Baseball Review // Hartford Colts, 4 Record-Journal Expos, 13 July 8th, 2022 Ceppa Field, Meriden, CT GHTBL

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As we entered the second half of the season it was somewhat odd to see that this was the first meeting between the Hartford Colts and Record-Journal Expos this season.   The Colts had seemingly been fighting it out with the Phillies for the bottom half of the standings, but still standing above the Cardinals and Greeners, while the Expos were in the most interesting of positions: a three-way tie for first place with the Orioles and Jets that was broken up by a Jets win over the Orioles.   

This meant that if the Expos won, they'd be tied with the Jets for first place, which would send the Orioles into second place.   But if the Expos lost, the Jets would be solely in first place with the Expos and Orioles tied for second.   Funny how no matter what happened, the Orioles would be in second place.   But, the Expos won this game and the Jets beat the Greeners so the standings kind of went back to the Expos being half a game out of first place and the Orioles got bumped down to third anyhow.  

While this game started off easily enough for both teams in the first inning, the second inning saw Nicholas Flammia get to second though nothing came of it.  In the bottom of the second inning, Jack Rich would RBI in AJ Hendrickson and then Jonny Walter would sac fly Jack Rich in to give the Expos a 2-0 lead.  However, in the top of the third Matt Fusco would score the first run of the game for the Colts, who would then cut the Expos lead in half.  

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Will Kszywanos RBI'ed in two runs.  With two outs, a run was walked in and then Jason Sullivan singled in two more runs to give the Expos a five run inning.  This seemed to put the Colts out of reach as the Expos went up 7-1 after four.   The Colts would battle back though as Derek Allen hit a two run home run over the fence in center field in the sixth inning.  If nothing else, that was a bright spot for the Colts inside of this loss. (Also, random side note, I have that home run ball)

But in the bottom of the sixth inning AJ Hendrickson would double in two runs, Will Kszywanos would single in a third and Justin Marks would sac fly in a fourth.  Nhasean Murphy would double in two more making it a six run inning for the Expos.  This put the Expos up 13-3 and in the top of the seventh the Colts were able to sac fly in one more run but it just wasn't enough as the game would end 13-4.

What's kind of crazy about this game is that there have been games this season where four runs would have won a game.   A run early on, a two run home run and then that added sac fly in the last inning could've given the Colts a win in a different game so it was somewhat like a loss but not a bad loss because the Expos just had their offense exploding that much.  

The Expos also had the pitching of AJ Hendrickson behind them, which helped to stifle the Colts' offense.   Getting in those four runs against Hendrickson seems like a victory in some way.  Another team, a different pitcher and the Colts could've really opened up their offense.  Matt Goldman allowed some of these runs for the Colts but on this Friday it just felt like the offense of the Expos was unstoppable.

The look ahead has the Colts taking on the Cardinals in their third and final meeting of the season tomorrow night, July 12th, at Johnny Taylor Field in Hartford.   The Colts previously defeated the Cardinals in both Wallingford and Middletown so they will look to sweep their three games series this season.

The Expos take on the Greeners in their second meeting of the season tonight at Bristol Central (Note: Not Muzzy) and then they welcome People's to Ceppa Field tomorrow night.  The Expos will be looking for some sort of revenge against People's after their previous meeting, though People's are also coming off of a Sunday night loss to the Rainbow Graphics.  

Though the second half of the season hasn't gotten too wild yet, it has only just started.  The Rainbow Graphics going up and People's going down are two things to keep an eye on, but there are still enough games left that nothing outside of the top and bottom of the standings is secured.