But on a monumental occasion such as this, I can't let things pass me by without a few words on the matter. So after immersing myself in the recaps & box scores, here's my thoughts...
Just to set the record straight, this was a seven-inning home/away twin billing for the teams, for exhibition purposes. Despite the fact that they're both ABL teams, the results aren't part of the "league" standings. This is kind of a departure for the league which usually ships up a few traveling teams for its warm-up series. As stated in a recent ADN article on the matter, this is mostly due to financial reasons; it doesn't pay to import teams up to the great white north with the economy and traveling costs the way they are these days. With the exception of the Heroes of the Diamond military all-star squad, the ABL has turned to internal options, such as this match-up.
It's always kind of fun to see some other teams, but honestly -- and as the ADN article states -- some of these teams that have come up in the past were basically punching bags. The Alaska League is really in the top layer of summer leagues as far as talent goes, and they have a pretty big home-field advantage up here. So, even though we're losing a little variety, it doesn't really make sense to fly up a warm-up team from California when there's more-talented teams right here ready to go. The Pilots are now starting an exhibition series against the Miners, and are toying with making it an annual thing. Even if the days return when we fly up out-of-state teams, I would like to have some "rivalry" exhibition series between local teams remain a part of the league.
But enough of that, let's get down the nuts and bolts. I love a good pitching duel and we were lucky to have a pair of them. Even though the Bucs' bats (which I lauded in my season preview) couldn't get him a win, the second game of the day was a good three-inning warm-up for Nebraska prospect Casey Hauptman. He was perfect through all three frames and sat down three on strikeouts. Bob Mott also struck out three in three; he picked up the loss but it was of the tough-luck variety. Of the two runs he gave up, only one was earned and the winning run was allowed to score due to a costly error. Mark Joukoff also pitched a solid loss; in three innings he surrendered just one unearned run, one hit, one walk, and struck out two, and still couldn't get it done.
The Glacier Pilots were just a little bit better. I feel like the Pilots won because their offense did the little things right. Taking the extra base when they could, making the most out of their opponents' mistakes, and moving the runners along without trying to do too much. Now, let's be clear; two runs isn't going to cut it all season long. But these were short games against some pretty good pitching, so hopefully they can extrapolate that as the season goes along.
In the second game, Pilots starter Thomas Jameson went a solid five innings. He allowed five hits in that stretch, but in the column that counts -- runs -- he gave up none. He also surrendered no walks and struck out three. It also goes without saying that Justin Kemp performed well
As "Pilots Fan" stated in a recent comment on my season preview/predictions, the new infield at Mulcahy should help players on the defensive end. The old infield really ate some of these guys alive. In any event, the two teams combined for three errors yesterday, but I'm sure these are mostly "rust" errors or just good ol' fashioned screw-ups; one was a throwing error and another in the outfield, so obviously these don't count (and at this level, two teams combining for three errors in two games isn't really so bad anyway). So far the infield gets a thumbs up in that department!
Again, these were just a pair of short exhibition matches to kick things off. It's much too small a sample size to draw any sort of conclusions. But what the hell, let's try anyway. If the Pilots are going to make a run at it, they need to keep doing what they're doing...but do it better. Their pitching was great, and playing small ball is a winning strategy as long as you don't play too small. I think the Bucs just ran into some bad luck. They put enough hits together to take the second game but were just stifled with runners on base. They're going to have to capitalize on their opportunities, but I think that will come. But, like I said, this is a small sample size and if both teams plate a dozen runs a piece tonight I'm not going to feel too bad about my analysis. Once we've had a couple more games to look at and I've seen the teams in person, I can give you a better picture.
Tonight the Pilots open their exhibition series against the Miners in Palmer, while the Bucs host the Elmendorf AFB Eagles for the next game in their pre-season schedule. It's military appreciate night in Anchorage, while the Miners game is their preseason opener. The Bucs/Eagles game will most likely be on 1080AM KUDO and streamed from AnchorageBucs.com. The Miners have a live stream as well as a live chat on matsuminers.org, and the Pilots' also have the stream on their site (glacierpilots.com) from KHAR 590AM/96.7FM, plus a live stat feed. So if you can't make the game tonight, be sure to check in on the game via the web!
P.S. Don't forget, the MLB draft starts tonight. We'll also be doing some draft coverage around here so stay plugged into 49thStateHardball.com
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