On the Road, Bears Hold Down First

The Bears held on to first place in their Division yesterday, but unfortunately missed the sweep against the Bridgeport BlueFish, much to Bridgeport manager, Tommy John's, surprise. The Bears started the weekend out by beating the fish 4-2 on Friday behind starter Matt Sweeney (2-0). Joey Gomes had another nice game with a couple of hits, but the real hero was first baseman Victor Rodriguez who knocked in a pair of RBI in the top of the first to start things off strong for Newark. After taking the opener, the Bears had their season largest two game lead in the North Division.

The Bears were able to extend that lead over the BlueFish with another win on Saturday night. In the chilly confines of the Ballpark at Harbor Yard, Wayne Krenchicki's club knocked the ball around the field. Jeremy Hill (1-0) started for the Bears. Victor Rodriguez carried the big stick again, going 3-4 with an RBI and a run, but Javier Colina's two run dinger in the sixth really opened up the lead.

That whole "Bobby Brownlie to the Yankees" discussion? Maybe we should slow our roll on that one. It turns out our mancrush may, in fact, have been a bit premature. The future all-star looked imminently hittable on Mother's Day, getting lit up to the tune of 5 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings. Six strikeouts is the good news. But...well, it's the only good news. The Bears have an off day today and return to action in Newark tomorrow for Two-for-Tuesdays. Sadly that is some ticket promotion and has nothing to do with two-beers-for-the-price-of-one or anything like that.

One last note. The Bears were not playing their cross-state Rivals (Somerset) this weekend, but I felt this was worth mentioning. I am all for the pink bat thing in MLB to raise money to fight Breast Cancer. But can somebody give kudos to the Patriots for going all out and wearing pink hats AND uniforms? Anybody? OK, I'll do it: "You go, girls!" (Sorry, had to.) On a serious note, major props to the Pats who raised over 7 grand for the cause. The Bears wouldn't even have enough fans present to get an auction going.