JrBB Phillies

            This is a short summary, ‘cause the numbers are too scary and unlucky to study!  13 runs.  13 hits.  13 errors.  We faced a good pitcher for 5+ innings, until we finally knocked him off the mound with 5 singles in the top of the 6^th.  Thanks to our bats we scored enough runs to give us a cushion going into the bottom of the 7^th to hold on to get back above .500.  Offensively Marcus and Jordan went 3-5.  Zack and Orion both hit doubles.  7 players recorded at least 1 RBI in the 7 innings.  Offensively, we are still sharp, batting the order +2 in the 6^th inning and sending at least 40 batters to the plate for the third time this season.  Our stolen bases numbers are down, as we have gotten a bit less aggressive on the base paths.

            Defensively, we are a different team.  There are at LEAST 9 players who have had All-Star experience-somewhere around 23 years combined 9-10, 11, and 11-12 teams.  We need to continue work on our defensive mechanics.  Our baseball savvy is fine—we know what to do with the ball on each play, we’re just not getting it done. 

            Orion started out pitching well enough, but instead of being out of the inning after 5 batters and 1 run, he faced the whole line-up and errors allowed 4 runs to score.  Dan pitched 5 excellent innings, allowing only 2 hits, walking only 4, striking out 7—zero earned runs.  Errors allowed the Royals to score 3 runs over that stretch.  Sam and Marcus didn’t look particulary sharp in the 7^th, but kept the bases pretty well juiced to make it exciting to watch (I guess!).  Defensively we didn’t make an error in the 7^th, but kept our Phillies steak alive by hitting batters!  We got the same player as the first and last out of the inning, once at home and once at first.