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Greg Bird watches the flight of his home run for Albuquerque in its Saturday night win over the Sugar Land Skeeters. The Isotopes and Skeeters played again Sunday night, with Sugar Land prevailing 9-7 in 11 innings. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)
Warren Schaeffer sees parallels between the progression this season of his veteran first baseman Greg Bird and the progression of his Albuquerque Isotopes roster as a whole.
Neither started the season getting the results they felt were consistent with the work they were putting in. The Isotopes stumbling out of the gates to a 15-33 record by the end of June . Bird, the 28-year-old former New York Yankee who battled a slew of major injuries while in the pinstripes, was hitting just .210 as of June 19.