You’d think I’d have a little more time for blogging, but as is often the case during a three (or four) day weekend, there’s actually a little less.

Quick FLP update - Danny Sandoval began his season with the Buffalo Bisons, but has played the last 28 games with the Syracuse Chiefs.  His fortunes in Syracuse have taken a most decided turn for the better - in 43 games with the Bisons, he hit .247.  In a Chiefs jersey?  He’s raised his average by 74 points to .321 and his OBP 63 points to .372.  His slugging percentage is a whopping 200 points better in Syracuse.

One of the last remaining FLPs still doing duty with the big club in Philadelphia is Clay “Air Miles” Condrey.  Funny, for all the time he spent here in Ottawa, I’m still going through my “less extensive than John Bradley’s” photo archive for a single photo of Clay.   I’ll keep looking, but meanwhile, it seems that Clay is about to log more time on a plane:

PHILADELPHIA — Entering a game with the bases loaded can be a nervous time for any reliever, and the Phillies’ Clay Condrey is no exception.

Making the right pitch in such a spot is nothing compared to what he’ll experience during Monday’s day off. Condrey headed home to Navasota, Texas — about 3 1/2 hours from Arlington, where the team finished a three-game series — to witness the birth of his first child.

It doesn’t matter that his wife will be doing all the work.

“Right now, I’m nervous more than anything,” he said. “She’s having a C-section. I’m sure they do those things all the time, just not with my wife.”

Condrey has received permission to spend two days with his wife, Elizabeth, and his son, and is expected to rejoin the team Thursday in Atlanta.

Best wishes to Clay and family and congratulations on the new arrival.

Finally, a quick Q+A from the Philadelphia Inquirer with Clay Condrey - figured we’d go with the “breaking news” story first.

Q: It’s Game 7 of the World Series and you recover So Taguchi’s walkoff home run in the bullpen. Are you giving the ball to Taguchi or Cooperstown, or are you Mientkiewicz-ing it?

- Kevin K., Mt. Laurel, N.J.
A: I give it to So. It’s not mine. It would mean something more for him to tell stories.

Q: How did you avoid suspension during triple-A Portland’s brawl with a Las Vegas 51’s fan in 2003 [every member of the Portland Beavers except Condrey was suspended after they chased a fan into the stands after he threw a soft squeezeball at Tagg Bozied]?

- John T., Montclair, N.J.
A: It was after the game and I was inside icing my shoulder. I was starting that year, so I was inside. They didn’t come into the clubhouse for about five or 10 minutes. I had the ice and I was sitting on the couch. I went to take it off and started going outside, but they were coming in whooping and hollering and I realized I was in my underwear so I wasn’t going outside. I didn’t really know what was going on until they came in.

Q: Being an avid outdoorsman, do you, like “Sack Master” in the movie Wedding Crashers, hunt quail? - Greg P., Hoboken, N.J.
A: I don’t hunt quail. I hunt deer, dove, duck. That’s it. Rabbits. Whatever I can eat.

Q: Squirrels?

A: Squirrels, too. It’s good stuff.

Q: Have you had a raccoon?

A: Yeah, I was forced to eat one once. It’s very greasy and very tough. I’ve had armadillo one time. It’s the same type of deal. The armadillo is probably the worst thing I’ve eaten. We ate it because we shot it, and anything we shoot we’re supposed to eat.

Okay, now finally.  FOTL, the Vermont Lake Monsters sit in first place in the very tight Stedler division with a record of 7-6.

A recent conversation provoked a Google search of FLP, Bobby Darula.  We watched Bobby when he was with the Lynx in 2005 during the Orioles affiliation days.  Zak appreciated his hustle and throwback uniform style - high socks, short pants.  Bobby’s played the last three seasons in Bridgeport, Connecticut for the Bluefish of the Independent Atlantic League. 

In other, more recent FLP news, after struggling in AAA, Joe Bisenius appears to be getting things back on track.  Regulars will know that Joe pitched most of last season in Ottawa like Zack Segovia: Injured.  Over his last ten games, in 14.1 innings of work, he’s 1-1 with 8Ks and an ERA of 1.88.

What a difference a year makes, not to mention good health. Bisenius was keenly aware some had written him off following last season.

