It’s easy to understand why the team’s outlook appeared bleak last week. Gloomy weather aside, the Blue Wahoos had dropped six straight home games while suffering a four-game sweep against Mississippi. Since August 10, Pensacola had been haunted by a ninth-inning grand slam that set a sixteen-inning nightmare into motion and reversed the squad’s course. Before a six-game set against the Stars, the Fish had been outscored 29-10, outhit 62-42 and held to a 6-for-50 clip with runners in scoring position since that fateful splashdown.
LaMarre has hits in his last six games and looks to build on his best streak of the season against Birmingham.
The Wahoos were looking at their biggest deficit of the second half as they boarded the bus to Huntsville, but a successful week has all but changed the tune. Boosted by a resounding series victory, the Fish are back above .500 after taking five from a gritty North Division foe and trail the first-place Jacksonville Suns by four games. The kicker? Pensacola has been stuck in fourth place for the past two weeks, and the team is down to their final ten games of the 2013 season.
That’s not to discount the magnificent comeback effort of a team that began the month 7-2 before the fortunes flipped. In fact, much of the month’s early momentum came with a strong showing against the Birmingham Barons. Pensacola set franchise records in the first meeting and finished with sixteen runs on seventeen hits, ultimately claiming three games at the newly-christened Regions Field. The feat is hardly a small one against a Barons’ offense that cruised to a first-half division victory in June and currently boasts seven of the top twenty prospects in the Chicago White Sox organization.
However, the Barons have been stuck in a tailspin this month, garnering a 6-15 record in August while losing eleven of their last fifteen games. Birmingham, who has spent just fourteen games below .500 this season, has lost some significant luggage along the way as slugger Marcus Semien departed for Triple-A Charlotte at the start of the month. A team with the best record in the Southern League has mustered just the fifth-best batting average on the circuit, a foreboding sign with the postseason knocking on the door.
What can the Wahoos expect with the playoffs approaching? Put simply, the Fish can allay these concerns so long as they keep winning; a convincing series victory, paired with a stroke of bad luck for Jacksonville, can delay the issue to the season finale in Mobile. This winning combination is spearheaded by Ryan LaMarre, who has worked a season-best hitting streak of six games in his return to the leadoff spot. Daniel Renken also returns to the rotation in place of departed hurler Tim Crabbe. The former has turned around a 2-6 record in the season’s first three months to a 4-2 clip since, but the latter will be hard to replace. Crabbe was a perfect 3-0 this month before he earned a promotion to Triple-A Louisville last night.
In the words of Yankees legend Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over!”
RUNDOWN
2013: Pensacola leads season series 3 games to 2
Next meeting: May 10-14, 2014 (Birmingham)
Wahoos/Barons all-time game record: 12-5
Series record: 3-0-0
In Birmingham: 7-2
In Pensacola: 5-3
Expected Starters
Friday: RHP Carlos Contreras (2-2, 2.81 ERA) vs. LHP Scott Snodgress (11-9, 4.44 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Daniel Renken (6-8, 3.62 ERA) vs. RHP Scott Carroll (0-2, 6.35 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Jon Moscot (2-1, 4.95 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Beck (0-2, 5.54 ERA)
Monday: RHP Josh Smith (9-9, 3.51 ERA) vs. LHP Spencer Arroyo (8-6, 3.37 ERA)
Tuesday: RHP Robert Stephenson (0-1, 1.64 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Bassitt (4-2, 2.11 ERA)
WHEN LAST THEY MET
Black: 4-for-13 (2B, HR, 2 RBI, 4 R)
Jacobs: 5-for-21 (2 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R)
Puckett: 9-for-18 (3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R)
McCray: 1-0, 0.00 ERA (8.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K)
Fun Fact: Puckett, a member of the inaugural roster, leads Birmingham hitters in August with a .304 average (21-for-69) in twenty-one games.
BARON TO WATCH
Dan Black, 1B
Bats: S Throws: R
Black may be out of prospect range at 26, but the veteran farmhand has been a powerful addition to Birmingham in his first Double-A season. The infielder looks to build on his third year of one hundred hits or more after claiming the Carolina League MVP award last season. Black lead the circuit with 157 knocks and finished in the top five of several statistical categories, including average (2nd, .315), RBI (2nd, 88) and on-base percentage (3rd, .392). The switch-hitter, twice named one of MiLB.com’s leading organizational All-Stars, holds the active Barons lead with a .287 average in addition to fifteen longballs and seventy-seven RBI entering Friday’s action.
