Wise Kraken 23.2032: Winning Sim Still Leaves Concern

[aaronweiner]

The Carolina Kraken should be fairly happy at this point with their 6-7 start, a number that puts the Kraken one game back in the way too early wild card race. After a 4-2 sim against Brooklyn and Atlantic City, both teams ahead of them in the wild card, the Kraken should be popping a few beers at least. However, all signs are that the team may be trying to keep it real.

"It's April, and it's too early to even think about what might happen," said Kraken manager Chet Rouse. "Yes, of course we're happy that we're near .500 at this point in the season, but it's too early to know what kind of team we're going to be."

Manoell Carolino led the way for the second straight sim, posting a remarkable 1.222 OPS in six games, while newcomer Eddie Macy and Colby Stephens had big sims as well. Overall, the team finished with the 8th-best OPS and the sixth-best ERA over the six-game set, an excellent showing for a team which was questioning whether they could lose 110 games after a horrid 2-5 first sim.

"The losses against Twin Cities don't look so bad right now," said Kraken starting pitcher Arthur Dempster of the 9-4 River Monsters. "We're not buying into the whole "rebuilding" thing, we're playing our hardest. If we'd taken just one game from them we'd be above .500 now."

Dempster led the way for the pitching staff, posting his first win of the season with 15 strikeouts in 14 innings. Also leading the pack for the Kraken was rookie and former first round pick Lucas Meech, who was so efficient for the Kraken he finished a complete game six-hit shutout despite a pitch count.

"I was really rolling today," said Meech. "It's so exciting to be in the big leagues I can hardly stand it."

Carolina will have its biggest test of the season so far in the next sim, finishing up the four-game set against Brooklyn and then playing Las Vegas on the road in a four-game set, which will certainly tell the team a few things about its ability to compete. The Kraken will have Valeri Kharlamov back from his hamate bone injury; as it's not a motion injury Kharlamov is expected to go right back to second base to start.

"We're going to keep going out there and playing hard every day," said Carolino. "We're all living our dream right now."