If Riverview League games lasted only six innings instead of seven, the Bombers would have put another “W” on the board.  From the second through seventh inning, the Westside nine outplayed the Richfield Ramblers based on excellent pitching and tight defense, and outscored them 3-1.  Alas, the Bombers had been undone by the first inning, during which Richfield plated nine runs, eight of which were unearned (based on only a single error).

Both Andy Fuchs and Jake Divish pitched well in the loss, combining for 6 1/3 quality innings which included only two bases on balls.  They alternated between 1-2-3 innings and pitching out of trouble, stranding two Rambler runners in the second and fourth, and getting out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the seventh without permitting a run owing to a nicely executed Rob Cohen to Fuchs to Surya Agrawal double play.

The Bombers continued their improvement at the plate, notching eight hits, one walk and one hit batsman.  Both Rob and Andy Cohen improved their consecutive games with a hit total, with Rob netting a single and a sacrifice, and Andy collecting a single and two RBI’s.  Jim Althoff accounted for both the walk and the hit by pitch, while also scoring a run.  The other two runs were plated by Chris Liebhart, after reaching on an error, and Grant Johnson, following a single.  Liebhart literally was playing on one leg due to an ankle injury, but still managed to score from third during a rundown skillfully extended by Brian Szmergalski between second and third.  Smergs also collected two hits on the night.  The Bombers last hit came from Andy Fuchs.

For one shining moment, the Westside Bombers were a team of destiny.  As Bob Costas is fond of saying, if you could tell who would win each game on paper, there would be no reason to play.  And that was the story on July 10, 2008 as the lightly regarded Westside nine took the field.  After an easy five inning win by Minnetonka earlier in the season, one could understand why the 30-4 Millers would assume the 2-15 Bombers were an easy mark.  That attitude turned out to be a mistake.

Led by the return to the mound of Jake Divish coming off a severe ankle injury, and stunningly effective relief pitching by Chris Liebhart and Andy Fuchs, the Bomber hurlers stymied the mighty, but aging, Miller offensive attack.  With a 3-1-3 inning distribution strategy of Liebhart, with his submarine fastball, sandwiched between the unhittable breaking stuff of Divish and Fuchs, Minnetonka was limited to only three runs on six hits.  The Westsider’s staff commanded the strike zone with authority, issuing one free pass while striking out seven.  Although the night was warm, the fans behind home plate were kept cool by the powerful, but futile, cuts of the Minnetonka lumber. 

Despite the fact that Veterans Field clearly was showing its age, with serious maintenance needed to retain respectability (and an outfield fence) for the ballpark, the Bombers roamed the expanse of artificial turf as though they owned it.  Outfielders Divish, Jim Althoff, Brian Szmergalski and Liebhart made hauling in the Miller blasts look easy, as warning track power became a developing theme.  Blake Carlson was a vacuum cleaner at third, at one point holding a hot grounder he had fielded down the line for a three-count, just so he could throw out the frustrated runner by half a step.  Surya Agrawal turned playing first base into an acrobatic performance.  His variety of stretches and jumps left the crowd wondering when he would perform a back flip before catching the ball.  Fuchs and Althoff ranged far and wide at shortstop, including a Jeter-like leaping throw to second by Althoff to start a double play on a ball hit deep in the hole.  Second baseman Jason Thompson stood his ground at the bag, taking a spike to his thigh in the process of making a laser throw to first to complete the twin killing.  Andy Cohen was rock solid behind the plate.  After throwing out the first two Millers who attempted to steal, Minnetonka could be heard uttering “forgetaboutit,” and ceded the base paths.

