Biscuits Bury Pennant Hopes, Welcome Wahoos

 The Biscuits swept a doubleheader and took four out of five games from the Braves, sending them packing and now we prepare to host the P-Cola Blue Wahoos.

 the Biscuits held a pre-game ceremony to bury their first-half pennant hopes

The Skitz played very good ball against the Braves, getting to just one game under .500 and evening their wins and losses at Riverwalk at 15 apiece this season.

Only former Biscuit no-no author Victor Mateo kept the Braves from being swept, tossing nine good innings against his former team.


WELCOME WAHOOS
However the Biscuits have a habit of playing to the competition, even the South Division cellar-dwelling Wahoos could be a threat as Montgomery let last place Jackson show them up in four of five games a few short weeks ago.

The Blue Wahoos are the Cincinnati Reds affiliate but the Pensacola crew has been woeful where it comes to the wins category. At 23w-35L only the aforementioned Jackson Generals are worse.

The Wahoos manager, Pat Kelly, is a former Yankee infielder and moonlights in the offseason as the general manager of the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian Baseball League (ABL).

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Look for good pitching on both teams, especially strikeouts.

SP Snell

The Biscuits have three pitchers who have tossed their way onto the AllStar roster, Mortensen-Snell-Schultz-Pruitt are as good or betterh than any Montgomery rotation in the past fifteen years.

strikeouts are facist

Yet the Wahoos have their own arms, top prospect Robert Stephenson's 71 strikeouts are second in the Cinci organization only to Johnny Queto with 73. 
P'cola starting pitcher Timothy Adleman has an ERA in the leagues top five.

Montgomery relievers Jimmy Patterson and Kyle Winkler are among the best in the league at getting swinging strikes.

Three Montgomery hitters are among the top ten in the futile stat, O'conner+Field+Leonard are creeping up on a combined 200 strikeouts.



Last but not least, look for prospects.
Jesse Winker, outfielder, is ranked as the #2 Reds prospect, teammate cornerman Kyle Waldrop #13 according to MLB.com. Look for Winker to hit the ball on the ground, especially to the right side of the infield.

SS Daniel Robertson DL Bound

 

Daniel Robertson is on his way to the Disabled List, he has injured his hamate bone while in Jacksonville and will require surgery to be performed on Monday.

Robertson has gone back to Tampa for the evaluation, operation and ensuing rehab. This type of injury can be as short as 4-6 weeks, or as long as several months.


JuneQ
We should be seeing more of Hector Guevara on the infield, alongside new arrival Juniel Querecuto, hereafter known simply as "JuneQ".

I admit to avoiding tough to spell names, I spent a guys whole career calling him G-Man instead of learning to spell Mark Grudzielanek (sp?) last name. Its not that I can't spell Juniels last name, but its just so much easier to call him JuneQ.

DJ KITTY NIGHT

DJ Kitty was on hand for Rays night, but I guess Raymond skipped the event. Its okay, we have met Raymond a few times, so it was cool to meet a new Rays mascot.

Lots of folks seemed to enjoy meeting DJ Kitty, getting a photo with the Rays-fan feline was a must!

DJ Kitty was available at the autograph area before the game and hung around during the game.  While the lineups were announced, DJ Kitty had a catnap on the field.

Around the third inning or so, it looked like Kitty was missing the Trop's air conditioning and took a bit of a break. However we did get to see DJ Kitty come back and we all had a nice seventh inning stretch and enjoyed the YMCA.

GAME NOTES 

Speedy Catcher DePew

The bobblehead/fireworks/Rays night crowd was treated to a victory, with the Biscuits batting around in the first inning.

Between the lines, the Jake DePew triple was the highlight of the game. Catchers legging out an extra base hit is a thing to watch.

Jake managed to find an extra gear as he rounded the second base bag on the way to his first career three base hit. The crowd went wild!

June Homestanding

Theres no place like home, theres no place like home....

The Biscuits may not be thinking like Dorothy in Oz with more losses than wins at Riverwalk, but they wont have a choice in the month of June. A ten game homestand opens Saturday against the Mississippi Braves, one of three opponents Montgomery welcomes this month. The Braves are in for five games and then we face the Pensacola Wahoos at the end of next week.

The Biscuits have been unable to get back to .500 and the Braves have a better record.

Its best not to look at the standings, unless there is a series of unnatural occurrences, the Skitz are playing out the string while waiting for the second half.


WHAT TO LOOK FOR - BISCUITS VS BRAVES

Saturday be sure to look for the Desmond Jennings Nodder, the biggest giveaway of the season for many Skitz fans. Jennings himself is excited about Rays night, having done a video piece and interacting with fans on twitter about the namesake giveaway.

Jennings is the Biscuits single season leader in stolen bases.


Look For Cats
Blog fans know we love DJ Kitty, and we get to hang with the party cat on Rays night, as well as Raymond, the Rays mascot.

Both fuzzy big league mascots will be in town to represent the parent club in a carpeted, three-fingered fashion, as the Biscuits and Rays heed the demands of the blog!


