Cutters notebook: Winless road trip could have been worse

Williamsport's four-day trip away from Bowman Field could not have gone much worse. In fact manager Chris Truby couldn't imagine a scenario that would have made the two games at both Auburn and Mahoning Valley any worse.

You name the aspect of baseball, and Truby and the rest of the Crosscutters could point out just where it went wrong during their four-game losing skid.

"That was worse-case scenario," Truby said. "But at the same time, that's baseball. We just didn't get anything going. Other than (Sunday) we didn't get a whole lot going offensively, especially. It sucks. But it's one of those things the players can take something away from and learn from it."

Williamsport committed six errors in the four games, including four in a loss to Mahoning Valley. A defense that started the season so well all of a sudden has 51 errors (or 1.38 per game).

"We've had our moments of good, and then our moments of not so good where it's a lack of focus," Truby said. "I think once we understand that you have to separate the offensive side of the ball from the defensive side, then those mental mistakes that turn into physical errors won't happen."

And on top of a struggling defense, the offense wasn't too much better. Despite scoring seven runs Sunday night, the Cutters have averaged just three runs per game over their last seven, and that includes a three-game series sweep over Hudson Valley.

During that span, the Cutters are hitting .197 with runners in scoring position, and have left 53 runners on base.

"We just didn't hit at all a couple of days," Truby said. "Obviously, if you don't score, you don't win. But it's just one of those things that you go through. Hopefully we can learn from it and move on."

Scary as it is to say, the four-day trip could have even been worse. Despite the four straight losses, Williamsport is just two games behind Mahoning Valley for the lead in the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League. They are also tied with Hudson Valley for the lead in the wild card.

"It's just one of those stretches where it seems like you can't do anything right. We had one of those early in the year that wasn't so good," Truby said. "But all of the guys in this clubhouse know what we're capable of doing. They know we're capable of putting together a good string of games like the ones we had prior to the road trip. It's a matter of just brushing it off and turning the page on it and moving on to focus on Jamestown."

SKIPPING ALONG: The Crosscutters skipped over starting pitcher Jonathan Pettibone on Monday night, instead using Korey Noles to start the series opener with Jamestown. Pettibone was coming off of one of his best starts of the year last week when he allowed just an unearned run and struck out six in five innings of work.

"We just wanted to give him a blow," Truby said. "He's been going at it a while with spring training and everything. So we wanted to give him a break."

Pettibone will return to his normal spot in the rotation the next time through, which unofficially would be Saturday at Jamestown. Recent Cutter addition Korey Noles started in place of Pettibone last night. Noles was a starter for the Gulf Coast League before joining Williamsport.

"He's been building up to a point to go deep in the game. Not like the starters we have here now, but he's been building," Truby said. "We were just hoping he could give us four or five innings."

JAMES STILL OUT: Center fielder Jiwan James remained out of the lineup Monday night with an arm injury. Truby said there was no timetable for his return, but James expected to see a doctor this week who might be able to give him a timetable.

James hasn't played since July 16 at Brooklyn after being hit in the arm. James was hitting .256 as the Cutters' leadoff hitter this year before the injury.

"He's coming along," Truby said. "It's something that's just kind of nagging. You don't want to send a guy out there that's not completely healthy or comfortable."