Pitching, or more specifically, starting pitching, was responsible for much of what went amiss with the 2007 season of the Ottawa Lynx. Too many times manager John Russell was forced to go with relief pitchers in the role of starters or inexperienced lower minor leaguers. What began as a very solid and promising starting rotation in April, quickly turned sour in May and turned into disaster in July. Too often the substitute starters couldn’t go deep into games which had a ripple effect on the bullpen who in turn were overworked and hopelessly behind with no margin for error. The beginning of the end came in May with the departure of Brian Mazone to South Korea, their number one starter and most solid pitcher. This was quickly followed by injuries to the number two starter, Matt Childers, and their most promising rookie, lefty J.A. Happ. Mazone was only around for six starts, compiling a 3-2 record with an ERA of 2.21 and a WHIP of 1.04. No team can afford to lose a starter of this quality and I remain curious to this day as to why the pitching, especially starting pitching strapped Philadelphia Phillies, couldn’t have used him. Couple that with the fact that Mazone is a lefty, a starter and that he had an excellent 2006 season and my confusion grows. Childers, 7-4), usually kept the team in the game and despite a high ERA, (5.17) and a WHIP of 1.60, he usually kept the games close and the Lynx often found a way to win when he started. He had the highest run support of any Lynx starter, (3.06), and the team were 12-6 when he started. Childers had a very good strikeout to walk ratio, (73-26), which helped offset somewhat giving up 138 hits in 102.2 innings. He seemed to, many times, get into trouble and then work his way out.

Continue reading The Ottawa Lynx 2007 Season Review Part Two, (Pitching). →

Category          Total/Percentage(per Game)     Ranking

Avg                     .267                                                     2

Runs                     553(3.86)                                          Last

Hits                       1,287(9.0)                                        First

Doubles                  231(.161)                                         12

Triples                    27(.189)                                            11

HR                            59(.412)                                          Last

RBI                          517(3.61)                                          Last

Total Bases              1,749(12.23)                                    Last

BB                              412(2.88)                                         13

Strikeouts                  760(5.31)                                        Fewest

SB                                 57(.40)                                           Last

CS                                33(.23)                                             Third

OBP                              .332                                                  Eigth

SLG                                .363                                                  Last

OPS                                 .695                                                Last

A season which began with great optimism and started in April with a winning record was followed by a slow decent in May, a quicker decent in June and a disastrous full blown headlong rush into deep last place in the month of July. By the middle of June, it seemed that Ottawa were completely overmatched by the rest of the league and the Lynx were quickly out of the race for the Northen Division in a defence of their 2006 title. The team played poorly and at times indifferently and were often embarrassingly beaten by their opponents. The 2007 version of the Ottawa Lynx had little team speed or power and played sloppy defence after the month of June. Mental errors at critical times on the bases and in the field added to the ineffectiveness of the team. The starting staff were hurt by injuries and personnel changes which often forced manager John Russell to use relievers in the rotation which had a ripple effect on the bullpen. More often than not, these relievers were unable to go deep into games which caused an overuse of the bullpen and which correspondingly lead to the unavailability of these “starters” for bullpen duty. Some of the relievers were simply ineffective all season but Russell had to keep throwing them out there not having any other options. The team was stocked with older players whose skills seemed to have diminished, all at the same time. This was a team which had won the Northern Division in 2006 with essentially the same players. Either the team got quickly old and/or it was simply one of those years in which a team was simply spinning it’s wheels all season.

Continue reading The Ottawa Lynx 2007 Season Review Part One, (Overview and Hitting) →

Please Note:Early next week I will post a 2007 season review for the Ottawa Lynx.

Ottawa finished up the 2007 season with a four game home stand against the Syracuse Chiefs, four games which typified this hugely disappointing season for the Lynx, (at least in the won-lost column). There was a walk off win, a couple of blown leads, mental errors and sloppy defence and the Lynx lost the final three games of the season. Ottawa began this final series of the 2007 season with a 5-4 extra inning victory over the Chiefs with the unlikely hero being Danny Sandoval. Lynx starter Landon Jacobsen lasted six innings and allowed four runs, only one of which was earned. Wayne Lydon tripled to lead off the game for Syracuse and scored one batter later on a single. Ottawa would take the lead two innings later on a one out, three run home run by Joe Thurston, his fifth of the year, hit deep over the right field wall. Sloppy Ottawa defence and a questionable choice of where to throw the ball allowed Syracuse to retake the lead in the top of the fifth. Jacobsen made a bad throw to first, well over the head of Dusty Wathan on a very routine ground ball. The next batter, Al Quintana, hit a fly ball to right, not routine but very catchable which Matt Padgett got turned around on and let drop for a double. With one out and runners on second and third, a routine grounder to third baseman Brennan King would have had Quintana at the plate but King inexplicably threw to first, allowing the tying run to score. A single by John-Ford Griffin gave Syracuse a one run lead. Ottawa tied the game in the fifth on a long Matt Padgett home run, had a chance for more but Sandoval was caught stealing second and Gookie Dawkins struck out leaving two runners on. The game remained tied at 4-4 until the bottom of the tenth. In the Syracuse half of the tenth inning Joe Besinius, (3-4), had relieved Ryan Cameron and had worked his way out of a two on and one out jam, Jason Jaramillo picking off John-Ford Griffin at first and then Besinius struck out Chad Mottola to end the inning. King walked to lead off the Lynx tenth but was forced at second on a poor sacrifice bunt attempt by Wathan. But Wathan would redeem himself one out later, scoring all the way from first on the double by Sandoval, sliding in just ahead of the throw from right and giving Ottawa a 5-4 win in what would turn out to be their final victory of the season.

Continue reading Ottawa Lynx Report Week Twenty Three →