Manager John Russell is steady, calm and deliberate and keeps his responses short and to the point.

“That’s Triple A baseball.” “It’s too early in the season to start checking the standings.” “We just didn’t get it done today.” “He played a good game today.” “We’ll get it going.”

You can not expect long, excited answers from the man who guided this team to first place in the Northern Division of the IL last season and won Manager of the Year honours. He sits at his desk at the end of each game, working on his computer, and with a nod of his head invites the media in for the daily question and answer session. Although his answers often seem to be standard fare, this ten year veteran, (1984-1993), major league catcher and minor league manager knows what it takes to win ball games and understands the ups and downs of a long season.

But Russell is beginning to tighten up and then sigh ever so slightly when asked about the team so far this year and specifically about the pitching. But what can he do and how many more explanations can he give, how many times can he give the same painfully obvious and keep it interesting? How many times can I ask the same painfully obvious question and keep it interesting?

We are now forty five games into the season and Ottawa have a sub .500-still. At 25-30 we are 6.5 e games back of Buffalo for first and only .5 games ahead of last place Pawtucket. Obviously, divisions are not won with a sub or barely above .500 record. Perennial powerhouse Pawtucket are also sub .500, (25-31). Durham have been a much better team in past seasons and are right at .500, (30-30). Tampa Bay recently called up two of the top starting pitchers for Durham, (Howell and Sonnanstine), which will hopefully help the Lynx in this next four game series, June 5-8. (Ottawa lost both ends of their double header with Durham last night). Buffalo are strong as in years past but this time they have a younger ball club than ever before and are not stacked with mainly Four A players. Rochester are a mere 2.5 back of Buffalo and the parent club, the Minnesota Twins have been raiding their pitching lately. Good for Ottawa, bad for them. Scranton and Syracuse are up on Ottawa in the standings but not by much and are at .500 and three games under .500 respectively. The Lynx will play Pawtucket in a four game series beginning this Saturday, (June 8), but then play outside of their division until June 30^th. Game one in Pawtucket will be a tough one as they face John Lester for the second time this season. The last time Lester started against Ottawa, Pawtucket pitchers gave up only one hit. Lester, on a strict pitch count, threw only fifty five pitches in 3.2 innings. The Lynx managed a split in the four game series with Pawtucket who have been hot lately but play Richmond for three games before the Ottawa visit. Difficult to make up much ground playing out of your own division when the teams ahead of you are inter division also. Of course if you don’t do well, the chances of getting buried in the standings are less than losing head to head. Buffalo play Scranton and Rochester the last week of June. If the Lynx can get on some kind of winning streak and Scranton and Rochester split their series with Buffalo at minimum, Ottawa could edge very close to the top of the Northern Division standings. Even playing .500 baseball with those three teams beating each other up could inch Ottawa very close to the top.

The third team ahead of Ottawa in the Northern Division standings, the Syracuse SkyChiefs, play in Scranton June 22-25. Again, a split there would benefit the Lynx.

As Manager Russell has said earlier in the year, it’s too early to start checking the standings. But why put yourself in a position where the team is playing crucial series in early July, series that have to be won to avoid a long and almost impossible climb up the standings? The remainder of the June schedule could be a make or break series of games. Ottawa begin their next home stand against Columbus, (25-33), who have been struggling so far this season but are but 14-14 on the road. The Lynx next face Toledo, (33-27) and 16-16 on the road. Toledo will be a tough series and Columbus might be considering their road record. However, Columbus have been struggling on the road as of late losing all three games in Syracuse.

Columbus, (Triple A affiliate of the Washington Nationals), are a team of mostly Triple A or Major League vets, not many players likely to fit into the professed future youth movement of the Nationals. Of course, these types of players can make for a tough team to beat but have not, to this point, hit their stride. Ex Lynx and record holder for most hits by a Lynx in a season makes his return to Ottawa, Bernie Castro. Veterans Michael Restovich and Darnell McDonald, (another former Lynx), and Tony Batista, are all having solid years. Columbus have been having pitching problems as have Ottawa and rank just ahead of the Lynx in ERA and WHIP despite having several veterans such as Tim Redding on the staff. Former Lynx Winston Abreu has been lights out in a setup role and ex major leaguer Chris Booker has 16 saves although with an ERA of 4.32. Could be a very offense oriented series.

Then Toledo Mud Hens will bring some veterans into town as well with ex major leaguers Timo Perez, (.332), Chris Shelton and Mike Hessman, (16 home runs, 51 RBI). Ryan Raburn has also been a force for Toledo this season with twelve home runs and 45 RBI. Veterans dot the pitching staff with ex Lynx Tim Byrdak, veteran Vic Darensbourg, (0.38 ERA in relief), and starter Dennis Tankersley. The ‘pen has been solid but the starting pitching has been weak so far this year with Toledo.

The month of June could very well be make or break for the Ottawa Lynx-they could get in the race or dig themselves a hole too deep to climb out of. We’ll just have to wait and see.