Southern swing brings ‘Cats closer to playoffs

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400 Miles to Toronto: New Hampsire Fisher Cats ColumnThe New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ southern road trip has concluded, and the regular season is slowly approaching its end.

Each day, members of the Fisher Cats take steps on the path they hope will lead to the big leagues. Here are recent updates to that path leading 400 miles to Toronto.

Game Recaps

At Bowie

Tuesday, August 7 – New Hampshire 8, Bowie 3

Wednesday, August 8 – Bowie 13, New Hampshire 6

Friday, August 9 – New Hampshire 7, Bowie 2

 

At Richmond

Friday, August 10 – New Hampshire 4, Richmond 1

Saturday, August 11 – Richmond 5, New Hampshire 2

Sunday, August 12 – New Hampshire 1, Richmond 1 (suspended after 10 innings due to rain)

Against Richmond and Bowie, New Hampshire produced a 4-2 record at home this year and they nearly duplicated that mark during this road trip against that pair of squads.

A suspended game in the series finale against Richmond sent the ‘Cats home with a 3-2 figure on the road trip. New Hampshire convincing overall victories against Bowie on Tuesday and Thursday paired with a strong pitching performance from T.J. Zeuch on Friday powered that particular victory.

Unless Sunday’s suspended game resumes at some point, which seems unlikely given the fact that Richmond and New Hampshire now have completed their scheduled matchups this season, New Hampshire will not face another Western Division rival again following this week’s series against Altoona.

New Hampshire has already clinched a winning record against Western Division teams this year, and a sweep against Altoona would give New Hampshire an eight-game improvement in inter-divisional play over the Fisher Cats of 2017.

The Fisher Cats have been to the playoffs three times since joining the Eastern League in 2004. For a while now, it’s been a foregone conclusion that the 2018 campaign will mark their fourth visit to the postseason. Barring a spectacular catastrophe, the only question left is when that becomes official.

At New Hampshire’s current rate, the feat probably will come next week against Portland, either in Maine or afterward as Portland comes to the Queen City.

This week’s four-game set in Trenton may also determine who will take the Eastern League’s Eastern Division. New Hampshire has held the divisional lead for nearly the entire season outside of a few days near the beginning of July.

One of the four games in Trenton was actually set to be played in New Hampshire but could not be rescheduled in the Granite State due to uncooperative weather. However, the Fisher Cats have actually been better on the road this year, so it’s unlikely there will be too many complaints.

The Trenton series may also be critical in determining whether New Hampshire can post the best regular season record overall in the league, something they’ve never done in franchise history. At the time of the Fisher Cats’ return from their southern trip, they’re deadlocked with Western Division leader Akron for that honor.

Trenton and New Hampshire are almost certain to clinch playoff berths, but what remains uncertain is whether individual Fisher Cats will be able to clinch individual statistical titles.

If Vladimir Guerrero Jr. didn’t miss most of June or leave for the International League, he almost certainly would have taken the RBI crown, but Cavan Biggio remains just a handful behind Altoona’s Will Craig for the league lead and he’s neck-and-neck with Akron’s Bobby Bradley for the home run crown. Biggio’s almost certain to end with the most walks obtained, nearly equaling the totals of his two closest competitors.

Leaving Richmond, Bo Bichette leads the league in hits and runs scored, with teammate Harold Ramirez nipping at his heels in the hit department. Bichette is also in a fierce battle with Altoona’s Cole Tucker for the stolen base lead.

Fisher Cats of the Week

Batting – Harold Ramirez: Ramirez has now played ten games in August and recorded hits in nine of them. He raked in Bowie in particular, with multiple hits in all three Bowie games. During the ‘Cats series in Maryland, he grabbed a pair of home runs, six RBI, seven runs

Starting Pitching – Jon Harris: The Missouri native was close to a pair of wins during the trip, with only a lack of run support and rain dashing that second win on Sunday.

In those two starts, Harris allowed four runs in just under 13 innings of work. After Sunday, he’s pitched 29 2/3 innings less than his 2017 New Hampshire campaign, but has given up 28 fewer earned runs.

Relief Pitching – Dusty Issacs: During the trip, Fisher Cats Manager John Schneider instituted what appeared to be a rotation for his relievers. In the past, he’s stated that Travis Bergen is his defacto closer, so with this rotational model, that means Issacs is the Fisher Cats official setup man for now.

Bouncing back from his horrific performance on Aug. 2 against Richmond, Dusty hurled two innings of solid relief in two appearances during this year. Discounting that Richmond debacle back in Manchester, Isaacs has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 appearances.

Around the Horn

Last week, Ryan Hissey went to the disabled list, making way for Patrick Cantwell. This week, Hissey returned, with Cantwell returning to the DL, retroactive to Aug. 10.

New Hampshire’s only other move this was the release of Drew Muren, one of the oldest players in the Eastern League. Muren’s release followed the addition of Corey Copping to the bullpen. The Blue Jays obtained Copping from the Dodgers organization just before the trade deadline in exchange for John Axford.

On Deck

As stated earlier, the Fisher Cats return to Manchester on Tuesday for a matchup against Altoona, then heading to Trenton and Portland. As of Sunday, they can clinch a playoff berth with any combination of 17 wins or 17 Reading losses. Reading is 9-1 in their last ten contests, but remain 10 ½ games back of New Hampshire’s divisional lead and seven games behind Trenton for the final Eastern Division playoff spot.

About this Author

Andrew Sylvia

Assistant EditorManchester Ink Link

Born and raised in the Granite State, Andrew Sylvia has written approximately 10,000 pieces over his career for outlets across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. On top of that, he's a licensed notary and licensed to sell property, casualty and life insurance, he's been a USSF trained youth soccer and futsal referee for the past six years and he can name over 60 national flags in under 60 seconds according to that flag game app he has on his phone, which makes sense because he also has a bachelor's degree in geography (like Michael Jordan). He can also type over 100 words a minute on a good day.