The Bombers’ five runs came mostly with station-to-station hitting and execution.  The one exception to this progressive onslaught was a third inning home run by Smergalski, hitting high on the scoreboard in right field and, due to a motivational pre-game bet, costing Coach fifty dollars and proving that Smergs truly can and will do anything for a buck.  Althoff, although hitless in the contest, netted a bizarre achievement that, in retrospect, was in the making over the last several games as his daring on the base paths increased.  With two outs in the second inning, Jim managed to steal four bases in one at bat.  He reached first on a dropped third strike that the Minnetonka catcher couldn’t recover before he crossed the bag safely.  After easy steals of second and third, Althoff could not be denied.  As the frustrated Miller pitcher went into an ill-advised full wind-up, the speedster broke for home, sliding under the tag on a chest high curveball.

Andy Cohen also had himself a night with the lumber, delivering three hits for the Bombers, including a two-out double with men on second and third to tie the game in the sixth inning.  The stroke of the night, however, went to Agrawal who, with a man on second and one down in the bottom of the seventh, decided to change his luck by stepping to the plate left-handed for the first time in his Bomber career.  One foul ball later, he delivered a line-drive single to center, scoring Fuchs with the winning run.

While the stunned Millers retreated to their dugout, the announcing booth was mercifully silent and the reporter for the Minnetonka newspaper didn’t have the nerve to ask for a few quotes.  The Bombers kept their celebration respectful, but celebrate they did, with a victory lap around Veterans Field.  As Yogi Berra said:  “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.”

If pitching is 90% of the game, then there is no doubt why the Bombers were blitzed by Edina last night.  Four Bomber pitchers failed to find the strike zone, issuing nine walks and hitting two batters over less than four complete innings.  Only the fifth hurler inserted in the game – Jason Thompson – pitched well, getting the last four outs of the game by retiring the only men he faced.  Thompson did have some quality help for the last two outs.  In what could be the only fielding highlight of the contest, the Bombers turned a slick double play after a one-out hit by Edina.  Shortstop Jim Althoff ranged far and quickly to his left, flipped to second baseman Brian Szmergalski, who completed a lightening quick turn to first baseman Grant Johnson.

Andy Cohen continued his hot hitting by going one for two and picking up the Bombers lone RBI on a sacrifice fly in the third inning.  The shot scored Jim Althoff, who was in Ricky Henderson mode, having walked and then stolen second and third.  Smergs returned to the hit column by driving a ball into the deep infield grass that somehow managed to do its best impression of being hit in the Metrodome by bouncing high in the air and clearing the third baseman by about ten feet.  Neil Satterstrom, after having taken a line drive off his knee while on the mound, collected a double late in the game.

Look for the long anticipated return to the hill by Jake Divish tonight against an aging Minnetonka team.  The Bombers cannot be held responsible for overthrows in the direction of acid-penned newspaper reporters.

In an unfortunate flashback to the 2007 season, last night the Westside Bombers flat out stunk.  The law of averages and the history of the game of baseball suggest that every team occasionally has games such as the one endured by the Bomber fans.  After the previous two weeks of steadily improving play, close games and building momentum,  last night was a disaster.  To begin the evening, the Bombers increased to ten the number of players who have spent some or all of the season on the disabled list.  The team that took the field, however, was an excellent one.  Although St. Louis Park only scored one unearned run over the first two innings, the Bombers committed three errors over this span.  Unfortunately, that was only the beginning.  By the time the game mercifully ended after five innings, the Westsiders had committed a team record  eight errors and countless other blunders for which there is no official scoring notation.  It simply was one of those nights. 

A quality start on the mound by Thomas Wheeler was wasted.  Although fielding highlights were few and far between, a 6-4-3 (Jim Althoff to Rob Cohen to Surya Agrawal) double play to erase a threat in the second inning was pretty, as was a heads-up 7-5-3 (Althoff to Wheeler to Agrawal) to end the fifth.  Even though hits were not plentiful by the Bombers, strikeouts were limited to three, with clear signs of improvement in the swings.  The sole Bomber run was produced when Chris Liebhart doubled to the fence in left, Rob Cohen moved him to third on a chopper to the right side, and Andy Cohen delivered a two out single to left to score Liebhart.  Jake Divish recorded his first hit since returning from the DL and Jason Thompson was robbed of a hit on a sharp liner to right field that the alert right fielder charged and, with a beautiful throw, tossed out the speedy Thompson at first.  It clearly was not the Bombers' day.

