It's worth a separate post, manager Jim Pankovits didn't have much nice to say about the performance:
“We struggled in every area. I don’t know what else to say except that it’s only one game, fortunately.”
But, hey, they did turn a triple play in the 8th:
The triple play came with Brooklyn’s Juan Centeno at second base and Cody Holliday at first.
Luis Nieves lifted a soft-liner that Figueroa grabbed and fired off balance to Hernandez, who pivoted quickly and threw to Burnett.
“Tyler did a great job calling for the ball,” Hernandez said, “and I just reacted to it.
“I didn’t know if I had a chance (for the third out), I was just trying to get it and get rid of it as quickly as I could.”
Some conjectured that Holliday was out and that base umpire Aaron Reynolds may have decided to give the long-suffering hometown fans something to cheer about, as Holliday appeared to beat Hernandez’s throw.
“No, he was out,” Burnett said.
Still, Pankovits ain't happy with his team:
Pankovits noted that the ’Cats were “coming off the road,” prior to the game “but so were (the Cyclones). “That’s the way life is in this profession. Travel isn’t that difficult (in the New York-Penn League) and that’s not a legitimate excuse as far as I’m concerned.”
-
We also found out from the ValleyCats that LHP Chris Blazek has been promoted to Lancaster. Blazek had reached Double-A in 2008 before an injury kept him out of 2009.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
