Blue Rocks: Home for three

The Blue Rocks are home for three games this week, and hopefully some home cooking can jump start their season.

The Rocks are off to a 3-7 start, enduring a tough road trip during which they went 2-4. The trip started with 4-3 and 8-7 losses to Salem, the first one taking 14 innings and leaving the Rocks with only available reliever the next night. In that 8-7 setback, the Blue Rocks eventually had to ask utility infielder Wilver Perez to close the game, and a three-run lead turned into a one-run loss.

Signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2004, it was Perez's professional pitching debut.

The Blue Rocks won 5-4 the next night to escape Salem with one win.

In Lynchburg, the Blue Rocks won the opener 2-0 behind another solid effort from the pitching tandem of Everett Teaford and Greg Holland. But two more losses to finish the road trip followed, including a ghastly 14-2 loss on getaway day Sunday.

Back home tonight, the Frawley Stadium weather remains chilly as ace Blake Wood (0-0) makes his third start of the season. First pitch against Kinston is at 6:35, with games Tuesday and Wednesday starting at the same time.

The Blue Rocks offense improved slightly on the road trip. But the Rocks are hitting .216 as a team, not a good number to have if that's an improvement. John Sadak (the Blue Rocks' director of broadcasting/media and on-air play-by-play announcer for WWTX-AM) has reported that Jeff Bianchi (.111) has taken to growing a mustache as perhaps some help to his offense.

Right fielder Joe Dickerson has not been cold. He's hitting .395 (15-for-38) and his six stolen bases lead the Carolina League. The Californian stole 26 bases in 115 games for low-Class A Burlington (Iowa) last season.

Much was made about how aggressive the Blue Rocks would be this season on the bases. Their 23 stolen bases lead the league. The Rocks have been caught 12 times, second in the league, though it should be noted that pickoffs are sometimes not officially recorded as being caught stealing, and the Rocks have had at least four of those I can think of.

Josh Johnson, who is starting tonight, has split time with Kurt Mertins at third base. His bat has also been a welcome one in the lineup. Johnson is hitting .357 (5-for-14) with five walks.

Tonight's lineup: CF Derrick Robinson, SS Chris McConnell, DH Bianchi, RF Dickerson, 2B Perez, 1B David Wood, 3B Johnson, C Jeff Howell, LF Brett Bigler.

UPDATE: Kinston wins 7-5. In the bottom of the second, Howell blasted a grand slam, the Blue Rocks' first grand slam since September 2006. But Blue Rocks pitching gave up 11 hits and 11 walks, as Blake Wood had an 82-pitch count (42 for strikes) over three innings. Chris Nicoll worked next. In 3 and two-thirds innings, he struck out four and gave up one run, also walking three. When Nicoll left the game, it was 4-4. "I thought Nicoll did a great job in getting us deep in the ballgame and giving us a chance to win. We just came up a couple hits short," manager Darryl Kennedy said.