Things finally seem to be coming together for the Montreal Blazers. "It's was a tough stretch and we've gotten ourselves in a big hole." said Blazers' GM Herb DeSpain. "But we are in better shape than we were at the end of April." In fact, since April 27 the Blazers are playing even baseball winning 16 and losing 16 compared to starting the season 5-17 before then. "The pitching is starting to rise to where we thought it would be and that is not counting Lance Harrison." Harrison, after starting the season on the IL and then going 0-4 with an 8.41 ERA since returning, has been sent to AAA to "regain his focus" according to a team brief. After a few shakeups the pitching staff as a whole has improved. Veteran In-sung Yi has posted a 2.41 ERA in his 41 May innings to go with three wins in the month. Since moving from the rotation to the bullpen Jesus Lopez(1.93 ERA in 18.2 bullpen innings) and Luis Torres(1.64 ERA in 11 bullpen innings) have flourished. newcomer Dani Garcia's 3.48 Montreal ERA is about half of what it was in Sacramento. On the way up to replace Harrison is 24 year old Collin Browning. "We are very big on Browning and we think he'll do great things here," said assistant GM Jody McDonald. "His name has come up the most in trade talks and Herb has been unwilling to let him go thus far."As much as the pitching has improved the hitting has stayed the same. After an offseason spent accumulating players that are suppose to be able to hit against lefties the Blazers find themselves struggling to the tune of 4-16 when facing southpaws. "Most of our hitters are struggling right now." said DeSapin. "Eduardo(Gonzalez) is so focused on hitting homers to boost his arbitration number that I don't think he even realizes he hit under .200 in May...and I don't really think he would care if he did realize it." Gonzalez hit 11 homers and drove in 27 in May but hit just .196. As of June 1 he leads the Johnson in both homers(20) and RBI(53) and is on pace to crush his previous career highs(31/116). 2B Lineau Aldo's slash line is going up after a pretty good May. The Cape Verdean native hit .294 in May while scoring 19 runs and knocking in 16. He added 21 extra base hits and six steals to his line.
"We are getting better!" DeSpain emphasized before ending the interview. We just need to hit, pitch, and field better and we can get where we want to be."
