The Ottawa Titans are back in town this weekend to start a week long home stand at the Ottawa Stadium. The boys in red and black have had a bumpy start to the season, and are struggling to get the pieces together for a win. With a record of 8-20, there is lots of room for improvement, and hopefully we will see some of that work going in this weekend.
Friday night the Titans start the homestand against the Trois Rivières Aigles, who are only barely ahead of us in the standings, so there is hope! After the Friday the 13th theme game, there will be fireworks Friday night, and Sunday after the game you can play catch on the field for Father’s Day (no actual father necessary as far as I know). After a day off on Monday, the Sussex County Miners will be in town for a rematch of last weekend’s contest from Tuesday to Thursday.
Pupusas frm Mr Senor. Photo Gabrielle Heroux
The Boys in Red and Black
There have been a slew of roster changes in the last few weeks, as the team tries to catch some kind of magic sauce to bring some wins. The “small ball” approach of early May seems to have gone out the window, as the team has been trading away our speedy base runners and stealers, and loading up on big power hitting guys who are not going to be sneaking us those extra bases. But of course, things change rapidly in this league.
Beloved franchise players AJ Wright and Jackie Urbaez are still contributing, with Wright currently leading the team in hits, walks, RBI and doubles. Canadians Taylor Wright and Victor Cerny are consistent, although Cerny seems to be considered only a part time catcher, perhaps because his offense does leave something to be desired.
Newcomer INF from BC Kaiden Cordosa is already quietly making his mark, with an impressive performance last weekend making it to base in 6 out of 9 at bats, with 5 of those reached on walks over Saturday and Sunday. Sadly, he was stranded on base 5 times, which is hopefully something that we can remedy with more consistent offense. His walk up song is also “Backstreet’s Back”, so the guy has lots going for him.
Jo Oyama celebrates. Photo Ottawa Titans
On an interesting note, the team currently has eight Canadian players, which is most certainly the most Canadians we have seen play for an Ottawa baseball team in at least a decade. Pretty nifty!
Surprisingly there has also been a coaching shift, which we have not seen before from the Titans. While Bobby Brown remains Manager, the hitting and pitching coaches have switched roles, with Tom Carcione moving to Hitting Coach, and David Peterson to Pitching Coach. One of the main visible roles for the hitting coach during a game is running third base, and making important base running calls during plays.
Anecdotally, Titans games have been won and mostly lost by poorly made calls at third, either sending a runner home too late to an inevitable out, or holding a speedy runner on base and preventing much needed scoring. The Titans bullpen has also seen many shifts already this season, with games being lost in the later innings when opposing teams run rampant over a single struggling relief pitcher who might be left on the mound too long for the offense to make up the runs.
If this coaching switch means that there are going to be some fresh strategies in the management of the players and their skills, then I’m all for it. Time will tell, but something needs to shake loose here.
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Big League Call Ups
It’s not all bad news! The vast majority of indy ball players never play MLB ball, but every season there are a few guys in each league who catch the attention of a major league team, and get invited to a training camp, or have their contract purchased. Despite the Titans lacklustre start to the season, two of our players have gotten such offers already.
The Seattle Mariners purchased the contract of Ottawa Titans Japanese infielder Jo Oyama earlier in the month and now RHP relief pitcher Brett Garcia has been purchased by the Blue Jays just this week. It also marks the first time that the franchise has had multiple players signed to a Major League organization in one season.
Oyama was a rookie, and a key part of our offense, hitting .273 with two doubles, one triple, eight RBI and four stolen bases in 12 games. Garcia was establishing himself as one of our strongest pitchers, going 2-2 with three saves in 11 outings.
The best we can do is try, so let’s hope that some good weather and a stadium full of fans can help the Titans right the ship this weekend, come on out to the ballpark, and celebrate 613Day supporting local sports!
Advance tickets for Titans games are $13 or $17 plus taxes and can be bought online or at the box office. Expect to pay $4 more on game days, regardless of where you buy them. They do offer a diccount with CAA. Parking is $9 through Indigo parking, and there are QR codes throughout the lot to pay by phone, or pay ahead through the app to save time.
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