In Tuesday’s 7-4 loss, reliever Scott Roehl held Erie to a hit and walk over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. It was as positive of a sign as the Aeros have seen out of the right-hander, who for all his success at high Class-A Kinston, has struggled every time he’s been promoted to Akron the last few years.

“I’ve (managed) him now for three or four years and what he did (in Tuesday’s outing) is what I’ve seen in the past,” Aeros manager Mike Sarbaugh said. “He was in control, he mixed up his pitches and he really kept us in the game.”

In 7 2/3 innings spanning four appearances, Roehl is 0-1 with a 4.70 ERA. He has allowed 10 runs, but just four earned on seven hits and five walks while striking out six.

Not great numbers, but not as bad as Roehl has looked in the past in previous stints in Akron. Consider that he went 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA in two games in 2005, 0-0 with a 9.82 ERA in seven games in ‘06.

And now, after a another rough start, he finally seems to be finding his footage in Double-A.

WALK THIS WAY - Chris Gimenez’s 15-game streak of reaching base safely came to an end Tuesday, although the Aeros catcher did make it to first base in the fourth inning via error. However, Gimenez’s penchant for working a walk - he leads the team with 17 free passes in 16 games - has him ranked fourth in the 12-team league with a .448 on-base percentage.

The Aeros played another home game at Canal Park in front of a lot of fans dressed as blue seats Tuesday night.

Granted, it was pretty cold and raining on and off. But the wetaher for the most part, has been incredibly decent for April in Northeast Ohio.

Aeros fans get a pass for Tuesdasy’s game due to the extreme weather (kudos to the 10 who stayed for the whole game) - but support for the team during the first month of the season has been all but extinct.

“Officially” the team is averaging 3,148 fans in 10 home openings - ranking seventh in the 12-team Eastern League. And while no team is ever completely honest about the actual butts in seats, anyone who has seen the team play can attest to what a stretch that probably is.

The Aeros nearly wasted another solid outing by left-hander David Huff Saturday afternoon at Canal Park. But this time the left-hander could care less.

This time, the Aeros came back to win 2-1 in 10 innings against visiting Harrisburg to snap a three-game losing streak.

Thus, instead of raising their winless streak to 0-5 with Huff on the mound, they instead handed him a much more palatable no-decision.

“I don’t really care about my win-loss record as long as our team’s winning,” said Huff, who has now gone 17.1 innings without allowing an earned run spanning three starts. “So I don’t have a winning record and a lot of no-decisions. I have no problem with that.”

Matt Whitney’s two-out double down the right field line in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Michael Aubrey from first, with Aubrey safely sliding just under the tag of catcher Luke Montz before being mobbed by his giddy teammates.

But the call didn’t rest well with Senators manager John Stearns, who upstaged the Aeros celebration by putting on quite a show in trying to change the mind of home plate umpire Brad Purdom. Stearns slammed his helmet, threw his gum and stalked Purdom belly-to-belly as he tried to exit the field.

But unlike Aeros manager Mike Sarbaugh, who was ejected with a quick hook the previous two games, Stearns’ tantrum was allowed to go on - as was the one by Harrisburg’s Jorge Padilla after being called out on strikes to end the sixth inning.

Taking the high road, Sarbaugh had little so say about the umpire’s sudden cache of patience and opted instead to talk about Huff’s impressive five-inning outing.

“He did a real good job using both sides of the plates and mixing in his off-speed pitches,” Sarbaugh said.

After watching the Senators bombard his fellow pitchers for a combined 27 runs the previous two games, Huff limited them to one unearned run on a harmless single. He also struck out five, giving him a team-high 25 on the season.

“My thought coming in was that they were getting too comfortable in the box,” Huff said. “I was trying to make them uncomfortable by working both sides of the plate and throwing my fastball up and in to shake things up a little bit.”

Harrisburg’s run came in the fourth inning on a one-out walk that was parleyed into a run on Huff’s throwing error to first while trying to nab Luis Jimenez on a dribbler down the third base line.

