Tuesday, May 3, 2011

RailCats 5, Winnipeg 4

The RailCats opened the exhibition season with a 5-4 victory over Winnipeg...Below you will find the audio from yesterday's postgame press conferences featuring Manager Greg Tagert and Outfielder Cody McMorris...I have also linked in the boxscore so you can get a look yourself at the stats from the game...But first...

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
One thing that really stood out to me yesterday was team speed...Eight stolen bases in the game for the 'Cats including four from Cody McMorris...If they can do that during the regular season opponents are going to make mistakes simply because they get worried about even putting guys on base...You will hear Greg Tagert mention McMorris and his stolen base total from last year...He swiped 14 bases and posted 15 hits in the Golden League...

Winnpieg made five errors...OK, those things are going to happen in the spring as well as during the season...What made yesterday unique is that if a team is going to make mistakes, YOU HAVE TO CAPITALIZE! Three of the five runs scored by the RailCats were a direct result of errors and a fourth run scored because of an error but ended up being an earned run...

You may look at Scott Shaw's line and say, wow, he wasn't that impressive...Well, his pitch count was high in the first inning which was why he only threw three innings, but he allowed two runs on six hits...Thinking of the six hits, a lot of them were seeing eye singles that weren't really hit hard but found openings...He battled throughout, and posted more strikeouts than any other pitcher from wither side during the game...

Will Krout and Jeremy Hauer were inoressive...Krout was only slated to throw two innings but lasted a third when Shaw's pitch count forced him into the game earlier...Krout has an arm angle that makes picking up the ball difficult...The righty won a title last season as a key reliever for the River City Rascals in the Frontier League, finishing 7-1 with a 2.46 ERA in 58.2 innings...Most of Krout's out came on softly hit grounders...WInnipeg had a tough time seeing him...Hauer on the otherhand, may have returned to the form which earned him MVP of the 2009 Championship Series with Fargo-Moorhead, allowing just one base runner in his two innings on a walk...

The defense was extremely awesome yesterday...No errors in the game...There were two plays that I highlighted in the sixth inning...Chris Carra made an awesome stab and throw from third to open the inning, and then McMorris made a sweet catch in center and then hurrying his throw back to the infield aiming for a double play overshot second base, but Jeff Beachum flew over to cut off the overthrow and flip for the double play...

Winnipeg used a 10-man lineup in the game...The RailCats used 10 men once around in the middle of the contest, giving Kyle Haines an extra at bat after he was lifted from the game for Brian Kolb...Speaking of Haines...He was one of the players Greg Tagert wanted big time this offseason...He hit in the third slot in the lineup and was 1-for-2 with a double, a walk, a run, and an RBI...

GAME BOXSCORE

AUDIO
Tagert's Postgame Press Conference
(Sorry about the audio early in this, I was fiddling with the microphone's location...


Cody McMorris talking with Hillary Smith from the Times
(His audio is a little quiet, so turn him up)

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