Fish flying into all-star break

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This article was published 28/07/2014 (4268 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes are heading into the American Association all-star break in spectacular fashion for the first time in franchise history, mostly because they weren’t in the league the last time it was hosted by Wichita in 2010.

It’s true though, the Fish (43-25) are playing great baseball, having won seven of their last 10 games. They have won their last three series — two of them away — tied the one before that, and nothing makes the bus ride back to Winnipeg for the all-star festivities more bearable than beating the Gary SouthShore RailCats 12-0 Sunday to help further their lead in the North Division.

But in a 100-game season, so much can go wrong, so it’s no wonder the team’s attitude about their success so far is simple: There’s still a lot of baseball to be played.

“Honestly I think everybody is just looking forward to relaxing over the next two days,” manager Rick Forney said before getting on a flight back to Winnipeg with the six Fish all-stars. “The timing couldn’t be better for us.”

Of course, there are always areas of his ball club that could use improvement heading into the final stretch of the season with the trade deadline in late August, Forney said, but that’s not something he’s willing to talk about at the moment.

“The reality is we’re not going to win every game, but we’ve been doing everything well,” Forney said.

For Reggie Abercrombie, who leads the team in home runs and RBI, there was a bit of a struggle earlier in the month but the former Miami Marlin finds himself on a seven-game hitting streak going into the break. Over the last seven games he’s racked up 13 hits and 13 RBI.

“It’s kinda hard going up and down man, but you know I’ve found my swing,” Abercrombie said. “Like I said, my teammates have always been behind me so I’m trying to do the best I can to help the team win.”

‘The reality is we’re not going to win every game, but we’ve been doing everything well’

— Goldeyes manager

Rick Forney

Two days isn’t a whole lot of time for Abercrombie to head home to Georgia, so instead, the outfielder will be spending the break resting his body in Winnipeg, in order to come back fresh while also cheering on his teammates in the all-star skills competition and game.

“Yeah I’ll be back in Winnipeg cheering on Casey (Haerther), (Tyler) Kuhn and all my teammates, seeing Casey win the home-run derby,” he said. “Just relaxing. Just having fun with my teammates and, like I said, just watching this home- run derby for Casey and cheering them on.”

Even though Chris Salamida doesn’t like to talk about stats, it’s worth mentioning that in his last six starts, the veteran pitcher is 3-0 with an outstanding 40 strikeouts to give him 68 heading into the break.

Salamida said he just tries to let the guys behind him play defence, but if he’s up on the count, he might try to go for the K.

“We’re trying to win every game of the season, there’s 100 games and we’re trying to win 100 games,” he said. “I mean, we’re trying to keep ourselves in position to win games, which is what we’re doing day in and day out.”

Like Abercrombie, Salamida is looking forward to the derby and the all-star game, while also fulfilling another hobby.

“I got a PlayStation in my room so I’ll probably play some Call of Duty, I can be a video-game nerd sometimes.”

kyle.edwards@freepress.mb.ca