The experiment seemed to work. The Hustlers used a three man starting rotation of short stints for 11 games, and went 7-4 during that stretch. At that time, Vegas went back to it's regular rotation with one change. Joining the rotation would be
Tom Miller, and heading to the bullpen as a multi-use reliever was
Bret Harrell. "They're both five inning starters, and we want to see what Miller can do on a regular schedule," explained manager Henry Rectenberg. "It's been pretty impressive thus far."
It certainly has:
- miller.png (8.56 KiB) Viewed 161 times
Other News and Notes:
- Thirty-nine year old
Tom Rudge looks rejuvenated of late. After posting so-so numbers the first three months of the year, he's come to life in July (.351/.406/.588/.993 with 11 doubles, 4 homers, 13 RBI). Rectenberg's decision to move him to the leadoff spot against RHP seems to have been the ignitor. "All I know is when Tom hits, we win a lot of games," said Rectenberg. Oh, and there was this:
- Speaking of old guys, it's absolutely incredible what FOURTY-ONE year old
Kidane Ata has accomplished this season. "Everyone said the Hustlers just brought me back for nostalgic reasons, but I knew I had more left in me," said Ata. There's more than just a little left, it turns out. He's actually fourth on the Hustlers in Batter WAR (2.1), and that's with his left field defense taking away from the number (remember, he's 41 years old, not completely ageless). Ata's numbers are here (our favorite is his six triples, which happens to be fifth in the Johnson League):
- ata.png (11.33 KiB) Viewed 161 times
- Compared to Rudge and Ata,
Aarnoud Budding is a young buck at "just" thirty-eight years old. The Hustlers picked him up from Montreal earlier this year in an exchange of no longer wanted veterans with Budding (and prospect Javier Parra) coming to Vegas and Gilberto Cordero (and prospect Bengt Zippro) moving on to Montreal. Vegas acquired him with no real plan of what they'd do with him. They ultimately have been playing him at first base against righty hurlers and the after thought has provided some more thump to the Hustler lineup. In his first 46 games with Las Vegas, he's hit 11 homers, added 12 doubles, and driven in 33 runs with a slash line of .275/.346/.616/.962 all while playing good defense at first base.
