Des Moines split at home v Chicago and then went to the Kentucky Truck Plant and defeated the so-called Sluggers of Louisville 6-1, 11-5, 9-8, 6-0 in a statement that said, "we're still here." Don't know what 2064 will bring. Don't think the DMO can trade away its six best players and make the playoffs two seasons in a row. But that is 99.4% looking like what is happening in '63. Des Moines might even sneak ahead of worthy rival TWC in the season standings.
HilliardIn Game 1, 38-y.o. lefty Elvin Hilliard, one of a handful of starters who are adultos mayores (senior citizens) that JR has utilized this season to wheel—in a wheelchair—the Kernels' Frick League 12th-ranked starters ERA (4.70) into the post-season. Hilliard, rescued from the montón de chatarra (scrap pile) of the free agent market on May 13 to refurbish the equally flailing staff at El Paso (AAA), went 9-6, 2.48 for the Hounds and forced JR's hand to try him in the majors, something that nobody did in '62, the Bears apparently not needed him and joining a list of teams stretching back four seasons that includes such clubs as Omaha, Long Beach, and Valencia who gave up on the 6' 7" Brentwood, CA native who has kids with braces needing to be purchased on an installment plan;
Yes it was this Elvin, a tall elf if not a high one, who pitched eight innings of five-singles-allowed-ball against what TWC's general manager Alan Ehlers called "the best lineup in the BBA," and hey, I don't see that or it didn't turn up for three outta four games in the late-September series. Hilliard moved his record to 3-0, 1.83 in six games for the DDDD (Don't Doubt Dynamite DesMoiners) FC (fan club, not foosball club). PEPE (Pepe Domínguez) retired the so-called Sluggers 4th, 5th, and 6th batters on 14 pitches. Two rookies, 3B Miguel Salazar and OF Jon Scaife each hit their seventh home runs of the season.
The downside to this game, and to the series, is that the Kernels lost 2B Jesús Rosito (.246.17-64) to an injury that our team trainer says, "yikes, it could be seven, eight weeks for the kid to recover." Guess it's either good or genius, or both, that we acquired the unstoppable Canadian Rich Dares from Phoenix in June. Dares went 7 for 13 (.538) with five runs scored and four stolen bases the next three games, to which we turn in the next team news.