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Au revoir, Adios, and Good Riddance June

The Rox will put the month of June in the rear view mirror tonight after the first game of a six-game road trip.  It has been a strange month for Brockton, who will start July three games below .500 at best.  However, there's a chance the Rox begin July out of the Can-Am cellar.  Brockton is only a half game behind Quebec (5th place), and a game behind Sussex (4th place).

The Rox started very strong, winning six of the first seven games of the month, and that has helped to keep the team close to the pack despite just six wins in the last 19 games. 

Here's how the month broke down for all teams (alphabetical order).  Notice that with the exception of New Jersey, every team's numbers are fairly similar:

First Half Title
New Jersey's magic number to win the first half title is nine.  Any combination of New Jersey wins, and losses by the second place team (that's Worcester today) totaling nine in the next 13 games will give the Jackals the first half title. 

Great Stories at Campanelli Stadium from the past week:

Did you read Glen Farley's piece in The Enterprise featuring Rox 3B Morgan Brown?  It's an unbelievable story. 

This one is a little older, but it's Jim Fenton's notebook from the beginning of the series.  Jim chatted with Rox Pitching Coach John Kelly about needing to take some time to get his arm back to 100% healthy.  It's been a long recovery for the franchise's career leader in wins and strikeouts.

Another veteran, 1B Clyde Williams collected his 1,000th professional hit on Sunday.  Williams is in his 12th professional season, and needed three hits to get to 1,000 entering the game on Sunday.  Everything about the game, and the situation leading up to his milestone hit is better than Hollywood could craft it.

The Rox purchased Williams' contract from the American Defenders of New Hampshire on June 22nd.  He was struggling through one of the worst slumps of his career.  He had just one hit in his previos 32 at-bats, a slide that continued to 2 for 48 as he familiarized himself with a new organization, lineup and set of teammates. 

On Sunday afternoon, the Rox were finishing a series against New Hampshire.  It was the first series in which Williams had faced his former team, and it appeared as though he was already back on track with five hits in the first four games.  But Williams still needed three hits to get to 1,000 and with a six-game road trip looming, certainly needed them all on Sunday to do it at home.  Williams homered in a first-inning at-bat.  He did not come up again until the fourth inning, and he drew a walk.  Brockton lead 3-0, and it appeared he would get two more at-bats on the day and would need a hit in each.

There was a little confusion down on the field however.  Some thought that Williams' first-inning homer was his 999th, so when he singled to start the sixth inning, the ball was taken out of play.  Players and coaches at the time thought the milestone had been reached, but there was no recognition or stoppage of play. 

Still one hit shy of the mark, but not completely sure of that, Williams came to the plate with one out and two runners on in the bottom of the seventh inning.  It was surely his last at-bat of the game with Brockton leading 7-2.  He fell behind 0-2 against New Hampshire RHP Lucas Ledbetter.  Williams battled back to even the count at 2-2, and then launched a towering drive into the right field Beer Garden.  It was truly his 1,000th career hit, and it was about as dramatic as it gets. 

For any milestone, the player usually keeps the baseball as a memento.  However Williams had hit the ball out of the park.  And when Rox public address announcer Mike Riley notified fans that the home run had been Williams' 1,000th of his career, someone took the ball that had been sitting on the bench (his 999th hit) and tossed it in with the batting practice balls.  At this point he had nothing to remember his career achievement by. 

But Williams' wife, Amanda went out to right field, found the ball and gave it to her husband after the game.  Williams was euphoric after the game; and deservedly so.

Another Home Run Milestone
Rox DH Palmer Karr was hitting some memorable home runs of his own this past week.  How about five home runs in five consecutive games?  On June 23rd, he hit a solo home run off of Worcester starter RHP Zach Zuercher.  He then homered in each of the Rox next four games, including - remarkably - each game of a double header on the 25th.  Here is a breakdown of the streak:

The Can-Am League has not kept the record for home runs in consecutive games, and neither has the Rox as an organization.  But I have to imagine this is either the record.  Quebec's 1B Eddie Lantigua blasted a league-record 31 home runs in 2005, and he topped out at four consecutive games (to end the season). 

I tracked down Palmer after the streak was over and he told me that he was pretty sure he'd never homered in five straight games before, but had once hit five in a week.

Rox Manager Chris Carminucci had this to say:  "Palmer is a different kind of player; unique," he said.  "He's a confidence hitter, and when he gets rolling, there's no one that can stop him.  [The streak] was one of the greatest things I've seen in this game."

Ed Nottle chimed in from across the office, "I'm just disappointed that he choked in the sixth game."  Those who know Ed, know that he was only half-joking...if that.
 

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Listen to this interview with Matt Zachary.

