Seal Blubber Bits for June 28

Here are an assortment of Seal Blubber Bits to gnaw on as we wait for our boys to return home to start a 10-game homestand on Tuesday:

• Sunday's 11-3 thrashing at the hands of the Edmonton Capitals means that the Seals went a disappointing 2-4 on their road trip to Alberta. A lack of pitching was again the culprit, as Victoria gave up 39 runs in the six games. Eduardo Baeza was knocked around in both of his starts and gave up a whopping 17 earned runs in his 6 1/3 innings of work.


• Victorian Graham Campbell was one of the few bright spots for the Seals on Sunday. He held the Capitals to only one run on six hits in 5 2/3 innings of relief. It wouldn't be a shock to see Campbell eventually work his way into the starting rotation.
  
• Saskatchewan native Phil Sobkow has been pitching well since joining the Seals. In his four relief appearances, he has struck out six and given up only one earned run in three innings.
  
• The Seals remain third in Golden League attendance with an average of exactly 2,000 fans per game. Although Victoria led the Canadian Baseball League in attendance in 2003, only about 1,700 fans per game came out to Royal Athletic Park during that abbreviated season.


• The Tucson Toros are in town for a four-game series starting on Tuesday night. The Toros have a 10-15 record and are fourth in the South Division.


• Incidentally, the Toros lead the league in attendance with 4,182 fans per game. Tucson is a strong baseball market and has a long history of supporting AAA baseball. Their home park, Hi Corbett Field, is also the spring training home of the Colorado Rockies.


• Tucson is managed by former Toronto Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson. Hard-core Blue Jays fans will remember that Johnson was fired in spring training in 1999, largely because he was caught lying about his service in the Vietnam War. According to Wikipedia, "He said he'd lied because he felt guilty about going to spring training with the Dodgers while many of his friends fought in the war. He entered therapy, and called several of his players to apologize for lying."


• The Golden Baseball League has a channel on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/goldenbaseballleague. It's worth checking out just to see Theo Fleury play pro baseball for the Calgary Vipers in August of last year.