Look For Dogs
This Sunday is Bark in the Park, always popular with stylish Ms.B.

Look for Former Biscuits Greats...

KD Kang

Victor Mateo and Kyeong Kang bring Biscuit history back to to Riverwalk. The author of the first Riverwalk no-hitter and the only man to lead the Biscuits in HR in back-to-back seasons arrive together as Ms.Braves.

Victor Mateo throws a pitch that will not be hit

Will they play Chocolate Rain when Kang comes to the plate? Lets hope.


Look For Pitchers...
Jason Hursh and Tyrell Jenkins for the Braves, both with excellent skills. Hursh was with Mississip last summer, Jenkins only appearance in Montgomery has been at Academy Sports with the Braves Caravan in February.

For Montgomery, Snell, Schultz and Mortensen have been pretty good too. With such quality starting pitching on both sides, look for games to fall into the hands of the bullpens.



GO FIGURE
Biscuit pitchers are tops in the league in strikeouts with 421, the Braves are last with 326, yet the Braves 3.47 ERA is more than half a run better than Montgomery's.   

BILOXI OWNERS PONY UP TO END SAGA

The BS team?

Looks like they will finally get the park open in Biloxi. Team owners were rebuffed when they asked for a pile of taxpayer money, but found the cash themselves to get the park approved. For the mayor it was a no brainer, either approve the park or keep paying ten grand a game!
Either way it will be good to see this zit off the face of the league, letting us move on to the fun on the field.

HISTORY TIME!

JUNE 7th 1906

Southern League Umpire Barrett puts three Shreveport players out of the game for kicking (arguing and heckling). Shreveport is compelled to forfeit due to lack of players.

RoadTrip to Rickwood Photo Album

So last week I went to the Rickwood Classic. Historic ballpark, throwback uniforms, its an awesome trip that I can't recommend enough. I took a few pics, since the Biscuits are on the road, I guess its a good time to share them!

They post the lineups on a chalkboard near the turnstiles.

The hometown Barons in white and red, visiting Jacksonville wore yellow and black. The theme of the game was 1948.

The Barons pitcher Frankie Montas warms before the game, his 1948 style uni complete with stirrups.

The teams loosened up on the field before the game as a jazz band played "Good Rockin Tonight" and other music of the 40s era.

 

The Barons are led by shortstop Tim Anderson, a top prospect for the White Sox, he made several great defensive plays in the field.

A few folding chairs served the Barons coaching staff, who watched from in front of the dugout

The dugouts aren't large, but very much "dug out" and below field level, helping keep players cool yet adding a dank, musty feel to the bench.

Only a few guys can get out of the sun in the dugout, the benches were installed in an era when rosters held just ten men.

There are no underground passages to the clubhouse at Rickwood, players must pass thru the crowd when they leave.

While Umpire J.J.January gets a look, Barons catcher Adrian Nieto cradles the ball and Suns third baseman Terrence Dayleg takes the pitch

The Jacksonville Suns prepare to take the field in the bottom of the inning. The old-style crowned field obscures much of the view of the opposing dugout

Players sit on the dugouts and enjoy the afternoon views.

Barons starter Myles Jaye delivers a second-inning pitch, vintage style ads adorn the outfield walls, adding to the feel of the ballpark.

NO BETTING IN THIS PARK

Fans sit under the roof, out of the sun and players are reminded not to wager at Rickwood. 

 Downtown Bham rises in the background in stark contrast to the old ballpark.

The field was in pristine condition for the 20th annual Rickwood Classic.

A ballgame was going on, but it was tough for me to focus on the game. Not so for Suns SP Kendry Flores, who nearly picked this Barons runner off.

STRAW MAN

Of course I met the guest of honor, former NY All-Star outfielder Darryl Strawberry. He was a friendly and outgoing guy, it was a pleasure indeed.

And yes, I wore my House of David uniform, though the stirrups can't be seen in the pic. I posed for quite a few photos and answered questions about the HOD for anyone who asked.

Swing and a drive.... foul. Brian Fletcher drives a ball hard but foul.

The Rickwood scoreboard is still mostly hand-operated. Volunteers sweat it out in the black metal box, posting run totals and keeping track of the batteries. Balls, strikes and outs are run from the pressbox these days, though the indicator lights are very 1940s.

Brian Ellington pitches in the 7th inning as Jacksonville shortstop Austin Nola patrols the infield.

Along the left-field foul line, the Jacksonville bullpen had plenty of their team's namesake - the Sun. The open fence made it easy to get to know the relievers, who were happy to chat about having learned about the Rickwood just the night before the game.

Barons outfielders Hawkins, May and Marrero confer during a pitching change.

A close play at second as Jacksonville's Kenny Wilson swipes second base, avoiding SS Tim Anderson's tag.

Umpire Adam Beck looks on, about to make the "safe" call.

As the Barons look on from atop their dugout, the Jacksonville team scores three runs late to put the game out of reach. The home team would fall 8-2 in this game.