On the road. . .

The road trip continues in Chillicothe. Always a great place to see a game. Evidently I'll be broadcasting from the stands. Can't say that I have done too much of that. Anyway, here are some notes I've done heading into the Chillicothe series this weekend. Tune in in 1490, or online, and keep sending me the e-mails!

The Grizzlies. . .
Are coming off a series win at Florence. The Grizzlies won the first and last game of the series. The Freedom took the middle game. The Grizzlies are now 6-6 since the All-Star break. They lead Windy City by 1/2 game for the best record in the Frontier League. They lead the West Division by 13 1/2 games over the Southern Illinois Miners. Their team batting average of .275 is fourth best in the Frontier League. Their team ERA of 3.93 is the lowest in the league. The Grizzlie won their 40th game on Sunday July 22. This is the fastest the Grizzlies have ever reached 40 wins in a season. The previous best was 2004 when they won their 40th game on August 2nd.

The Grizzlies are. . .
42-16 overall
24-8 at home
16-7 on the road
26-6 vs. the West
14-9 vs. the Central
2-1 vs. the East

Series stuff. . .
This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. Last season the Grizzlies were 3-8 against the Paints, and just 2-6 at V.A. Memorial Stadium. The Paints swept a five-game series in Chillicothe in August where they outscored the Grizzlies 25-4. The Grizzlies are just 11-22 all-time against the Paints. They are 7-11 at V.A. Memorial Stadium.

Last time out. . .
Chris Gibson's two-out RBI single in the ninth inning Thursday night lifted the Gateway Grizzlies to a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Florence Freedom at Champion Window Field in Florence, Ky. The at-bat was Gibson's first of the night, after entering the game an inning earlier as a pinch runner. The ninth inning was kept alive on a two-out error by former Grizzlie Jesse Acosta. The Grizzlies trailed 3-2 in the fifth when Stephen Holdren connected on his 17th home run of the year to right center. The blast tied the game at three. The Grizzlies took an early lead, getting a run in the second inning. Holdren tripled off the right field wall with two outs. Josh Dietz followed with a base hit to make it 1-0 Grizzlies. The Freedom evened the score with a run in the bottom of the inning. Holdren walked with the bases loaded in the third to put the Grizzlies up 2-1. Holdren finished the night 3-4 with two RBIs. Dietz was 3-4 with an RBI. Brandon Kellbach (6-0) earned win in relief. He tossed the eighth, allowing one hit and striking out one. Eric Ridener gave up a hit and struck out one for the save. The save, his 17th of the season, ties a Grizzlies single season record set last season by Todd Pennington. Erik Dessau started for the Grizzlies. He went seven innings, allowing three runs, one earned, on 10 hits. He struck out five.

On the hill. . .
Friday: RHP Jason Herman (2-1, 3.13)-Began the year in Winnipeg (Northern League) where he was 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA.
-Tossed a season-high eight innings July 22 vs. Evansville.
-Is 1-0 with a 1.17 on the road.
-Is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA as a starter.

Saturday: RHP Jeremy Dow (1-0, 5.59)-Made nine relief appearances before his first start.
-Is 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA as a starter.
-Is 0-0 with an 8.41 ERA in 10 relief appearances.
-Allowed a season-high 11 runs in 1.2 innings in relief vs. Windy City July 13.

Sunday: RHP Nathan Roush (4-3, 4.91)
-Placed on injured reserve at the end of June for shoulder discomfort.
-Tuesday was his first start since June 28, went seven innings in a win at Florence.
-Longest outing of the year was June 28-eight innings.
-All seven decisions have come in seven road starts this season, where he has a 3.20 ERA.
-Struck out career-best nine in complete game 5/28 at River City (Game 2 of DH)

Going deep. . .
The Grizzlies homered four times in the previous series at Florence. They have now hit a league-high 85 home runs this season. 58 of those homers have come at home. They are on pace to hit 139 home runs this season. The league record is 124, set by Florence in 2005. The Grizzlies record is 114 set in 2004.

Don’t walk. . .
Grizzlies pitchers have allowed a league-low 177 walks for the season.

Comeback kids. . .
25 of the Grizzlies’ 42 wins have come after the team was trailing at some point in the game. Five times this year the Grizzlies have won when trailing after eight innings. The Grizzlies have 11 wins, including last night, in their final at-bat this season. Both totals are tops in the FL.

Taking attendance. . .
The Grizzlies have now drawn 124,410 fans for the season through 32 games. Their average of 3,888 places them third in the league. The Grizzlies are over 100,000 fans for the fifth consecutive season. They were the second team this year to break the 100,000 mark. The Grizzlies will welcome their one-millionth regular season fan during the next home stand. To date, the Grizzlies have now drawn 991,171 fans for their history.

Holding down the fort. . .
Stephen Holdren enters the series among the league leaders in quite a few categories. . .
Hitting (10th-.330), home runs (2nd-17), RBIs (Tied 4th-47), triples (Tied 1st-7), on-base pct. (3rd-.435), slugging pct. (1st-.684), extra-base hits (Tied 1st-32). His seven triples are a new single-season franchise record for the Grizzlies.

“Mike”d up. . .
Mike Breyman now has 314 hits for his Grizzlies’ career, making him the club’s all-time leader. He has 48 home runs for his career, making him the all-time leader in that category. He also has 196 RBIs for his career to lead all-time. Breyman began the year within striking distance of 12 Grizzlies’ career offensive records, most of which held by Phil Warren. He has already broken or tied nine of those records. He is also the all-time leader doubles, extra base hits, runs scored, and walks. He is tied with Warren with three career grand slams. He hit his third earlier this year. Breyman has reached base safely in every road game he has played in. His 25 game road on-base streak is the best in the league.

Riding the wave. . .
Eric Ridener has continued the Grizzlies tradition of dominant closers. The former Pirates farmhand saved his 17th game last night, tying the Grizzlies single season record set last year by Todd Pennington. His next save will also tie him with Mike Golden for the career save record. Golden had 18 in two seasons with the Grizzlies. Ridener’s 17 saves have come in 17 save opportunities. He has not allowed a run in a save situation this season.

Great Scott. . .
Former Grizzlies pitcher Scott Patterson is now pitching for the Double-A Trenton Thunder in the New York Yankees organization. He has appeared 32 times this season, including three starts, and is 3-1 with a 0.98 ERA. He also has three saves. In 55 innings he has 69 strikeouts and 12 walks.

Up Next. . .
The Grizzlies return home for a six-game home stand against Florence and Chillicothe July 30-August 4.