Final Stretch Rundown

Another tough loss to Hoptown last night, but not all is lost.  The Railroaders have 9 games left in the regular season with 7 of those games at home in the Yard beginning tonight with the Miners.  The next 11 days will see the end of the season play and the Post Season Playoffs will begin the day after on July 23^rd.  So the action over the next week and a half will be heating up at the Yard.

Fulton’s 15-16 record and fourth place standing is not entirely hopeless.  The Railroaders are 6 ½ games out of first and only a half game behind the third place Bombers.  Fulton’s 9 remaining games breakout like this:

• 4 games vs Miners – 3 @ home, 1 away
• 1 game vs Oilers – away
• 1 game vs Bombers - @ home
• 3 games vs Hoppers- all @ home

The Railroaders best chance is to take over the Hoppers 2^nd place position.  Fulton is currently 4 games behind Hoptown.  The first task is to move past the Bombers in 3^rd and just a half game ahead of the Railroaders.  To achieve a 1^st place seed will require winning 7 of 9 games left, and the Oilers must fall flat and loss all their final 8 games remaining.  Not likely!  Of course the Hoppers and Bombers have their own designs and desires to take out the Oilers.

Bottom line here is the Railroaders need to fire the engine up with a good head of steam and get going now!  One win at time is must at this point.  Post Season play is just around the corner and a higher seed is the goal.

Weather Permitting

Fulton is ready if rain keeps heading southeast, Madisonville should be good if field conditions are good.

A big game scheduled tonight at the Yard with the first place Oilers flowing into Fulton for a match up against the fourth place Railroaders.  Owensboro leads the season series 5-3 with Fulton, and the Railroaders are 7 games behind the Oilers.  The Hoppers and Bombers are wedged between in 2^nd and 3^rd with the Railroaders trailing the Bombers by a half game.  The Bombers are scheduled to play the last place Miners in Madisonville tonight.

With only 12 games left in the regular season, each game is more important now than ever.  The Railroaders must get wins and move up in the standings with time running out.  Post-season playoff positioning is the issue here if the Railroaders want to play at home more during playoffs than travel.  I know what the Fans want, and I’m pretty sure the players feel the same way.

After both league ballgames were rained out last night, the question remains one of weather and whether or not we’ll see action this evening.  I’ve just been to the Yard and the field looks ready to play in spite of early morning thunderstorms.  The colder front, behind that which pasted through a few hours ago, is in the northwest and moving southeast.  I think there may be a good chance we will be spared the heaviest of the rain later today, and if only light rain falls our way we should be ready for tonight’s contest.  But of course, one can never completely predict Mother Nature, and we'll learn more this the afternoon as game time gets closer.  The good Lord willing though, we'll have a great ballgame in the Yard tonight.