Dare to dream

The Seals did their part to keep the playoff dream alive tonight by riding the strong pitching of Issac Hess to a 7-4 win over the new look Roadrunners. Meanwhile, the mountain snakes of Calgary are starting to get nervous after falling 7-6 to my new 2nd favourite team, the Edmonton Capitals. That leaves the Seals 3.5 games back with a crucial face to face meeting with the Vipers just around the corner. They still need to take care of business tomorrow and then get a 3 or 4 wins against Calgary, but at least it's beginning to seem possible.

In tonight's game, Issac Hess was masterful for 5 and two thirds innings, taking a no hitter into the 6th. proving he was mortal, he walked a few batters and St George got two unconvincing hits to chase him with the bases loaded. The Roadrunner hitters looked completely over-matched all night while Victoria came through with some clutch hits to keep the mountain serpents at bay. Hess also chipped in with a nice two run double in the second and then forced one of the four (costly) errors and scored on an overthrow from the outfield. Josh Arhart had three hits and Wilver was a factor all night after slamming a lead off homer and wreaking havoc on the base paths like he can.

Defensively, Jerry Madueno had at least three gems at second and turned a nice double play. He also added a couple of hits to inch above the Mendoza line and give us hope he can hold his own offensively.

The pitching for St George was mediocre and the hitting anemic but center fielder, Cody McMorris made an unbelievable diving grab at the wall to rob Colin Moro of an extra base hit. He also made a couple of other nice grabs at the wall to give a silver lining to the game for the visitors. Actually, the Roadrunners should get some credit for somehow scrapping to stay close, given how outmatched their hitters were.

After being away for a while, I also noticed a few changes in the friendly confines of the RAP. Nicer looking player profile pictures (still not updated real time though!), no endless breaking glass or Homer sound bytes and while the music still echoes of Hot Tub Time Machine, I found it an improvement - I heard no Weird Al and no one asked me to Wang Chung tonight.

Anyway...it's good to be back!

Editor's Note: I also give the thumbs up to the Saturday Night Fever and Jerry Maguire skits with Seymour in between innings. Nice bit of levity.