“Being a slow runner, I thought I could get him,” Huff said. “The whole time (catcher Armando Camacaro) is going, ‘No! No! No!’, but I was so caught up in the moment I didn’t really hear him.”

It didn’t matter, as Akron’s Brandon Chaves tied the game with a two-out solo home run to right field in the seventh - leaving the close contest in the hands of the bullpens.

Akron’s T.J. Burton, Jeff Stevens and Randy Newsom pitched five scoreless innings to hold up their end of the bargain. Former Aero Jim Ed Warden took the loss for Harrisburg.

Minor league baseball managers don’t often get ejected from back-to-back games - it simply costs too much. But the typically laid-back Mike Sarbaugh isn’t often baited as much as he has been the last two nights, either.

Twenty-four hours after being tossed for arguing balls and strikes in the sixth inning of the Aeros 13-6 blowout loss to visiting Harrisburg Thursday at Canal Park, the Aeros rookie manager found himself heading into the home clubhouse early again Friday.

Sarbaugh’s latest ejection came an inning earlier in another dismantling by Harrisburg in Friday’s 14-7 loss. Just moments after J.D. Martin entered the game in relief of starter Chuck Lofgren, he appeared to nab Roger Bernadina at first base with his patented pick-off move.

But as a pumped-up Martin and his infield teammates began to jog off the field, home plate umpire Shaun Francis adamantly signaled balk. Not only did he point Bernadina toward second vase, but he also waived William Bergolla home from third to push the Senators advantage to 6-3.

Instantly Sarbaugh dashed out of the dugout to argue, but to no avail.

“I thought that call changed the whole complexion of that inning, and I think it changed the entire complexion of the game,” he said.

Like Thursday’s game, the rest of Friday’s action was all down hill for the Aeros from there, save for a too-late two-run rally in the ninth. That’s because Martin gave up a run-scoring triple to Justin Maxwell before a diving catch in center field by Jose Costanza ended the controversial inning.

Martin still hadn’t settled down by the sixth, dishing up a two-run home run on a hanging curve to .212-hitting Ian Desmond as the visitors lead swelled to five runs.

With yet another blowout loss, the 7-13 Aeros dipped further into last-place oblivion in the Eastern League Southern Division, while the division-leading Senators (14-7) increased their cushion to 6.5 games ahead of Akron.

“Anytime you’re in a little funk like we are now, definitely the frustration sets in,” Sarbaugh said. “But like I told (the team) today, this is how you find out a little about yourself - through adversity. We just have to keep working and find our way through it.”

It’s still early in the season, but if the young Aeros pitching doesn’t get it turned it around soon, they’ll have dug the team in a hole too deep for even the most talented hitting teams (which at this point appears to be Harrisburg and Binghamton) to dig out of.

It was not a good night all around for the Aeros.

Back home at Canal Park to kick off a four-game series against visiting Harrisburg, the host quickly fell behind and never recovered, losing 11-6 Thursday in front of a sparse crowd. It felt more like 50-6 watching it live.

Aeros starting pitcher Kevin Dixon was tagged for eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and three walks in just 2 1/3 innings. In four starts so far this season, Dixon has yet to earn a win, suffering ing his third loss Thursday in giving up four-run innings in the first and third.

Although Akron’s stagnant offense came to life to the tune of 14 hits, as Aeros manager Mike Sarbaugh said “we couldn’t keep them from scoring to catch up.”

Perhaps the frustration of a 7-12 season boiled over for Sarbaugh in the sixth inning, when he was ejceted with two outs for arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire. Sometimes managers will purposely get tossed in an effort to fire up his team. But with his two young sons in attendance for the first time this season, his tossing had more to do with the home plate umpire’s incredibly shrinking strike zone than looking to make a statement.

Besides, Aeros reliever Sung-Wei Tseng responded to the ejection by promptly allowing a three-run homer to Andrew LeFave - his first of the year. After posting a promising four-run second inning, Akron’s ofense managed just two more runs the rest of the way.

I left the blogsphere for a few days hoping some time away would give the Aeros time to come up with something positive for me to write about…Didn’t work.