After watching the Bloomington Bulldogs crush Merchant pitching earlier in the week, the Bombers knew that they were up against a tough opponent on Thursday.  Staff ace Andy Fuchs took the mound at approximately 8:30pm and promptly lived up to this designation.  For five innings, Fuchs dominated from the hill, silencing the Bandit bats with a major league curveball and deadly accuracy.  Quite a few bats were broken and expletives uttered by the Blomington hitters, as Fuchs gave up only one run over this span.  His fine pitching allowed the Bombers to enter the bottom of the sixth inning with a 2-1 lead.

The Bomber defense finally lived up to its full potential behind Fuchs.  A lengthy highlight reel could be produced with the feats performed with the Westsider's leather, but a few stand out.  In the third inning, with Bulldogs on first and second, Bloomington's number two hitter laced a linedrive to centerfield.  Jake Divish, charging the ball, unleased his throw to the plate as the speedy runner already was three steps around third.  The laser hit newcomer catcher Matt Carter on a perfect line one step ahead of the sliding Bulldog and, after a nice tag by Carter, an out was recorded.  In the sixth inning, with the infield drawn in and the Bombers trying to stave off an opponent rally, Grant Johnson scooped a tricky grounder, threw to the plate, and Carter absorbed the resulting collision and recorded an out while firmly grasping the ball.  Phil Morgan, playing second base for the first time since fourth grade, delivered a solid performance, flawlessly fielding each of his four chances, incuding a grounder that kicked up at the last minute, forcing Morgan to use both lightening reflexes and his full 6'3" height to nab the ball and throw to first for the out.  Blake Cralson turned in a Brooks Robinson-like performance at third, fielding several chances with ease and tossing line drives across the infield to make it look easy.  The play of the game, however, if not the entire season, came after Fuchs had left the mound and taken up the second base position.  With Bulldogs on second and third with two outs, the batter hit a line drive up the middle.  Two runs were sure to score.  Fuchs, however, dove parallel to the ground and snagged the ball inches from the dirt, laying out at full extension.  If anyone has the film clip, send it to ESPN.

The Bombers had a tougher time at the plate, but have learned to take advantage of their opportunities.  The bats were silent, collecting only a single by Carter in the third over the first five innings.  Faced with a 1-0 deficit, Coach asked injured Andy Cohen if he could pinch hit to lead off the sixth.  Cohen limped to the plate and promptly ignited a Bomber rally by delivering a line drive single to right field for a hit.  After reaching second on a passed ball, Cohen took third on a single to center by Jim Althoff, who continued his almost unnatural ability to reach base.  Althoff promptly swiped second, recording a stolen base for the fourth out of the last five games.  His jump was so impressive that the Bulldog catcher took his eye off the pitch for a moment, allowing Cohen to score on the play for a 1-1 tie.  After a Chris Liebhart infield single extended the inning, Althoff used his speed once again to trot home for a 2-1 lead.  

Although the Bombers ultimately fell to the Bulldogs by a score of 6-2, it was a game to remember.

With lots of friends and family in the stands, Jason Thompson went three for three in the second game of a doubleheader.  The Bombers took an early 3-1 lead, but couldn't hold on for the win, falling 9-4 to the Northwest Suburbs team. 

Blake Carlson excelled in a surprise (including to him) relief appearance on the mound.  Carlson pitched the closing three frames of the game, giving up no runs on only one hit.  In addition to Thompson's performance, Bomber hits came from Neil Satterstrom (with yet another two-hit performance), Brian Szmergalski (who returned to his 2007 "doubles" form) and Chris Liebhart (who delivered a clutch pinch-hit single to drive in a run).  Walks to Andy Cohen, Grant Johnson and Smergs added to the Bomber baserunners.  Smergs also added two runs scored to his day, with Jake Divish and Thompson plating the other two tallies.  Additional RBI's came from Jim Althoff and Johnson.

