TRENTON- While the Thunder series with Hartford is massive, it will be played under unique circumstances, which have never been seen in these parts. With the stadium debacle in Hartford forcing the Yard Goats onto the road for the entire season, ARM & HAMMER Park will be the setting for the three-game series between the two teams fighting for the...
TRENTON- While the Thunder series with Hartford is massive, it will be played under unique circumstances, which have never been seen in these parts.
With the stadium debacle in Hartford forcing the Yard Goats onto the road for the entire season, ARM & HAMMER Park will be the setting for the three-game series between the two teams fighting for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Division. The series started Friday night, and will be played in front of sparse crowds all weekend. But it will be the Thunder that will bat first, as the road team, for the three contests.
"This is a first," Thunder manager Bobby Mitchell said Thursday. "We are going to show up later, and have the field earlier. We will do everything we do on the road. Show up, stretch, hitting."
"We are going to be in the same dugout," Mitchell said. "I am not sure about the uniforms. I think probably we will wear the grays. Other than that, it is like we are on the road."
Mitchell has ran into some gamesmanship this year on the road, especially for the early games on the weekend.
"We show up a little later, which is not such a bad thing when you have 1 p.m. games," Mitchell said. "In fact, some clubs, on Sundays on the road, would tell us we had the cage early. Earlier when we were supposed to hit, on the field. And they aren't hitting on the field."
"We ran into this, and we don't do it, so I didn't think it was right to do," Mitchell said. "So we kind of fought it. So we would tell them, 'No, you have the cage when you hit, and we have it when we hit.'"
So who has to deal with that when it happens on the road?
"Me," said Mitchell. "Guys tried to pull that. But I have to say no, that's not going to work. Unless you are hitting on the field. You can have the cage, and then hit on the field. If you want to hit in our time, and we are not hitting, then that is no problem."
"That is gamesmanship," Mitchell said. "Usually when we are on the road, I will tell them we are not going to hit tomorrow. But you can't tell us that we are switching times because we want to sleep in."
"We never do that to them here," Mitchell said. "And I would tell them that. One time, I told them that it was unprofessional, which it is. I talked on the phone with somebody, and I told them it is not pro. He told me that they have had it done to us. But that's your fault."
Bryan Mitchell comes down to Thunder on rehab from Yankees
Ronald Herrera was dominant for the Thunder, looking much like the pitcher that took the Eastern League by storm in April.
Herrera needed just 76 pitches to cruise through seven innings, holding the Yard Goats to just four hits. J.R. Graham came in and shut the door in the final two innings, as the Thunder won 2-0. It pushed the Trenton lead over Hartford to seven games, with a chance to open it up even more over the next two days.
"I felt pretty good out there," Herrera said. "My arm was good, and so was my body. I had good command of the strike zone, and that is good for me."
Herrera looked unhittable for much of April (in fact he was on April 26, as part of a combined no-hitter,) but was side-tracked by injuries. But he is back to his early season form, and at a great time for the Thunder, as they look to push on into the playoffs.
"We are working pretty hard to make the playoffs," Herrera said. "That is the goal for these last games. We just want to do our job, and go out and play hard every day."
"We were focused for this game today," Herrera said. "And we will be focused tomorrow and Sunday."
Contact Sean Miller at seanmillertrentontimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheProdigalSean