It would be easy to look at last night’s 9-0 score against Durham and get a little depressed. Yeah, true, the Tides managed only two hits and are one-for-four against Durham so far this year. I can’t explain that away. However, Jurrjens had a decent outing, and according to the Tides website this morning, he threw 54 of 93 pitches for strikes.

The simplistic analysis is that the Tides need to get something going on O, period. For you “Sabermetrics” fans out there who like the OPS number (not my favorite, but let’s use it here for comparison’s sake), the Tides have only four players with OPS numbers over .700 (Navarro, Robinson, Canzler, and Romero). And, only four players are batting over .250 (Navarro, Robinson, Canzler, and Valencia). The Tides have combined for 23 runs so far in 2013. Let’s compare that to our current opponent, Durham, who has combined for 52 runs so far. Only four of their players have OPS numbers UNDER .700. Some of the Bulls’ successes on offense came at the expense of Tides pitching during the Bulls’ recent 21-4 win over Petersime, granted. However, we can make similar comparisons with Gwinnett, our opponent for the six games after tonight, and with Charlotte.

The opposing pitching we’ve seen so far this season has been good, but not THAT good. There is no reason why the Tides can’t show us more on offense during the upcoming games with Gwinnett and, Heaven help us, Durham again.

The Tides are down in Durham tonight. Then we’ll get to see them play two games with Gwinnett at Harbor Park. This fan is hoping to see some needed power out of the batter’s box this weekend. – RR