The team is a mess. The Aeros are a mere 6-11 and in last place in the Eastern League Southern Division. They have to yet to crack .500 this season. They were held to a season-low three hits in Tuesday’s 7-1 loss to rival Altoona and have now lost 5 of the last 6 games.

In truth, there are very few bright spots to point out. The pitching - starters (save for lefty David Huff) and the bullpen (save for Jeff Stevens, and he even had a rough outing two days ago) are struggling.

To compound the issue, the offense isn’t hitting. The team has mustered no more than three runs on seven hits over the last 18 innings. Even 3B Wes Hodges, who went on a phenomenal tear during the last home stand with a career-high 7-RBI game, has cooled off. Sine then, he has driven in just one run.

Injuries to leftfielder and leadoff man Trevor Crowe (back) and right fielder Stephen Head (wrist) have really hurt the lineup. To make matters worse, when Head went down last week, the team received infielder Brandon Pinckney from extended spring trinaing, not an outfielder.

Nothing at all against Pinckney, but with only three outfielders ont he roster, second baseman Brandon Chaves is being moved to the outfield to fill in. He’s done such in the past when he played for Altoona, but only sparingly. Chaves certianly is no long term answer there, and we could be talking long term as Crowe’s back kept him from even making the current road trip with his teammates as he stayed back to rehab.

Starting pitcher David Huff limited Binghamton to three hits over five innings and struck out eight.

Despite being limited to just three hits, Aeros third baseman Wes Hodges hammered his third home run in two games. Left fielder Nate Panther followed with a solo homer of his own three innings later to give the host Aeros a 2-0 lead.

In fact, all that was missing for the Aeros on the warm and sun-splashed Wednesday morning affair attended primarily by some 2,000 local school kids was the all-important shutout relief.

Of course, that’s a pretty tall order against this season’s offensive juggernaut that is the Binghamton Mets, who rallied for seven unanswered runs against the Aeros bullpen to top the host 7-2 in 10 innings.

Those dangerous hitters would be third baseman Daniel Murphy (who finished the game batting .480 on the season), first baseman Nick Evans (whose batting average now sits at a lofty .420) and designated hitter Mike Carp (who rounds out the group at a healthy .451.)

Combined, the trio drove in four RBI and recorded six of the Mets 11 hits. But early on against Huff, they were limited to a pair of harmless hits as the Aeros finally got the solid starting pitching they’ve been searching for out of a young prospect group of hurlers.

Huff, 23, aggressively attacked the free-swinging Mets, quieting their bats with a full four-pitch arsenal of changeup, fastball, curveball and slider.

If not for a mounting count that hit 90 pitches, the Indians sandwich selection (39th overall) in the 2006 draft out of UCLA might have cruised though the entire game.

But right-handed veteran J.D. Martin replaced Huff in the sixth and pitched into the eighth before running into trouble capped by a Carp two-run single that tied the game.

The Mets clinched the victory in the 10th inning with five runs (but just one earned) against new Aeros reliever Scott Roehl - a frame highlighted by a two-out, three-run homer by Mets left fielder Josh Petersen.

* Aeros RF Stephen Head, who was pinch-hit for in the fifth inning of the Aeros 11-10 win Tuesday night, did not play in Wednesday’s game. He is listed as day-to-day (I know, aren’t we all) with a sore right wrist he jammed while sliding into base in the third inning Tuesday.

–30–[ep

The ripple effect of the Indians putting closer Joe Borowski on the disabled list with an, um, right triceps injury (hey, I’m not the one making it up) on Tuesday reached into the low minors as the Aeros made another pair of roster moves before their 11-10 victory over visiting Binghamton (New York Mets).

Right-handed pitcher Bubbie Buzachero was sent to Triple-A Buffalo while another right-hander, Scott Roehl joined Akron from extended spring training.

Buzachero was 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four appearances with the Aeros. Over 4 1/3 innings, he allowed one run and struck out five.

