Is this the greatest Stars team ever?

In posing this question, you'd naturally have to compare this team to other teams in the past that have been a powerhouse at the plate, and have carried a season-long energy all the way through the season into the post-season....... The most accepted comparisons would be to the 1985 team that won 78 games, had Jose Canseco for a half-season, and won the SL Championship in its inaugural season and the 1997 team that was gifted with bats up and down the lineup, won 77 games, hit .286 with a league-high 164 HRs and dominated the regular season...... After 30 games, here's a comparison...... For fun, I threw in the 1989 Stars, who were swept in the post-season, but won 82 games, more than any Huntsville team in club history.

The 1985 team wound up hitting .268, the 1997 team, .286. Just what the 2008 will hit at the end of the regular season, no one knows, but no team since the 1985 team has started with a 20-10 record and no team, except the 1986 team, had as many hits after 30 games (292-286) or a higher average (.291-.287)...... So it would actually seem that there is a closer comparison to the 1986 team that lost the SL Championship to Columbus, so let's add the 1986 team to the mix:
 

None of the greatest teams had the pitching to compare to the 2008 team, except the 1985 team, which helped by Canseco, had more HRs after the first 30 games. Canseco, alone, had 11, which is still a club record, but Matt LaPorta finished with 7 and now has 9, which is fairly close...... The greatest team ever? It's a close call. Let's wait till the season is over. One of the greatest? It's on the right track.

Sam Narron became the first 5-game winner in the league tonight. Quite a different start from last season, when after six starts, he was 0-3 with a 4.91 ERA, but he has quite a bit more offensive support behind him...... Last year after six starts, Narron had 10 runs of support on 26 hits in 33 innings. This year, he has 35 runs of support on 53 hits in 37 innings..... Sam got it right away. Michael Brantley snapped an 0-for-10 slump with a leadoff hit in the 1st inning. Guilder Rodriguez sent a bunt back to starter Michael Wlodarczyk. He threw it wildly to first, allowing the runners to move into scoring position for Mat Gamel, who sometimes makes everyone forget about the buzz around #1 prospect Matt LaPorta....... Gamel leads the SL in hits, is 3rd in batting (.367), 2nd in RBIs, and leads the league with 5 triples. He's had more hits in April than any other Huntsville Stars player in history...... Gamel's single up the middle scored Brantley and G. Rod to give Narron a 2-0 lead...... LaPorta, 24-for-57 (.421) in his last 15 games, and the SL's HR and RBI leader, just missed a home run on a 3-1 pitch, then after fouling off another pitch, delivered a line drive on a hop to center moving Gamel to third....... Cole Gillespie, 8-for-20 with 8 RBIs vs. Montgomery in this series, scored Gamel without a throw on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0....... Freddy Parejo swung at the first pitch he saw and delivered a single to left, which moved LaPorta to 2nd. Michael Bell moved him to third on a ground out and Carlos Corporan snapped an 0-for-19 slide with a single inside the line toward the Montgomery bullpen, scoring LaPorta...... Corporan was thrown out trying to stretch the hit, but he did the job. Even though Montgomery came back, the Stars had enough to win....... In the bottom of the 1st, LaPorta turned a grand-slam HR by the infamous Sergio Pedroza into a sacrifice fly that brought the Biscuits within one, 4-3, with a sensational catch in right, crashing into the wall. Some measure of payback there.

The Stars added a run in the 3rd inning on Mike Bell's two-out double that made it 5-3 and then tacked on three more in the 4th when Gamel delivered a bases loaded, bases clearing double that knocked Wlodarczyk out of the game.

The Stars have now reached double figures in runs scored 7 times this year...... The 1997 team scored 10 runs or more in a game 33 times, more than any other Stars team, but they didn't do it for the 7th time until May 16....... Already, the Stars have had as many games where they've scored 10 or more times as the 2001 team, the last team to wave a championship banner.

Patrick Ryan pitched another scoreless inning, giving him 15 since the start of the season, eight short of the 23 that is the record held by Luis Martinez in 2003.

The Stars return home Monday to open a five-game series against Mobile with southpaw Steve Hammond (3-1, 3.51), three behind the SL strikeout leader Daryl Thompson of Chattanooga, taking the mound against BayBears' right-hander Brooks Brown.

Here's a look at April's records:

• Most wins:.18 (beating the previous record of 16 in 2003, the year of J.J., Corey, and a
  centerfielder named Dave Krynzel)
• Most 10-hit games: 13 (easily eclipsing the previous record of 10, which was
  accomplished six times, the last time in 2003)
• Highest batting average: .295 (Beat that one by 20 points!)
• Highest batting average by an individual: Freddy Parejo, .421 (went a modest 4-for-16
  in his last 5 games, nevertheless eclipsed Marcos Armas' .415 mark of 1992.
• Hits: Mat Gamel, 39 (crushes the 32 set by Ernie Young in 1994 and Ramon Hernandez
  in 1998.)
• Triples: Mat Gamel, 5 (No one had hit more than 3. Gamel was insane in April. He also
  became the 8th Star to hit 2 triples in a game, something that happened only 4 times 
  during the Stars' Oakland era.)
• Pitching victories: Sam Narron, 4 (Not done since Derek Lee in 2003. Last year, Narron
  was 0-2 with a 6.30 ERA in four appearances. He allowed two 1st inning runs in 4 starts
  this year after allowing 14 in four starts last year.)
• Strikeouts: 39, Steve Hammond (In 33 1/3 innings. He didn't let up after last year's
  strong 9K performance in Game 5 vs. Montgomery. He fanned 9 in his first start and 8 in
  two others. He tops Luis Martinez' record of 38 in 2003.

These records were tied:
• Triples in a game: 3, on April 27 vs. Jacksonville
• Most at-bats by a hitter: Mat Gamel, 103 (tying David Francisco's 1995 mark)
• Errors by a 3rd baseman in a game: 3, Mat Gamel, April 28 (the only negative record.
  Hadn't happened since Corey Hart on August 27, 2002.