Cleveland Sports Blog Outing Game Preview

Your favorite writers (not Rock and Denny) from WFNY will be in sunny downtown Akron tonight taking in some Double-A baseball at Canal Park. The Aeros (56-35) take on the Bowie Baysox (51-40) tonight at 7:05 p.m. in the first game after the All-Star Break for the Eastern League schedule. These two teams had a big impact in yesterday’s game as Akron’s LF Nick Weglarz scored the go-ahead run in the eighth for the 5-3 victory for the Southern Division, Bowie’s Miguel Abreu earned MVP honors with a two-hit, two-steal and two-run performance and Aeros reliever Carlton Smith earned the easy save in getting Futures Game MVP Rene Tosoni to pop out to end the game.

Tonight’s game will be an odd one for sure as the Aeros will finally be with the services of Weglarz and C Carlos Santana, who missed the final two games of the previous road trip because of their participation in the 2009 XM MLB All-Star Futures Game in St. Louis. Meanwhile, Akron comes into this series in must-win mode after dropping seven of their past eight games heading into the break. Their record remains the tops in the Eastern League but their lead in the division is down to only four games and the team as a whole has been very mediocre since a 28-8 start to the year.

Bowie, on the other hand, has been rolling recently ever since a sluggish start to the year when they were 14-18 and then 26-27 just over a month ago. Since June 5th however they are 25-13, yet remain in third-place in the crowded Southern Division a game behind the Reading Phillies. Akron has won 11 of the 18 match-ups between the two teams thus far this season, and ten games still remain on the schedule including tonight’s affair. The Aeros have hit only .214 as a team in the games against Bowie, but a 2.80 team ERA and 76 walks drawn compared to only 37 for the Baysox has been the difference.

Bottom line, tonight is a must-win game and this four-game series at Canal Park is a must-win series for the Akron Aeros. They have been struggling recently and are only 28-27 since May 19th after their record-breaking start to the season. A recent stretch of 14 wins in 17 games was not enough to completely pull this team out of its recent funk, and a huge victory over the Baysox this weekend would be a big boost for a good second half run. Last season, the Aeros were 61-35 at the break but went only 19-27 the rest of the way before losing to Trenton for the second year in a row in the Eastern League Championship Series. Hopefully things will change for the better in Akron during the September playoff run and this series is very important in making that happen.

Starting Pitchers
AKR LHP Bobby Livingston has a 1-1 record and 5.54 ERA in two starts for Akron, and is 7-3 with a 3.92 ERA in the Eastern League this season. Livingston will make his Canal Park debut tonight and faces against his former team, the Bowie Baysox. He was granted his release from the Orioles organization on July 1st and signed two days later with the Indians. The 26-year-old left-hander also appeared in three games for Class AAA Norfolk this season going 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA and is 3-3 with a 6.31 ERA in 13 career MLB starts.

The Baysox just recently announced their starting pitcher tonight and it will be hot-shot prospect LHP Brian Matusz (4-0, 0.34 ERA) for his fifth start in Double-A. The 22-year-old product of the University of San Diego and Baltimore’s first-round draft pick last season, he went 4-2 with a 2.16 ERA in 11 starts for Class A Frederick before receiving the promotion. He was the first pitcher selected in the 2008 draft and is in his first year of professional baseball.

Hot Streaks
CF Jose Constanza drew eight walks in the four-game series against Erie last weekend. The 25-year-old speedy lead-off man for the Aeros had only three walks in his previous 19 games and has just 37 in 82 games this season.

OF/1B Matt McBride has been ridiculously hot over his past six games, batting .500 (10 for 20) with four home runs, five doubles and a 1.350 slugging percentage. He has bumped his average 29 points up to .255 in 52 games for Akron.

RHP Erik Stiller has been hot lately out of the bullpen after struggling earlier in the season as a spot-start, and in his past 25.2 innings (15 games, 1 start) he has struck out 30 and has an ERA of 0.70. He has allowed only 15 hits and 11 walks during this streak spanning back to May 26th.

Nightly Promo
Tonight is Thirsty Thursday at Canal Park meaning that all fans can buy 12-oz. $1 beverages from the concession stands from 6:05 p.m. when the gates open until the end of the third inning. This includes soft drinks and small draft beers.