[Elipticon]

The Vancouver Cascades are a thoroughly average team, highlighted with some power and speed in the hitting core. If anything, this is hopefully a good showcase for how we'll fare against the league at large.

GAME 1:

Pittsburgh Starter: Lupe Enriquez (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP)
Vancouver Starter: Dick Schroeder (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP)

This game was a great showcase of our biggest flaws, lack of control, giving up the long ball, and inconsistent hitting. At first, we only seemed to be losing by the respectable amount, with Vancouver scoring 2 solo blasts and a bases loading walk in the first 5 innings. Then in the 6th, Cascades 3B David Valdez hit a grand slam, and it was never close again. The one run we scored was via a baffling series of events where Shortstop Gonzales was hit by pitch, stole second, advanced to third after a passed ball, and finally scored on a groundout. Cascades 11, Barons 1.

Standout Baron: Al Petrosky, who went 1-1 as a Pinch Hitter (yes, it's that dire).

Team Debuts: John St. Amant, Bob Menzel, Dick Aroyo, Dave Schultz, Al Petrosky, Bob Bulter, Jerry Bartlett, Mort Lucke, Henry Castillo, John Knippers, Dave Bastarache, Victor Gonzales, Lupe Enriquez, Guy Williams, Frank Wallace, Randy Falloon

In The News: Finis Sanders, one of the only victims of The Great Release who was still available, signs to Kansas City.

GAME 2:

Pittsburgh Starter: Felix Lechuga (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP)
Vancouver Starter: Ivan Donis (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP)

This was where I realized just how young our pitchers are. Enriquez is 21, and Lechuga is just 19, which gives me at least a little hope these guys will get better. Lechuga, for that matter, managed to not completely embarass himself, only allowing 5 hits in 6 innings. The problem? 4 of them went deep, including 2 from 1B Ray Barton. With Cascades pitcher Donis throwing a CGSO, we continue to not have a single player have 2 hits in a game. Cascades 5, Barons 0.

Standout Baron: Guy Williams, who got 3 easy outs on 8 pitches.

Team Debuts: Felix Lechuga (Why did we just bring out the exact same 2 relievers we used last game? We have 7 of them, what are we doing here?)

In The News: San Diego's Ken Linn has pitched the first No-Hitter in the league's history! With only 2 walks, too.

Overview: This is gonna be the longest season ever. The only bright spot is the strangeness of Victor Gonzales, who aside from scoring the only run of the series also hit a single off Donis after fouling off 6 consecutive pitches. On the bright side, we're not alone in the cellar, as Division rivals Cincinnati and Chicago lost both their games as well. We'll see how long it takes before we're uncontested at the bottom.