The surge isn't happening by accident; the Zombies went out and bought some serious firepower when they acquired Big Papi Husam and, more recently, Majd Nawaf. Husam has been very good for the Zombies, hitting .341 in 41 games so far, but nothing compared to what the team has gotten from Nawaf, who has won two players of the week with Jacksonville in three weeks with the team and has hit an otherworldly .446 with a 1.452 OPS since coming over from the Yellow Springs Nine.
"We're crediting the front office with this one," said third baseman Pepe Aragon, who celebrated his first All-Star appearance by taking his whole team out to dinner. "We needed a breakout, and they went and bought us two."
The surge from the two sluggers has overcome some issues for the team. Steve Holcombe recently became the first person in the history of the world to blow out his knee tying his shoes, and #2 starter Gav Mastinsky is out for the year with a more pedestrian bone chip problem in his throwing elbow.
"We'll get through this," said starting pitcher Dan Voelzke. "We'll obviously miss Gav, but we've still got a great team here."
With the big run, Jacksonville finds themselves at 55-42, much more in line with their +100 run differential. The team has the seventh-hardest schedule in the BBA for the rest of the year, but most of the rest of the JL Atlantic is right around that - because the JL Atlantic is a murderer's row this year.
"I can't remember when I've ever played in such an accomplished division," said Takehide Gertrudes, 17 year veteran. "We've still got our work cut out for us."
