Bandit Post, Vol 3.2, 1997

[aaronweiner]

It was a frustrating week for the Birmingham Bandits, who had their worst week this year by far, going 2-6 and getting swept by hated rival Austin - and, in a letdown, losing a series to Montreal. Birmingham lost five straight during the streak, the last four by a total of five runs, and were never seemingly in sync. The loss of first baseman Jimmy Dugan's .523 SLG for a month didn't help matters either. However, while Birmingham lost the entirety of their four and half game division lead this week, they're still tied in the loss column and leading the wild card by a half game over Calgary.

The biggest problem this week was the bullpen, which had seemed to come together. Darryl Dowdle, so reliable for his first few appearances, was absolutely pasted this week, giving up six runs in two innings to raise his ERA all the way to 4.58 on the year. James Yancey took two losses in three appearances. James Randolph allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth to blow a save and posted an ERA of 18 this week. That's the heart of the pen, and while the rest of the pen was surprisingly solid, Birmingham can't go back to blowing the big leads they had last year.

"James and I put a lot of the problems this week on ourselves," said Yancey. "I'm going to be better next week and so's he. We're better than this."

There were some positives this week. Willie Greene, given the opportunity to play this week because of the injury to Dugan, brought himself back to relevance; Greene hit .591 with three homers during the sim. Greene has his job back at second base for now, while Birmingham now has three plus defensive players at SS, 3B and 1B.

"We're hoping that the fact that we're picking up the defense will help the ballclub," said hitting coach Roy Hobbs. "Our outfield's already really good and now our infield matches it. Pluvius is a great catcher. We're getting back to basics and adjusting what we're doing with Jimmy Dugan out."

Still, in a week where Birmingham was definitely not their usual selves, there's little question that they can bounce back from this slight bit of adversity. The imminent return of Damian Bedgood from the DL this sim should provide a boost, as Bedgood is scheduled to start against Las Vegas in his return from the DL.

"We just never had it all together this week," said manager Lou Brown. "We went through a stretch like this last year, when we couldn't win any of the close ones but won games by blowouts. That doesn't mean that we're sunk, at all, and we're looking to pick it back up. And, yeah, Damian will help. But we just need to get back and focused on our goal, which is making the playoffs."