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By DON O'BRIEN Herald-Whig Sports Editor The Quincy Gems made history last week. Never before had the Gems, who were founded in 1996, played a gamein the month of May. Who cares, right? If you're a Gems fan, you should. In an effort to squeeze a 60-game schedule in by the first ofAugust, the Prospect League started earlier than it ever hadbefore. Obviously, the powers that be in the Prospect League didn'tthink of the ramifications the earlier start time would have on theteams early in the season. Most NCAA Division I conferences heldtheir league tournaments last weekend. That meant very few of thoseplayers would be available for their teams for the start of theseason. The Gems had just 12 players, including only eight positionplayers, available for their season opener last Tuesday againstHannibal. With several players playing out of position and havingto bat their pitcher since there was no one available to DH, theGems made four errors and had just three hits in a sloppy 6-0 loss.Believe it or not, they weren't the worst off in the 12-team woodenbat league. The Danville Dans had just nine players report for their opener. Asa result, the team had to sign nine temporary players in order tostart their season. "We've got enough bodies right now to field a team, and I think wewill be competitive,' Dans manager Jamie Sailors told the DanvilleCommerical-News. The Dans suffered a 17-2 loss to Terre Haute in their opener. Terre Haute started the season with just 15 players. "We've been replacing players, and we've been very thankful;everybody we've brought in has really made an impact," Terre Hautemanager Brian Dorsett told the Terre Haute (Ind.) Tribune-Starafter his team got off to a 2-1 start. Chillicothe, which competes in the Prospect League's East Division,had 19 players, including five temporary players to start the year.The Paints dropped their first two games. "If you look at where we are right now, we're probably missing ourtop three starters," Brian Mannino, Chillicothe's Director ofBaseball Operations told the Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette. "We'remissing a couple of bullpen guys, we're missing outfielders andinfielders. We have to get through this period of waiting (until)the whole team gets here, but it's just something we have to do." Why should teams have to cobble together rosters for the first weekof the season? It makes no sense to start so early. Ideally, teams would report this weekend with league play startingin the middle of the week. Sure, you'll have a few players stillcaught up in NCAA Tournament play -- the Gems have a couple ofplayers in the NCAAs with the University of Missouri -- but youwouldn't have this widespread player shortage throughout theleague. If the league, which used a 54-game campaign last summer,wants to have a 60-game schedule, the season needs to stretch intothe middle of August. The other alternative would be to have teamsplay some doubleheaders throughout the season. Starting the season right after Memorial Day next year will causethe same problems. The good news for the league is that people game out to see thegames. The five games that were played on Tuesday's opening night-- one was postponed because of rain -- drew more than 6,000 peopleto the park. Richmond led the way with 2,164. Quincy didn't list anofficial number for its opening night, but a good crowd ofapproximately 1,200 watched the Gems and Cavemen start the 2012"Battle of the Paddle" series. What kind of baseball were those fans treated to though? The fivegames on Tuesday averaged five errors and 14.2 strikeouts each.Anyone who left QU-Stadium after the Gems' opener had to beunderwhelmed with the product on the field. Obviously, the expanded schedule should lead to more chances forteams to make money. The Prospect League is doing it at the expenseof putting a good product on the field though. In the long run, that's not a good idea. Hopefully, the leaguefigures out that in this case, less is more. -- dobrien@whig.com/221-3365. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Adjustable Hospital Beds , B Ultrasound Scanner Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Adjustable Hospital Beds today!
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