Game 95: Post-Game Notes

— I figured it was a lot more important to get that Brian Cashman chat out right away, so the post-game notes are coming out a little later then the already late they usually are.  If that makes sense to you guys…

— A big pitching prospect for Trenton threw a lot of pitches, didn’t throw a lot of innings and gave up too many walks.  This would describe yesterday’s game and today’s game.  Tonight it was Dellin Betances’ turn for a spotty outing, although he did strike out seven in five innings of work.  But he also allowed four runs and picked up the loss, evening his record out to 4-4.

“I don’t judge the young pitchers by their won-loss record,” Franklin said.

“You guys should have seen him over in Richmond.  He pitched like he was Cy Young over there.  We need to see more of that each time out.  But I’m not concerned about a young pitcher with his ability to pitch the baseball.  I think all the things that we expect from him will come true, just maybe not right now.  But I think before the season ends, we’ll see what he’s got.  He’ll let you guys know how good he is.”

— Franklin, and I’m sure it wasn’t relayed to the team as calmly as it was to reporters after the game, challenged his team once he got into the clubhouse with a simple question.

Paraphrasing slightly: “Is there anyone in this room not willing to come back and put your butt on the line tomorrow?”

“Nobody said yes, so I expect we’re going to come back and play hard,” Franklin said.

“I think we’re trying extremely hard, we’re just not getting the job done.  And we need to get the job done.”

The Thunder are now 3-13 in the month of July, and perilously close to falling out of second place, which also serves as the final playoff spot in the Eastern Division.

— Austin Romine appears to be fine after seeming to get crossed up with Betances early in the game.  Romine appeared to get caught flush with a ball on his right forearm and was in severe pain and down for about two minutes while being tended to by trainer Tim Lentych. 

“He took a heck of a blow right there,” Franklin said.

“He got crossed up on about a 93 MPH fastball, and he took it on the forearm.  But he stayed in the game.  That’s pretty good.”

Romine’s arm was heavily wrapped after the game.

— If you were at the game, and the attendance figures would suggest you weren’t, you may have noticed that Josh Schmidt was forced to swap his glove out with another one before he started pitching in the seventh inning.  It turns out, it’s an issue this particular umpiring crew has with the logo on his Akadema glove, which apparently have a patch on the strap that creates a glare.

This will, believe it or not, require a conference call tomorrow to see if he can continue to use the original glove.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com