Loads of souvenir balls for the fans
In 27 IP this week by the Wichita starting pitchers they coughed up 14 homers. At one point they even managed to surrender back-to-back-to-back homers. It really is a nightmare watching our pitchers as the season winds down, the biggest worry is how many can I replace in the off season? I’d love to sack the lot, but it just isn’t feasible. 29 games left of this shit show.
Games 127, 128 & 129 @ Phoenix Talons
8/25 @ Phoenix L 5-10
8/26 @ Phoenix W 4-1
8/27 @ Phoenix L 2-11
Aviators actually led 4-1 after four and a half innings but then James Robinson gave up back-to-back-to-back homers to start the bottom of the fourth innings. We never recovered from that. Luis Maldonado hit a rare homer, but it was wasted. Sancho Torres pitched into the fifth innings of the second game before he gave up the first run of the game. Maldonado hit a sixth innings single that drove in two runs to turn around the game and we had our first win (and only as it turned out) of the week. Both Maldonado and Matt Chambers went 2-4 with Matt scoring twice and Luis picking up a couple of RBI. The final game against Phoenix saw Jose Montoya allow two walks, six hits including three homers and seven runs in just two innings. If there was any doubt Miroslav Tomanek surrendered a sixth innings Grand Slam to cap it off. We scored our only runs in the eighth & ninth innings.
Games 130, 131 & 132 vs Boise Spuds
8/28 vs Boise L 5-8 (40,039)
8/29 vs Boise L 6-8 (39,772)
8/30 vs Boise L 0-8 (40,084)
Back home we faced Boise who we had hopes of snatching a win or two, but if you give up eight runs in each game you don’t win many and so it proved. A two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the fourth, both off Michel Girard helped the Turds Spuds to an early lead and despite the efforts of the bullpen we never got closer than two runs to them after that. Duane Whitley Jr was the only starter not to get a hit, Juan Hernandez drove in three of our five runs. A three-run homer off Duane Coutts in the first innings of the second game was the start of another defeat. We were already 8-2 down when a Matt Chambers single plated two runs but the comeback was never really on. In the third game, at least James Robinson didn’t give up a homer, but it didn’t stop him picking up his 14th defeat.
Game 133 vs Phoenix Talons
8/31 vs Phoenix L 1-7 (39,815)
Sancho Torres held the Talons to just two runs in the first four innings but the game slowly slipped away and we were 7-0 down before Jim Gouzzie drove in Francisco Mendez for our only run.
Standings as at August 31st
Record v Johnson League
| Frontier | HW | HL | AW | AL | Atlantic | HW | HL | AW | AL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boise | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Atlantic City | 1 | 3 | - | - |
| Calgary | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | Brooklyn | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Edmonton | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | Charlotte | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Las Vegas | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Charm City | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Mexico City | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | Jacksonville | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Phoenix | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Montreal | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| San Antonio | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | New Orleans | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Wichita | X | X | X | X | Rockville | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| TOTALS | 10 | 19 | 22 | 26 | TOTALS | 11 | 19 | 8 | 18 |
Batter of the Week was 25-yr-old Jason Bowen who in five games hit .300/.364/.700. He launched two solo homers and with two walks he scored four times.