“It comes with the territory of being a 12th-round pick,” he said. “If I was a first- or second-rounder it probably never would have happened. Being a 12th-round pick you kind of get overlooked a lot. You’ve got to deal with it. Personally I think the draft’s a little overrated. After the first or second round it’s kind of a crapshoot. It seems if you get picked late in the draft you have to pay for it the rest of your professional career. I’m used to it.”

To make it in this game, especially as a pitcher from an NAIA school such as Bisenius was, you almost have to adopt the attitude of a runway model.

“I’ve always had pretty good stuff,” said Bisenius, who never doubted his abilities from the start. “I have decent velocity and I always had a real good curveball. When I got drafted, coming in I expected to see all these guys picked ahead of me with better stuff, throwing harder, with better breaking stuff. When I got there I realized I was as good if not better than a lot of those guys.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before I opened some eyes and eventually got a shot at the big leagues, and I did.”

Fastball command has been a priority the last couple of seasons. This year, for example, Bisenius has issued 10 walks in 20 innings while striking out 13. Following a slight adjustment by Filer, however, Bisenius has been able to throw more downhill lately and his location has improved in recent outings.

“I’m throwing every day with no pain,” Bisenius said. “My arm feels great compared to last year when I had a lot of shoulder issues and with my arm. This year I feel 100 percent.”

Finishing up today with news that Gookie Dawkins has been traded out of the Windy City to Kansas City for future considerations.  This will be the fourth team this season for Gookie - Lehigh Valley (6 games), Reading (19), Charlotte (12)  and finally the Omaha Royals (10) in the Pacific Coast League.

Thanks to readers Nick and Jim for the updates.  Nick has posted up on the stats of most (all?) of the FLP still in circulation:

An update on Former Lynx Players around AAA and the Atlantic League of Baseball

Batters: AVG/OBP/OPS
Luis Terrero (Norfolk): .336/.407/.937
Darnell McDonald (Rochester): .336/.392/.992
Joe Thurston (Pawtucket): .275/.308/.674
Danny Sandoval (Buffalo): .267/.333/.650
Howie Clark (Rochester): .260/.316/.701
Bernie Castro (Scranton): .520/.344/.603
Andy Tracy (Lehigh Valley): .230/.336/.780
Brennan King (Lehigh Valley): .225/.246/.541
Jason Jaramillo (Lehigh Valley): .192/.244/.536
Tim Raines (Tucson): .286/.326/.747
Fernando Tatis (New Orleans): .242/.345/.937
Bobby Darula (Bridgeport): .222/.324/.694
Henry Mateo (Bridgeport): .278/.365/.717
Curtis Pride (Southern Maryland): .211/.366/.699
Brent Abernathy (Long Island): .320/.346/.706
Val Majewski (Newark): .283/.382/.752
Keith Reed (Newark): .279/.324/.717
Matt Padgett (York): .246/.368/.754

Pitchers: W-L, ERA, IP
Brian Mazone (Lehigh Valley): 4-3, 3.48, 51.2
Hayden Penn (Norfolk): 2-2, 5.01, 46.2
JA Happ (Lehigh Valley): 0-4, 2.72, 46.1
Kane Davis (Syracuse): 2-5, 3.91. 46.0
JD Durbin (Lehigh Valley): 0-5, 9.42, 28.2
Andy Mitchell (Norfolk): 3-1, 2.52,
Heath Totten (Rochester): 0-1, 3.86, 21.0
Gary Knotts (Lehigh Valley): 0-0, 4.79, 20.2
John Ennis (Lehigh Valley): 1-2, 4.12, 19.2
Scott Strickland (Scranton): 2-0, 4.19, 19.1
Brian Sancehes (Columbus): 0-0, 1.10, 16.1
Matt Childers (Lehigh Valley): 0-1, 3.31. 16.1
Rick Bauer (Buffalo): 0-0, 0.59, 15.1
Steve Kline (Lehigh Valley): 0-1, 5.40, 13.1
Tony Armas (New Orleans): 1-4, 3.02, 47.2
Matt Riley (Las Vegas): 0-0, 3.29, 13.2
Tim Byrdak (Round Rock): 0-0, 3.68, 7.1
Tim Drew (Bridgeport): 2-1, 5.57, 21.0
TJ Tucker (Bridgeport): 0-0, 2.84, 6.1
Eric Dubose (Bridgeport): 0-2, 4.50, 22.0
Aaron Rakers (York): 1-1, 6.43, 14.0
Nick McCurdy (York): 0-0, 2.38, 11.1

Thanks Nick for taking care of the heavy lifting.

