The Kernel Journal - Vol. 1 No. 6

[lynchy34]

Cinderella Run Ends in LMS Loss

After winning the last MBBA title before the league's stoppage, the Des Moines Kernels had high hopes for the 1995 campaign. The season started slowly enough, but the Kernels came on strong down the stretch. With a roster built for a deep playoff run, the Kernels shocked the world by upsetting 114-win Hackensack in dominant fashion and then advanced to the Landis Memorial Series with a six-game series win over FL Pacific Division winner Long Beach.

Waiting for Des Moines in the Landis Memorial Series was the MBBA's other 100-win club - the Chicago Black Sox. The Black Sox were the only thing standing in between the Kernels and bookend MBBA titles, with the last in version one and the first championship upon the league's re-start. And the Black Sox didn't budge.

Chicago got to Kernels ace P Eddie Harris, beating him in game one (7 2/3 IP, 5 ER) and in game four (8 2/3 IP, 5 ER) and the Des Moines offense just wasn't strong enough all season long. Without injured star (and free agent to be) CF Reddie Ray, the Kernels managed to put up just 15 runs in the five-game set. Veteran P Shamus Perfetto got the Kernels only win, with 8 innings of one-run ball in game three. For the postseason, Perfetto finished 3-0 with a robust 1.55 ERA. Outstanding after being acquired from Madison, P Ramon Cisneros was terrible in the offseason, losing all three decisions and posting an ERA north of six.

As bad as the Kernels offense was during the series, it was hardly unexpected. The Des Moines bats struggled all postseason long and losing Ray certainly didn't help matters. 1B Terry Francisen led the squad with 4 HR and 8 RBI, but batted below the Mendoza line. No Kernel regular hit over .300 in the postseason. After dominating Hackensack in the first round, the Kernels only scored 20 runs in the six games against the Surfers and added the 15 in the LMS. That's 35 runs in 11 games, an average of 3.2 runs per contest that simply isn't good enough.

Looking ahead to 1996, the Des Moines roster will certainly look different. While newcomers Cisneros and slugger RF Dan Manville have signed long-term deals to stay in central Iowa, the Kernels will bid farewell to a couple of lineup mainstays. Ray's demands were simply too high to meet and with rookie CF Jean-Paul Jean-Paul ready for a bigger role, the veteran will be allowed to walk away despite being one of the club's best players. The 33-year-old Francisen also wants eight figures to resign with Des Moines, but that's a figure that the team cannot match. Between Ray and Francisen, that's more than 50 home runs and 160 RBI that the Kernels will have to find a way to replace.

"We're going to have to get pretty creative this offseason," said GM Mike Lynch. "We don't have the budget room to be much of a player in free agency, so we as a front office will have to be imaginative to try to get back to the Landis next season."