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We were washed out on Saturday, but Sunday looks like we'll be in good shape.  Maybe a shower or too, but we're playing.

It's been a while...I know.  Here's an inteview with Ed Nottle.

Remember Rox centerfielder Josh Womack?  He played for Brockton in the second half of the 2008 season.  He's now in the Golden League, and was on the front page of Yahoo! yesterday.  Thanks to Dominic Ramos for the tip.

Brief today, but some good stuff I hope you enjoy.  First pitch in less than an hour.

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The Rox took two from New Jersey on Saturday after Friday night's rainout.  Once again, RHP Jeff Long and LHP Craig Anderson set the tone in their respective starts.  

Rox Manager Chris Carminucci had high praise for both prior to their starts.  This interview was recorded before play on Saturday.  Click here to listen.

Carminucci also had a great quote after the game in regard to the two-run home run that DH Palmer Karr hit.  "Karr hit that ball off the moon," Carminucci said.  

Karr's third home run of the season hit the scoreboard in left center field at Yogi Berra Stadium.  The wall in front of the scoreboard is about 360 - 370 feet from home plate.  The scoreboard is about 40 feet high, and media in the press box after the game hinted that his home run which reportedly hit the advertisement above the actual scoreboard was one of the longest home runs hit to left field in recent history.

2B Melvin Falu had a nice day out of the cleanup spot, and broke an 0-12 slide with an RBI single in the fourth inning of the first game.  He and C Chris Grossman led everybody with three RBI on the day. 

Not only did Grossman catch both games, but he also came up with the team's first hit with the bases loaded on the season.  The Rox were 0-5 with the bases loaded coming into the day and with the game tied at 1-1 in the top of the 7th inning, Grossman drove a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right-center to clear the bases.  A huge hit for a guy who is quietly one of the hottest bats in the lineup so far this year.

Brockton has a chance to win three out of four in the series on Sunday with RHP Wayne Lundgren taking the ball for the start.  Regardless of the outcome on Sunday afternoon, the Rox have assured themselves a series split with New Jersey after Saturday.

The Rox are back home on Tuesday morning after an off day on Monday.  It's School Day, presented by HarborOne and my favorite days of the year.  It means 5,000 kids from the Brockton school system at the end of the school year in an environment that encourages yelling and screaming.  Campanelli Stadium does not shake all year like it does on this day.  If you can't make it out, by all means tune in on the radio just to hear the crowd noise.  It's 5,000 kids who sound like 10,000. 

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Chance to Sweep

Hope you caught Tuesday night's exciting ninth inning victory.  If you didn't, listen to the bottom of the ninth here, or read about it in Jim Fenton's Enterprise column today.

Jim also caught up with former Red Sox first-baseman and new American Defenders' Manager Brian Daubach.

Chris Carminucci mentioned in Fenton's column that his team needs to win the one-run games to make the manager look good.  Things that also make the manager look good:

1. Making the playoffs
2. Winning a championship

That's probably the end of the list.  So if we read  between the lines, we can assume that winning one-run games helps a team make the playoffs and win a championship.  Last year, the Rox were 15-19 in games decided by one run; the third-worst record in the league.  Brockton was also a league-worst 0-6 in shutouts. 

Here is a look at the stats of Rox starting pitchers so far this season:



  Around the League

Apparently New Hampshire first baseman Jabe Bergeron's back is bothering him.  Defenders media say it's back spasms.  That means New Hampshire is missing two enormous pieces of its team.  RHP Luis Valdez is still hung up in the Dominican Republic with visa issues.  He is penciled in as the team's number 1 starter.  Bergeron adds power and strength to a the Defenders' lineup.  New Hampshire has an unusually high number of left-handed bats in its lineup, and if Bergeron (lefty) can get back and healthy with 1B/DH Clyde Williams (lefty) and newcomers to the league OF Angel Molina (righty) and CF Edward Ovalle (righty), they will have a very dangerous lineup.  3B Chris Kelly's (righty) name belongs on that list as well.  Kelly hit 12 home runs for New Jersey last year.

Quebec's Michel Simard is good.  He is 22-10 over the last two seasons for the Quebec Capitales with a 2.94 ERA and he dealt last night against New Jersey.  Simard (SEE-mard), has not allowed an earned run in 14 innings of work so far this year.

Sussex lost 1B Matt Weston to the Houston Astros yesterday.  Then the Skyhawks lost to the Tornadoes 2-1 and closer RHP Matt Petrusek blew a save opportunity.  Petrusek tied Rox RHP Jerry Dunn for the league lead with 24 saves in 2009.

I don't care what the forecast says.  Come out and watch the Rox try to sweep New Hampshire tonight.  Brockton did not sweep a series until the last of the season in '08. 

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