We ventured out to the banks of the Fox River to play Keith this month. The Highlander lineup continued its streak of hot hitting, hitting .281 on the series and taking six of nine games. We started hot and stayed in the zone for the full series, running our won-loss record to 24-15.
The top performer for the month didn’t even play all nine games; Howie Kendrick went 11-24 (.458/.458/.875) with 7 runs and 4 RBI in 6 games. He also didn’t walk, running his at-bat total to 89 without a walk this season. Stephen Drew also hit well, hitting 2 homers in two separate games and driving in 9 runs. Chris Young hit .324 and had 5 doubles and two steals.
Our pitching was good but not great, with a 4.16 ERA on the series. Roy Oswalt won both of his starts, and Ryan Madson picked up two wins in relief. Jim Johnson lost two in relief, and Julian Tavarez and Cla Meredith both got knocked around a bit, while Andrew Miller got his second start and did a pretty good job again, going 7 innings and allowing only 3 runs, though he did pick up a loss.
On the year, Stephen Drew is leading the team in homers and RBI, with 8 HR and 28 RBI along with a team-leading .290 average. No one is performing extraordinarily, but no one is slumping too badly either; it’s been a strong all-around team effort. On the mound, Oswalt has a 5-2 record in 8 starts, and Felix Hernandez is 4-2. Jeremy Guthrie and Jon Garland are both 3-1. Even Ian Snell is 2-2 with a 2.93 ERA. Brad Zeigler has 10 saves and a 2.13 ERA. The overall team ERA is 3.89.
This next month, with a rematch with the Iowa teams, will go a long way to telling us if our record so far is for real. We expected to compete, but didn’t really expect to compete for first place.