Squirrels down to final 10 home games

The Squirrels took the New Hampshire Fisher Cats for the season and gear up to do the same to the Portland Sea Dogs.

August 13, 2010; 11:14 AM • by John Murden

The Squirrels took the New Hampshire Fisher Cats for the season and gear up to do the same to the Portland Sea Dogs.

The Squirrels (57-59) and Fisher Cats (8-49) split the rain-shortened series at one each., giving Richond a 3-2 edge over playoff-bound New Hampshire for 2010. After dropping the first one fairluy convincingly, the Squirrels bounced back big time to win a 14-inning marathon on a clutch 2-run walkoff homerun by Brandon Belt. Last night’s finale was rained out and, because this is the last meeting of these clubs this year, will not be made up. All fans holding tickets to Thursday’s game may redeem them at The Diamond ticket office for vouchers to any of the 10 remaining Flying Squirrels’ home dates on the 2010 schedule.

The Squirrels kick off a 3-game series with the Portland Sea Dogs tonight with the potential to get back over .500 by the end of the weekend. These games mark the Sea Dogs only visit to Richmond this year, and put us into the final 10 home games of the season. The Flying Squirrels enter the final home games trailing the Reading Phillies in average attendance (6,582 vs 6,424). While the R-Phils have led the Eastern League in both average and total attendance each of the last four years, the Squirrels’ front office is pushing to make a splash this season:

“Our inaugural season has been tremendous to this point and we couldn’t be happier with the support we have received from our fans and the local community,” said Flying Squirrels VP & COO Todd “Parney” Parnell. “We want to finish with a bang and lead the Eastern League in attendance our first year and we think we have added some promotions, especially the fireworks, that our fans will be excited to come out and experience before the summer is over.”

EASTERN LEAGUE UPDATE: Trenton and New Hampshire have locked up the Eastern Division playoff spots. Reading and Richmond, tops in the league in attendence, are fighting for .500 for the season. Harrisburg is only one game behind Bowie for the 2nd playoff spot in the Western Division, with Akron still in stalking range. New Britain is on track to lose 100 games. Erie has put together a 7 game win steak to stave off being the next team officially eliminated.

Series Schedule

August 13 7:05PM (HOME)
Portland Sea Dogs vs Richmond Flying Squirrels
Fife (6-4, 5.01) vs. Tanner (7-8, 3.42)
It’s Friday the 13th and Salute to Superstitions Night at The Diamond! The first 1,500 fans of all ages will receive a Golf Umbrella presented by University of Phoenix and 102.1 the X! It’s also FRITOS FAMILY FRIDAY!

August 14 6:35PM (HOME)
Portland Sea Dogs vs Richmond Flying Squirrels
Weiland (5-7, 4.40) vs. Westcott (3-1, 4.35)
Domino ‘Jersey off the Back’ Auction presented by the Navy to benefit the Arthritis Foundation of VA!

August 15 5:05PM (HOME)
Portland Sea Dogs vs Richmond Flying Squirrels
Kehrt (2-9, 5.19) vs. Maday (9-6, 2.83)
The first 2,500 fans 14 and Under will receive a Metal Lunchbox presented by Connor’s Heroes! It’s Sunday so all Squirrel Tails Kids Club members get in free!

Eastern League Standings

EAS Eastern
Club	W	L	PCT	GB	ELIM#	Home	Away	L10	Streak
Trenton	70	48	.593	–	–	39-19	31-29	6-4	L1
New Hampshire	68	49	.581	1.5	–	31-26	37-23	5-5	L1
Reading	57	59	.491	12.0	15	31-28	26-31	4-6	L1
Portland	57	60	.487	12.5	14	26-30	31-30	5-5	W3
Binghamton	56	61	.479	13.5	14	29-29	27-32	3-7	L1
New Britain	34	84	.288	36.0	E	17-43	17-41	3-7	L3

EAS Western
Club	W	L	PCT	GB	ELIM#	Home	Away	L10	Streak
Altoona	67	50	.573	–	–	32-24	35-26	6-4	W1
Bowie	63	54	.538	4.0	–	35-26	28-28	5-5	L3
Harrisburg	62	55	.530	5.0	25	32-28	30-27	8-2	W1
Akron	59	57	.509	7.5	23	31-29	28-28	3-7	W1
Richmond	57	59	.491	9.5	21	31-29	26-30	6-4	W1
Erie	52	66	.441	15.5	14	26-31	26-35	7-3	W7