Columbus game notes

Published on June 5, 2005 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Columbus Catfish News Release


Today at Golden Park: The Columbus Catfish (22-34, 8th in the SAL-Southern, 16.0 GB of first place) have an opportunity to take the lead in a four-game series with the Asheville Tourists (31-24, 3rd in the SAL-Southern, 6.5 GB of first), the Single-A Affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The Catfish and Tourists have split the first two games of the series, with Columbus prevailing last night 4-1. Today at 2:00 PM at Golden Park, RHP Chris Malone starts for the Catfish, having completed his last two games. Malone's last start against Greenville proved close to historic, as he retired the first 24 batters before allowing the first baserunner in the ninth inning on a leadoff single. In the 121 year history of professional baseball in Columbus, there has never been a nine-inning perfect game.

Yesterday: RF Ryan Russ hit a two-run HR in the second inning and added an RBI triple in the third inning, helping to lead to the Catfish to a 4-1 win over Asheville. RHP Phil Sobkow threw five strong innings for the Catfish, allowing just one unearned run on six hits, and RHP Kyle Wilson picked up his first Catfish save with a scoreless ninth inning. Columbus improves to 22-34 with the 4-1 win, and Asheville falls to 31-24 with a split in the first two games of a fourgame set.

Chris Malone: RHP Chris Malone has been outstanding in his five starts this season. The Riverbank, CA native's near-perfect game last Tuesday is just one of many great outings for the first-year professional this season. As a starter this year, Malone is 4-1 with an ERA of 0.99 (four earned runs in 36.1 IP). He made a spot start in early May for Columbus and entered the rotation on a full time basis on May 15th with a win over Augusta. In his last two games, Malone has fired two complete games, a total of 18.0 IP, allowing four hits, two runs (one earned), walking two and striking out 10. Overall, Malone is second in the SAL in complete games with two and seventh in the league with a 2.36 ERA. This is Malone's first professional season after signing a free agent contract in August 2004 out of San Joaquin Delta JC in California.

The Asheville Tourists: The Single-A Affiliate of the Colorado Rockies are 31-24 this season in third place in the SAL-Southern. Led by Manager Joe Mikulik, the Tourists have won seven of their last ten games. The Tourists are second in the league league in batting average, hitting .274 as a team and hitting 54 HR. OF Matt Miller leads the SAL in hits with 81, is third in the league with a .357 average and has added 11 HR. Their pitching staff sports a 4.52 ERA, good enough for 14th in SAL. RHP Matt Daley is second in the league with six wins (all relief).

So Close: The Fish are 3-15 this season in one run games. While the Fish have a 2-3 record in one-run games at Golden Park, they are 1-12 away from home in one-run games.

Home Sweet Home: Overall, the Catfish are 7-20 on the road in 2005 while they sport a 15-14 record at Golden Park. The Catfish broke a six-game road losing streak on Tuesday with RHP Chris Malone's near-perfect game, and won the last three games in Greenville, also winning their first series on the road in 2005 and their third overall. The Fish have hit the ball better at home, posting a .279 home batting average with an average of 4.73 runs per game while hitting just .223 on the road and averaging just 3.44 runs per game. Eight of the next ten Catfish games are road contests.

Hitting Notes: The Catfish have a team batting average of .252 (9th in the SAL). The Catfish have hit 31 HR, ninth in the league. RF Ryan Russ's recent hot streak gives him the team lead in batting average with a .290 mark. CF Jamie Hoffmann is the team leader in hits with 61 after a two hit game yesterday. SS Lucas May leads the team with 36 RBI. He is tied for the team lead in round-trippers (7) with 2B Travis Denker.

Pitching Notes: The Catfish team ERA stands now at 3.60 after 56 games (5th SAL). The ERA is the lowest it has been in 2005 and the ranking of 5th best in the league is the best for the Fish all season. While the Catfish had the league's highest ERA as recently as May 2nd, the team's pitching staff has done its part over the last three weeks to keep the club competitive. The drive in lowering team ERA has been led by starting pitching. RHP Blake Johnson has given up just three earned runs in his last six starts. RHP Chris Malone has given up just four earned runs in five starts (36.1 IP). RHP Brandon Weeden tossed his fourth straight quality start Thursday, while LHP Scott Elbert has a 2.65 ERA and has won his last two starts. LHP Carlos Alvarez leads the pitching staff out of the bullpen with a 0.35 ERA, having allowed just one earned run in 26 innings. RHP Albenis Castillo has pitched well out of the bullpen lately and leads the team in saves with three.

Team Defense: The Catfish have committed 78 errors in 56 games this season. The Catfish committed two errors last night in the 4-1 win over Asheville and have made four in the series.

Coming From Behind: Last Friday, the Catfish trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, only to tie the game in the seventh and take the lead with six runs in the eighth inning. The comeback win is just the second for the Catfish this season when they have trailed in the seventh inning or later. The only other victory came in the Columbus Home Opener on April 14th, when the Fish trailed 3-1 in the 12th inning only to rally for a 4-3 win. Vs. LHP/vs. RHP: The Catfish have had better success against right-handers this season, as they are hitting .256 vs. .235 against LHP. However, the Catfish have beaten left-handers in three of the last four games.

Sealing the Deal: The Catfish have blown saves ten times in 2005. The Catfish have lost five leads in the ninth inning this season and three leads in the eighth inning, going on to lose each game. There has not been a game in which the Catfish have blown a save and come back to win. Russ's Rush: RF Ryan Russ started the season 12-66 but after a terrific week (ending Sunday), we was named the South Atlantic League's Player of the Week, the first such honor for a Catfish hitter this season. For the week, Russ was 12-20 with two doubles, two triples, a homerun, 8 RBI, eight runs, he had a .650 OBP, and a 1.050 slugging percentage. Since May 23rd, Russ is 19-41 (.463) with four doubles, three triples, three HR, and 14 RBI in 12 games.

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 5, 2005


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