Reader Joe from Sioux City, Iowa alerts us to an article in the Reading Eagle - apparently people are still talkin’ about the UOLB.

International Burnie

Not sure why I checked in on “The ‘unofficial’ Ottawa Lynx Blog” the other day, since the town no longer has a team (the Phillies’ Triple-A club played there last season).

It had to be fate, because what I stumbled upon is classic stuff: A YouTube video of former Reading Phillies favorite Gary Burnham homering for the La New Bears of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.

Just as fun: The postgame interview featuring Burnham, who revealed to a bilingual reporter that the Taiwanese culture has been good for his game.

“The amount of fish that the Taiwanese people eat is a heckuva lot more than I eat in the U.S.,” Burnham said. “It’s also good for you. I can get in better shape, and maybe lose five pounds.”

Thanks for sending it along Joe.  In addition to Nick’s breakdown, I’ll try to have an update on one of Sioux City’s finest shortly.

Finally for today, a quick vid of an up and coming closer closer to home.

Thanks to Ronnie for the link to the excerpt from Chris Coste’s new book - I’d read an article/interview in the Philadelphia Inquirer, touting its release this week.  I’ve said this before, but after seeing how Coste conducted himself after being sent down to the minors at the beginning of 2007, I lost a lot of respect for him.  I get it - he had a great season with the Phils in 2006.  But with no disrespect intended, at the start of last year he had a whopping 198 plate appearances in the bigs.  198.  I’m sorry, but it wasn’t like they were sending down A-Rod.  Unfortunately, (from my perspective) that’s how he chose to conduct himself; as if he was above all of this. 

At one point last season, Kyle mentioned to me that it has been said that AAA is the “angriest level of baseball - because none of them think they should be playing here.  They all think they should be in the Majors”.  Thankfully, most of the guys don’t let that anger bleed through, and instead conduct themselves with a great deal of class - think Pedro Swann, Ron Calloway, Lou Collier.

Filed under “better late than never”:

Classy guy, Jim Rushford (pictured right) has been signed to a minor league contract by the Chicago White Sox.  Tough deal for Fabio Castro - he was sent down to Reading to start the 08 season.

Zack Segovia (Photo courtesy Patrick Shanks)

FLP and all around decent guy, Zack Segovia seems to have shaken off last year and the season ending surgery.  Zack threw a couple of innings in yesterday’s 3-1 Grapefruit League win over the Pittsburgh Pirates - the line on Zack:  2IP, no hits, no runs allowed.  Joe Bisenius also got in an inning, giving up a pair of hits, but didn’t allow any runs and picked up the save.  Quick breakdown on Zack from Phillybaseballnews:

Why he fell from #7 to #31: Last season started on such a promising note for Zack Segovia. He made a start in the bigs with the Phillies and even though he didn’t overwhelm the Florida Marlins, he made it through five innings and did pretty much what the Phillies were looking for him to do. From there though, his season fell apart as he struggled at Triple-A Ottawa and was finally dropped down to Double-A Reading and ultimately off the Phillies 40 man roster. He also suffered another injury and had yet another surgery, bringing back concerns about his health, which were expanded when Segovia attempted to pitch through an injury last season and ultimately wound up having shoulder surgery after the season.

Repertoire: Segovia has a low to mid-90s fastball that the Phillies are hoping returns after he underwent posterior shoulder release surgery. His slider has been a very good pitch for him and he generally has it in the low-80s. On all of his pitches, Segovia gets a lot of downward movement and usually keeps the ball in the park very well.

Pitching Style: Segovia generally lives by keeping the ball down in the zone and not letting hitters take him deep. He pitches ahead in the count and has strong control and is a smart pitcher, who is in control of himself on the mound. There have been some thoughts about moving Segovia to the bullpen and it’s a move that he has said he would be fine with if he was asked. He certainly has the bulldog mentality and prefers to go right after hitters, making a relief role a possibility down the road.

Projection: When the Phillies drafted Segovia out of high school, he was like most other high school pitchers and needed a lot of work. The Phillies believed that they had a great and potentially dominating pitcher in Segovia, but Tommy John surgery slowed his progress. If he returns from the most recent surgery in good shape, Segovia should be able to bounce back from what became pretty much of a lost season and there’s no reason - other than health - why he wouldn’t be able to do that. The early reports out of Clearwater where Segovia was rehabbing were very good. He seemed to be throwing without the stiffness that he showed at times during the season and thoughts were that he would be ready to go when the season starts. That’s all good news and if Segovia can pick up from where he was coming into next season, he would wind up being an option for an emergency call to the Phillies bullpen or starting rotation if they needed it.

