The Lynx opened week eighteen with a four game series against the Syracuse Chiefs at home in Ottawa. Ottawa managed a split in the series and almost came away with victories in three of four, losing the final game in thirteen innings, a game they could have won in nine and a game started by a rehabing A. J. Burnett for Syracuse. The Chiefs came into town 9.5 games in front of Ottawa in fifth place and left town in the same position. All in all, while the hitting continued to be a sore spot, the starting pitching continued to get better and the bullpen were generally effective. Newly acquired infielder Gookie Dawkins, (acquired from the Seattle Mariners), played second, third and short in the series and, although not known for his hitting, even managed to get a couple of those as well as showing off his well known fielding skills.

Game one was a 5-0 win for Ottawa behind a superb performance by J.A. Happ, (4-5) the kind of outing we’ve been waiting all year to see. Happ had everything working on this night and did not allow a hit over the first six innings. Happ retired the first seventeen batters, striking out a total of eight and walking only one. Michael Zagurski and Yoel Hernandez pitched the final 2.1 innings to preserve the win for Happ.

“This is the kind of game we’ve been waiting all season for from Happ,” offered John Russell. “He was working at a good pace and his fastball and control were excellent.”

Happ added, “I had a good fastball tonight and mixed in some slow stuff once in awhile just to show them.” He also gave credit to the bullpen. “The pen really shut them down tonight and we were able to get the win.”

A four run seventh inning broke the game open for Ottawa with a lead off solo home run by newcomer Matt Padgett , (his first of the season with Ottawa), giving the team a bit of breathing room, putting the Lynx ahead 2-0. The home run seemed to fire up the team.

“Padgett’s home run seemed to get us going and seemed to finally rattle their guy who had been pitching us pretty tough up to that point, ” said Russell.

Three hits followed and an error by Chief third baseman John Hattig lead to three more Lynx runs.

“The team was taking advantage of everything tonight,” added Russell. “Good starting pitching keeps you in the game and we were able to get the job done.”

Ottawa out hit Syracuse 10-3, Joe Thurston going 3-4 and scoring two runs.

Syracuse evened the series, taking the second game 7-3 and this time it was the Ottawa bullpen who couldn’t hold the opposition. The Lynx got another solid game from a starter, this time John Ennis, ( 4-3), although charged with his third loss of the season, pitched five innings and allowed only two runs, leaving the game down only 2-0.

“I felt pretty good but my pitch count was getting up there,” explained Ennis. “It’s tough sometimes but I stick to my game plan and don’t worry about the other guys.”

But the bullpen of Joe Besinius and Ryan Cameron struggled, between them pitching three innings but giving up seven hits and five runs. All in all, Syracuse out hit Ottawa 16-5 and the Lynx bats never really threatened. Syracuse lead 7-0 after seven and never looked back as starter Jeremy Cummings, (5-6), went 5.2, allowing only two hits and no runs.

“We had a decent chance to come back in the eighth but when you’re down seven it’s pretty tough,” said Russell. “Cameron did okay but a bloop single and a walk got him in trouble.” Ennis pitched good enough to win today.”

The Lynx got back in the win column the next day, beating Syracuse 4-2 in an exciting walk off win courtesy of Brennan King. It was also from a Lynx starter, this time it was Fabio Castro.

“Castro had another solid outing, “said John Russell. “He’s starting to get some confidence. He really threw the ball well.”

Brennan King provided the big offensive hit in the bottom of the ninth. Ottawa had rallied back to tie the game at 2-2 thanks to an extremely wild throw on a routine grounder by Russ Adams leading off the inning and a wild pitch by Scott Sauerback . Ottawa should have taken the lead in the eighth but couldn’t get the go ahead run in, despite two wild pitches and a hit batter.

Kane Davis, (2-2), pitched a scoreless ninth and setting the stage for the dramatic Lynx win. Blaine Neal, (5-6), who had retired the last two Lynx hitters in the eighth to keep the game tied, couldn’t repeat his performance in the ninth. Javon Moran singled to open the inning and was sacrificed to second by Gookie Dawkins. King then launched a 1-1 fastball well over the left field wall, sending the Ottawa fans home happy and earning Ottawa it’s second victory in three games.

King talked about his home run in the locker room after the game.

“It was a two seamer, a bit inside,” said King. “We’d missed some opportunities today. I was too impatient in the seventh and hit a weak ground ball with guys on base. I was able to put that at bat behind me and try and do something in the ninth.

