In the first game, Tyler Badamo and the Fireflies were cruising with a 5-0 lead after 4 1/2 innings when the left field lights went out. If it happened a half inning later, the game would be official. Instead they played the second half of the game the following day which denied Badamo the official win. Greenville started the resumption with two runs off Johnny Magliozzi, but the weak Drive bullpen was overwhelmed by the Firefly bats for a 13-3 Columbia win. At some point I want to do a team-by-team breakdown of home games canceled or postponed and this will be a weird one to put in the tally for Greenville.
That meant the second game would only go 7 innings. Joe Shaw did what he has done in his most recent starts, which is to struggle while not getting smacked either but still losing, as the Fireflies couldn't get it going in a 5-4 loss. Maybe if we had a 9 inning game the Fireflies could have beaten the Drive bullpen again, but were not allowed the chance due to Greenville's poor lighting the night before. And let's not forget how Greenville got their team: because it was believed Capital City Stadium was too poor a facility for professional baseball. Maybe somebody with better lighting can take the Drive away.
The third game was a bit like the second, only that the roles were reversed and Greenville couldn't overcome a poor start as the Fireflies hit just well enough to win 6-4.
The fourth game was played on a Tuesday afternoon as Greenville got school groups to come out as Columbia hoped to do earlier and still hopes to do later. This should have been an easy win for the Fireflies who led 7-0 at the stretch, but it turns out the Fireflies couldn't get any defense aside from P.J. Conlon's pitching. But the Fireflies still held on for a 7-6 win to take the series. The Fireflies are 18-14, but those bad games to start in Charleston have the Fireflies 2 1/2 back of the RiverDogs as we are nearly halfway through the first half.
So now let's take a look at each player's score and how they did this series:
1. P.J. Conlon: 122
P.J. Conlon had another outstanding start Tuesday going 6 2/3 innings with 6 strikeouts and no earned runs. The bullpen nearly blew it for him, but Conlon is now 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA. Overall Conlon has to be considered the most effective Firefly, as David Thompson's main strength is hitting with RISP which may or may not mean anything in the long run.
2. Alex Palsha: 86
Palsha came through with a big save Monday and had to do it again Tuesday as Christian Montgomery nearly blew it in the 9th. Palsha may turn out to be a reliable closer after all despite a rough start (to put it mildly) to the season.
3. J.C. Rodriguez: 70
Rodriguez is a veteran minor leaguer who needs a good season to keep going. His batting average has been very bad most of the season, but J.C. got it up this series from .193 to .224. He produced a lot of runs this weekend and was probably the MVP on Tuesday hiiting-wise. Overall he has a lot of tools as a utility player and if his average can continue to go up he might be potentially valuable.
4. Tyler Badamo: 59
Badamo has had a rough past few weeks, and seemed to snap out of it Saturday when the lights went out on him literally.Damn you Fluor Field!
5. David Thompson: 58
Without a doubt the best Firefly hitter, though Vinny Siena is getting on base a lot more. He always finds a way to produce runs though and did again this weekend despite his batting average dropping, driving in or scoring 9 runs in 4 games.
6. Vinny Siena: 56
His OBP is coming back to Earth, but overall he is still getting on base a lot (and striking out, unusual for a guy who walks a lot and isn't a power hitter).
7. Milton Ramos: 52
Ramos did not play Tuesday but went 5 for 10 in the series. a big improvement over recent weeks for the flashy shortstop.
8. Chase Ingram: 48
Well, he did what he had to in order to get the win Monday. He's probably the most consistent starter after Conlon, mostly just consistently okay though. He walked or hit five batters in five innings, part of a pattern showing that he needs to have better control to have the great starts that Conlon is getting.
9. Dash Winningham: 48
Had some big doubles over the course of the weekend which drove in five runs. Dash despite his name as I stated in the season preview is a slow first baseman, so he needs to start getting some home runs to be as valuable as Thompson or Siena in the lineup. But he's getting on base a lot and unlike Siena avoiding strikeouts very well. Perhaps Winningham is just being cautious at the plate so far.
10. Jeff Diehl: 48
Hit a grand slam before the lights went out Saturday, which is always a very welcome contribution. That also gave Diehl the all-time Firefly lead in home runs with 4. But aside from home runs Diehl is really struggling, batting .217 and striking out 30 times in 83 at-bats this season.
11. Joe Tuschak: 37
Tuschak walked five times and scored four runs this series. Unfortunately he's hitting with less consistency than early in the season when he emerged as a hot bat off the bench.
12. Tyler Bashlor: 31
Had a solid outing relieving Ingram on Monday. Hard yet to say with Bashlor in how he will ultimately do as the coaching staff has been very cautious in using him coming off lots of injuries earlier in his minor league career.
13. Tyler Moore: 31
Probably the best Firefly catcher right now, which with Mazeika still injured isn't saying much. He even stole a base this week! He has driven in or scored 13 runs this season so far, which makes him comparable to the other low-order guys. His OBP is .229 however which is terrible.