Roehl made two scoreless appearances in Akron last year, which proved a much better stint than his previous two when he went 0-0 with a 9.82 ERA in seven games in 2006 and 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA in two games in 2005.

Drafted by the Indians in the 10th round of the 2003 draft out of the University of Arkansas, Roehl spent a majority of last season in high-Class A Kinston. In addition to an impressive 4-0 mark and 2.66 ERA, he led the Carolina League with 24 saves.

After Tuesday’s lengthy game, struggling Aeros starter Chuck Lofgren was called into manager Mike Sarbaugh’s office for a short closed-door meeting.

Although the left-hander didn’t make it out of the fourth inning, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits (including a home run) and three walks, Sarbaugh opted for the patient approach.

“Even though he’s in his second year here, Chuck’s still young,” Sarbaugh said of the 22-year-old. “He’s just putting too much pressure on himself. He just needs to go out there and pitch like we know he can. I’m not concerned about Chuck, he’s a good pitcher.”

Perhaps Sarbaugh’s not too worried on an individual basis, but collectively, the young Akron pitching staff is giving up runs at an alarming rate. After allowing 10 runs on a season-high 16 hits, the Aeros hurlers rank second-to-last in the 12 team league with hefty 5.21 ERA. They’ve also given up a second-to-worst 114 hits and 13 home runs.

Aeros right-hander Kevin Dixon cruised through the first five innings of Monday’s game against Binghamton, not even giving up his first hit until DH Mike Carp singled to center to start the fifth inning.

But things quickly fell apart in the sixth when the visiting B-Mets exploded for four runs off four hits against Dixon - an offensive outburst highlighted by 1B Nick Evans’ three-run homer.

Binghamton went on to a 6-3 win, scoring a pair of insurance runs in the ninth against reliever Sung-Wei Tseng.

Dixon, who went 0-4 with a 3.72 ERA last year at high class-A Kinston, likely found it hard to focus on the positive.

“The way he threw the first five innings, it’s a shame for it to end up the way it did,” said Aeros manager Mike Sarbaugh, who managed Dixon last year at Kinston. “That’s the best I’ve seen him in a long time. What he did tonight was outstanding.”

Except for one inning.

“He got a few balls up in the zone in the last inning and made some mistakes that hurt him,” Sarbaugh said. “I know he doesn’t feel real good right now, but he should feel good about the way he pitched early on.”

The Aeros went ahead 2-0 in the first, using three hits by SS Josh Rodriguez, 3B Wes Hodges and LF Ryan Goleski along with a RBI-sacrifice fly by DH Michael Aubrey. But Binghamton starter Jonathan Niese (a native of Defiance) settled in and held the host to just one more (in the fifth inning), when 1B Matt Whitney doubled and scored.

The B-Mets bullpen shut out the Aeros the rest of way. But the visiting hitters were just getting started.

LF Josh Peterson singled to lead off the sixth and CF Fernando Martinez followed with a single of his own. A fielder’s choice by 2B Emmanuel Garcia followed by a RBI-single by 3B Daniel Murphy set the table for Evans, who unloaded and cleared the bases.

J.D. Martin kept the visiting Bowie Baysox bats quiet for 3 1/3 innings Saturday afternoon, giving the Aeros batters time to wake up and rally from behind for a 7-3 victory and earn his second win of the young season.

For the second consecutive day, Akron’s offense posted a seven-run sixth inning to erase an early deficit and improve to 4-5 on the season. The big inning came against Bowie reliever Daniel Lonsberry, who gave six earned runs on on three hits and two walks in just 2/3 of a inning of work. Before he took the mound, Baysox starter Chris Tillman no-hit the Aeros through the first five innings.

Pitching out of the bullpen to start the season for the first time in his career, the Indians sandwich pick (35th overall) in the 2001 draft, appears to finally have found his niche. Martin has always been a solid strike-thrower, but has been beset by right arm injuries throughout his long minor-league career.

Another player trying to shake the “injury” tag this season is first baseman Michael Aubrey. Aubrey has not only played in every game so far this season, but also owns a hit in each game to raise his hitting streak to nine games and average to .282.