Russell added, ” When you have an opportunity in a close game, you have to take advantage of it. We finally did that today. We hadn’t been taking advantage all game so the home run was obviously a big lift to the team.”

The fourth game in the series would see Ottawa going up against Toronto Blue Jay starter A. J. Burnett, down with Syracuse for his final rehab start before returning to the majors later this week. Matt Childers would start for Ottawa in a game which had the fans buzzing in anticipation of a strong pitchers dual. Both starters were up to the task but were gone long before this one ended, Syracuse winning 5-4 in thirteen innings. Despite the fact that Burnett is often inconsistent in the majors, this afternoon he showed just how good he can be. He simply over powered the Lynx lineup with a mid to high nineties fastball and knee high, on the corners control. He was on a ninety pitch count limit but left the game after five innings and sixty-six pitches having allowed one run on three hits and striking out seven over five innings.

“Your talking about a number one starter in the major leagues, ” said Lynx DH/first baseman Gary Burnham.” ” He was simply over powering.”

Matt Childers kept the game reasonably close but gave up three runs in the fourth innings, a solo home run to John-Ford Griffin and a two run shot to DH Chad Mottola.

But Ottawa came back against the Syracuse bullpen, tying the game in the eighth inning. Down 4-1, two runner on and one out, Gary Burnham blasted a home run far over the right field fence off of Syracuse reliever Ryan Houston.

“It’s not easy to hit home runs,” said Burnham “I got a pitch that I could drive and didn’t miss it.”

The game was tied until the thirteenth when a two out single by Sergio Santos was misplayed by Lynx centre fielder Javon Moran, allowing Mike Vento who had doubled off of Joe Besinius, (1-3) to lead off the inning, to score the go ahead run. Vento would probably have scored anyway even if the single had been played cleanly by Moran. Besinius who had entered the game to start the thirteenth escaped further damage in a wild finish to the half inning. Russ Adams hit a two out single just out of reach of Lynx second base man Gookie Dawkins who recovered to throw him out at the plate. Ottawa, however, went down one-two-three in their half of the thirteenth.

“It was a hard fought game by both teams,’ said Russell.” “We had our chances but couldn’t get that run we needed across.”

Ottawa had an off day on Tuesday and arrived in Buffalo for a four game series to followed by a two game series in Rochester. The Lynx had a 3-5 record against the Bisons this season and were 17.5 games behind third place Buffalo who were on a three game losing streak.

Make that four games as the Lynx pounded Buffalo 10-2, starter Landon Jacobsen, (2-5), turning in his second straight solid outing. Jacobsen threw six innings and allowed two runs, giving up eight hits and striking out three. Jason Jaramillo and Gary Burnham were the offensive heroes this time with Jaramillo driving in four and Burnham three. Burnham hit his tenth home run, a two run home run in the fourth inning. Ottawa scored four runs in the first and lead 8-0 after four innings. Buffalo starter John Koronka, (1-3), lasted only three innings as Ottawa put the game out of reach early.

Game two saw another Lynx victory but this one, which Ottawa lead comfortably early, turned into a real nail biter with the final score being 8-7 in eleven innings. J.A. Happ turned in his second straight excellent start, pitching seven innings of shut out ball, allowing only two hits and striking out seven. That makes his last two starts a total of 13.2 innings pitched, only three hits and fifteen strikeouts, zero runs. But Happ didn’t get a win as the Ottawa bullpen blew the lead in the ninth and almost blew the lead again in the eleventh. Ottawa had a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the eighth but gave up three in the inning and one more in the ninth, sending the game into extra innings. Yoel Hernandez and Brian Sanches couldn’t hold the lead, Hernandez couldn’t get out of the eighth pitching only 0.2 innings and being charged with three runs, Sanchez with his second blown save of the season and although Kane Davis, (3-2), was charged with all three Buffalo runs in the eleventh, (he had pitched a perfect tenth but couldn’t get out of the eleventh), Anderson Garcia came in and finally saved the game, his fourth of the season. Jim Rushford broke the tie leading off the eleventh with a solo home run, his second of the season, and Javon Moran went 4-6 including a double and a triple. Ottawa play two more in buffalo before moving on to Rochester for a pair.

Lynx Notes: Ottawa is now 46-72 and have a two game winning streak. They are twenty-two games behind division leading Scranton and seven games out of fifth place. Gary Burnham is seventh in the league with twenty nine doubles and tied for fourth with seventy RBI.. He is thirteenth with 178 total bases. J.A. Happ is tenth in the league with 96 strikeouts.