Palms struggling despite some successes

The Miami Palms are having a heck of a time getting going this season. They started off very quickly, but their last 11 games have produced a 2-9 record. Two primary culprits are at play. The first is most notable from the scorelines: They haven’t been scoring many runs. They aren’t using the long ball as much as in recent seasons and aren’t hitting with runners in scoring position. Tony Abreu and Pat Grant are off to flying starts, with Jaspero Gonzalez not far behind, but only with their batting averages. There isn’t a player on the team expected to hit much more than 20 homers this season, if trends continue.
Beyond that, the Palms have been giving up far too many long balls, especially with runners on base, or in late/close situations. Brian Matusz has really struggled as a closer so far this year, but Cody Allen has had his bumps in the road as well. When games are tight because the offense isn’t pushing runs across the plate, these scores from opponents are even more damaging.
This was only an 11 game stretch for the Palms, so there is hope that this won’t be a season long trend. After all, Miami still sits above .500.

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