Two down, next game up is Hoppers at the Yard

"I was told he does a really good job"

Good win last night with a little nail biting at the end just to make it a somewhat sweeter. The quest continues tonight the Hoptown Hoppers coming into Fulton. It will be another great night for baseball, warm but the humidity reasonable.

The Railroaders and Hoppers have met 5 times thus far with a 3-2 record in favor of the Hoptown. There are 3 more regular season games between them, one here tonight and 2 in Hoptown. The Hoppers remain 5 games above us in the West and in first place. A victory tonight will help our cause.

On paper head-to-head, these two teams are pretty even. Going against each other, the team pitching ERA for the Railroaders is 6.55 compared to the Hoppers 6.60. Both teams have given up 33 earned runs to each other.

The Hoppers have scored a total of 46 runs against the Railroaders who in turn have produced 41 runs Team batting average is close as well, Railroaders .274 and the Hoppers .277. Salata really likes to hit the Hoppers. His average is .529 in 5 games and has 4 of his 8 homeruns off Hoptown pitching. We’ll see how he does tonight!

Finally, I see that Junior has taken a tip from Bobo last night and decided to have the team’s barber, Carrington Wilson, give him some style. I’m not quite sure it will improve his looks though. He’ll be on TeamLine tonight as usual with another player (hopefully) providing some more insight. Or I see you at the Yard!

One game at time, Miners next.

One step at a time to the top.

After a win on Monday, then two postponed games on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Railroaders find themselves at the bottom of the latter, 5.5 games behind the West leading Hoppers. They are 2 games behind the Chiefs and 2.5 games behind the Miners. This makes tonight’s game an important step up for the Railroaders.

With a record of 11-17, Fulton has 12 games left to produce a comeback in the 11 days remaining in regular season. The second place 15-16 Miners have only 9 games left to play. These two West teams have met 7 times their final regular season game tonight. The Miners lead the season series 4-3. It is needless to say the significance this game in elevated. 

What about the rest of our season? Excluding tonight game, in the West the Railroaders have 4 games with the Chiefs and 3 with Hoptown. In the East there remains 3 games with the Bombers and one with the Stallions. The next week will reveal it’s own results in it’s own good time. We really don’t need to look at the end of the road. Playing the game at hand will take us to the finale. So for now, I say focus on the game in front of us.

The Miners have added a couple of new players of late and have faltered a bit losing 3 or their last four games. The Railroaders broke out of a 6 straight game loss on Monday with a convincing victory over the Stallions. Our team played with enthusiasm and the fans were there to fuel the fire. The Railroaders are poised to make a run and I still believe they can do it. One game at a time!

What’s next? Stallions today, maybe?

The first question to be answered: Will the Yard dry out enough for our 4th of July game today, which is scheduled for an earlier 5:30 p.m. start?

Second question: Knowing we’ll see fireworks after the ballgame, will we see fireworks during the game? And if so, will it be coming from the Railroaders or Stallions, or both?

The third question: Can and will the Railroaders end their 6 game losing streak tonight?

Number four: With are only 13 games remaining in the regular season, can Fulton (who is 5.5 games behind in the West) still improve their standing before the playoffs begin?

Fifth question: Who is hungry for a victory? Fans? Owners? Online listeners? Coaches? Players?

There is no need for comments here concerning what’s wrong. We need solutions!  I for one believe a comeback is still possible (at lease mathematically). So Final question is, who else believes?

Bombers to attack the Yard tonight

After a hard rain this morning, hopefully the field will dry in time for the game. The mighty Bombers fly into Fulton to take on the Railroaders for their second meeting this year. The Bombers are definitively a force to contend with. Last night the Railroaders fell to Dubois County losing their 5th game in a roll.  Time to turn it around! 

We can ill afford to make mistakes with the Bombers. They have won 20 games thus far compared to the Railroaders' 10 wins. I'm sure they will be very confident coming into the Yard. But baseball can produce surprising results, especially against a team that appears to be struggling (or are we). So how about it Railroaders? Think we can come up with something special? I do and I expect a good game that is before us tonight. Let's fire it and get back on the winning track!