Sunday, June 13, 2010

Seals waste stellar debut from Jeff Duda

The Victoria Seals fell 1-0 to the Calgary Vipers on Sunday afternoon and failed to capitalize on the best start from a Seals pitcher this season. Jeff Duda, in his first professional game, pitched seven scoreless innings and only gave up three hits. He walked just one and struck out an impressive seven batters.

The 24-year-old Duda was signed a few days ago by the Seals and it was unclear if he would make much of an impact on their beleaguered pitching staff. Any doubt was removed today, as the 2009 Pitcher of the Year for the Okotoks Dawgs was dominant in his debut. Let's hope he can keep it up.

Aaron Easton pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but Andrew Arreola gave up a walk-off homer to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the ninth (Julio Ramirez). Arreola's ERA has now jumped to 5.17 on the year.

Sadly, the Seals offence could only muster five hits against the Vipers on Sunday and their team batting average has dropped to a league-low .245.

Seal Blubber Bits
  • The Seals play a three-game series against the Capitals in Edmonton starting on Monday night at 6 PM PST.
  • Sean Smith stayed behind in Victoria and did not accompany the Seals on their Alberta road trip. The team hopes to be able to activate him in time for next weekend's series against the Edmonton Capitals at Royal Athletic Park.
  • Matt Kavanaugh was the only Seal to register a pair of hits on Sunday, but that was only good enough to raise his batting average to .217 on the season.
  • Chris Van Rossum went 0-for-4 on Sunday to drop his average to .231. When Sean Smith is activated, it's within the realm of possibility that Shane Cronin (1B) and Terrence McClain (LF) could stay where they are and Smith could take Van Rossum's spot in centre.
  • The Seals are now in last place in the North Division with a 7-13 record. Only the expansion Tijuana Cimarrones have a worse record (2-17).