IT’S A STAMPEDE!
The San Bernardino Stampede are off to an incredible
start in ’06. They went 11-2 at home and 11-2 on the road to give them a 22-4
overall record in month one. What an awesome start! After losing two games at
home to South Range
(and nearly a third for a sweep if not for a walk-off HR by Derrek Lee)
they finished the month winning those last 14 games in a row.
It all started with a CG, shutout by team ace, Cris
Carpenter over Exeter. San
Bernardino showed their talent by slugging out 17 hits
to score 8 runs in the game. Exeter
won the fourth game of the series and then the Keglers ripped the Stampede 11-1
in-between San Bernardino wins in Waukesha.
San Bernardino then swept Silver
3-0 at home before dropping 2 of 3 to South
Range in San Bernardino.
The Stampede roared back though by sweeping all 3 in Alaska, sweeping all 3 in
Santa Barbara, sweeping all 3 at home against Alaska, and finished the month
with a 4-game sweep at home against Exeter.
For the month San Bernardino
hit .308 with 30 HR’s. Gary Matthews (.444) and Juan Encarnacion (.379)
lead in average while Alex Rodriguez and Derrek Lee led in HR’s with 6 each.
Lee also led the team with 24 RBI. On the hill, Cris Carpenter had 5 wins
followed by 4 from Jon Garland. Garland’s 2.08 ERA also lead the team’s
starters while Affeldt (0.00), Gonzalez (0.00), Ayala (0.47)
and Rivera (0.96) all sported ERA’s below 1 in relief. As a team San
Bernardino’s ERA was 2.77 and they allowed just 18
HR’s. Rivera had 7 saves to lead the
team.
The Stampede are off to a great
start but will they be able to continue their dominance? They did not face a
team with a record above .500 (as of this writing) in April. Gotham
City, Plum Island and Hoboken will give them tougher competition. And
unfortunately for San Bernardino, all three are in their division, the Ruth
division. It could an exciting run for top honors in the Ruth this year. At
least this time around, and for the first time, San Bernardino looks to be in
the mix.
Tom Fish
San Bernardino Stampede
tpoisson@verizon.net