Game 23: Not As Good

Again I skipped this game to instead pick up a new college park visited in Augusta (formerly State and once GRU). I then went from there to their typical home in Lake Olmstead Stadium, where our fellow SAL members Augusta GreenJackets reside. The GreenJackets were playing the Fireflies' next opponent in the Greensboro Grasshoppers, so I thought I might check them out. The Grasshoppers won a very ugly 6-4 contest.

Meanwhile back in Columbia, the Fireflies had another game against the Kannapolis Intimidators. After his on-base streak ended, the Fireflies decided it was time to rest Vinny Siena. That's a pretty big blow to the lineup though, as the Fireflies looked to take on the Intimidators with Tyler Badamo, who had one pretty good start early in Rome but has struggled since.

Milton Ramos put the Fireflies ahead 1-0 in the second inning after wild pitching had gotten Dash Winningham to second. I saw that on WIS, and thought it must have been a good night for the Fireflies. But that would not be the case. Winningham started the third by making an error, followed by another Spirit Communications Park triple that led to Kannapolis leading 2-1 after 3. Badamo is not usually wild, but he pays for it whenever he is and that is what happened in the 4th as the Intimidators took advantage of a walk and hit batter to attack Badamo for a 5-1 lead in the 4th,

After the RBI single by Ramos, the Fireflies had very little. Siena is such a big part of the success of the Fireflies' lineup, and without him the whole team mostly struggled. David Thompson went hitless as he could be pitched around to better without Siena getting on base for him. The only hit after the second inning for the Fireflies was a home run by Ivan Wilson, who is tied for the Firefly lead, and is starting to show good power when he is able to make contact. But whatever hope the Fireflies had was sunk by a Ramos error in the 9th that led to two unearned runs off Christian Montgomery as Kannapolis would win 7-2. At least the Fireflies had over 4600 fans this Saturday night. While that's still below the team's goals, it's at least getting the team in the right direction.

Now here's the updated Firefly player standings. Aside from Wilson and Montgomery, most players saw their scores go down last night.

Player	Position	TB	R	RBI	BB/HBP	SB	CS	0 for 1	SO	Outs	K	R	ER	H	BB/HBP	W	S	L	Score
David Thompson	3B	42	20	27	11	1	0	58	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	351
P.J. Conlon	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	71	18	3	3	24	2	3	0	0	343
Vinny Siena	2B	37	21	8	21	1	1	44	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	290
Chase Ingram	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	66	28	8	6	21	5	2	0	1	279
Joe Shaw	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	48	21	5	5	16	3	2	0	1	209
Kevin Canelon	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	63	21	9	9	20	7	1	0	1	182
Ivan Wilson	CF	33	13	8	9	2	2	53	23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	178
Seth Davis	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	42	12	6	4	11	9	1	1	1	169
Tyler Bashlor	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	27	12	2	2	5	6	0	2	0	168
Alex Palsha	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	32	19	6	5	7	6	1	1	1	159
Thomas McIlraith	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	60	18	12	10	17	11	1	0	1	151
Johnny Magliozzi	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	24	6	4	4	8	2	1	2	0	142
Dash Winningham	1B	24	10	10	10	0	0	53	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	137
Jeff Diehl	DH	23	9	10	11	0	0	45	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	132
J.C. Rodriguez	DH	22	9	10	7	3	0	57	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	128
Tyler Badamo	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	74	13	15	13	28	6	1	0	2	121
Joe Tuschak	LF	25	7	11	6	0	1	49	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	116
Tucker Tharp	RF	19	8	5	2	2	1	29	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	110
Nicco Blank	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	5	1	1	2	3	0	0	0	81
Christian Montgomery	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	14	11	6	10	8	0	0	0	73
Milton Ramos	SS	15	6	10	5	0	0	46	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	63
Vicente Lupo	LF	11	5	5	5	0	1	20	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	62
Craig Missigman	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	37	15	8	8	12	10	0	0	0	60
Kevin Kaczmarski	RF	14	10	3	7	0	2	41	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	52
Jose Garcia	C	6	3	1	3	0	0	14	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	23
Tyler Moore	C	11	6	3	4	0	1	38	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	23
Natanael Ramos	C	4	1	1	2	0	0	10	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13
Witt Haggard	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	3	3	3	3	0	0	2	-58