Only the silent bats of the Bombers kept the Westsiders from recording their first victory of the young season.  Thomas Wheeler took the mound and pitched a complete game, giving up only two earned runs on five hits with two K's and no walks.  Wheeler took a shutout into the sixth inning.  Unfortunately, although matching their opponent's hit total, the Bombers could not match their run total.  Neil Satterstrom had another two-hit game, and Andy Cohen, Erik Fiegel and Grant Johnson also added base knocks. 

The Bombers remained reasonably tight in the field, erasing one of only two errors on a 1-6-5-6 play that left the nicely-sized crowd buzzing.

After five innings and a short delay due to lightening and rain, the Bombers and third place Berries were locked in a 3-3 tie.  Some sloppy play in the field ultimately led to a 7-3 defeat, but the Bomber's many highlights are a clear indication of good things to come.

The pitching for the Westsiders was much improved, with only five earned runs over seven innings and a minimum of free passes.  Chris Liebhart got his first start of the season and was impressive, recording four strikeouts over two innings.  Jim Althoff took the mound in relief and pitched five strong innings, giving up only two earned runs over that span.  Althoff clearly was the MVP of the game, exhibiting hustle in centerfield, on the mound, out of the batter's box and on the bases.  He started a 1-2-3 double play in the sixth with nice plays at all three positions.  He scored from third on a short fly to right field by tagging and easily beating the throw.  His stolen base in the third led to a run.  He produced a rare 1-unassisted play in the fifth.  And those were just some of the highlights.

Althoff and Neil Satterstrom each produced two hits, in addition to base knocks by Blake Carlson and Liebhart.  Andy Cohen reached base twice on catcher's interference and a walk.  Satterstrom drove in two runs and Thomas Wheeler added the third.  Althoff (2) and Cohen accounted for the runs scored.

 In the field, it was good to see Jake Divish again roaming the outfield after coming back from a nasty ankle injury.  Surya Agrawal made three spectacular plays at first to keep the Bombers in the game, and Cohen had another solid as a rock game behind the plate, including throwing out another runner at second on an attempted steal.

The key to success as the Bombers take on the NW Suburbs team in a doubleheader today is defense.  Come on out to Wayzata High School for some baseball and a barbecue after the game for all players and fans at Coach's house.

Any night that the mighty Minnetonka Millers are held to five hits (although the scoreboard said six, one really was an error) should be viewed as a resounding success for their opponent.  The Bombers managed to achieve this lofty feat but, thanks to the addition of nine walks and two hit batsmen, lost the game 11-0.  Coach once again got his pitching rotation backwards, in that it was the third Bomber pitcher in the game (Thomas Wheeler) who finally shut down the Minnetonka scoring orgy.  Wheeler pitched two innings, giving up one run on no hits.  The Bomber hitters did not fare well tonight either, with the only baserunners being Neil Satterstrom after being nicked by a pitch, and Blake Carlson with a blazing double to the wall in left center.  To be fair, Jim Althoff was robbed of a hit by an amazing diving catch by the Miller rightfielder.

With four games in three days beginning on Saturday, the Bomber pitching staff has taken a blood oath to throw strikes.  Coach intends to hold them to it.

Andy Fuchs once more took the mound and demonstrated that he is the early season ace of the staff, completing 4 2/3 strong innings and keeping the game close enough to win.  Fuchs gave up only one earned run over the first four frames.  He was relieved by Grant Johnson, who finished strong with a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, including two strikeouts.

 On a day when the Bomber bats started to come alive, runs were difficult to come by.   Jim Althoff and Neil Satterstrom led the way with two hits each (including a double and a stolen base for Althoff), and were joined by Thomas Wheeler, Johnson and Phil Morgan in the hit column.  Three men thrown out at third base by the Ramblers thwarted the Bomber's scoring attempts, despite outhitting the Ramblers 7 to 5. 

