Sod Poodles face challenge with road trip

They weren't home very long, and now the Amarillo Sod Poodles will be gone for their longest road trip of the season.

And that might be their biggest challenge.

The Sod Poodles are wading into the unfamiliar starting today when they open a four-game series in Springfield then play another four games at Arkansas. Sorry Amarillo fans, but you've seen the last of your Soddies for the month of April.

This is the first time the Sod Poodles will have played somebody other than the Corpus Christi Hooks or the Midland RockHounds after playing their first 17 games against those Texas League South Division rivals. Whether that will be good or bad is yet to be determined.

If anybody in the Texas League has a distinct homefield advantage this early in the season, it would have to be the Sod Poodles. Or at least it seems that way compared to what they've done away from Hodgetown.

The Poodles have won both of their series against the Hooks at Hodgetown, and in 10 games at the new stadium they're 6-4. If the crowds are any indication, Amarillo is enjoying the Class AA baseball experience (marriage proposals on the scoreboard, eating contests and all) and the team is repaying the town with a good product on the field.

On the road, though, is a different story. The Sod Poodles haven't found life away from Hodgetown nearly as enjoyable.

Amarillo has a 1-6 record on the road this season and has lost five straight at Corpus Christi at Midland. In a three-game sweep at Midland last week, the Sod Poodles scored only three runs, where the only real offensive highlight was Hudson Potts hitting his first home run of the season.

Some of that could be chalked up to the fact the Midland's Security Bank Ballpark is nowhere near as hitter-friendly as Hodgetown. Neither park is the launching pad that Midland's former Class AA park, Christensen Stadium was, but that's another story.

Consider, though, that through the first 10 home games, the Sod Poodles were hitting a robust .286 with 16 homers, impressive totals by any standard. On the road, though, they look like a different team, hitting only .178.

That's what makes this road trip so crucial. With eight away games in eight days, Amarillo's pitching depth will be tested, but that might not be the biggest challenge for the Sod Poodles on the road.

Sod Poodles manager Phillip Wellman did some shuffling during the last two games of the homestand, using starters Lake Bachar and Emmanuel Ramirez in relief roles. That has helped preserve the bullpen so there should be plenty of fresh arms available.

Pitching in general has not been a major issue for the Sod Poodles in their first 17 games, although there have been the typical rough outings and hiccups along the way. The staff has gotten through 17 games in 17 days and should be ready to go.

The question is how the bats will respond away from Hodgetown, a place both home and visiting hitters seem to enjoy. Wellman thinks that the lineup is having fewer bad at-bats than at the beginning of the season, so maybe the Poodles are due to break out on the road as well.

It should be interesting to see how their newest acquisition, centerfielder Rodrigo Orozco, performs on the road. Orozco was a major discovery when he made his Sod Poodles debut against the Hooks at Hodgetown, but can he keep it up on the road?

With Orozco at the top of the lineup and Peter Van Gansen promoted to El Paso, that's meant some shuffling of the batting order. Buddy Reed, the Texas League Player of the Week who was hitting leadoff, was moved to second when Orozco arrived, and Saturday night he hit ninth.

Such tinkering is hardly unexpected in April and will almost certainly continue. How that plays on the road is yet to be determined.