14. Craig Missigman: 30
Was on cruise control after the resumed first game became a blowout win. Hope that allowed him to have confidence in his control again.
15. Kevin Kaczmarski: 19
Came back after missing a little over two weeks due to an injury sustained at this same stadium. Had 4 total bases and 2 runs in limited action this series, which hopefully shows that he is ready again.
16. Vicente Lupo: 19
Lupo did better this series, reaching base five times and producing four runs. He's still striking out at an alarming rate, over 50 percent on the season (24 in 46 ABs).
17. Ivan Wilson: 17
Had a good Game 1 going 2 for 4 with a RBI but ruined it a bit getting caught stealing. On the series he hit 3 for 10, much better than early in the season though his momentum in recent weeks seems to be slowing. His walk-to-strikeout ratio (15 to 34 on the season) needs to be better so he can take advantage of his speed.
18. Christian Montgomery: 13
Faced one batter mopping up for Shaw on Sunday before nearly blowing a save Tuesday. Montgomery's control was off as he walked three batters with two scoring. The good news is that when he has control he's been overpowering batters more than earlier in the season when his ERA was higher. But he needs to get control to become a reliable pitcher out of the bullpen.
19. Johnny Magliozzi: 13
Had a very bad outing when the first game resumed Sunday, but got the win due to the stupid five innings rule regarding the decision. Magliozzi is 2-1 with 2 saves, which sounds good but has an ERA of 7.36 which is the more meaningful stat.
20. Seth Davis: 13
He's come back to earth after a terrific start to the season. Davis gave up one run in two innings in the resumption of Game 1. With a 2.95 ERA and 16 Ks in 18+ innings, he's doing better than most D3 guys do in the pros.
21. Jose Garcia: 4
Still mostly backing up Moore, though with his OBP being about 100 points higher perhaps he should get more of a shot. While he's getting on, his run production hasn't been very good. Probably did not helped to be on the DL for Natanael Ramos earlier.
22. Emmanuel Zabala: 1
Went 1 for 3 on Saturday before getting shipped back to Brooklyn again with Kaczmarski being activated. He's the first Firefly to be outright demoted, though he was only here on a temporary basis due to injuries to both Kaczmarski and Tucker Tharp.
23. Joe Shaw: -16
Started the season with two outstanding starts and then has been on a slide since. His stat line of 2-2 with a 3.71 ERA is still decent however., and is averaging more than 1 strikeout per inning. He should be good if he can recover from a bad game Sunday.
24. Nicco Blank: -33
Mostly pitching mop-up duty all season and nearly screwed that up Tuesday in letting Greenville back in it after a great start by Conlon. Prior to that Blank had been on cruise control, and now he will need to lower a 5.87 ERA before he is put in a key situation again.
Did Not Play: Kevin Canelon and Thomas McIlraith (spots in the rotation didn't come up); Natanael Ramos, Tucker Tharp, Witt Haggard (all 3 injured)
So with all that, here's what the all-time Firefly player standings look like:
| Player | Position | TB | R | RBI | BB/HBP | SB | CS | 0 for 1 | SO | Outs | K | R | ER | H | BB/HBP | W | S | L | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.J. Conlon | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 | 29 | 6 | 5 | 35 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 544 |
| David Thompson | 3B | 58 | 29 | 36 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 82 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 490 |
| Vinny Siena | 2B | 47 | 27 | 9 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 66 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 353 |
| Chase Ingram | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 87 | 36 | 15 | 11 | 27 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 319 |
| Alex Palsha | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 304 |
| Kevin Canelon | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 28 | 9 | 9 | 21 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 300 |
| Tyler Bashlor | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 237 |
| J.C. Rodriguez | DH | 33 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 76 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 235 |
| Joe Shaw | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 29 | 12 | 11 | 30 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 233 |
| Dash Winningham | 1B | 35 | 13 | 19 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 228 |
| Ivan Wilson | CF | 40 | 16 | 10 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 68 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 222 |
| Seth Davis | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 200 |
| Tyler Badamo | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 180 |
| Jeff Diehl | DH | 30 | 11 | 16 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 65 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 178 |
| Joe Tuschak | LF | 29 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 65 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 148 |
| Thomas McIlraith | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 25 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 143 |
| Johnny Magliozzi | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 126 |
| Tucker Tharp | RF | 19 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 |
| Christian Montgomery | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105 |
| Craig Missigman | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96 |
| Milton Ramos | SS | 24 | 6 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 63 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96 |
| Kevin Kaczmarski | RF | 18 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 45 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 |
| Vicente Lupo | LF | 14 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69 |
| Nicco Blank | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 |
| Tyler Moore | C | 15 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 51 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 |
| Emmanuel Zabala | LF | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| Jose Garcia | C | 8 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 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 |
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