He probably feels pressure to duplicate that this year. This is a big jump for those guys coming from 'A' ball to Double-A, probably the biggest jump they'll make.

I am not worried about our hitting. We're going to be fine. We've got some guys that swing the bat up and down the lineup. It's just one of those things where we really haven't got going yet. We have had some opportunities, but just haven't come through yet but that's just part of the game. It's obviously a little more glaring when you start the season that way.

That'll probably go down to the last week here. It's way too early to tell on a lot of guys. You can look at last year's (Class A) Myrtle Beach roster and get some ideas, but ...

Acosta did an outstanding job. After the first hitter, he settled down.

The replacement guys, I'm confident they're going to umpire to the best of their abilities. They have a lot of pride, obviously, in what they are doing. And they have a lot of passion for the game, or they wouldn't be here.

There were some good things out there. Unfortunately, when you're battling through what we've been battling, things like that seem to happen to you.

There was definitely a sense of minor relief in the dugout tonight. They've been pressing a little bit. ... We had the one big inning (a four-run sixth), and it's contagious. Guys started hitting.

That was a big hit. I don't ever think we're out of the game, but that put us just one shot away, especially with the way the wind was blowing out there tonight.

It would be nice to get a few more hits spread out over the course of the game, but we'll take them anyway we can. We had some opportunities tonight and it was good to see us take advantage of them. The guys battled their tails off tonight. It should be a big boost for these guys mentally to get them relaxed and get them on a roll.

We didn't help our own cause much. We didn't put a lot of heat on them, that's for sure.