thursday lunch with Jenny and her mother, in the evening I was at the ballpark as the Barnstormers opened a series with the Bridgeport Bluefish. This was the ballclub's first home date in eleven days, the four-day All-Star break was followed by a six-day road swing. On this night the offensive highlights were few and far between, the Stormers managed only six base hits in a 4-0 loss. Losing pitcher Chris Schwinden worked seven innings and certainly deserved a better fate. On Friday night in game #2 the Bluefish ran out to a 7-0 lead in the second inning, the Barnstormers scored the next five on a wild pitch, a two-run double by former Philadelphia Phillie Ben Francisco and a Juan Apodaca two-run home run. In the fifth Bridgeport added a run to make it 8-5 but a Brett Carroll two-run bomb brought the Stormers back to within one. In the home seventh the game was finally evened, a sac fly by Francisco scored Gabe Jacobo with the tying run. In the ninth the Bluefish retook the lead but it didn't hold, Apodaca's RBI single sent the game into extras. The Stormers finally prevailed in the eleventh, Francisco's fourth hit of the night scored Jacobo from second base for the 9-8 win. Manager Butch Hobson used six pitchers, Jason Urquidez picked up the win. On Saturday Jenny and Helen were along for game #3, a game that held little if any suspense. The Barnstormers took the early lead on a Lance Zawadzki home run, a two-run Brett Carroll homer in the fourth made it 3-0. The ballclub struck for two more in the fifth on an Andrew Clark sac fly and an RBI double from infielder Jaime Pedroza (a 2012 Barnstormer recently added from the Chicago White Sox organization). Bridgeport got back into the game with a three-run sixth inning but the Stormers got one back on a double-play grounder, a five-run seventh inning put the game away. An RBI hit by Clark, a Dayton Buller two-run single and a two-run double from Cole Garner put the icing on an 11-3 victory, starting pitcher Joe Gardner (a new addition from the Chicago Cubs' system) worked into the sixth inning for the win. Take care, thanks for reading.