June 10th MidSeries vs Stars - The End is Near!

With seven games left in the first half, all but one of the divisions teams are still holding out playoff hopes. The Biscuits are just a game and a half back, thanks in part to an odd number of games due to rainouts.

only 1.5 games out!

We finish the series with the North Division last place Huntsville Stars on Monday and Tuesday, getting a league wide day off for travel on wednesday when the teams head to the final series of the first half. Lets see if we can make any sense of whats going down!

Still in the hunt at 3rd

Montgomery vs Jacksonville - but be sure to let the bus driver know, it says Jackson Tn on the schedule! Jacksonville is in our division and in third place, just one game behind Division leader Mobile. The Suns are currently in a series vs the Barons at Bham.

Baybeays sneak in 1st

 Baybears vs Smokies
Mobile, who havent led until this week, find themselves atop the standings during the current series at home vs the Smokies. They look pretty good and head to Pensacola to face the Wahoos who are recently hot and yet are also the first team eliminated from first half contention.

Out of it this half, but hot!

Braves were tops, now 2nd

Braves vs Wahoos
Also a factor, second place Mississippi had a stranglehold on the top spot until the Wahoos knocked them out this week after beating up on us. Once the Wahoos series vs the Braves is over, the Braves host the Smokies, who are in second place but effectively out of it in the North Division.

She better look that up...

What does it mean? It means the new league Prez is probably having to go to the rules and review what happens in case of a multi-way tie! What she will see is that we add up our W-L records against the other teams involved and the best one wins.

What the Skitz can do to avoid that is to win games, often. Piling onto the Stars for a pair of W's would be a nice start. We need to take the series in Jacksonville and hope the Wahoos and Smokies give us a little help.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

With a new guy tossing the sphere tonight, its tough to predict an outcome. I will say that the Skitz defense has been good lately, and we score runs late. I think we have a good chance in the two games vs the Stars even though we tend to play worse against bad teams - as evidenced by the Sunday defeat!
I believe rain is also a possibility on Monday, and a doubleheader could be rough on the Skitz bullpen.
Regardless of the outcome of this series, the Biscuits will go on the road with a good chance at winning the first half for the first time in their history. As a fan, you cant ask for much more than having a chance going into the last series!
 

NEWSKITZ

Victor Mateo was sent back to Port Charlotte, and not a moment too soon. He was obviously overmatched, and will go work on getting guys out without allowing them to reach base so often.

Also sent out was Andrew Bellatti, who pitched well at times and struggled other times.

Bellati vs Generals

In their place we welcome new Biscuit Mike Colla. Colla has decent numbers pitching in the indie Atlantic league, is a welcome addition to the Biscuits staff and will make his first start on Monday. Lucky for him its league worst Huntsville, as soft a landing as can be provided in the Southern League.

Mike Colla, newest Biscuit

Also, its nice that the Big Club is making moves with our team in mind for the first half pennant chase. Now we just need to get the guy some run support!

IN OTHER NEWS

The home field was nominated, Riverwalk Stadium could be the 8th Wonder of the World!

Well, it COULD be.
But probably wont, and if it is, there should be an investigation.

To clarify, there is a contest nominating the best stadiums in the country and the winner will be crowned the 8th wonder. Im not sure how one gets the authority to hand out that title, and I hope they dont abuse it.

hard to believe, but we may be just seven spots back!

BEHOLD! 

MY NEW HOME RUN CALL!

As an amateur announcer, I have to have my own home run style when calling a long shot, and when I heard someone using what I had been using on the air, I had to seek out a new one. And so, Behold!
I had a chance to try it out on a crowd this past week, as Kyeong Kang launched a moonshot over the right field wall and as it soared completely out of the yard I announced "BEHOLD!" and got a pretty good reaction!
Hopefully I get to use it alot more this season, and nobody else takes it from me for their own use. Keep away, potential broadcasters, find your own call!

TALL MAN

Last but not least, I had a chance to meet and talk with Loek Van Mil. He is indeed one of the nicest gentlemen I have ever met, and I thoroughly enjoyed our brief conversation. I look forward to getting another chance to talk with him in a few weeks when his team returns.

Loek Van Mil warming up

Mr Van Mil is the closer for the Wahoos, and is a little different than the usual prospect that comes thru. Not only is he the tallest man in baseball, his background of international baseball competition makes him even more unique.

Van Mil pitching at Riverwalk

He patiently answered all my questions and was totally cool when we had camera troubles. I dont usually beg a picture from a player, but he is such an interesting guy I had to! Thanks Loek!