Final week regular season view

With the regular season in its final week, the Railroaders have a good chance to take first place in the standings. The post season playoffs will begin on Tuesday, July 27, and the #1 seed is up for grabs. Consider Fulton's position as stated on the Marion Bobcats' website,

". . . Fulton is 20-11 in KIT League play with eight games left against league opponents, including one with Tradewater and four with Marion. Tradewater is 24-12 in the circuit with only four KIT League games left, putting their magic number at 6 to clinch first place.

The Railroaders, however, control their own destiny. Even if the Pirates win their last four league contests, they are not guaranteed a first-place finish. Fulton would have to lose at least two of its remaining eight games to ensure the Pirates a regular season crown.

Owensboro also has an outside chance at first place, but must win all of its remaining nine games and hope for the Pirates to win no more than one of their remaining four games.

For Marion, a first-place finish is out of reach, but the Bobcats can still hope for a second-place finish. However, they must also win outright and hope for no more than one Fulton victory. To achieve third place, Marion is only 3.5 games behind Owensboro with three head-to-head match-ups with the Oilers remaining."

Pretty good words for the Railroaders to consider as they head into a busy week of baseball. Tonight, Monday, we have the Oilers in town and then on the road through Friday. Saturday a big final home season doubleheader with the Bobcats. Let all get out to the Yard and cheer the team on.

Now's the time to strike

While it may have rained us out on Friday night, the Pirates did play in Tradewater and dropped their second straight game with the Oilers. The Railroaders are now only 2 games behind the league leaders, and here they come to Fulton today for a doubleheader! The math seems simple and with the last full week of the regular season upon us it's time to strike. The Pirates are just where we want them. They have struggled of late and the Roaders are getting hotter. Let's all head to the Yard today at 5 p.m. to get the train rollin' early. A big double win today, and we're neck and neck with the Bucs. The weather should be fine, the food smelling good and some exciting baseball to watch.

A Man in the Moment

What a great performance by the Railroaders last night against the Oilers, particularly Mitch McClay! After dropping his batting average to .267 over the last week, in a single game he brought it back up to .310. McClay came back big going 5 for 6 consisting of 3 singles, 1 double and a 2 out walk-off 2 RBI homerun in the 10th to win the game. While he only stole 1 or 7 bases for the Railroaders on the night, Mitch's steal was the starter for a double steal in which Joe Pudlo on 3rd base took home. McClay certainly has a game to remember as his play became the decisive factor against the Oilers.

The entire team should be proud their performance as a team last night. There down moments, but that didn't stop them from making the highs points. Defense when we needed it, come back pitching, great base running and stealing, and clutch hits were all a part of a good night of baseball at the yard. Let's work hard and take this game play on the road in the second half of the season and great things will happen!

Again, thanks for the thrills!

Road Record Woes

Our away games’ standing is 2 wins and 7 losses. “What’s with that!” We have a home record of 12 and 4, a .750 average, while on the road we are .222. Someone needs to figure out what’s making our players so much less effective on the road. Could it be bus? If so, I have custom luxury Thompson bus ready to roll for hire. If includes everything a good baseball team needs. There’s even a hot tub (girls not included) for the after game aches and pains. From Internet access to a custom body job, what more could you ask for? Oh yea, a WIN on the road!

Pirates are Humans too

As mid season approaches, the standings appear to be tightening up somewhat. The Railroaders benefited a half game in the rankings from a record breaking defeat of the Pirates at the hands of the Bobcats, 20-7, Wow! So there's nothing superhuman about the Bucs and they have loss 4 of their last 6 games. But mind you, they are still a good team, no doubt. The tide could be changing though as the lower half teams are starting to play some better ball. That means we are going to have to push the engine even harder to take the season.

The last place Browns have improved of late, winning 4 of their last 7. For the most part, they are keeping the games close, and I think they are the wild card in the league. They've had their woes, but make no mistake about it, they're getting tougher every game they play. Let's not take them lightly on Wednesday.

The Oilers have taken 4 wins out of their last 6, including 2 of 3 over the Pirates. They are in 3rd place at this posting and only 2 games behind the Railroaders. They have played the fewest games in the league thus far, several PPD games to make up, but they are playing solid baseball and will be a force to reckon with.

The Bobcats are only a half game behind the Oilers. They, too, are playing improved ball. As with the Oilers, the Cats have taken 4 of their last 6 games and beat the Pirates 2 or 3. They are done with Bucs yet either, Tradewater must face the Bobcats 4 more games in a row starting tonight.

As for the Railroaders, we're in good position to make a move. The players have will have had 8 days rest out of the last 12 days before Wednesday's doubleheader with the Browns. Let's make sure there's no rust on board the engine and everything is greased for action. In the last 12 days, we are 3 or 6 games played, and we need to improve on that. Time to get down to work and win, Baby, win!

The Nashville Panthers?

Our first inter-league match-up of the season is a doubleheader tomorrow with the Nashville Panthers, from the upstart Tennessee Summer Collegiate Baseball Association (TSCBA for short). And just who are these Cats? Are they just another breed of feline niggling into our Yard?

With a look on the TSCBA website we can see that the Panthers have the best record in their league at 10-5. They have a team batting average of .275, (the Railroaders average is.255), with 7 players batting over .300. Of the 115 hits total, 20 are for extra bases and there are no homeruns on the year (we have 11 after our last game). For Panthers, they seem a bit slow with only 16 stolen bases in their 15 games played. Our train has 44 in 18 games total. They have scored 52 runs averaging 3.5 per game, and the Railroader total 106 averaging 5.8 per game.

On the pitching front, the Panthers team ERA is 2.73 from a core of 11 pitchers. We’re weaker in this area with a team ERA of 4.16. So combine that with the Panthers better batting average, and we’d better be on our toes with defense! And speaking of Errors, the Panthers have 21 in the 15 games; while in our 18 games we have 37. We’ve done better over the last 3 games with only 3 errors but still, any error is one too many. With the Panthers, it could kill us!

It seems to me that the key to winning these games will be Defense. The bats seem hot and we have the speed to get it done on the bases. The Panthers have 4-1 record against other Kitty League teams this year, with their only loss coming at the hands of the Pirates. Let's give them a double-defeat tomorrow!

What’s wrong with the Railroaders?

You think it’s about time we take a look at record and numbers? The Railroaders current record is 9-8. In first 9 games, the guys won 7 and lost 2. Since then, the record shows only 2 wins and 6 losses. Is it the heat? The “at Home” record is pretty good at 7 wins, 3 losses while the “on the Road” not so good, 3-5. Are the Pirates really that good? Our record so far with them is 1 win, 4 lost. They have beat up on the other team too, but so have we. Tradewater has handed us half our losses. I know we’re better than that and I know we can turn it around. Let’s get a grip on things and start winning. We don’t face the Pirates again until July 17th in Fulton, and only face them 3 more times total. We may still be in 2nd place in the standings, but we’re 5 games behind Tradewater. Let’s get the steam pressure up and get this train rolling! The quality of our players and coaches are better than the record reflects. Let’s begin tonight at the Yard and put away the Bobcats, then repeat the same this Saturday when the Nashville Panthers come into town. The Panthers are the best of the TSCBA with a record of 10-4. The next 3 games we play are at Home, let make them all WINS!