There’s an old riddle for school children: How far can you walk into a forest? The answer is “halfway.” The implication is that the other half of the march is leading you out of the forest. Right now, Hillsboro Hops fans are hoping that the inherent optimism of this philosophy holds true. With 33 games and one month on the books, the Hops sit at the halfway mark at an impasse with a 16-17 record, and a .485 season. Half of the Northwest League is right there with them. The Everett Aquasox, Spokane Indians, and Vancouver Canadians all sit at the exact same .485 with 16-17, and the Tri-City Dust Devils are barely hanging ahead at 17-16.
Meanwhile, the Eugene Emeralds have clinched the southern division of the league for the first half of the season, with a standout 23-10 record. Hops fans should be surprised by this, as four of those losses have been to Hillsboro. How has Eugene established such a frontrunner position ahead of the rest? The short answer is the pitching and the errors.
Eugene has the fewest earned runs in the league, along with the most shutout games. Those are obvious indicators that their pitching is superior, but the Ems aren’t dominating in strikeouts and they have walked more batters than almost every other team. The infield errors that have plagued the Hops since opening day simply haven’t abated; they have 48 errors on record for the season while Eugene has 34. For a little perspective, the bottom-of-the-league Boise Hawks and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes both have 43 errors.
Last week, out of excitement or desperation, I speculated that Alex Gouin might be the new blood the Hillsboro bullpen needs to reorganize and learn to control the pace of a game from the first inning. That turned out to be a pipe dream on my part, as Gouin was quickly sent to the Missoula Osprey (in the rookie leagues) by the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. His slot was filled Wednesday night by Taiwanese reliever Wei-Chieh Huang, and while the recent Visalia Rawhide player did start the game, he was quickly yanked off the mound after four innings of lackluster pitching that saddled him with the loss. I’m sure the Single-A teams affiliated with the D-backs haven’t seen the last of Gouin, but the quick turnaround illustrates the very problem with Hillsboro’s pitching staff. The Hops do not need any more relief pitchers, but they need more starters who can hold their own without relief.
Can the Hops turn around their bigger problems in time to be a contender by the end of August? Absolutely. But it is disturbing that these problems originated over a month ago and haven’t subsided one iota. There’s nothing productive about pointing blame, and there’s also nothing productive about excusing mistakes and casting the parent ball club as a villain that cycles through too many pitchers. Simply put, the Hops are now halfway into the the woods and the rest of the season should be their path out.
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