It’s June 24, 2019. Here’s what’s been going on lately on the path 400 miles to Toronto.
This Week’s Game Results
Tuesday, June 18: Binghamton 6, New Hampshire 3 (home)
Wednesday, June 19: Binghamton 3, New Hampshire 2 (home)
Thursday, June 20: Binghamton 4, New Hampshire 2 (home)
Friday, June 21: Trenton 6, New Hampshire 4 (home – 11 inn.)
Saturday, June 22: New Hampshire 6, Trenton 3 (home)
Sunday, June 23: Trenton 5, New Hampshire 2 (home)
Close Calls
The second half of the season has begun, and the Fisher Cats are 1-4 after the standings reset themselves.
All four losses were fairly close, but they were losses that could have been wins with more offensive consistency.
So far this year, the Fisher Cats have relied on their pitching, and struggle when other teams take an aggressive approach at the plate that the Fisher Cats have not always managed to do when they get their turn at-bat.
“We just don’t have it lately. We’ve been fundamentally unsound on offense, when you have men on second base and you’re pulling balls on the ground toward third, that’s just a bad approach at the plate,” said Fisher Cats manager Mike Mordecai. “For us on offense, we got to put the ball in plat with two strikes, we have to have a better approach.”
Pitching Injuries
With retroactive assignments to the disabled list for Patrick Murphy and Nate Pearson, the Fisher Cats will see a shift in their starting rotation for the next week or so.
Justin Dillon returns to Manchester after 14 appearances with the ‘Cats last year.
Mordecai expects Dillon to serve in the bullpen in a long relief role, joining Willy Ortiz in that capacity.
Right now, the major issue isn’t the rotation itself, but getting a regular routine for the bullpen as New Hampshire’s starters randomly fluctuate from going late into games like Zach Logue on June 19 to quick hooks like the one given to Jon Harris on June 20.
“We’re trying to juggle guys out there and give them a flow,” said Mordecai. “It’s just kind of weird because the ebb and flow of the game. There’s times when the bullpen is underused and there are times when it’s overused. There never seems to be a nice fluid situation.”
Logan Warmoth
This week marked the Double-A home debut for Logan Warmuth, who made his first two appearance for the Fisher Cats during last week’s series in Richmond.
Warmuth ended the home stand with a three-game hitting streak after managing just one hit in his first 15 Double-A at-bats.
He comes to New Hampshire after 36 games in Advanced-A Dunedin, where he slugged 16 RBI and three home runs with a .292 batting average and an .803 OPS.
Portland coming up
The Fisher Cats now head off for a longer than average road trip beginning with a three-game series against the Portland Sea Dogs starting tonight.
They will return to New Hampshire on July 4 with a home series against Portland. Between the two Portland series, they’ll travel to Trenton and Reading.
Fisher Cats of the Week
Hitting: Josh Palacios: 5-for-18 (.277), 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB
Pitching: Zach Logue: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO