SlagTown Showdown, 1st Place Biscuits, History Lesson

On Thursday the Biscuits rode up to Bham and took game one from the division leader Barons on the back of Jamie Schultz's fine start.
On Friday it was Austin Pruitt who shouldered the weight and brought eight innings of one run ball to take the W for Montgomery.
Next up in the rotation was Taylor Guerrieri.

Saturday saw the Biscuits come from behind and take an extra innings victory, stunning the largest crowd in Regions Field's short history for a share of first place in the Southern league North Division.

When the Barons hit a grand slam to take the lead in the 7th, Biscuits radio announcers were ready to hand the pennant to the other team. Yet Brady's Boys simply don't quit and on Saturday they kept playing their game and found a way to win the game and seal a series victory.

Whatever works, Brady!

ROAD TRIP
I went to the biscuits v barons game on Friday, it was my first away game of the year and also my first visit to the Bham ballpark. I have heard much about the new yard and enjoyed getting to see it in person. It is a nice ballpark, but I will always prefer our own Riverwalk in many ways. We saw some friends and enjoyed a tasty "Steel City Burger" loaded with Bacon and Egg on a ciabatta roll.

Juego
As for the game itself, Austin Pruitt took care of the Bham hitters and neutralized their top prospect in Tim Anderson - picked off twice and caught stealing.

SS Anderson

On 'Derson
In Saturdays game Anderson got himself thrown out of the game in the middle innings for arguing a 1-1 strike call.

With as much talent as Anderson brings to the team, its a break for the Biscuits when he takes himself out of a big game in such a way.

COMING UP:
Sunday is Kirsch-mas Day and the Biscuits will toss Jacob Faria on Monday. Biscuit fans have got to be feeling good about where the team is, but lurking on the schedule is a visit to the Smokies for a crucial six-game series.

For their work in this series already the Biscuits have assured themselves a life after Bham. The Barons could have turned the Skitz away with as much as a seven game advantage, but now it will take a monumental effort on the part of the Barons to get Montgomery out of town and still hold sole possession of first place.

Skitz and Barons know the feeling

REGINATTO RETURNS - AGAIN

Reginatto

Dude better wear springs in his pants as much as he bounces back and forth between Durham and Montgomery.

Leo played some third for the Bulls over the past few weeks and will come to the Biscuits as a backup now that Daniel Robertson has returned to nearly every day deployment at shortstop.

In a concomitant move, Reliever Kyle McPherson was put on the disabled list. Lets hope its not serious, Mac has been knocked around a bit in his time in the Gump but has been a fan fave.

GARTON
What I did notice in the game against the Barons was Ryan Garton looking vicious.

Its not a joke, at times this year he has looked like he was working hard at pitching to the catcher, but in Bham Garton was focused on attacking the hitter. Its a subtle difference to watch but a major difference in gameplay and result. Garton was stepping on hitters throats and not letting up.

Garton has brought down his ERA in the second half and we may be seeing the killer instinct in Ryan Garton. Once he got a hitter to two strikes, he didn't try to paint or avoid contact, he challenged the batters and overmatched them.

Listed at 5'11 170lbs, the Clearwater Kid has more oomph on his heater than alot of bigger guys who look like they throw harder - Garton is sneaky fast. The 34th round draft pick has climbed the ladder one rung at a time and improved at every level, he allows fewer baserunners now than he has in any of his pro seasons. MLB Prospect only bat .216 against him and is three times as likely to induce a ground ball than a ball hit in the air.

There is lots of history happening this week, including a bit of Barons-Montgomery rivalry!

AUGUST 16 1906
Montgomery pitcher W.Breitenstein shuts out the Atlanta Crackers on just 3 hits.

AUGUST 16 1920
Montgomery, AL
"Grey Sox Win Second From Knoxville Team - Locals Take Advantage of Visitors' Errors and Win Monday's Game -

Taking advantage of errors made by their opponents, the Montgomery Grey Sox team defeated the Knoxville Giants Monday afternoon by the score of 5 to 1. Dickey and Mason pitched good ball, but the former received poor support at critical stages of the game, while the local twirler was given jam up support whenever the visiting team threatened to score."

Burt Maxwell

AUGUST 17th 1906 
 Montgomery Pitcher Maxwell shuts out Atlanta on one hit. Montgomery squeaks out just 3 hits themselves, scoring once off Atlanta pitcher Cupid Childs.



AUGUST 18 1906
Willie Keeler strikes out for the second time in the season. Not Montgomery related, but WOW!

August 18th 1910 
The Birmingham Barons inaugurated Rickwood Field on August 18, 1910, by defeating the Montgomery Climbers in front of more than 10,000 fans.