August 1, 2009: Opposition Research

From the game notes of the Quad Cities River Bandits...

The Month that Was: The month of July was a streaky one for the River Bandits, who had three losing streaks and two winning streaks that lasted three games or more. Quad Cities’ overall 12-16 record made it their best month since finishing April 12-7, but they were far more effective at home (9-5) than on the road (3-11). The River Bandits pitching staff was much improved, posting a 3.81 staff ERA that included a stellar 2.73 ERA from the bullpen and fantastic numbers from RHP’s Dave Carpenter (0.66 ERA, 3saves), Arquimedes Nieto (36.1IP, 2.72 ERA, 34K), Ramon Delgado (2.45 ERA, 15-2 K/BB), and Matt Frevert (2.81 ERA, 16K, 16IP). The offense, however, was not so efficient, batting just .235 as a team and averaging only
3.6 runs per game.

Miami Heat: Alex Castellanos has seen his season turn around in a significant way. The Florida native opened the year scuffling, hitting just .156 (15-96) through his first 28 games of the year. Since May 21, however, Castellanos is batting .330 (64-194) in 49 games with both power (23XH) and speed (15-SB). He also owns the Bandits’ longest two hitting streaks of the year with
stretches of 15 games (.403 from 5/23-6/9) and 12 games (.392 from 7/5-18) in length.

Bull Market: Despite a 4.56 overall team ERA that is second to last in the Midwest League, the River Bandits bullpen has excelled in July to the tune of a 2.73 ERA (102.1IP/31ER).

The Early Bird Gets the Worm: The River Bandits have seen the opposition score first in 32 of their last 44 contests, outscored 41-13 in the first innings of those games and 64-25 over the first two frames. On the season, Quad Cities has scored first in just 38 of their 103 contests (37%) and has been outscored 150 to 86 in the first two innings of ballgames.