The Cool Of The Grass 2050.20: Alaric Gets Angry, .500 Sim Brings Hope

[aaronweiner]

The Des Moines Kernels held tough against Valencia and Nashville last week to post a .500 record in their last sim, a sign that perhaps the team is turning the corner. The Kernels actually outscored their opponents in the last sim, but lost another three one-run games, running their record to an abysmal 8-15 record in those contests.

But the bigger news was Alaric Wullenweber's outburst in the locker room at Kernels manager Ricardo Alomar on the team's off day while practicing in Nashville. Wullenweber suffered a slight knee bruise which is affecting his running a bit, which isn't too big a deal, but sources inside the team say that Wullenweber might be suffering a bit of buyer's remorse.

Neither Alaric nor Alomar had anything to say about the matter. "I'm not going to talk about internal team affairs," said Alomar. "We had a disagreement and Alaric got a little heated. That's all it was. There's nothing to talk about."

No one on the team was talking, but some local sources in Nashville claim they heard Alaric talking about his opt-out clause while drinking a Krombacher Dark in a local tavern. However, Alaric seemed fine the next day, if fine with a small limp.

"Nobody's happy that we're losing games right now," said third baseman Luis Cuellar, one of the team's better performing players this season. "We're all trying out here. Alaric knows that and we love him, he's our champion."

Des Moines has continued to be rock solid in run prevention this year, and much of the pitching improvement seems real. Their defense has also held up over the long haul. While there is likely to be quite a bit of turnover after this year offensively, there are some positive steps that the team appears to have taken.

"We don't feel like we're a 100-loss team anymore," said left fielder Hasheem Makin, who has improved dramatically over the last month. posting a .995 OPS in June. "We're not sure we're contenders yet but we're not chumps either."

Des Moines is currently 35-46, a 92-loss pace, which would be their best team record since 2043 and just the second time since 2042 they haven't lost 100 games. They return home Friday for a homestand against first place Madison and Omaha before the All-Star Break.

"We'd love to go into the break with some momentum," said Makin. "It would be a big deal for all of us. And maybe it'll put a smile back on Alaric's face."

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