Weather shortened the opening series of the Ottawa Lynx home stand from four to three games against the Southern Division leading Richmond Braves and that was probably a good thing considering how the Lynx played. Ottawa continued their trend of when they lost it was a blow out and when they won, it was a tight dramatic victory. The pitching staff continued to be beaten up and this time the defence which had been solid all season couldn’t get the job done. The frustration was beginning to show on the face of manager John Russell and if Ottawa are going anywhere this season, the team is going to have to start playing much better.
Category Archives: XX – Ottawa Lynx
The Ottawa Lynx: Some Observations For The Month of June
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.
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Lynx Month Of May, (Pitching).
Brian Mazone went to South Korea. Matt Childers and J.A. Happ went to the DL. Zach Segovia, despite generally pitching consistently,(one bad outing), could manage only one win in May. The bullpen were up and down as Manager John Russell scrambled to find replacement starters. Rick Bauer continued to get hit hard almost every time out. Brian Sanches picked up three more saves. Happ was largely ineffective in May and his elbow injury was the likely cause of his struggles. J. D. Durbin was lights out or lit up. The staff either gave up lots of runs or hardly any, no happy medium which, of course, showed a glaring lack of consistency.
The Ottawa Lynx Month of May, (Overview and Hitting)
Ottawa finished up the month of May with a 3-5 eight game road trip, a one game winning streak , and five games back of the Buffalo Bisons. Each team in the Northern Division finished May slightly above .500 at home with the exception of Pawtucket. It is the road record thus far in the season which has been the difference for everyone else in the division with Buffalo six games over .500 on the road and the Lynx six games under .500. Out final road trip of the month was a very up and down inconsistent affair When Ottawa lost, they lost big and ugly, (12-8, 8-0, 11-3), but still finished this road trip just one game shy of .500. The team lost RBI leader and third base man Brennan King, and J.A. Happ to the DL on this road trip and veteran Lou Collier announced his retirement, (May 30). Although the pitching and offense were inconsistent for the month and the home run drought continued, the Lynx are still very much in the race. Personnel changes affected the pitching staff and the loss to injury of Matt Childers early in the month along with King and Happ in the last week of May were especially tough forcing the team to scramble for replacements. Brian Mazone leaving to pitch in South Korea didn’t help the Lynx pitching situation much either.
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Ottawa Lynx Report Week Eight
After a promising start to their eight game road trip, (a 9-7 win on Thursday night), the wheels came off and Ottawa lost the three remaining games in Charlotte by scores of 12-8. 6-2 and 2-1, dropping their record to 22-24. The three loses meant that Ottawa gained only a split in the season series between the Lynx and the last place Southern Division Knights and fell to 9-15 on the road this year.
Ottawa Lynx Week Seven
One of the genuine nice guys in baseball called it quits this week and a familiar former Lynx was brought in to replace him. Thirty year old Ron Calloway called it a day May 18th after eleven seasons in professional baseball and his third season with Ottawa, (2001-2002, 2007). Ron had one stint in the majors, with the Montreal Expos in 2003, and finished with a career .278 average. Good luck to you Ron Calloway in whatever you decide to do next. You will be missed.
The following day, Ottawa recalled thirty six year old outfield veteran Pedro Swann from Reading to replace him on the roster. Swann, earlier in the season, hit .333, (3-9), with three RBI. This is the seventeenth season in pro baseball for Swann.
Ottawa Lynx Report Week Six
Ottawa Lynx Week Six
The Ottawa Lynx continued their ten day eleven game road trip in Indianapolis Friday May 11-Monday May 14 hoping to gain some ground on division rivals Buffalo and Pawtucket before opening up an eight game home stand against the two teams. Once again they were scheduled to face one of the leagues best pitching staffs as they attempted to climb further over the .500 mark and closer to Buffalo and Rochester in the standings. When a team is having trouble offensively, the Indianapolis starting staff is not what the doctor ordered. Game one saw Ottawa put some runs on the board on a rare night when the pitching wasn’t there but the bats carried the day. The Lynx put seven runs across the plate winning 7-6, Brennan King driving in the go aheads run with two out in the top of the ninth and Brian Sanches picked up the save, (his sixth), pitching a scoreless ninth. Lynx starter Zach Segovia put Ottawa in an early hole, down 5-0 after three innings but the offense came alive tying the game with a five run sixth inning. Both starters were gone by then and it came down to a battle between the bullpens with Ottawa winning out. King ended the day with three RBI for Ottawa.
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