CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Rocks Game Notes

Published on July 16, 2012 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


LAST TIME OUT: The Wilmington Blue Rocks could not have asked for a better finish to their homestand. After losing the first two games of their stay at friendly Frawley to Myrtle Beach, they took the last game against the Pelicans and four straight against the Potomac Nationals (41-52, 10-13), finishing the series sweep with a 6-3 victory on Saturday night.

STREAKING: The Blue Rocks have won five in a row, their best winning streak since taking seven straight from May 16-22, 2011.

SWEEP OF THE DECADE: In assembling their longest winning streak of the year, the Blue Rocks recorded their first four-game sweep of their longtime nemesis in over a decade. The most recent four-game broom cleaning of the P-Nats had come from August 29-September 1 in 2001.

POUNDING POTOMAC: Saturday's result dropped the P-Nats to 0-7 at Frawley Stadium this season. During those meetings, the Rocks have outscored their divisional foe, 37-11.

SECOND LIFE: In the first half, the Blue Rocks scored just 227 runs for a league-low 3.2 runs/game average. Entering tonight, Wilmington has scored 131 runs over its first 23 games of the second stanza for an average of 5.7 runs/game. The team that hit 31 homers over the 70-game first half, the second-lowest total in the loop, has bashed 28 early in the second. The Blue Crew hit a league-worst .231 in the first half, but owns a .273 (219-for-802) clip this half.

LONG DIVISION: Saturday ended a stretch with 17 out of 20 games against Northern Division opponents. The Rocks are 18-36 against teams from the South and 23-16 versus their brothers in the North (10-4 versus Potomac).

SIMPSON SIR, SECTOR 7G: The Rocks have been bashing bombs at an incredible rate. Wilmington entered its last homestand with five homers over its first 39 home games. It then hit eight on the seven-game homestand. Since failing to homer on June 30, the Blue Rocks have slammed 22 dingers over 13 games.

POWER FIELDS: On Saturday, Matt Fields hit his ninth homer in 13 games, a smoke shot over the left-field wall that left the park completely. To put it in perspective, he is second on the team in home runs only to Brett Eibner, who has 11. It took Eibner 63 games to hit nine home runs. Fields has hit .346 over the 13-game span with an OPS of 1.394. Nine of his 18 hits have left the yard. Considering he has played 21 games thus far, if Fields kept up his current pace he would finish the year with 20 homers over just 68 games played. Only three Blue Rocks have ever hit 20 or more homers in a season, and all three played nearly twice as many games: (Larry Sutton hit 26 over 129 games in 1994; Hugh Walker hit 21 over 126 games in 1993; John Whittleman hit 20 over 123 games in 2011).

OH, THERE YOU ARE: For the fourth night in a row, a Blue Rocks starting pitcher picked up a victory. Elisaul Pimentel did the honors on Saturday, following in the footsteps of Jason Adam, Andy Ferguson and Brooks Pounders. Pounders also won on June 26 at Potomac. Those have been the only wins by a Wilmington starter since Sugar Ray Marimon went to 4-0 with a victory against Carolina on June 5. The Rocks have not had their starter post a win in this many consecutive games since they got five straight starting triumphs from May 18-21, 2011. Since Sugar's last CL success, the team has played 35 games, going 13-22 in that time. It is no coincidence that three starters suffered injuries at the start of his long run. Santiago Garrido, Greg Billo and Leondy Perez have all been on the shelf since suffering their respective injuries over a week-long span from June 2-8.

1.21 GIGAWATTS: Earlier today, the Kansas City Royals announced a roster change with catcher Kevin David going to Low-A Kane County. Infielder Murray Watts has joined Wilmington in a corresponding move. David had only played 10 times over the team's first 23 games of the second half. He is expected to see increased playing time with the Cougars. Watts played mostly first base with the Cougars. He departed with a .212 average and a team-best nine homers.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from July 16, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central