#billhall

The Bluefish have about 3 weeks and just under 25 games to turn things around and end the first half with a respectable finish. After riding high in first place at the start of the season, the Fish have plummeted to 8 games behind the first place Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. The end of May saw them floundering through a 15 game losing streak that was finally snapped on June 2nd Unfortunately, they haven't improved on their record much going 3-7 since that win. 

I'd say this spiral downward would call for a team overhaul, but there weren't too many changes to improve the team performance or at least not any significant changes. Early on, I let GM Ken Shepard know Bill Hall was available--the left side of the infield was hurting between Russ Mitchell and Iggy Suarez hovering under a batting average of .200. When Russ Mitchell was finally released on June 6th, it wasn't to make room for Bill Hall, no, he went to another team, you can probably guess which one. Once again, double dipping Frank Boulton and the rest of the ownership group made no effort to make the Bluefish more appealing to prospective players than their favorite, the Long Island Ducks. 

Although the Bridgeport offense has been fairly consistent, the hitting has not been timely at all. Over half of the everyday players are batting over .280, while the team sits at the bottom of the league in runs scored. An even larger part of Bridgeport's losses has been a pitching staff that has allowed games to get completely out of reach. Pretty much every starting pitcher has more than one pitching performance they want gone from their record.  Mike Parisi hasn't had a decent outing since he was named Atlantic League Pitcher of the week at the end of April. He sported a 6.50 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP in the month of May. Hunter Jones hasn't helped much with his up and down performance. He usually pitches won or two good games then follows up with a couple disasters. Jones has the worst WHIP of the regular starters at 1.86. Unfortunately, Bridgeport's newest pitcher is following suit. Kelvin Villa gave up 6 ER and 4 BB in 5.1 IP for his first outing. I'm hoping he's not sticking around long enough for a second start. Nowadays, if I want to increase my chances of seeing a win at the ballpark, I'll plan on going when Miguel Martinez or Josh Butler are on the mound and hope Willie doesn't crap on it with his pitching decisions. 

Tonight Mike Parisi or Miguel Martinez will try to turn things around for the Fish in Long Island. Unfortunately, the Bluefish make minimal effort to inform fans about anything going on through social media so I'm guessing at who will pitch. They've both gotten enough rest to pitch tonight. Sorry, I don't pick up the newspaper anymore to read old news. (not that the CT Post puts any real effort into covering the team on a regular basis anyway). 

I suppose when the Fish start winning again, I might give you guys some happier posting. 

Don't forget they'll be back home on Tuesday night, be sure to go out and show your support.

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Thanks to the PATRIOTS twitter presence for the Bluefish line up tonight:

The Giants have signed veteran infielder Bill Hall as a reaction to yet another injury. Hall was released by the Houston Astros earlier this week while batting just .224/.272/.340. Hall hit 18 homeruns in just 382 plate appearances last season for the Boston Red Sox. The Giants will hope he can maintain some of that power as he will probably make quite a few starts at both second base and third base.