Andy Cohen gunned down a runner attempting to steal for the second consecutive game and also took a perfect throw from Blake Carlson after a nice charging scoop at third to retire a man at home.  Surya Agrawal ended a difficult fifth inning by catching a towering foul pop.

 The Bombers are looking forward to five games in five days beginning this Thursday at Minnetonka.  Look for James Gerbino and Jason Thompson on the mound to start us off at the Vet.

ERA      Fuchs*

BA        Fuchs

OBP      Johnson

RBI      Cohen

RS        Liebhart

(*7 K; 0 BB)

In the midst of a difficult second inning meltdown by the Bombers, Andy Fuchs took the mound to stop the bleeding and turned in a sterling performance.  After turning an infield single by the first batter he faced into a out at the plate with an excellent throw to catcher Andy Cohen who put the tag on a sliding Matt Parish, Fuchs was unhittable.  Facing the minimum six baters over the next two innings, he struck out the first four in a row (numbers 2 through 5 in the lineup), fielded the next ball himself and threw to first for the out, and got an easy sixth out on a roller to second base.  The word in the stands is that a decent Coach would have started Fuchs in the first place....

The Bombers scored only one run on the night (on Cohen's 320 foot sacrifice fly), but showed some life in the bats by consistently putting the ball in play.  Cohen, Fuchs, Blake Carlson and newcomer Chris Liebhart had hits for the Bombers.  Combined with walks to Liebhart, Carlson (2), Erik Fiegel and Neil Satterstrom, the Bombers had plenty of scoring opportunities, but came up short, partially due to some excellent fielding by the opponent (especially that #$%^&* second baseman).  Jim Althoff was robbed by the umps for a second consecutive game by being called out despite beating the throw to first base.

The Ramblers are next on the schedule as James Gerbino returns to the mound for the Bombers.

On a day when Jason Thompson, in his first start for the Bombers, kept the game close enough to win over the first four innings, the Bomber bats again fell silent.  Just as the line-up showed some signs of life thanks to an infield single by Andy Fuchs, a walk to Grant Johnson and a perfectly executed sacrifice by Neil Satterstrom, the Bandit bats exploded for the runaway win.  Phil Morgan stepped to the plate for the first time this year and produced an impressive 335 foot blast to left.  Unfortunately, the fence is 341 feet in that part of the park and a long out was recorded.  The Bomber pitching staff continued in its quest to be the most feared in the league.  In time, this will be due to a miniscule ERA.  At the moment, it is because of the record-setting pace of four Bomber pitchers having hit seven opposing batters over a two game span.  Kudos to Satterstrom for running down two long balls in left against a nasty sun and to Andy Cohen for throwing out his first runner of the season attempting to steal second.  Our five DL players still are on the mend.

Some shaky pitching to start the game and a lack of pop in the bats sent the Bombers to their first loss of the season. 

In the hitting department, line drives by Erik Fiegel, Blake Carlson and Andy Fuchs simply refused to drop in front of a shallow St. Louis Park outfield, leading to a scarcity of base runners for the Bombers.  The defense remained tight, highlighted by a Fuchs to Fiegel to Agrawal double play in the first inning with nice fielding at each station.  Andy Cohen was given quite a workout by the pitching staff behind home plate with excellent results and also made two nice catches on pop-ups along the screen.

The opposition batters seemed to be impressed by the Bombers, in that they were heard to be “OOHing and AAHing” in the batter’s box.  This may, of course, have been the result of two hit batsmen (one with an 85mph fastball) and at least four pitches thrown behind batters. 

Sadly, another Bomber (Smergs) came up lame during the game while legging out what would have been an infield hit if some random muscle, tendon or ligament had not failed him.  If he heads to the DL, he will join four of his teammates there.  With five injured players prior to the second game, management is considering replacing the training staff.

For field locations, go to www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=saintpaul.  Once you open the website, click the tab on the left labeled "field locator."