Last Night In Woodbridge
Potomac blown out 13-4
The box score does justice to the outcome of the game — way too much justice.
The first-place Wilmington Blue Rocks pounded the P-Nats for 17 hits, most for extra-base hits, but some that should have been caught. It’s not to say that the outcome would have been different, but the differential could have been closer than 13-4. Much closer.
Destin Hood was not charged with any errors but looked lost and out of position for the six innings he was in right field. He did not slip. He did not fall. He simply was in the wrong place to field the ball more often than not.
Hood was not alone in this department, but with the one putout out of a half-dozen or so balls hit to his “zone,” he was the most noticeable. Officially, the Potomac defense was charged with four errors, but the mental errors were easily double that number.
The misplays weighed upon starter Cameron Selik, who was making his first start in Woodbridge, as he looked haggard by the end of his outing, which ended with one out in the fifth and ten hits charged to his line, six of which went for extra bases (see above). He walked just one and struck out four, featuring, at times, a slow curve that was at least 10 mph slower than his fastball.
As the score suggests, neither reliever was particularly effective though Evan Bronson did retire six of the last seven batters he faced, an error (really) breaking up the string. Adam Olbrychowski was charged with a one or more runs for his sixth consecutive outing, letting in the last two runs in the ninth.
Offensively, the PNats had one good inning — the first, in which they scored three of their four runs and all with two out as Justin Bloxom and Steve Souza hit back-to-back doubles and Wilmington’s Tim Ferguson simply dropped J.P. Ramirez’s flyball to left. Otherwise, they flailed for 15 strikeouts with only veteran infielder Jose Lozada reaching base more than once.
With the loss, Potomac falls to 12-21 and back into the Carolina League North cellar, seven games off the pace. Danny Rosenbaum (team-best 1.16 WHIP) takes the hill tonight for the tenth home game of the season, opposed by Tyler Sample (1.48 WHIP).
Thanks, Sue. Ouch! Well, that ends the quandry over what happens when Harper comes up and takes over right field. Using your scouting instincts, what position is Hood best suited for?
1 for 6 on catching fly balls is a Little League stat.
Do you think Selik even realized he moved up a level? That had to be awfully disheartening.
Left field for Hood, but I have seen him play well enough for RF on occasion. Personally, I would have aligned the outfield as Hood-Perez-Higley, but I’m willing to bet that the FO wants hood in RF as often as possible until someone else comes along (*ahem*).
Selik certainly got a lesson about what happens when leave a flat fastball up to a High-A hitter, but it’s too easy to dismiss his Low-A numbers on being too old for the level. As is always the case, it’s how he responds to this outing that matters more.
I believe Tyler Sample not Tim Sample will be pitching tonight.
Selik looked good warming up – Sinker, slider & that off-speed curve was a thing of beauty. It seemed that he got out of sync as the misplays mounted, rushing his delivery & started leaving both the fastball & slider up – end result was a lot of well-hit balls.
Agreed, Destin looked completely clueless last night in RF, but Perez & Higley didn’t look particularly sharp either. Maybe you’re right – start giving Hood reps in LF now, anticipating that the kid will be here in another couple of weeks.
One other point – Bloxom may have 3B on his resume’, but he’s not a third baseman, imo. Dykstra has looked better there than Bloxom did last night.
There is no way the Golden Child plays RF at Potomac. IF – and that’s a huge IF – he comes to Potomac at all, no way he plays in Silber’s Swamp, aka right field. IF Harper comes to Potomac, he will play in CF. Go to Vegas and put money on it.