After the Break

BISCUITS SERIES VS MOBILE JULY 18 2013

The second half shakeup is in swing after the break, Mike Colla will be the first starter. He will make the series opening start and for the first time this year Jake Thompson will have to take the hill in something other than the number one spot.

ROTATION ADJUSTMENT
If I heard the broadcast correctly, Colla will take the first turn, Mateo the second game, Romero in game three, Thomson in game four and Floethe will toss the 'nally. Its become hit and miss finding projected starters on the badly run Southern league website, the local Newspaper never posts the info and the team website is geared toward sales over stats.

documented ShO'malley sighting

INFIELDER NEEDS HELPING HAND
Riccio Torrez has a broken hand and wont be making any diving catches at third. While at post time no move had been made, expect him to inhabit the DL and require a concurrent roster move to fill out the infield. No word yet on how long hes out, but twitter info tells us that he has to have his roommate cut food for him.

ShOmalley Returns!
The move is probably going to be the activation of Shawn O'Malley, out since the Triassic Period with a sore back from walking upright. ShowMalley will be a welcome addition to the lineup.


The BayBears?
Only more of the same, fifteen wins and ten losses in the second half is the exact opposite of the Skitz record of 10wins - 15 losses. We were just in Mobile a week ago, dropping three of five games including a Friday doubleheader that saw us surrender 20 runs in a night. We scored four runs.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

We are in the middle of a rough stretch for the Montgomery Nine, playing five on the road vs the top team in our division, then coming home to face the number two team Jacksonville. I say the middle of a rough stretch because of the three previous series, two were against the top teams in the league, the BayBears and Smokies.

Look for changes in the batting order, due in part to injury and in part to sparking life into low batting averages. Moving Mahtook around in the order once he gets healthy is likely, so see if he can find a spot that he gets hits in.

Look for the pitching rotation to change, but the bullpen mix and match will continue as it has been. Every chance to succeed will be given the relievers, which are either quiet victories or loud losses.

Look for the roster to remain about the same, names that might be added in the next two weeks are ones that we are familiar with - players coming off the DL or returning from other levels.

HISTORY LESSON

MONTGOMERY SHORTSTOP JOE PEPE

NEW HAVEN HOME AFTER BASEBALL?

New Haven has a Pepe's Pizza, coincidence?

Joe Pepe

"This stuff is the kind of pizza that was, in actuality, invented here in America around the turn of the last century. Joe Pepe started his place where it still stands today, on Wooster Street, in New Haven, CT. Today it is still family run, by Joe's great grandson, Joe Biemonte. The original oven is still fired by Pennsylvania anthracite (hard) coal. 

You'll get into fist fights claiming who was first on the scene. On Wooster Street, it was Pepe's, then Sallie's. Nobody argues that. But the New York people, being more blustery, also lay claim, but the problem is, none of the ovens have been coal fired *and* baking pizza as long as Pepes. 
There is one older oven than Pepe's, but it is an acknowledged fact it was baking bread only for a few years after old Joe opened."
found posted on forum board for discussing pizza.

WAS INVENTOR OF PIZZA A CLIMBER?
Could the 1909 Montgomery Climbers have fielded the inventor of modern pizza playing shortstop? He played in New Haven for a few years, stranger things have happened than a ballplayer opening a restaurant.

A quick call to the pizzeria in question uncovers the fact that they opened in 1925. I ask about Joe the founder and if he ever played ball and am told to ask the owners, Joes grandkids.

They are among the royalty of pizza in America, if not the world. While Philadelphians debate which of the cheesesteaks are tops, other east coasters make special trips to the mecca of pizza shops in New Haven and the surrounding area. These guys are legend!

Not wanting to come up on an interview unprepared, I gathered my many Joe Pepe bits and snips and clippings and articles and box scores and stats.

Thats when I came across this item.

Ah.
So maybe not the Joe Pepe who invented pizza in 1925.

Anniston Star, Monday December 5th, 1921

Indeed, Joe passed away in December 1921, at home in New York at age 30. 

JOE PEPE
DOB April 10, 1891
DOD Dec 4, 1921.
Throws: Right
Bats: Right

1600 career hits, 1800+ games and a lifetime .245 batting average are Joe Pepe's numbers over 15 seasons, 1906-1921. His only baseball card appearance seems to be the one he makes while with Montgomery.

Baseball Reference lists his Date of Birth as April 10th 1891. The Federal Government issues a social security card to a Joe Pepe, but the birth date is listed as 22 May 1898 and thus not likely the infielder for the Climbers.