Rich Dares—you gotta love him, eh?
It was nigh on 11:30 PM Saturday when the extremely popular Canadian hit a two-out single against Chicago's reliever Richard Lawrence (2.7 WAR) and drove in Wan-ling "Dragon Bat" Koo, who had doubled to open the 10th. Koo now has a 1.039 OPS vs lefties. It was Dares's 11th rbi as a Kernel. "Not sure why Chicago brought in a southpaw to pitch to Koo," manager Mel Jenkins said, "But we were cool with it."
The DDD (Don't Doubt Des Moines) placards were in display again this weekend, as the Kernels, 5-2 this week, hopped over Bikini (3-4) into firm control of a wildcard spot. "I say it means Don't Doubt Dares," office manager Jibwa Smortningaling said, who may have inadvertently traded for Dares three months ago when he mistook a genuine transaction portal for a simulator. Whatever the case, Des Moines has turned what at least one BBA pundit described as "an indefensible trade" into a windfall.
Jenkins says the team is now in the driver's seat for a playoff position and hopes to strengthen the chances with another defeat of the Sox. "A win today would put us in a tie with Chicago, ahead of Bikini." But even without a victory this evening at the Kum & Go, Des Moines likes her chances: "We play Louisville and Madison [to finish out the regular season]," Jenkins said, "The Krill got Portland and Hawaii." The latter two are tied for first in the Pacific Division.
Des Moines holds winning records against the Krill, the Sox, and the Lumberjacks this season should the Kernels need to rely on this tie-breaking wildcard determiner.
Denny Tabb defeated both the Sox and the Nine this week, his 15th and 16th wins on the season; he is now 3-0 for Des Moines since coming over at the trade deadline.
Koo hit a grand slam vs Chicago's Garip Eyice in an 11-3 win.
Bob Butler picked up a win and a save, and now has 12 saves and a 0.44 ERA his last twenty games. Scott Everard, still the closer, still leads the team with a 3.11 ERA in a new career-high 147.2 innings out of the pen (well, he actually started one game—his first in his 13 years in the BBA after being a starter in high school and university). So, make that 142.1 Innings in relief; that still eclipses his 131.1 innings last season.
After closing the four-game series vs the Sox this evening, the team travels to Louisville and then returns home for four against Madison in what is already being hailed as the most historic Heartland "Fan Appreciation Week" ever.
