Broncos' offensive woes come to light

Just mere days ago, the Broncos were second in United League Baseball in offense.

Now they're fourth.

That's what happens when you average 4.8 runs and hit .233 over your last six games.

I was able to talk with hitting coach Jon Hinkel after Friday's game.

His thoughts on the offense?

"We knew they couldn't stay hot all the time," he said. "When some bats go cold, we generally have had others get hot. Now, no one's hot."

That includes Luany Sanchez, a frontrunner for league MVP this year, and MVP of last week's All-Star game.

Since that All-Star game, Sanchez is 0-for-7 with no RBIs.

The Broncos are a free-swinging club that likes to swing for the fences. We know that, so it's understandable that the offense might go through a cold spell here and there.

It's par for the course.

But Hinkel's words also rang true when he stated the following:

"Any team that is playing hard would not be going through a poor stretch like this," he said. "It just wouldn't happen. We are not playing hard, At some point, the players have to start being accountable. There's only so much we as coaches can do."

Another thing that struck me about what Hinkel said:

"There have been no player meetings," he said. "Not once, during this whole bad streak. That tells you something."

Agreed. In fact, it says more than one might think.

It shows apathy and a lack of accountability. It shows poor responsibility.

I have no doubts the players are disappointed, having lost eight of their last 10 games.

But do they care enough to really buckle down and take care of business; become accountable for their actions and stop looking at the coaches?

I'm not so sure.

"We can preach and preach and preach about matters," Hinkel said. "We can talk all day long about how Edinburg is playing good baseball and is right on our tails for fourth place. We can preach that all night long.

"But until they start answering by their actions on the field, we're just blowing hot air."