ETA: The big question is whether Segovia truly did take a step back last season. The injury obviously played a part in his slide and the trouble that he had at pitching at Ottawa. If he’s healthy, Segovia would likely be ready to step in for the Phillies if they really needed him, but his health is a definite concern.

What else you should know about Zack Segovia: 

• Segovia had accepted a scholarship to the University of Miami, but signed with the Phillies out of high school.

Zack Segovia’s career stats

Despite my low expectations, tomorrow is still a big day.  As you may recall, Mr. Wolffe has asked the City to respond to his sublease proposal by November 14.  I’m not holding my breath, but hey - you never know.

First off, there was this seemingly troubling bit of news about the Grays dispersal draft.  I dug a little deeper and found out that this was done as a courtesy to the current Grays roster - it’s asking a lot of a baseball player to sign up for more than two years of constant “visitor” status.  If things don’t work out here in Ottawa for 2008, rest assurred there will be another “all road” team.  (blogger: good thing someone’s keeping their eye on things!)

Catching up with the Canadian team at the 2007 World Baseball Cup, Canada sits tied for third in their Group B division with a record of 4-2.  Not much detail yet from the official website, but today they beat Venezuela 6-3.  The US team (which includes Lynx catcher, Jason Jaramillo), sits atop the A pool with a 5-1 record.  It looks like playoffs begin on the 16th of November.

Games continue over in the Arizona Fall League, with the Peoria Saguaros sitting last in the West division with a record of 10-19.  Unfortunately, Joe Bisenius who last pitched on October 29, was shut down due to a groin injury.  Here’s Joe’s take on 2007:

Phillies reliever Joe Bisenius may just want to have 2007 erased from his memory. What began as such a promising year — he was on the Major League roster when the season began — quickly deteriorated, with the final blow coming last week when his AFL season came to an abrupt halt due to a strained groin muscle. He’s not sure when or if he’ll pitch again during the fall but says the injury isn’t so serious that it will impede his offseason work.

Bisenius got sent down to Triple-A Ottawa after pitching in a pair of games for the Phillies in April. He began to experience tightness in his shoulder while pitching in the International League and was on the shelf from the beginning of June to the middle of July. Though he pitched to a 0.84 ERA in his final seven regular-season outings, that simply lowered his ERA to 5.48, a far cry from the 2.25 ERA he posted while splitting the 2006 season between Class A Advanced Clearwater and Double-A Reading.

“It was a pretty disappointing year, to make the team out of Spring Training, then get sent down, then have the shoulder problems,” Bisenius said. “But you can take it two ways. You can mope or work harder. I’m working harder.

“It was frustrating to be on the DL in Triple-A and watch all the guys get called up to Philadelphia because of injuries. I feel like I’m throwing the ball well again here. I had one bad outing and then last outing I strained my groin. It’s definitely been frustrating.”

Because John Russell was named skipper of the Pirates on Monday, he will not manage the final two weeks of the AFL season. The Phillies will have Dave Huppert take over the Saguaros’ managerial duties starting on Tuesday. Huppert managed the Class A Advanced Clearwater Threshers to a Florida State League championship in 2007 and the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws to a league title in 2006. … OF Xavier Paul (Dodgers) took an eight-game hitting streak into Monday’s action, having hit .400 (14-for-35) over that stretch to raise his AFL average to .268.

                                                                                            (MiLB news, November 5, 2007)

Then finally, for today, there’s this piece from Charles Gordon, wayyyy back on August 19.  Mr. Gordon clearly agrees with many who discovered that attending a Lynx game was about far more than just tallying up the boxscore - it was about the experience itself.  Money quote:

A game is not only a game. It’s also an environment. When you have your head in your electronics you become absent from that environment.

