by John Baum
CARDS LOOK TO GET BACK ON WINNING TRACK IN SWITZERLAND VS. THE DEVILS
The Bern Cardinals (8-2) and Wil Devils (3-9) play Saturday in Bern, as the Cards try to carry over their recent success at the Euro Qualifier. The Devils, coming off a sweep at the hands of the league leading Flyers, look to continue their trend of knocking off the top tier teams. On paper the games look to be heading the way of the Cards…coming off an emotional week in Brno, the Cards need to be careful of a letdown in two important games in the standings. The Devils bring a solid core of pitchers to Bern (4.64 ERA), and are sure to want to show the defending champs that they mean business. Look for the Cards to come out slow, but finish strong, sweeping the Devils and holding onto second place in the standings.
INDIANS TRAVEL TO SISSACH TO TAKE ON FROGS
The Frogs (3-9) would like nothing better than to build on their good weekend against Reussbuehl, where Danny Traina pitched a complete game shutout. The last time Danny threw against the Indians, he also won. As usual with the Frogs, Traina holds the key to a split, and his team greatly needs it this weekend, as they still sit tied at the bottom of the table, and dangerously close to the relegation zone. The Indians (7-7), holding on to the number four spot in the playoff race, have the Challengers on their heels, and need to find that early season magic they had with their bats, to hold off last season’s finalist. With the short porch in right in Sissach helping the potent offense of the Indians, the Frogs must hit well to insure another Traina win. Danny seems to be in his groove ahead of the National Team training session, and surely wants to impress… for this reason the Frogs take game one, but end with a split against the Indians.
FLYERS GO ON ROAD, LOOK TO HOLD ON TO TOP SPOT AGAINST EAGLES
The Flyers (8-1), winners of their last 7 games played, try to continue their early season dominance against the struggling Eagles (3-7). The hot Flyers have their eyes on the trophy this season, and look to be the favorite coming into the second half. They will try to avoid a slip up coming in to the National Team break by pushing their winning streak to nine games. The Eagles, a playoff team the last three seasons, are hoping to move off the bottom with an upset of the heavily favored Therwil team. If Jerome Mueller can keep the hitters ball in the park and in the air, the Eagles have the hitters to do some damage…but the Eagles will need to put some runs up to give their pitcher some room to breathe. Flyers extend winning streak to nine, sweep Eagles.
{mrb-schedule:2008-06-28|2008-06-29|CH}
{mrb-standing:switzerland-2008}