Expos Exposed; Vancouver Minor an Absolute Mess as Richmond Stays Undefeated in Pre-Season with 10-7 Victory

First game of 2016 with the new unis and all that could have gone wrong for the 'Bos, did go wrong.

If you weren't at the game, here's what you missed:

The Vancouver Minor Expos visited (newly renovated) Blundell Field for a 9-inning exhibition game on Saturday taking on the undefeated (5-0 in Pre-Season action coming into today) top-tier Richmond Chuckers; Antiporda and Yam (Manager/Head Coach) were facing their former associations for the first time in 2016...and their entire Vancouver squad did not come ready to play Saturday morning.

Both teams well underway in pre-season games now, both looking to assert their dominance and show their opponent why they are a top-tier team this year, at the end of the game it was evident that both clubs did not accomplish this. It was an unexpected sloppy game all around.

The Expos started the first couple innings off well, Inomata in his first exhibition innings of 2016 threw well but unfortunately didn't get much help from his defence nor his catcher. 2 pass balls lead to 2 runs in the Chuckers 3rd (5 runs total in the inning) and inevitably lead to a hook at ~ 45 pitches.

The Expos depleted with injuries and absences (4/13 today injured or absent) had Vancouver playing with 9 on the field with no EH or subs. Pass ball after pass ball, defensive error after defensive error and baserunning mistakes galore was the spotlight today for the Expos. Simply put, the Expos got exposed and didn't have much fight back.

After coming off back-to-back victories in pre-season action the Expos despite a good warmup came out flat and the Richmond Chuckers (managed by the intelligent, veteran and well-respected Alex Klenman), offensively took full advantage at the plate and on the bases, of today a mentally and physically weak Expos squad.

Klenman would be the first to say that his boys in the home whites did not by far play to the best of their ability and if they did the score would have reflected really what should happened today. The Expos intentions today were to go out and prove to their opponent but more importantly to themselves that they can compete against a top-tier team like Richmond...obviously everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.

As they say, better now then later and you live and you learn. Better baseball ahead for both clubs and both teams will undoubtedly come out with better efforts all around when they meet again in a few weeks time (Regular Season - April 27th).

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (G.B.U)

Good: Despite everything else, the offense again was above average punching out 10 hits; Inomata, Baybay and Domingo led the offense with multi-hit days, also racking up 1, 1 and 2 RBI's respectively.  Pitching wasn't half bad either, tERA ("true" ERA minus all the defense and everything out of a pitcher's control) was miniscule today for Inomata, Ellis and Horino. 

Bad: Playing with 9 players today due to injuries and absences was a recipe for disaster. Domingo gets "charlie-horsed" at second base forcing him out of the game in the 8th. Castle of Richmond has to play RF for the Expos in the bottom half of the inning. Nurse up those injuries gents!

Ugly: Basically the entirety of the game. TOOTBLANS (Thrown Out On The Basepaths Like A Nincompoop) were at an all-time high, defensive miscues were the name of the game and bad pitch calling. Wake up call!

Learn from the past, forget and move on; lots of ball to be played Expos and we can only go up from here!