Take baseball, arguably the slowest of all sports, and therefore an ideal environment for electronic gizmos. All that time between pitches, the time between innings, the time when the manager takes out the right-handed pitcher so a left-handed pitcher can pitch to a left-handed batter and the left-handed pitcher has to warm up and then when the next batter is right-handed, the manager takes out the left-handed pitcher and puts in another right-hander and the right-hander has to warm up — during all that time you could be watching your monitor and getting replays of previous warmups… 

But if you had rented a hand-held video monitor at the Lynx Stadium on Wednesday night, you would have missed fine aspects of an excellent game, the kind of game that makes you realize what a loss it will be when the team leaves for Pennsylvania and becomes, as reported, the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs… You would also have missed the fans walking around, in a wild variety of garb and carrying a wild variety of things to eat. You would have missed the between-innings musical chairs game and the cynical speculation that it might be fixed because the cute little girl always wins. Other things would have escaped you, such as the mascots, large animal-like things in stuffed costumes with which you desperately avoided eye contact. On the other hand, you would have seen how kids flock to these things, if you didn’t have your head in a monitor, looking at replays.

How would you feel if you came home and someone told you that while you were looking at a monitor you had missed seeing a boy showing off a goatee made of pink cotton candy?

Read it all.  The rest, as they say, is here.

Sorry, but that’s all that time will allow for today (courtesy of scout.com)

Some Familiar Faces Likely To Exit
Bye-bye, Jose. (photo: Drew Hallowell/Getty)		By Chuck Hixson Publisher Posted Oct 8, 2007 After every season there are players who exit and this fall and winter will be no different in Philadelphia. With a number of free agents and some tough decisions to make, there could be a number of exits from the 2007 Phillies.
Over the course of a 162-game regular season, the Phillies scored more runs than any team in the National League. But in getting swept in their best-of-five Division Series by the Colorado Rockies, their vaunted offense produced only eight in three games and batted just .172 (16-for-93) in the series.”Nobody wants to go home right now,” free agent-to-be center fielder Aaron Rowand said. “We ran into a team that was extremely hot. We didn’t hold up our end of it. We didn’t hit.”In the knockout game, the Phils were held to three hits by hard-throwing Rockies rookie right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez. Shane Victorino’s game-tying solo homer in the seventh inning was their only big hit as the Phillies dropped their third straight game for the first time since September third. The Phillies’ offense failure was profound. Utley went 2-for-11 (.182) with five strikeouts. Ryan Howard went 3-for-12 (.250) with seven strikeouts. Jimmy Rollins went 2-for-11 (.182). Rowand went 1-for-12 (.083). “We were chasing balls out of the strike zone, and we were getting overanxious,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “That’s the sign of a time that’s … I wouldn’t call it pressing, I would say we were anxious, like we wanted it too bad or tried too hard or whatever.” So, which of the 2007 Phillies are likely to be back and who are the ones likely to exit? Free Agents: Antonio Alfonseca, Freddy Garcia, Tadahito Iguchi, Jon Lieber, Kyle Lohse, Jose Mesa, J.C. Romero, Aaron Rowand. Alfonseca, Garcia, Lieber and Mesa are goners. The Phillies would be interested in re-signing Iguchi, Lohse and Romero unless they out-price themselves. Iguchi and Werth could also look to find starting jobs elsewhere. Rowand is the big question mark, but with Ryan Howard eligible for free agency and liable to get a big chunk of change either through an arbitrator or a long-term deal with the Phillies, there may not be enough money to keep Rowand. Arbitration Eligible: Geoff Geary, Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson and Jayson Werth. Howard is going to get big bucks. Madson’s late season injury could hurt him, but he won’t be needing to borrow money from anyone. Geary will likely avoid arbitration and take what the Phillies offer him. Options: Rod Barajas ($5 million or [BODY].5 million buyout), Julio Mateo ($1.5 million or [BODY].1 million buyout), Abraham Nunez ($2 million or [BODY].355 million buyout). Barajas isn’t going to get $5 million from the Phillies and Mateo isn’t going to get $1.5 million, although he may need it to pay his lawyers to defend him from domestic abuse charges that he’s facing. Nunez is up in the air; the Phillies need an upgrade at third base, but Nunez is a nice option to bring off the bench. To find out the contract status of your favorite Phillie, just check out our Player Contracts page.

