Monthly Archives: June 1996

Lugnuts Notes: The Burlington Bees

This team also has one excellent pitcher: Lorenzo Barcelo has 7 wins, a 2.13 ERA, and a good strikeout ratio. The pitching staff has a couple weak spots but is generally very solid; runs will be earned. Closer Santos Hernandez has 19 saves, to lead the league. Jim Stoops, also used in late relief, appears to have a wicked strikeout pitch and excellent control.

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Lugnuts Notes: Series at Quad City River Bandits

Lots of roster switches lately, and almost certainly more to come. We get to learn some new players, and see how the team starts to fit together. In some ways, this is the most interesting time to watch the Midwest League; entire teams change character, and sometimes the reason is obvious. It can be glorious. Or it can be frustrating.

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Lugnuts Notes: The Quad City (Davenport, Iowa) River Bandits

Perhaps you remember pictures of a flooded ballpark during the 1993 Mississippi River floods; John O’Donnell was that ballpark. The ballpark is directly on the river and everyone says the view from the grandstand is tremendous. This is the league’s favorite ballpark. It’s also the ballpark with the most games postponed due to weather….

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Lugnuts Notes: Series at home against Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

New (half-)season; new attitude. Let’s hope this lasts.

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Lugnuts Notes: The Wisconsin (Appleton/Fox Cities) Timber Rattlers

The Lugnuts start the second half of the season by hosting the best team in the league for a four-game set. Thursday’s game will have a giveaway (sports bottle) and a Dash for Cash; Friday’s will have fireworks. Thursday’s game … Continue reading

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Lugnuts Notes: All-Star Game

June 17: Off Day June 18 and 19 East, 10-4 Originally scheduled for the eighteenth; postponed, rain. Our guys did good: Quinn 3 ab, 1 run, 2 hits (a double), 1 rbi Cepeda 4 ab, 1 run, 1 hit (a … Continue reading

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Lugnuts Notes: Single game at Michigan Battle Cats

The playoff series will begin after Labor Day and will run for three rounds. The league’s champion will be crowned in mid-September. This is a modified “Shaughnessy Playoff,” named after long-time minor league player, manager, and executive Frank Shaughnessy.

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Lugnuts Notes: Series at Fort Wayne Wizards

Yes! That’s better; real baseball, well-played. Three good games and one great game; unfortunately, we lost the pitcher’s duel. But it was wonderful, and [Kevin] Hodges deserved to win. So did the team.

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Lugnuts Notes: Series at home against Beloit Snappers

[Lansing Manager] Brian Poldberg’s not working in a vacuum, and he’s not the only person making decisions about which players play or how Brian plays them. I presume–I stress that I have no inside information–I presume he’s got instructions to play some players virtually every day, however well or poorly they perform. I presume that the patterns I see in the use of pitchers reflect decisions made in Kansas City more than they reflect game situations; in fact, I hope that’s the case, because some of the other explanations are absurd.

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Lugnuts Notes: Series at home against Peoria Chiefs

A good game (for a loss) against one of the league’s best starters, then they won a rather strange game in extra innings. This is pretty good; the Chiefs are an excellent team. (I’ve lowered my expectations a bit; our team’s just not going to develop a good defense.)

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