Sweep!

I love hearing about every Naturals first. Last week we had the first rainout, first double-header, first 7 inning game in franchise history, and won back-to-back games for the first time. This week the Naturals won their first series, then completed the franchise's first series sweep.

Are the Naturals the best baseball team on the planet? Almost certainly. Look at these batting averages. Aside from Geraldo Valentin and Juan Richardson, not a soul is hitting above .250. Two regular starters, Marc Maddox and Angel Sanchez, are hitting below .190. In fact, Maddox has more strikeouts (17) than he has hits and walks combined (15).

Mario Lisson has caught fire recently, though. After going 0-4 on April 20 he's hit .321 raising his season average from .153 to .207. Lisson has an active 5-game hitting streak, and will look to continue his (relatively) hot hitting in Springfield. During the streak he's hitting .368.

Springfield is currently in first place one game ahead of both Tulsa and the Naturals, so a win tonight would put the Naturals into a tie for first place in the North at 11-14. The Cardinals are also playing good baseball. After the series split in Springdale, the Cardinals matched the Naturals' pace by sweeping Tulsa in 4 games.

If the Naturals are going to have a chance at winning the series, they'll need Lisson, McFall, and Kaaihue to continue to improve, and they'll need solid starting performances from Rosa, Pimentel, and Hardy.