Now we know that shortly after this article went to press, Barajas and Nunez had their contracts bought out by the team.  Kane Davis was also DFA’d - presumably if he clears waivers, he’ll be back with the Lynx.  Does the loss of Barajas open up a spot for Jason Jaramillo?  Doubtful.  Most of the experts think he needs another season at the AAA level.  And speaking of the Lynx catcher, did you know:

Jaramillo has a solid background in baseball. His father has been a well respected hitting coach both in the minors and the major leagues. That didn’t help Jaramillo’s two older brothers too much though. Both played minor league ball and both sputtered when they reached the AA level. There are also a couple of interesting Phillies connections. Jaramillo was originally drafted out of high school by the Phillies. They took him in the 39th round of the 2001 Draft. Instead of signing with the Phillies, he opted to play for Oklahoma State, where he was coached by Robbie Wine, the son of former Phillie player, coach and scout Bobby Wine. If you need more of a Phillies connection; Jaramillo played in the Cape Cod League for the league champion Orleans Cardinals. Also on that team were Phillie farmhands Anthony Buffone, who was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2004 draft, and Myron Leslie, who the Phillies drafted in the 11th round of the 2003 Draft.

                                                                                                          [scout.com]

Baseball stuff for a change - but it’ll have to be quick, today was the day we celebrated Thanksgiving.

Lynx pitcher of the year, J.A. Happ was scheduled to play in the Arizona Fall League, but has been sidelined again due to injury.  Like Zack Segovia’s season, this one has been largely forgettable for Mr. Happ - this time it’s a sore elbow which will keep him off the diamond.  Zack Segovia’s season ended with shoulder surgery down in Clearwater - he’s expected to be ready for spring training.

The Arizona Fall League is scheduled to get underway this Tuesday with Jason Jaramillo backstopping the Peoria Seguaros along with fellow former Lynx player (FLP) Joe Bisenius.  Best wishes go out to both players.

Finally, sadly, the Phillies post-season was over before it even began.  Thankfully, no part of the fact that they lost in three straight can be hung on any FLP.

Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend - I should have something up tomorrow, but if not, Tuesday for sure.

For those of you not in the Ottawa area, summer has finally arrived.  It wasn’t this warm in July - and believe me, most of us aren’t complaining about it.  It does seem odd though, to not be thinking about baseball, or at least local baseball - I feel like I should be heading out to the Stadium, or checking in on the out of town scores.  Hard to believe that the season ended over three weeks ago….

Some end of season awards were handed out last week by the Phillies for the best player and pitcher in their minor league system.  One of them, Mike Zagurski, spent a bit of time right here in Ottawa.  Mike picked up the Paul Owens award for the ”best pitcher in the minor league organization in 2007″.  Congratulations Mike!

Mike Zagurski in his Ottawa uni.

Not the clearest shot, but I was having trouble with the camera and the flash that night.

Afraid that’s all I’ve got time for today - it’ll be interesting to see and hear more about Landsdowne Park in the next few days.  Has anyone heard if the plan includes renovating the Civic Centre as well?

A lonely figure in right field.

Honestly, I’m sure if I refer to Gary Burnham as a “blog favorite” again, a few of you will tune the blog out for good - but really, how can you not love this guy?  A home run, taking one for the team on the right arm, scoring from first (!!) - the man was pumped last night, letting out a yell as he returned to the dugout after coming around to score the team’s fifth run.

Who didn’t have a good night last night?  Sure, Chris Roberson made a few base running errors, but you’d hate for a guy with his speed to start second guessing.  Brennan King went o’fer, but he was solid defensively in a game that had more than it’s fair share of errors.

High fives for Joe Thurston’s third HR of the season.

And how big was Jim Rushford’s strike to JJ in the third?  The play at the plate (as captured by crack blog photographer Zechariah Kiiffner), stopped the bleeding at 3 runs and may have been the pivotal play of the game.

Morales, DOA. (photo credit: Zechariah Kiiffner)

Nice work by Ken “Bubba” Nelson, to pick himself up off the mat after giving up three runs and the lead, mowing down the Red Wings until he gave way to Geoff Geary who also had a strong outing (3 up -  3 down in the seventh, with 2 Ks).

Ken, mowing them down (blogger: Sorry. We just can’t call someone “Bubba”)

Blog interviewee, Dusty Wathan also had a great night with a walk, an RBI and a run scored - all in front of family. Way to go Dusty!

A strong performance for Dad, Mr.  Dusty Wathan.

Lynx staff also had a strong night with the Harry Potter promotion - the kids all had a good time and the costumes and level of enthusiasm were fantastic.  Morale seems to be very strong right now, hopefully this weekend with the Expos will continue the “boost” everyone’s feeling off and on the field.

Fun crew member, Cory, bringin’ it.

Hopefully, we’ll be bringing back the brooms on Monday for a six game sweep!