Steve Mintz: Auckland Tuatara have no one to blame but ourselves

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Richard Spranger

Auckland Tuatara coach Steve Mintz.

Steve Mintz is the manager of Auckland Tuatara

OPINION: Our season is now on the line after another disappointing weekend and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

It’s fair to say we’re into funk right now. Winning three of our last 12 games is not good enough and now all that good work we did at the start of the season has been eroded.

We walked way too many batters against Canberra to stay in those games, you just can’t walk a dozen batters in a game and expect not to get burned.

READ MORE: * Tuatara shows his best and worst sides, splitting games against Giants * Steve Mintz: Disappointing performances for Auckland Tuatara against Sydney Blue Sox * Auckland Tuatara bats shut up in defeat in series against Sydney Blue Sox

The Cavalry is a good hitting team and we talked about not giving them free passes, but one after another we kept losing hitters and they were good enough to take advantage of it.

On the other hand, the cavalry throwers were disciplined and didn’t give us the same bonuses, so when our hitters found a gap or hit one, the damage wasn’t as great as what was done to us.

We’re now tied for second in the Northeast Division and are in a head-to-head battle with the Cavalry for the final playoff spot in the final two weeks of the regular season.

If we want to make the playoffs, we’ll have to earn it by playing well for the next two weeks, so that’s a task for us now.

There were some positive takeaways from this series, I think our bats have definitely made some much needed progress.

It was good to see Kiwi Jason Matthews return to somewhere near his best, and it was special, I’m sure for the family, to see him and his cousin Clayton Campbell Jr hit home runs in the same game.

Clayton continues to be our best situational hitter, delivering quality at bat when we have runners.

I was also impressed with what we saw of our latest addition Greg Cullen. The Baltimore Orioles prospect gave us exactly what we were hoping to get from someone of his caliber at the plate as he also showed some of his defensive skills in the final game.

The Orioles are very high on Cullen, and he is expected to attend Major League spring training with the organization in a few weeks.

As is the case with all of our affiliated players, the Major League organization covers the cost of sending these players as they believe the ABL level is the best preparation for the upcoming season for their players. and knows that the Tuatara will look after their investment and give them personal development and life experience.

We have a big training week ahead of us and it looks like the weather in Auckland will make life difficult for us again, but that’s what baseball is about taking on challenges and finding a way to overcome them.

It begins this week as we prepare for a crucial series against Geelong Korea on our final road trip.

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